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Futuristic Panspermia (Sci-Fi Zombie Apocalypse)

Protagonist

One Thousand Club
My plot takes place in the year 2200, 150 years after the collision. A giant comet had crashed into the east coast of the United States, destroying much of New England. However, the true terror that came from the comet was not the comet at all, but a pathogen carried on it.


The collapse of society was a very slow process. Some cities fell within just a few years of the initial outbreak. Many groups of people living in the earliest of destroyed places now live in small communities similar to old, hunter-gatherer tribes. Even after most of the army was wiped out, and most of the federal and state government leaders went into hiding, some individual cities tried to do their best to hold together. However, even those have now fallen.


As for the world, it would have the look and feel of I am Legend, but would have approximately fallout-level technology. Sentient robotics, genetic engineering, and powered armor are now very real things.


The zombies come in multiple forms (some scarier than others). They have superb regenerative properties, but are slowly weakened by sunlight. They don't need to eat, but they do need to consume blood. There are zombie cannibals, but it's very rare. It requires blood contact in order to catch the disease. Consuming zombified flesh doesn't spread the disease (it is still cannibalism, if the zombie was previously human). There are in fact, animals that have made a habit on preying on the undead...though zombies are not easy prey.


Most zombies can be 'killed' by mostly anything that would kill a human, but the problem is that they can still regenerate. For example, if you smother a zombie to "death", it will collapse on the ground and stop moving for a short time, becoming somewhat indistinguishable from a regular dead body...and then it will reanimate seconds later. Injuries like shooting it in the chest will take longer for it to regenerate. In order to permanently kill a zombie, you have to destroy a certain part of its brain.


Zombies have seemingly no emotions, and do little more than hunt prey. A "normal" zombie kept in a locked room, away from prey, will usually collapse on the ground and 'deanimate' and then reanimate again when prey comes closer. They do seem to be aware of pain, but are not deterred by it. Their response to damage is simply to attack whatever damaged them. Zombies attack anything that moves that isn't another zombie, including machinery and animals. Zombies consume any non-reanimated flesh that they find, including deceased zombies. Zombies, however, usually don't eat human prey other than possibly drinking its blood-they simply bite them a few times and then move on. Zombies do not normally attack each other, though it's not unheard of either. If two zombies bump into each other too hard, for example, they might consider that an attack and proceed to fight. They also occasionally fight over food.


Animals that contract the plague will die, and occasionally reanimate, though reanimation isn't as common as it is in humans. Likewise, young children don't reanimate (however, they die of the disease very rapidly). Reanimation is for ages 13 and up!


The disease: It's (usually) spread by your blood coming into contact with a zombie's bodily fluids (saliva or whatnot). It can also be spread by living infectees. Infected bite wounds do not heal. Also, chopping off a bitten limb does not help a bite victim, so don't try it. Common symptoms are:


1. Lightheadedness


2. Depression


3. Coughing


4. High fever


5. Vomiting


6. Foaming at the mouth


7. Pale skin


8. Dementia


The disease is uncurable, however, it is not 100% lethal per say. By pouring extra food, water, and medicine into somebody, they might very well live a full life. In the unlikely even they survive more than a couple weeks, the symptoms start to die down and the disease becomes dormant. However, when they do finally die, they'll become a zombie if their brain isn't destroyed.


Animals have overrun the cities, including clones of extinct animals created for research.


Our story revolves around a single group of survivors inside a recently-fallen city (Salem, OR) who decide to 'team up', using their various skills to try and stay totally safe from the zombies that want to gobble them up. It will focus on things like gathering resources, hunting animals, fighting off bandits, reinforcing our hideout, and of course, fending off the hordes at night. We do not necessarily stay in the city of Salem, however. We can leave if we manage to get our hands on a vehicle capable of driving us away. I for one, think that going to DisneyLand Resort would be awesome.


