Shamblers

Nature and Origin of the Shambler Virus

In New Vance, “shambler” is the common word for a person whose mind and body have been taken by the Z-Virus. Before infection, they are neighbors, workers, children, and elders. After infection, they are a moving host for a pathogen that destroys higher thought and leaves only violent instinct. The city treats them as an ongoing disaster, not as a past event. The Collapse began with this infection and it has never fully ended.

No one in New Vance can state the exact origin of the Shambler Virus. Some records point to military bioweapons research. Others point to corporate medical trials that never reached public release. There are also rumors of a containment breach in a distant zone that spread through early refugee flows. None of these explanations are confirmed. What everyone agrees on is that the virus targets the nervous system and uses the human body as both engine and carrier.

The Z-Virus moves through blood and other body fluids. Bites are the most common source of transmission because shamblers rely on their jaws during attacks. Broken teeth and exposed bone tear flesh and push infected material deep into tissue. Deep scratches and punctures can also spread the infection when contaminated bone or nails break the skin. Contact with dried residue is less dangerous but is still avoided by any trained scavver or perimeter guard.

The virus acts with a speed that prevents large-scale evacuation or slow quarantine. Infected people can still walk, talk, and move through the city for several hours before the change becomes obvious. This allows the infection to cross checkpoints and move through markets, shelters, and tunnels. Because of this, every outbreak feels sudden even when the first exposure happened a full day earlier. The risk is never abstract.

Infection Progression and Physical Changes

The Z-Virus follows a rough timeline that most medics and Perimeter Watch officers know by heart. In the first one to three hours after a bite, most victims feel only shock, pain, and mild fever. They may dismiss the wound if it looks small or if they believe they did not “get a full bite.” This denial kills many people. During this window, the virus is already moving through the bloodstream and beginning to assault the brain and spinal cord.

Between three and twelve hours after exposure, symptoms become clear. Fever climbs. Victims experience chills, heavy sweating, and disorientation. Some describe a burning sensation in their bones or behind their eyes. Skin tone starts to dull and lose color, drifting toward a pale gray. Muscles twitch without control. Speech becomes slurred, then fragmented. At this stage, the infected person is still technically alive and conscious, but judgment and emotional control are failing.

From twelve to twenty-four hours, the virus completes its takeover. The victim’s muscles gain irregular bursts of strength. Their gait becomes unsteady and jerky. Eyes lose focus and no longer react normally to familiar faces or words. Pain response drops sharply, so broken joints or torn skin no longer slow them down. The person may lash out without reason, or freeze and stare for long periods before suddenly lunging at nearby movement or sound.

At or before the twenty-four hour mark, the former person is gone in every practical sense. What remains is a shambler: a body driven by a viral pattern that uses the nervous system as a control network. There is no verified case of recovered memory or restored personality after this point. The virus embeds itself into neural pathways and treats any attempt at reversal as damage to repair. Ending the host is the only reliable way to end the threat.

Behavior, Variants, and Environmental Impact

Shamblers are not slow, drifting bodies. They move in sudden bursts. For long moments they may stand idle, sway, or twitch, then sprint forward with violent force. Their motion often appears irregular, with sharp turns, full-body spasms, and sudden drops to all fours. This unpredictability makes them hard to track and control in urban environments. A single shambler can overwhelm an unarmed person; a cluster can wipe out an entire scavenger crew.

The virus seems to guide its hosts toward stimuli that signal life. Sound, heat, and light draw them. Gunfire, shouted orders, engines, and even loud music can pull nearby shamblers from several blocks away if the streets are clear. Warm bodies and open lamps attract them at night. Because of this, most trained groups in New Vance avoid unnecessary noise in shambler zones and use light only in short, controlled bursts.

Over time, environmental factors alter shambler bodies. In dry, open ruins, many become brittle and skeletal but remain mobile as long as their core nervous tissue is intact. In damp tunnels and low-lying districts, mold and rot cover their skin, yet the virus still drives them forward. Some shamblers lose limbs or lower jaws and still crawl toward movement. Others freeze in place, becoming part of the landscape until something gets close enough to trigger a final surge of activity.

