~Dec. 2, 2043~
It was a rainy day... Just like all the days the bad stories began with. I know. Mommy told them a lot. Father got angry often because of that... Or at least that's what I thought... Older people always underestimate me. Always, every single time. Just because I'm 9 doesn't mean I don't understand them. Grown ups just don't understand, always using their fancy words. 'Fancy', that was one of them. Well, when I was younger. I tried to warn them. I noticed. I saw it coming. I did! They didn't... But now it's too late. Father could have stopped them. He has a gun. I saw it, many times. Mommy didn't like the gun. Father placed it against her head a lot. That's why she hated it. I know that. I am able to understand. They always thought I couldn't. And now they're dead. Because they didn't listen, they are dead...

Tears run down my cheeks, but crying won't safe me now. Playing the grown ups game won't safe me. Pretending I'm just an innocent (another one of their fancy words) little girl won't safe me. I can hear their claw-like hands, that's how father called them right?, on the other end of the door. Slowly working their way in. I can feel my heart beat in my throat. Why? Why me? Why didn't anybody listen? Why do I deserve this? I can hear their breathing. I can hear their hunger, I can hear their claws. I can hear everything. The screams out on the street. I am screaming too. Once I knew there was no escaping, I lost control. I, me, the one who understands, who foresaw, I lost control to the chaos and the fear. And look at me now. A nine years old girl, desperately clamping a bedpost. Crying and screaming like it will change anything. Look at me now, my final moments. How did father call people who gave in to fear? Ah yes, a disgrace.

"Last night block D which is located in Grinï got wiped out in a fire", the newsreader said, "now, for those of you unfamiliar with the block-system, here is a short explanation. If you all look at the diagram behind me you'll recognise our city, Trinea." Behind the newsreader there was a green screen but to the people viewing the show at home on a television the diagram the lady mentioned would actually appear behind her. Then again, most people would still rather look at the newsreader. All work had obviously been put into making her look beautiful. She wore a simple dress, low cut around the neck. Long blond hair, with long, stretched curls till around her bottom. Huge green eyes that, in real life, would have made anyone feel like they could look right into their soul. Perfect proportions, exactly the right amount and kind of make-up.

While every spectator was obviously distracted by the inhuman beauty of the newsreader, the explanation of the block-system continued. "So, every part of the city is divided into blocks with their own name. They start in Grinï with A and end in Trin with GAT", the newsreader spoke. A faint red colour was visible on her cheeks, nobody needed to tell her the dress was a bit too low cut. Then again, that was exactly what the director wanted. Bad news always had to be given by a beautiful face, it makes things easier to deal with and to make it more believable. An entire block destroyed by fire during a rainy night... Yet, the information had come from the government and so it had to be true.

"Hahaha", the man laughed, "a fire? That's what they came up with? That's priceless!" He was sitting on a throne and wore a red cape. Like all of the people in the underground church. "Yes, our plan was a success and this confirmed out operative in the government is still active", another man spoke. "Well, that's good news then", the first replied with a big smile on his face, "hail Zed!" The others repeated after him: "hail Zed."

~Dec. 3, 2043~

~Dec. 3, 2043~

The streets had stopped flooding today, it was unfortunate sadly. Why couldn't it have been flooding on the day of the fire? I had sat alone in my bedroom crying as I thought of the friends who had died. Of course I had shown nothing when I went into Mission Control to sign in and go out on the job...that was my way of peace. I feel fairly lucky to be alone. Maybe peace was dangerous but I didn't mind, all is fair in my love of war.

I walk around on the unforgiving streets of abandoned cities, this was my life, once in a while I pass a cute boarded up street with sign saying No brain dead allowed! and I laugh. It is strangely funny really, those little street towns never last. If you aren't from one of the few factions out there you are as good as dead. I had that problem before, in the days before the cursed and beautiful Grinïs my family had the whole town boarded up...it was dangerous but we ad all managed good lives there. I wonder if the others are still there...we had abandoned them.

Enough of that, my life story isn't important, not even to me...who knows what else could be happening around this crazy world? Something bigger then me, I plan to find it all out too. Stealing is a great way to do so, people have knowledge I need to receive, maybe when I finish I can put all the pieces together and figure everything out. Hell, I could find the cause of this apocalypse faster then the Scientea, I would love to see their reaction to that.

As I carried on through the city I found little sight of the zombies I wanted to see, maybe I should try to go to the outer corners of town? They were full of the undead trying to find the living and mutated trying to break through the overestimated wooden boards that everyone used to board themselves up with.

