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Dead Zone
Introduction & Background
Dead Zone is an online story i've decided to try out, set in a post-apocalyptic earth and centers around, New York in the year 2075 where humans struggle to survive against hybrid zombies after the human race was almost wiped out after an underground fusion experiment went wrong in an effort to try to meet the ever demanding need for energy and fuel after oil ran dry.
Shortly after oil reserves ran dry, the stock markets went into a freefall sending the politicians into a frenzy as currencies we know today began to collapse, one by one and nobody coming any closer to a solution. All the political bickering and ineptitude inevitably lead to mass riots and sporadic civil wars and a resolution was passed heralding the creation of the General Council, governing all countries under one single body and set of laws. This story is set a few years after the formation of the General Council, I hope you enjoy reading it .
Chapter I: The Dead Zone
It was a Thursday afternoon in the security conference centre in what was left of downtown new york, where an emergency briefing had just been called after the hybrid zombies had begun pushing further towards the city in the search of energy to feed on. Professor Gavin Findhorn, C.E.O of the Findhorn Foundation was standing at the podium, ready to address the security officials and CORE Operatives in attendance. The Findhorn Foundation are currently the leading specialists for research and development on the outbreak and manufacture many specialist weapons and technologies specifically designed for use against the hybrids.
The Professor cleared his throat as the lights begin to dim and the hustle of the pre-meeting discussions and shuffling about began to quieten. The Foundation logo could be seen on the screen behind the Professor as he leaned towards the microphone “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, thanks for coming on such short notice but time is short and we have to get down to business.” Findhorn taps towards the screen with his finger, bringing up surveillance pictures of one of the hybrids. “Now until recently there has just been two known stages of the outbreak.” He taps seemingly in mid air towards the screen again as he continues, bringing up the different stages. “We start with stage one, the initial infection which can be passed on through open wounds or via the transfer of saliva. The victim is likely to experience nausea, headaches, high fever, photo sensitivity, aggressive behaviour and a change in skin pigmentation as the infection spreads through their system”.
The Professor pauses to take some of his water before moving to the next screen “The next stage is metamorphosis, now this is when the really interesting stuff happens. By now their strength will have increased tenfold and they will be able to see in the dark, as well as any of us can see during the day. Their senses will all be heightened and pretty soon they will be displaying some impressive regenerative abilities amongst several other significant changes.” He pauses briefly to scan around the room and then taps towards the screen again “By this stage of the infection, victims won't be able to remain out in natural sunlight for very long, due to their acute photo-sensitivity so won't go out unless they have to. During the day they will enter a regenerative cycle much like we do when we sleep at night but on a much higher scale”
He clears his throat as he moves onto the next screen “The third stage of the infection, previously unknown, is called Necromorphosis. As the title may suggest, necromorphosis is a process in which the body undergoes significant transformation and development after death occurs meaning the victims body becomes a host for the infection. In laymans terms, they become the undead.”
A distinct eerie silence fills the room as General Anthony Falkirk, Commander and Chief of the Command and Operational Response Element otherwise known as CORE, loosened his collar. The mere mentioning of the word 'undead' was sending hair tickling chills up the spines of him and many of the other hardened military veterans present in the room, many of whom could be seen shifting uncomfortably in their seats.
The deathly silence was broken only by Professor Findhorn as he continued his briefing, evidently taking an untold pleasure striking fear into these experienced men and women. “Intelligence on this later stage is scarce at best, which is where you guys come in. General?” The Professor coughs to get General Falkirks attention, who was busy making light comments to one of his associates. He stands up out of his seat, removing his hat as he steps up to the podium and clears his throat. “Alright, listen up kids.. these hybrids, undead, zombies, whatever the hell you want to call them are advancing in on the city and I sure as hell dont want to end up as lunch. CORE will have two objectives, one primary and one secondary. Our primary objective is providing support and defense to the city and it's civilians. Our Secondary objective will be to study zombie movements, behavior and activities whenever possible but remember, human life comes first.” The General pauses, clearing his throat, glancing briefly at Professor Findhorn before he continues. “Now, I believe the Professor has some new toys for you kids to play with.”
