Lifeline is a medical order. It runs clinics in many strongholds and makes the Booster Shot and antibiotics. It made the first Booster Shot in 2048. Almost every stronghold depends on it for medicine, so it has power everywhere.
Its home is the old federal disease control campus in Atlanta, Georgia, now called Lifeline Campus. It has labs, a hospital, fences and guards. Lifeline also runs donor camps outside Atlanta. Camp Seven is the biggest. Its clinics sit inside strongholds across North America.
Samuel Whitfield, 67, male, is the head of Lifeline. He runs the Atlanta campus, the clinics and the donor camps. Dr. Amara Osei is the research director in Atlanta and leads the vaccine work. Ruth Keller is the Retrieval captain. Her teams bring back runaways, stolen Boosters and anything else Lifeline wants.
Lifeline wants a vaccine against the Z-Virus. It believes a runaway girl who cannot be infected is the key, and it is hunting her. It also wants to keep making Booster Shots, which means keeping its donor camps full.
Anyone who can pay gets treated at a Lifeline clinic. Lifeline staff are polite and busy. They ask no questions about where money comes from. They do ask a lot of questions about bites, and they test every patient's blood.
Lifeline pays some Mutated to give blood. It holds many more in donor camps, where they give blood and are not paid or free to leave. One donor gives about 3 doses a month. Undead are shot, or captured and taken to the lab for study.
Booster Shots (100 Credits, rare and often not for sale), antibiotics (15 Credits a course), painkillers, bandages and medical care. Lifeline buys glass, clean alcohol, lab gear and fuel.
Allies. The Gate Compact, whose strongholds host Lifeline clinics. The Salt Fleet, which carries its medicine overseas.
Rivals. Continuity Command, which also wants the immune girl.
Enemies. The Marked, who free donors and smuggle Boosters. The Quiet Dead. The Burners hate Lifeline for keeping Mutated alive.
Lifeline Guard. Guards at clinics, gates and donor camps.
Lifeline Retriever. Members of Ruth Keller's Retrieval teams, who track and bring back runaways.
Dr. Amara Osei believes a vaccine needs the immune girl's brain and spinal tissue, which means killing her. Lifeline will pay that price. The girl is Nell Avery, and a former Lifeline guard, Cal Rourke, ran with her. See The Vaccine Question page.