Zombocolypse: The Re-Animation

[sneggy]

The technical bit
We are dealing with the classic zombie. You can only be infected if it bites or scratches you and breaks the skin.
To kill it you need to destroy the brain, anything still connected to the brain will still function. So beware decapitated zombie heads biting at your toes. Zombies are not affected by heat, fear, bright lights, smoke etc. They only respond to noise(but use it only as a hunting device. you can't scare them off with a loud noise), the smell of humans and movement as you flee in terror/try to smash their skulls.
As far as actions go you may do anything physically possible that you can think of. The only rules are you must only use your characters knowledge and I will be enforcing a need for sleep and food. There will be penalties for those who fail to eat/sleep.

The story
The sun rises on the recovering town of Higgleworth. The residents have rebuilt after 'z-day' as the media have dubbed it. However there is unrest in Higgleworth, last week some worryingly familiar reports started seeping through of the neighbouring village of Bocklington. Strange hospital admittance reports, patients suffering cardiac arrest followed by 'death-like' comas before waking in a bizarre rage. Contagions and stories of abnormal violence in the streets. The media assure people its coincidence and nothing to worry about. However with the first reports of similar things happening in Higgleworth the concerns are growing, some people have begun to flee already.

Coldfire
You awake in your 3 bedroom detached house in the suburbs. Another standard day at the office.

Pox
You awake and find yourself with a hard drive embedded firmly in your back. You spit out a piece of...something or other and drag yourself out of a bed with more wiring than bedding on it.

marshall larkin
You awake in well if your honest its your bedroom/living room/office. Your psychologists couch leaving a criss-cross pattern on your face.

Stalker21
You come through the departure lounge blinking in the bright sunshine. Moving through the mill of people as you try and pick out your buddy whos giving you a ride home.

Now dance my monkeys dance

[Pox]

tis morning, put on some clothes (anything from the floor will do) grab some breakfast (cold pizza from last night) then check e-mails looking for some work, and check on my internet buddies. Drink the beer i didn't quite finish last night and assuming did not get any genuine job offers, while the time away playing Diablo 3 on my laptop whilst also hacking into the local newspaper e-mail system to see what is generally going on behind the scenes so to speak, and any other non-high risk hacks to get more info on stories of interest/potential black mail targets.

[Coldfire]

Getting up, I go through my usual morning routine. I spend a bit surfing the internet, checking all the usual sites. I consider calling in sick to stay home and play the hotly anticipated threequel of a well respected franchse that hasn't seen a new game in years that came out today (Max Payne of course). But then I remember I have that big presentation at work and decide against it. I have my cereal and orange juice, a quick shower and a shave, then head out to my car. Upon getting in the car, I turn the radio to the local news and begin the drive to work.

[marshall larkin]

Matt awakes, wondering why he has a psychologists couch, he is after all a research psychologist. He gets up, has a shower then checks his emails, seeing if any of his articles have been accepted by any journals.

[Stalker21]

Scanning the crowd, I mutter something unkind regarding Bobby's lack of punctuality. Deciding I may as well not waste my layover, I head to the bar for a few drinks, making sure my phone is turned on.

[sneggy]

Pox
you throw on some clothes which look like they might eat an ironing board if it ever came too close. Grab the pizza slice without a sock balanced on it and fire up the computer.
Running through your usual routine you pop into the news company server and are confronted with an unusual error message. 'Server down' Not a problem for a guy like you, you go furtling around and go for the backdoor. You keep being confronted by error messages. Not only is the server blocked but there seems to be someone actively blocking you. More pressing brings you up a government codestamp.

Coldfire
Flipping through the radio you find everything is static. Pulling up to a set of traffic lights you see 3 ambulances go flying through. Pulling up a bit further you can hear more sirens blaring in the distance. Odd but you shrug it off and head into the bank. Taking the elevator up to the 3rd floor you step out into the offices and head to conference room B. Pete is there waiting, he informs you the man leading the meeting has called in sick and as such the meeting has been cancelled.

marshall larkin
You have only one email. Its from the local hospital. they are having issues on the psych ward and would like your opinion. They have offered to send a car down to pick you up.

