Al-Raha

In 2030, the Zeta virus spread across the world, infecting humans and primates alike. Upon infection, the virus shuts down, starves and kills the neocortex and limbic system as well as the host’s immune system, leaving only the cerebellum and brainstem active though in a reduced capacity. Because of this, the Zeta virus transforms its host into a mindless husk functioning solely out of survival instincts while displaying strong aggressive behaviour towards what it considers to be a prey. Because of the effect of the Zeta virus and the behaviour it leads to, infected are generally called “ghouls”. Because the higher cognitive functions of the brain and immune system are both shut down, ghouls require much less resources and energy to function, increasing their lifespan and resilience to non-traumatic environmental conditions, with some ghouls suspected to have survived for years with the proper conditions and little sustenance. Ghouls are capable of recognising each other through the secretion of specific pheromones, though with time variants of the Zeta virus started to emerge, creating “families” or “clans” of ghouls that would wage brutal territorial wars against each other, vying for resources and healthy hosts when they were not simply devouring each other. The virus is airborne, being aerosolised by infected hosts through breathing, sweat and other vaporised liquids with large concentrations of ghouls rendering entire areas too dangerous for the uninfected. The infection spreads in a matter of hours, with no known cure yet developed. Originating from a research lab in Western Europe, the Zeta virus spread across the world in a matter of months, decimating human and primate populations alike, while hordes of ghouls destroyed entire wild life species and niches due to their unending hunger. In 2050, survivors number in the millions across the world with fortified enclaves carving out a life as best they can, though every few months bring the news of yet another settlement being destroyed by hordes of ghouls, whether human or primate. Some survivors won the genetic lottery however, their DNA offering a lasting immunity against the Zeta virus and even affording them mild increases capabilities. Al-Raha is a desert basin in the central Sahara where cracked earth stretches between low dunes, broken only by a scattering of solar stills and rusted shipping containers used as shelter. The settlement clusters around a cluster of artesian springs that bubble up through limestone, water so vital that fights break out over access to washing rights. Dust-choked ghouls stumble through at night, drawn by heat and scent, their bodies brittle from dehydration but still dangerous in groups. The place reeks of wet rock, sweat, and burning plastic from salvaged electronics. Children scavenge glass from shattered panels to trade for beans. People speak in low voices about the ones who go quiet after staring too long at the horizon.