River Kevan
The River Kevan is the name of a river that runs alongside part of the northern edge of the city of Malton. It adjoins only a handful of the city's suburbs - namely Jensentown, Quarlesbank, West Boundwood and East Boundwood. It was named in honor of the man who founded the City of Malton.
North of the river itself is the picturesque but tragic landscape of Glen Kevan (Glenn Caoimhín in Scots Gaelic). This beautiful glacial valley was the site of the 1692 Massacre of Glen Kevan, in which Campbell Mac Dougall betrayed his fellow kilted warriors to the forces of the Crown. The slaughter of so many tartan-clad heroes was a forerunner of the bloodshed that would afflict central Malton in the 21st century.
Prior to the outbreak, and for the most part, these suburbs were home to pleasant riverside walkways. These usually intersected park areas and museums, and provided one of the cities more refreshing natural sights. School trips were occasionally planned here, for the children to learn about river biology and the history of the waterway. The Bearnard Museum in Quarlesbank was dedicated to the research and study of the River Kevan, and contained a large repository of information regarding its waters, the plant and animal life living there, as well as its history of leisure, commercial, and industrial use by the inhabitants of Malton over the years. In the early years of the city, the river was used to ferry equipment and building construction materials - however as this was completed over time, many of the docks were abandoned, and then subsequently developed and converted to studio apartments for the more affluent citizens of Malton.
Unfortunately, in the few months leading up to the time that the infection began to spread throughout the city, along its western bank in Jensentown, illegal dumping of garbage began to occur here. This caused considerable environmental damage to not only the ecosystem of the river, but also to the water quality of the river further along to its eastern banks in other suburbs. In the last few weeks previous to outbreak, the local authorities in the city had begun to implement plans to clean up the damage done to the landmark - this was attributed by many critics to the simple fact that many of the councilors present backing the plan lived in the affluent West Boundwood, and had previously voiced concern as to the effects serving to lower the value of land around their homes.
At the time of the initial outbreak, River Kevan was quarantined by the Military, along with the other areas around Malton. Obviously, the water was declared unsafe, and two dams were quickly constructed outside of the city's boundaries to process, quarantine and to eradicate any strains of the virus from the waterway, before it was allowed to continue on. These two dams both exist as highly classified areas protected by the military, and are the sites of some of the most involved research facilities into the virus that caused the disaster. They also serve to chemically dispose of any bodies that are washed downriver from the city - the banks are patrolled by armed guards at all times, and anybody seen to be entering the river from either side has been shot on sight.
