<div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">Project Genesis: Surviving Hell in New Angeles</span></div><div align="center">OOC Topic (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=141555.0)</div><div align="center">Character templates (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=141555.msg6357391#msg6357391)</div><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>This game is canceled, the reboot can be found here (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=143653.0).</strong></span></div><br/><br/><strong>May 23, 2012 – 3:42 p.m. - Research Facility Gamma, New Angeles.</strong><br/>Armed men in hazmat suits run coordinated through the secret research facility, as the toxicology alarms were blaring loudly, the red sirens giving the hallways an eerie appearance. Minutes earlier a colorless and odorless gas had escaped from one of the several the quarantined laboratories, it's high dosage overwhelming several of the nearby research staff, knocking them nearly instantly unconscious. One of the other researchers who saw what was going on had the sense to hit the bio-hazard alarm, alerting the entire base that something had gone seriously wrong.<br/><br/>“Alpha team, seal off those laboratories! Beta team, set up defensive perimeters near all exits! Nothing gets in or out, gentlemen. Now move it!” A seasoned Major yelled, his men diligently following his orders, just as they had been trained to do.<br/><br/>“Bloody hell, it's hot in these suits...” A frustrated Captain cursed, more to himself than to his squad members.<br/><br/>Safety precautions dictated that all air circulation and conditioning units had to be shut down, least any of the lethal gas escaped. As a result, however, the research facility was quickly heating up.<br/><br/>“We got a twitcher!” One of his Lieutenants yelled, causing the Captain to focus on the task at hand.<br/><br/>“Remember, headshots only, it's the only way to put them down,” the Captain growled in his microphone.<br/><br/>A double shot from the M16 followed his order, blowing small pieces of skull and brain off the researcher's head.<br/><br/>“Another one here,” a second Lieutenant yelled, “Crap, it's getting up!”<br/><br/>“Well then shoot the bloody thing! It's not going to ask you out for dinner, damn it!”<br/><br/>A short burst followed, ending the former researcher's life permanently, shortly after his corpse had reanimated itself.<br/><br/>“I think we got them all, Capt-...”<br/><br/>“Jesus Rob, watch out, there is one right beh-...”<br/><br/>“Ahhh!! Get it off me-... -Gurgle-...”<br/><br/>Several marines and their Captain fired at the undead researcher, as he was biting the throat of Lieutenant Rob Jenkins. Unfortunately for the marine, however, their support came too late and his wounds were too bad to save him.<br/><br/>“Sorry Rob, but I'm doing you a favor,” the Captain stated, as he aimed his Desert Eagle at the head of his Lieutenant and fired a single bullet right between his squad member's eyes, putting the choking Lieutenant out of his misery.<br/><br/>“Is that all of them?” The Captain asked with a gruff voice.<br/><br/>“Yes, sir! Perimeter cleared. No other twitchers were found,” one of his Lieutenants reported.<br/><br/>“Good, that was a close call. Let's get to decontamination and out of these damned suits. Drinks are on me tonight.”<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 23, 2012 – 4:18 p.m. - Filtration room, Research Facility Gamma, New Angeles.</strong><br/>For the researchers it had been several exciting minutes, as this was the first time they had seen their chemical weapon in action. The weapon wasn't ready for field testing for another several months and the teams were still working hard on perfecting both a vaccine and a cure for their own troops.<br/><br/>With the situation under control and a minimal loss of four men, the research facility returned back to its normal operation procedures.<br/><br/>By the time the air filtration was turned on again most of the lethal virus had evaporated into harmless substances, however, a small amount still lingered in the air. With the air conditioning on again, the air quickly cooled, stopping the evaporation of the virus. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, since the toxicology filters would detect all harmful air and then heat it to 392 degrees Fahrenheit, killing all lethal substances. However, unknown to the technical staff of the facility, the toxicology filter in the filtration room that was supposed to detect this specific strain of virus, had been damaged after its installation. It was no longer capable of detecting anything, however, since it still gave the right electrical output its defect went by unnoticed.<br/><br/>If the air conditioning had been turned on four minutes later, then none of the virus would have remained, but now the last remains of the virus slipped through the filtration room unnoticed; starting its long journey upwards towards the surface of New Angeles.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 23, 2012 – 4:23 p.m. - Air shaft #4, Research Facility Gamma, downtown, New Angeles.