Red Eye

**Red Eye** is the colloquial name for **Anti-AZM-TSE-2Dm3** or **Anti-AZM**, a prion disease that erupted into a nationwide outbreak in the early 2020s. It is so named for its first symptom - reddening of the eyes - and eventually drives those infected insane, transforming them into aggressive, blind, cannibalistic monsters.

## History

### Background

Anti-Alzheimer's-Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (Anti-AZM-TSE) treatment compound, batch 2-delta, lineage m3, was created by Ellis Pharmaceutical as a revolutionary treatment for Alzheimer's, a widespread neurodegenerative disease for which no cure could be found. Scientists at Ellis Pharmaceutical synthesized a novel prion - a type of misfolded protein able to transmit its shape onto healthy proteins - that, instead of causing a invariably fatal disease, would stimulate neuronal repair in Alzheimer's patients. Developed throughout the 2010s, it was approved for human trials in 2019 after successful trials in mice.

The human trials were a monumental success; neuro-regeneration was recorded in every subject, all of whom were in the middle stages of Alzheimer's disease. It was approved for use on a trial basis in late-stage sufferers of the disease in the United States, while also acquiring approval internationally in India, central Africa and parts of Asia. Ellis Pharmaceutical's charitable arm, First Aid, managed the distribution of Anti-AZM in the selected countries.

### Outbreak

> *Main Article: Red Eye Outbreak*
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In 2023, Anti-AZM entered public use, allowing hundreds of thousands of Alzheimer's patients, many at different stages of the disease, to be treated simultaneously. Shortly after exposure to the drug, however, a new series of symptoms appeared: reddening of the eyes, uncontrollable twitching, and animal-like aggression. Any memory of their loved ones was wiped from the patients' minds as the prion mutated and invaded their brains, driving them to spread the prion by any means.

The infected began mindlessly attacking their nurses and loved ones; they scratched, bit and overwhelmed their victims through sheer numbers. Some would eat their victims alive. Anyone bitten would quickly transform into another one of the creatures; as a result, thousands of hospitals across the U.S. fell almost immediately. Rendered blind by the prion, the infected would move towards any source of noise and instinctively attack anything that their hands touched.

The situation quickly spiralled out of control as swarms of infected attacked major cities. Military evacuations began within hours of the first cases; anyone lucky enough to escape the cities was quickly herded into one of the many temporary relief camps that the military set up to shelter civilians. Within three days, most settlements had become ghost towns; within a week, the state governments were on the verge of collapse.

The sudden chaos incited violence all across the U.S.; riots broke out, shops were looted, and murder rates spiked. Some who already saw the evacuations as a lost cause turned to attacking, robbing and killing other survivors, while others grouped together and tried to weather out the apocalypse. National broadcasts were replaced by warnings to stay indoors; news stations were cleared out, while field reporters were killed by either infected or violent survivors. Soldiers began turning on civilians, massacring them out of fear of the prion spreading.

### Aftermath

Within six weeks of the outbreak, the United States government had effectively collapsed. Major cities, including Washington D.C., New York, Baltimore and Charlotte, were abandoned by the military as infected overwhelmed their camps and checkpoints. In the midst of the federal chaos, the government of Texas seceded from the U.S. to form the Republic of Texas. Similarly, many military battalions went rogue under the leadership of their various commanders; some tried to establish safe-zones, such as the Tower in downtown Charlotte, while others became bandits or split up entirely. Civilians were left to their own devices; some turned to attacking other survivors; some turned to looting; a few tried to form small communes or roving convoys. All the while the prion was evolving, giving rise to infected variants that posed new threats to survivors, such as shriekers and the horrifying "long-legs".

By the first post-outbreak winter, the government and all social order had disappeared, plunging a world into a dark age with the human race on the brink of extinction.

## Overview

Anti-AZM, or Red Eye, is a modified prion disease; a prion is a misfolded protein that can transmit its misfolded shape onto normal variants of the same protein. The proteins may misfold sporadically, due to genetic mutations, or, in the case of Red Eye, by exposure to an already misfolded protein. The consequent abnormal three-dimensional structure confers them the ability to cause misfolding of other proteins. Prion aggregates are stable, and this structural stability means that prions are resistant to denaturation by chemical and physical agents: they cannot be destroyed by ordinary disinfection. This makes disposal and containment of these particles difficult, nigh on impossible during an outbreak.

Although prions normally cause fatal neurodegenerative diseases in humans and other animals, anti-AZM was intended to impart beneficial mutations to dead or dying neurons in the cerebral cortex, where Alzheimer's is believed to originate. Since Alzheimer's is widely believed to be a protein misfolding disease - much like a prion - the scientists at Ellis Pharmaceutical theorised that a prion could be created to stimulate the unfolding of amyloid plaques. No such treatment using prions had ever been previously attempted, making the supposed cure a novel treatment.

For whatever reason, when anti-AZM entered public use, the prion mutated, misfolding hundreds of neural proteins in its victims and driving them insane. The sudden cascade of misfolded proteins damaged the nerves and tissue of the victims' eyes, rendering them blind; this, coupled with the animalistic insanity, drove the infected to seek out and attack any source of noise.