HE'S COMING TO GET YOU, BARBARA.
THE WORLD:
Jason Taylor is a relatively young man (somewhere in his mid-twenties) fairly non-descript looking and considered by most who meet him, unmemorable. He is working a temp job as a file clerk in Los Angeles, California. His fiancée, Barbara, is in the process of finishing up her master’s degree in New York and will be joining Jason on the West Coast shortly.
And unbeknownst to Jason, the world has just ended.
Two days ago, a space capsule landed in the middle of the ocean. Upon retrieval,
all the astronauts inside were found dead. Within hours of being brought to land
and admitted into a government installation, the bodies of the astronauts rose
from their examination tables and began killing everyone within reach. To make
matters even worse, when the capsule was opened, something beside the bodies of
the astronauts was let loose. Something bacterial.
While most people would find themselves immune to the initial effects of the airborne virus, it would soon be discovered that 10 percent of the population would die rapidly once exposed. The virus would then cause the body to rise from the dead in a grotesque parody of life. These zombies would have only one biological imperative. The basic need to feed – and they feed only on living flesh. Their blood and saliva is infectious, and even those immune to the airborne version of the plague will rapidly succumb to this mutated and more deadly form.
The end result is rapid, widespread destruction. Civilization ends up being a surprisingly fragile thing as more and more of the populace succumbs. Within two days zombie uprisings have reduced the city of Los Angeles (amongst many others) to urban chaos. And this is the world that Jason Taylor has unknowingly awoken to.
Jason has one overriding goal: to travel across the country by whatever means possible in search of his fiancée Barbara, who he hopes still survives somewhere in the city of New York. The journey of Jason Taylor shows us every type of conceivable Americana. From the streets of LA, where widespread destruction has taken over, to the city of Las Vegas, where each casino has become a warring island of humanity, to the sprawling land of Texas where the military prepares its last stand against an invader impossible to destroy.
THE CAST:
JASON TAYLOR:
A non-descript man in his mid-twenties, Jason has never pictured himself as a hero. Never the intellectual or athletic type, Jason is a fairly unemployable web designer and video game tester who is generally just cruising through life. He has recently relocated out to the West Coast, and is in the process of preparing his apartment for when his fiancée, Barbara, moves out from New York to join him. When the zombie outbreak occurs, Jason has to fight against the natural human impulse to hide from this horrific threat, and begin his journey across the dangerous landscape that once was the United States of America.
BARBARA LEE:
Never seen beyond a battered photo in Jason’s wallet, Barbara represents all of Jason’s hopes and goals. Whether she even lives is unknown, but it is the driving need to know that keeps Jason moving onward, even when all evidence points to his actions as being futile.
POLLY HANCOCK:
Early on in his journey, this young girl nurses Jason back to health from injuries he sustains escaping a zombie attack. Pretty and sweet, She is the unwitting temptation to lure Jason off his path. Leaving behind the remnants of her family, she joins Jason in his travels across the country out of both a developing crush on him as well as a deep need to be protected. Unfortunately, her choice seems to lead down a road of tragedy and suffering.
CORPORAL MERRICK:
Merrick is in his early thirties. He is not an uncompassionate man, but his strong adherence to the military hierarchy limits his flexibility. As the world (and subsequently, the military organization) around him begins crumble, so does his mental state. When he encounters Jason Taylor, he is forced to choose between his innate belief that the military is responsible for protecting civilians, and the orders that have been passed down the chain of command.
ZOMBIES:
Just like people, zombies come in all shapes and forms. If you are bitten or scratched by a zombie, you will quickly die and become a zombie yourself. All trace of your former personality will be lost; and all that will remain is a mindless desire to feed on the flesh of living humans.
The cause of this outbreak is largely unknown to our main character - he simply wakes up one day to a world where the dead have risen from the grave - but the military rapidly begins conducting research on this phenomenon. The hope is to create some form of counter agent that will destroy all traces of viral infection. In short, ending the zombie plague. But whether or not this is possible remains a mystery.
In the meantime, the only way to stop a zombie is to destroy the brain. Any other damage will only inconvenience them. The contagion that brings the zombies into existence is quickly shown to only affect certain species, specifically members of the primate family. Monkeys, gorillas and humans are all susceptible to the virus. Other species are immune.
