The editor, bathedinblood, would like to extend a solemn thank you to all who read this tome of unreal awesomeness. The author would say something, but he is currently locked in a closet. The editor claims no responsibility in this circumstance.

The author would like to say that I am not in a closet but am a good writer and I appreciate my editors "words of wisdom" but I must say that I helped write this but the majority of the writing goes to my editor but the idea behind it is mine.

A.N. II music for this part should be Mad World.

October 25th, 2009

It started out as a common cold. A food and water-borne illness that brought on coughing, nausea, and in severe cases, vomiting. The symptoms would afflict the victim for a day or so, then clear up. No one thought much about it. Several announcements were made, but no distinctive action was taken. Until 10/16/09.

Case zero, a Nebraska man named Chris O'Donnell, went to the doctor on October 11th, complaining of coughing and nausea. The doctor checked him out, and concluded that he merely had a twenty-four hour bug. Mr. O'Donnell was told to take it easy, drink plenty of fluids, and he would be fine in the morning. Chris went home and did just that, staying at home with his three year old daughter, Krysta. The next day, he was fine. He did not, however, go to the same Cheesy Burger restaurant again.

Several days later, October 13th, Chris did not report to work. No one had seen him anywhere, and he hadn't called in sick. His best friend and co-worker, James Rodrick, went to Chris's house to check on his friend after work. When he knocked, there was no response, and the lights were dark inside the house. James found Chris's truck still in the garage, and next to it, and ajar garage door. Curious, James went inside the house.

James looked around the house, checking the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, etc. There was a puddle of red-tinted vomit in the bathroom floor, but little else denoting the presence of another person. James was about to give up when he heard a noise come from Krysta's room. When he opened the door, he was shocked to find Chris O'Donnell feasting on his three year old daughter, blood running down his nightshirt. When James called out, Chris's yellow eyes fell on him, and he attacked James. The two fought, and in the process James was bitten on the arm. He fled the house in terror, running to the police station.

When he got there, he was immediately taken behind the main desk for a bandage and some water. He vomited blood-tinted bile just before entering. After he and two officers went into the office, it was silent for a while. After a few minutes, yelling was heard. When another officer opened the door, he was attacked by James Rodrick, portraying the same manic expression and hunger that Chris O'Donnell had.

All across the world, people weren't reporting in for work. Many infected started acting strangely, gibbering without sense, and attacking – and more importantly, biting – their co-workers, friends, and families. As of October 11th, 2009, at approximately 1432 hours, the Plague of the 21st Century had begun. Healthy humans ran from their fellow Americans, only to be tackled, bitten, and turned. A few were so unlucky as to run into a mob of infected that, rather than being turned, they were eaten alive.

The armed forces took action, setting up barricades and deploying riot police. But the infected weren't unhappy rioters; they were bloodthirsty monsters. After losing Chicago, San Francisco, Washington D.C., New York, and other centers of population, the government made a hard choice: take those that they had, and create a safe zone. But that required leaving a good 30% of the American population at the mercy of the infected. Helicopters were loaded up, walls were built, and Area 51 became the most populated area in America, in less than a month. But let us turn back time, and focus on Mercy City, a metropolis just west of Chicago. A tale of survival, combat, betrayal, and death leads from Mercy City to the blood drenched streets of New Orleans. A tale of a handful of humans, a couple guns, and roughly half a million victims - err, infected. The stage is set, the curtains drawn. Let us see how Lt. Lawing leads a rag-tag group of people from damnation to salvation, one thousand corpses at a time.