OUTBREAK: ZERO is a semi post-apocalyptic pandemic roleplay set in the fictional city of Lethford, USA. Current season: Winter, 20/21.
March 2020. The world is in pandemonium as one month ago, GHNv-20 was confirmed, five months after the beginning of norovirus season. The number of the infected are in the higher hundred thousands, and the death toll is at an estimated 250,000, with about seventy percent of the rest of the population experiencing mild to moderate illnesses connected to the S. pyogenes bacteria.
The fear of the unknown has caused mass hysteria and panic.
In an attempt to provide a semblance of safety and control, military personnel patrol the streets, even here in Lethford City, and the police force is trying to keep up with the rising street violence, assault, and theft.
Welcome to OUTBREAK: zero. Will you survive?
HAYANA
SITE OWNER + HEAD ADMINISTRATOR
Hi! I'm Haya. I'm pretty much your girl for everything! If you have any questions regarding our plot, membergroups, etc. don't hesitate to ask me. I'm also in charge of coding, graphics, anything skin related, and advertising/affiliates.
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ADDI
ADMINISTRATOR
Hey! I'm Addi. Hit me up if you need help with anything. I'm always for plotting so don't be shy. I like coffee, booze, and working out. I'm back from a long hiatus the dead so if you need anything, best ask the others until I get back into the groove of things!
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FINNLEY
GLOBAL MODERATOR
Hi hello! My name is Finnley, or Finn, call whichever and I'll be there for you (yes like the FRIENDS theme song). I am in charge of the claims and helping with miscellaneous things. Let me know if you have any questions!
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OPEN MODERATOR POSITION
outbreak
/ˈaʊtbreɪk/ zero /ˈzɪərəʊ/
a sudden occurrence of something unwelcome, such as war or disease. number, no quantity or number; nought; the figure 0.
[attr="class","CONTENT"] Needless to say, the dancing and drinking and masses of people weren‘t the reason Carmen was excited about this warehouse rave. No. She could have that every day at LUX if she wanted to. Sure, the crowd wasn‘t as large as it used to be pre-pandemic but it certainly was always a lot of fun to just hang out in between the various shadows. This rave was different: it was Halloween themed and Carmen was a sucker for everything spooky.
There was no way she would have missed this event... and of course she would make Az go with her. He resisted a little at first but in the end she knew he would give in - who could say no to her? Now as a nurse she was aware of the dangers and risks but as a gang member she just wanted to escape and have fun, grab a drink or two, dance until sunrise and perhaps flirt with a werewolf or a zombie. She didn‘t really dress up up. Az didn‘t need a costume per se because of his tattoos. So all Carmen did was to match his shirt by wearing the shortest, red dress she could find in her wardrobe.
Her eyes sparkled at the sight if the haunted house and she clapped her hands together like an excited seal, turning around on her way too high heels to look at Az. She normally was shorter than him but the heels were giving her some advantage. „Let‘s go in let‘s go in. I‘m ready for the dance floor.“ she said, her dark red lips - matching her dress - arched into a wide smile, her hand outstretched to tug at his sleeve.
He would have preferred to stay home. Azazel had even informed her of this feeling, of course, when Carmen told him about her want to go to the forbidden Halloween rave. He argued, complained, bribed, and yet, here they were. He was wearing a black suit over a red undershirt, looking sharp and dangerous, and Carmen was there, too. And she was looking like he’d probably have to hurt someone at some point. He’d never tell her how to dress herself, didn’t really mind, but he also didn’t like seeing the attention she got. It made him feel nervous, like she was in some sort of danger. But he realized he couldn’t stop her from pursuing her urges, even if he wanted to.
So he resigned himself to hovering over her shoulder, looking rather dark as she moved along ahead of him, radiant as always. As she clapped her hands and turned to him, clearly excited, he felt his face rearrange itself. A slow smile, his gaze moving from her to the entrance. ”Alright, alright.” He said, a chuckle in his voice as she tugged at his sleeve. ”And you can hold my hand if you get scared, by the way.” He teased, letting her lead him into the haunted house. The most he could do was hope he didn’t end up scaring anyone, considering not everyone in the city knew he even existed.
