Prologue

Prologue to The Wasteland.

The year was 2012, and just like predicted something happened in December, the zombie outbreak. Be it coincidence or just fate; an African science firm, Science for All (SfA) found the cure for AIDs and how to prevent it. For first week they fought valiantly to get the vaccine to 75% of Africa’s population, and they succeeded. The second week they were too busy trying to survive to worry about getting it to the other countries. No one knows what went wrong or how it exactly happened but the drug started to kill the people who took it. Problem was, they weren’t staying dead, and they were coming back. They had to no memory, or personality, they just shambled around looking for flesh to eat. And that wasn’t the worst of it; they could spread the, disease, virus, or whatever it was to living people via biting them.

The disease quickly spread from Africa to the surrounding countries, so special task forces were put together quickly to stop the disease and its spread. For a few weeks it looked like this would work, but then it hit again. In North America, Europe, South America, everywhere. Total panic hit, the world powers became desperate, and decided on a drastic course. Survivors not infected were sent to various underground bunkers to live in. The survivors there were given the antidote and sent inside with only a few personal belongings. Then once most of the bunkers were filled and the infection started spreading at an alarming rate the bombing began. Nukes set to detonate in strategic locations around the world, burned the outside and destroyed most life on Earth.

A few humans, animals, and infected survived. Most of the humans that survived quickly got sick from the radiation and died though some survived but lost their minds. A few of the infected that survived somehow evolved from mindless flesh eaters, to intelligent predators. A few species of animals survived, though most were mutated into grotesque evil creatures. After 5 years the first few bunkers in the USA opened, special scout teams leading the way. Another year and 50% of the bunkers were open and people were starting to settle in small towns & villages. The people had to be strong to survive against the minimal radiation still lingering in most places, the mutated animals, zombies, super zombies, raiders, and crazies. Most people quickly learned how to defend themselves and to survive, or they died within days of leaving the bunkers.

Aaron Brooks had always been an outdoor type of guy and one hell of a shot. Growing up he used to hunt a lot and learned to move very silently through the woods and make a good clean kill. Growing up like that helped to prepare him for when he joined the United States Marine Corps when he was 18. He was infantry, and was deployed within weeks after training to the continued war in the Middle East. He had been serving for three years when the disease broke out in Africa. In that time he had been recognized as an outstanding Marine, winning a Silver Star and Purple Heart for saving his team. He was called in from his leave early to join a First Response Africa team, FRA, the US was putting together to help stop the outbreak in Africa. After a few days of the FRA teams being in Africa and it became apparent what was going on, the US made a new team First Response Rescue and Reconnaissance (F3R). These teams went into the infected zones and stealthily tried to rescue high value targets, recover necessary supplies or Intel, deliver crippling blows to the infected, and/or quarantine zones.

After a week of serving in the FRA Brooks was moved to a F3R team, to help go in and rescue survivors. Brooks quickly moved up the ranks and was moved to one of the main F3R team. They had to silently move in to rescue, collect data, and kill as many of the infected as possible, to slow down the spread. When the virus broke out in the US, all the teams were called back to help their home country. Once the teams moved back to the US, the F3R teams were simply called Z-Squads. Each Z-Squad had a Hunter in it, this was usually someone with previous stealth training and recognized as a superb solider. When the government finally decided to move people into the bunkers, the squads were broken up with one or two members going to the different bunkers to help the survivors get inside safely. Brooks went into Bunker 151 as part of the Forward Scout Team. The FST were the made up of 2-10 men or woman, their job was to go out before the main inhabitants of the bunkers to find and set up a secure settlement. These Scouts would be part of the “police force” inside the bunker till it was time to leave on their scouting mission.

The bunkers held anywhere from 100-1,000 people in them. All of the bunkers had a communications system connected to half a dozen other bunkers with those being connected to five different bunkers. By this “web of communication” the bunkers were able to get messages between them. Bunkers A-Z are the command bunkers all over the US, with the numbered bunkers being the order in which they would be opened. Bunkers 1-50 opened after five years of being closed, bunkers 51-100 opened six months later, bunkers 101-150 opened another six months after that, and on and on. Most of the bunkers learned about the first successful colonization by Bunker 1, calling the town Emergence. About 40% of the bunkers were able to develop lasting settlements, 20% of the bunkers joined other towns, with the rest being lost or killed.

Bunker 151 had 500 people; the FST was compromised of a five man group, including Brooks. Brooks was the Hunter, being the one with the most knowledge about zombies, how to kill and avoid them, their strengths, weaknesses, and habits. Brooks and his scout team emerged in the 1^st month of Emergence year 2 (M1.E2), sometime in spring of 2019. The world is torn and broken but still alive and somehow the people have found a way to survive despite the constant hardships, or maybe because of the constant hardships. Earth has become a wasteland, ravaged by war, the virus, and finally nukes. But there are still pockets of paradises, and the Earth, for the most part, is still inhabitable… Welcome to the Wasteland!

Author's Note

This is a rough draft and subject to change at anytime. When I first put this up it will be a little rough around the edges. Bare with me and I will do my best to get a better corrected version up ASAP. Thanks and enjoy!

Reviews

[Christoph Poe]

I understand this is just the prologue, but I think you could save this information for later on in the story. Let us jump straight into the story that's happening NOW and use bits of symbolism to tell us what has happened in the past. Some of the best books I've ever read don't ponder on a lot of explanation. They're straight up description.

The story sounds phenomenal, and it's caught my attention. Just get your organization and the right mechanics down and steady, and I believe you're going to have an interesting zombie thriller on your hands. From what I've read, it reminds me of "Warm Bodies", which is definitely a compliment.

And look, I'll tell you like I tell everyone else, do NOT take anything I've mentioned above literally. It will hurt your writing more than it will improve it. Believe me, I've been there and done that. I'm only one person. If one person tells you "you have an ugly tie", then it's an opinion. If 20 people tell you "you have an ugly tie", then it's probably true.

I enjoyed it overall, and I'm looking forward to more work! If you have any further questions, feel free to ask. :)

Take care,
--Christoph

[Joshua Hunter]

Thanks I will definitely think about that, mainly this prologue if for my personal use and the history of what happened, an introduction if you will. Once I finish the story I will probably take your advice and find a way to incorporate all this into the story. That way the readers are discovering what happened the same time the character does. Thanks again, very helpful!

[Nienor Niniel]

I really like this premise for a plot; instead of a end-of-the-world zombie theme, it's a new-beginning zombie theme. This prologue sets up for a good story. I'll be looking forward to future chapters.