It was impossible to know with certainty how and where it had all started. The first official reports came out May 8th, 1993. Initially, the incidents seemed to be isolated to Pennsylvania.
However, they quickly began to spread and by August all 48 contiguous states had reports of attacks. No one wanted to believe what appeared to be happening but, in the end, the reality was exactly what it seemed to be. The dead were getting up and attacking the living.
With each attack, the numbers of the dead increased. All it took was a bite or a scratch. Eventually, infection would set in and the pitiable victim would invariably join the ranks of their attacker.
By December, most of the United States was without power, transportation, emergency services, law enforcement, or communication. Within a year of the first attacks, most of the world was dead. Eventually, the days before May 1993 came to be known as the old world.
There were a lot of names for the living dead. Some people called them 'zombies', others 'stenches', a few called them 'scabs'. Mostly, they were called 'walkers'. Regardless of what they were called, they far outnumbered the living and had become the masters of the planet. The few survivors had little more to do than the dead, scratch out an existence and wait.
This was the new world.