</strong><br/>Downtown was busy as usual, as early commuters were hurrying to catch the bus, tram or metro from work to travel to their homes. Nobody paid any attention to the many air rosters in the ground,  from which one in particular a colorless and odorless gas escaped. It only took the inhale of a single breath to infect a small group of commuters who were standing on top or near the roster, before the last of the virus evaporated, without leaving a single trace behind.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 23, 2012 – 8:17 p.m. - 17 Reno Street, outskirts, New Angeles.</strong><br/>James Reynolds had an annoying cough and a slightly raised temperature. His wife blamed it on him working too hard and putting in too many hours at the office. Unknown to her James had been visiting his mistress and didn't leave her house until slightly after 6 p.m. He had been feeling well today, until he got on the bus several hours ago. He had felt slightly nauseous, but he had assumed it was due to being packed in a bus full of people, like a sardine in a can.<br/><br/>Even being with his mistress didn't improve his mood like it usually did and he became angry when he was suffering from an erectile dysfunction, something which had never happened before, cutting the visit with his mistress short. The damn cough that became increasingly worse didn't help his mood anything either.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 23, 2012 – 9:53 p.m. - 17 Reno Street, outskirts, New Angeles.</strong><br/>James was getting very tired, normally he didn't go to bed until 11 p.m., but he agreed with his wife that it was probably for the best if he hit the sack early that night. Despite taking some cough syrup, his cough had turned from a regular cough to a badly hacking cough. Not only that, he also noticed an annoying itch at his throat, which was slowly spreading over his body. However, no matter how much he scratched, the annoying itch just didn't seem to go away. His temperature had also gone up by several degrees and the damned aspirins didn't seem to help any either.<br/><br/>To get some rest that night, James had swallowed two tablets of Halcion, hoping the drugs would allow him to fall asleep.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 23, 2012 – 10:23 p.m. - 17 Reno Street, outskirts, New Angeles.</strong><br/>The heavy sleeping pills hadn't missed their effect, though James was still coughing in his sleep. Mary, his wife, noticed that he was also sweating profusely. Finding it unusual she wondered if she should call a doctor, however, with James dead to the world it wouldn't do him much good right now. She decided that she would talk James into calling in sick the next day and then visit the doctor with him the first thing in the morning.<br/><br/>Swallowing a single tablet of Halcion herself, she quickly fell asleep. She had started to feel nauseous and there was an annoying itch in her throat that she just couldn't seem to scratch...<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 24, 2012 – 5:07 a.m. - 17 Reno Street, outskirts, New Angeles.</strong><br/>Mary woke up to the sound of James vomiting next to her. She was expecting to find a messed up bed when she opened her eyes and it annoyed her that she had to get up early to change the sheets. During the night her coughing had become increasingly worse and her body felt terribly hot. Slowly opening her eyes, she was greeted by their sheets covered in blood, the sight instantly waking her up.<br/><br/>With a frightened voice, she pleaded, “James, James!? What's wrong with you!?”<br/><br/>James tried to say something, but words wouldn't come out of his mouth, instead he threw up more blood, mixed with something she couldn't identify.<br/><br/>Terrified for her husband’s well-being, Mary got out of bed and dialed 911, calling for an ambulance.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 24, 2012 – 6:38 a.m. - Mercy Hospital, New Angeles.</strong><br/>James was wheeled into the Emergency Room, after having lost consciousness forty-seven minutes earlier. Mary was lying in the bed next to him, after she too started to throw up blood. The doctors were running all sorts of tests on them, but so far they had no idea what was wrong with either of their patients. Their symptoms didn't match any of the known diseases and what little information they had managed to get out of Mary didn't indicate anything unusual.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 24, 2012 – 8:22 a.m. - Mercy Hospital, New Angeles.</strong><br/>Eight other patients had joined James and Mary at the Emergency Ward with identical symptoms. Several other hospitals in the city had also reported patients who were in a similar condition.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 24, 2012 – 2:57 p.m. - Mercy Hospital, New Angeles.