The eastern United States held about 180 million people before 2035. Almost every big city fell in the first eight months. Thirty years later, the East has one stronghold, a few dozen walled towns and farm areas, and the largest hordes in the Americas. This page covers the states from the Great Lakes to Florida and from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic.
The old Interstate 95 runs from Boston through Providence, Hartford, New York, Trenton, Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore to Washington DC. About 50 million people lived along it. Today it is one long dead zone, and it holds the biggest hordes in the Americas. Manhattan is the worst. The Midtown Horde Grounds hold many tens of thousands of dead.
The hordes drift south along the corridor in autumn and back north in spring. They gather in Washington DC every autumn. Cold slows them, so salvage runs happen in January and February. Anyone caught inside at the spring thaw is in trouble.
The Pickers run the corridor. Their biggest camp is Picker Camp, in Liberty State Park on the Jersey side, facing Manhattan. Camp boss Dominic Russo sells claims, and mapmaker Priya Shah draws the maps. Other Picker camps sit at the Blue Hills south of Boston and on Belle Isle in Richmond. No one should salvage without a claim.
The Indian Point nuclear plant, 35 miles up the Hudson from Manhattan, burned in 2036. The land around it is a Hot Zone.
Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine are cold, wooded and thinly settled. Long winters freeze the dead solid, and many small towns were cleared by 2041. Montpelier, Concord and Augusta are walled towns again. Concord lives inside the old state prison. The weather station on Mount Washington broadcasts the weather for the whole region each morning.
The islands are the safest places. Block Island, Vinalhaven and the other island towns were cleared and have stayed clear, because zombies cannot swim. Salt Fleet ships from Reykjavik stop on the Maine coast in summer to buy lumber, furs and dried fish.
North of New York City, the Hudson Valley leads to Albany. A walled port there sends barges up the river and west along the Erie Canal. The Adirondack and Catskill mountains are wild. Pennsylvania is wooded ridges and farm valleys. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are dead. The Three Mile Island plant near Harrisburg melted down in 2036, and the land around it is a Hot Zone. The City Island Ferry at Harrisburg is the safe way across the Susquehanna.
Washington DC is a dead city. Thousands of police and soldiers turned in their gear, so Armored Zombies are common. Continuity Command has sent helicopters to take records from the Capitol and the White House Bunker, and lost one crew. The Pentagon, across the river, is also full of the dead. Fort Detrick in Maryland studied the Z-Virus in the first months of 2035, and its records may still be there. Norfolk, on the Virginia coast, still has warships at its piers.
Atlanta is the only stronghold in the American East. Lifeline holds the old federal disease control campus and the Druid Hills district around it, with about 30,000 people inside the walls. It makes the Booster Shot there from the blood of Mutated donors. Everyone is blood tested at the Clifton Road Gate. Atlanta is a member of the Gate Compact.
Lifeline donor camps sit in the woods around the city. Camp Seven is the largest, with about 400 Mutated donors. The Marked hide near Stone Mountain and help donors escape. Lifeline Retrieval teams patrol the roads.
The Carolinas and Georgia are pine woods, farms and dead cities. Fort Jackson in Columbia is a walled army camp. Parris Island and other sea islands hold safe towns.
Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Florida are hot and wet. The dead stay soft here, and Bloater Zombies are common in summer. This is Burner country. Their moving camps burn dead towns each winter. The biggest camps are at the Talladega race track and the Opryland hotel in Nashville. Travelers who pass a blood test can trade with them. Mutated and Undead are burned alive when caught.
Florida is mostly empty swamp and wrecked coast. The Florida Keys hold island towns, and Key West is a Salt Fleet stop. Parchman Prison Farm grows cotton and food in the Mississippi Delta. The Vicksburg Bridge is one of the few safe crossings of the Mississippi.
The mountains of West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina broke up the hordes. Many mountain families held on in the hollows from the start. They farm, hunt, dig coal and trade moonshine and ginseng. Coal River Village is one of these. Frankfort, in Kentucky, makes fuel alcohol at the Buffalo Trace Still and sells it as far as Atlanta. Army deserters hold Fort Knox. The Greenbrier Bunker in West Virginia has been sealed since 2035.
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin are farm country with dead cities. Chicago, Detroit, Columbus, Indianapolis, Cleveland and Milwaukee all hold large hordes. Summer hordes drift out of the cities along the interstates, and farmers dread July.
The Amish farms of Holmes County, Ohio, are the biggest Grange farm area in the East. Springfield, Illinois, runs a grain market. Madison, Wisconsin, is walled on its isthmus. Raiders hold Cedar Point in Ohio and the Speedway in Indianapolis.
Under the Chicago Loop, the Quiet Dead live in the Lower Wacker Tunnels. They are sentient Undead who eat animal meat and have sworn never to eat people. Tunnel elder Ada Voss leads them.
The five Great Lakes are Sea Routes. The open water is safe from zombies, but autumn storms sink many small boats. Sail and oar boats carry fish, grain, furs and timber between the lake towns. Mackinac Island is the busiest harbor. The Soo Locks connect Lake Superior to Lake Huron. Madeline Island and the Door County peninsula are safe farm and fishing towns. Ice closes the harbors from December to April, and in hard winters people can walk across the frozen bays.