A thing that I want this RP to emphasize is division of labor, where people have different jobs in maintaining our not-deadness. For example, a hunter might have a bow and try to keep us fed, where as an builder might have a hammer and try to make sure our fortifications are good, or a cop who carries a handgun and tries to keep us protected from bandits and such.


___


Victory Conditions: There are a few ways we can 'win' this RP. They are not mutually exclusive, and we can actually get all of them if we try hard enough (though this would put our characters at great risk). However, sometimes we will have to choose which one to devote the most resources to. Our characters wouldn't necessarly be ICly attempting to accomplish these goals, though they would factor into their general philosophy.


-Escape: Your character wants to get the flip out of Dodge. Maybe we could find a boat or something? Maybe there's a safe haven somewhere? Who knows! Anything is better than here, right?


-Cure: Your character believes that curing the disease is possible (Spoiler: It is). As such, they'll be the one insisting on capturing 'live' zombies and doing experiments on them in order to find a cure. You do not need to be a medic in order to have this goal; though it helps a lot to at least know one.


-Conquest: Your character perceives survival as killing zombies and bandits. If we could just find better ways to fight against the zombies and bandits, we could, theoretically, push them back and rebuild.


-Attrition: Your character's goal is to build up resources, until eventually, they don't have to worry about survival anymore. This is the general mentality of a character like say, Lily from Walking Dead.


-Contact: Your character wants to seek out other survivors. Maybe there are other camps they could network with?
 
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DAY ONE: 8:00 AM


Lewis stood in the parking lot of the church building he'd been staring at, with his police radio in hand. Sure, it was a bit of a waste of electricity, but he needed to contact other people. The police had long since stopped responding to his calls, and he didn't want to feel alone. Unfortunately, the radio had broken, somewhat, and it had a very short range. Then again, maybe that was a good thing-bandits occasionally had radios, too. Luckily, they mostly kept away from him, as they figured there was no way one guy would be packing lots of recourses. They mostly went after groups or people unlucky enough to cross paths with one of their 'patrols'. Stay in your own building, on your own, you're usually safe from them. Unfortunately, the benefit of staying groups and wandering about often outweighed the dangers of the bandits.


"This is Lewis Smith, living in a church building on Hilfiker Lane. If you are in the area, please respond. This broadcast will repeat itself every morning. I will continue being here from 6:30 to 8:00 AM"
 
Another Police Officer, Drake Kang, picked up the transmission with his Radio. However, he had to keep it low because he stumbled into a den of bandits. Because he had an Ammo Shortage, he refrained from using his firearms and stuck with Hand to Hand Combat. Or just use the Enemy's own weapons against them.
 
The bandit camp was exactly what it sounded like: about 3 tents all set around a fire made from newspapers and books. There are about 5 bandits in the area. One carries a shortbow, another carries a single shotgun, one carries a baseball bat, and two carry switchblades.


Suddenly, they hear something. They all jump.


"Hey man, did you hear that?" said the baseball bandit.


"Yeah, man. Sounded like a radio." said one of the knife guys.


The shotgun bandit said "Alright, Billy, Clyde, you go inside the main tent. Make sure nobody fucks with our stash. The rest of us'll stand guard. The boss wasn't too happy last time, so let's not screw up again, ok?"


The bandits obey his orders. The good news is that they're currently more concerned with protecting what they've already stolen rather than attacking anybody.
 
John, who was raiding an apartment at the corner of Hilfiker Lane and Woodpipe Avenue, suddenly heard static and a voice coming from his grandfathers radio.


"That thing fucking works!?" He said startling a nearby crow.


He slowly took it out of it's holster and held it in his hand, all he could here is, " ~Static~ Smith, living ~Static~ church building ~Static~ Hilfiker Lane. ~Static~ you are ~Static~ please respond. (Radio Cuts out)".


John now being extremely excited to hear a friendly humans voice quickly pressed the button on the top right of the radio. Only to hear a small ~click~ "God Damn it!" He again said a little too loud, "Batteries are dead."


