Santa Cabeza

Santa Cabeza (translates as "Saint Head") is the fictional Central American town which is frequently referred to in the Dead Rising video game. It is the origin of the Ampulex Compressa Giganteus.

History
Santa Cabeza was the hometown of Carlito and Isabela Keyes. It was described and implied to be a very fertile and lively place, with beautiful natural scenery and landscape. It's isolated and smaller population apparently made it a peaceful, harmonious place to live. Due to its agricultural fertility, a significant portion of Santa Cabeza's land was suitable and abundant with livestock. Unknown to the local populace, its environmental properties and isolation made it a desired site for the U.S. government's classified purposes.

At an unspecified time-frame, a covert research facility manned by a specialized U.S. government funded scientist team was established in Santa Cabeza. This team was led by Dr. Russell Barnaby. The group was tasked to discover a way to to double the livestock of local cattle. The expensive project's purpose was simple; if successful in reproducing cattle at an accelerated rate, the government could feed more Americans, whose rapid consumption of meat was becoming to expeditious for distributors to cater for. The research team did their job, but their progress advanced expeditiously when they discovered a mysterious and previously undiscovered insect species in the local region beside the Pachacamac River. The species was subsequently scientifically named Ampulex Compressa Giganteus.

The Ampulex Compressa Giganteus resembled wasps or bees, and had their own counterparts of queens. The species was casually referred to as such between the research staff. They were also larger and more aggressive compared to their related species. Dr. Barnaby and his research team were going to harness the species and use its abnormal but useful properties to accelerate the production of meat. The team experimented on rats and cattle to see what the new species would do to its host. The team instead discovered the queens of the species turned whatever host they latched onto into reanimated corpses, more non-scientifically referred to as zombies. This was witnessed first hand when one of the wasp queens accidently escaped the facility, and traveled into the once peaceful town, beginning the process of infecting every resident. As the local population had no previous knowledge of the Ampulex Compressa Giganteus, they were ultimately unprepared for the outbreak.

When news of the outbreak reached the U.S. government, they ordered their military to contain it, forsaking all living survivors still trapped inside. A Special Forces unit lead by Brock Mason was dispatched to completely wipe out the Santa Cabeza and it's residents to cover up the ensuing epidemic. Dr. Barnaby and his research team were trapped right in the middle. Only after a brutal genocide of both the undead and living was Dr. Barnaby extracted from the compromised town. After being debriefed, to cover his actions in future questioning, Barnaby claimed that Santa Cabeza was used by terrorists to disperse a "zombie drug".

Dr. Barnaby's team and the U.S. government's role in the epidemic gained the wrath of survivor Carlito Keyes and prompted him to undertake extreme measures for personal revenge. This caused the Willamette Incident to take place, and was the first part of Carlito's vengeance for Santa Cabeza and it's forsaken populace.