Entranceway App

[voiceinthedark]

Name: Zalia
DW username: zalia
E-Mail: zaliachimera [ @ ] gmail.com
IM: ZaliaChimera (AIM)
Plurk: zaliachimera

Other Characters: Agent Washington.

Character Name: Sam Yao
Series: Zombies, Run!
Timeline: The end of Season 5, after Sam has been rescued from Ian and Janine has contacted them.
Canon Resource Link: http://zombiesrun.wikia.com/wiki/Zombies,_Run!_Wiki
http://zombiesrun.wikia.com/wiki/Sam_Yao

Character History: Sam was born and raised in England, the eldest child and only son of a Chinese father and Chinese-English mother (he mentions specifically that his father is Chinese, but never mentions his mother), and with one younger sister who he was very fond of. He seems to have been pretty close to his grandfather; he mentions loving it when his grandparents visited from China and made traditional food, although he never kept up with learning Chinese. It's probable that he grew up not too far from the area that would become Abel Township (he seems to be very familiar with the surrounding area, including knowing a specific pizza place and the locations of multiple comic and hobby shops), if not in the town itself, then in one of the surrounding villages. 

Although his family were generally loving and took good care of him, his relationship with his father was never the best. He was pushed to excel in academics from a young age, with his father making his disappointment known whenever Sam didn't live up to expectations (Sam states that his dad got so angry when Sam didn't get good grades in French, telling Sam that he had dishonoured his family, and that was a subject his dad didn't even care about). While Sam put in a lot of work, it was likely to the detriment of his social life and led to a huge amount of insecurity and need for approval. With so much pressure to succeed and likely little time to spend with friends, Sam turned to the internet and other solitary 'geeky' activities instead. He's canonically shown to be into comics (DC and Marvel), Lord of the Rings, Joss Whedon shows, and has a working knowledge of internet lingo (calling Runner 10 a BAMF).

He lived a relatively normal life for the most part, managing to keep up his grades a reasonable amount. It's during high school that he developed an interest in the radio, expressing an interest in becoming a DJ to his parents. This met with fierce disapproval from his father who insisted on a more academic career and so Sam ended up applying for an engineering degree. He managed to get good enough grades to get into university and when the time came, went off to college.

It turned out that he was awful at engineering. He had no interest in the subject, and while he tried very hard, he just could not deal with the subject, barely scraping by each year. While he mostly managed to hide his poor grades from his father, it was obvious that he wasn't doing very well and certainly wasn't enthusiastic about the subject, leading to rather intense disappointment and upset from his family. Despite this, he kept on at it doggedly, even with his lecturers advising him to switch courses, just because he knew his dad would never forgive him if he did switch.

It wasn't all doom and gloom though. While at university, he did manage to make some friends and got the chance to indulge his more geeky hobbies. He was introduced to tabletop roleplaying (Demons and Darkness) and even to cosplay and conventions (He says that he'd cosplayed Aquaman only because his girlfriend at the time really liked him, but it's fairly obvious from his reaction to possibly getting D&D costumes, that he was at least as enthusiastic as she was). He also spent a lot of time hanging around at the student radio station, learning how to use the equipment to broadcast, something that he enjoyed much more than his degree.

That last Christmas before the apocalypse was very uncomfortable for Sam, with praise heaped upon his sister while all he got was disappointment. Understandably, this made him feel rather jealous of his sister who was top of the class in her law degree and enjoying every minute of it.

The Grey Plague hit during his final year of university while he was visiting home for the weekend. It seemed like nothing at first; likened to Swine Flu or SARS, with authorities convinced that they could contain and cure it. Of course, this didn't quite work out when the dead began to revive, thoroughly destroying any quarantine procedures and spreading the plague further. Sam stayed at home instead of going back to university as the plague worsened, unable to contact his sister by phone or email. And then the inevitable happened; Sam’s dad was bitten at his job at the hospital. He made it home and hid his illness, only to turn while Sam was making tea. Sam killed him, however he was too late and his mother was bitten.

It was awful. Sam and his mother watched the news together, and agreed on what should happen; Sam killed her before she could turn, and then fled.

By this point, civilisation was falling apart; people fleeing cities in terror, turning on other people, killing anyone displaying event a hint of a cough or a sniffle. Misleading advice was everywhere. And Sam was alone. He armed himself with an axe and was forced to scavenge to survive, avoiding zombies and holing up wherever seemed safe, no particular aim except surviving. 

Sam managed to survive for at least a few weeks until he was found by Major de Santa and her military crew, shivering and hiding in a bin. She took him in and transported him to the newly formed Abel Township, a small settlement of survivors under the governance of the local emergency government and headed by Janine de Luca.

Desperate to be useful and earn his place, he began poking his nose into everything, especially the radio equipment. It was during an early mission with the first Runner 5 that he really proved himself. The Major and her people were sent out after Sam received a desperate call for help from some survivors trapped on top of a bus.

With the Major out in the field, Sam used Janine's security cameras to warn them about approaching zombies and give them advice about where to run in order to hide and make a stand.

It should have been a straightforward mission; escort the survivors to New Canton, the base of the emergency government in a nearby castle. However, New Canton refused to give them help to get there, sending them a mile out of the way to reach another entrance. The size of their group soon attracted a large group of zombie and they were forced to take shelter in a barn while the zombies passed.

Unfortunately, some of the survivors had been bitten and turned, attacking the others. Thinking quickly, and displaying a previously unrealised aptitude for strategy, Sam took control of the mic from Janine and ordered the Major to take the people out through the back door of the barn and head for higher ground where they could make a stand while he requested backup from New Canton. When they refused, Sam disobeyed their order by switching radio frequency and taking command of the mission. With one of the cameras damaged enough that it only showed fuzz, he was still able to make out what was happening, explaining to Janine that he'd done a module at university on sonograms which had taught him enough to interpret what he was seeing.

Finally they managed to kill and escape the rest of the zombies, albeit after losing several of their people in the process. They began the return to Abel, only for Sam to say that New Canton had ordered them into another rescue mission. The Major refused, explaining that they were no longer going to take orders from New Canton.