John feeling very aggravated at the radio, grab all of his gear. He then ran out of the building and looked at a street sign realizing he was on Hilfiker Lane. Now extremely happy started looking for a church building.
 
Lewis saw a man running towards him. He was wearing, of all things, paintball gear. He held up his hand in a "stop gesture". He didn't look like a thug. Thugs usually wore some kind of gang sign if they knew they could shoot you.


"You don't work for one of the gangs, do you? Just being cautious." he asks. "Also, you haven't been bitten, have you?"
 
Realizing that the Bandits were on the lookout and got vigilant, Drake decided to sneak out and attempt to find his way to the Church. While sneaking out, he ended up tripping over a bucket and made a loud noise. "Shit..." He then made a break for it.
 
The bandits hear it again, and the shotgun guy fires his shotgun somewhat indescriminately. However, since shotguns have poor range (and he was barely even aiming-it was more of a warning shot) the shot misses. His friend starts yelling at him a little.


"You want to waste all our ammo?" he says.


...


Behind him, he sees another cop show up from behind. Lewis perks up and says "Hey! You a cop?" He flashes his badge. "I'm Detective Lewis Smith. You know this guy, officer?"
 
John stops and stumbles forward from the momentum. He see's a man who has the stature of an officer. "No I'm not with any of those gangs" He quickly responds realizing he asked another question, " and no I haven't been bitten".


He loosens up a bit because of the 1st question, which obviously meant this man was not with one of those gangs either.


"Were you the one the radio?" He asks raising up his Grandfather's Radio.
 
Lewis says "Hm. Well, if you were a bandit, you'd be claiming to be lost by now. Or your friends would have showed up to take this place. Yeah, I was the guy with the radio. You can come closer, now. What's your name? I'm Detective Lewis, as I said."


He then turns to Kang. "Same question. You bitten? I don't have the resources to be taking care of any bite victims."
 
Jackie padded along the way towards the church building, his kitten in his backpack, its head sticking out slightly. He held his baseball bat in his right hand, eyes wide, looking around for enemies. Upon hearing voices ahead, he hurried to hide. He peeked over his cover sneakily, and saw three men conversing with one another.


"Whaddya say, Ez? Think they're badguys?" The cat 'mew'ed softly. Jackie turned his head back to them, then ducked down. "What if one of 'em's bitten?" he pondered to himself. "I don't think they have guns. Right?" He checked again. "Well, only one way to find out." He sneakily vaulted over his cover and crept towards them, ever ready to knock them out with a blow to the head from his trusty baseball bat.
 
Melrose had fallen asleep and jerked herself awake. She heard shuffling again.


"Not another dead beat loser..."


She grabbed her lead pipe and walked slowly and quietly to the door, which for her wasn't a problem. She stopped slowly.


"Might as well pack things up first."


She set about packing the few belongings she had. Two sets of clothes, her medical supplies and the picture of her family. She smiled at the picture and put it in the bag between the clothes, so it wouldn't break. She turned back to the door and slowly made her way to it. Slowly, she pulled it open, and poked her head out. At the end of the hall she noticed a walker shambling away from her. It was only one, maybe she could take it out and make a run for it. She thought better of it and headed the other way, toward the stairs. She made her way down the three flights of stairs and out into the streets. She looked up at the sign. She was on the corner of 1st and Francis. Left or right she thought. She decided to head right and hopefully run into some one still alive.


She walked as fast and silently as she could. She hid in a dark alley way from bandits. God knows what they would have done to me. She thought frightfully. She waited another five minuets before she left her hiding spot. She continued her walk until she came upon a sign marked Hilfiker lane. "Looks safe enough I suppose..." She slowly walked toward the men standing outside. "Um, Hello gentlemen, I don't suppose you could aid a young women in distress?" She asked with just a hint of a Southern accent. She decided charm would probably work better in this case.
 
