The Fall of Monroeville Mall
| The First Fall of Monroeville Mall. | |||||||||||||
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| Date | March 2008 | ||||||||||||
| Place | West Monroeville, Monroeville Mall. | ||||||||||||
| Result | Zombies ruin entire area. | ||||||||||||
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Background
Monroeville Mall is very special building in Monroeville for many reasons:
- Its unique size and shape make it the largest multi block building in either Monroeville or Malton. The only larger building is the Big Brother House in Borehamwood.
- As the largest mall in Monroeville, it is a major tactical resource point.
- The entire mall is an island - it's impossible to freerun to or from.
- Historically it was the principal setting for the George Romero film 'Dawn of the Dead'.
Monroeville Mall, West Monroeville
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As the mall was seen as such a highly symbolic building to many survivors and zombies it was only a matter of time before a major conflict occurred.
Early Days
The Monroeville outbreak had begun on the 25th of February 2008 and Monroeville Mall was first reported operational on the 28th of February. Enterprising survivors had used sections of pipe to loosely barricade all sections and were attempting to restore power.
The next day (29th) a survivor with some construction experience arrived and began barricading the whole structure, beginning at its eastern end.
Over the next few days the Mall slowly filled with survivors, collecting supplies and waving around Video Cameras. And so it remained for the first two weeks of March. A symbol of survivor organisation, with only the odd Feral and random PKer to deal with.
The Gathering Storm
Throughout the second week zombies slowly shambled over to Monroeville Mall. By the 15th of March assorted Ferals, and Members of the Cornfed Undead were causing minor break-ins most days.
Between The 15th and 17th of March a pattern began forming. James General Hospital, Homer Crescent Police Dept, Lothrop Walk Police Dept, Horne Crescent Police Dept and Pothinsje Auto Repair all fell into zombie hands.
On the 15th, to the North Archway Mall suffered its first day free from a minor zombie attack in 3 weeks.
And so it began.
Mall Breach
On the 18th of March the Cornfed Undead were joined by the Monroeville Resistance Front. The single largest Horde in Monroeville's brief history was visible. Very swiftly survivors were dragged out onto the street and the sound of Feeding Groans became unrelenting.
By 8.40pm the Easternmost block was ransacked and occupied. The zombies rejoiced in the men's formal wear section of JCPenny.
Pincer Attack
By 10pm the same night, a new threat had emerged. Members of the Monroeville Many launched a pincer attack on the Malls Westernmost block. The barricades were torn down and doors propped open for a swarm of ferals to enter the mall. By waiting until after the initial attack, when most survivors had expended their energy for the day, very little resistance was felt.
Both sides of the mall were now under zombie assault. Due to the mall's unique architecture, no survivor in any of the Malls central 3 blocks could see what was happening.
New Tactics
Unlike zombie sieges in Malton. The attack in Monroeville seemed planned in an entirely different way. Once a foothold had been established, many zombies ignored those survivors closest to them and advanced deeper into the mall targeting anyone with the ability to construct barricades or interrupt the zombie march with a well aimed headshot.
The situation was chaotic. Zombies and survivors were mixed in all areas, and high level survivors who tried to fight were killed.
Most survivors reaction at this point was to run, and quickly the mall emptied. Where once there had been over 200 survivors there was soon nothing left but corpses and survivors brave, or indeed foolish enough to face over 100 zombies with little or no training.
The Mall was emptied of all life one block at a time.
On the night of the 19th, the two eastern-most blocks were devoid of life and claimed by the zombies.1
By the 20th all areas were empty of life and ruined. Iwitness 2
The first large scale Mall assault had been won by the zombies.
Aftermath
Most of the combined Horde continued their path of Barhah by attacking and destroying Drummond Mall by March 24th. To complete the tour many zombies were then expected to hit Archway Mall, but the new Headshot update meant that Mall sieges were now too costly for zombies who fell back on smaller targets.
Monroeville Mall was reclaimed by survivors on April 9th.
Long Term Effects
The relative ease with which the mall was overtaken was a stark reminder of the differences between Malton and Monroeville. With no large scale survivor groups existing to coordinate defences or reclaim ruins whole areas were left wastelands.
With this and other high profile zombie attacks increasing, only Kevan's perma-headshot rule change gave survivors a chance to reclaim areas. Unfortunately the change left the city skewed in favour of survivors. Zombie numbers rapidly fell and remained low until the change was revoked at the end of the first quarantine.
