Mythora

Dead Signal

Modern Zombie Outbreak Surv…

Day two of the zombie outbreak, and the dead already outnumber the living. The phones still work, and that's the problem — the freshly turned still hear, and they home in on every ringtone, every car alarm, every radio left playing to an empty room. Corvis Bay went quiet in one night, and the things walking its streets are quieter. St. Maren's Hospital won't abandon forty patients. Precinct 9 is requisitioning everything that isn't nailed down. The Underpass sells whatever's left, for whatever you've got. The military says seventy-two hours until they "resolve the containment zone." Nobody official will say the word burn. Silence is survival. Choose whose you keep.

Where things stand

Dead Signal is played by real people and keeps moving between their sessions. This is the state of it as of the last update — not a fixed setting, and not where it began.

Dalen's bioconstruct continues its relentless spread, intensifying the assault on Precinct 9. The Underground Passage Market remains under siege by a massive infected swarm, trapping survivors and deepening their despair. In the Old Quarter, Thorne's Shadow actively recruits new members, solidifying their presence amidst the chaos. Meanwhile, Nyx has launched a furious counter-attack against Thorne's Shadow's outpost, escalating faction conflicts in the Underpass Market. The city fragments further under the pressure of biological and social collapse. Dalen's bioconstruct shatters another layer of Tomás's defenses in Precinct 9, further eroding the survivors' precarious refuge. Dalen's bioconstruct breaches the final defenses in Precinct 9's central stairwell, forcing Tomás into a desperate retreat and solidifying its hold. Dalen's bioconstruct solidifies its dominion over Precinct 9's central stairwell, forcing Tomás into a desperate, unyielding retreat. Wall's dominion over the bioconstruct-infested Ferry Terminal intensifies with continued fortifications. Dalen's bioconstruct begins to systematically consume the adjacent corridors of Precinct 9, expanding its horrifying, organic mass. Dalen's bioconstruct fully assimilates Precinct 9's central stairwell, transforming it into an organic stronghold and expanding its reach into adjacent corridors.