Lewis sees yet another person approach. At this point, he's simply stunned.


"I never thought so many people lived within walking distance of me! I should have activated that radio long ago."


He laughs and says "As long as you don't work for a gang and haven't been bitten, I'll help you out."


He does not see the kid sneak up on him.
 
Suddenly, the cat leaped from Jackie's bag and scampered over towards the group. "Ezra! No!" the kid whispered to the feline, scrambling to grab him before the people noticed. He snatched the kitten up in his arms but dropped his baseball bat. It hit the cement with a rather loud clank, and Jackie cringed.
 
She showed her arms and legs. "No bites here. And do you know what Bandits do to young women. She pointed to her person. No bandit patches either." She turned toward the sound of the clunk, pipe in hand. "Hm, it would appear we have an other visitor as well." She slowly walked to the dumpster. She peeked behind it. "Hello, little guy, what a cute kitten. Come on out now." She extended her hand to the boy.
 
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"Well, Lewis I have to agree with you, I did not think that there was this many people ,who didn't want to kill me, around here." John looks around at all of the other survivors counting 3 but he notices a child and a small cat, " Well I might as well as introduce myself, My name is John, I was a Professional Paintball player before -this- happened." John extends a hand to no one in general offering a hand shake.
 
Melrose turnsed to the other gentlemen. "I'm Melrose, I was a nurse." She Extended her hand to John. "Pleasure to meet you Sir." She hailed from Kentucky, and her mother ad raised her to have manners, respect and to always be polite, when the situation called for it. Other wise her mother had taught her to watch her back and tread carefully.
 
"Nice to meet you, Melrose." He shakes her hand and turns to the child, "Now who are you, young man?" He again extends his hand offering a hand shake.
 
"I'm Jackie." he replied, ignoring the man's hand. "This is Ezra." he added, gesturing to the kitten by his side. He examined the group. "Are you guys gonna turn into zombies?" He sniffed and rubbed his nose with the back of his arm. "You're not bad guys are you?"
 
Melrose laughed. "No, I don't think any of us are bad. But the bandits I saw earlier are, I think we need to get inside somewhere safe." She looked to the other men. "Is there a safe place we can take refuge Sirs?"
 
"Bandits?" Jackie raised his eyebrows worriedly. He glanced around at the other men and held Ezra closer in hopes the tiny kitten would somehow be able to protect him.
 
Lewis turned when he heard the bat drop, and he looked at the child behind him. He took no particular qualms with the kid's presence. The child introduced himself as Jackie in short order.


Lewis said "I'm detective Lewis Smith. Pleased to meet you."


Melrose introduced herself as a medic. Lewis said "A medic? That's great!"


People with medical experience were very useful in this day and age. Melrose asked if he had enough resources for them all. He said "I think so. Here, let me check..."


He walked towards the front of the building. A clipboard was hanging on the front wall. He said "We have 90 units of food, and 90 units of water, and 50 units of electricity. We also have 2 doses of over-the-counter strength regenerative pills, and some of plywood." He then comes to a conclusion and says "We have exactly enough food and water to last this entire group 2 days."
 
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"Oh." the kid whispered, looking around. "I don't eat much," he suggested. "I'm smaller than you guys, so you can just take off a little bit. And don;t worry about Ezra, he can just share with me."
 
Lewis chuckles. "Kid, don't try to skimp out on eating. You're still growing. Besides, I can't give you a smaller portion AND expect you to share it with your cat."


He turns to the rest of the group. "Sorry about the lack of resources. I wasn't expecting so many people." He then has an 'ah-ha' moment and speaks up again "You know what? I bet a group this size working together, if we coordinate we can probably find all the resources we need."
 
"Lewis that is a great idea, I am not the best at scavenging," John starts thinking a little, "Could you think of anything I could do to help?" John looks at his surroundings, noticing the church in a somewhat run-down state. "Maybe I could help defend our little "base" or I could help you build extra defenses."
 

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