As I start to move towards the outer slums I can hear the zombies that haven't mutated already, this is where I am on high alert. I feel the hair stand up on my arms and the back of my neck. Brain Mutated were smart enough to hide, I had to keep my wits about me and check everywhere I could unless I wanted to be suicidal.

"MC to Armani. We require a status update. Gen. doesn't expect too much though, the louder it gets in the city, the quieter the brainless. By the way, since we're talking anyway, want to go on a date with me? MC over." Is what I heard on the intercom I had tuned down to its quietest setting. With a sigh I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "I'm on the outer city, zombie population seems steady. I'll head back after some investigation of course. Go jerk off your boyfriend. Stealer over."

Alexia Darkling appeared half a minute later carrying a thick folder. "Ah, Mayor Ellestine, Always a pleasure. Sorry I can't offer you anything right now, I'm in the middle of some rather sensitive research I should get back to as soon as I can. You know how it is, an intern can only look into a microscope for so long. If you'll just follow me I'll give you the rundown on the progress we've made." With the mayor in tow, she led the way down the 'Display Hall' where all the completed projects were displayed in glass walled labs.

As they passed each lab, she explained what it was. "This first project is from our Geological Chemistry Division. They were really excited, though I'm not sure how much help it will be against a zombie." As they watched, a strange device pointed at a chunk of iron started humming, and after a few moments the metal dissolved into a puddle. "The High Impulse Modular Frequency Directed Sound Emitter can be tuned to any solid, and uses sonic pulses do break down the bonds between the molecules. I know that's usually something that should be in the physics labs, but our GeoChem guys insist that anything having to do with matter is chemistry, and we just humor them." The next lab contained an actual zombie in a glass box. "This is our Organic Chemistry Division's project." Suddenly a spray of mist filled the box, and when they could see again all that was left was a pile of black powder. "Project 7, as our lazy OrChem namers call it, is a microbe mist that breaks down and eats any non carbon substance. As you can see, the only thing left of the zombie is a pile of carbon, which we can convert into burnable fuel."

The building smelled of rot and death. The once blue walls were now faded and cracked, no doubt the result of abuse from weather and time. The floor creaked, threatening to collapse onto the many floor below. Beside the doorway lay a pile of corpses. All had a bullet lodged right in their heads.

Victoria roamed around the room. She knew she wasn't allowed in place like these. Zombies lurked around every corner and there was always a chance of the aged buildings caving in. But damn, were these places absolutely fascinating! If the building hadn't already been looted, then there were all sorts of things to find. And if Victoria did get in trouble, she could say that she was just doing her job of killing the undead.

"Yo, Victoria," a voice filtered out of her intercom. "Anything to report? Like a kill or an usual thing? Like your ass? Damn girl, I'd love to hit that. Would please go out with me?"

Victoria grinned. Mission Control. They were almost adorable, the way they acted. Almost.

"Five kills," she answered back. "Me. You. Tonight. 7:30. I'll be waiting, Victoria over." She had no intentions of following along with this plan. All the more reason to humour them.

She chuckled and turned around. Her smile quickly dropped. Less than three feet away, a zombie stood. It staggered and groaned; definitely not an intelligent one. It lumbered toward the girl, letting out a guttural growl. Muttering an "oh shit", Victoria whipped out her gun. She sidestepped before the undead could touch her and fired.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Two bullets in the chest and one in the skull. The zombie groaned before falling to the ground.

Victoria hurried away. No doubt that would have caught some attention.

Alexia sighed, pushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "There's good news and bad news on Project 7. The good news is that the microbes can be grown here, and as long as they get food they'll replicate, so there's never a shortage. Unfortunately, we haven't found a way to get them to STOP replicating, so if even a drop of that substance got out of the lab it would just keep eating whatever it could find at an exponential rate until we burned them all, so it's not ready for field use. We're working on it though, and in the meantime at least we won't have a fuel shortage."

As they reached the end of the hallway and the last two windows, which were both blacked out, she turned his attention towards one. "These two are the results of our best and brightest," she said, "And I think you'll be pleased with the results." As she pressed a button next to one of the windows, it cleared to reveal a room with several different simulated disasters. "This is what we call the 'Emergency Package', developed by our Disaster Prevention Initiative." A man in a lab coat held a bag about the size of a first aid kit. In front of him was a simulated burning building, a simulated flooded river, and a wall with a hole in it. Opening the bag, he pulled out what looked like a prescription pill bottle, opened the top and pulled out a red pellet. He threw the pellet into the fire, and almost as soon as it hit the flames it burst, covering the fire in foam. Moving onto the flooded river, he pulled out a bottle of blue pellets and dropped a few along the edge of the bank. As the water flowed over them, they expanded until they met each other, forming a perfect barricade. At the third test, the broken wall, he picked a bottle of white pellets. Taking four of them, he threw them with some force at the ground near the wall, and almost immediately they expanded to fifty times their size, filling the hole. The man punched the blockage to show it was sound, then left the room. "Those are ready for general use." Alexia said.