</strong><br/>A task force of leading doctors and scientists was put together under the guidance of FEMA, with the  intent to find out what was causing the epidemic. Since the first patient was brought to Mercy Hospital the task force set up their command center there. Meanwhile, Mary Reynolds had lost consciousness several hours earlier. The situation of her husband, now better known as Patient Zero, rapidly decreased, despite the doctors pumping his body full with all sorts of drugs. One of the first things the task force did was compile a list of symptoms and the different stages the disease went through. They tried to find out if they could cure their patients at earlier stages, giving up on the patients that vomited blood. If their tests had revealed anything, it was that those patients were too far gone to be helped by any of the regular medicine.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 24, 2012 – 5:16 p.m. - Mercy Hospital, New Angeles.</strong><br/>More patients were coming to the hospital, the task force decided that it was best to evacuate all uninfected patients to other hospitals, least they get infected as well. Additionally, every patient that was not in dire need of medical attention at the hospital was sent home, to make more beds available for the sick people. At the same time all new patients that matched the symptoms of this disease were gathered at Mercy Hospital. That way the majority of the patients would be quarantined at a single location and treatment could be administered faster if a cure was found.<br/><br/>Patient Zero had slipped into a deep coma, while his body seemed to get eaten away from the inside out. So far the doctors had been helpless to stop the virus from wrecking his body. The task force wasn't a single step closer to finding out what caused the disease or how they could fight it. The only thing they knew for sure was that it seemed to be viral and spread rapidly by bacillus when an infected person coughed. They also found that swapping saliva, or coming into contact with blood from infected people infected new victims and at a much faster rate than when one was infected through bacillus.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 24, 2012 – 6:00 p.m. - Mayor's Office, City Hall, New Angeles.</strong><br/>After having been informed by the lead scientist of the task force, Doctor Hu, the Mayor decided to interrupt the regular six o'clock news with an emergency broadcast.<br/><br/>The American flag stood proudly next to the Mayor, who sat behind his large oak desk. He wiped away the small drops of perspiration that had formed on his brow under the hot lamps. He cleared his throat one more time and then the red light of the camera went on, indicating that he was now live.<br/><br/>“Dear citizens of New Angeles... Today a virus was detected in our beloved city, which is currently spreading at an alarmingly rapid rate. Effective immediately I am declaring a state of martial law. Nobody is allowed to enter or leave the city any longer.<br/><br/>“All flights at New Angeles Airport will be canceled effective immediately and all exits and entrances to the city will be guarded by the National Guard. I am also setting a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., anybody out after these times will be arrested.<br/><br/>“Currently we are unaware of what caused this virus, but we do know that it is airborne. The first symptoms of the virus are coughing and a slightly raised temperature, while in the next phase your skin becomes itchy and the coughing turns into a hacking cough. You will also start sweating profusely. If you noticed any of these symptoms, then I strongly urge you to stay inside, least you infect more citizens.<br/><br/>“I also strongly recommend that everybody covers their mouth with a mouth mask, or whatever else is available. If you do not have to go outside, then stay inside your home. The best way to prevent infection is to avoid contact with other humans as much as possible. A special telephone number will be activated shortly, which you can call to indicate that you were infected. I urge you all not to go to the hospital or to visit a doctor, since they are already flooded with patients and are unable to take on any new patients.<br/><br/>“It is understandable that this is very inconvenient and if it were an option to take less drastic measures then we would most certainly do so, but we all have the duty to prevent this disease from spreading any further.”<br/><br/>The Mayor didn't look pleased at all with the announcements he had to make so far and he could see the cameraman gulp as the message hit home.<br/><br/>Looking straight into the camera, he finished his message with, “More information will follow with the regular eight o'clock news. People of New Angeles, know that the thoughts and prayers of America are with you. Stay safe, have faith and know that together we will survive.”<br/><br/>A few seconds later the red light turned off and the Mayor let a breath of relieve escape his lips. His body, which had stood firm and proudly moments ago, now sacked like a bag of potatoes.<br/><br/>Putting his hands in his graying hair, he muttered, “Dear God... May You have mercy on our souls.”<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 25, 2012 – 3:19 a.m. - Emergency Room #2, Mercy Hospital, New Angeles.