Stalker21
You head into the bar and order yourself a beer. The bar is oddly quiet, just yourself and the bartender. he stands slightly away from you polishing a glass absentmindedly. Outside you notice two paramedics go past pushing a gurney with an occupied body bag on. Not exactly a bright start to the day. Still no call from bobby either.

[marshall larkin]

Mat sighs and types back

'I'm a research psychologist, i study schadenfreude and empathy, how the hell am i going to be useful in a clinical diagnosis?' then eats some breakfast and reads some journals.

[Pox]

Pox is suddenly very intrigued, but he is not going to get anywhere by himself he just does not have the tech or enough back-hacking protection to get past a government block. So jumps on skype with his group of hacker associates and puts a post on a couple of "anonymous" websites maybe someone else will have some luck where he has failed or at least enough people might be able to overload the system from blocking them all. Something big must be going down if the government is putting an active block on the press. Pox has a sinking feeling about the whole thing, and tries hacking smaller local newspaper groups the kind who deal with local events such as the flower arranging competition at the local church - usually not the kind of stuff that interests Pox.

[Stalker21]

"Dammit, Bobby," I mutter under my breath, finishing my beer. I push back from the bar and toss a few bills to pay for the drink and a small tip. Picking up my travel bag, I make my way to the terminal exit and flag down a cab and give him the address of my apartment.

[Coldfire]

I tell Pete that in that case, I'll be working from home for the day, since the meeting was the only thing I needed to be in the office for. I leave the building and head back to my car. Getting in, I remember that I planned on stopping at the grocery store that evening on the way home from work. So I decide to do it now and get it out of the way.

[sneggy]

marshall larkin
The computer bings a new message
"These subjects show no empathy, sympathy, no emotional reaction whatsoever, do you not find that intrigueing?"

Pox
Again you keep hitting error messages. Your hacker buddies are all struggling too. One does manage to get into some medical reviews and catches some fragments of some very bizarre morgue incident reports being being blocked out again.

Stalker21
You get in the cab and begin to head home. You hit a huge wall of traffic very quickly though. Absolute gridlock. Seems to be a problem up ahead with cars not pulling away at the lights.

Coldfire
You get into your car and head down to the grocery store, pick up a few supplies (feel free to specifiy what you want) then head back to your car. As you cross the parking lot you notice a ruckass. Seems a pair of youths are attacking a trolley guy. The trolley guy is fighting back with a hell of a lot of ferocity...wait is he biting that kid?

[marshall larkin]

Matt replies ndicating a keen interest then gets in his car/bicycle/pogostick and leaves for the psych ward

[Stalker21]

Paying the cabbie an extra $10 for the wasted time, I get out of the cab. Shouldering my bag, I make my way home on foot.

[Pox]

Pox is starting to get a bit nervous now, he has hacked these sites plenty of times in the past, it has NEVER been this difficult, something is up and it is big. No matter how hard he tries he just can't get past the counter-measures and he has tried all the possible methods. This person or system stopping him is good, really, really good.

running his fingers through his hair, he opens a draw on his computer desk and their it is - his lifetime achievement. The one thing that would get him into the history books (possibly prison/goverment job or both) but would make his name. Pulling out the red cd case he doesn't need to read the writing to know it simply says "Pox." This rapidly mutating virus program once implanted into a system festers and then tears all manually created program files from a system (word, excel, e-mails and equivilants) to randomly generated e-mail accounts and intenet information hosting sites (such as drop box) whilst also implanting itself into such files ready to implant into whomever open said files and repeat the process using their system. Or at least that is what it would do if he could finish the randomising program, for now all it does it tear all the information out and drop it in either an online system or straight back onto his hard drive a neat little trick but hardly going to get his name in the papers.

loading the cd into his laptop, Pox makes sure his friends are aware of the situation, "i just need a tunnel guys, if you can grant me that then i'm willing to drop the Pox virus in to try and open this joint wide open, i'm going to hack in via the university so i can use their faster servers to upload the virus more efficiently." Pox looks at his screen and the upload icon now flashing before him, this virus was a pure work of unique art, and could have been so much more given time but something about this whole thing stinks as well as a little bit of annoyance at not being able to overcome whatever had been so diligently closing the media files from him. Grabbing the biggest spare hard drive off his bed he plugs the usb cable in and gets ready for his window to simply lock their system and tear the information out in one hit.