Azazel was used to getting looks when he went out, which was why he preferred to simply not. But tonight, maybe, he wouldn’t be as odd as he was used to being.
[attr="class","CONTENT"] Relief washed over her at the sight of him smiling, even chuckling at her. She was afraid he hated the idea of going with her because she knew that he wasn't the biggest fan. It had taken some great persuasion skills to get Az to do anything out of his comfort zone. Seeing that little bit of warmth around him made her feel better.
'And you can hold my hand if you get scared, by the way.'
Carmen playfully rolled her eyes at him. "Just tell me that you're scared and you want me to hold your hand." she responded, giggling softly before reaching for his hand and then dragging him inside the haunted house. Heels clicking on the floor, she partly held out her free hand and accidentally brushed past some fake spiderwebs. A shriek left her lips, followed by a hijo de puta. Son of a bitch. Carmen wasn't afraid of a lot of things but she hated spiders with all her heart. The thought of them sent shivers down her spine.
Her hand went up to where her heart would be, lying on her skin, a finger resting on the necklace she was wearing. She looked up at Az who probably wasn't scared of anything in this building, blinking at him expectantly in a you go ahead kind of way.
"Just tell me that you're scared and you want me to hold your hand."
Azazel made a scoffing sound, trying to look like that was a preposterous suggestion, but when she reached for his hand he didn’t fight her. For anyone else to touch him, it felt like things were crawling under his skin. He’d never been comfortable with close contact with others, not even other members of the gang. He could initiate physical contact if he had to, in an emergency and especially when it came to violence, but to be touched just because wasn’t something he enjoyed.
Except for when it was the woman before him. Carmen had been with him during a time when he’d been broken and angry, and she’d stuck with him through everything. He trusted her implicitly - would happily put his life in her hands, firm in his belief that she’d never hurt him. So when she touched him, it brought him a certain level of comfort. He let her lead him into the haunted house, his expression turning neutral as they entered the building. He fought a smirk as she shrieked suddenly, apparently having touched something unfavorable. The look she gave him was met with a low chuckle, but he still led the way through. He was just tall enough that he cleared the path for her behind him, and he didn’t flinch as the spiderwebs brushed his face, simply using his free hand to brush them away.
”Will fight an entire military unit in a blinding smoke, but terrified of spiders.” He said lightly, though it was clearly meant as a tease.
[attr="class","CONTENT"] 'Will fight an entire military unit in a blinding smoke, but terrified of spiders.'
Carmen let out a nervous laugh, however, the memory of Az being shot and them jumping out of the window to escape certain death almost brought down her mood. She was still a tiny bit mad at him for doing what he did, for leaving her to find an exit while he recklessly threw himself at soldiers with rifles ready to shoot more holes through him and making him look like a piece of swiss cheese.
But this was supposed to be fun, a party. She wouldn't let something that happened in the past affect her mood right now. So she stepped next to him, looking up at his tattoed face. "Did I ever tell you the story about why I hate spiders?" she began, turning her gaze again to look ahead of them, narrowing her eyes from time to time to see through the dark. "There used to be this garden with a pond we had to pass through on our way to school and one of my many idiot brothers thought it was a great idea to tell me that the water was full of spiders and their eggs. Guess who believed him?" Carmen continued, dropping her head for a moment as she thought about her family.
"One day they pushed me into the pond and I freaked out, thinking there would be spiders crawling all over my body. Of course, there weren't any because it was... a pond, but ugh just the thought of it makes me squirm." Smacking her lips together and releasing them again, making a plop sounds as they parted she looked once again back at him, beaming a bright smile at him. "So you better catch all these fake spiderwebs for me."
Azazel had a sense that his joke had been in poor taste, but like with most social interactions, he had no heavenly idea how to swallow his words and fix the tension. Thankfully, that was why Carmen was his closest relationship. He listened in silence as she told the story about the spiders and the pond, imagining the scenario in his mind as she spoke.
