Characters (Chapters 12+)









Jaeger
Basics: Born December 27th, 1977 in Old Trap, North Carolina. Dropped out of high school at 16 to work with her father as an automobile mechanic until she earned her GED at 18 and joined the Navy. Became a Construction Electrician in the Seabees and did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan before being dishonorably discharged in 2005 after ten years of service. Arrested in 2007 for multiple counts of murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection in 2008. Diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) in 2009. Sentence reduced to life in prison without parole in exchange for participation in clinical trials at UCON’s Stem Cell Core laboratory in Storrs. Treatments began in January of 2010. Story begins April 15th, 2010.



Training: Completed Expeditionary Combat Skills (ECS) training at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, Mississippi. ECS is a basic combat-skills course where the students spend time in a classroom environment learning map reading and land navigation, battlefield first aid, how to lay out defensive plans, how to conduct patrols, vehicle egress, and many other combat-related skills. Half of each course is spent at a rifle range where students learn basic rifle marksmanship and then qualify with the M16 service rifle. ECS students also learn fundamentals of the M9 service pistol and qualify. At the end of training, new Seabees are ready to perform with their new battalion. During their tenure with an NMCB, personnel may be assigned to a crew-served weapon, such as the MK 19 40 mm grenade launcher, the M2HB .50-caliber machine gun, or the M240 machine gun.


Abilities: The abilities manifested in Jaeger are not fully understood. It is believed (by Jaeger) that the stem cell treatment she received interacted with the zombie catalyst after being bitten. Since stem cells are adaptive, essentially genetic blank slates, their reaction to the catalyst mirrored the zombie condition in some ways while continuing to adapt to new exposures.

Traits she shares with the zombies include the ability to regenerate tissue damage by using calories stored in her body. Jaeger believes this is why zombies are constantly hungry; they need to feed in order to sustain their dead bodies and fight decay. In addition to her regenerative abilities, Jaeger possesses a highly acute sense of smell. Physical changes include a lack of hair and eye color, higher than normal body temperature, and the ability to shut down pain seconds after damage is inflicted.

Further experimentation on Jaeger's part led to the discovery that she can gain additional traits from other Abnormal individuals. This first came about when she was bitten by Maliqe, who possessed exceptional hand-to-eye coordination and spatial awareness. Later, she added a measure of Frank's superhuman strength by ingesting his blood. By the start of Chapter 12, she has also gained incredibly dense bones and removed the scarring that occurs after accelerated healing.




Frank
Frank Collins was born on May 13th, 1963 in Philadelphia. General handy-man with no college degree or meaningful employment prior to 2008 when he took a job at the 'Fort' as a maintenance man and groundskeeper. Bitten by his wife when she became a zombie during the initial Yellowstone ashfall. Like Jaeger, he changed and did not become a zombie himself. Unlike Jaeger, negative effects outweigh the positives. Stronger than average human strength and capable of bursts of high speed but suffers brain damage that renders him mute, only able to follow simple orders and unable to take care of himself. Rarely initiates actions. Seems slack-jawed and emotionless unless his daughter, Molly, is threatened. Heals slightly faster than human norm but not nearly as fast as Jaeger. Apparently feels no pain. Pale skin, black hair faded to nearly blond, and milky white eyes.




Simon














Mal










Chernobyl