ZOMBIES, RUN!

SEASON ONE

The
Runner’s
Guide

Six to Start and Naomi Alderman

Chapter 1

The Outbreak

It’s often said that those who are ignorant of history

are doomed to repeat it.

God forbid we should ever face another threat like

the Grey Plague, but the history of the outbreak
provides a valuable insight into our current situation;
the threats we face, the strategies we have
developed to combat them, and the terrible human
toll of this catastrophe.
 Before the outbreak, I remember a saying: “Education is the magic bullet”.
“The Magic Bullet” Bullets are in short supply nowadays, but I’m hoping this book will make
sure education isn’t.

Having the right knowledge can save lives - and a lack of it can kill - which
means there’s no room for idiots here at Abel. Read this book to make sure
we’ve got no reason to think you’re one.

It’s a tricky time for us. We’re safe, we’re well-fed, we’re even starting to put
together a half-decent library. But we’re also beginning to attract attention;
from the zoms, from the refugees, from New Canton. That means it’s more
vital than ever that every citizen of Abel is as well-trained and well-prepared
as possible.

So, citizen of Abel, play your part in ensuring the survival of our community
by knowing how to ensure your own. Read this book.



Evan Deaubl

Head of Runners

ii
iii
Section 1

The Outbreak

The origins of the zombie outbreak are still unknown and When the dead began walking, our procedures lay in ruins.
fragmentary. It’s not just that we don’t have enough information -
Unsurprisingly, morgues were not protected, making standard
it’s also that we have too much. When the first zombies began
quarantine guidance a death sentence for doctors or anyone else
appearing and communications networks began toppling one
unfortunate enough to be trapped in hospital wards or
after another, we were bombarded with panicky, conflicting
quarantined hotels, apartment buildings, cruise ships, or military
reports. Some said it was a bioterror attack gone wrong, others
bases.
thought it was a hoax, yet more attempted to cover it up until it
was too late. Most democratic governments around the world were reluctant
to declare martial law, let alone order the army to fire on their
We’re only a few months after the outbreak, and you can’t blame
own citizens. What if the zombies could be cured? Many refused
us for being more focused on day to day survival than unearthing
to believe their loved ones were permanently gone. By the time
the past. This history is our best guess at what happened. The
they realised otherwise, we were facing a complete breakdown
people who knew the most – doctors, scientists, government
of civilisation.
officials – are almost all missing, presumed either dead or in
hiding, and they were ones at the heart of it. The world we lived in, powered by hydrocarbons, suffused with
technology and criss-crossed with international supply chains,
When the first reports of a new virus emerged in the UK, it
was a brittle one. The pursuit of profit and the adoption of just-in-
seemed at first that it could be brought under control, even
time processes meant that even small disruptions to transport
despite the high fatality rate. The world had a lot of experience
links and power generation could have enormous effects.
from SARS and H5N1. We knew how to co-ordinate research,
we’d practiced the drills, we could move fast. If we could keep Power failed in most regions within two weeks of the outbreak.
patients hydrated, provide antivirals, and follow the established There are supposedly some areas near hydro and nuclear
procedures, we could handle it.
4
stations that are still running, but no-one’s sure how long they can
keep running without resupply – and since zombies seem to be
attracted to them, no-one wants to look inside. Wind and solar
power have proved a little more resilient.

Most towns and cities lie empty now. All the survivors left early,
some in a planned and measured way, but the vast majority in a
panic, desperate to get as far away from populated areas as
possible. Many of the deaths in the first month didn’t come from
zoms, but from a lack of preparation and exposure to the
elements, or friendly fire incidents. The people who’ve survived
are changed; at once trusting and untrusting.

We’re holding our breath. The end hasn’t yet come for those who
are still lucky enough to be alive, but none of us can see a way to
win, either. Survival isn’t a question of whether we have enough
bullets: it’s whether we can band together and find the will to see
this through.

5
6
7
Section 2

Medical Notes from Doctor Myers

My initial impressions of ZN1, based on observations and emails Centers for Disease Control report on ZN1
from other doctors, were of some kind of neurotropic virus that
affected the brain, like Japanese encephalitis or rabies. It
affected patients differently - some might feel ill for days without
dying, whereas others would succumb within hours.