Shamblers reshape districts through their presence. Entire neighborhoods, such as the Shambler’s Graveyard, stand abandoned because infection density is too high for normal patrols. The Perimeter Outskirts are in constant conflict due to shambler pressure from the wilds. The Subway Undernet carries a slow flow of infected through its deeper levels, turning some corridors into permanent hazard zones. The city’s borders, trade routes, and safe zones all shift in response to where shamblers gather or thin out.

Defense, Containment, and Faction Practices

Every major power in New Vance has developed clear rules for dealing with shamblers and suspected infections. The Perimeter Watch maintains the hardest line. Any confirmed bite on the Outskirts that passes the first few hours without treatment often ends with a field execution. Their priority is to stop any new shambler from crossing the barricades. Watch medics carry basic diagnostic tools, but their main tools are rifles, fire, and heavy barriers.

The Citadel Council relies on screening, sealed zones, and rapid isolation. Entry into Citadel territory includes symptom checks, thermal scans, and often blood tests for high-risk arrivals. Suspected cases are moved to quarantine blocks under armed guard. If Antigen is available, it is reserved for citizens with the highest productivity and behavior scores, or for staff with critical roles. Publicly, the Council describes this as rational allocation. Privately, it is also political control.

The Solar Guardians use aggressive field tactics. Their patrols in the Solar Sprawl often treat shambler clusters as contamination events. Burn-teams use focused energy weapons, incendiary rounds, and controlled fuel lines to clear rooftops, streets, and panel arrays. Guardians also train local residents in basic diagnostic signs so early bites do not go unnoticed. In exchange for loyalty to the grid, some settlements under their protection receive rare Antigen doses during outbreaks, though such aid always comes with strict conditions.

Other factions adapt in their own ways. The Hydro Hegemony tracks infection risk around water routes and will quietly cut supply to blocks with high shambler activity to protect the main system. The Shadow Syndicate sells information on outbreak paths, forged health passes, and even captured shamblers for illegal experiments. Raiders and Gear Rats treat shamblers as both hazard and weapon, at times luring them toward rival camps before circling away. The Silent Walkers move inside heavily infected zones without being attacked, but no group has been able to copy their methods or confirm how they avoid the virus’s usual response.

Z-Virus Antigen, Research, and Rumors

The Z-Virus Antigen is the only verified medical countermeasure against full conversion. It works only during the first twenty-four hours after exposure. When injected, it releases engineered nanocytes that circulate through the bloodstream. These agents target active viral particles and infected cells before the virus fully binds to neural tissue. In successful cases, fever breaks, color returns to the skin, and muscular spasms fade within several hours. Many survivors report severe exhaustion and lingering pain, but they keep their minds.

The Antigen also provides a short window of protection. For roughly one day after treatment, the body resists new Z-Virus exposure. Bites during this period still cause trauma but do not trigger full infection. This temporary immunity is crucial for evacuation, rescue, and containment missions. Perimeter Watch strike teams, Citadel “cleaner” squads, and high-risk Guardian crews sometimes deploy under Antigen coverage when supplies allow. Once the window closes, the person is as vulnerable as before.

Production of new Antigen is nearly impossible under current conditions. The original manufacturing facilities were destroyed, lost, or cut off during the Collapse. Most vials in circulation come from three sources: old stockpiles, small labs that can perform partial synthesis using recovered formulas, or stolen caches that were hidden for private use. Because of this, Antigen is treated as strategic currency. Factions trade territory, technology, and high-value prisoners to gain even a small crate of doses. On the Black Market, a single vial can cost more than a home.

Stories about alternatives spread through the city, but none are confirmed. Some claim the Static Cult has found a way to “jam” the virus using broadcast fields, leaving infected bodies twitching but inert inside the Radio Silence Zone. Others insist that certain Glowers show natural resistance due to their altered biology. A few whisper that the Silent Walkers carry a stable form of infection that blocks the standard strain. For now, these remain unproven theories and dangerous hopes. What people know for sure is simple: avoid bites.