</strong><br/>The heart monitor of Patient Zero started to beep irregularly, setting off an alarm at the nurse station. Several doctors immediately rushed to the bedside of Patient Zero, to examine what was going on and to see if they could somehow counter the new situation.<br/><br/>In the past several hours abscesses had formed all over the body of Patient Zero, which now began to leak a dark yellow fluid, which permeated a sickly smell that triggered the gag reflex from one of the nurses. The badly dehydrated body of Patient Zero looked like it was at least twenty years older than his actual age of thirty-four.<br/><br/>As the heart monitor continued to beep more and more irregular everything the doctors were trying only seemed to make matters worse.<br/><br/>“Beep... Beep... Beeeeep....”<br/><br/>“Crap, he's dying. Prepare the defibrillator!” Doctor Hu ordered.<br/><br/>“Defibrillator charged.”<br/><br/>“Clear!” The sound of an electric discharge and smell of burned flesh filled the air, but to no avail.<br/><br/>“Try again!”<br/><br/>“Defibrillator charged.”<br/><br/>“Clear!”<br/><br/>However, the second attempt had no success either... After a long, gruesome struggle, Patient Zero had died.<br/><br/>“Damn it! We're still no closer to what's causing this,” Doctor Hu cursed in frustration, as he swept the sweat from his brow.<br/><br/>After letting out a deep sigh, Doctor Hu ordered, “Alright, tag him and bag him. We'll cut him open in the mortuary and see if we can learn anything new.”<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 25 2012 – 3:26 a.m. - Mortuary, Mercy Hospital, New Angeles.</strong><br/>Patient Zero was wheeled into the mortuary, soon surrounded by several doctors, who were getting ready to perform an autopsy on him.<br/><br/>“Is the recording equipment turned on?” Doctor Hu asked, who was selecting a scalpel.<br/><br/>“Yes doctor, video and audio are running.” One of the nurses confirmed, after checking the equipment one more time.<br/><br/>“Very well, then let’s begin…”<br/><br/>Doctor Hu turned around and was about to start an incision to open Patient Zero’s chest, however, to is utter shock and dismay, Patient Zero opened his eyes, his body lightly twitching.<br/><br/>“My god, it is a miracle…” Doctor Hu stated, a collective gasp of surprise filling the air.<br/><br/>“Mister… Reynolds, how are you feeling?”<br/><br/>James Reynolds slowly sat up, ignoring the doctor completely. His eyes were out of focus and his jaw was making a movement as if he were chewing on something.<br/><br/>“Mister Reynolds, are you okay?” Doctor Hu tried again, finally getting James' attention.<br/><br/>James looked at the doctor with bloodshot eyes, the abscesses on his face and his dehydrated body giving him a sickly appearance. It was almost as if his eyes were glowing red. James was studying the doctor intently for several long moments, his jaw making an increasingly more twitching movement.<br/><br/>“Mister Reynolds, we thought we had lost you for sure. If you could lie down we’ll put you on medicine again and wheel you back to your room.”<br/><br/>However, James didn’t seem to comprehend any of what was said. When Doctor Hu put his hand on James’ arm to force him to lie down again, he made a snorting noise, which made his nostrils flare in defiance. This in turn seemed to awaken other instincts in James. Who now slowly inhaled the air, sniffing the smells around him.<br/><br/>Doctor Hu turned around and spoke into the camera, “Though I have no logical explanation for this, it seems that Patient Zero, Mister Reynolds, is reanimated after having been dead for more than ten minutes. The patient doesn’t seem to respond to verbal commands, but does react to touch. As of right now we’re-…”<br/><br/>“Doctor… Doctor!” One of the nurses yelled, drawing Doctor Hu’s attention.<br/><br/>Doctor Hu turned around and saw how James was trying to get off the bed, not comprehending that the blankets were blocking his legs and wildly pawed at the cloth to rip it off him.<br/><br/>“Well, at least his motoric functions seem to be okay…” Doctor Hu stated.<br/><br/>James finally freed himself and got off the bed, much against the wishes of Doctor Hu, “Mister Reynolds, please lie down on the bed again. We will make sure that you get the best medical attention possible, but we need your cooperation.”<br/><br/>His verbal request, however, didn’t seem to be understood in any way. Doctor Hu grabbed James’ arm, more forcefully this time, which resulted in a low growl from James, who was now staring intently at the hand of Doctor Hu.<br/><br/>For a deadly sick man James seemed remarkably strong and when Doctor Hu pushed him back against the bed, something seemed to snap in James.<br/><br/>With a sudden and vicious strike he bit Doctor Hu in his biceps, ripping right through the cloth of the unfortunate man’s lab coat, leaving a large and terrible bite behind. James jaws snapped shut and he ripped the muscle tissue from Doctor Hu’s arm.<br/><br/>“Argh! Get him off me, get him off me!!”<br/><br/>Two other doctors and a strong orderly grabbed James, but he seemed to possess an inhuman strength and threw one of the doctors off, snapping at another doctor and biting him in the face. The big orderly, seeing that things were quickly getting out of control, threw a heavy punch in the face of James, breaking the man’s nose and throwing him back against the bed, where he laid dazed for a moment.