7

They killed John and Eve...again. Somewhere in between America being ostracized  from the rest of the world and the implosion of the country the government killed the world's first zombie couple. At the time there was mounting concern that the undead might not be killable.  Even though folks with the condition were slow moving and generally non violent anything that could not be easily terminated posed a threat. With the number of infected people growing by the day the government wanted to stay one step ahead and elected to see if the zombie people died just like regular people. 

As it turned out, they did...kinda. It was determined that people with the condition were most easily killed during the initial stages of the disease directly after they crossed over. During this time the victims were more human than monster and as such were susceptible to anything that might kill a human short of suffocation.  As the months passed and the disease progressed the bodies of the undead also evolved.  During the later stages their bodies would no longer bleed out and their skin grew tough like beef jerky. As one might assume removal of the head and/or extreme brain damage always resulted in death. 

The only unique characteristic in the later stages of the disease was that the liver continued to function and was necessary for survival. Actually, that was how John met his final end. He had proved to be the more docile of the zombie couple and as such had the majority of the experiments performed on him. Researchers were trying to figure out the biology of the disease and how the body was able to survive once it was noted to be clinically dead. They rewarded John with a ration of meat then proceeded to cut him open and do a live autopsy on his body. He happily munched on his food while the doctors removed his organs one by one and cataloged them. When they eventually got to John's liver and severed it from his body, he made a sharp sigh, looked to his left, dropped his meat and died instantly. 

Chapter 1

#1

The world ended but there was no apocalypse. Actually, if I'm telling the truth the world kept on moving at its slow predictable pace. It was only America that died and when it did, it sputtered out without incident.  For centuries The United States was regarded as a fierce  and spontaneously vicious place so it seemed rather odd that it would be the first country to disappear from the world's map especially without a fight. But that's the thing about an untraceable, incurable disease that manifests out of thin air, you can't stop it and it doesn't take much of an advantage in a highly competitive global economy to destroy the momentum and spirit of an entire country.

Contrary to the musings of a modern day Nostradamus when  the dead rose it was not an acute happening thrust into motion by an aggressive outbreak or the fallout from nuclear warfare. The actual sordid details are a little bit more subtle and pathetic.  As it turns out the culprit was an additive used by a now defunct well known fast food chain. At first the chemical named y18 (yellow 18) was being championed as the next big thing in expedited cuisine, intended to prolong the shelf life of the grade Z meat they were flinging in drivers side windows. It was so popular in fact that competing fast food chains sought to purchase the chemical and when their overtures were denied they conspired to steal the technology. It was this covert additive espionage that ultimately signaled the beginning of the end.

Apparently a clone of the initial formula caused an unforeseen mutation in human cells which over time was highly detrimental to our bodies. Lethargy, obesity and stupidity had run rampant prior to the "sickness" and was for years a main source of critique from other countries. Sadly, the sickness amplified the effects of these stereotypes which contributed to the spread of the disease as the symptoms were simply confused with the continued decay of American culture.