Years ago the world ended. A mutant strain of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii began to spread across the globe. This new strain had effects... terrifying in nature. After two weeks of more or less flu like symptoms, the parasite made its way to the brain. Once in the brain the strain would affect behavioral patterns making infected individuals more violent and aggressive to make them lash out against other living creatures to ensue blood transmission and the further proliferation of the disease. Governmental response worldwide while acting almost immediately had no true way to stem the tide of the disease. Within a month almost the entire world had been consumed by the ravenous shadow of death, governmental collapse soon followed and soon after that entire societal collapse. The world had gone dark, a decaying splendor of ruin for those left behind.
It has now been twenty five years since the first cases of the new strain of Toxoplasma gondii broke into the world. Despite the odds small pockets of civilization still managed to hang on in the ruins of the world. Most live in Quarantine zones run by the rement military forces, relics of the past that keep order through brute force and superior firepower. The zones themselves are scattered mostly present around major cities and non-military communications between the zones is limited at best. Life in these zones is hard, uncontaminated food is scarce and distributed through ration tokens given at the beginning of each month, routine searches of dwellings occur three times a week in search of any illegal contraband, weapons and to check individuals to make sure they had not become infected as a single infected individual unless put down immediately could threaten everybody inside of the zone.
The rather harsh and almost authoritarian nature of the military has caused tensions to rise in the zones. The citizens are akin to feral beats stuck within cages, they can't help but to strike out against their handlers from time to time. Some in the zones believe that the military need to step down and the people need to govern themselves but those dissenters and rebels are usually put down before such dangerous ideas can spread. But no amount of guns, raids or excutionions can fully kill an idea. Murmurs of discontent run through the undercurrents and whispers of full blown revolution brewing in some zones have occurred. And yet still most people are content to live within the relative safety of the Quarantine zones.
The world beyond these zones is a quiet and somber affair. In the two and a half decades since the fall, the earth had come to reclaim its lost bounty with a slow but deliberate pace. The towering cities of man know home to only corpses and ghosts claimed by unchecked ivy and other creeping vines. The animals that survived provide another poignant juxtaposition of nature and humanity. Feathers and dung left behind in buildings and shattered doors and windows as bears, wolves and other creatures break through the decaying foundation to either find food or shelter from the elements for a night. They wander about these graveyards and remains of humanity's fall without a care to the bones and stories that lay buried beneath in the dirt. But the most present noise was the lack of noise, the overbearing silence where if you were alone your mind began to play tricks and it was more than just the grass that you heard whispering.
The infected still remain wandering aimlessly but never wandering far from the dwellings that used to be their homes. These bleeders as most of the non-infected call them due to the state of their skin in the later stages of the infection, have long since lost any remaining shred of their humanity except for their growls and shrieks. Driven mad by the Toxoplasma gondii and longing to only to subside the mass hunger that they feel. But the infected especially in their later stages became slow and tired devoring the carcesss of the dead rather than hunting the living. They were easy enough to manage in small numbers and sneaking around areas heavily populated with them was not a terribly hard thing to do.
The main threat outside the walls of civilization was other people. While some stayed within the confines of the Quarantine Zones many others decided that they were better off alone, to strike a new path. It only takes the world to stop caring for many to fall to their baser and darker instincts. These marauders survived by prying on others either other survivor groups deciding to try and make it out on their own, wanders and others. The persistence on a culture of depravity where the strong rule over the weak taking what they want. Horrors such as slavery, cannibalism and sexual abuse are common day occurrences among these individuals. Surprisingly sophisticated in their traps and ambushes. It is these monsters that the walls of the Quarantine Zone stand to protect people from.
In a world of uncertainties one thing remained true above all else. Humanity was dying. Food supplies were running dangerously low in the Quarantine Zones as populations slowly regrew and these QZs intend to remain active for a few months at best and having the supplies for such a mission had long run dry. Scavenging parties and what little farming could be done in the environment all that persisted them. The seedy underbelly of the QZs was almost as bad as the marauders as the dedicated networks of smugglers, enforcers and dealers kept a monopoly on almost all goods that the military itself didn't ration out like food or medicine. And a failure to abide by these criminal elements rules usually either lead to a quick death or a bribe to have the military take you away. Life outside is barely better with the constant threat of infected or marauder attacks. Not to mention the general lack of electricity, running water and oil for the most part. Sooner or later it all had to come tumbling down.
The Plot
As the remnants of humanity cling on to life with hands slick with blood and the remnants of our civilization come to pass seem all but painful memories in those that remember a time before the fall. Winter has just begun to set in and with it the cold and unforgiving temperatures. Once upon a time, it was a time of rebirth and joy, now it was just the shadow of cold death as food became even more scarce and made traveling more of an issue.
This is where our cast of characters will finally get introduced. Denizens of the New York City QZ you come together for a singular purpose. Somebody has offered you a job, the job was a simpler courier's mission of sorts. To sneak out of the QZ and take a trip all the way up to the Anchorage QZ. A 4,696 mile journey. You were to deliver a notebook. A notebook stolen from the Military that may hold the secrets of immunity from the Toxoplasma gondii. You joined the crew for whatever reason be it boredom, the large pay in forms of bullets and military rations, a sense of adventure or even wanting to try and save the world. You all come from different walks of life: young, old, experienced, new, optimistic and cynical. But none of that mattered now, all that mattered was you made sure you didn't get left behind.
The Summary
Hello everybody. After a busy couple of months which involved a lot of projects that I started sort of stopping suddenly, I'm finally getting back into the game at a level that I used to. And with that in mind I present to you all Left Behind. It is my hope that Left Behind is a different sort of Post-Apocalyptic RP then the one you are used to. In that Left Behind is a Character Study masquerading as a Post-Apocalyptic cross country journey of rather epic proportions. It's about a group of strangers coming together and the events afterwards that either bring them together or drive them apart. It's an analysis on the idea of Family mostly or what becomes or family. Because don't you love bittersweet apocalypses? haha
It's also a story about depravity and the selfishness of humans once everything hits the fan. Humans can be pretty terrible sometimes when driven to extremes and nothing says extreme like a not quite zombie apocalypse. Because of that fact I must warn you in saying that this roleplay explores what some would call mature themes including violence, gore, strong language, drug abuse, sexual violence, among others. If you can not treat these themes with the proper respect and treatment that they deserve this may not be the roleplay for you. If a mature and more subdue post-apocalypse in the style of Last of Us or The Road is up your alley or if anything else you read has taken your interest why not say hi?