The Hunger

***Infection*** or ***Zombie Infection*** is a lethal disease transmitted by the blood or saliva of a zombie during an attack; zombie infection is fatal over 3-4 days. ***There is no cure.*** After death an infected body will arise as a zombie.

The zombie contagion passes via a bite from an infected being. The infected became an undead flesh eater but retained their intelligence, personality and special abilities. The virus also appears to mostly target superhumans. It caused a hunger in the host, a hunger which could only be sated by ingesting the flesh of the living; the flesh of other infected tasted foul to them and could induce illness. The hunger affected the infected's self-control; the hungrier they were, the less rational and intelligent they became. Once sated, the zombies' personalities re-emerged, and the more humane and moral individuals often felt great guilt at this point.

It appeared to be 100% infectious, but those with any kind of accelerated healing appear to be able to fend off the zombification longer after being bit than others; however, the virus would eventually take hold of them, and their healing factor would fade after the zombification was complete. The virus is sentient in nature and focus on infecting metahumans because they are the most probable beings to breach the dimensional barriers of their realities to infect others. Its obsession to infect other realities is a way to "spread the gospel", also considering the food supply will eventually end in each universe.

The contagion appeared to have an addictive element to it, as the hunger was entirely mental; its infected hosts don't need to eat, as they are already "dead"; severed zombie heads still had the gnawing hunger, despite not even having a stomach, implying that, as with someone addicted to drugs or alcohol, the infected hosts are addicted to human flesh. Also, like any addiction, the hunger could be cured in a sense. If a victim could be isolated from a food supply, within a couple of weeks the cravings disappeared and the subject was able perform a functioning role within society, but with necrotized flesh and near-immortality. This addiction could be explained by the virus messing with the chemical balance of the brain, having this "need" to feed. After having eaten nothing in weeks, this balance is restored.

## Infection

In order for a zombie's attack to inflict a wound on a survivor, it must first hit them, bypass their clothing's protection, and then break the skin.

**Note**: *Not to be confused with "Infected Wound" status, which may result from any injury (i.e. gunshot) and carries no risk of zombie infection.*

### Tips

* Saliva transmission occurs during a zombie's bite attack.
* Thick/Thin Skinned affects the chance of a survivor's skin being broken during an attack.

## Symptoms

Zombie infection has no unique symptoms (e.g., those shared with a Common Cold, Food Poisoning).

### **Symptoms**

* **Pain**: immediately after wound, increasing/decreasing regularly over time but rarely disappearing entirely without medication.
* **Sickness** and/or **Anxiety** (0-48 hours). This begins with low level symptoms (i.e., "Queasy") and progress in severity over time.

### Similar Conditions

* Pain: Infected wound, recent injury, etc. Cleaning the wound with alcohol or disinfectant and/or stitching the wound.
* Sick: Contracting the flu from being out in the rain.
* Decreasing Health: Deep infected wounds or serious flu, glass fragments, lodged bullets. These can be healed by their respective treatments, causing Health to stop draining and eventually increase.

True zombie infection will not stop draining health and will continuously intensify over time. There is no chance to cure the infection and no known survivors of the bite.