They returned to Abel and when Sam protested about shoving all of the survivors into quarantine before putting them to work, the Major gave him a stern talking to about how much they would have to sacrifice if they wanted to survive.

It was this mission which put Sam into the position of Chief Operator for Abel Township. It's a job with a high rate of fatalities and Sam oversees most of them. Pre-game, he's lost 3 Runner 5s (including Ellis and Alice), 1 Runner 3, 2 Runner 4s, at least 1 Runner 7, and from Esteban's comments asking how many Runners Sam has lost compared to Nadia's 3, we can probably assume that there have been a fair few more, so by the time of the game starting, he has seen a lot of people die, and taken out a fair few zoms himself. He's shown to be particularly dedicated to his job, perhaps obsessively so, having made it part of his identity. In S2S18, he stays at his desk despite being quite seriously ill and running a fever, just because it's his job and his pride.

One runner, Alice Dempsey, Runner 5, particularly stood out though. Ex-military, having moved into a lucractive private sector job, Alice was tough and charismatic and Sam was instantly smitten. He says that they had a 'thing' and is obviously fairly invested in her, although one gets the impression that it was more of a 1-sided thing on Sam's part, with Alice just not rebuffing his infatuation, rather than reciprocating. They got on well enough whatever their relationship, with Alice teaching him how to use a sidearm.

Sometime shortly before the main storyline, Sam sent Alice on a mission to the hospital in town where she went missing, presumed dead.

Abel Township was contacted by a military helicopter bringing in supplies from the military base up north. Sam took the call, giving them the all clear to land, just in time to see the helicopter be shot down by a rocket launcher. Despite the shock and panic, Sam managed to contact the survivor of the crash (Runner 5, the player character) and give them directions to escape the horde of zombies approaching, giving them the title Runner 5 in the process. He successfully guided them back to Abel, even with a detour through the hospital where Alice had died. Just before Runner 5 reached the gates however, a fast zombie appeared, one that had once been Alice, and Sam had to watch as she was shot down by the snipers at the gates.

Sam did not take this well. While he attempted to work through the grief, involving himself with training the new Runner 5, his behaviour became more and more erratic until he put both himself and 5 in danger, having them running over and over the spot where Alice had died. He wanted to find her wallet which contained information that would help Sam find Alice's sister and pass on the news of her death.. Following this incident, he ended up having a PTSD triggered breakdown and was confined to the hospital by Maxine to rest and recover. We know that he was suffering from flashbacks and was having enough trouble that everyone was worried about him.

Life continued pretty much as normal, or as normal as it can get in the zombie apocalypse with many missions run. It was during one of these that Janine sent Runner 5 out to meet some rebels from New Canton who were willing to trade and help Janine plan to destabilise New Canton. This horrified Sam, mainly because she'd accidentally broadcast it over an open radio channel, rather than because of her actual plan.

It turned out to be a trap. Runner 5 was ambushed and trapped outside overnight, when the zombies were more active. Not knowing whether 5 was living, dead or undead, Sam stayed up all night broadcasting, talking to Runner 5, begging them to come home and telling them about his past and his fears, including that maybe the ones who didn't survive were the lucky ones. And his feelings about ice-cream roll.

Mercifully, Five returned much to Sam's relief and endless gratitude.

Shortly after this, Sam guided Runner 5 on a mission to pick up medical equipment. A routine mission seemingly, except when Runner 5 picked up a box intended for Maxine Meyers, Sam's best friend and Abel's resident doctor. The box contained records from scientists who had been working on the virus, including Maxine's girlfriend, Paula. 

It proved to be vital information, and Sam helped with further missions, giving Maxine time to listen to the CD Paula had left and sitting in with her while she listened again and cried. He didn't feel like he was much use, but he couldn't leave his best friend alone when she obviously needed company.

The CD led them to secret research facilities with files about the research that they had been undertaking on cell regeneration which they believed had led to the Grey Plague. The plot thickened when Sam was narrowly able to help Five escape a building that was attacked by men with helicopters, including one Professor Van Ark, the head of Paula's research.

Of course, not every mission was quite this dire. Sam happily sent Runner 5 out to retrieve entertainment supplies, including hunting out all the necessary supplies for the best roleplaying game, Darkness and Demons. Sure, there was zombies, but fun stuff is important, alright?

Following this, Sam controlled a mission to gain more information about Van Ark and the events leading up to the Grey Plague, sending out Runner 5, Runner 8 and Maxine to gather information, despite knowing that the Major would not have let the Doctor out of the compound. During these missions, they met with Professor Van Ark, who seemed to have been involved in the research which led to the plague. Unfortunately he was bitten, leaving them only with a mention of Jeffro Complex, a research facility still working on a cure.

En route to Jeffro, they encountered a man called Ephraim who agreed to help them get inside, and also warned them that New Canton had sent a raiding party, 130 people, to assault the complex. While Sam told his runners to return home, Maxine and Runner 8 refused, heading on to the complex. 

After entering the complex, they realised that they'd been betrayed, and that Van Ark had not actually died or turned, and had led them into a trap, intending to capture them. Thanks to Runner 8, they managed to escape in the confusion, but not before hearing Paula's voice, although it turned out to be a recording, and seeing some of the inside of the facility, people kept in strange tanks and Van Ark's healed zombie bite.

After escaping, they were approached by Archie, New Canton's Runner 20 who passed on vital information, including that Paula was alive and working with Van Ark, albeit, unwillingly, as he has the only method to keep her from becoming a zombie. 

All of this had to be put on hold however. A chance encounter with Lem (What a guy!), a New Canton Runner who had been bitten, left them with a headset to listen in on New Canton's transmissions. Through this, they learnt that New Canton was planning a raid on Abel Township.

The day of the raid left Sam definitely jittery, sending his runners out, not against zombies, but against humans. They used Lem's headset to keep up with what was going on, finding out about the heavily armed New Canton runners heading for them, as well as deceiving the New Canton Operator into believing that Lem was still alive. 

Just as things seemed to be getting heated, the New Canton runners were ordered back to their settlement. Sam celebrated, but it was a premature one, when the news came in that a swarm of over 300 zombies, the dead from another settlement, was heading towards Abel. 