[Coldfire]

I look with increasing worry at the three men as they tumble and fight. Rumors of some infectious disease that caused people to lash out violently like this a couple years ago come to mind, and fill me with a sense of impending dread I simply can't ignore. Leaving my shopping cart in the middle of the parking lot, I run to my car, getting my cell phone out as I do. Opening my trunk, I pick up the first solid object I can get my hands on. A tire iron as it turns out. I turn to face the three men as I dial the police. I wait by my car, keeping the three men at a good distance as I impatiently wait for the operator to answer. My knuckles whiten as my grip on the tire iron tightens with every frenzied moan that reaches my ears.

[sneggy]

marshall larkin
You hop on the bus to the hospital. You arrive and are directed by an orderly to the psych ward. Upon arriving you find no patients or doctors at all. the place is in a hell of a mess.

Stalker21
As you head down past the lights you glance over at the car causing the hold up. You find one man inside it. he is struggling furiously to get out, seemingly unaware he has his seatbelt still stuck on. ignoring the door handles he is lashing out furiously at the windows. A pedestrian has gone over to help him. the man in the car is thrashing furiously at the window of the door the man is trying to open.

Pox
You connect the hard drive and fire up the pox virus. Your buddies have managed to make you a tiny tunnel through which the virus speeds. Your whole screen becomes a blur of binary for a few seconds then with a flash it turns blue and smoke pours out of the back of your computer. Mere moments before the whole casing melts it flashes up 'download complete' then the console catches fire.
Thinking quickly you grab out the pox virus and the hard drive.

Coldfire
The phone rings and rings. After 5 minutes it buzzes and dies. The trolley man finishes off his two youthful assailants (it should be mentioned with a horrendous throat bite and a lower intestinal rip.) With a horrific moan he sets about devouring them.

[Stalker21]

I continue walking past the car, my pace quickening slightly. No need to get caught up in a crazy situation.

[Pox]

FECK FECK FECK! Pox swears for several minutes, whatever he has downloaded better be worth it cos the bank sure as hell is not gonna give him another loan to get a new computer! (and he was lvl 72 on Diablo 3 already!) Grabbing the virus cd he puts it back in it's red case and shoves it in his backpack along with the eternal hard drive (and al the other random junk he has in their cos he never got around to tidying it out!)- guess now it's time to find out. Jimbob is only a few blocks away so he flips open his phone and gives him a ring to see if he can use his computer for five minutes to peruse the data he just helped me get. Assuming all is good, time to grab my cycle helmet and head on out my apartment to get on my push bike and head off to jimbob's.

[marshall larkin]

Matt is naturally not a very brave person.

"Hello? anyone?" if no one comes out or there are any weird people, he will leave as quickly as possible.

[Coldfire]

My breakfast tasted a lot better going down that coming up. I vomit all over the pavement at the sight of the disemboweled youths. Composing myself, I rush into my car, throw the tire iron on the passenger seat, and peel out. I make for home as quickly as possible.

[sneggy]

Stalker21
You hurry past the car and down the street. Behind you there is the sound of glass smashing followed by screaming. Looking back you see the thing in the car has broken the window and is flailing furiously at his would-be helper. The man is screaming as teeth are sunk into his face.

Pox
You receive no answer to your phone call but decide to head out anyway. On the street you see your little suburb is devoid of activity as usual. Grabbing your bike you mount up and start cycling. (go wherever you like not locked into jimbob's)

marshall larkin
You are answered by a door opening and being beckoned through by a man with a finger on his lips telling you to be quiet.