It’s clear that we were all too complacent. The authorities quickly
discovered that ZN1 is a highly fragile virus, so it uses oral or in
some cases, fecal-oral transmission. Both are a damn sight
better than airborne droplet contact or direct contact. Even the
fact that ZN1 has an abnormally high fatality rate was a positive,
in that it meant it would burn itself out with deaths ‘only’ in the
five figure range or so. As long as we could rapidly identify the
infected and keep them quarantined, we could easily keep the
outbreak under control.

A Category 5 Pandemic was declared after 96 hours of the first

But then the fatality rate started ratcheting up and we started
announcement, activating a worldwide reservoir of personnel and
seeing cases worldwide. It seemed inexplicable how it could
resources with the CDC immediately spinning up their labs to
have spread quite so quickly. That’s when people started getting
begin creating a vaccine.
scared. We weren’t looking at a H5N1 or a SARS any more, it
was more like the H1N1 Spanish Flu - a genuine plague with tens
of millions of deaths.

8
And then we had reports of people reanimating. As a doctor, I can
tell you that we wanted believe it was anything but reanimation -
that perhaps the patients hadn’t died but instead gone into a
coma, or that some other kind of false classification had been
made.
Over the last few months, it’s become clear to me that the virus
has variable onset of symptoms. Some people, once infected,
might take hours or even days to die and reanimate; others can
turn in just a few minutes. I don’t know exactly what governs the
The Worldwide Spread of ZN1
Day 1
time it takes, but it’s clearly influenced by the subject’s condition
and metabolism.
It’s this unpredictability that allowed ZN1 to travel so quickly -
even a single person with a light scratch could travel for a day or
two without being obviously infected. That’s what happened at
the Linton Music festival - one person was infected but didn’t
know it, bled into a shared water tank, and the next day there
were thousands of zoms in the area.
At the time of the outbreak, I was a research doctor - I spent half
my time as a consultant at a hospital near Abel, and the other half
doing genetic research. So I know enough to read early drafts of
papers on ZN1, but not nearly enough for proper research - lord
knows, I don’t have the equipment here. You’d need DNA
sequencers, centrifuges, workstations, cloud processors, clean
rooms, confocal microscopes, and that’s just the start. I barely
have enough power to charge my medical tablet.
There are still some doctors out there researching this, I’m sure.
People up in army bases, the CDC. But communication is difficult
and there’s too much noise on Rofflenet; people are still
spreading disinformation about the virus, even now, when we’re
so desperate. It’s become too hard to see beyond tomorrow, and
with every day that passes, we lose precious resources and
expertise.
9
Chapter 2

Field Guide

Well-trained Runners are the lifeblood of Abel; the

Township couldn’t survive without them.

This document was produced to ensure these brave

men and women are equipped with the knowledge
they need to survive and succeed in the field.  
 Runners. There aren’t many of us, but what we do is important. Before I took
Introduction from over, the old Runner 7 gave a speech to a group of new runners. She said it

Evan Deaubl
 better than I could ever hope to, so I’ve transcribed her words here. I hope
they mean as much to you as they do to me.
Runner 7 “Alright, listen up. Unless you’ve just stepped in through the main gate and
are still wiping the road-dirt from your shoes, you’ll know that Abel Township
is a well-oiled, efficient machine. Everyone here has a purpose and anyone
who has a purpose has a place here. There are those who understand our
bodies, and they help us stay healthy. There are those who understand our
machines, and they help us stay warm and safe.

Then there are those like you and I. We can’t suture. We can’t weld, we can’t
repair a machine or cure an illness. But we have a purpose. We can ensure
that there’s always food in our stores. We can ensure there are always pills
for our doctors and parts for our mechanics. We can keep fuel in our
generators and bullets in our guns. We can keep Abel alive. We can run.

That’s right. We’re all Runners. Which means its our job to get out there and
do whatever’s needed. Gather food? That’s our job. Deliver messages to
New Canton? That’s our job. Stand in the middle of some mudhole field
while Janine tests out the cameras? That’s our job, too. That’s what Runners
do.

Look at the people standing either side of you. Those are the Runners who
will do your job if you refuse. Those are the people whose lives you’re
putting at risk because you’re too tired, or too hungry, or too scared.

xi
So do your damn job. And listen to what we tell you. It’ll keep you
safe. These’re also the people who’ll have to put a bullet in your
eye if you get bitten.