Turning to the other window. Taking a moment for dramatic effect, she said "This one is my own project, and what I'm working on right now. May I present the fruits of my labor, Jojo." As she pressed the button, the room revealed behind the glass was almost empty, besides a metal box with a hundred pound weight on top of it and a chimp. Glancing at the Mayor to make sure he got the full effect, she leaned into the intercom. "Jojo, can you get the doll for me?" At the sound of her voice, the chimp perked up, nodding enthusiastically. Loping over to the crate, he grabbed the weight without hesitation and tossed it almost effortlessly over his head. The weight hit the ground with a loud crash, and caused the floor beneath their feet to shake slightly. With the obstacle gone, Jojo moved the box and picked up a handmade doll underneath, taking it to the window to show her. Once more speaking into the intercom, she praised the chimp. "Good work Jojo. You'll have a treat later." Turning the intercom off, she turned to the Mayor. "what do you think of my project? We've had almost a 90% success rate with primates, and it's almost ready for human tests."

I hid in an abandoned. rotten smelling dumpster, I held the top open just enough to see through and I must say that I felt like I was in dumb comedy horror flick because this was insanely stupid. As the zombies-and occasional mutated-walked around outside I closed the top and groaned silently. Why does it always happen to me?

Once again I heard my radio echoing in this stupid hunk of metal. "Still here. Good to know things are quiet out there. Nah, he already did that this morning, it's my turn now and he's out of breath. Require any back-up for the investigating?Over" I nod as if they were there with a hint of a smile on my face as I start to respond, "no-" I was unfortunately cut off. "Armani, new orders from the Gen. Map the area out and locate the major groups of brainless on them. It seems the Defence Force is going to sweep some slums clean. And I know we already have maps, he wants more accurate ones, like where there are stores, usable houses, etc. you know the drill. Also, they want a head count of the zombies. Over." I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed, my elbows hit the metal of the dumpster and it echoed quite a bit, it must have caught some attention because I heard the constant footsteps stop and shuffle around outside.

I couldn't respond, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. "So screwed..." I mutter as I turn off my radio and silently pull out my Glocks as I also unsheathe my brass knuckles, this would end up in a fight. I needed to get to high ground and call for backup there, hopefully that wouldn't be as much as a problem as I would think. I hear the occasional heavy bang on this tin can as a heart mutated with a strong nose walks by. How could this get worse? It really couldn't...

I turned on my radio again and in a last futile effort for help and comfort I started my response. "I need backup, southwest corner of the outer city. They have me surrounded in a...green dumpster graffiti signs everywhere. I think about twenty are here now, not sure how many are in the area but this probably attracted more. When I get back unscathed you are paying me a grand fifty. Stealer over and out." I can't help but laugh as I once again turn off my radio and listen to the rhythmic banging of heart mutated about to feast.

"Neil, there has been a robbery at block FAA, 5th street, house number 12", a person from Mission Control said though a walkie talkie. Mission Control, or MC, is the place where all the reports come in and then they sent them to the police officers who are supposed to be closest to the incident. "No further intel available at this moment. Two other officers were also contacted."

"10-4 Control, I'm on my way. ETA five minutes. Over."
Neil holstered his walkie talkie and took control of the steering wheel with one hand, switching his standard law enforcement vehicle into drive from park with the other. He gently pressed his foot against the accelerator and began to drive towards the address. The excellent weather conditions and quiet roads made for an easygoing drive.

"Hm. A robbery in broad daylight," he quietly exclaimed to himself, "this shouldn't be too much of a hassle."

Within four minutes Neil had made his way to 5th Street and was just pulling up to house number 12. He put the vehicle in neutral and turned off the ignition, leaving his keys in the car as he opened the door to exit. He looked up to the front porch of the household, noticing a man attempting to comfort his hysterical wife.

"Calm down dear. It's over now. The police will get him and we'll get your mother's jewelry back. Don't worry."

Neil shut the driver-side door behind him and casually made his way to the porch steps to introduce himself and get a grasp on the situation. Currently he was the only officer at the scene.

"Hi, Officer Neil Johnson. We've had a report of a robbery and I've just got some questions if you don't mind."

Clearly the woman was in no state to give accurate information, or if she could it would take too long.

"Ma'am, you can go inside if you'd prefer. Maybe grab a glass of water and lie down, I can tell you've been through enough today."