Coldfire
You briefly muse over the vomit 'hmm when did I eat tuna fish and spaghetti hoops'. However aside from the stench and the stain on your good business shoes, the vomit also seems to have attracted the zombies attention. It gives up on its meal and starts shambling towards you. In a panic you jump into your car and fire it up. briefly the engine stutters before kicking into life. You reverse out the spot and flip the car facing the exit. The zombie is stood between you and the exit.

[sneggy]

*double post*

[marshall larkin]

Walk into the room

[Pox]

cool rock up to jimbobs computer room and boot this hard drive up and see what we have here.

[Stalker21]

"Hey," I yell, dropping my bag as I run over to pull the man away from the car and his attacker. "He's trying to help you, you idiot." Pointing at a nearby observer, I order, "Call 911. We need the police out here."

[Coldfire]

Still not entirely sure what's going on, I swerve well around the zombie and mount the curb. Hitting the street, I again head for home.

[sneggy]

marshall larkin
You enter the room and see 3 doctors. One of them is bleeding profusely from his side and is being attended to by his colleague. The other doctor (the one who beckoned you in starts talking)
"Did you see any of them on your way in? There were 5 of them, we lost control of the experiment and they broke their restraints. Its a wonder only 1 of us was hurt. His wound isn't fatal at any rate, should be patched up shortly."

Pox
You bike down the street and arrive at jimbobs house. You knock on the door but no answer, after a few minutes you peer in through the windows. You can see jimbobs feet sticking out from behind the sofa on the floor. the lazy bastard is still asleep!

Stalker21
You grab the man being attacked and yank him free from the grasp of his attacker. Unfortunately a large chunk of the mans face remains in the posession of his attacker. The mans screams echo around the street as he falls to the floor clutching his face. His attacker appears now bored with his hunk of face and reaches out for you. Missing you by a millimitre. It groans and starts forcing his way out of the broken window, clawing at the air trying to grab you. thus far you manage to dodge it.

Coldfire
You race past just clipping the zombie as you go, sending him spinning with your wing mirror. You arrive home in a blind panic and screech onto the driveway.

[Coldfire]

I rush inside, not bothering to so much as lock my car behind me. I try to swerve well around a large rock in my yard, but since I apparently don't understand the meaning of the phrase, I stub my toe on it. Hopping and confused, I make it inside and lock the door behind me. After a few moments, my heart begins to slow down and I'm able to come to grips with myself. I get out my phone and call my parents, who live on the other side of town, to check in on them.

[sneggy]

marshall larkin
Pox
Stalker21

First and only warning for you guys about inactivity. Failure to post in the next 48 hours will result in your faces being eaten by zombies.

[marshall larkin]

"What experiment was this? Is he badly hurt?"

Whilst staying away and not looking, Matt doesn#t like blood.

[Stalker21]

"Whoa," I shout, pulling the wounded man away from the guy frantically pulling himself from the car. I pull my cell from my pocket and dial 9-1-1; this is a situation for the authorities.

[Pox]

try his phone again the lazy bugger, and bang on the windows to get his attention. If this doesn't work see if his back door is locked if all else fails time to cycle to my next mates house and see if their in (try, try, try again and if you still fail might as well give up! and do something else)

[sneggy]

Apologies but this will be on hold for a few days. Major pipe leak has turned my house into a swamp and fairly pre-occupied with stopping the hot and cold running water recently installed in the living room ceiling....

[sneggy]

marshall larkin
Pox
Stalker21
coildfire

I have finally got my laptop back and am back from my honeymoon.
So this is a check that everyone wishes to go ahead with the game. Huge apologies for the massive update gap.

[marshall larkin]

I'm good to keep going, i can lecturer no one about lack of updates.

[Coldfire]

Sorry I didn't see this yesterday. Alas, Coi and I rarely speak these days.

Anywho, yea, I'd be down to continue.

[sneggy]

ha sorry about that. ok hopefully update can come in tonight if pox and stalker respond.

[Stalker21]

I'm still in, though my only access is by phone til next month.

[Pox]

im around. (just about)