That’s it. Gates up in ten. Stay safe out there.”

If there’s any doubt about the importance of the Runners to Abel’s

survival, I hope that speech has dispelled it. Without the Runners,
Abel would be no different to the dozens of ghost-towns and
abandoned strongholds that litter the countryside. Which is why
we need to ensure that every one of our Runners is as well-
trained & well-equipped as possible. The latter is Janine’s job, but
keeping you well-trained is mine.

What follows here is a compilation of the best advice we can give

to Runners in the field. I urge you: for the sake of yourself and
everyone at Abel, heed it.

Evan Deaubl

Runner 7

xii
Section 1

Field Protocol

When you’re out on assignment, good judgement and training are your best assets. The protocols laid out below will allow you to deal
with common situations in a safe and efficient way. Learn them - they could save your life.

Supplies
If you encounter useful supplies whilst out on assignment, follow 1.4.1. Ensure your cache is, where possible, water- and
the steps listed below. tamper-proof, in a location unlikely to attract
hostile attention.
1. Can you gather the supplies without reducing the
2. If you are unable to gather the supplies without reducing
likelihood of successfully completing your primary
the likelihood of successfully completing your primary
objective? If so:
objective, take one of the following actions:
1.1. Inform your operator.
2.1. Secure the supplies as in 1.4 above OR
1.2. Gather as many supplies as you can safely carry.
2.2. Mark the location of the supplies OR
1.3. Prioritise high-value and rare items, such as
ammunition, weaponry, medicine and electronic 2.3. Inform your operator of the location of the supplies.
equipment. For more information on supply priorities,
please see Spotting Supplies.

1.4. Leave any supplies you are unable to carry in a well-

secured cache, properly marked. For a list of field
signs, please see Runners’ Field Signs.

13
Spotting Supplies: Supplies should be prioritised in the field as follows. Please check with your operator and the head of runners to
ensure you have the most up-to-date priorities, as these may change based on the Township’s requirements.

Category A
Versatile Ammunition Versatile Medicine

e.g. 9mm rounds e.g. broad-spectrum antibiotics Fuel Working Firearms

Category B
Long-life Food
 Medical Supplies
 Melee Weaponry

e.g. tinned or dried e.g. bandages, blood packs e.g. bats, clubs, axes Working Electronics

Category C
Specific Medication
 Farming Equipment
 Specific Ammunition

e.g. insulin e.g. seeds, hoes, trowels Broken Electronics e.g. .50 caliber

Category D

Clothing Entertainment Supplies Broken Firearms

14
Hostile Contact
Making contact with potential hostiles is, unfortunately, part of 2.4. If the hostiles are close enough to create an
almost every assignment. When this happens, follow the steps immediate threat to you, your partner or any friendlies
listed below. in the area, engage and terminate in as efficient and
safe a manner as possible.
1. Are the potential hostiles still living? If so:
2.5. Termination should be carried out using a method
1.1. Keep your distance. which is:

1.2. Inform your operator of contact. 2.5.1. Most likely to ensure the safety of all friendly
personnel
1.3. Provide your operator with as much information as
possible on the potential hostiles. 2.5.2. Least likely to attract further hostile attention

1.4. Await further instruction from your operator. 2.5.3. Least reliant on finite resources

1.5. If you are attacked, retreat unless given specific 3. Report all contact to your operator as soon as possible.
instructions to attack by your operator.
4. If any friendly personnel are injured during hostile contact,
1.6. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you initiate follow the “Injury” protocol listed below.
combative action unless directly ordered to by your
5. If you encounter an area in which hostiles seem to be
operator.
gathering, report it immediately to your operator. Once this
has been reported, mark the area clearly as shown in
2. If the hostiles are zoms:
Runners’ Field Signs.
2.1. Maintain a safe distance where possible.

2.2. If the hostiles begin to approach, execute a safe

retreat.

2.3. Remember: a safe retreat is one which does not lead

hostiles towards friendly territory.

