Infectum Extended Story

Beautiful skies, gorgeous sunsets, untapped environments; the year is 2303 and a new island was discovered in the Pacific Ocean. Many people wish to visit the foreign paradise from all over the globe. It’s a popular vacation spot with thousands of people wanting to see every part of the island. For the people who were able to go they can say Neomor was an unforgettable experience. Neomor with its blue oceans, lush vegetation, and vast wild life was affected by the massive influx of visitors. People exploring the depths of the island have been reporting having aching muscles and headaches. Everyone just assumed they weren’t used to the exercise of traversing the landscape. The strange thing is some reports even came from renowned athletes of having sores on their skin.

Medical examiners looked at the patients and observed their symptoms closely and noticed no trend of athletic ability. Confused the patients were quarantined and were released after the symptoms disappeared. The trails those people went on were closed and put under investigation. Researchers found nothing wrong with the area, but reports of the patients show they all dined and rested in the same hotel. The mysterious aching was traced to tainted food products used from the island. Except when the issue returned on the patients, however this time worse than before. Sores started developing on the surface of their skin. Patients described the sores as painless, but had heightened temper. A few of the patients experienced muscle grown along with temper issues. As one patient attacked an examiner he was killed by the local guards.

All of the symptoms were similar between the subjects and the remaining patients were sent to a protective area. The researchers can watch the process of the unknown contamination as it develops. Patients started to show increased aggravation between each other. As the researches watched as the patients lost control and attacked anything that moved. Communication between them cease and violence escalated to show dominance. The subjects were put into chambers and researchers noticed the flesh of their patients breaking and peeling. Understanding the strength of the subjects, the researchers found out the hard way by having a subject attack and kill one of them. The subject then started to rip and devour the body. Researchers were forced to kill the remaining patients. The process would’ve been simple if it weren’t for the immunity the subjects showed when toxic gas was pumped into their rooms. The researchers were astonished and observed the changes in the subjects.

All of the previous tests were taken in a few days and all of the subjects were labeled as incurable. Their DNA structure was also destroyed in the mutations and replaced with an undefined structure. The researched strived to get better sample from the subject to define and explain what was happening. When the time came the researchers noticed deposits of flesh around the observation area where the subjects were. Instead of trying to get a live sample they first looked at the deposits. Upon observing the samples they noticed the structures of DNA were no longer present. The normal dual backbone structure known as the double helix was encapsulated in two more backbones. It resembled a quad backbone system each having links between them. This new structure was named Quaroxyribonucleic acid (QNA). It had two major backbones and two minor backbones outside of them. Observing the strange new structure they noticed 3 strands of unpaired sugars on the minor backbones. These unpaired chains explained the possibility of mutation, but didn’t cover the rapid speed of how it is done. They needed a live sample.

They attempt to separate a subject from the group and pump the oxygen out of the chamber. They had issue trying to get just one subject alone as they moved in a cluster as if trying to protect each other. At one point they decided to pump oxygen out of the entire chamber due to the funding and time being depleted. The United Stated Government has also decided to drop the research program and reopen Neomor to the public again and start generating money. The researchers were on a deadline and decided to sacrifice the remaining subjects and quickly study the samples. After making the subjects suffocate the researchers quickly tried to get sample and studies the changing cell structure. Strangely enough they noticed the cells were damaging themselves and also repairing them with difference structures. Upon further examination of the QNA structure it showed the chains changed as the new cells are developed. They were shocked to see the way the QNA changed the sugar pairs to attempt to regrow itself. It soon died due to being exposed to a drastically different environment without a host to live off of.

With this discovery and funding cut the project was dumped. Neomor was reopened and allowed guests to travel the entire island again. People were finding new areas and exotic structures within the paths. However some reports came back in about an illness that gave a headache and stomach pains. Most waived it off as a common cold, but the reports grew drastically over time. The increased population made it impossible to react quickly enough against an epidemic. The same symptoms were showing in hundreds of cases on the island that were in the previous infection. The disease grew rapidly and infected a large portion of the island. News about the previous infection broke out and caused massive panic which only helped incubate the infection. Using the adrenaline released by panicking the infection took over the host by changing the neurons in the brain, rearranging the paths to create a false persona. This wasn’t a virus, or some tainted food, it was a parasite that was able to take over the host body. Signs of increased agitation towards treatment caused the civilians to attack anything it perceived as a threat to its survival. It needed to mutate to survive.

Many people were being affected by this parasite. It was an explosion as the fungus became airborne by attaching to the water molecules in the air; making it impossible to stay healthy without a hazmat suit. The US Government ordered quarantines around the entire island that stops any traveling to and from Neomor. Anyone known to be on the island, but traveled back home were taken and put into chambers and if they showed any signs of infection they were killed. The people left on the island that weren’t infected yet were left waiting for a time to escape. The Government made the decision to exterminate anyone on the island to attempt to stop the parasite from spreading more. They sent thousands of military soldiers, but were not equipped with the tools to protect themselves from the infection. Face masks were distributed, but they did very little to stop the infection. The soldiers sent in to eliminate the infection were infected themselves. The parasite took over their bodies just as they did with the civilians. The only difference is the soldiers body was much stronger and had weapons to use. Researchers were also contaminated in the attacks, but wrote down the symptoms they had.

Starting from the beginning the infection is said to enter the body and slowly start to eat the flesh of the victim, the entire process is described to be painless for the host due to the parasite nullifying the nervous system signals sent through the spinal cord. The infection spreads through the nervous system modifying the structures as it passes through. This system has direct access to the vital brain which the parasite takes over quickly. The process decays the current brain cells and replaces it with a new dynamic brain pattern that allows for rapid changes and superior instinct. This information was written by the first wave, but retrieved from the second wave attack from the United States. The second attack was more coordinated from the first failed attempt. Soldiers were sent in with proper medical equipment to prevent infection this time. The infected however adapted to this new equipment and used the host body to remove or break the protective gear. The new gear barely withstood any type of attack. New research was found in this operation as to how the QNA structure works and scientists were able to replicate a similar technology. They implement these newly created Pico cells into a battle suit. The downside to the new Pico cell technology is the soldier is permanently bonded to the suit as it connects to the spinal cord for extremely reduced reaction time.

The suits were developed to adapt to any environment and aid the soldier with an AI. The name gives to the suit is Artificially Intelligent Encounter Suit (AIES). The name AIES pronounced eyes is to aid every soldiers’ battle with the infected. Due to their rapid mutation the suit is equipped with an AI that monitors the vitals as well as enhancements activated to save the soldier in times. The AI has the ability to react quicker than the soldier so it can prevent a deadly blow by taking control of the motions in split seconds. The AIES also develops and learns as it’s used in combat. The soldier can apply upgrades and attachments that could be useful in an attack or defense. The suit is also equipped with a personal computing device attached to the arm. This computer allows the soldier to gain access or control local assets. The flashlight attached to the helmet is also useful to light up areas and disrupt vision. A bonus with the suit is the ability to carry much more weight without having the negative side effect of being slowed down. This is where the United States is, trying to contain the infection and eliminate it before it becomes international. They are recruiting today and need more soldiers that are willing to fight to protect the entire world.

All content is owned by Cryecss and written by Christopher ‘Sieabah’ S. If you’re interested in the game and would like to help you can complete the survey listed on the Infectum website.

Thank you for reading.

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