General Falkirk turns his attention to Professor Findhorn gesturing to him with his palm. Professor Findhorn, being a man who takes pride in his work isn't too pleased to hear his months of hard work being referred to as 'toys' and sends a brief glare in General Falkirk's direction, stuttering somewhat as he begins talking “Well.. I.. I wouldn't exactly call them toys, they're highly sophisticated pieces of technology. We'll um.. start with your new weapons, The Tactical Energy Weapon.” The Professor brings up a holographic display of the weapon and pulls out a recreation of the device, seemingly from the display itself holding it in his hands, seeming as real as flesh and bone. Without warning Professor Findhorn suddenly discharges the device randomly around the room and into the rows of people, sending waves of what looks like blue energy around the room which disperse harmlessly into whatever they come into contact with. Naturally, this unexpected behavior sends scores of people scrambling for their weapons, some leaping over behind their chairs for cover. After discharging the device, Findhorn adopts a neutral posture holding the weapon down to his side as Falkirk stands with his weapon drawn, staring at him in utter bewilderment.
“Are you out of your tiny, pea brained little mind? What the hell do you think you're playing at fooling around with that thing.” The professor stands there smirking, scoffing at the remark before addressing the panic stricken audience “Forgive the somewhat unorthodox demonstration but what you just saw, is Artificial Particle Simulation. This weapon might look real but it's just a simulation, like a hologram but better and of course, completely harmless.” With that came several sighs of relief and disgruntled groans as people began to return to their seats, muttering amongst themselves with a few coarse words being uttered. Professor Findhorn waits for people to return to their seats before continuing with his demonstration “The Tactical Energy Weapon fires electro magnetic energy discharges and just by aiming it at your target, it can find out what its target is, its mass, relative position, speed and calculate the optimal amount of energy to use all in a split second. We've found that most of these zombies are susceptible to electro magnetic interference due to their sometimes, unorthodox feeding habits. So your Tactical Energy Weapon should immobilize or kill most of them.”
Findhorn holds up another small device, about the same size as an early 21'st century mobile phone. The device looks sleek and has a gesture operated display on the front with the controls. He takes a sip from his water before continuing “This, ladies and gentlemen is a null field generator. As you know, we all have an electro magnetic fields of varying different degrees and the zombies are highly sensitive to any energy fluctuations, for example if there's a group of people sheltering where previously there was none the zombies will likely pick up on this increase in energy and move towards that area. The null field generator effectively masks this energy, allowing the wearer to move fairly freely around problematic areas without attracting their attention, they may even completely ignore you as if you're not even there. One important thing to note though, these wont be effective on anyone with the initial stages of the infection. That concludes my briefing”
General Falkirk nods towards the professor as he takes a step or two further behind the podium area “Thankyou professor that was very.. informative.” Falkirk waves towards the screen, bringing up a digital map of the city which seems to have been divided into several sections. “Effective immediately, the city has been divided into 4 zones. Zone 1, this green area is Considered safe and highly populated by civilians and military personnel being based here. Zone 2 the area highlighted in yellow, is Reasonably safe with regular patrols by CORE personnel but problems are possible. Zone 3 the orange area is mostly civilian controlled, the crime and infection rate is fairly high here due to frequent zombie attacks. The final zone, this large area highlighted in grey is called The Dead Zone and is strictly off limits to all non-military personnel without explicit authorization. The dead zone is absolutely infested and massive hives have been reported. A hive for your information, is a basically a large group of zombies centred around one particular area. They seem to like lurking around the old warehouses and commercial premises, this is where your null field generators will come in handy. Do not engage these hives without the proper backup, most importantly keep your eyes and ears open out there and get your asses home in one piece. You will receive your orders on your way out, now get the hell of out of my sight.” With that the officials and operatives begin to file out of the room, most talking or laughing amongst themselves, with operatives being handed yellow manila envelopes on the way out.
