The End

[RageOfInfinity]

The End
Location: Atascadero, California
Date: October 26th, 2018​

There is mass chaos as an outbreak of a new virus spread. No one knows what it is, only that the government failed to contain it, and that they had begun evacuating everyone 'important' enough. There are rumors of everything from Black Plague, to Ebola, to a zombie virus. There are, of course, a few more solid leads. As it turns out, Max Brooks got it right. A Virus spread which literally rose the dead to feast on the living, but they were far from immortal. With the way it spread, there was no way the American Government could have been prepared, even with the advice provided in the survival guide. The Military abandoned us. Religion has forsaken us. With nothing but our wits, we are now meant to survive...

 

[RageOfInfinity]

lunymoony
AlexneushoornTheGreat
Heyitsjiwon
Pat
We are going to begin now, and I will post here the beginning, and all information you will need for that beginning. We are going to have a post order since we seem to all be in separate time zones. The post order will be like this: Heyitsjiwon , Pat , AlexneushoornTheGreat , lunymoony .

The beginning will take place not in Colorado Springs, as we first said, but in the Charles Paddock Zoo in Atascadero Califonia.

I do not have a character, and am to be seen as the Dungeon Master (if this were a game of Dungeons and Dragons). I'll be describing things as they happen, and it's up to you how you involve your characters in with the story I will be weaving. My part will begin by focusing on a group of students on a field trip to the zoo.

The day was overcast, but that didn't stop the kindergartners of Monterrey Road Elementary from being excited. They'd been anticipating this field trip for several weeks, and as little children will be, they were excited and rambunctious. The teacher, Mrs. Olsen, was struggling to keep them in line. The little ones hadn't known, but there had been a virus which was spreading rather quickly. It had begun on the East Coast, and less than a week later, it had spread to Texas. Despite its rather speedy spread, it didn't seem to affect many people, yet. The Federal Government had been hiding details of what it was, claiming it was some form of rabies, here, but some form of the flu, there. Nevertheless, rumors flew, calling it a zombie virus. Mrs. Olsen had never believed in that sort of thing, though.

The school had almost cancelled the field trip when there was a rumor that someone passing through Atascadero had been infected, but since it was merely someone who had taken bath salts, they were allowed to go. What they hadn't known was that the virus had, indeed, spread to Atascadero, but not through an infected individual. It had piggybacked through a 'corpse' which had been brought from Texas, through California, to reach the UC Davis Med Group (which is a Center for Disease Control base) in Sacramento. Since it was, in fact, a zombie Virus, the route had been chosen to accomplish two goals: Keep it in small towns, and keep it near to the coast. This would be to limit the spread as much as possible if something was to go terribly wrong.

In Atascadero, the infected individual woke up, attacked the driver, and caused the truck to crash on the side of the road, near the zoo. But this hadn't been reported, as it was still several hours before the truck was meant to reach Sacramento, and the driver had been rendered unconscious before they could call in that there was a disturbance. Mrs. Olsen would live to regret not cancelling the field trip... but not for very long...

 

[Pat]

Carter Sutton wasn't in a hurry; he enjoyed the shade and air conditioning the gift shop provided as he amusedly observed Mrs. Olsen's class of kindergarteners move from exhibit to exhibit after they unexpectedly stormed through the entrance. Charles Paddock Zoo wasn't anything special really with all he's seen from his deployments overseas, but he came back regardless whenever he had leave from his unit. It had become an acclimatizing ritual of sorts for him to come relax here after settling in at his place. He wouldn't call himself a troubled serviceman, and he's heard of worse ways Marines readjusted to civilian life with their newfound perspectives, but his visits here never quite stuck right with him until now. Atascadero wasn't home to him. Neither was California, to be honest. But watching the kids from the Monterrey Road Elementary field trip running circles around their teacher made it all click for him. He came here for a sense of belonging, normalcy, and familiarity, if only for a moment. He walked out into the sun, basking in its light and warmth. A while longer and he'll head back. He wasn't in a hurry. No sir.

 

[AlexneushoornTheGreat]

Douglas Ostrowski and his family were at the field trip as well. He wore his sheriff uniform and sheriff hat as he was near his family while they enjoyed themselves at the zoo. Douglas was aware of the zombie virus spreading across America and had brought a crowbar with him in case any zombies would enter the zoo and try to attack the children. But for the time being, he decided to enjoy this time with his family while it still lasted, because soon, there wouldn't be any time for fun family trips anymore.

 

[Heyitsjiwon]

James stood by the entrance of the zoo, waiting. He was supposed to meet someone on a date, but it appeared that his date was running a few minutes late. It was pretty understandable. After all, there was some pretty crazy traffic today for some reason. It was a nightmare getting here even though he planned to get here a bit early. Instead, he got he almost right on time. So, he just stood there... bored, watching the people walk by and the zoo employees working. It looked like a normal day as always, except for the crazy traffic.

