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"] Carmen’s shift was almost over, although it felt like it would never end. The ER was swamped with patients and so was the rest of the hospital. She was helping two other nurses to transfer a patient from one bed into another when he decided to throw up blood on the floor… and her. Red specks covered her otherwise clean scrubs, a sigh leaving her lips. It wasn’t anything unusual. And blood was definitely the nicest bodily fluid out of everything else.
However, for Carmen, the timing was just perfect because now she had an excuse to go change into a fresh pair of scrubs, giving her a chance to grab some supplies on her way, and then she could just hide it in her locker until she was able to leave. Quick hands grabbed two of the red biohazard trash bags which just happened to be the perfect disguise. You couldn’t see through it and normally everyone would just ignore it, thinking there’s just trash in it. So far, so good.
Making her way to a quieter part of the hospital she stepped inside one of the regular storage rooms, the ones holding all sorts of wound dressings and standard supplies. Pulling out one container after another the brunette took everything she could possibly need - bandages, antiseptic wipes, sanitizer, gloves, infusions sets, a pack of scissors and tweezers, and just about everything she could get her hands on.
The more difficult part was getting medication and infusions because those were stored elsewhere and usually a nurse was always around. But Carmen wasn’t stupid. She made her way over to the storage room, one hand grasping the trash bag, hiding it behind the wall while she leaned against the doorway. "There’s an emergency in operating room 3. They said they need someone to bring them 5 bottles of isotonic saline." Carmen told the nurse inside the room, her voice as innocent as an angel’s. She smiled underneath her mask, gaze shifting towards her dirty scrubs, signaling that she needed to get changed first before being able to go anywhere near it.
Watching her gather the solutions and leaving the room Carmen waited another moment before slipping into the supply room, closing the door as quietly as she could. It shut with a soft thud, and with that, she walked over to the cabinet filled with all basic meds. Dark eyes quickly went through the shelves before she grabbed a few packs of painkillers and fever medication, tossing them into the second red bag.
While he would normally be in his office meeting with patients at this time of the day, Nicholas once again found himself caring for the many patients that had flooded the hospital ever since the outbreak had started. He sanitised his hands and adjusted the mask that he’d been wearing for way too long but couldn’t change because of the shortage, and entered room 132. The patients inside had only been hospitalised a day ago and needed regular check-ups. And so he monitored their vitals, administered their medications and asked how they were doing; acting as though he wasn’t in a hurry to get to other work. He didn’t want patients to notice it and definitely didn’t want it to affect his job, but there was so much to do in the hospital that he couldn’t take the time he wanted to give people the care they needed and deserved.
When he left the room, a nurse got a hold of him—she looked tired and overworked; the bags under her eyes beginning to grow—and asked him to get some medications from one of the storage rooms. With a smile, he assured the woman he would get it for her. Everyone was so busy since the outbreak and while he certainly had enough work to do himself, he was happy to take some work off her shoulders. Plus, the storage room where he needed to be wasn’t far away and he knew what he needed. This wouldn’t take long.
The door of the storage room was closed. Not too strange, but not usual either. What he saw when he opened the door, however, made him blink a couple of times before he believed what was happening. A woman in scrubs, she must have been a nurse or at least looked like one, was filling a trash bag for medical waste with medication from the shelves. Nicholas stood still in the doorway, taking a second before he finally spoke: “What are you doing?” She definitely wasn’t taking the medication to use it somewhere in the hospital—she wouldn’t put it in a trash bag if that were the case. This looked shady and the woman in front of him had a lot of explaining to do.
[attr="class","CONTENT"] Anyone’s first reflex would have been to hide the bags which were filled with non-trash but Carmen knew better - she hoped. She didn’t try to hide them but she also couldn’t help the gasp that escaped her lips at the sudden appearance of someone. Letting go of the small box she held in her hands and placing them back on the shelf she turned halfway around to face the person. He looked as surprised as she was. Did people not knock anymore? Right, it was a hospital but surely manners would be appreciated just about everywhere.
Her eyes went from him to the bag, to the shelf, and back to him. Don’t act suspicious. It might be a rather rare occasion for medication to expire in a hospital but considering the times they were in, the need for specific stuff was no longer there. Their main focus was the virus after all and even though there still were other patients and cases to take care of, an ointment for skin rashes was more or less useless.
The brunette let out a casual laugh, running the flat palm of her hand against her hair that was up in a high ponytail. "I- am sorting out old products." she began, gesturing at the shelf. "There’s a lot of things that haven’t been used and now those are trash." she continued, holding up one of the trash bags for him to see.