Introduction & Background
Dead Zone is an online story i've decided to try out, set in a post-apocalyptic earth and centers around, New York in the year 2075 where humans struggle to survive against hybrid zombies after the human race was almost wiped out after an underground fusion experiment went wrong in an effort to try to meet the ever demanding need for energy and fuel after oil ran dry.
Shortly after oil reserves ran dry, the stock markets went into a freefall sending the politicians into a frenzy as currencies we know today began to collapse, one by one and nobody coming any closer to a solution. All the political bickering and ineptitude inevitably lead to mass riots and sporadic civil wars and a resolution was passed heralding the creation of the General Council, governing all countries under one single body and set of laws. This story is set a few years after the formation of the General Council, I hope you enjoy reading it .
Chapter I: The Dead Zone
It was a Thursday afternoon in the security conference centre in what was left of downtown new york, where an emergency briefing had just been called after the hybrid zombies had begun pushing further towards the city in the search of energy to feed on. Professor Gavin Findhorn, C.E.O of the Findhorn Foundation was standing at the podium, ready to address the security officials and CORE Operatives in attendance. The Findhorn Foundation are currently the leading specialists for research and development on the outbreak and manufacture many specialist weapons and technologies specifically designed for use against the hybrids.
The Professor cleared his throat as the lights begin to dim and the hustle of the pre-meeting discussions and shuffling about began to quieten. The Foundation logo could be seen on the screen behind the Professor as he leaned towards the microphone “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, thanks for coming on such short notice but time is short and we have to get down to business.” Findhorn taps towards the screen with his finger, bringing up surveillance pictures of one of the hybrids. “Now until recently there has just been two known stages of the outbreak.” He taps seemingly in mid air towards the screen again as he continues, bringing up the different stages. “We start with stage one, the initial infection which can be passed on through open wounds or via the transfer of saliva. The victim is likely to experience nausea, headaches, high fever, photo sensitivity, aggressive behaviour and a change in skin pigmentation as the infection spreads through their system”.
The Professor pauses to take some of his water before moving to the next screen “The next stage is metamorphosis, now this is when the really interesting stuff happens. By now their strength will have increased tenfold and they will be able to see in the dark, as well as any of us can see during the day. Their senses will all be heightened and pretty soon they will be displaying some impressive regenerative abilities amongst several other significant changes.” He pauses briefly to scan around the room and then taps towards the screen again “By this stage of the infection, victims won't be able to remain out in natural sunlight for very long, due to their acute photo-sensitivity so won't go out unless they have to. During the day they will enter a regenerative cycle much like we do when we sleep at night but on a much higher scale”
He clears his throat as he moves onto the next screen “The third stage of the infection, previously unknown, is called Necromorphosis. As the title may suggest, necromorphosis is a process in which the body undergoes significant transformation and development after death occurs meaning the victims body becomes a host for the infection. In laymans terms, they become the undead.”
A distinct eerie silence fills the room as General Anthony Falkirk, Commander and Chief of the Command and Operational Response Element otherwise known as CORE, loosened his collar. The mere mentioning of the word 'undead' was sending hair tickling chills up the spines of him and many of the other hardened military veterans present in the room, many of whom could be seen shifting uncomfortably in their seats.
The deathly silence was broken only by Professor Findhorn as he continued his briefing, evidently taking an untold pleasure striking fear into these experienced men and women. “Intelligence on this later stage is scarce at best, which is where you guys come in. General?” The Professor coughs to get General Falkirks attention, who was busy making light comments to one of his associates. He stands up out of his seat, removing his hat as he steps up to the podium and clears his throat. “Alright, listen up kids.. these hybrids, undead, zombies, whatever the hell you want to call them are advancing in on the city and I sure as hell dont want to end up as lunch. CORE will have two objectives, one primary and one secondary. Our primary objective is providing support and defense to the city and it's civilians. Our Secondary objective will be to study zombie movements, behavior and activities whenever possible but remember, human life comes first.” The General pauses, clearing his throat, glancing briefly at Professor Findhorn before he continues. “Now, I believe the Professor has some new toys for you kids to play with.”
