Steve Zajac is a former printer's devil (printer's assistant) and college student who has become a member of the City's only surviving newspaper following the Event. He helps to maintain the old printing press he and the paper's editor run to produce daily one-sheets updating the locals about stories around town. Exposure to the mysterious "torque" energy left in the wake of the Event has resulted in him gaining extradorinarily resilient skin and the ability to weaken or repair other matter with his touch.  

Steve is from a suburb of the City where he grew up in a fairly idyllic home with two loving parents and an older brother. He got into journalism in high school, blogging about a cheating scandal involving the football team. While it didn't make him terribly popular, it got him an internship at the paper and a scholarship to the local college. He also worked part-time at the paper's printing facility to help pay his rent, waiting for a chance to prove himself a capable reporter rather than just an errand boy around the office. That chance came when the Event happened, shattering the City and closing it off from the outside world.

His eagerness for exclusive reports nearly got him killed during a conflict between rival gangs battling over the post-Event landscape city, but he was saved due to the intervention of Alexander Foley, a reluctant mobster. He has since discovered that he has somehow ingested or absorbed the torque energy irradiating the city, and instead of getting sick like most people exposed to it, it has made him incredibly tough and quick to heal. He has also found that he can channel torque energy out of his skin and use it to harm or heal with his touch. 

Steve is a somewhat naive and idealistic youth who doesn't look before he leaps. His eagerness to prove himself has got him into hot water more than once, but he somehow manages to pull through every time. He can be a bit absent minded and short sighted, however, and he was just barely making it in school and with his rent when the Event happened. 

Post-Event, his newfound powers have helped to keep him alive in the dangerous rubble of the once vibrantCity. He feels obliged to keep the survivors informed and up-to-date about developments in their radically changed world, looking to his editor as a mentor and his girlfriend Nina as a moral compass.

Steve is in a relationship with Nina Rodriguez, a nursing student he met on campus at the City's main university. She shares his idealism but is rather more practical than he is. She also survived the Event and now works at a clinic to help deal with the wounded and sick.

The editor of the newspaper Steve interned at reluctantly hired him on (at greatly reduced salary) as a full-time reporter following the City-wide disaster. He's been impressed with the kid's initiative and gusto, and he has tried to pass on lessons from his life as a newsman. 

Steve ran into Alex Foley during a gang conflict which was interrupted by post-Event flooding. The man saved his life and the young reporter still owes him.