The Respiren Flu has crippled the nation
Even though the first cases were reported in the Midwest, the origins of the disease are still unknown. With no cure in sight, the pharmaceutical giant Soteria Industries releases a treatment for the Respiren Flu called Toxicil. Both the development of the drug as well as the test result are as mysterious as the disease it treats. Due to the unprecedented threat posed by a national pandemic, the Food and Drug Administration has turned a blind eye to Soteria Industries' questionable behavior and established it as marketable in the name of public health.
Soteria Industries soon finds itself unable to meet the panicked public’s demand for Toxicil. Prices soar on the black market, as shortages and mass hording for the drug are abound. Riots and the social decay ravage the state social institutions, affecting a population already being gripped by fear and disease.
Meanwhile, the global media empire, FPS World News, capitalizing upon the public disarray, becomes a booming 24-hour feed source for lofty journalism and sensational punditry. National health/safety updates are heavily padded with celebrity news and “soft journalism”. Fringe critics accuse FPS of contributing to the national panic by propagating the mass consumption of Toxicil, an untested, unregulated substance.
FEMA camps begin to overflow with the sick and dying while every aspect of government begins to break down. A national emergency is declared. Quarantine, marshal law and eminent domain are met with little resistance as citizens duck their collective heads and hope for the storm to pass.
The flu has mutated into an even deadlier strain, with a built in resistance to Toxicil and an unheard of post-mortem side effect. The dead walk, devoid of memory and self-awareness. Rotten bodies, bloated and dripping with infection, attack anything in their paths. Humanity faces an enemy that feels no pain, no emotion or sentiment; only hunger. The insatiable drive that just keeps them coming and coming; eating and eating. Loved ones, neighbors and strangers alike. None are immune and few can be trusted. Scientists ask, “Is this a population mutation or humanity’s mass extinction?” Either way, survival is the only option for those with warm blood.
Every man, woman and child will be put to the test. They need to run fast, hide well and watch their backs. They’ll need brains if they want to keep their own.
And guns.
Lots of guns.