General Falkirk turns his attention to Professor Findhorn gesturing to him with his palm. Professor Findhorn, being a man who takes pride in his work isn't too pleased to hear his months of hard work being referred to as 'toys' and sends a brief glare in General Falkirk's direction, stuttering somewhat as he begins talking “Well.. I.. I wouldn't exactly call them toys, they're highly sophisticated pieces of technology. We'll um.. start with your new weapons, The Tactical Energy Weapon.” The Professor brings up a holographic display of the weapon and pulls out a recreation of the device, seemingly from the display itself holding it in his hands, seeming as real as flesh and bone. Without warning Professor Findhorn suddenly discharges the device randomly around the room and into the rows of people, sending waves of what looks like blue energy around the room which disperse harmlessly into whatever they come into contact with. Naturally, this unexpected behavior sends scores of people scrambling for their weapons, some leaping over behind their chairs for cover. After discharging the device, Findhorn adopts a neutral posture holding the weapon down to his side as Falkirk stands with his weapon drawn, staring at him in utter bewilderment.
“Are you out of your tiny, pea brained little mind? What the hell do you think you're playing at fooling around with that thing.” The professor stands there smirking, scoffing at the remark before addressing the panic stricken audience “Forgive the somewhat unorthodox demonstration but what you just saw, is Artificial Particle Simulation. This weapon might look real but it's just a simulation, like a hologram but better and of course, completely harmless.” With that came several sighs of relief and disgruntled groans as people began to return to their seats, muttering amongst themselves with a few coarse words being uttered. Professor Findhorn waits for people to return to their seats before continuing with his demonstration “The Tactical Energy Weapon fires electro magnetic energy discharges and just by aiming it at your target, it can find out what its target is, its mass, relative position, speed and calculate the optimal amount of energy to use all in a split second. We've found that most of these zombies are susceptible to electro magnetic interference due to their sometimes, unorthodox feeding habits. So your Tactical Energy Weapon should immobilize or kill most of them.”
Findhorn holds up another small device, about the same size as an early 21'st century mobile phone. The device looks sleek and has a gesture operated display on the front with the controls. He takes a sip from his water before continuing “This, ladies and gentlemen is a null field generator. As you know, we all have an electro magnetic fields of varying different degrees and the zombies are highly sensitive to any energy fluctuations, for example if there's a group of people sheltering where previously there was none the zombies will likely pick up on this increase in energy and move towards that area. The null field generator effectively masks this energy, allowing the wearer to move fairly freely around problematic areas without attracting their attention, they may even completely ignore you as if you're not even there. One important thing to note though, these wont be effective on anyone with the initial stages of the infection. That concludes my briefing”
General Falkirk nods towards the professor as he takes a step or two further behind the podium area “Thankyou professor that was very.. informative.” Falkirk waves towards the screen, bringing up a digital map of the city which seems to have been divided into several sections. “Effective immediately, the city has been divided into 4 zones. Zone 1, this green area is Considered safe and highly populated by civilians and military personnel being based here. Zone 2 the area highlighted in yellow, is Reasonably safe with regular patrols by CORE personnel but problems are possible. Zone 3 the orange area is mostly civilian controlled, the crime and infection rate is fairly high here due to frequent zombie attacks. The final zone, this large area highlighted in grey is called The Dead Zone and is strictly off limits to all non-military personnel without explicit authorization. The dead zone is absolutely infested and massive hives have been reported. A hive for your information, is a basically a large group of zombies centred around one particular area. They seem to like lurking around the old warehouses and commercial premises, this is where your null field generators will come in handy. Do not engage these hives without the proper backup, most importantly keep your eyes and ears open out there and get your asses home in one piece. You will receive your orders on your way out, now get the hell of out of my sight.” With that the officials and operatives begin to file out of the room, most talking or laughing amongst themselves, with operatives being handed yellow manila envelopes on the way out.
Decided it was all a but complicated, so left it as a regular story. Hope you Enjoy it.
haha.. don't worry it'l come soon once i sort out this BB code, didn't work as I expected xD - I'll get a workaround for it dont worry.