She grabbed a random tube of ointment from the shelf and looked at it, pretending to read the imprint on it. "Best before July 8th." Carmen said, making it all up and flashing it at him as well before tossing it into the trash bag as well. "Medical waste. In you go." Big, brown eyes framed by a set of voluptuous eyelashes gleamed up at him and even though he couldn’t see it, her lips arched up in a bright smile. "Does that answer your question?" She hoped it did. And even though Carmen had always prepared herself for an incident like this she only had a handful of excuses to use.
Looking from the woman to the bags Nicholas didn’t really know what to make of this. At first his brain wanted to convince him that there was an explanation, that there was a perfectly good reason why she was throwing medication in a trash bag, but his thoughts quickly started going in different directions. She could easily be stealing the drugs—she wouldn’t be the first—to use them herself or sell them. Or she could be taking them for any other reason imaginable. As he saw her eyes going from the bags to the shelves with medication, his first observation was that she looked suspicious and his earlier thoughts seemed confirmed. But wouldn’t anyone who didn’t expect someone to come in react like this? It seemed like a pretty normal reaction to be surprised. It was the situation that he had found her in that seemed suspicious. In the end he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt and a chance to explain herself.
With a gesture at the shelves, she explained that she was sorting through the medication; throwing anything away that had expired. As she was talking, a tube got held up to him—too fast and far away for him to read anything though—and thrown away. He met her gaze. It was hard to read people now that everyone wore masks, but she seemed friendly. And her explanation did answer most of his questions, though not all of them. “From what expiration date are you starting to throw them away?” While there was a reason there was an expiration date on the packaging, a lot of medication could actually still be used after it expired. In normal circumstances he would completely agree with getting rid of it as medical waste, but at the moment they really couldn’t throw anything away without thinking about it twice. “We can’t really afford to throw away anything we could still use at the moment,” he explained, coming closer to take a look at the shelves. “Some of these can probably still be used even if they’re expired. Especially if they’re only a few weeks too old.”
[attr="class","CONTENT"] Carmen opened the trash bag when he asked, staring into it as if she was thinking very hard about it. Maybe now was the time to pretend to be a rookie. His face wasn’t too familiar to her. Nurses switched departments and stations so often, they quit or got fired so many times no one could possibly keep track of them all, especially now that everyone is wearing a mask covering and hiding half of their faces. He could probably only see her eyes, her hair, and maybe a tiny part of the bridge of her nose. The brunette was assured no one could possibly recognize her by her eyebrows even if they were on fleek.
She gave the stuff in the bag another look before looking back at him. Now was the time to prove the acting skills she acquired on the streets… somewhat. Playing innocent in front of police and talking their way out of those problems was a whole other level. This should be easier? Right? "I… don’t know. I was just told to sort out anything expired." she told him, pushing her bottom lip forward in a slight pout, although he couldn’t see it anyway. Instead, Carmen resorted to using her eyes to communicate, batting her thick, dark eyelashes at him.
Giving him a small shrug she held up the bag. "Sure. They can still be used… elsewhere." Like for the homeless and helpless, those who couldn't afford hospital trips or meds from the pharmacy. Those who lived on the streets now have even less than they did before because of the pandemic and the virus terrorizing the city. "But as far as I know, I don’t think the hospital likes getting sued over expired medication." she said, clicking her tongue and going back to pretending to sort out meds. She picked up a box of painkillers, the expiry date perfectly fine and not until the next year. Throwing it into the bag anyway she tapped another box with her nails.
"You know… all those Karens running around in a desperate search of victims just like you. They are hungry for anyone they can get their hands on, requesting to speak to the manager. I’m sure the Chief of this hospital would love to do that because he doesn’t have better things to do." Shaking her head as she spoke, pretending to shudder at the thought of those angry women and men whose names obviously weren't all Karens, Susans, Chads.
Turning halfways towards him she whipped her ponytail to the other side, having it hang over her shoulder. "Lawsuits are more expensive than meds. Is there anything you need from this room? Maybe I can assist you with that."
What she said seemed to add up, but he still asked: “Who told you to?” The question had two purposes behind it. First, to actually find out who told her. But secondly also to see whether she could answer. The woman seemed to be genuine, but that first sight of her putting medicine in a trash bag had raised enough red flags for him to still be slightly suspicious of her. He’d quickly learned that you shouldn’t trust people too easily during a pandemic—but then again, he’d never been quick to trust anyone. Panic and not knowing what was going to happen really could bring out the worst in people. The nurse before him might look perfectly normal and innocent, but you could never know for sure.
