Ryan Adhere

As the founding leader of the Hunters, **Ryan Adhere** is introduced early on in the **Into the Dark** *series* a recurring character turned antagonist.

At some point during the outbreak, his group began to hunt down and kill other survivors in order to scavenge supplies and eventually he pledged allegiance to former Illinois State Senator Alexander Jones as well as the New Patriot Movement **of the United States of America**.

## Appearance

Ryan is a Caucasian male of above average height with messy dirty blonde hair as well as a distinctive mess of freckles across his face along with intense green eyes.

His stylistic preferences are his outfit resembled that of a biker with a black leather jacket, dark blue jeans with chains, big boots and a collection of trophy human ears he wears around his belt as a measure of how many Infected he has killed and thus how much he is worth.

## Personality

Ryan is arrogant, ruthless, vicious and unpredictable. He takes great pride as the leader of his group and enjoys being able to do whatever he wants, considering the outbreak "a blessing". Ryan and his group are also revealed to be a cannibals as they quickly ran out of food and due to lacking farmers they resulted to hunting down other survivors and eating them.

Despite his cockiness and pride he is not without compromise as he recognizes that the hauls that his group brings in are not enough to sustain him and his followers so he agrees to pledge allegiance to **Senator** Alexander Jones and work for the New Patriot Movement as an affiliate group.

## Biography

### Background

Ryan grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He often got into trouble at school which is parents greatly disapproved of. In high school, Ryan became a bully who enjoyed humiliating others, often using profanity as a way of subduing others. As an adult, Ryan began trafficking drugs and became involved in gang activity, but unlike those before him he began helping his those around him improve upon their weaknesses and molding them into stronger individuals.

### Events of the **Into the Dark** *series*

#### Early Outbreak

After years of living in an oppressive Quarantine Zone with frequent food shortages, the people of Chicago gradually became impatient with F.E.M.A.'s slow response to the outbreak, accusing the US government of being corrupt liars when they ran short on rations, as well being more concerned with maintaining power and authority than finding a vaccine for the infection. Seeking to exacerbate the situation Ryan and his band of followers rallied whomever they can to rebel against the United States Federal Government.

Eventually, the citizens of Chicago *did* erupt in protest which as Ryan anticipated was violently put down by the United States Army's 1st Calvary Division with at least fifteen people being executed.

As large-scale fighting broke out between the civilians and the military, Ryan became an important figure due to him being able to rally and lead the population against both the Illinois Army National Guard as well as the 1st Calvary Division in a conflict that raged for two years; this event was the Hunters Uprising. After the war's end in Ryan was elected as the new leader having won over the vast majority of the civilians.

Now, the citizens had complete control over the city but the outbreak as well as the recently ended conflict left everyone was desperate for supplies and resources. In one instance, a couple of teenagers led by Jackson murdered a family passing through the Zone, but when put on trial by Ryan he instead praised them, claiming they had gathered food and supplies, and commanded everyone to take turns hunting tourists in packs.

Two people decided to speak out, only to be brutally executed in front of everyone by Ryan himself and were later consumed. Because of this, they are referred to as Hunters.

#### Late Outbreak

Shortly after, Former Illinois Senator Alexander Jones came into contact with the Hunters, and provided them with proper food to eat and seeds to grow crops after they agreed to join the New Patriot Movement as an affiliate group. Though reluctantly, Ryan Adhere pledged his allegiance to Jones, knowing the Hunters were not powerful enough to defeat him.

The Hunters worked under Jones for several years.

#### Uprising and Death

After growing weary of taking orders from him Ryan decides to rebel against Jones' hegemony and mounts an assault with twenty Hunters who storm into the New Patriot Movement's base of operations.

When he arrives in Alexander's office, he has his Hunters fight with **Alexander's Elite** while, Ryan faces Jones alone. Bruce Cooper and Gabriel Harris bear witness as Alexander dodges Ryan attempting to kill him with his machete with ease and shoots him through the heart with his Smith & Wesson Model 37. The raiding Hunters that followed were summarily executed by his guards as well.

## Skills and Abilities

Ryan was an exceptionally talented close-range fighter, easily able to overpower Jacob Rogers whom himself was a very skilled fighter. Ryan is also shown to be able to handle himself against the Infected without an issue using his machete being able to decapitate his enemies.

But he is also extremely arrogant and makes mistakes of continuously taunting and underestimating his opponents during fights, to the point of incredibly overconfidence. Despite his ability to lead his raider group the Hunters his arrogance would prove to be his undoing as he would be killed by Alexander Jones the **Major** of the New Patriot Movement **of the United States of America**.

## Weapons Used

   SOGfari Tanto Machete - Ryan's main melee weapon of choice appears to be a machete and he is shown to skilled and deadly with it being able to kill Infected as well as United States Army soldiers, decapitating them. He also overwhelmed Jacob Rogers a skilled Hunter in his own right.

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Molotov Cocktail - Ryan is shown to frequently use Molotovs on the battlefield burning several survivors to death.

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 **Double-Barreled Coach Gun** - Ryan also made use of this 12 gauge double-barreled shotgun during the *Hunters Uprising* where he would take leadership of the Hunters, defeat the U.S. military in Chicago and take control of the city.