Sam went a little to pieces for a few moments, with Runner 7 organising the others to pick off the zombies into smaller groups. Over the radios, Sam had to listen as Runner 6 was bitten and killed by child zombies, while the others ran for their lives.

Worse was to come when several zombies, moving far too purposefully for the shambling undead, produced a rocket launcher which they fired at Abel.

(this next part isn't covered in-game as Runner 5 is out in the wilds at this point, not in base)

This understandably left the base in chaos, with every hand available called up to defend Abel against the zombies, with groups sent off in different directions to hide and to guide the zombies away (we know that Jack and Runner 12, for example, ended up in woodlands a few kilometers from Abel following the attack). Things would have gone worse had Major de Santa not shown up soon after with military backup.

The Major managed to broker an alliance with New Canton, allowing the population of Abel to move there while they tried to rebuild and organising several joint missions of great import. Being essential personnel, Sam spent most of his time at Abel Township, despite it still being mainly ruined. He had to work with New Canton and their operator, Nadia, and managed to develop an amicable working relationship with her despite their previous misgivings.

(And this is where Season 2 begins)

One of these was a deception mission to capture several of Van Ark's fast zombies for study, using Runner 5 as bait. Sam worked with Nadia, New Canton's operator, faking fear and worry and mistrust to throw Van Ark off as to their true intent. While the mission went off without a hitch, Sam did accidentally spill that it had been Runner 5 pretending to be Lem during the attack, earning a cold reaction from Nadia, despite, or partially because of, Sam's attempt to laugh it off.

Over the course of several missions, an alliance was brokered with New Canton and spirits were buoyed by the discovery that zombies reacted to sound (dog whistles) and by the creation of a chemical which slowed down fast zombies, greatly increasing Runners' ability to evade them. They were also constantly sending out Runners on missions to try to recover people that had been lost during the attack.

Nadia deliberately sent Runner 5 into hostile territory with the intention of getting them killed in revenge for Lem's death. Sam intervened at the last moment, fiercely protective of his runner as he viciously told Nadia off for her actions, accusing her of being a hypocrite, because she would have done exactly the same in Abel's position. Following that, he called Runner 5 back to Abel which was still being rebuilt, promising to find them a bed somewhere.

After an SOS call from a grounded cruise liner, Sam guided Runner 5, 3 and 4 on a dangerous mission to help recover the survivors and the vital supplies. However things did not go to plan. Just as it seemed that all was lost, with the runners surrounded by zombies on all sides, they were rescued by Runner 8 who had been presumed dead, after supposedly being bitten during the attack on Abel. With her help, they were able to recover a hefty amount of supplies from the ship.

With tensions easing between New Canton and Abel, they were free to pursue stopping Van Ark and developing Maxine's zombie-slowing chemical, now produced as a spray. After discovering the location of one of Van Ark's secret bases, a decoy mission was set up, making use of a number of New Canton and Abel runners to distract Van Ark, while Five and Archie, a New Canton Runner, snuck in to find information. While at first things seemed to be going to plan, with Archie able to decode the sound devices used by Van Ark to control the zombies, everything quickly went sour when Van Ark returned and captured Archie.

A desperate attempt to rescue her ensued with the help of Archie's boyfriend, Jamie. They managed to triangulate Archie's position and patch into the bugs sewn into Archie's clothing to hear her interrogation by Van Ark, and mounted a rescue mission, planting explosives to drive Van Ark out. It all went horribly wrong however. Before escaping, Van Ark shot and killed Archie.

It also brought to light the horrifying realisation that someone had most likely betrayed them to Van Ark.

That certainly put a damper on spirits in the two settlements, which was only aided when a chemical spill forced the evacuation of Abel. Sam and Nadia worked together to send Runner 5, an unusually pessimistic Runner 3 and Runner 8 to recover the materials needed for a sealant to stop the chemical spill. It was a fraught mission from the start, with Runner 3 accusing Sam of being responsible for Archie's death, something that he couldn't entirely deny if he was honest with himself. It was Nadia who unexpectedly stood up for him, warming his opinion of her somewhat.

Unfortunately this mission took the runners into proximity of a dangerous gang who began shooting. Runner 3 took it upon himself to take out the snipers, a mission that seemed like suicide. 8 and 5 managed to recover the chemical however, and 3 revealed that he had survived, only to have his headset damaged. The success of the mission, and the survival of his Runners left Sam pretty much weak with relief, but better was still to come. Major de Santa made a rousing speech, explaining their plan to douse the countryside with Maxine's chemical, the first step in reclaiming the country from the zombies.

While trawling their communications, Sam received a tip off that Van Ark's men would be transporting something important and he sent Runner 8 and 5 to spy on them. Instead, they encountered Ephraim, the man who had betrayed them once before. He explained that he'd sent the communication because he had vital information about Van Ark. Sam was sceptical to say the least, encouraging 5 and 8 to leave him to be captured, and even encouraging them to kill him if it means saving their own lives. Despite this, 5 and 8 attempted to rescue him, even while he was injured, only for Ephraim to reveal that there was a mole within Abel, a spy working with Van Ark, the Major's 'best beloved', as well as news that Van Ark was planning an attack.

With the attack imminent, they armed their runners with Maxine's spray and sent them out to confront the army of mind-controlled zombies, carrying rocket launchers and guns. Despite his terror, Sam managed to keep calm, even when all seemed lost when the zombie spray only made the zombies faster. He directed his runners to climb up nearby trees to save themselves and thanked them for their service, telling them that it had been an honour to serve with them, readying himself to make a final stand against the undead.

Thankfully in the nick of time (and just in time to stop Sam confessing *something* to Five), the New Canton cavalry showed up, taking out a large number of the zoms. A strange thing occurred then; the zombies which had been doused with the spray began to fall apart. Somehow, the chemical had gone beyond merely slowing them, and instead, killed them. The Beginning of the End, as the Major declared it.

With a lull in Van Ark's activity, there was finally time to mourn and think about their losses. Sam, in a rare trip outside of Abel's walls, accompanied the Runners to a special place where they commemorated the fallen and inducted the new Runners; The Forest of Fallen Runners. He was finally able to properly say goodbye to Alice and to the other runners, other friends, who had fallen to save Abel.

