
<strong>Head / Neck</strong><br>
Unconscious within 0–4 hours. Full conversion 6–12 hours. Survival almost unheard
of.<br><br>
<strong>Arm / Shoulder / Upper torso</strong><br>
Unconscious 5–13 hours. Conversion 12–24 hours. Immediate isolation required. Field
amputation is unreliable and often fatal from shock or blood loss.<br><br>
<strong>Leg / Foot / Lower body</strong><br>
Unconscious 13–29 hours. Conversion 25–49 hours. Longest window — enough time to
travel or say goodbye, never enough to guarantee safety.<br><br>
Arterial damage, multiple bites, or bites from freshly turned infected accelerate the
process dramatically.
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<div class="box-header">Infected Behavior & Variants</div>
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The infected are living hosts with catastrophic neurological damage. Not mindless, but
no longer human in any meaningful way.<br><br>
They react strongly to sudden movement, fresh blood, loud sound, bright light and the
smell of living bodies in enclosed spaces. Feeding is driven by the parasite’s need for biomass
and new hosts — biting is transmission.<br><br>
<strong>Fresh</strong> — recently turned, fast, strong, still intact. Deadliest
indoors.<br>
<strong>Starved</strong> — older, gaunt, patient. Often remain still until a survivor
assumes they are dead.<br>
<strong>Nestbound</strong> — trapped for months or years in dark interiors, forming
dense clusters.<br>
<strong>Screamers</strong> — prolonged cries that draw every infected nearby.<br>
<strong>Animal carriers</strong> — dogs in packs, deer that lead danger to camps, rats
in food stores, livestock that destroy settlements.
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<div class="box-header">Safe Zones & Law</div>
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Safe zones are government-sanctioned containment settlements run by military
remnants, PMCs, municipal survivors or corporate security.<br><br>
Every resident is logged, photographed, medically screened, assigned labor and
monitored. Entry requires quarantine, blood testing and interrogation. A fever, suspicious wound
or unexplained absence can mean detention or execution.<br><br>
Work is mandatory. Rations, medicine and protection are earned. The elderly, injured,
undocumented and politically inconvenient are the first sent outside the walls.<br><br>