<br/><br/>Instead of hearing him scream or moan in pain, however, he merely seemed to taste the blood and flesh he had just bitten off the doctor, sampling it slowly in his mouth, just as one would do with a delicate piece of meat or a rare, fine wine.<br/><br/>“He bit me in the face!” the injured doctor stated in complete disbelief and shock.<br/><br/>Doctor Hu grimaced, as he examined the bite wound he had received on his arm, while the other doctor was struggling up to his feet.<br/><br/>James seemed to reach a conclusion and swallowed the meat he had just bitten off the doctor’s face, his eyes suddenly focusing with renewed energy on the group of humans in front of him. His dented face was an eerily sight, especially since he remained completely calm, seemingly uncaring about his broken nose and not even feeling any pain. As he slowly stood up, he let out a guttural groan, which silenced all around him.<br/><br/>“What the hell…?” The big orderly asked, as James seemed to focus on him next.<br/><br/>However, before he could do anything else, James jumped on top of him, this time going for the kill and biting the orderly’s throat as if he were a lion that was trying to kill a buffalo on the African savannah. The strong man pounded James on the ribs, undoubtedly breaking several of them, in an attempt to get him off, but it was to no avail. James was unstoppable and no matter how much pain he had to be enduring, or how many bones were breaking in his body, he kept biting and biting, until the orderly bled out.<br/><br/>The other doctors in the room were too shocked at this display of grave violence to do anything more than stand and stare at the scene that was unfolding in front of them. None of them could believe that what they were seeing was actually happening, the scene so unreal that their pain didn’t even register for several moments.<br/><br/>However, when James looked up and turned his eyes on them, fear finally overtook them and they fled the room.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 25, 2012 – 3:41 a.m. - Mercy Hospital, New Angeles.</strong><br/>Doctor Hu and the other two doctors quickly fled from the mortuary, completely forgetting about the video recorder that was still taping the entire scene.<br/><br/>Chaos ensued in the hospital, where most patients were in a fitful, restless sleep. Panic spread quickly when the doctor who was bitten in the face hit the fire alarm, alerting everybody that there was a danger going on. Unfortunately, with the hospital filled to the brim and even patients sleeping in the hallways, the chaos was soon complete, especially as James, who was running after the doctors, entered the hallway and now had a full scale of victims to choose from.<br/><br/>Forgetting about the doctors he randomly attacked the people closest to him, his strength regenerating as he consumed more flesh and blood, until he was finally satiated and staggered around the hospital aimlessly, leaving a wake of gore and destruction behind. By the time he was satiated everybody knew to avoid him like the plague, however, there were still several brave doctors, nurses and fellow patients around that did their best to save the bitten victims that were still alive.<br/><br/>Doctor Hu locked himself up in his office, and tried to clean his wound with antibiotics and alcohol, the stinging pain was nearly unbearable and the skin around his wound was already turning black, signifying that the living tissue was dying due to necrosis.<br/><br/>As he did his best to clean the wound his movements were becoming increasingly irregular, his arm making sudden and uncontrolled twitching movements, until he could no longer concentrate on his task. His thoughts changed from focusing on his wounds, to his family, as he saw his life flash by him. There was also something else growing inside him, an all-consuming hunger…<br/><br/>The feeling was growing stronger and stronger by the minute and eventually pushed aside all his other thoughts, until he could only feel this hunger. However, instead of the juicy steak that made his mouth water, his thoughts turned more and more to the scene that he had seen only minutes earlier. His desires were turning increasingly more to flesh… Human flesh…<br/><br/>And with those final thoughts in mind, Doctor Hu’s heart stopped, his body unable to overcome the virus he had just been infected with.<br/><br/>A minute later Doctor Hu reanimated and slowly stood up again, a crazed look now possessing his eyes. Screams of terrified patients reached his ears, drawing his attention. Only his carnal desires now ruled his mind, leaving room for nothing but basic instincts.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 25, 2012 – 6:01 a.m. – Mayor’s Office, City Hall, New Angeles.