The woman responded with a whimper and a nod, kissed her husband on the cheek, pivoted and went inside the house. The man, slightly bigger than Neil, turned and shook his hand, thanking him for coming so quickly.

"Not a problem. I know you don't want to do this so I'll try to make it quick. When did the robbery happen?"

"We're not sure sorry, we were out when it happened. We came home 10 minutes ago and found the place damaged and a few valuables stolen."

"What time were you out from?"

"Oh we left at about 9am to get some groceries."

"And what got stolen?"

"Uhh a playstation, a tv, but most importantly my wife's deceased mother's jewelry. It means a lot to her."

"Right, and what type of jewelry was it?"

"A necklace and a, uhh, bracelt, and a couple pairs of ear rings."

"Thank you, do you mind if I take a look around?"

"Please, be my guest. Can I get you a drink?"

"A glass of water would be fine, thanks."

Neil took off his hat and held it across his chest as he entered the household and began his search. As he went inside another police car arrived with two other officers inside.

---

[Sorry if I needed to add more detail or anything. This is my first time forum roleplaying so I'm not quite sure what I need to do.]

Renia looked at the woman in front of her and said, her voice hinting a slight annoyance by the whole situation: "From where should I start? From the moment of my birth? From entering the military? From starting my own little band of mercenaries? From the start of the outbreak? Let's just say this, I came from many miles north, tracked around the wall that this country tried to build around itself and finally made it to this city, Trinea. I fought trough hunger, weather both cold and hot, lack of water, lack of ammo and to much of the Z's to even count. I lost so much comrades that I don't even remember all their graves. And call me Snyper, I hate my given name almost as much as the ones which gave it to me. Anything else you wanted to know Leona?"

Victoria

Victoria slipped away from the building. Her footsteps were quiet and her gun was drawn. No zombies were in sight...yet.

"Well, I'll be there", the intercom crackled to life, "new orders from the Gen. We need maps of the area and a headcount of zombies and the bigger groups. I know, not sniper duty, but this is urgent. For some reason the big boss wants to move fast. Another sweep or something. Over."

She raised an eyebrow. Another sweep? Shrugging, Victoria continued on her way. She stopped short of a mile of a large group of zombies around a dumpster.

"Woah...they look riled up. Okay, so there's about..." she silently counted "...seventeen, eighteen, nine- wait, stop moving. Seventeen, eight- wait...okay, screw this."

She aimed her gun and fired, hitting three zombies. Some of the undead turned their attention away from the dumpster and headed towards the shooter.

"Crap," she muttered.

---

Rus

A thin trail of smoke reached towards the ceiling. Rus lightly tapped his fingers on the nearly empty box of cigarettes as his eyes scanned the paperwork before him.

"Here, that cup of coffee your researches enjoy so much", a serving lady entered and placed a cup of hot coffee on Rus' desk. The young man nodded gratefully, barely looking up from his papers.

"How is the research going?", she asked, "and what were you researching again?"

"New weapons," Rus answered simply. He didn't want to reveal too much as it was A.) Mainly confidential and B.) too confusing to talk about.

"Alright, so "brainless" instead of Z's will keep that in mind. I have killed many living things - mostly humans if you want to know. I don't think much about killing things, it is just something I am good at and somehow it ended up being my occupation. I have no problem with orders as long as they are not stupid, tries to cross me or similar bullshit. The last commander which tried to use me as a scapegoat is now missing his head. I will work in a team, as long as the rest of my teammates are component, but I prefer to work in a pair with a spotter or alone if possible," Renia answered the woman while wondering how long she will be dragged trough this thing, her goal was to gain enough money, stock enough supplies and travel to the west where, at least the rumors say so, there was an island completely safe from the the things that those people called "brainless". Hey this was a big city so she might even find a inflatable boat, a reserve option if she finds no boats and ships in drivable condition on the western coast. She waited for Leona's reply ...

Alexia typed in some numbers on a pad. "The emergency package doesn't cost very much in materials, but the production is long and complicated. After everything is done, I'd say one kit costs about..." She looked at the pad again, "$1,542.65. Not that expensive, considering each kit contains three bottles of each tablet."

She turned back to Jojo's window, tapping her pad. After a few seconds, she coughed. "We haven't done trials on humans yet, so I don't know if the Resistant can use it. The problem is that the serum isn't like normal drugs. The effects are permanent. The tests I'm running are on Resistant flesh, so I should know the answer in a few days."

I sit there hoping they received my message and sent help, with a sigh I start to get frustrated. Why wouldn't the mutated just rip this thing apart and eat me already? It was starting to make me think I was wrong, were these just the normal zombies with an interest to dig in the trash?

