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When faced with the horror of your own mortality, many will say that they will fight to the bitter end, sacrifice their own lives for their love and friends, and go out with the honor in knowing that they died selflessly. But every human being knows that there is a difference between talk and action. It is this difference that sets us apart from true animals.
Our instincts force us into confliction. Do we do everything in our power to help our neighbor, whether friend or stranger? Or do we run, finally against the true face of death and yearning to live another day?
We often never know until the time comes.
When it comes down to the most basic of terms, you can only ask yourself one simple questionā¦
...How far would you go to survive?
The news feeds continued to rage across the array of television sets. Each had been set to a different news channel, each covering the same story. Some had news anchors standing atop buildings, inside helicopters, and inside news rooms; the view behind them showed a city whose streets held massive running crowds. What they were running from couldnāt be seen, as if this terrible force was invisible. But, as Grey continued to watch, he realized the crowds were not running from any kind of weapon or destruction. They were running from each other.
Hundreds swarmed the streets, Grey couldnāt tell which were still human and whichā¦werenāt. All of them were covered in blood. Then Grey realized how he could tell the difference. It was in their faces, their movement.
The humans ran in any direction, hysterically screaming while their faces held looks of terror and sadness. They limbed, they bled; Grey could tell which were human by their pain.
The animalsā¦they ran in with a specific goal. They ran towards the ones running away. Pure anger fueled their eyes. With each news feed that showed the last glimpse a camera man had before being attacked, Grey could see into the animalsā eyes. The animals never limped or slowed from fatigue. They just ran and ran until they caught their prey. They felt no pain.
As his view panned from one television to another, he noticed from his peripheral vision a television revert to static. When he looked up to that set, he noticed another go out as well.
Grey looked to a set showing a woman in a hotel room, looking out the window to the crowds below, all swarming the entrance below. Her panicked face went to the camera as he screamed her pleads which Grey could not hear. Her eyes went to something behind the cameraman. As the camera spun to the door of the hotel room, a maid, covered in red was seen for a split second before taking hold of the camera and throwing it to the floor. That set went to static as well.
Over the span of just a few minutes, the televisions sporadically went to the black and white snow. The small, dark side of Grey's whole was relieved, glad he didnāt have to look at the swarm he was running from. Thoughts went through his mind as he feared the inevitable. The people he was withā¦he would eventually have to choose between his life and theirs. He knew it would happen. He just didnāt know when or where.
The cold grip on Greyās shoulder made him shudder. He turned from the televisions and faced his friend.
āWe need to go, Grey.ā
He said nothing and nodded. As his friend walked away, Grey glanced back to the televisions one last time. Black and white. Thatās all it was out there, the static spoke for the news anchors that were most likely all gone. All that was left were the living and the dead. There were no more gray areas, innocence had left the world. Grey turned and went back to the few he had with him. As he surveyed them, he knew his choice.
Scoop:
1. If you are particularly offended or queasy by the thoughts of gruesome and/or frightening scenes of violence, I would suggest not joining
2. If you cannot sit through movies such as Twenty-Eight Days Later or Dawn of the Dead for primarily reasons of offense or fear, I would suggest joining to help you get out of that state
3. Follow my typical guidelines of sexuality but be free to expand of your use of language and violence in this story - just donāt be obnoxious or plain disgusting
4. Be aware that I may kill your character at any moment - just be aware of that
5. If you make a stupid mistake,you will be killed. Besides, itāll only be the extremely stupid of you that will die
6. If you do die, donāt worry, Iāll let you cook up a new character. Maybe youāll be smart with this one.
7. Characters may kill another character BUT it must be with the dieing characterās consent - a character may attack another character at any time they feel like it but no auto hits
8. I will allow auto hits but only to my creations and as long as you donāt go over the top with them. If you need an example: You run into a mob of zombies and kill them all with a bat - I would reply to this, correcting you - You run into a mob of infected, hit one on the head before the rest turn on you and rip you apart. The rest of the party shakes their heads and moves on.
9. The ninth and most important: Your characters are not going to be the ideal hero. They are not absolutely selfless, as many imagine themselves. Of course, they could think that when the time comes they would sacrifice themselves (and I will allow this since it really does happen) but a majority of you have to put into the equation the strong factor that they may choose to save their own skin. Iām not being pessimistic or cynical, just try to make your character real. Iām not saying no heroes, by all means create one if you want to. I just donāt want them all to be heroes.
10. This will be set in London.
Character Sheets-
Name:
Age:
Physical Description: (Or Picture. Anime or Realistic, I don't mind)
Occupation:
Recent Events: (Just big things. Don't write down little things such as, "Just got a raise at work!" or "Just cooked a burrito!" No. Things like, "Father and mother mysteriously disappeared" or even "Just came home from serving the war.")
Relatives and Minor Characters:
Personality: (Fill this out. Flesh this out. Your characters are going to be real. Really,really real.)
Before the Outbreak: (Another way of me saying, 'backstory' [can be brief].)