Their ceremony was interrupted by Janine who explained that the military base had managed to send down fuel via ship, fuel that was to be used to power crop dusters that would spread the zombie killing spray across the country. With the help of a borrowed steam train (which Sam thought was so cool), they managed to get the fuel and escape the bandits attempting to steal it.

Things didn't all go their way however. While returning from a training mission, Runners 3 and 5 were followed by the same bandits. While Janine refused to open the gates, effectively condemning them to death or capture, Sam wasn't quite so steadfast. He ordered the gates opened, allowing 5 and 3 back inside. And the bandits followed them. Janine locked him in the comms shack to protect him while the raiders ransacked the town and held Janine hostage, looking for the anti-zom chemical. Sam managed to guide 3 and 5, along with Jack and Eugene, to Maxine's lab to find the chemical.

While they managed to save Janine and even recover the chemical when the cavalry arrived and the bandits fled, they did find that Maxine's research notes had been stolen.

The Side missions are not given any chronological place in the timeline, but show several missions outside the main story that Sam participated in. A group of Girl Guides were encountered several times and Sam was obviously conflicted about them. He encouraged them to come into Abel, to settle down, feeling protective of them, however they proved themselves quite capable of taking care of themselves, pointing out that they hadn't lost a single member of their group, and could Sam claim the same thing. While this made him prickly, they did make some good allies in the guides, and helped them on a couple of occasions.

In his spare time, Sam spent a lot of time looking through ROFFLENET (low-tech internet) communications and thought he had hit on something; a set of coordinates. Figuring it could be nothing, or it could be something, he sent Runner 5 out to investigate. Far from things being that easy however, Maxine decided to escape Abel for the day and accompany Runner 5. And bring bolt cutters. Not weird at all, right?

The coordinates turned out to be an old church surrounded by fencing, and inside the fencing they found Paula, Maxine's girlfriend. Maxine revealed her reasons, saying that she knew that Paula had been contacting her, using their old Post Code, something that Paula denied, suggesting that someone else had planned this. Right on cue, Van Ark and his soldiers appeared to capture them, prompting Maxine to ask how they'd known that she would be going there today of all days.

While Sam did his best to guide everyone to safety, Van Ark managed to catch up to Maxine. Despite his feelings for 5, he knew that the doctor was more important, sending 5 back to help rescue her. 5 managed to slash Van Ark's throat before he could infect Maxine with the zombie virus and all seemed well for a moment. Only for Van Ark to heal from the fatal wound and reveal that he had made himself immortal.

All they could do was flee, but it wasn't enough. While Maxine managed to escape, 5 was captured by Van Ark, their headset destroyed, and Sam lost contact. Five got free, thankfully, with the help of Paula, and returned to Abel much to Sam's relief.

But that was only the start of their problems. A spy was in their midst, passing information on to Van Ark. An attempt to root them out led to 5, 3 and 8 being implicated, after Runner 7 abandoned them to go to his Caribbean Island. They were put on lockdown, but when a call from a women's prison promised to reveal the spy, Sam sent Five there, and 8 tagged along. With the prison Guards and Warden torturing the prisoners, they teamed up with Lou Bailey, a prisoner who turned out to be Maxine's first girlfriend. Sam showed a little of his ruthless side when he got Lou to fire the guard turret on the guards, and had Five lock the Warden into a room with her pet crawling zombies.

The head of New Canton, Esteban, came to investigate the prison with them, however he was kidnapped by a couple of notorious serial killers, forcing Five and Eight to give chase. Along the way, Esteban got infected and turned into a zombie, and during the escape, Eight was revealed to have been working for Van Ark; the traitor unmasked. Eight tried to kidnap Five, however, she was captured. Janine and Major de Santa went to interrogate her, with Five standing guard. However, Eight proved too crafty; she killed Major de Santa and broke Janine’s arm, and kidnapped Five, taking them to Van Ark.

This left Sam in a state of panic, trying to find Five, until, finally, Five escaped; Eight had been a double agent, working to bring down Van Ark. Sam tried to guide Five home, a little put out that Janine still seemed to believe that Five could be a traitor.

However, they had to divert Five, when Simon was actually revealed to be the traitor; he kidnapped a child and ran, fleeing towards Van Ark’s compound. Sam sent Five after him, determined to rescue the kid, and finally confronted him. They rescued the child, and Simon was left to Jamie.

Sam had more important things to attend to. Sara and Paula had escaped, but Sara finally succumbed to the zombie virus, and had Five shoot her before she could turn. Sam then sent Five back in to face Van Ark. Despite being captured again, they had a plan this time. Sara had injected Van Ark with a serum to stop him from healing. When it activated Five was able to kill him, using a rocket launcher to take him out as he tried to flee. This led to a moment of bonding (and a hug!) between Sam and Janine.

The party (literal party) a few days later was cut short when a weird noise erupted from their speakers and a third of Abel walked out of the gates, seemingly unable to hear or react, much like the controlled zombies. One of these was Maxine.

Of course, everything was then dedicated to finding out where their missing people had been taken. A mission following one of the missing Runners (who had sadly been zombified) led them to a secret base in a mountain, and a man (Tony) from London in cryo-storage. He provided them with a device stolen from a company called Comansys, which repelled zombies. Most of the time. If you held it the right way.

While on their way to rescue the new person in charge of Abel, Amelia Spens, Tony explained that he had been in London with New Canton 5, and that London was full of mind controlled people marching in formation, the same as Maxine and the others had been.

They rescued Amelia and brought her back to Abel, only for her to immediately start throwing orders around, insisting on reports being written, and debriefings and this was worse than Janine at *her* worst!

During this time, Jamie was revealed to be the rightful King of England, while he and Sam bonded over the importance of diversity and representation in the media.

Investigations of Comansys (a company Sam had interviewed with for an internship except they required actual engineering skill), eventually led them to a base a few days travel away. Nadia and Five were sent using, much to Sam’s displeasure, the Automated Operator system that Amelia had set up. it didn’t go to plan, and Sam destroyed it with rather a lot of glee.

