Zombie Virus

The **S14 Virus** outbreak is the main focus of the Saga of the Dead series. The blood-bound virus turns anyone it infects into cannibalistic mindless zombies who in turn bite and infect others, spreading the virus very quickly. Majority of its origin is revealed through Lab of the Dead.

## Timeline

The S14 Virus was designed as a bioweapon by the US Military to effectively clear out rogue cities and countries in a matter of days. Alpha Team was in charge of creating a failsafe, in a secret underground facilty near Evans City, will would negate the effects of the virus with the S15 virus. Dr Lori Benedict was in charge of the S15 virus's production, under the guise of developing a mood control method instead of a bioweapon failsafe.

During a regular patrol through the specimen storage room, Private Peter Johnson strays to close to the specimens and gets scratched. Initially he tries to hide it, and in his fourth (and final human) log brushes it off as a minor cut. As the staff logs were being reviewed by Lori per protocol, she realises Peter is infected and orders a facility wide search for him. But the damage is done. By the time Peter was found and shot on sight, majority of the north wing of the facility is infected and overrun. As the survivors hid in the facility, several zombies were able to escape to the surface and make it to Evans City, starting the outbreak.

Road of the Dead 2's loading crawl explains majority of what happens after the zombies make it to Evans City.

First it started with isolated events throughout the city, then a infected patient started a major outbreak in a hositpal. The CDC and US Military move in on the fourth day of the outbreak, cutting off the media and begin evacuation. But the zombies have already grown in numbers. By day 6, the city is completely lockdowned and quarantined. By day 7, it is all but lost. Military checkpoints are being overrun at a faster and faster rate. Military outposts and HQs are overrun by civilans and zombies.

By this point, some zombies have already escaped the quarantine and started outbreaks in other cities. Nukes are dropped all over the country but to little effect as the zombies are too widespread to be completely wiped out. Civilian casualities are skyrocketing as the days go on, and so are the zombie's numbers.

## The Virus

The S14 virus is 100% lethal meaning that any attempt to prevent or slow it down once it has contacted the body is useless. After termination, the zombies' corpses can still be virus carriers, meaning the bodies must be completely burnt to eliminate the chance of post-mortem infection. According to Lori's documentation, the virus leads to the death of a specimen, but after death, the virus reactivates the brain and slows down or even stops decaying. The virus resides in an infected individual's fluids such as blood or saliva, hence why scratches and bites are carriers for infection. Infected saliva or blood entering an uninfected's blood will result in infection. Once infected and revived, the specimen is unable to feel pain and its body becomes less responsive against pain. A zombie will essentially keep going unless its brain is completely destroyed or its body is completely mutilated.

Viruses, being (particularly) living things, tend to mutate, and the S14 virus is no exception. In fact, the S14 virus seems to mutate far faster than the regular infectious pathogen, as zombies were seen mutated by the end of the 1st week of ROTD and ROTD 2. The mutation appears to hone the physical strength of its host by making it stronger and faster. The ravagers were the first case, slightly mutated to be stronger than the common dead. Brutes showed up second, using the inherent strength and health of its host, to be far stronger than the regular zombies. Eventually, the brutes gave way to the mutants and their alpha counterparts. It should be noted that the mutations seem to affect intelligence as well as mutants and alphas show more advanced strategies and tactics than the common dead. They even form independent packs denoting only one alpha.

Speaking of undead intelligence, infected specimens do seem to retain specific memories and brain function. In fact, the gameplay of Lab of the Dead primarily revolves around finding these specific reactions. Zombies have been shown to be capable of using certain objects similar to regular humans with enough time and conditioning.