This isn't as interactive as I thought it would be
Dead Zone
Introduction & Background
Dead Zone is an online story i've decided to try out, set in a post-apocalyptic earth and centers around, New York in the year 2075 where humans struggle to survive against hybrid zombies after the human race was almost wiped out after an underground fusion experiment went wrong in an effort to try to meet the ever demanding need for energy and fuel after oil ran dry.
Shortly after oil reserves ran dry, the stock markets went into a freefall sending the politicians into a frenzy as currencies we know today began to collapse, one by one and nobody coming any closer to a solution. All the political bickering and ineptitude inevitably lead to mass riots and sporadic civil wars and a resolution was passed heralding the creation of the General Council, governing all countries under one single body and set of laws. This story is set a few years after the formation of the General Council, I hope you enjoy reading it .
Chapter I: The Dead Zone
It was a Thursday afternoon in the security conference centre in what was left of downtown new york, where an emergency briefing had just been called after the hybrid zombies had begun pushing further towards the city in the search of energy to feed on. Professor Gavin Findhorn, C.E.O of the Findhorn Foundation was standing at the podium, ready to address the security officials and CORE Operatives in attendance. The Findhorn Foundation are currently the leading specialists for research and development on the outbreak and manufacture many specialist weapons and technologies specifically designed for use against the hybrids.
The Professor cleared his throat as the lights begin to dim and the hustle of the pre-meeting discussions and shuffling about began to quieten. The Foundation logo could be seen on the screen behind the Professor as he leaned towards the microphone “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, thanks for coming on such short notice but time is short and we have to get down to business.” Findhorn taps towards the screen with his finger, bringing up surveillance pictures of one of the hybrids. “Now until recently there has just been two known stages of the outbreak.” He taps seemingly in mid air towards the screen again as he continues, bringing up the different stages. “We start with stage one, the initial infection which can be passed on through open wounds or via the transfer of saliva. The victim is likely to experience nausea, headaches, high fever, photo sensitivity, aggressive behaviour and a change in skin pigmentation as the infection spreads through their system”.
The Professor pauses to take some of his water before moving to the next screen “The next stage is metamorphosis, now this is when the really interesting stuff happens. By now their strength will have increased tenfold and they will be able to see in the dark, as well as any of us can see during the day. Their senses will all be heightened and pretty soon they will be displaying some impressive regenerative abilities amongst several other significant changes.” He pauses briefly to scan around the room and then taps towards the screen again “By this stage of the infection, victims won't be able to remain out in natural sunlight for very long, due to their acute photo-sensitivity so won't go out unless they have to. During the day they will enter a regenerative cycle much like we do when we sleep at night but on a much higher scale”
He clears his throat as he moves onto the next screen “The third stage of the infection, previously unknown, is called Necromorphosis. As the title may suggest, necromorphosis is a process in which the body undergoes significant transformation and development after death occurs meaning the victims body becomes a host for the infection. In laymans terms, they become the undead.”
A distinct eerie silence fills the room as General Anthony Falkirk, Commander and Chief of the Command and Operational Response Element otherwise known as CORE, loosened his collar. The mere mentioning of the word 'undead' was sending hair tickling chills up the spines of him and many of the other hardened military veterans present in the room, many of whom could be seen shifting uncomfortably in their seats.
The deathly silence was broken only by Professor Findhorn as he continued his briefing, evidently taking an untold pleasure striking fear into these experienced men and women. “Intelligence on this later stage is scarce at best, which is where you guys come in. General?” The Professor coughs to get General Falkirks attention, who was busy making light comments to one of his associates. He stands up out of his seat, removing his hat as he steps up to the podium and clears his throat. “Alright, listen up kids.. these hybrids, undead, zombies, whatever the hell you want to call them are advancing in on the city and I sure as hell dont want to end up as lunch. CORE will have two objectives, one primary and one secondary. Our primary objective is providing support and defense to the city and it's civilians. Our Secondary objective will be to study zombie movements, behavior and activities whenever possible but remember, human life comes first.” The General pauses, clearing his throat, glancing briefly at Professor Findhorn before he continues. “Now, I believe the Professor has some new toys for you kids to play with.”
