Prologue: NYC – July 1982.
The summer of 1982 cast its sweltering spell upon the bustling streets of New York City. The air was thick with the scent of hot asphalt, pulsating with the rhythm of disco beats and the sizzling anticipation of youthful dreams. It was a time when the Big Apple was both a playground and a battleground, where dreams were born and shattered in the same breath.
But beneath the shimmering facade of neon lights and late-night revelry, a sinister force lurked in the shadows. Unbeknownst to the carefree souls basking in the summer sun, a contagion was spreading, altering the course of their lives forever.
It began subtly, a mere whisper in the dark corners of the city. Reports of strange behavior, unexplained disappearances, and eerie sightings circulated among the city’s underground circles. Those who paid attention sensed an impending doom, but the majority dismissed it as urban legends or the ramblings of paranoid minds.
Among the skeptical masses, a group of misfits found themselves inexplicably drawn together by a shared sense of unease. They were an eclectic mix of artists, businessmen, and outcasts, seeking refuge in the gritty yet vibrant underbelly of New York City. Their paths converged at the Ninth Circle a dimly lit former speakeasy, then steakhouse and now a gay bar, tucked away on 10th Street in Greenwich Village.
Within the dimly lit bar, the group sought solace from the sweltering chaos outside. Each harbored their own secrets, their own regrets, but that night, fate united them against a common enemy they could not yet comprehend.
As the night wore on, the restless energy of the city seemed to crescendo, intertwining with the pulsating beats of the music. It was within this nexus of anticipation and uncertainty that the unthinkable occurred.
A young woman stumbled through the bar’s doors, her eyes glazed over, a sickly pallor clinging to her once vibrant complexion. Her gait was unsteady, her movements clumsy and disjointed. The patrons, initially unaware of her presence, soon found themselves paralyzed by a mixture of fear and fascination as they witnessed a scene that defied rationality.
The woman’s skin appeared to decay before their very eyes, a putrid miasma permeating the air. Her vacant gaze locked onto a drag queen sitting at the end of the bar nursing a drink. In an instant, her lips curled into a grotesque smile, revealing razor-sharp teeth.
Chaos erupted as the infected woman lunged at Miss Ann Thropic, better known as Walt Eastman a bookkeeper from the Upper West Side. , The woman’s hunger-driven ferocity consumes any remnants of humanity. The once serene bar descended into pandemonium as patrons scrambled for safety, their screams merging with the ryhtmic beat coming from the bar’s jukebox.
The surprised group, caught in the center of the storm, was forced to confront the unimaginable. They grabbed what they could to fight and In that pivotal moment, their lives were irrevocably entwined, bound together by an unspoken pact of survival. As the contagion spread throughout the city, devouring everything in its wake, they would discover the strength within themselves to fight against the encroaching darkness.
Little did they know, this would be the summer that would etch their names into the annals of history, forever altering the fate of New York City and the world beyond. A summer where the glimmer of hope danced amidst the chaos, where the survivors stood as beacons of resilience in a world teetering on the brink of annihilation.
The summer of 1982 would forever be remembered as the season when the dead rose to walk among the living, ushering in an era of fear, desperation, and the indomitable spirit of those who dared to defy the impending doom.
