Origins
We barely had time to register what was going on in the world before everything collapsed. The news stations had been running stories 24/7 about the plague that had hit Japan. Apparently, some mad scientist over there had been working on a virus that would essentially take over the human brain and make brainwashing/interrogation easier. He planned to sell it to governments and military forces and retire off of the billions of dollars he would have received.
Well that was his plan; however, during a lab accident he was exposed to a new strain of his virus. We never got the full story on exactly what happened. Anyway, the virus had a high rate of infection and rapidly took over the body. He went home to monitor himself for symptoms and to get some rest before really realizing what he had created. The scientist died less than 48 hours after being infected. He was successful though, the virus did take over the human brain but only after death. An hour after his death, his corpse rose and began wandering around his neighborhood ripping apart and eating the very people he had lived next to for years.
From what I gathered from news reports and other survivors I have encountered, the virus takes over the human brain after death and restarts the electrical pulses. However, the person you once knew is dead for good. The corpses, although reanimated, no longer seem to contain a human conscious that's able to comprehend thoughts. They only keep walking and going because the virus forces the brain to keep functioning. There also seems to be one major side effect from the virus that does affect the corpses, an insatiable hunger for raw flesh and meat.
Their brains are only working on a very, very primitive level so they are most attracted to any moving creatures, especially if they're quite noisy. For reasons unknown, they also seem to be particularly interested in human flesh. While they'll attack anything living with a heartbeat, I guess the virus just makes them mostly cannibalistic. I've even heard a few reports from other survivors of these creatures slowly eating themselves out of hunger.
During the first week of the outbreak, it seemed to be mostly contained within Japan. Reports of other attacks in other countries trickled in, but most of the attention remained on Japan. As humans, and particularly here in America, we have a hard time believing that horrible things that happen to others will ever happen to us. The internet was even full of memes comparing the tragedies to zombie movies.
It didn't take very long for everyone to realize that this was real and it was going to affect everyone. After only 12 days, Japan's population had been reduced by 25% and it was obvious that the infection had spread across the globe. The first reportings of the virus in America were in California, where people had fled to the States from infected countries.
Three months after the initial exposure of the virus, it was estimated that the world population had been halved. I'm sure it's decreased drastically since then; I wouldn't know though, soon after that was released society collapsed pretty quickly. The media disappeared. Televisions were reduced to boxes of white noise and newspapers were no longer printed.
It's not known whether any form of any government still exists. Personally, I feel like it disappeared with everything else but there are some people who believe that they're still pulling strings. However, people who have, so far, survived the virus and attacks have been left to survive on their own. It's anarchy out here and everyone's looking out for themselves.
I guess now would be the time where I introduce myself. My name is Willow Dean, I had just turned 18 and was set to graduate from high school before everything fell apart. It's just me and my brother, Caleb (14), now. My mother, a nurse, was infected at the hospital and killed my father when she turned. I managed to grab Caleb and run away before she could turn her attention to us. We've been running and surviving ever since.
Caleb says he keeps hearing something rustling off in the distance so we have to go. Hopefully I'll get the chance to write again tomorrow.