General Falkirk turns his attention to Professor Findhorn gesturing to him with his palm. Professor Findhorn, being a man who takes pride in his work isn't too pleased to hear his months of hard work being referred to as 'toys' and sends a brief glare in General Falkirk's direction, stuttering somewhat as he begins talking “Well.. I.. I wouldn't exactly call them toys, they're highly sophisticated pieces of technology. We'll um.. start with your new weapons, The Tactical Energy Weapon.” The Professor brings up a holographic display of the weapon and pulls out a recreation of the device, seemingly from the display itself holding it in his hands, seeming as real as flesh and bone. Without warning Professor Findhorn suddenly discharges the device randomly around the room and into the rows of people, sending waves of what looks like blue energy around the room which disperse harmlessly into whatever they come into contact with. Naturally, this unexpected behavior sends scores of people scrambling for their weapons, some leaping over behind their chairs for cover. After discharging the device, Findhorn adopts a neutral posture holding the weapon down to his side as Falkirk stands with his weapon drawn, staring at him in utter bewilderment.
“Are you out of your tiny, pea brained little mind? What the hell do you think you're playing at fooling around with that thing.” The professor stands there smirking, scoffing at the remark before addressing the panic stricken audience “Forgive the somewhat unorthodox demonstration but what you just saw, is Artificial Particle Simulation. This weapon might look real but it's just a simulation, like a hologram but better and of course, completely harmless.” With that came several sighs of relief and disgruntled groans as people began to return to their seats, muttering amongst themselves with a few coarse words being uttered. Professor Findhorn waits for people to return to their seats before continuing with his demonstration “The Tactical Energy Weapon fires electro magnetic energy discharges and just by aiming it at your target, it can find out what its target is, its mass, relative position, speed and calculate the optimal amount of energy to use all in a split second. We've found that most of these zombies are susceptible to electro magnetic interference due to their sometimes, unorthodox feeding habits. So your Tactical Energy Weapon should immobilize or kill most of them.”
Findhorn holds up another small device, about the same size as an early 21'st century mobile phone. The device looks sleek and has a gesture operated display on the front with the controls. He takes a sip from his water before continuing “This, ladies and gentlemen is a null field generator. As you know, we all have an electro magnetic fields of varying different degrees and the zombies are highly sensitive to any energy fluctuations, for example if there's a group of people sheltering where previously there was none the zombies will likely pick up on this increase in energy and move towards that area. The null field generator effectively masks this energy, allowing the wearer to move fairly freely around problematic areas without attracting their attention, they may even completely ignore you as if you're not even there. One important thing to note though, these wont be effective on anyone with the initial stages of the infection. That concludes my briefing”
General Falkirk nods towards the professor as he takes a step or two further behind the podium area “Thankyou professor that was very.. informative.” Falkirk waves towards the screen, bringing up a digital map of the city which seems to have been divided into several sections. “Effective immediately, the city has been divided into 4 zones. Zone 1, this green area is Considered safe and highly populated by civilians and military personnel being based here. Zone 2 the area highlighted in yellow, is Reasonably safe with regular patrols by CORE personnel but problems are possible. Zone 3 the orange area is mostly civilian controlled, the crime and infection rate is fairly high here due to frequent zombie attacks. The final zone, this large area highlighted in grey is called The Dead Zone and is strictly off limits to all non-military personnel without explicit authorization. The dead zone is absolutely infested and massive hives have been reported. A hive for your information, is a basically a large group of zombies centred around one particular area. They seem to like lurking around the old warehouses and commercial premises, this is where your null field generators will come in handy. Do not engage these hives without the proper backup, most importantly keep your eyes and ears open out there and get your asses home in one piece. You will receive your orders on your way out, now get the hell of out of my sight.” With that the officials and operatives begin to file out of the room, most talking or laughing amongst themselves, with operatives being handed yellow manila envelopes on the way out.