The woman acknowledged that they could still be used elsewhere and for a moment Nicholas thought she’d agreed with him. But then she said the hospital would not like to get sued over expired medication, after which she went back to throwing boxes into her bag. He couldn’t help but laugh at the mention of Karens looking for new victims they could get fired by complaining to the manager. Those people were always fun to laugh at, that is, when they weren’t around to get you fired... “Do you really think anyone has time for lawsuits at the moment?” he asked a bit incredulously, though it was a genuine question. With the pandemic he didn’t really think people would have the time nor energy to invest in something like that. But then again, maybe the Karens were so bored that they were even more on the lookout than usual; trying to keep themselves busy complaining so they wouldn’t have time to think of how the world was breaking down.
He only remembered he actually had a reason for being here when he got asked whether he needed anything from the room. The nurse who’d asked him to get the medication for her might be wondering where he was—though she would probably be too busy with work for that. “Yes, I did need something.” He moved further into the room—and closer to the woman—so he could look at the shelves. The medication he needed was on a shelf right next to where the nurse was looking for anything that was expired. “I know where it is,” he declined her help with a smile, and let his eyes go over the different boxes; it only took a few seconds before his gaze landed on the one he needed.
[attr="class","CONTENT"] “Nurse Johnson told me. You might not be familiar with her though. She just transferred from another hospital a couple of days ago.” Carmen looked at him, not averting her gaze to show she was more than confident in telling him this information despite it being a complete lie and something she just made up. There was no nurse Johnson who told her to do this but there, sure enough, were a bunch of Johnson’s in this hospital. And to be frank, there were so many constant personnel changes and additions that even Carmen wasn’t familiar with everyone anymore.
“I’m not too happy about it either. I was about to get off work you know,” she grumbled, rolling her eyes at the fact she stated which was for once the truth. She glanced over at the clock hanging on the wall. Thanks to him she was staying even longer. She made a quick mental note to add this to her overwork time to get paid. It wasn’t her fault he’s somewhat interrogating her anyway, might as well get paid for this nuisance. Narrowing her eyes at him when he asked her if she thought anyone had time for lawsuits these days Carmen scoffed lightly, dropping her gaze to the floor for a moment. “Don’t underestimate people. A lot struggle with money, even more than before, so naturally, they look for every opportunity to get their hands on some,” she told him, rolling her eyes with a smile. She wondered if he was that oblivious and naïve to the world outside of the hospital or if he was just trying to ignore it.
“Oh! Maybe I can help-“ Carmen started but he already declared that he knew where it was. She clamped her lips together, offering him a tight-lipped smile. He didn’t need help. She stepped aside to give him some space, to keep some distancing as one should do. She gave it a little shrug with her shoulder, one eyebrow raised up. At least this gave her an excuse to quickly exit the room. She was able to grab quite a lot of things that she didn’t expect to be able to do, even though his sudden appearance made a cut through her plans. It was more than enough to last at least perhaps a week or more depending on how many people there were to treat.
The brunette laughed softly, grasping the bag in her hands a little tighter. “Well, since this is resolved I’m just going to take my lea-“ she began, backing away from him when she tripped over her own feet, something a bit unusual for her since she wasn’t the clumsy kind. The bags she was holding went flying, spilling their contents all over the floor. Carmen let out a gasp before scrambling to stuff them back inside the trash bag in danger of exposing herself after all. A series of cusses in Spanish left her lips when she grabbed two of the packagings.
The woman stepped aside while he got closer to the shelves with medication. He knew where what he needed was and so it would be easier and faster for Nicholas to just get it than for her to help. His eyes went over the different boxes until they settled on the right one. It was quite a small box compared to the rest and easily fit into the palm of his hand. Just as he grabbed it the woman announced she was going to take her leave, but stopped in the middle of her sentence. A gasp made him turn around and see the aftermath.
Almost everything that had been inside the trash bags was now on the floor. Bandages, gloves, boxes with medication. Angry sounds—of which he recognised a few as Spanish cusses—left the woman’s lips as she tried to get everything back into the bags as quickly as she possibly could. Nicholas bend down to help her pick everything up. A couple of boxes had landed near his feet. As he picked one of them up his eyes fell on the date written on top. “This isn’t expired yet.” It almost sounded like a question. He grabbed another box close to him and examined it. The expiration date was also still far in the future.
His eyes hardened as his brain came to the only logical conclusion—the same conclusion it had come to when he’d first seen the woman: she was taking the medication. For what he didn’t know, but he could get her to explain that later. First, he needed to get between her and the door and keep her from leaving.
