Zero Blood: Eternity

Prologue: "The End of the World, Again"

In the summer of 2014, the world as we knew it ended; everything we knew was taken from us in a matter of days as the dead rose from their graves to claim the world of the living. The first cases appeared in Cairo, Egypt. The first recorded Patient Zero case was of a man named Shariq; he rose from his grave and came back home to greet his mother – ecstatic, his mother rushed into his arms and thanked her God for letting her son come back to her, unfortunately, the feeling wasn't mutual, and Shariq attacked his mother like an animal – the police didn't arrive until he'd torn his entire family apart – the scene best left undescribed.

In a matter of hours, this disease mysteriously spread all throughout the African continent, it hugged the Mediterranean and infected the Middle East, the rest of Asia, and Europe along with it. In a matter of days from Patient Zero, the disease had crossed oceans and infected the Americas, and Oceania – experts didn't even have time to track the disease before it was too late. One-by-one, the dead would raise from their graves with a monstrous-like appearance to them, their veins popped out of their skin and glowed red, their eyes bloodshot and filled with rage, and all they knew how to do with rip and tear everything in sight. They were called many different things around the world, but what stuck in the West was the name "stranglers", for their tendency to choke their victims into asphyxiation before tearing them apart; like a boa constrictor, they meticulously choked the life from their victims before devouring them.

Most people didn't even realize how bad the situation really was until it was too late. Every time a strangler would kill a living person, the victim would return as another monstrous-killer – continuing the cycle once more. Martial law was enacted worldwide as militaries tried to contain the unknown threat, but it was futile – the stranglers were like a Hydra, every time one was killed, dozens more would take its place. In a matter of weeks, the world as we knew it was no more; the remaining living reverted back to their tribalistic ways, hoarding supplies and killing each other to survive, trying their best to delay the inevitable. There were a few success stories, groups of survivors managed to build their own civilizations and provide a new life for people, but like all civilizations, they must fall eventually – as this is the law of eternity.

The year is now 2031, and at first glance, the world seventeen years later hasn't changed all too much. The stranglers still remain the dominant force worldwide, and humans remain grouped together as the hunted. This story takes place in an anomaly of the world, an area once known as the Greater Toronto Area, but which is now only known as "The Echo". For some unexplainable reason, no living person can leave The Echo; beyond its borders exist hordes of stranglers surrounding the area– tens of thousands at a time, repelling any ambitious venturer back from where they came from. Not only that, but complete radio static accompanies the hordes of stranglers beyond The Echo's borders – no matter how much someone tries, they cannot communicate outside of The Echo. Every resident is an unwilling prisoner of The Echo, and nobody knows why, and it is far too late to escape.

Welcome to the end of the world, again.

Welcome to Eternity.