Introduction & Background
Dead Zone is an online story i've decided to try out, set in a post-apocalyptic earth and centers around, New York in the year 2075 where humans struggle to survive against hybrid zombies after the human race was almost wiped out after an underground fusion experiment went wrong in an effort to try to meet the ever demanding need for energy and fuel after oil ran dry.
Shortly after oil reserves ran dry, the stock markets went into a freefall sending the politicians into a frenzy as currencies we know today began to collapse, one by one and nobody coming any closer to a solution. All the political bickering and ineptitude inevitably lead to mass riots and sporadic civil wars and a resolution was passed heralding the creation of the General Council, governing all countries under one single body and set of laws. This story is set a few years after the formation of the General Council, I hope you enjoy reading it .
Chapter I: The Dead Zone
It was a Thursday afternoon in the security conference centre in what was left of downtown new york, where an emergency briefing had just been called after the hybrid zombies had begun pushing further towards the city in the search of energy to feed on. Professor Gavin Findhorn, C.E.O of the Findhorn Foundation was standing at the podium, ready to address the security officials and CORE Operatives in attendance. The Findhorn Foundation are currently the leading specialists for research and development on the outbreak and manufacture many specialist weapons and technologies specifically designed for use against the hybrids.
The Professor cleared his throat as the lights begin to dim and the hustle of the pre-meeting discussions and shuffling about began to quieten. The Foundation logo could be seen on the screen behind the Professor as he leaned towards the microphone “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, thanks for coming on such short notice but time is short and we have to get down to business.” Findhorn taps towards the screen with his finger, bringing up surveillance pictures of one of the hybrids. “Now until recently there has just been two known stages of the outbreak.” He taps seemingly in mid air towards the screen again as he continues, bringing up the different stages. “We start with stage one, the initial infection which can be passed on through open wounds or via the transfer of saliva. The victim is likely to experience nausea, headaches, high fever, photo sensitivity, aggressive behaviour and a change in skin pigmentation as the infection spreads through their system”.
The Professor pauses to take some of his water before moving to the next screen “The next stage is metamorphosis, now this is when the really interesting stuff happens. By now their strength will have increased tenfold and they will be able to see in the dark, as well as any of us can see during the day. Their senses will all be heightened and pretty soon they will be displaying some impressive regenerative abilities amongst several other significant changes.” He pauses briefly to scan around the room and then taps towards the screen again “By this stage of the infection, victims won't be able to remain out in natural sunlight for very long, due to their acute photo-sensitivity so won't go out unless they have to. During the day they will enter a regenerative cycle much like we do when we sleep at night but on a much higher scale”
He clears his throat as he moves onto the next screen “The third stage of the infection, previously unknown, is called Necromorphosis. As the title may suggest, necromorphosis is a process in which the body undergoes significant transformation and development after death occurs meaning the victims body becomes a host for the infection. In laymans terms, they become the undead.”
A distinct eerie silence fills the room as General Anthony Falkirk, Commander and Chief of the Command and Operational Response Element otherwise known as CORE, loosened his collar. The mere mentioning of the word 'undead' was sending hair tickling chills up the spines of him and many of the other hardened military veterans present in the room, many of whom could be seen shifting uncomfortably in their seats.
The deathly silence was broken only by Professor Findhorn as he continued his briefing, evidently taking an untold pleasure striking fear into these experienced men and women. “Intelligence on this later stage is scarce at best, which is where you guys come in. General?” The Professor coughs to get General Falkirks attention, who was busy making light comments to one of his associates. He stands up out of his seat, removing his hat as he steps up to the podium and clears his throat. “Alright, listen up kids.. these hybrids, undead, zombies, whatever the hell you want to call them are advancing in on the city and I sure as hell dont want to end up as lunch. CORE will have two objectives, one primary and one secondary. Our primary objective is providing support and defense to the city and it's civilians. Our Secondary objective will be to study zombie movements, behavior and activities whenever possible but remember, human life comes first.” The General pauses, clearing his throat, glancing briefly at Professor Findhorn before he continues. “Now, I believe the Professor has some new toys for you kids to play with.”
