What Remains;

CW for the prompts: Zombies, general violence, gore, apocalyptic wasteland, implied cannibalism. Please tag your threads for any specific triggers.

So your character survived the initial outbreak of the zombie apocalypse. Congratulations! So what were they doing before they arrived at the compound? Were they already a certified badass and killing zombies left and right as soon as everything went to hell? Were they just an office worker trying to get through their day and survived due to sheer dumb luck? Were you a kid at school and now some little feral gremlin surviving all on your own after your family died or you got separated from them?

As you make your way across the land, looking for any safe spot to rest, you’ll encounter others. It’s a brave new world and not everyone is friendly. But maybe you’re lucky and you just encountered someone who you can team up with. Two heads are better than one and four hands mean that many more weapons to hold. Or maybe you’re not so lucky and this person has much more sinister intentions for you. At the very least, they might beat you up and steal your supplies. At the worst, well.....food supplies have been running awful low in these parts....

No matter what you do, you’ve got to stay alive as long as possible. If you do, you’ll be lucky enough to find your way to one of the fabled safe houses, the compounds where people can live a little more securely from all the zombies wandering around.

Alright, you did it! You reached the safe zone. Now’s the time to relax while you can. You’ve had a hard road, so take advantage of the luxuries you’ve been doing without. Take a hot shower, grab some food that doesn’t come from a can, and sit down with a book or board game that the compound provides.

Once you’ve had some time to unwind, get to know the others who are arriving at the compound. They don’t come every day, but there’s a small enough trickle of them that you should be able to get to know your new neighbors in short order. Be friendly, be suspicious, or ignore them entirely. But they’ll be around later even if your first impressions don’t go smoothly.

After you’ve settled in, you’ll learn about taking part in the upkeep of the compound. Everything is communal living here, so that means taking time to help in the garden, cook the meals, and patrol the walltop in case the random zombie or new arrival is spotted on the horizon. There’s other tasks to be done as well: machines that need constant upkeep, or for those less handy, teaching the various kids around the compound whatever lessons you feel they could use to learn.

So you’ve gotten settled in for a few months now but you’re noticing with a certain sinking sensation in your stomach that the supplies are running low. Time to go out on that supply run! Careful, while the trucks tend to be reliable, the fuel is limited, so if you get too far out there, you’re not gonna make it back. Remember, the trucks are probably more valuable than you are, so if it comes down to it, you might get left behind by whoever you’re with in favor of getting back to base.

First stop up to look for what’s needed back at the compound will be a gas station that’s not more than a half an hour away. While the pumps may be non-functional for the moment, with a little jimmy-rigging, you should be able to get them working again to get more of that precious fuel! Attached is a rather large convenience store that has a lot of essentials that you can stock up on. The good thing about gas station food is that it’s full of preservatives, so a lot of it should still be able to be eaten. And hey, if nothing else, grab some beer! It might be warm but it’ll still taste just as good, and you can celebrate when you get back to base with it.

But getting all this won’t be easy. The gas station has a lot of rickety pieces that are falling off and tend to make a lot of commotion, which attracts zombies far and wide. Unless you’re truly unlucky, you won’t get a full-on herd, but you might get some good-sized groups attracted to your position. When that happens, there’s a few options. You can stand your ground, whether from the truck, or climbing onto the roof of the building, and taking out the zombies as you see fit. Or you can go for more subterfuge, sneaking in, out, and speeding away before they even know you’re there. If you have any hot-heads that want to play the hero, now’s the moment to bonk them over the head and drag their sorry behind away before they get turned into a new walking corpse.

Whatever you do, just remember: don’t get bitten.

[Got an idea that wasn’t put up here? Go hog wild! The sky is the limit. If you need more information on the compound, look here and info on the zombies is over here.]