Zombies decompose at a much slower rate then a fully dead body. This means that a zombie can remain active for months past the point where a normal corpse would have rotted away to bones. In addition, a zombie that feeds on live flesh will actually heal to a degree, although not to the point of becoming fully human again - but a zombie will become stronger and faster the more it feeds.
Because their bodies are essentially dead, zombies require no food or rest. They are single-minded. Once they sense the presence of a human, they will continue to pursue their victim until they are completely physically disabled.
When lacking the stimuli provided by prey, zombies typically become fairly dormant.
Because of this, it becomes difficult to differentiate between a regular corpse
and an active zombie. From time to time however, zombies will go through grotesque
reenactments of their former lives: a zombie might try to read the paper or
drive a car. Of course, they lack the brainpower to do any of their former tasks
properly, but this does not stop the tiny spark of memory in their minds from
compelling them to try.
LOCATIONS:
LOS ANGELES:
The crowded city of Los Angeles is hit hard. The streets are filled with cars,
abandoned during rush hour. Fires rage through parts of the city. Unsurprisingly,
the more urban areas are now some of the safest, as the residents of these low
income regions were already well armed. But eventually, through a lack of any
proper defensive structures, these regions also fall to the sheer numbers of
the zombie horde.
THE ZOO:
When the plague first begins to spread, some compassionate soul decides the
animals of the zoo would be better off roaming free than starving to death in
their cages. Unfortunately, the animals quickly begin adding to the chaos as
elephants march down the street in a panic and lions stalk unwary survivors.
And a worse threat soon rears its head from within the zoo: All primates are
infected with the virus.
THE SEWERS:
These endless catacombs can be found in most major metropolitan areas. In the
city of Los Angeles, many people flock into these sewer tunnels seeking refuge
from the undead inhabitants on the city streets above. But this maze of tunnels
is as much a trap as it is a haven.
THE DESERT:
Seemingly endless. Few zombies are to be found here, but lack of water and oppressive
heat is still just as deadly as it has ever been.
LAS VEGAS:
Several of the casinos close off their doors quickly when the zombies first
begin appearing. The survivors within the casinos represent some of the worst
that humanity has to offer. They guard their neon tower fortresses viciously
against any invaders, be they zombie or human. The streets of Las Vegas show
the city’s tattered dreams. Undead showgirls stagger through the streets trailing
dirty gowns of feather behind them. Young men visiting the city for bachelor
parties feast on the flesh of strippers. This city shows the decadence it is
famous for, even beyond the grave.
THE INSTITUTION:
Located on an aircraft carrier situated just off the West Coast, military scientists
gather survivors here to use as guinea pigs in hope of a better understanding
of the virus and creating a vaccine. In the brig, several small cells house
captured zombies for use on living test subjects. The Institution is heavily
guarded and surrounded by an electric fence capable of killing any living trespassers
and disabling most of the undead ones.
EPISODES:
EPISODE 1: The End
Jason Taylor awakens to what appears to be another average day in his life.
He gets up, brushes his teeth, and gets in his car to leave for work and hits
gridlock traffic. The day stops being average when a horde of zombies stagger
out of the morning fog and shamble their way down the freeway, killing everyone
in their path. Jason narrowly escapes an untimely death, but as he looks to
the city he sees smoke, fire and chaos everywhere. Jason spies a nearby electronics
store with televisions in the window. On the TV is a special news bulletin urging
all survivors to head to the nearest police station for safety. The news bulletin
then goes on to show various parts of the country, all in a similar state of
devastation, including New York City. Panicking, Jason tries calling Barbara
on his cell phone but the signal is completely dead. Jason’s first and only
real concern becomes clear at that moment: he somehow has to get to New York
and find out what’s happened to his fiancée.
EPISODE 2: The Law
Our hero arrives at the police station seeking aid and sanctuary. The police
are barricaded within their own headquarters. Jason is unable to find any aid
getting out of the city. As more survivors flock to the police headquarters,
the decision is made to disallow any more refugees’ sanctuary. Jason is at odds
with this, but as a refugee himself, he is given little say in the matter. Infighting
reaches a boiling point as paranoid police officers and desperate survivors
begin killing each other. Eventually the living dead find their way into this
last haven of the city. Jason escapes, but it is unknown if there are any other
survivors.
