Malton Incident
The "Malton Incident" refers to the viral outbreak and the subsequent military-blockade quarrantine that befell the city of Malton on July 3rd, 2005. It was on that day that the residents of Malton awoke to find their fair city had been overrun by hordes of the shambling undead who had an unnatural hunger for human flesh.
The exact cause of the disaster has never been officially determined, but most residents of Malton believe the viral outbreak is connected to the NecroTech corporation. The reason for this belief stems from the fact that in the 6 years prior to the "Malton Incident" NecroTech Industries has aggressively purchased and constructed facilities all across Malton. The nature of these facilities revolved around research into genetics and viral pathogens. NecroTech Industries had always publicly maintained that the goal of their research was the fabrication of new cutting-edge pharmaceuticals meant to provide cures to cancers and other highly-infectious or deadly diseases. The only further information ever associated with the NecroTech agenda in Malton was revealed on May 15th, 2004, when a reporter from the Channel 4 News team investigated rumors of secret pay-offs to local government and high-ranking police officials. The Channel 4 News team uncovered a concealed program under which NecroTech Industries was performing unlicensed drug tests with patients at several hospitals across Malton. When the story broke NecroTech Industries PR were quick to explain that all the test subjects were in fact willing participants. The Malton Police force was brought in to determine the validity of the allegations, but after a week-long investigation they reported that nothing illegal had occurred at any of the hospitals. Suspiciously there were never a follow-up news story from any of Malton news networks and it was believed the story had been silenced.
In the initial week of the viral outbreak the CDC placed the entire city under quarantine in order to prevent the virus from spreading beyond the city's borders. Working with local law enforcement sections of the city, divided by suburb, were created and streets were blockaded to restrict access and slow the spread of the virus. The CDC, along with Malton's medical community and science staff from NecroTech Industries worked together to determine the best method to combat and eventually cure the virus. The problem appeared to stem from the fact that the virus itself appeared to be in constant flux, mutating at an extraordinary rate the prevented the fabrication of a cure that would work on all infected hosts. Tests on those infected who had been diagnosed as "clinically dead", indicated that the virus incubated inside the host's corpse and then evolved into a new state whereupon the host was restored to life, if one could call it that. In this newly animated state the host was "alive", but their higher brain functions appeared to have ceased and the host functioned on basic instincts only. All attempts to communicate with these victims proved pointless as all could not form words, but rather only made noises. The fact that they were hostile towards uninfected humans prematurely ended further testing.
As time passed the situation in Malton grew steadily worse as the CDC's initial attempts to isolate residents from one another proved futile as the virus was highly infectious and was easily passed on through exposure to the blood or saliva of infected hosts. The violence exhibited by test subjects appeared consistent throughout the city as the infected actively sought to infect others. This created a domino effect whereby as more people became infected the more infected there were to infect others. As the police struggled to maintain the blockades against the growing mobs of infected, rioters began to loot stores and panic stricken residents made various attempts to escape quarantine. It was not long before what little order there was in Malton collapsed under the sheer panic and chaos spreading through its streets. When the military finally arrived in Malton to place the city under martial law all efforts to contain the virus appeared to have failed. Fearing the worst, military officials ordered a complete pull-out of Malton, in some cases abandoning their own troops who were fighting risen infected throughout various suburbs. Once the military had reached the CDC quarantine they began to reinforce it with barbed wire and landmines. Word had been sent down the line, no one was allowed to leave Malton under any circumstances.
Though reluctant at first to use the "the z-word", most Maltonians have now accepted the fact that the infected are in fact the living dead, or in other terms: zombies.
