Formula 51, Zombie Affliction

Carter Murphy is a slightly out-of-shape, middle-class worker at a paper manufacturing plant. He lives with his best friend in a tiny apartment with little room to accomplish anything. He engages life with enthusiasm, masking his own fears and disappointments.

Carter begins having nightmares that foreshadow the terrifying events to come. His story begins as he awakens in a panicked state from one of these nightmares. Still yet to understand the dreams fully, he ignores their foreboding nature in lieu of his frantic realization that he is running late for work. After an interesting encounter with his roommate, Carter approaches his day with a little more caution.

The excitement of the day increases exponentially as each moment passes: a dangerous encounter when simply stopping for gas, a suspenseful moment in the break room at work, and a climactic encounter with creatures less than living but more than dead at the end of the day.

From that day forward, his world transforms into an ugly "kill or be killed" forced mentality. He unexpectedly leaps to the forefront, protecting the others around him and revealing a hidden strength he never knew he had: leadership.

The battle seems overwhelming as everyone he cares for is slowly claimed by the harsh realities of their new world. Just when he thinks things could not possibly complicate further, he encounters an unexpected someone that provides details to an interesting side of the story that is yet to be discovered.

-- Crispin Kalk