It was at this tree top base, after an attack by a zombie lynx, that they met Veronica McShell, daughter of the old Runner 10. Veronica couldn’t help but be annoyed by Sam’s hero worship of her father, who she had complicated feelings about, but eventually warmed up to him, and together, they ran a mission through an abandoned Comansys base, using a zombie repellant scent. When it was time to leave, Nadia stayed with Veronica to support her research.

A betrayal was to come. After a badly thought out love confession from Owen to Jody, they were confronted by Ministry bounty hunter Travis. He revealed that Jody had been a criminal laundering money for the Romanian Mafia pre-apocalypse, and had been training information with one of the militias now that she was part of Abel. Sam found it hard to believe; he trusts his runners after all! But evidence was presented. Even so, Sam snuck into the comms shack to try to get them away from Travis, even when it risked his own safety. With the help of Simon, who hadn’t actually died, they managed to unearth the real culprit; Amelia Spens!

Things weren’t perfect, even after Janine took back control of Abel; Sam and Paula, hurting from the loss of Maxine, had developed a certain resentment of the new Doctor Lobatse. Despite Lobate’s patience and kindness, Sam couldn’t help but resent her, as though she was trying to take Maxine’s place. Over time however, and after Lobate’s help with an incident with Paula, he grew less resentful and apologised to her.

They eventually managed to locate Maxine; finding her on a ship flotilla owned by Comansys. Not all was as it seemed however. Sam helped to navigate Paula and Five onto the ships, where they rescued Maxine, only to find out that the members of Comansys present had been trying to save the people they’d kidnapped. They were all susceptible to mind control, and keeping them away from the people who had done this was their goal. Despite that, they still brought Maxine back home, even if she had to be kept frozen most of the time to prevent her being controlled once more.

Eventually, though various mishaps (and a giant quid attack), they realised that they could use a machine at a nearby clinic to cure Maxine. They set off there along with a woman named Moonchild who had also been mind controlled. However, once they reached it, Sam noticed people out in the countryside on his cameras, all over the countryside, turning in the direction of the clinic and starting to move. They had to hurry! This wasn’t helped when suddenly the control tone started, and Maxine destroyed the machine they were going to use to cure her.

They didn’t have much time. Sam had to send Five on a frantic run to get replacements before the clinic was swarmed. While they managed, Maxine kept refusing to accept that there was a problem. However, they did manage to cure her, only to find out that Moonchild had been the person behind things all along. She killed one of their allies and escaped.

As if that wasn’t issue enough, things went badly when Janine went out on a mission with Five, during which Sam tried to find out more about Janine’s past. Sam was unable to save her when she was kidnapped by a mysterious figure, who claimed that she was a traitor. He managed to track her, and along with Five, came up with a rescue plan (a daring rescue plan!) to get her back. While this succeeded, Janine revealed that the person who’d kidnapped her was her brother who she’d thought was dead.

A ministry employee agreed to try to hypnotise Five to try to make them immune to mind control. Despite being uncomfortable with it, Sam agreed to leave the room so as not to disturb Five. But things went wrong. The woman performing the hypnosis was working for Moonchild, and Sam burst in in time to see Five vanish under Moonchild’s control.

This had a terrible effect on him. How could he have allowed them to do this! Would he ever see Five again? He kept pushing for search parties, but to no avail. They had to be on guard now more than ever.

Things came to a head when Five broke into Abel and opened the gates, allowing zombies inside the walls. While Sam had been told to keep away, he had to do something. He went out to meet Five, pleading with them to stop, to remember who they were. Moon child’s control was strong however, and Sam ended up badly injured by Five, who beat him with the handle of an axe, before Simon saved Sam’s life and administered a serum which returned Five to normal. Sam easily forgave Five, knowing that it wasn’t their fault.

Things went wrong when Moonchild managed to mind control all of New Canton, having drugged their water supply, leaving Abel Township faced with an outright war. Janine comes up with a daring, but ruthless plan, which Sam objects to; bombing half of New Canton as they try to break into a bunker is not something he’s comfortable with! He’s desperately relieved when Janine reveals that her plan forced Moonchild out in the open, and trapped, rather than killed, a fifth of New Canton. He followed Janine out of Abel, to meet with Five and Maxine, sending them down to London to with the zombie repellant device; the only thing able to stop Moonchild mind controlling the entire world using a satellite dish at the top of Comansys tower.

Once in London, they met up with Veronica again in the Natural History Museum where she’d been researching references to Comansys’s blue flowers and previous zombie plagues. Sam was excited as he loved the Natural History Museum, and had decided that if the zombies were ever gone, he wants to live in the museum and raise a huge family there. He also helps to commit an awesome, in his opinion, act of zombie carnage, by killing a whole pack with the life-size blue whale model! Life goal achieved!

After a visit to Buckingham Palace to visit King Jamie (more life goals!), Sam directed Five, Maxine, and others, to enter the Comansys building, full of it’s many many booby traps. Like a really horrible obstacle course full of poison gas and Resident Evil style laser beams. They make it through thanks to help, only for Moonchild to reveal that they’ve just delivered the Zombie Repellant Device right to her, the final piece she needs for her plans.

It’s a horrifying relisation, but they’re not about to give up without a fight. They manage to distract Moonchild, using a recording of her father, and Simon volunteers himself to stop the signal while the others hunt down Moonchild. Sam has to listen as Simon and Janine reconcile, and then as Simon dies screaming as his brain is burned out. He died to save the world. Moon child plummets to her death from the top of the tower and suddenly it’s over. A celebratory mood fills the air once everyone is safe, and Sam and Maxine reveal to Paula a plan they’ve had for a while; they’re going to have a baby together, all three of them.

One last shred of hope is offered to them courtesy of Veronica who says there may be a cure for the zombie plague, which had once appeared during the time of the Vikings.

Several months pass with research into the zombie plague, and it’s connection to the Edda of the Wakened Warrior, a Viking Saga telling of a zombie outbreak which was reversed. But Sam has more things on his mind than just that. Maxine is now heavily pregnant, and Paula is becoming sicker, having to have her blood cleaned more and more often to keep the zombie plague at bay. It leaves Sam worried and protective, fussing over them both at every opportunity, even as they hunt down a zombie which Veronica was researching.

