Asia held more than half the people on Earth in 2035, so it now holds most of the dead. The biggest hordes on the planet fill Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Dhaka, Jakarta, Manila and Bangkok. The safe places are high valleys, cold cities and small islands. Ships are the safest way to travel, because zombies cannot swim.
China lost almost every eastern city. Hordes walk between them along the rivers and the fast rail lines. Tibet and the high west are cold and empty. Engineers keep the Three Gorges Dam running, and salvage boats land at the Shanghai Bund Ruins. Taiwan has Taipei, the strongest Stronghold in East Asia, with about 120,000 people. The rest of the island is dead or wild. Japan holds the biggest horde on Earth in Tokyo. The Fukushima Hot Zone is empty. On Hokkaido, the Sapporo Winter Camp clears Sapporo street by street every winter. South Korea and North Korea are dead land. Seoul is a Dead City, and Jeju Island is a clean fishing Settlement. North Korea fell in 2036, and many of its zombies were soldiers in helmets and vests. Yongbyon is a Hot Zone. Mongolia is cold and empty. Herders move with their animals, and Ulaanbaatar is the coldest Stronghold on Earth.
Kazakhstan is flat steppe. Astana is a small Settlement, and raiders hold the old Baikonur rocket base. Kyrgyzstan has Bishkek, a Stronghold under the mountains, and the Osh Bazaar, the biggest market in Central Asia. Tajikistan is almost all mountains. Dushanbe is a Settlement powered by the Nurek Dam. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are dry. Tashkent and Ashgabat are Dead Cities. Desert heat turns the old dead into Husk Zombies. Afghanistan is dry mountains. Kabul is a Dead City, and warlord bands hold the roads.
India has more zombies than any other country. Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata are Dead Cities, and hordes walk the northern plains in every season. Pakistan lost Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. The mountain valleys of the north survived best. Bangladesh is a crowded flooded delta. Dhaka is dead, and a few hundred families live on anchored ferries in its river. Nepal has Kathmandu, a Stronghold in a walled valley. Bhutan closed early, and Thimphu is a small Settlement. Sri Lanka has Colombo, a Stronghold of about 90,000 people and the main Salt Fleet port on the Indian Ocean.
Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam lost their big cities. Bangkok, Hanoi and Phnom Penh are Dead Cities. Naypyidaw and Vientiane are small Settlements. Hill villages and floating villages survived. Malaysia and Brunei are jungle. Kuala Lumpur is dead. In Brunei, people live in a water village on stilts. Indonesia and the Philippines have thousands of islands. Jakarta and Manila are dead, but many small islands were cleared and are now fishing Settlements. Timor-Leste is a small mountain country. Díli is a fishing Settlement.
Australia is mostly empty. Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are Dead Cities. The dry outback turns the dead into Husk Zombies. Canberra is the main Stronghold on the mainland, and Tasmania is a clean island Settlement. New Zealand is the safest country on Earth. Auckland is still dead, but the rest is clear. Wellington is the capital of the Pacific Islands Union.
The Pacific Islands Union holds cleared islands from Hawaii to Fiji and New Zealand. Its towns are Wellington, Suva, Honiara, Nouméa and Port Vila. The Union trades fish, wool, timber and nickel steel, and it tests every person who lands. Papua New Guinea is jungle and mountains. Port Moresby is a small Settlement built around a stilt village.
Antarctica is ice. At Mawson Station a small team waited out the Fall. Most of them moved to Tasmania in 2041. The French Southern Lands hold Kerguelen Station, a Salt Fleet stop in the middle of the Southern Ocean.
The oceans are Sea Routes. Zombies sink and cannot swim, so the open sea is the safest place on Earth. The dangers are storms, typhoons, cyclones, running out of water, pirates near dead ports and old ships full of the dead.
North Pacific. Salt Fleet ships sail from Honolulu to Taipei and Japan and stop at Midway Atoll. The Pacific Star Cruise Ship drifts here, full of zombies.
South Pacific. Union boats sail between the islands. Tahiti is a key stop.
South China Sea. Fishing boats and old oil platforms, such as the Bach Ho Oil Rig.
Indian Ocean. Salt Fleet ships sail from Cape Town to Colombo. The Maldives are a fishing Settlement.
Atlantic. The busiest sea trade on Earth, from Reykjavik to the Faroes, north Norway, the Canadian coast and Cape Town.
Arctic Ocean. Brekka Station, where the Z-Virus began, lies on an island in these waters off northern Norway.
Southern Ocean. The roughest water on Earth. Few ships go there.