Second Willamette Outbreak

The Second Willamette Outbreak was a series of events that began on Black Friday and had continued for some weeks. It was the second such outbreak to hit Willamette, Colorado in under two decades and was once again investigated by Frank West.

Prelude
Obscuris were conducting research into zombieism, using the notes of the late Dr. Russell Barnaby. The doctor owned some property in the form of a winery in Willamette where he kept on working following the Santa Cabeza Incident. Dr. Barnaby, the lead scientist of the Santa Cabeza Livestock Research Facility, had taken his research on the Ampulex Compressa Giganteus in a different direction, namely in the pursuit of immortality.

Obscuris, having been contracted to pursue applications of the zombies, dispatched a team lead by Lance Corporal Calder to recover the research from the lab beneath the winery.

A containment failure led to the deaths of his subordinates and a severe infection for Calder. Utilising Dr. Barnaby's chamber in a bid to save himself, he mutated and became the very first intelligent zombie but lost his sanity in the process. Unchecked, he made his way into town.

Outbreak
At the time of the outbreak, Willamette was preparing to open the largest mall in the world. The new mall, replacing the old Willamette Parkview Mall , was attacked by Calder and a major incident began. Shoppers were killed or turned into zombies and ultimately spread the infection into the town. The military arrived not long after and managed to sever all contact with the outside world. Willamette found itself quarantined and the survivors were once more left to themselves.

Aware as to what had happened, Obscuris deployed into the city, under the false impression they were enforcing the quarantine. They were there for two reasons:


 * 1) Capture Calder, who was in possession of vital data and they had become aware of his mutation.

The majority of survivors were organised into a militia to fight back against the occupation by Obscuris and to survive the zombie onslaught.
 * 1) Eliminate any survivors who could potentially link the outbreak back to them.

Whilst a majority of the survivors became a part of this militia, others became stranded throughout Willamette. Others had taken a less active role in the fighting, preferring to investigate Obscuris and what they were doing whilst a select few began to investigate Obscuris.

Several shelters that had been built as a precaution from the last incident were put into use but were breached. It was a task for some survivors within the shelter to just live.

ZDC Investigation
Despite being the top zombie authority in the nation, the Bureau of Zombie Defense and Control was never briefed on the nature of the outbreak in any great detail.

Brad Park, Director of the ZDC, was accidentally passed a high level report about the outbreak. Despite this, the lack of ZDC presence in the city indicated that they were prohibited from being allowed into the Quarantine Zone so they'd be able to investigate the disaster. Park sought assistance from Frank West, who had covered the Willamette Incident in 2006 in the hopes of being able to get to the bottom of the disaster. He was already suspicious of the decision that the Pentagon had taken to not bring his people into it and suspected a cover up is in progress.

Park started by observing the Reservist Training Centre that Frank West supposedly attacked and noticed that no one actually was stationed there.

Tracking down West, who was a fugitive, he presented this opinion to the photojournalist and was able to convince him to assist in the investigation. Vick Chu, one of his pupils, was in town to investigate the outbreak herself and in his competitve desire to break the story, made the decision to return to Willamette.

With assistance from Brad Park and survivors in the militia, Frank West was able to uncover the truth of the outbreak and the role Obscuris played in it. It also included the data that Calder had retrieved which proved a link between the government and Dr. Barnaby's new research. Calder, who represented a grave threat to the United States was killed at the Willamette Memorial Megaplex.

Frank West, initially thought dead during the escape from Willamette, was zombified and ultimately cured with some assistance from Dr. Diane Blackburne and the equipment in Dr. Barnaby's lab.

Aftermath
When the last transport helicopter left the city limits, Willamette was firebombed by the U.S. Military to prevent the spread of the infection. Any survivors who had not cleared the area would have died with the undead.

Frank West was able to expose the connection between the government, Dr. Barnaby's research and Obscuris, an act that ultimately vindicated him and cleared up his image.

Obscuris, having lost a lot of personnel and resources during the outbreak as well as the public damage done to their image would likely be irreparable. It, like most of its members, is unlikely to survive the fallout from this incident.