The zombie turned out to be a new sort of semi-sentient zombie, and it kidnapped Veronica, taking her to a forbidden city - Battenbury, a place where experimental weapons had been used during the early days of the apocalypse. He directs Five there along with a couple of other runners, and they’re joined by an ex-mercenary known as The Builder now working for the Ministry of Recovery. Sam guides his runners through the city, and works with Nadia to try to figure out these sentient zombies, the ones that keep doing very human things. Together, they manage to rescue Veronica and get out of the city, thanks to help from the Minister herself, who wants to help Veronica with her research.

This research leads them to museums of Viking Artifacts, and mummified Vikings which turn out to be ancient Viking Zombies, preserved for centuries, as well as towards Netrophil, a secretive group from the pre-apocalypse days.

But despite that, there was still time for Sam to worry about the future. He accompanied Five on a run to the Chinese Cultural Centre in a nearby town, because he wanted to get some things for his baby. After all, they’d probably never get to visit China, and this was the only source of that culture, maybe in the whole UK! During an emotional moment, Sam explains what had happened to his parents and revealed a little of his own past to Janine and Five. Janine, in turn, told him a little of her past.

Working closely with the Ministry put more pressure on Sam to be professional, especially when working with the Minister herself, Sigrid Hakkonen, to break into top secret government files. It’s a test of Sam’s planning an ingenuity to get them into the Black Vault and out again, with the files that they had come for. They did succeed however, and Sam couldn’t help but be pleased by the Minister’s praise. It’s nice to be appreciated.

But Paula was deteriorating quickly, needing almost constant plasmapheresis to keep her from turning. She was determined to hold on until the birth of their child though, even to the point of being locked in a tiger cage so she could witness the birth without risking anyone. During this time, Paula spoke to Sam, asking him to kill her before she turned. She didn’t want to die that way. Sam, reluctantly, agreed, wanting to keep Paula from suffering and becoming a monster.

Maxine went into labour and everyone immediately jumped into action. Sam had been preparing this for months after all, and wasn’t going to be caught out! He was shocked to find out that the baby might have a problem though, that would been urgent care that Abel couldn’t provide. They’d have to make it to the nearest hospital, however Mullins base was under attack and couldn’t spare a helicopter. The only thing for it was to take a van.

With everyone loaded up, including Paula, determined to witness the birth of their child, they set off. But part way there, there was an explosion which flipped the van, breaking the cage Paula was in. Paula was quickly going grey, and Sam was forced to tie her to a tree to keep her from escaping if she turned. Sam was torn between her and Maxine, and unable to help both of them at once. Sam drew his gun, preparing to kill her, but struggling to do it, only for Five to return and use heavy tranquillisers to help stave off the zombie infection for a little longer.

Under attack by zombies, Sam tried to coordinate Runners to help, but also tried to figure out why the zombies mouths were wired shut. Maxine finally gave birth, and Sam, Maxine and Paula shared a family moment as they finally got to see their daughter for the first time. She was beautiful. Sam could hardly believe it. His little girl.

They were still under attack by zombies though, and also by Janine’s insane brother, Tom, who managed to steal the baby after an explosion. While The Builder recovered the baby, it was stolen from him by a super strong zombie and which ran away with their child.

Sam joined the chase, realising that the zoo wasn’t trying to eat the baby. They chased it to a building, and Sam realised, with horror, that it had Runner 5’s face. The building’s heavy door was too heavy to hold open, so Sam slipped inside before it could close, determined to save his baby. He chased after the zombie but was cornered by more of them. Unable to see a way out, he passed his baby through the bars of the window to Runner 5, begging Five to take her to safety as the zombies attacked him.

Sam expected to die. He’d been bitten so many times, but he didn’t want to die in there. He found a tunnel and managed to escape the building. He thought of throwing himself off the top of the building before he could change but he just couldn’t do it, even though the thought of turning was terrifying. Instead, he headed into the city and hid in a dumpster, as he had when Abel first found him. He was stranded there for three days, waiting for the virus to kill him, terrified of every cough and sniffle, until eventually the dumpster opened and Five and the others found him. He tried to run away, to hide from them; the last thing he wanted was to hurt any of them.

But as they pointed out, three days with no signs of turning was something incredible. He didn’t even have a cough. They wanted to bring him back to Abel, and Veronica said that she might be able to save Sam’s life. Sam made them promise to kill him if he started to change, however it never came. He arrived back at Abel, and with some tests run by Veronica, they discover that Sam is actually immune to the zombie virus. Even better than that, they can use his antibodies to help Paula.

After all that, Sam at least got to celebrate a little, when Janine threw a wonderful baby shower for their baby, and they gave her the name Sara, after Sara Smith. It was the best baby shower ever, organised with military precision.

It was soon back to business hunting down the potential cure, following leads regarding Doctor Dee and ancient zombies, which lead them to a creepy ‘Abel Township’ theme park, where they met and were helped by the enigmatic Doctor Necropolis, who seemed to know a lot more than he let on.

Sam notice that Janine seemed to be becoming more and more stressed and erratic. It wasn’t surprising, considering that they were trying to help her brother, Tom, break out of his psychosis, but still, Sam couldn’t help but feel worried about it, especially when Janine leaves to break into a secret Netrophil base.

Information from Janine’s brother leads them to an old transmission tower, on an island in the middle of a lake heavily contaminated by zombie parts. The Minister accompanied them, since they needed her voice to get in. Sam managed to get hold of the messages which hadn’t been wiped (and was mortified to find a message between Simon and Amelia talking about Amelia’s sexual desire for him - more information about their sex life than he ever needed to know thanks!).

At the top of the tower, Janine got the Minister to play some pertinent recordings, and revealed that the Minister was behind everything; the kidnapping of Sam’s child, Moonchild’s attempt to mind control everyone, Van Ark, even the zombie virus itself. Sigrid agreed but trapped them there when the Builder showed up in a helicopter to take her to safety, double-crossing everyone who had trusted him, including Doctor Lobatse who he had fallen in love with.

Sam managed to help Janine and the others to escape, and when Janine ordered it, put Abel on lockdown; no-one in or out. However Sam revealed that Veronica had no idea about what they’d found out, and had gone to meet the Minister and was getting into her helicopter.