EPISODE 3: The Jungle
Deciding that his safest bet is to travel alone through the suburbs, Jason’s
path leads him close to the city zoo. Unfortunately, sometime during the upheaval
most of the zoo’s animals were freed. Even more unfortunately, it appears that
monkeys and gorillas are equally susceptible to the zombie plague that has broken
out throughout the country. Jason finds himself hunted as he makes his escape
into the sewers.
EPISODE 4: Underground
Unable to find another path, Jason seeks refuge in the sewers. Unfortunately
the dead have a similar idea and Jason must make his way through this underground
maze of pipes and passageways without being detected by the multitude of zombies.
To make matters worse, the zombie gorillas have tracked Jason into the sewers
and are actively hunting him. Caught between certain death at the hands of the
simian zombies and possible death from the fall at a great height, Jason jumps
from a drainage pipe into a river. There he is swept away.
EPISODE 5: Shelter, Part 1
Awakening is a long and painful process for Jason. He is in the care of a group
of survivors just outside of town. They are holed up in a makeshift fort (really
a former RV camp). They find him down by the river and nurse him back to health.
Jason must come to grips with the fact that he is developing feelings for one
of his rescuers, a pretty girl by the name of Polly.
EPISODE 6: Shelter, Part 2
With increasingly frequent zombie attacks on the makeshift fortification, Jason
becomes restless. He knows that he has to continue his journey across the country.
The RV encampment is not safe. Eventually they will run out of food and water.
After one final brutal attack where the camp is almost overrun, Jason convinces
Polly and another survivor named Dylan to seek safety elsewhere.
EPISODE 7: The Road
Traveling across the country in an RV is a long and boring process. With Dylan
driving, Jason and Polly learn more about each other’s pasts. Just as the inevitable
sexual tension between the pair is becoming too much to resist, the RV finally
breaks down. With no other real options available, the trio packs up as many
supplies as they can carry and head out on foot. But the going is slow, Dylan
is recovering poorly from a zombie bite he received at the camp and their water
supply is very low. To make matters even worse, far across the flat desert horizon,
the trio can see a large number of tireless zombies following their trail.
EPISODE 8: The Desert
Slowly the trio continues across the desert. They are out of water. They are
out of ammo. Dylan is poisoned and will soon become a zombie. Other zombies
slowly pursue only a few miles behind. What began as a seemingly simple drive
through the desert has now become a desperate race for survival.
EPISODE 9: Sin City: Part 1
At death’s door, Jason, carrying an unconscious Polly across his back, arrives
in Las Vegas – or what’s left of it. The casinos have become the final citadels
of humanity in the Nevada desert. While dead dancing girls and half decomposed
lounge singers prowl the streets, the survivors of the King Arthur, Pharaoh’s
Pyramid and the Amazon casinos all wage war against each other for two precious
resources: water and women. Unwillingly, Jason and Polly find themselves caught
up within this power struggle.
EPISODE 10: Sin City: Part 2
When the survivors of the Amazon casino stage a raid on the King Arthur, Polly
is taken captive. Jason is compelled to attempt to save her, but despite his
best efforts he finds her half-dead and mostly out of her mind from the brutal
treatment she receives from her captors. Polly dies, leaving Jason with a renewed
desperation to travel to the east coast. As zombies slowly find their way into
the casinos (through a door that Jason does not bother closing), Jason finds
a motorcycle in the street and drives off, leaving Vegas behind forever.
EPISODE 11: The Cabin
Running low on fuel, Jason encounters another survivor who claims to be able
to help - the survivor knocks Jason out. Jason awakens in a basement, tied to
a chair next to two zombies. The zombies are also tied to chairs and appear
to have died from various types of torture. Jason is saved from this apparent
serial killer when a man from the military investigates the screams emanating
from this strange cabin in the woods.
EPISODE 12: Army
Saved from the serial killer, but apparently still very much a prisoner, Jason,
along with a truckload of other survivors, finds himself herded off to an aircraft
carrier in the Pacific Ocean. Some of the survivors are from the recently overrun
Las Vegas casino encampments.
EPISODE 13: The Institution: Part 1
Imprisoned onboard an aircraft carrier that has been converted for scientific
use, Jason and the other civilian survivors discover what purpose they are intended
to serve: as guinea pigs for government research scientists. Jason finds himself
scheduled to be used to test a vaccine that involves direct exposure to some
foreign elements found within a zombie’s bloodstream. Things look very grim.
MORE TO COME SOON!
