I N F E C T E D
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M A R C H 2 0 2 1
T H E P A S T
Nobody knew how it happened or where it even started, but that’s how the stories always goes, isn’t it? Yeah, that’s what everyone thought, too. It was just so fucking stereotypical like a cliché Hollywood zombie drama. Hell, some people even thought this was the equivalent of the Orson Welles’ 1938 War of the World’s Broadcast. No one wanted to believe it was happening. Except, the only reason the broadcasting stopped was because there was no one left to keep the transmissions going, and as the television screens went blank and the radio waves fell silent, it was evident this wasn’t one of those stupid hoaxes or misconstrued news stories. This was bloody real. They even refused to call them ‘zombies.’ Instead, the media labeled them ‘lurkers’ to prove how fucking real of a shitshow this was because just about every Goddamned person seemed to have been given a backstage pass to join the cast.
No one was safe.
Not everyone was affected equally, though. The rich and the governing forces had a much easier time than the rest of society. In fact, it would have been more devastating if everyone had been dealt the same fate. At least, that’s what the government claimed. Maybe that claim was just another one of those propaganda pieces being used for control to calm and herd the masses out of the anarchy after the gruesome bloodbath, but not many people cared if it was. All people wanted was safety, and so that’s what the government gave them.
To say America was doing great before the spread of the Lurkers was an huge overstatement. For years, the government had been forcing its citizens to dig each other’s graves deeper and deeper every year. The rich got richer while the poor got poorer. It was a fucking mess, and there was probably going to be a revolt sooner or later. The economy was crashing from another one of those depressions that was unfortunately more devastating than the 1920’s Great Depression. Unpayable debt and unemployment had increased beyond America’s holding point, and before anyone could do anything about it, the world’s most powerful nation was crumbling into shambles just like the run-down infrastructure the taxes could no longer fix.
It was poor governing, that was for sure. There weren’t enough jobs available to make ends meet anywhere. At the federal level, the government wasn’t making enough money in taxes and neither was the government at the state level. In a desperate attempt to salvage what they could, social services were cut. Welfare, Medicare, and Social Security were slashed to focus on the energy crisis and dwindling resources. The birth rate was hitting an all time high, and more people were needing more and more assistance. It was horrible. There just wasn’t enough of anything for anyone, and the inner city grime was pouring into the suburbs like nobody’s business. The only decent places to live were in the walled off or gated communities that only the few rich people could afford.
People thought it would end there. They didn’t think that things could possibly get any worse. But, things can always get worse. They always got worse, and so they did. It all started in Atlanta (or that’s how the rumor goes), three years after the government took its first big hit with slashing social service programs. No one knew what it was, or how it spread. The media tried to get everyone to believe it was contained and merely just a rare happenstance here and there. They did a pretty damn good job, but the ‘isolated incidents’ were getting worse and worse, until these ‘isolated incidents’ were no longer secluded. They were happening all over the place, and the media had done such a good job covering up the damage that no one believed what was actually happening until it was too late.
There was only a matter of time before someone like Jeff Bezos, the second wealthiest man in America, stepped out of his ‘Billionaire Bunker’ acting as some savior to the total chaos and sanguine anarchy ravishing through the nation. He offered to help with funding the military-run Safety Shelters, communities for those in need, or so the government claimed. However, just like everything else: things weren’t the way they seemed.
To say America was doing great before the spread of the Lurkers was an huge overstatement. For years, the government had been forcing its citizens to dig each other’s graves deeper and deeper every year. The rich got richer while the poor got poorer. It was a fucking mess, and there was probably going to be a revolt sooner or later. The economy was crashing from another one of those depressions that was unfortunately more devastating than the 1920’s Great Depression. Unpayable debt and unemployment had increased beyond America’s holding point, and before anyone could do anything about it, the world’s most powerful nation was crumbling into shambles just like the run-down infrastructure the taxes could no longer fix.
It was poor governing, that was for sure. There weren’t enough jobs available to make ends meet anywhere. At the federal level, the government wasn’t making enough money in taxes and neither was the government at the state level. In a desperate attempt to salvage what they could, social services were cut. Welfare, Medicare, and Social Security were slashed to focus on the energy crisis and dwindling resources. The birth rate was hitting an all time high, and more people were needing more and more assistance. It was horrible. There just wasn’t enough of anything for anyone, and the inner city grime was pouring into the suburbs like nobody’s business. The only decent places to live were in the walled off or gated communities that only the few rich people could afford.
People thought it would end there. They didn’t think that things could possibly get any worse. But, things can always get worse. They always got worse, and so they did. It all started in Atlanta (or that’s how the rumor goes), three years after the government took its first big hit with slashing social service programs. No one knew what it was, or how it spread. The media tried to get everyone to believe it was contained and merely just a rare happenstance here and there. They did a pretty damn good job, but the ‘isolated incidents’ were getting worse and worse, until these ‘isolated incidents’ were no longer secluded. They were happening all over the place, and the media had done such a good job covering up the damage that no one believed what was actually happening until it was too late.
There was only a matter of time before someone like Jeff Bezos, the second wealthiest man in America, stepped out of his ‘Billionaire Bunker’ acting as some savior to the total chaos and sanguine anarchy ravishing through the nation. He offered to help with funding the military-run Safety Shelters, communities for those in need, or so the government claimed. However, just like everything else: things weren’t the way they seemed.
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J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 9
T H E P R E S E N T
T H E P R E S E N T
A little less than a decade after the outbreak, and the world is still recovering. Things look different; much different. The Safety Shelters never did look like something that would last a long time, and it was true. They deteriorated quickly, and the epidemic was far worse than anyone could have ever imagined. Even with all the Hollywood fictional warnings, no one saw this much damage happening. The United States had been broken up into eight different zones with several Safety Shelters spread throughout those regions. It wasn’t much by any means. No, it was just all they had, and it was more than starting to show. The Safety Shelters looked more and more like those run down African villages that existed before the ‘Apocalypse’ every day. Rations were getting smaller and served farther apart, and the Lurkers were still out there. It was still dangerous beyond the compounds of the Safety Shelters, and because of this, there were routine procedures called Lurker Drills that people living in the compounds had to perform once a week in case of a Lurker attack.
No one felt safe, anymore, and the people, who were old enough to remember the times before the ‘Apocalypse,’ looked back on those days with remorse for not being thankful for what they had at the time. The government was promising hope every day despite the failing conditions. Each day survived was a day closer to the end of the ‘Apocalypse.’ Unfortunately, survival inside the Safety Shelters, was becoming a luck of the draw.
No one felt safe, anymore, and the people, who were old enough to remember the times before the ‘Apocalypse,’ looked back on those days with remorse for not being thankful for what they had at the time. The government was promising hope every day despite the failing conditions. Each day survived was a day closer to the end of the ‘Apocalypse.’ Unfortunately, survival inside the Safety Shelters, was becoming a luck of the draw.
G A M E P L A Y
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T H E F U T U R E
SURVIVOR | GREASER | LONER | GOVVY
Which one will you choose to be?
SURVIVOR | GREASER | LONER | GOVVY
Which one will you choose to be?