</strong><br/>News of what had happened in Mercy Hospital reached the Mayor’s ear, who took immediate action and called in the SWAT teams to surround the hospital and kill everybody who wasn’t acting human. The teams were quickly dispatched, but it soon became clear that none of the patients or hospital personnel were acting quite human. Most were terrified and in a total state of panic, while others, who were covered in blood were surprisingly calm and wandered around aimlessly, seemingly in shock. Yet again others were actively running after panicked people, with a crazed look in their eyes and biting the humans they grabbed.<br/><br/>These were the ones the SWAT teams focused on, quickly finding out that only headshots would stop their attacks.<br/><br/>Unknown to the Mayor, however, Mercy Hospital wasn’t the only hospital that was in a state of chaos. He focused the majority of his law enforcement officers on getting the situation at Mercy Hospital under control and though the majority of the patients with symptoms from the disease had been diverted to Mercy Hospital, it wasn’t the only hospital that housed infected patients. Within hours reports were reaching his ears that similar situations were occurring at the other hospitals, forcing him to split up his law enforcement officers and spreading them across the different hotspots.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 25, 2012 – 11:29 a.m. – Mayor’s Office, City Hall, New Angeles.</strong><br/>More and more reports of incidents were coming in and now it wasn’t only the hospitals that were reporting issues, but also other areas in the city, specifically downtown and the outskirts. It soon became clear that those who were bitten would turn into crazed people themselves.<br/><br/>The Mayor had already called in the support of the military several hours ago and they were now ordered to defend the uninfected civilians, although it seemed hard to determine just who was infected and who wasn’t. Luckily most people had followed up on the advice to stay home and not to go to work. With all the shops closed it saved out on a lot of people going on the streets, which undoubtedly helped to slow down the infection rate.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 27, 2012 – 2:14 a.m. – Downtown, New Angeles.</strong><br/>After people had been ordered to stay in their houses for several days, with nothing to do but follow the depressing news, more and more people became disgruntled and fed up with the situation. Riots and civil unrest where starting to take place. As people’s resources were running out, looting was  becoming more common, even the risk of getting shot when caught didn’t prevent people from going out on the streets, violating the curfew.<br/><br/>As more and more people went to the streets, plunder became a common sight and soon the law enforcement was unable to respond to all the incidents, instead focusing on keeping critical areas, like the power plant, water purification plant and City Hall, from being overrun. Another unfortunate side effect of the riots and looting was that the epidemic could now spread like a wildfire. Citizens who were intent to score some easy items would end up getting bitten and without medical treatment available, they soon turned into a crazed people themselves, adding to the growing hordes. Those who were killed by one of the crazy people would reanimate a minute after death, while those who were lucky enough to escape with their body mostly intact, ended up attacking their friends and family within several hours, after their infection killed them and they reanimated. Until then the plague had been mostly limited to the hospitals, but now the plague also spread over the outskirts and downtown area.<br/><br/>Due to the crazed people running around wild, traffic accidents in the city center were such a common occurrence that they happened nearly every minute, completely jamming the streets with cars. People panicked when a crazed person would jump on top of their roof and would just abandon their car, preferring to run away on foot, rather than waiting for a crazed person to smash in their windows and eat them alive.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 29, 2012 – 1:21 p.m. – Mayor’s Office, City Hall, New Angeles.</strong><br/>Some good news finally reached the Mayor’s ear. Apparently there was a limited supply of vaccines available. Where it came from, or who produced it was knowledge that was kept away from him, but being at the top of the command structure in New Angeles, the Mayor was given a shot, luring him into a false sense of security.<br/><br/>As it was his command structure was barely still functioning. He had lost his chief of police several hours ago due to a group of crazed people, or zombies as they were now more commonly referred to, that had overrun the police’s headquarters. At the same time he had lost many members of his staff due to the virus that they had attracted outside the City Hall. He kept away from them, though they tried to do their jobs for as long as they still could. The military received priority on the vaccine, but it soon turned out that the vaccine wasn’t as effective as they had hoped to be…<br/><br/>Apparently the virus had already mutated, rendering the vaccines and cures mostly useless.