They found notes left by Veronica which told them that she had been working for Sigrid right from the start, and had known her even before the apocalypse. Sam prepared to broadcast the incriminating recordings of the Minister, but found that their signal was jammed; they were unable to reach anyone else, and the Minister was broadcasting propaganda, painting Abel as enemies who had hidden the cure for the zombie virus for their own use. With the help of reporter Ian Golightly, The Minister turned their allies against them and was closing the net on the Township to prevent them getting anyone out. New Canton stood with Abel though, and Sam nearly cried with relief when that message came. From enemies to allies, New Canton was on their side.

Hearing the propaganda was incredibly difficult. Sam couldn’t believe that they were being called traitors to their country, when all they’d ever tried to do was help, and had even saved the world from Moonchild! But they had precious few friends; even Janine’s mentor, General Bakari, was on Sigrid’s side, talking about how the world needed to be purified.

They managed to get hold of an encrypted transmitter which allowed them to listen in on Sigrid’s transmissions. It turned out though that Sam’s own knowledge could be the key. One of their clues had talked about Five White Fingers, standing stones, and Sam recalled a certain ring of standing stones near where his grandparents had lived. The English side of his family had lived there for generations, and he remembered playing there as a kid.

Sam left Abel with Janine and Maxine to reach the caves there, however once they entered, they encountered Veronica. Despite their anger and betrayal, they agreed to work with Veronica for now. The caves were full of Viking zombies, and Sigrid soon appeared, sending people down after them, including The Builder. Things went horribly wrong, with water flooding in, but they managed to save Veronica and escape as they went to meet Sam. Veronica, despite being grateful for their help, shot Maxine and returned to Sigrid, believing that her research was more important than anything. Sigrid ordered them all killed, except Sam, and dropped the bombshell that Sam’s immunity was genetic; he had killed his mother for no reason, because she would have been immune too, and would never have turned into a zombie, despite being bitten. This understandably shocked Sam, sending him into a traumatised state briefly, but he pulled himself together enough to help.

The Builder chased them, but revealed that he wanted to help; he got them to play dead and told the Minister he’d killed them, allowing them to escape.

The three of them were left in hiding. The Minister had taken over Abel Township, arming it with her most loyal soldiers, and governed by Ian Golightly, who had seemingly gone mad with power. Together, Sam, Maxine and Janine plotted their plan to take back Abel, running through scenario after scenario, made more difficult because of Janine’s efficiency at taking out possible invasion routes when she’d been in charge of Abel.

The eventual break-in did not quite go as planned; but they did get first hand knowledge of how bad things were, with Ian torturing people for anything he saw as defiance. They managed to rescue Paula and baby Sara, who had been experimented on by Veronica, as well as a few other Abel residents. Not everyone wanted to go however, with some of them choosing to stay behind to work against Ian and the Minister from the inside.

In desperate need of a new home, they were contacted by Doctor Necropolis, saying that he’d found them a place. Despite suspicions, they went along, and discovered an old military bunker, more than big enough to support them all, and they were able to move into their new home: Noah Base. Sam immediately installed elevator music and set about tidying the place up, including cleaning out areas of desiccated zombies. It was during this task, that they discovered a book about ‘The Wakened Land’.

An attempt to get Five into Abel secretly backfired, leaving to Five being captured. However they saw an opportunity to have Five work as a double agent, rooting out Sigrid’s secrets. This worked for a while, although Sam didn’t like having Five so far away and being unable to help them. It left him worried and on edge, but he had a lot of work to do at Noah Base, including building a collection of LARPing weapons for future shenanigans.

But things went wrong. After managing to lock down the base beneath Abel, Five was discovered and was handed over to Ian and Veronica. Under the guise of testing out a serum for immunity that Veronica had created, Ian had Five chased by zombies through a fenced in area. Nadia snuck Five a headset and Sam was able to help. he managed to get Five to a break in the fence however it was too late; a zombie bit Five, and Sam had to watch as Five turned into a zombie. He begged and pleaded unable to believe that Five could have died. His Five. He was absolutely devastated and couldn’t cope.

He couldn’t just give up, and when Zombie Five started displaying some unusual behaviour, and insists that something is wrong. He never loses faith in Five. When zombie Five doesn’t bite, and in fact, helps a prisoner, he knows that Five isn’t gone, and contacts Veronica who sounds confused that anyone would think Five was dead. She’d injected Five with a serum to make it seem like they were a zombie, but all of the zoms in the enclosed had been made harmless by her. Five escaped and returned to them, with information from Netrophil.

In desperate need of allies, Janine pushed for them to ally with the Exmoor militia. Instead of the serious military types they’d expected from the fearsome militia, it turned out to be run by an incredibly well organised group of Women’s Institute ladies. However to prove themselves, they had to steal an item the Exmoor militia wanted.

While breaking into a power station to get what they needed, Sam spoke to Tom, Janine’s brother, and learnt a little about Janine’s past, as well as some of Tom’s. Tom seemed reassured by Sam’s unswerving faith in Janine, and also said that he thought that Sam would have done well in MI6. Sam was surprised to hear that, having always considered himself something of a failure. It gave him confidence and determination to keep doing the right thing.

The next part of the mission involved breaking into a mansion during a party; where Sam discovered that the owner had so much cool stuff! Genuine Daleks! The actual set of the Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean! It was a shame that they had to destroy some of it. Who knows when movies will start being made again after all?

A meeting with neutrophil at an abandoned airport led to a reunion with an old friend: Runner 7, who had abandoned them. It turned out that he had actually always been involved with Netrophil, and that Netrophil had always been working against Sigrid and guarding a Viking Artefact that Sigrid desperately needed.

There was hardly any time to rest, but enough for Sam to figure out that Peter Necropolis was actually Simon Lauchlan, back from the dead, with a new appearance, but the same terrible acting skills.

On the trail of the Viking artefact, they broke into a royal palace and encountered King Jamie who had been imprisoned by Sigrid and was being threatened to force him to broadcast propaganda. he helped them to find what they needed; a map which led them to a cave in Finland.

