THE BLACK ZONE

Zombie apocalypse world made by yours truly, inspired by L4D, TLOU, WWZ and others

The Beginning

America was just recovering from what almost became World War 3. A dictator, which was ruling Russia at the time, made the bold decision to invade the United States through a covert organization in Cuba. The invasion was followed after an EMP attack disabled NORAD temporarily. The Russo-American war lasted all but two months, when Russia’s dictator was killed during the Russian Civil War and peace agreements had been made (followed by the mass reduction of the Russian Military by order of NATO.)

So all was said and done, for now at least. Effects of the war were minimal, with only the east coast even having active engagements. Despite this, America would remain in temporary martial law to wipe out any RGF still hiding out within.

An Unlikely Foe

Working closely with DARPA, and officially contracted by the U.S Government, was a Pharmaceutical Corporation known as ParaSec. ParaSec, or Paranormal Security as its actual name, was more than just a Medical Corp. It was a full Private Military Organization and also the dominant medical corporation in the entire world. On the outside (to the public,) ParaSec was your normal pharmacy for meds or your scientists looking to cure cancer. Even to DARPA it was only that, apart from its military side. In actuality, ParaSec was created biological weapons of mass destruction behind closed curtains and huge labs deep underground. This included an off-the-books experiment on Influenza-A research... which went horribly wrong.

The Outbreak

Nobody knows right now how exactly it happened, but at some point ParaSec’s experiments escaped. This Influenza-A research, was used on actual human test subjects. The result of it? This new man-made flu strain sent people into a crazy aggro state, causing bleeding of the orifices (ears, mouth, nose, ect,) and an uncontrollable aggression to non-infected individuals. At some point, an infected bit a researcher causing a chain reaction that released the virus into the outside world. The airborne strain was short lived, and initially was written off as a deadly flu strain by the CDC. Days later, those people became like the first infected. The CDC and FEMA eventually called this the "Black Flu." When the government found out that this was by ParaSec, it was already too late. The entire east coast was infected, and as a result a massive border was constructed which completely sealed off all east coast states. This became known as the "Black Zone." The Black Zone is not desolate of non-infected, in fact many survivor communities are inside. The quarantine walls were constructed to prevent the spread, but the military had plans to get the survivors out.

The Black Flu

The Black Flu does not kill people and reanimate them, rather it takes control of emotional function and sends infected into a primal, aggressive state. They bite, maul, among other things. Due to the lethality, the Black Flu does in fact kill the infected eventually. Since they are simply aggressive humans, they can starve and die of a fever like any virus. So far, it’s determined that the average infected succumb after a week of infection, though they can live longer under certain circumstances (such as eating corpses to stay full, or infected with higher immune systems being able to resist the infection.)

The Black Flu can also become airborne under certain conditions. Airborne spores can develop in dark, moist areas (such as sewers, inside abandoned houses, ect.) Because of this, most survivors and official military protocol is to have a gas mask on inside buildings. Spores have also been known to emit from large amount of infected corpses.

Getting bit by an infected is the most surefire way to become one yourself, but other ways such as scratching and blood contact in the eyes, nose or mouth have a high probability of turning you too. Time to before one turns is generally 5 minutes to an hour depending on the conditions, but most people turn very quickly. As a result, the military has a strict infected protocol which authorizes immediate termination of an individual upon infection. This is not without civilian outrage, though the military has not budged on the protocol.

ParaSec Organization

As it’s known currently, ParaSec has three main units. This includes S.D, S.P.I.T and A.R.T.

S.D: S.D (Scientific Division) is ParaSec’s department of all research and development. Many scientists are hired from DARPA or other shady corps that were disbanded long ago.

S.P.I.T: S.P.I.T (Special Purpose Intervention Team) is ParaSec’s security service and main armed wing. They’re recruited from special forces and PMCs, and serve as ParaSec’s army. These are essentially what the JTF is actively at war with.

A.R.T: A.R.T (Anomalous Recovery Team) is ParaSec’s elite researchers and soldiers, who are responsible for bringing samples and... test subjects. It’s unknown what they’re made up of, as ParaSec has their identities completely erased. Their hazmat suits have fully tinted visors, their radio chatter always has an odd distorted filter, they are elite ghosts who take away the innocent to experiment on.

BZ JTF

Black Zone Joint Task Force

The BZ JTF is all branches of military formed into a single fighting force against the infection. It also absorbs FEMA and the CDC, as well as first responders.

Scavengers

The Black Zone is full of riches left behind from the first weeks of the outbreak. While the boundary walls keep the infected out, it doesn’t stop people from sneaking into the BZ, and nobody really cares to stop them. Scavengers range from people who were left behind, to brutal enforcers who prey on the innocent. Scavengers as a whole make up the life of the BZ, with many working with the JTF. Settlements within the BZ usually always have a market of some sort, offering work (dirty or clean,) and a way for people to sell off their loot.

The Brooklyn Massacre

During the first weeks of the outbreak, the Brooklyn Quarantine Zone was established as New York’s last place of safety. This was before the days of the Black Zone Boundary Wall, so times were desperate and the military was full of uncertainty. During a routine evacuation effort over the Brooklyn Bridge, a large horde of infected was crossing behind a few hundred civilians. The military, not wanting to risk the quarantine zone being overrun, bombed the bridge. This killed hundreds of innocent people and the infected with them. This became the JTF’s most controversial decision and sparked serious disapproval. The JTF argued that they had to sacrifice the few to save the many, which in a way was right. The amount of infected crossing the bridge would have completely overrun the QZ in minutes had they crossed.

Author’s Notes

Hi guys. So probably the most effort I ever put into this. Probably will be a series. This world is basically a mix of all my favorite zombie media, and also the division (hence the JTF idea,,,) But yeah I hope you guys enjoy this, and if anyone wants to do their own spin on this I would loooove that. I wanted the JTF to be very open to my military larpers, so it allows for anyone to be anything.