<br/><br/>With the situation quickly spinning further out of control, the Mayor gave his final orders to the loyal troops that still carried out their duty and gave them permission to abandon their posts, which was something that many had done already anyway. The amount of zombies was becoming too large to effectively fight off and he recommended survivors to hole up and wait it out. Help would come, but when and from where were details he couldn’t give.<br/><br/>In the days that followed it became clear that help wasn’t coming and that the military would shoot anybody who tried to get out of the city. Survivors had no other option than to hide in the city, as they lost more and more friends and family members every day. Supplies were getting increasingly harder to find, even though they were plentiful. However, with all the people hoarding as much as they could get their hands on and hiding valuable supplies in their houses, it was soon hard to get access to those supplies.<br/><br/><br/><strong>June 1, 2012 – 3:06 p.m. – Downtown, New Angeles.</strong><br/>Three days after the Mayor had given his final orders, large parts of the downtown area had transformed into a battlefield. Zombies were walking around aimlessly in broad daylight, occasionally chasing after an unlucky survivor who couldn’t keep quiet enough to stay undetected.<br/><br/>As long as people didn’t make any sudden movements, uttered any sounds and kept their distance from the zombies, they could actually get around without a lot of trouble. Unfortunately, however, most people didn’t have the willpower that would prevent them from screaming when a zombie so much as looked into their direction, immediately drawing the interest from several other nearby zombies.<br/><br/>There was a strong suspicion among the survivors that the virus had been fabricated, although where and by whom it had originated was unknown. In the midst of all the chaos and destruction an irrational witch hunt was started, that caused many biological scientists in the city their life, even though they had nothing to do with the virus. In fact, throughout these improvised trials no evidence of any involvement was found and those who could actually help with finding a cure, or developing a vaccine, where now hunted for the association with profession.<br/><br/>Several large gangs had formed, but due to the distrust, rivalry and strife for leadership these groups were generally short-lived. They fall apart quickly in small groups of survivors, a process that rarely happened peacefully and resulted in many additional deaths among the remaining survivors. Rape, torture, kidnapping and slavery were becoming more common with the day and generally resulted in the more decent people from shying away from the large groups.<br/><br/>The gang leaders, wanting to control key locations downtown, challenged each other for control, resulting in a short, but very violent gang wars. Ironically, it was the zombie hordes that were drawn to all the noise who eventually restored the peace. Attracted by all the action going on they massively attacked the fortifications of the gangs, either overrunning them or making the defending gang waste so much ammunition that they ran out of bullets, which effectively ended the gang wars only days after they had started.<br/><br/>Other parts of the downtown area had set up neighborhood watch programs, where a local community would help each other survive. These communities were a lot more successful to survive the attacking zombies.<br/><br/><br/><strong>June 1, 2012 – 7:56 p.m. – New Angeles.</strong><br/>Of the population of six million citizens less than twenty-thousand had remained uninfected, while the rest of the population was either dead or undead. These survivors were now trapped and scattered across a city that was intended for a much larger population. With most of them having gone into hiding, only occasionally daring to go outside in search for supplies, it was becoming extremely rare to see another living being outside.<br/><br/>Those who did see others outside were generally wary of contacting them, even though no new viral infections had been detected for weeks. The original infection through bacillus had ceased to be a form of infection weeks ago, when the last of the quarantined patients had died. In that regard the Mayor’s advice of wearing mouth masks and avoiding contact with anybody else as much as possible, had effectively prevented a greater harm and the only way to get infected now was by being bitten and coming in contact with the saliva of zombies.<br/><br/>Several people were slowly making an appearance again on the streets, in search of supplies and fellow survivors, hoping to find a safer location than their current safe house and a way out of the city. Like reptiles, the zombies seemed much more active during day time, making the nights an ideal time for raids. Despite the lesser visibility and greater risk of running into zombies that one overlooked, it was also possible to get a lot closer to zombies undetected. That is, as long as you didn’t aim your flashlight directly in their faces, which would instantly anger them. Other than directly provoking them they were generally much more docile at night.