Faced with extinction, we tore ourselves apart, limb by limb, better than even the hordes of the undead could...A great entry point for new fans, in this seventh volume of the Bag Men series, several chilling facets of the end (and what happened after) are revealed at last. Spanning a period of forty years, the vignettes and harrowing tales contained herein include: the ill-fated discovery made by a Himalayan hunter and his companion eagle; the incubating madness gripping a group of CDC researchers as they face the realities of their final mission; the greed of a charlatan, profiteer of the apocalypse; and the last stand of a brave battalion of soldiers against the terrors of the oncoming horde. Flashing forward several decades, the story of a daughter of the infamously violent Vegas Vees gives readers their first real glimpse of what it means to be a "Wild-Child," to run free, remade in the wasteland's image. The journey of this young woman, former slave, current assassin, contrast greatly with the structured nature of "civilized" life; she doesn't remember a time before this one and, like many, she doesn't care to bring the Old World back.The civilization-ending Pan Virus forever destroyed the balance of power. Into the vacuum stepped several competing factions, each vying for supremacy. The most successful, thus far, has been the Republic of Sacramento, chartered in 2035. The small population has survived due mostly to the iron-clad laws enacted and enforced by the Bureau of Public Health, whose Agents are colloquially called "Bag Men" -- men and women who are trained experts in the disciplines of medicine, psychology, combat, and many others, who can identify and properly dispose of the infected. The viral threat, however, has evolved over the decades...These undead can blend with the crowd; you won't know what hit you until it buries its teeth in your throatThe Bag Men represent the thin, bloody line between life and death; if they decide it's your time, their word is as sure as Death's own scythe. Some call them saviors; others see them as instruments of oppression, pain, and misery. The difference lies in which side of Sacramento's wall you call home.This time, however, it isn't a story about the Bag Men...Rather, it's a story about what happened around the Bureau of Public Health and the Republic as a whole. It's a story about the others, those came before Sacramento, and of those who now live in its wide-reaching shadow.This is the story of the world Sacramento dominates, an account of the forgotten, of the misfits, of the betrayed and the damned. Their voices scream through the rift of time, demanding to be heard, at long last. They can be silent no longer.Retribution is coming; the warring factions of a fractured humanity must decide, again and again, will this year be the species' last? Is there hope for a better future, salvaged from the wreckage of the twenty-first century? Or are we doomed to dwindle and fade, like an echo, all memories of our former greatness growing ever more faint until, at last, there remains no trace of it - or us - at all. Rest assured, though, the BPH will be back, with a vengeance! As Trisha Adams discovers to her horror, the Bureau is under new management. Ruthlessness, it seems, is destined to become law in every corner of the survivors' world.Bag Men: Hydra contains six distinct stories (episodes 14-19) and dips into the murky waters of different, previously unexplored time periods in the universe, from the apocalypse of 2027 to the recent war of 2066.The story continues in Bag Men: Siege (Episodes 20, 21, and 22). #YouShouldOnlyLiveOnce