As they continued on, he glanced over at her every now and again. As the end of her story came to be, he gave her an overly serious look and a solemn nod. ”I’ll be sure to keep you spider free.” He said, just as they rounded a corner and a room opened up before them. It looked like a hospital room, with dingy cots lining either wall. There were flickering lights in this room, and seemingly no people. ”I feel like criminals should be able to make a scarier haunted house than-”
At that moment, he felt a hand firmly grip his ankle, and his immediate response was to jerk away, quickly turning - he almost lifted a leg to kick at the hand, and then reminded himself this was still just a haunted house. Instead, Azazel glowered down at the figure slowly crawling out from under the bed. Looking further into the room, more people were coming out from beneath each cot.
[attr="class","CONTENT"] When Az told her he would make sure to keep her spider free Carmen couldn’t help herself but just look up at him and smile. She appreciated everything he had done for her and would do. “I’m sure you do.” She gave him a loving slap with her hand on his upper arm, brown eyes just enjoying the sight of him so close by. Sometimes Carmen wished he knew… sometimes she wondered if he did. But after all these years she wasn’t even sure if she wanted him to know.
Carmen shuddered as they walked around the corner, the flickering lights reminding her of all the movies she had seen. Her red lips parted, and she was about to reply to his remark about the shabby decorated haunted house when she noticed him jerking away. She narrowed her eyes at whatever he was looking at but Carmen’s sight wasn’t the greatest in the darkness. But before she could say something a hand wrapped itself around her wrist, pulling her away from Az.
The brunette let out a surprised gasp which was quickly suppressed by a hand covering her mouth, heels clicking on the concrete floor as she stumbled away from Azazel, her free hand trying to grab his arm but her fingers only brushed against his suit. "Mhmhmbbfbvdb!" was the only thing she could get out.
Azazel could have gone on through the rest of the haunted house just talking to her, and enjoying her companionship. Everything was easier with Carmen for him, things he struggled with on a daily basis when interacting with other people coming to him as easy as breathing did when it was with Carmen. She understood him in a way that no one else did, or at least that was how he felt. With her help, he had stepped out of those dark recesses in his mind. The places where he was still a frightened little boy.
So you can imagine how protective he felt over her. One minute she was with him, and the next he heard her muffled shouting and felt the brush of her fingers as he whipped around, squinting to make out figures in the dark. ”Carmen!” He hollered, his voice immediately sharp with anger. He caught the closing of a secret doorway in the wall of the room, and he lunged forward, grabbing the lighting fixture that doubled as a handle, but the door wouldn’t open. Surely the point of something like this was to separate people, probably to make it spookier. He was probably supposed to carry on through the haunted house. But Azazel didn’t forget that the people who arranged this were criminals, just like he was. And that meant it was twice as dangerous as your usual haunted house. Feeling a hand fall on his shoulder, Azazel whipped around, lashing out in his rage. His knuckles connected with someone’s jaw, and he heard shouting from the other figures in the room. He didn’t care, turning back to the door and putting all of his strength into a solid kick, just beside the fixture.
With a loud splintering sound, the door exploded into the hall it opened into, coming halfway off it’s hinges. ”Carmen!” Azazel roared, his throat burning, not seeing anyone in the short hallway he was facing. He didn’t hesitate to lunge into the now-open doorway, practically sprinting down the only path she could have been taken down.
[attr="class","CONTENT"] At first Carmen was surprised at being taken away by some stranger, her words muffled by the hand covering her mouth. She struggled to get herself free but once they had vanished through a semi-hidden side door she was set free again. Her first reaction was to slap the hell out of whoever dared to drag her away, her second reaction was to check the status of her new heels she had bought just for this event. The person disappeared as quickly as he appeared, leaving her alone at the end of the dark corridor. Two more steps and she was back out in a bigger room.
Carmen was hiding next to the exit of the small corridor she was dragged through. The person had already left after giving her half a heart attack. She jumped a little at the loud bang the door made as it was being kicked it and she could hear the faint noise of footsteps running, but as they approached the sound became louder and louder. Carmen was pretty sure this was Az. Rubbing her hands in delight, only feeling a tiny tiny bit sorry for the scare she gave him, she waited eagerly at the exit for the right moment to jump out.