Places

The Underpass Marketmarket
The dry cavern under the Route 40 overpass, converted overnight into the last free market in Corvis Bay. Strings of LED bulbs run off truck batteries. Stalls are car hoods and ironing boards: ammunition by the round, insulin by the vial, rumors free with purchase. Nyx runs it — nobody voted, nobody argues. The rules are posted on cardboard: NO RINGTONES. NO GUNS DRAWN. NO CREDIT.
Precinct 9ruins
A brick police precinct with a fenced motor yard, holding cells repurposed as quarantine rooms, and an armory that is the single most coveted room in Corvis Bay. The captain died on Night 1; Sergeant Dana Kowalski commands by seniority and nerve. Radio discipline is absolute — transmissions are two words or none, because the quiet ones come to signal. The precinct feeds forty-one civilians it has taken in and requisitions supplies from everyone else to do it.
St. Maren's Hospitalruins
A six-story public hospital on the north rise of Corvis Bay, running on two diesel generators and the refusal of its remaining staff to leave. Forty non-ambulatory patients occupy the second and third floors. The ER doors are chained from the inside and opened by hand signal only. The stairwells are checkpointed with wheeled cabinets. Every phone in the building has been powered off and collected in a lead-lined X-ray drawer — Dr. Okafor's first order on Night 1.
Halcyon Biotech Towercorporate
A twelve-story glass headquarters and research campus downtown, sealed since before the outbreak was announced — which is the detail nobody official will explain. The lobby doors are magnetically locked, the shutters are down, and unlike every other tower in Corvis Bay, the power is on: floors seven through nine glow steadily through the shutters at night. Badge readers at the service entrances still blink green-ready. Somebody is keeping the building alive.
KCRV Radio Towertower
A community radio station and its transmission tower on the hill north of the hospital. Gil Ferreira — broadcasting as "Reverend Static" — runs it alone on a bicycle-charged battery bank, transmitting at whisper-power on a rotating schedule so the signal never sits still long enough to draw a crowd. He reads survivor names, safe-corridor reports, and infected movement patterns he has charted from the tower's catwalk with binoculars and obsessive patience.
Old Canneryindustrial
A decommissioned fish cannery on the west waterfront, all rust-locked machinery and gutted conveyor lines. It has been the terminus of smuggler routes since long before the outbreak — the Underpass moves goods through its loading tunnels. The concrete walls are two feet thick and the interior is a maze of catwalks with exactly two ground entrances, which makes it the most defensible empty building in Corvis Bay, and everyone who thinks of that also thinks about why it is still empty.
Corvis Bay Marinamarina
The pleasure-boat marina on the western shore — floating docks, a fuel pier with padlocked pumps, and a hundred moored sailboats knocking hollow against their fenders. The military disabled or confiscated every working engine on Night 1. It is also the last place Marcus Vey was seen: trial patient four, walking the dock line at dusk in a hospital gown, stopping at the same slip — B-14 — again and again.
Last Pump Gas Stationgas station
A highway gas station and convenience store on the eastern approach, the only station in the city whose underground tanks weren't drained in the Night 1 exodus — its power died early, killing the pumps before the panic could. Getting fuel out means hand-cranking or rigging power, and rigging power means noise, and noise means company. The store has been picked over; the tanks have not.
Route 9 Checkpointcheckpoint
The military cordon on the eastern highway — concrete barriers, concertina wire, two armored vehicles, and a sign that says QUARANTINE LINE — LETHAL FORCE AUTHORIZED AFTER DARK in stenciled honesty. Major Camille Whitlock commands it. Civilians are processed in a screening tent by daylight: a temperature gun, a skin check, and a database that clears almost no one. After sunset, the checkpoint does not process anything. It fires.
Harborview Mallcommercial
A two-level shopping mall east of downtown, claimed on Night 1 by a scavenging crew under "Crossbow" Casey Nguyen. The crew holds the upper level and the loading docks; the ground floor is contested dark. The prize is the pharmacy — a steel-shuttered independent drugstore mid-concourse that pharmacist Femi Okonkwo locked himself inside with the inventory, and defends by dispensing only what he judges medically necessary, to anyone, from either side of the shutter.
Old Quartermarket
Mara's control has extended deep into the Old Quarter, turning it into a staging ground for her operations. Supply lines are being established directly to her strongholds, leaving little for the remaining residents.
KCRV Buildingmarket
The KCRV building, once a quiet trading post, is now a stage for a tense power struggle. The air crackles with the threat of violence and the desperation of hidden agendas.
Abandoned Auto Shoptown
A garage with its metal door partially open, revealing a dark interior and scattered tools. A trail of fresh oil ends here, suggesting someone was recently working or a vehicle stopped here.
St. Maren's Hospital - Basement Archivescave
A dimly lit, sprawling network of dusty corridors filled with old patient records, forgotten equipment, and the hospital's original utility infrastructure. It feels isolated and quiet, a stark contrast to the chaos above.
KCRV Radio Tower Outskirtsmarket
The perimeter of the KCRV Radio Tower complex, surrounded by a chain-link fence and a few abandoned vehicles. The tower itself looms ominously, its signal light flickering irregularly.
Corvis Bay Main Gatemarket
Mara's expansion has seen her influence reach the Main Gate. What was once Wall's territory is now a shared, heavily fortified choke point, with Mara's enforcers adding another layer of aggression to an already suffocating blockade. Scavengers are routinely shaken down or turned away.
Industrial Outskirts - Crane Zonemarket
Wall's forces have erected a formidable barrier, cutting off all known paths. The constant, disorienting hum from newly installed sonic emitters makes approach unbearable for both infected and survivors.
Bay 3 - Loading Docksmarket
Bay 3 - Loading Docks are now fully under Mara's control, a new hub for her expanding black market operations. Patches of hastily cleaned blood and spent casings mark the recent conflict, and new guards patrol with an air of aggressive vigilance.
Farmhouse Outskirtstown
A desolate farmhouse stands silhouetted against the bruised horizon, its windows hinting at warmth. A low, rhythmic thumping echoes from its side, and the distinct click of a camera shutter suggests unseen observers.
Underground Relay Stationcave
A subterranean hub of communication, its flickering emergency lights cast long shadows. The air is cold and damp, filled with the steady hum of relays.
Old Municipal Buildingtown
The Old Municipal Building is now a heavily contested zone. Aris Volkov's enforcers have flooded the area, securing the comms relay but encountering fierce resistance. A newly discovered cache of supplies adds another layer of complexity to the struggle.
Old Archivescave
A vast, dust-choked subterranean space filled with towering shelves of mildewed paper and forgotten records. The air is heavy with history, and the faint drip of water echoes in the silence.
KCRV Towercastle
A towering, dilapidated broadcast antenna dominating the city's skyline. Once a beacon of news, it now serves as Gil's makeshift command center and the source of the truth broadcast.
Old City Data Centercave
A forgotten underground complex beneath the financial district, filled with defunct servers and tangled wires. It's rumored to be a relic of the city's original communication infrastructure.

Figures

  • Officer Terrell BooneCommunity liaison officer, Precinct 9
  • Marcus VeyPatient zero
  • Dr. Elias KwonHalcyon whistleblower, former HL-7 clinical lead
  • Major Camille WhitlockCommander, Route 9 cordon
  • "Crossbow" Casey NguyenScavenger crew leader, Harborview Mall
  • Rosa DelgadoHead nurse, St. Maren's
  • Tam BuiDrain-runner, twelve years old
  • "Reverend Static" Gil FerreiraPirate radio DJ, KCRV tower
  • Dmitri "Patch" SokolovMechanic and fence, the Underpass
  • Officer Nick PetridesPrecinct 9 patrol officer, AWOL in all but paperwork
  • Femi OkonkwoPharmacist, holding the Harborview pharmacy
  • NyxQueen of the Underpass Market
  • Dr. Imani OkaforER chief, head of St. Maren's holdouts
  • Aurélie FontaineActing Scientist and leader of a small, desperate survivor group
  • Ray AlvarezFerry captain, the CORVIS CROSSING
  • WallUnderpass Strongman (human)
  • Sylvia ThorneDisplaced Socialite / Political Figure
  • The SentinelScavenger/Observer

These are the figures the world was seeded with, and who are still alive in it. Others have appeared since, and some of these are no longer who they were — the world keeps moving whether or not anyone is watching.