SEASON
ZERO
SEASON ONE
THE LORE
It’s spring 2000 in Kentucky.
The roads are overgrown with plants. You wanted to call someone for help, but the phone lines are dead and power is out. Your neighbors are banging on their windows from the inside, growling hungrily in the direction of your house. They’re all sick, there’s nothing left of them to reason with. Most of the people you know are dead… or worse.
One last gasp of salvation comes over the radio
<khzt> “Co <bztt> to the corn maze. <bzzt> we’re holed up here!
It's safe! Get out and come here before it’s too late!” <kzzt>.
It's a mad dash from your old neighborhood to the warehouses on the south side of the city.
The friendly cop greets you and hustles you inside. He tells you you’re safe… for now.
Outside you can see smoke rising and a thick yellow haze over central park. Sirens blare in the distance… and the moaning of infected drifts through on the wind. Hunkered down, with only a few fellow citizens from all walks of life, just lucky enough to have gotten away, only to face a new nightmare.
You have become a survivor… a Remnant.. Of Knox County.
TIMELINE
December 12th 1999:
A meteorite breaks up in the atmosphere on its way to earth. Fragments land in Kentucky, and Indiana. No injuries or property damage are reported. Other than a small blurb on the local news, the event passes by without notice.
March 30th 2000:
As spring approaches, the impact zone in Louisville becomes overgrown with weeds and other vegetation.
April 8th 2000:
All of the plant life, including trees and shrubbery shows growth at an alarming rate. Local scientists appear baffled.
April 10th 2000:
With no warning, trees in the park explode with spores, sending a massive cloud into the air. The news reports this as excessive amounts of pollen. Half the city reports feeling ill after exposure to the noxious cloud.
April 12th 2000:
The cloud finally dissipates. Louisville General Hospital is overwhelmed with patients of flu-like symptoms and behavioral changes, feeling perpetually famished and occasionally violent. Some patients are transferred to Hospitals around the state and to Indiana.
April 13th 2000:
Triple-N brings news coverage to the edge of Louisville as more people fall ill and the city is quarantined. The Governor of Kentucky declares a state of emergency for Louisville, people are told to shelter in place. The national guard begins rapidly deploying fencing to close off the city.
April 14th 2000 [Midnight]:
With many of their compatriots ill, a heavily undermanned SWAT team enters the hospital. Continuous weapons fire is heard outside, then screams, then silence. Without enough staff healthy enough to work on the police force, no backup arrives.
April 14th 2000 [1:30AM]:
After hours without communication, the doors to the hospital burst open. Hundreds of former patients and staff, their skin rotted, shamble into the street, attacking anyone who comes near.
April 14th 2000 [5:00PM]:
Many panicked citizens attempt to flee the chaos in the city. Confronted by a military checkpoint and being refused passage, riots break out, forcing the national guard to deploy tear gas and rubber bullets to push them back.
April 15th 2000:
In the aftermath of the riots, journalists aren’t allowed near the checkpoint and begin setting up at the Grand Ohio mall as the military reinforces the perimeter. It is reported that a small team of scientists from the CDC are set up in Louisville attempting to work on fighting the phenomenon, dubbed HLD-99.
April 17th 2000:
A second spore cloud, far larger and denser than the first, erupts from Central Park. People caught in this cloud succumb quickly to the spores or are attacked and devoured by infected roaming the streets.
April 19th 2000:
The Plant life around West Point, Muldraugh, Riverside, and March Ridge begins to grow and spread at alarming rates as the spores from the city drift on the air. City Mayors call for calm, while the military try to prevent further contamination.
A curfew is implemented while citizens are told to shelter in place.
April 20th 2000:
The first reports of illness are reported in the suburban cities. Panic explodes as people attempt to flee out of the county. By this point, people are succumbing to the infection at incredible speeds. The chaos and violence spread.
April 21st 2000:
Triple-N reports they’re being evacuated within 24 hours as the mall becomes overgrown.
April 22nd 2000:
The President holds a press conference declaring Knox County and several other counties in the surrounding area are to be quarantined to contain the spread of contagion. Military and CDC personnel are being pulled back to safer locations. The blockade will remain at the edge of affected areas.
April 23rd 2000:
Triple-N’s reporter has a breakdown on national television as she’s told they will no longer be evacuated. The HLD-99 is spreading into other states and anyone left in Knox county will have to stay behind, quarantined. In front of millions of viewers she tells the people left alive to run, fight, get out of Knox county, before the transmission is cut. Panic rises.
In a final push to escape from the city, hundreds of people attempt to crash their vehicles into the barricades set up by the military. The soldiers, panicking themselves, open fire. Dozens are killed, the rest abandon their cars, most don’t return home. By now the streets in every city in Knox county have roaming packs of infected attacking anyone crossing their path. People not eaten outright are infected and rise up to join the expanding hordes.
April 25th 2000:
The electrical substations around Louisville and Muldraugh are getting consumed by the growth and breakdown. Power is cut off as no crews are left to fix the issue.
May 1st 2000 [SEASON START]:
With the power out, no help coming, and hordes roaming the streets.
The Remnants of Knox county begin their struggle to survive.