General Falkirk turns his attention to Professor Findhorn gesturing to him with his palm. Professor Findhorn, being a man who takes pride in his work isn't too pleased to hear his months of hard work being referred to as 'toys' and sends a brief glare in General Falkirk's direction, stuttering somewhat as he begins talking “Well.. I.. I wouldn't exactly call them toys, they're highly sophisticated pieces of technology. We'll um.. start with your new weapons, The Tactical Energy Weapon.” The Professor brings up a holographic display of the weapon and pulls out a recreation of the device, seemingly from the display itself holding it in his hands, seeming as real as flesh and bone. Without warning Professor Findhorn suddenly discharges the device randomly around the room and into the rows of people, sending waves of what looks like blue energy around the room which disperse harmlessly into whatever they come into contact with. Naturally, this unexpected behavior sends scores of people scrambling for their weapons, some leaping over behind their chairs for cover. After discharging the device, Findhorn adopts a neutral posture holding the weapon down to his side as Falkirk stands with his weapon drawn, staring at him in utter bewilderment.
“Are you out of your tiny, pea brained little mind? What the hell do you think you're playing at fooling around with that thing.” The professor stands there smirking, scoffing at the remark before addressing the panic stricken audience “Forgive the somewhat unorthodox demonstration but what you just saw, is Artificial Particle Simulation. This weapon might look real but it's just a simulation, like a hologram but better and of course, completely harmless.” With that came several sighs of relief and disgruntled groans as people began to return to their seats, muttering amongst themselves with a few coarse words being uttered. Professor Findhorn waits for people to return to their seats before continuing with his demonstration “The Tactical Energy Weapon fires electro magnetic energy discharges and just by aiming it at your target, it can find out what its target is, its mass, relative position, speed and calculate the optimal amount of energy to use all in a split second. We've found that most of these zombies are susceptible to electro magnetic interference due to their sometimes, unorthodox feeding habits. So your Tactical Energy Weapon should immobilize or kill most of them.”
Findhorn holds up another small device, about the same size as an early 21'st century mobile phone. The device looks sleek and has a gesture operated display on the front with the controls. He takes a sip from his water before continuing “This, ladies and gentlemen is a null field generator. As you know, we all have an electro magnetic fields of varying different degrees and the zombies are highly sensitive to any energy fluctuations, for example if there's a group of people sheltering where previously there was none the zombies will likely pick up on this increase in energy and move towards that area. The null field generator effectively masks this energy, allowing the wearer to move fairly freely around problematic areas without attracting their attention, they may even completely ignore you as if you're not even there. One important thing to note though, these wont be effective on anyone with the initial stages of the infection. That concludes my briefing”
General Falkirk nods towards the professor as he takes a step or two further behind the podium area “Thankyou professor that was very.. informative.” Falkirk waves towards the screen, bringing up a digital map of the city which seems to have been divided into several sections. “Effective immediately, the city has been divided into 4 zones. Zone 1, this green area is Considered safe and highly populated by civilians and military personnel being based here. Zone 2 the area highlighted in yellow, is Reasonably safe with regular patrols by CORE personnel but problems are possible. Zone 3 the orange area is mostly civilian controlled, the crime and infection rate is fairly high here due to frequent zombie attacks. The final zone, this large area highlighted in grey is called The Dead Zone and is strictly off limits to all non-military personnel without explicit authorization. The dead zone is absolutely infested and massive hives have been reported. A hive for your information, is a basically a large group of zombies centred around one particular area. They seem to like lurking around the old warehouses and commercial premises, this is where your null field generators will come in handy. Do not engage these hives without the proper backup, most importantly keep your eyes and ears open out there and get your asses home in one piece. You will receive your orders on your way out, now get the hell of out of my sight.” With that the officials and operatives begin to file out of the room, most talking or laughing amongst themselves, with operatives being handed yellow manila envelopes on the way out.