The preparation took a while, but Sam eventually accompanied them to Finland, something he had thought he would never do. They reached Finland and located a cave system. Sam realised that it had the same layout as the cave of the White Fingers in England, and luckily he remembered it well enough to guide them through until they reached the central chamber. There, they found an ancient chalice full of blood which had somehow remained fresh and unfrozen for centuries. They stole the Chalice and managed to escape by stealing a plane from Sigrid, but not before discovering a room full of babies being used to produce anti-zombie serum. Sam was disgusted by this, and horrified that that was probably what was going to happen to his baby if Sigrid got hold of her again.

It was heart-breaking, and Sam wanted to save every one of them, but had to accept that they couldn’t. All they could do was escape and try to take Sigrid down.

On return to England, things went from bad to worse. A mission to rescue The Builder from Ian goes horribly wrong when it turns out to be a trap. The Ministry managed to capture Janine and to locate Noah Base. Sam tried to help to the last, but was eventually cut off when Ministry soldiers entered the base and took him prisoner.

After being kept prisoner, Sam was handed over to Ian Golightly, kept locked up in a room along with a dirty bomb, which would explode with zombie parts and shrapnel if Ian set it off. Despite Ian’s torture of him, Sam remained defiant, disgusted with Ian and everything he’s done. Ian reveals that the reason he hates Sam, is because of Sam’s popularity, something that Sam finds laughable. He never tried to be popular, he just was a decent person, something that Ian can’t understand. Ian insists that Sam is just as terrible, that anyone would be as terrible.

Even so, Sam tries to reason with Ian, telling him that Sigrid has abandoned him; he has no friends left, no-one coming to rescue him. Five manages to rescue Sam and disarm the dirty bomb, and in the process, Ian is infected. Despite everything that has happened, Sam offers Ian a merciful death, rather than allowing him the painful death of turning into a zombie. Ian doesn’t understand why, but it’s just because Sam is a good person. He shoots Ian to put him out of his misery and returns to Abel with Five and Paula.

With Abel retaken, Janine contacts them, telling them that she is going undercover. There’s still a long fight ahead of them.





Abilities/Special Powers: While Sam is not overflowing with aggressive machismo, he is a survivor of the zombies apocalypse and has killed his fair share of zoms (including his parents). He's relatively proficient with an axe as his chosen weapon and once bludgeoned a zombie to death with the handle of it. It's made a relatively big deal of when his axe breaks (everyone remembers the day) and he talks about it having been his trusted companion since the start of the apocalypse, which suggests that he's kept up with practising using it. He states in S1M9 that he might have to shoot Runner 5 in the head if they've become a zom and in the 5K trainer, we learn that Alice had trained him to use a sidearm. We can thus assume that he is relatively proficient with a gun, especially since he is essential base personnel. 

I imagine that he's in decent cardiovascular shape even considering he spends most of his time inside the township, since being able to run is a survival skill now, and he is allowed outside the gates occasional, including when training Runner 5 and when visiting the Forest of Fallen Runners. During both of these, he manages to keep up with the other Runners.

While he probably wasn't out in the wilds as long as some, considering he seems to have been from the local area and at Abel for a long time, it's likely that he is relatively proficient in survival skills, knowing how and where to scavenge food, how to find the best shelter from the zoms and protect himself. I have trouble imagining the people at Abel not training their people in survival skills.

Sam is fairly intelligent and knowledgeable with a good memory. His job as Abel's chief communications operator requires him to have a good memory for the area surrounding Abel for quite a distance and where supplies can be found. We see that he is able to rapidly estimate how large several groups of zombies are while they're on the move and while giving directions, as well as estimating their speed. He coordinates several runners in the field at once, guiding them in different directions, suggesting that he is fairly quick thinking and adaptable. This also shows in several instances where he has to rapidly change plans in the face of unexpected zombie incidents. He has definitely developed some talent for tactical thinking, for example in S2 M18 where he comes up with a plan for avoiding bullets that is praised by Major de Santa.

Although he says that he was failing his degree in engineering (partly at least because he had no interest in the subject), we can also guess that he was very good academically. He points out that his dad pushed him to do well, throwing a fit when Sam didn't excel in French despite Sam's dad not having any interest in French. He completed his A-levels with good grades to be able to get into a university engineering degree (which generally require A grades in maths and physics, plus a third A level, most likely chemistry, perhaps more since his dad was kind of pushy). 

He seems to have a good working knowledge of radio equipment and electronics, certainly enough to keep the communications equipment working and know how to jury rig a connection to rofflenet, although the majority of this has been learnt on the job and from his time hanging around the student radio station at university before the apocalypse. 

Third-Person Sample:

Sam wakes up on the beach and stares up at the sky. Clear endless blue. The last time he’d been at the beach, everyone had nearly drowned and the Minister had taken over Abel. It had not been the best day. This beach though, this is not some dreary English beach complete with creepy Viking zombies. It’s soft sand and clear sky and… he frowns and rolls over and squints into the distance.

The mansion is there and suddenly it all comes flooding back.

It’s weird to be back in Wonderland again. After everything that has happened at home, it’s been a long time, but at the same time, not very long at all. Suddenly he feels incredibly out of place. He remembers talking to Billy about being a different person to the one he’d been at home, but now it’s different, the other way around. He’s not the same person he had been when he’d last been in Wonderland. That had been, what? A year ago? Longer even.

He pushes himself up to his feet. It’s a painful movement. Everything is painful right now. He’s covered in blood and bruises and cuts where Ian had hurt him. He stares at the mansion for a moment before heading towards it, stopping every few moments to rest. The Ministry had not been kind to him. Ian had been worse.

Figures that Wonderland would dump him there instead of in his bed.

Oh god, he can sleep on a real bed again!



First-Person Sample:

[Sam appears on the screen. He is, to put it honestly, a mess, covered in bruises and cuts that look too neat to be accidental. He gives the screen a somewhat wry look.]

This is getting to be a bit of a habit isn’t it? I vanish and come back a week or two later looking a right mess. Why can I never return after a restful night’s sleep and a calm day?

Oh wait. Apocalypse, yeah. That’s a thing that’s still going on.

So uh… Hi. [He gives a little wave, looking a bit awkward.] Sorry for vanishing again. Not like I get much choice in the matter but uh… Sorry anyway. Don’t like to worry people.

I’m fine. Mostly. It’s good to be back.