 

[RageOfInfinity]

Pat

A little tap came on the Marine's hand, "Mr... could you help me?" A little girl, around the age of seven, no family around (indeed, she had no family. She was an orphan who kept slipping through the arms of the authority, and with the virus spreading, she seemed to have slipped through the cracks). She held a penny in her hand, and pointed at the nearby machine for making souvenir coins, "Can you help me? I'm not strong enough to turn the wheel..." She was small, and unassuming. If she was lucky, the Marine wouldn't notice, or if she was even more lucky (luckier than she could have predicted), he would stick to her like glue. The zombies would be attacking very soon.... and she wouldn't survive long without help.
​

AlexneushoornTheGreat

Meanwhile, Douglas' radio sparked to life. His partner, Joshua, was speaking, "Doug? Doug?! Do you read me? I know you're at the zoo, you'll want to hear this." Based on the subject matter, Joshua needed to make sure it would be Douglas that heard. He didn't want to start a panic. Then again... he didn't have much hope to keep that from happening at this stage. Long story short, shit was about to hit the fan, and no one was ready. Well... not as ready as they needed to be. Not by a long shot. Just as Joshua had spoken on the radio, a gaggle of screaming children (screaming in joy, that is) ran past Douglas, so he may not have heard it. If he did, he definitely wouldn't have heard what was said.
​

Heyitsjiwon

A beautiful, curly haired brunette ran across the parking lot towards James. The girl's name was Jocelyn, and she was one of the most beautiful girls in town, though most people in the college she went to tended to make fun of her for the lisp she had spoken with since she was very young. The other girls were the worst to her, mostly because they were jealous of her looks. In truth, she was also rather intelligent as well, having learned how to listen more than speak, and in doing so, learning to observe, rather than influence. She had accepted James' request for a date for a few reasons: She felt it was time to start looking for a partner (she was about to graduate), he was an ambitious young man, though he was quiet, and kept to himself, and finally: Because he had seen through her lisp, and knew of her own potential. He never mentioned it, and could understand her perfectly (in truth, it reminded her of a childhood crush she had had in elementary school) She wished to be the great woman behind the great man she knew he could become.
"Sorry for being late, James... I would have told you, but my phone was dead..."

The undead infestation was about to begin. It was clawing its way into the zoo from the rear, and no one was the wiser. It could smell the manflesh... the children... the blood... and it hungered so for the taste of that beautiful flesh. The only thing still able to make it feel anywhere close to alive. Sometimes, it could sense... flashes. Not memories. Not thoughts... but flashes, almost the desire to be a thought, or a memory. Alas... it was dead. Its brain was rotten. It's mind was dead. All that was left was the hunger...​

 

[Heyitsjiwon]

"Hey Jocelyn! Don't worry about it. Just glad you made it and nothing bad happened. The traffic was pretty crazy! I think I saw three accidents on the way here." He then heard some kids screaming and turned his head. He saw the kids running around in joy. James smiled and turned back to look at Jocelyn "There must be some pretty cool exhibits! Come on! Let's go in. I already got us some tickets since the line was pretty long." as he pulled out two tickets from his pocket. "Can't wait to see the Red Pandas. They're my favorite animal." James said with a smile.

 

[AlexneushoornTheGreat]

Douglas indeed heard Joshua call over the radio, but due to the group of screaming children he didn't hear what was said. He grabbed his radio and spoke into it. "Come in, I didn't catch that." Douglas called over the radio.

 

[Pat]

Carter looked around for a moment for a distraught guardian or a distressed chaperone desperately searching for their ward before bending down to her level. He wasn't the parenting type by any means, but he didn't see any harm he could do in indulging her request. "You ask, and I'll oblige," he said, offering his right hand to the little girl after he takes the coin in his left and walks her over to the penny press machine, inserting the coin. "My folks didn't appreciate President Abraham Lincoln much either, the man stamped on top of the copper, I mean," he clarified himself as he made a great show of effort in turning the wheel with both hands, voice abruptly faltering midsentence. "Guess you loosened it up for me," he confided to her when he was done, handing the little girl the elongated souvenir coin that popped out. "The name's Sutton, Carter Sutton. You got a name I can know you by too Miss Penny?" Carter asked, "I'd prefer a name given over a name taken, so don't feel compelled to answer. Regardless, we can head into the gift shop to get you your pick of a stuffed animal, and to see if they have any quality concessions, my treat."

 

[RageOfInfinity]

Heyitsjiwon
When he had mentioned the accidents in town, Jocelyn nervously looked behind her (she had passed one of the accidents on the way to the zoo, and had seen a lot of blood, but no bodies. It had made her feel nervous. She didn't know how she felt about going on a date right after seeing that, but said nothing and when she had turned back to Carter, she had a smile on her face: She was ready to go look at some red pandas. Not that any of it would matter. Not with what she would see when they got to that exhibit...

AlexneushoornTheGreat
Joshua spoke through the static once more, "Get your family somewhere safe, ASAP. There was someone carrying the virus coming through town, they crashed, and when we got to the scene, the infected was gone. The crash is about 200 feet from the entrance to the zoo... Just be safe. We don't know what the infected are capable of." While it was true that they knew nothing about what the undead were capable of, they did, however, know that they weren't some superhuman plague carrier, like in Resident Evil or something like that. If they were lucky, they could catch the undead relatively quickly, and prevent an epidemic.

They weren't lucky... but they didn't know that, yet.

Pat
"You talk funny." She said with a giggle, "My name's Sammy!" she seemed to be a happy child, and for all anyone would or could know, she was telling the truth (And she was) but she could also be lying. she had straight, golden hair, and the chubby cheeks of a child. She looked like one day, she'd be very beautiful, and she wore a white t-shirt and capris. Perhaps Carter had forgotten quite how young the child was... for the life of her, she had no clue what half the words he had said meant. That didn't stop her from subtly swiping a crisp ten dollar bill from him while he had cranked the wheel. And he had no clue whatsoever.

The undead were close, now. There were three of them, so far, and their first target had been the zoo. They tunneled clumsily into the red panda exhibit, and unbeknownst to the guests of the zoo (hardly any of them paid attention to the red pandas. They simply weren't that popular), the undead were already feeding on them. Next... would be the flesh of living souls. In the years to come, the zoo survivors would wonder what the world would be like if they had simply stopped the undead before they got their claws on those children...