Of Mice and Men and Zombies (Accepting!)

[Little Bill]

Of Mice and Men and Zombies

<sub>The year is 1934. Franklin D. Roosevelt is president, Flash Gordon has recently been published, and Bran Flakes remain America's favorite breakfast cereal. The Great Depression has sent scores of the unemployed travelling across the country in search of work, filling factories and farms with all sorts of drifters, from former stockbrokers to former bootleggers.

In a small town in coastal Maine, a strain of rabies has mutated into a virus that robs men of their humanity, and turns them into mindless predators with a biological imperative to spread the infection and consume the flesh of the uninfected above all else. This virus is known as "The Red Plague", named for the distinctly red sclera of the infected caused by internal hemorrhaging that takes place during the initial infection.

Our story follows the farmhands of The Tackett Farmstead, and those they encounter.</sub>

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The Setting

Our story takes place in the fictional town of Eastport, Maine. Eastport is a quiet town with few tourist traps or frivolities; Aside from homes, the town has a general store, a bar, a one-room schoolhouse, a doctor's office, a seafood market, and a sheriff's department. It is surrounded on all sides by thick forests, with one paved road to the highway that takes travelers to Portland, which is 30 miles south. Beyond the forests, the town's eastern coast has a craggy gravel beach.

The Tackett Farmstead is about 5 miles north of Eastport, and is owned by, unsurprisingly, Farmer Tackett. The farmstead has three barns -- One is used for stables and storage, while the other two are used as segregated bunkhouses. The Colored Barn is an unpainted grey barn with a rusting roof and sun-bleached cow's skull hung over the barn doors, while The White Barn is red, with a wooden barnstar hung over the doors. Though Farmer Tackett insists on keeping the two separate, the two buildings are mostly called "The Grey Barn" or "The Red Barn", and farmhands of all races can usually be found in either one -- Thirty men live in The Grey Barn, while twenty live in The Red Barn.

The farmhouse is a three story colonial house, painted white with blue shingles and shutters, with a porch wrapping around the building. The Farmer lives here with his wife and daughter, as well as the farmhouse workers, ten women who live in a bunkhouse in the attic, who do the cooking and cleaning on the farm. To stop any "Unmarried Fraternizing", Farmer Tackett is known to fire the men he finds near the farmhouse worker's quarters.

The farm is 30 acres, surrounded on all sides by trees, though there is a buffer of waist-high grass between the farmland and the untamed brush, along with a stone fence wrapping around the property. There is a small pig barn with ten pigs, a goat barn with a single goat, and a chicken coop with roughly thirty chickens that mostly roam around the farmstead, coming back to roost in the night. There are two horses in the animal barn, named Blackie and Brownie, although they are rarely taken out.

Though the farm keeps animals, they are mostly consumed by The Tacketts or sold at county fairs -- Nearly all of the money made by the farm is through agriculture. The farm has a cornfield, as well as five gardens and a small cluster of beehives used for honey.

The Infected

Rhabdoviridae Hematemesis, colloquially known as "The Red Plague", is a highly mutated, hyperaggresive strain of rabies. The first cases being deer, the beginning of the outbreak started with reports of extremely aggressive stags charging at hunters. Originally assumed to be the actions of injured or starving deer, little was done in response by authorities. After about a month of inactivity, reports around Maine started coming in rapidly of riots and grisly murders, all centered around hunting communities.

The virus enters the circulatory system and is quick to manifest itself into the victim, causing symptoms within minutes and full infiltration within an hour. As the virus infiltrates the host, they experience a spasmodic effect. Shaking and or shuddering of the outer extremities in a rapid manner. Following that, seizures and frothing of the mouth will occur as symptoms progress. Copious amounts of infected blood is continually gibbered out of the due to internal hemorrhaging. The last stage is known as "turning", wherein a victim's eyes turn red shortly before suffering a stroke. After victims regain consciousness, they retain only a minimal amount of brain use, and have the same mental capacity as a fairly intelligent chimpanzee.