Then I heard it, a loud and ear splitting bang that told me the heart mutated were still there, it dented the metal and I had to move away to avoid getting stuck in it. Great! This was just great! I had no hope left to tell me to push on, that was really starting to falter. My dream was already ruined now.

I put one of my Glocks up to my head and my finger on the trigger, those brain dead wouldn't be the end of me. I would. I would have knowledge most people didn't, that was what I would leave them to find out if I had to end it.

Victoria

A bullet whizzed through the air, lodging itself into a zombie that wandered too close. The brainless tumbled back. It quickly recovered and lumbered onward before being shot in the head.

"One down," Victoria muttered as she reloaded her gun, "helluva lot more to go."

"Victoria, sit tight and keep your head low", the MC said over the walkie talkie, "we just received a report of a sniper being trapped near you. Surrounded by 20 brainless or so in a dumpster. We want you to support the reinforcements once they arrive. Over."

"Copy that. Really? I guess that explains why there's some trying to eat me! Over." Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

She took down a few close Brainless before skirting closer to the dumpster. Victoria's lips formed a taut line as she saw a couple of Heart Mutateds. She fired at them, glancing worriedly at the dumpster.

"Hang on tight. Reinforcements are coming!" she called.

---

Rus

Rus inhaled deeply, quickly burning out his cigar. He pressed the butt against his desk, forming a new burn mark among the numerous ones already there.

"Oh, what kind of weapons? Laser beams?" the serving girl asked brightly. "Please tell me. I want to know."

The corner's of the researcher's mouth turned up. She sure was a curious one. Maybe a bit too curious...
His eyes lifted from the papers. They focused on the girl, an almost uncomfortably calculating look in his eyes.

"Important weapons," he finally answered, reaching for his coffee.

Renia looked at the woman and said, her voice slicing trough the air: "A nice little screwed-up situation you have here. Now how about you answer a few of my questions in return Leona before I answer?" Snyper changed her tone of voice to a commanding and stern one: "One, is there a still operational monetary or similar system in use inside this city. Two, if the answer is yes then is there a paycheck for those of the Defense Force? Three, if both of those are true is there anything that the Defense Force can offer which is worth more then me going around the city and offering my valuable services to the highest bidder? Fourth, do you have any information about an island in the west which is empty of any "brainless"? Fifth, will I be able to leave the city and Defense Force when I wish so I can continue my journey? That's all for now."

"And you were so promising...", Leona said and sighed. It was as if all emotion in Leona's face and all interest in Renia were suddenly gone. "Renia, I would have loved to answer your questions if you'd have been a little bit more respectful. I'm not just some lowly soldier. Now, I could answer all your questions or I could just kick you out of Trinea. Honestly, I don't really care. You seemed very interesting to me, but then you just decided to start commanding things." Leona didn't even look at Snyper anymore, instead she was inspecting her nails. "Now, would you mind asking me those questions again, a bit more polite? Also, please don't think I'm being unreasonable, the military of the country the current rulers of Grinï originate from would have imprisoned you for what you just did. Was I respectful towards you? Did I do something to offend you? I don't think I did..."

I was still trapped in this freaking dumpster, finally I had had enough. Still though I couldn't move, that would be a disgrace. I would just die if I did. Do not make a move, Armani, Victoria is currently distracting the undead for you, the reinforcements should be there soon." That was her saving grace, god did she want to hear that. "Thank you, thank you. I'll be waiting." I reply with a tinge, and just a small one, of hope still inside of me. The will to survive.

Though I was trapped, though i had no one with me. I wasn't alone. That was the biggest part of this, I had protectors, I wouldn't fall. With my Glock still to my head I continued to relax and breath deeply.

Victoria

Victoria backpedaled as a heart mutated lunged at her. She emptied her clip on it, yet the mutant kept going. The Sniper rolled to the side to avoid her attacker.

"Damn it, Vic", the generals voice sounded through the walkie talkie, "before I even got the chance to give you orders you already engaged? What if there are Brain Mutated nearby? Or a group of Heart Mutated? You could die. Just try to lose them, reinforcements are almost at your position. That's Armani in the dumpster, by the way."

"Copy that." Victoria reloaded. She backed away from the dumpster, yet remained close enough to keep it in sight.

---

Rus

"You never tell me anything..." the girl said. "Oh, I think somebody else needs coffee, byebye!"

Rus raised a hand in goodbye as the girl left. He reached for his cigarettes and pulled the remaining cigar out. There was something about that girl that rubbed him the wrong way. She seemed innocent enough, but you could never really know for sure. He lit his cigar and rose from his chair. Paperwork could wait. For now, he needed to check the weapons and perhaps even that girl.