Fall 2008 - Day 1

Metagame Translation: This was the first day of actual game play, and the Original Zombies really went to town. Between the five of them they managed 43 kills, which snowballed into 91 zombies at the end of the day. Out of 295 total players, we’re looking at an approximate ratio of 2:1 humans to zombies. Veterans like me have seen this before, but not on Day 1. Whatever happens in the next few days will be a bloodbath, and a swift one at that. Our only hope is that the zombies will pick off another 50 to 100 and then start starving. The zombies have some good players, but they have a lot of people who made careless mistakes. We have to use that to our advantage – realize that we still have many incredible humans, and that we’re outnumbering them, and stick their snowball right down their throats.

It rained heavily last night and the comfortable seat on my bike was saturated with water this morning, so I packed it into my van and drove to City 17. I had educational seminars to attend all morning, but I still showed up earlier than necessary. Not just to sip on coffee and greet the sunrise, but also because I had a bad feeling about the day.

Heh. Understatement of the year.

In Magruder I saw a man with wrinkled skin and gashes across his body sneaking around corners. “What the hell is that?” I wondered to myself. Seeing an old friend Kyle Denk, we talked about it and confirmed our suspicions: the “Ebola” virus had escaped again and was hitting City 17. This is what we’d be hired for, though – seek out and eliminate the infected in an attempt to contain the virus.

They’re violent, though. And they have an insatiable desire for those of us who aren’t infected. Throughout the day I began hearing stories from other workers about infected victims attacking soldiers, biting into them, and then those same soldiers later attacking their fellow workers! Were those classified documents really this accurate? In the back of my mind I always had skepticism that I’d have to use my weaponry against citizens of the city. And they’re still the same citizens – they recognized people they knew before the infection and are even capable of speech and motor skills. Are they really the same, though? Does every person have this cannibalistic monstrosity inside of them, or is there malevolence at work?

The infected were not always easy to spot, however. In particular, rumors were quickly spreading about people who looked healthy but were actually spreading their infection. Something about their blood delayed the anatomical symptoms, but the rage and hunger for flesh was still there. I couldn’t trust my fellow workers. I couldn’t trust the leader of my Squad. I couldn’t trust the very workers that I’d seen at my instructional seminar the previous week! I was alone.

So I took matters into my own hands. I stocked up on weaponry and laid low in well-barricaded buildings. I found a pair of scissors and cut most of my hair off as a make-shift disguise. I constantly changed my outward appearance by switching coats and sometimes only wearing a t-shirt. And this worked quite well. I only had to use my pistol once today, and it was against a recently-turned woman between Missouri Hall and Ophelia Parrish. I saw her outside and she saw me inside, so I busted through the door yelling, “Get the hell over here, zombie!” and pointing the Firefly and Nitefinder at her. One shot with the Nitefinder was all it took to knock her down. I retreated into Ophelia Parrish quickly.

While there I found a room wherein I could watch all activity on the Quad, providing an eagle’s-eye view to friends who had to get back to Missouri Hall. At this point I was still weary of humans. But there were some gruesome ambushes in that grassy field. One man was carrying an instrument in one hand and a sniper rifle in the other – one zombie followed him at a distance and then three more came in for the rush. He didn’t make it out. Not 30 seconds later, a woman with a large leather trench coat came from Baldwin walking toward Ophelia Parrish. A zombie sprinted from behind and sunk his teeth deep into her neck.

I recounted these tales in the cafeteria to some other humans (by this time I was sure of who the infected without symptoms were), eating quickly so that I could sneak through the city to Magruder Hall for evening meetings. I moved as a shadow – MO Hall to BNB to Violette to Magruder, weaving through hallways, ducking through entrances. Walking past Violette there was a miraculous sight – a human resistance, marching through the city and eliminating the infected. There were bodies in their wake. Not wanting to be outside long, I quickly waved to them, but I feel as though I can trust them. I was glad to see that my old friend Jason Marth, their leader, was still alive and well.

There were zombies around Magruder and my meetings were no longer safe. I met with 3 other humans outside of the ACS meeting and we decided to put our full trust in each other and get across campus. Magruder to Missouri Hall, taking back roads, going around dorms, and cutting through fields. Among these men was Blake Mueller, someone who was just recently hired by Syrner. However, this young man has a lot of talent and a lot of spunk. I have total faith in him when he says he has my back, and I hope to see him again soon. I was able to get to my van, the other two got to Missouri Hall, and Blake snuck back to the West Campus Suites by himself. I offered him a ride from my off-campus location to another so as to eliminate unnecessary walking. He said, “Now that wouldn’t be as fun, would it?” I smiled, wished him good luck, and started my engine.

It’s after 1 am now. People still in the city have reported that all the infected who previously showed no symptoms are now fully zombified. The leader of the Nightcrawlers, Nate Klessig, was not one of those infected (contrary to the beliefs of many). However, that still leaves only a few members of the squad and (at last count) 96 of our original 295 workers infected. 32.5% of our workers, in other words.

OP, the mysterious messenger from the previous night, is alive and well. They’ll send word to the humans at some point tomorrow, and hopefully we can meet up with this person and find out what they know.

The infection is spreading quickly, and we need to find a way to stop it soon or else it will take us all.

Until next time, this is John Mohr.