It didn’t take long for him to get through the hallway and once she saw him exit the tunnel, his back turned towards her, she leaped at him. “Boooo! Got cha!” she laughed, holding a borrowed spooky mask in front of her face, dark curls falling around it. She dropped her hand, revealing her face to him, a bright smile on her face as she laughed.
Azazel could feel something cold and sharp forming in his chest, a familiar and yet strange sense of terror that he hadn’t felt in a long time. And covering that was a wave of animosity - a cold sense of anger that told him whomever had grabbed her like that was definitely not going to enjoy meeting him. So focused he was on what was directly ahead of him, he was completely unaware when Carmen leapt out at him - and also completely unaware that it was Carmen. Azazel turned those cold, dead eyes on her as his body twisted around, his arms working to form a punch just as she dropped the mask. There was a low growling sound emanating from his throat, raw violence in the noise. Upon seeing her face, his fight instinct died down and he looked around them, looking for the person who had grabbed her. Seeing no one else, he looked back to her, chest heaving with panicked breaths.
Without warning, he reached out, hands cradling her face and fingers brushing her throat with a gentleness that didn’t quite suit his public character. His eyes roamed her face, ensuring she wasn’t injured from what he could see. ”Leave it to you to be the one thing that scares me in here.” He said, his attempt at covering his clear panic with dry humor. He released her, one hand pressing into his chest like he was still trying to catch his breath. ”You’ve just aged me ten years, and yet you’re laughing.” His tone was only mockingly serious, relief plain his expression.
[attr="class","CONTENT"] Carmen looked up at him, her heels barely making her any taller, blinking slowly in surprise when he cradled her face. The mask was let go off and tossed to the floor. Biting her lip, she tried to suppress all urges to just step closer and hug him. She tilted her head, brows drawn together in a playful way. “Who are you and what did you do to Azazel?” she joked, truly taken aback by his sudden expression of a little worry. The brunette soon broke out in laughter, fake wiping away a tear before poking him in the chest. “I kinda like that side of you. What should I call it? Soft Az?” she said, knowing that he would hate it.
Carmen winked at him, one delicate hand reaching out to his, the one that rested on his chest. “This was clearly too much excitement at once. How about we hurry out and get some drinks?” she suggested, smiling up at him before pointing towards a wall on the other side of the room. “I saw that person go through another secret passageway. I'm pretty sure it’s a shortcut to the party itself. There was music coming from inside of it.”
Looking over his shoulder at the spot she had pointed to Carmen gestured towards it. “You know the drill. You go first, remove all spiderwebs and I will follow closely.”
Azazel shot her a glare as she laughed and poked his chest, teasing him. It wasn’t genuine, as he’d never been able to maintain any kind of anger towards Carmen, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t pretend to be angry. ”Remind me to let them take you away next time.” He told her, deadpan, shaking his head as if she were a headache - which she was, but one he wanted all the same.
He didn’t pull away as she reached out and placed her hand on his, instead giving her a nod to her words. Yes, he definitely needed whiskey right now. ”A drink sounds good.” He commented, his gaze flicking towards the secret passage she pointed out. Some angry, violent part of him said that if they followed and ran into the guy, then he could teach them a lesson. Another, more peaceful, part told him that it wasn’t worth it. Carmen wasn’t harmed - but just the idea of someone touching her without her permission made Azazel want to hurt them.
A faint smile spread over his face as she reminded him of their deal - the spiderwebs, right. ”Yeah, yeah. Maybe I should let you walk through some more spiderwebs. Might make me feel better.” He replied, rolling his eyes slightly as he started moving towards the door. Again his tall frame allowed him to brush the spiderwebs away - leading them into the secret passage she’d seen. The sound of music became twice as loud, and the passage was short. On the opposite end was a door that had lights flashing under it. Azazel closed the distance between him and the door and pulled it open, stepping out into a large, open warehouse with a sea of dancing bodies in it. Lights, music, costumes. ”Now it’s your turn to lead the way.” He told her over his shoulder.
