The Amazon Project

Where it all began

Ok, so here's how it began. In 2010, a big US corporation gained knowledge of a serum found in the Amazonian rainforest that could cure practically anything once injected into the nervous system. When I say "anything", that means anything from all types of injuries, allergies, infections and the incurables like AIDS and Cancer. I know, it's a miracle but don't hold your breath, its not what you think. Anyway, this being the biggest scientific discovery ever made, of course they wanted to test it out on living subjects. They called it the Amazon Project.

Phase one of the Amazon Project was carried out on lab animals with different cases of diseases and injuries to check if it was safe for human testing. They injected them all with a small dose of the serum, and there were no signs of improvement in health durning the first few weeks after vaccination. So, they upped the dosage and gave them another shot of the serum. About a month or so after the second vaccine, the first animal was cured of Lupus Erythenatosus (one of the top ten incurable diseases). The researchers were stunned and couldn't believe their discovery, it was all over the media. One after the other, the test subjects started to cure and heal themselves.

After no known side effects were found, they decided to move the testing on to humans. Thousands of sufferers volunteered for the testing of the Amazon Serum, for the chance to be cured of their disease. The corporation built a huge testing unit in the southern polar region to keep the cases quarantined from the rest of the world, and that way keeping the population from becoming contaminated if something went wrong.

Phase two of the testing commenced on November 23rd 2011 and like the lab animals, no signs of improvement showed for the first few weeks after vaccination. This time even with the increased dosage it took longer for the serum to take effect. After five months, two polio patients were cured. As in completely cured. It was all over the news for weeks and the world couldn't wait to have this serum available to them. Again like the lab animals, the test subjects cured and healed themselves of everything, but by then it was too late. The serum was out, the previous test subjects had been forgotten about. No one saw their reaction to the serum, no one saw it start to all go wrong.

The serum was in all over the world, everyone was taking it. Even if they didn't really need it, they still took the vaccine. It was the new drug, it did everything. not only did it repair the body, it increased your happiness levels. You'd feel calm and at peace, as well as whole and new. No one could fault it. It wasn't until August 2012 when the serum backfired. By injecting the Amazon serum into the nervous system, it tricks the brain into speeding up the healing process. However, it causes a reaction in the body that causes the brain to swell and explode, killing the person instantly.

As the serum was a worldwide phenomenon, it was too late to warn the people. Most of the human population had taken the vaccine, thousands were dying by the second. What the rest of us didn't realize, was that they didn't stay dead for long. They came back to life as rotting shells as the people they once were, shadows of their former selves. They were no longer human, they were walking corpses. These Undead- they carried the Amazon Virus. Highly contagious, 100% deadly. Even if you were one of the very few that hadn't taken the serum, being infected with the Amazon Virus would give you the same effect. To put it simply: you would die and come back a zombie.

The entire world fell into chaos and suffering, the population near enough diminished. Those still alive were in fear and fighting for their lives against swarms of Undead. Some of them unfortunately loved ones. Could you imagine fighting a corpse of a family member or a close friend? No, of course not, that kind of thing just doesn't happen. Except, it has and it is.

The military tried to bomb the areas worst affected to eradicate the virus and it worked to some extent. Some were burnt up in the force of the attack, some were blown into pieces. It didn't stop them though, there were too many. They were killing and infecting the rest of us with the Amazon virus. Those who lead us, the governments, the presidents, all had fallen. there was no one to guide us, no one to help us in the war against the growing numbers of Undead. We were on our own.

That brings us to now. I live in a world where there are millions of undead people walking the streets. From what I've seen, there aren't many survivors left. The Undead are increasing in numbers, most of us don't stand a chance against them. But there is still hope. There is a place where there is no virus, no undead. Elysium, a safe haven for the rest of us still living, fighting against the virus. This is where we plan to go, but first we need to make it out alive.