The Red Plague causes its hosts to permanently enter a primal state of murderous rage with a biological imperative to spread the infection or kill the uninfected and consume their flesh above all else. The infected are reduced to an animalistic state of permanent hostility and aggression, driving them to attack non-infected with no concern for their own safety and no moral inhibitions that could control their actions and behavior. The infected retain the ability to use primitive tools such as sticks and rocks, and can conceptualize simple plans if given enough time.

Adrenaline is constantly being produced and utilized by the infected body, as even days after the change, an infected specimen can perform display extraordinary feats of strength, agility, endurance (especially in pursuit of the uninfected), and ignore wounds such as stabbing, explosive amputation of limbs and even immolation.

While the infected will attempt to bite their victims, it is usually as a means of either infecting or killing them, often by biting into the main arteries in their neck. The infected do not consume each other, and can recognize (and will readily eat) any and all edible food from canned goods to wild animals. Since infected specimens are still living human beings, they can be killed using means that are fatal to uninfected, though they will ignore any wounds that are not immediately fatal such as decapitation or destruction of the brain.

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If any of this has your attention, come check out the OOC thread!

[OnlyThePie]

I'm interested, I'd like to learn more about it before I commit though.

[ClocktowerEchos]

Just want to say that this really reminds me of the BO3 zombies trailer. Most likely not going to be able to join tho, sorry :\

[Athinar]

Interested. I want to see a mafioso gun down the undead.

[Izuriel Steam]

Interest and co-Gee-Ehm Interest if applicable.

I've been mulling around an idea where the zombie apocalypse story starts a few years after the initial infection. That means people have set up more powerful forts than TWD or Z-Nation, for example. Furthermore, it would work fantastically with people who knew enough without being so diluted by technology. What do you think?

If not, I'd prolly not be the best co-GM :P

[Irisity]

Interested

[Wade Wilson]

I hereby pledge interest.

[Little Bill]

Writing the OOC now. If anybody wants to Co-GM (Looking at you Izuriel) hit me up.

[OnlyThePie]

I'd be willing to do it as well

[Athinar]

Personally, I'd prefer it if it started at the beginning of the outbreak, so we can describe HOW the forts were made.

[CAS]

I'd be interested in this too, especially since it's going to take place in Maine which has winters with snow. I do love snow.

[Vahir]

I'd be interested in this too, especially since it's going to take place in Maine which has winters with snow. I do love snow.

@CAS

Maine's a bit balmy for my taste, but hey, I always wanted to RP in one of those southern countries. I'm definitely interested.

Exactly what it says on the tin.
The original group will come from a farm in Maine, and the zombies will either be vintage shambling zombies or 28 days later infected zombies.

@DeadBeatWalking

Shambling zombies, please. With supernatural zombies, we wouldn't stand a chance.

[CAS]

Maine's a bit balmy for my taste, but hey, I always wanted to RP in one of those southern countries. I'm definitely interested.

@Vahir

Call me crazy, but I don't need it to be -100C all the time.

And on my part as well, yes to shambling zombies. Please even, to shambling zombies.

[Durandal]

1930s? Zombies? Deceit, betrayal, and action? Count me in.

[OnlyThePie]

9 Interested people, how are we gonna do this?

[Vahir]

9 Interested people, how are we gonna do this?

@OnlyThePie

At least half the people will drop out in the first week. We can just say those guys were om-nomed by zombies.

[Durandal]

Time constraints will not permit me to participate. Have fun everyone.

[OnlyThePie]

Advance warning, I go away tomorrow at 2:15 EST, and wont be back till late on Wednesday, so I might not be the best choice to co-GM,unless you don't plan to put it up this weekend.

[Little Bill]

Give me some time to work on it.

[Little Bill]

Bumping this back to life because the OOC's been completed.