Post by James Furnell on Apr 3, 2009 19:37:24 GMT
Discovered in an apartment block. The writer may or may not have been the corpse nearby, however the book seems to be far older than the quarantine and has some some address ties with a town in Britain. At first, it reads like a fictional piece and speaks of a plague much the same as the one that has Williamsburg in a lock.
"...it is safe to say that there is no cure to the plague - except complete destruction of the victim's body. I have been watching the infected for some time, both through the hunt parties and through distant observation; I've taken notes and 'character' analysees about the Infected;
The Infected will seek other infected. This may be because of a strength in numbers instinct or a possible hunt-in-packs function of the virus. This function seems to occur even when the infected are idle and 'waiting' (whether the Inf. actually 'wait' or just 'sleep' seems an unknown), even more so in dark areas, which are ever present in electricity-lacking streets.
The Infected are highly aware of noise and light. I've run experiments from the roof of my house, where a tethered mag-light (battery powered torch) is thrown into the street below, near an infected. The Inf. hears the impact of the flash-light aswell as follows the light when I pull the light towards the house. However, further observation proved that the Inf. are less interested in the torch, but more interested in anything relative to the torch - they follow the torch because of the possibility of a feed, rather than the attraction of the noise/light.
The Infected have three major stages of 'life' although each stage is prolonged with a fresh feed. First, while the body is still fresh, the infected are able to run at human speeds - possibly faster, lacking any sort of pain / fatigue function of that of a living being. Usually in hordes of twenty plus, a running Inf. is highly dangerous and I've seen more than a few people being trampled by a pursuing horde.
The second stage is not unlike the first; it seems that the host body deteriorates far slower than we could have expected even after a few weeks, the Infected are still physically able to run, but are far less responsive to movement/noise. Observation tells me that Stage Two infected are far less dangerous and can be easily skirted around. Stage Two infected are probably drawn into hordes through instinct and are merely corralled into movement, much like a sheep.
Stage Three usually consists of the starving / wounded host bodies. An Inf will only stagger - walk at best, rarely able to muster more than a pathetic clout as an attack function. They seem less likely to group (perhaps through the obvious lack of responsiveness) and only respond to anything within a meter or so of itself. At this stage, the Inf will usually wander aimlessly, slowly starving to death. Even at this stage, however, the Infected are dangerous since they heavily populate the buildings, wandering the corridors and rooms, meaning that any intruder will inevitably be within close range of the Infected body.
The Infected is highly susceptible to gun fire, probably because of the instant damage to muscle tissue. Any close quarter combat is not advisable, since the Infected will merely ignore laceration / blunt trauma. Anything short of a decapitation or amputation will not kill the infected. It is common knowledge, then to keep at range.
The Infected seem to have little sense in regards to environment and it's effect. They will move around corridors and maneuver walls, but anything that may harm the Infected is widely ignored. I've seen a horde run headlong into spikes while chasing a torch. This may be because of the relentless blood lust, or perhaps that they cannot see the spikes - perhaps their vision is impaired and only light is a stimulus.
The virus itself is apparently highly contagious. It is a fact that any exchange of bodily liquid will contaminate. There is a theory (perhaps rumor) that the virus can traverse the air in the same way that a flea is able to move hosts - perhaps the virus has a self propelling mechanism. This is not proven, however...."
