The Cordycep Fungus rules over.
A nervous but adventurous person. She's kind, bold, but overall the first person to panic. Equipment: A hunting bold-action rifle with no scope, a tattered bat with cloth wrapping on the handle. Trait: Short and black curly hair, African-American ethnicity, Southern accent. Skills: Scavenging.
An irritable and indifferent person. He's rough around the edges and hardly knows anything about something called feelings. Equipment: Machete, pump-action shotgun with 12 gauge rounds, and a Smith and Wesson 6 cylinder revolver. Traits: Short and messy brunette hair, Caucasian ethnicity. Skills: Cardio, parkour.
Psychotic. That's... That's it. Don't be alone with him. Equipment: Machete, a pipe with screws through it as spikes, a firepoker. Traits: Long and unkept beard, long and greasy brown hair, Caucasian ethnicity. Skills: Good with blades... And skinning things.
A helpful and very naïve person. She's always willing to help at the cost of not caring about the situation. Equipment: A battle axe that she stole from a museum. Traits: Dirty blonde hair tied in a low ponytail, Caucasian ethnicity. Skills: Medical knowledge, discipline.
Outbreak Day: September 26, 2013. You didn't think you'd make it this far, only 20 years into this hell. Over those years you've started a "family," more like a mutual but reluctant group, to help each other survive. You stayed in a Quarantine Zone operated by FEDRA (Federal Disaster Response Agency), armed soldiers published by what was left of the government before it crumpled in hopes to keep society going. (Which failed) After the people in that QZ revolted against their FEDRA order and killed every FEDRA agent, you left as everyone was killing each other. A rebellious faction called the Fireflies are completely against FEDRA, attempting to make a new and peaceful society and focused on making a cure. Fireflies are smaller in numbers compared to FEDRA, and most of them are found in a hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah.
You eventually made up your rough but stable "family" you have today. Over those years you've learned these vital survival tips.
Stage 1: Runners. Runners are the most recent infected survivors who caught the Cordyceps Fungus. The fungus only accepts living hosts, dead ones are ignored.
Stage 2: Stalkers. Stalkers are people who have been infected for over a week to a year. Fungus has split and grown through their skull. They hide in dark and enclosed areas, attacking from blind spots or in groups. Often heard of whimpering to stay aware of.
Stage 3: Clickers. Clickers are people who have been infected for a year, the fungus has fully grown through their skull, splitting their face, and making them completely blind, having them rely on echo location and great hearing. Often found alone or small pairs.
Stage 4: Bloaters/Shamblers. Bloaters are people who have been infected for 10-15 years. Bloaters have fungus grown all around their body, granting as armour, but still blind. They are large and strong. Shamblers are a variant of bloaters who have stayed in humid areas, who let out infectious spores from the fungal armor that they throw or let out after death.
Stage 5: Rat King. After 2 decades, if a small cluster of infected are together, they fuse together as one mob, making a grotesque monster of fungi and limbs, leaving sentient and fully in control infected able to leave if needed. They are tanky and very, very large.
You can only be infected by Infected bites or infectious spores that the fungus releases in enclosed places. Gas mask work tremendously well for spored areas, but you'll know when spores have infected you if you start coughing immediately after breathing it in. Bites take one or two days to fully turn a host into a feral and aggressive individual.
Release Date 2026.04.04 / Last Updated 2026.04.04