15
Injuries
If you or your partner are injured whilst out on assignment, follow 3. If return to Abel is not immediately possible:
the steps listed below. Your prompt action could save your
3.1. Seek shelter.
partner’s life or your own.
3.2. Secure your shelter against incursion.
1. Was the injury incurred during contact with a zom? If so:
3.3. Mark your shelter clearly for rescue. For a list of field
1.1. Isolate the injured person and avoid all contact. signs, please see Runners’ Field Signs.
1.2. Attempt to calm the injured and assist them in 3.4. Assess the extent of your partner’s or your own
carrying out any last rites they may wish to. injuries.
1.3. Using the most humane method at your disposal, 3.5. Tend to these injuries until such time as they are:
euthanise the injured person.
3.5.1. Healed enough to allow a return to Abel.
1.3.1. Methods which rely on limited resources (e.g.
morphine overdose, gunshot) should be de- 3.5.2. Completely healed (whichever comes soonest).
prioritised where a suitably humane alternative
3.5.3. For advice on how to tend to common injuries,
is available.
please consult with Doctor Myers.
1.4. Make note of the site for later inhumation, where
possible.

1.5. Remove yourself from the site as quickly as possible.

2. Otherwise, where possible, return to Abel for immediate

medical attention.

16
Section 2

A Spotter’s Guide to Zoms

Buried Zoms
The least mobile zoms, but that doesn’t make them any less
dangerous.

Most likely to be found in areas which have recently experienced

significant landfall or around collapsed buildings. In these areas, ensure
that you check your route carefully as you proceed.

Remember: being surprised is deadly.

Engage buried hostiles by assessing their range of movement from a

safe distance, identifying a safe angle of approach, and then
terminating them as safely as possible.

17
Crawlers
Many zoms have lost the ability to use their legs, but remain mobile by crawling. They can be easily outrun, but are still dangerous in
close-quarters, as they are capable of leaping across distances of up to 5 feet in order to engage.

Best termination practice

Working in a pair

• Runner A maintains a safe distance while distracting the zom’s attention.

• Runner B flanks the zom and engages to terminate from behind, ensuring no contamination reaches Runner A.

When solo

• Find an upward slope or staircase to minimise the zom’s ability to engage you from a distance.

• Entice the zom to leap while avoiding its attack.

• As the zom lands, it is vulnerable. Move in swiftly and strike.

18
Shamblers
The most common zom. They’re capable of moving around normal
walking speed, but move with a distinctive “shambling” gait.

Outrunning a lone shambler is well within your capabilities. However,

in groups, they can present a significant danger due to their tenacity
and ability to swamp a runner with their numbers.

Best termination practice

Working in a pair

• Runner A maintains a safe distance while distracting the zom’s

attention.

• Runner B flanks the hostile and engages to terminate from one

side, ensuring no contamination reaches Runner A.

When solo

• Use an upward slope, as above, to gain a mobility advantage

over the zom before terminating opportunistically OR

• Find a bottle-neck or choke point, allowing you to dispatch of

zoms one-by-one, should their numbers present a problem.

19
Sprinters
Mercifully rare, these zoms are capable of speeds to rival most
runners.

When encountering a Sprinter, escape should be your first

priority. Use all techniques at your disposal to gain and maintain a
lead on the hostile.

In particular, look for upward slopes, uneven ground, or loose

stones. While Sprinters are capable of matching pace with most
Runners, they lack intelligence and environmental awareness.
Use this to your advantage.

If you are unable to escape a Sprinter, seek a vantage point from

which to engage and terminate. Again, safety should be your
priority here, but it is likely that you will need to resort to less
favourable methods in order to gain an upper hand.

20
Section 3

Runner’s Field Signs

Clean Water Unsafe Water Leaving Transmission Range

Danger Ahead Rescue Needed Here Not Safe After Dark 21

 Safe Route Shelter Here
While it’s usually preferable to
communicate vital information back to
Abel through your headset, situations
sometimes arise in the field which
prevent this, or in which you may need
to leave some more permanent sign for
future runners.

For these cases, we have developed a

series of signs to allow the
communication of important information
about an area. It is vitally important that
you recognise and reproduce these
signs quickly, to ensure all relevant
information is properly communicated.
Vantage Point Supplies Stored Here 22
Section 4

Headsets

NOTES FROM JANINE DE LUCA Operation

This document serves as an introduction to Wear your headset at all times, even when on base. We may need to contact you
and “owner’s manual” for your wireless
at a moment’s notice. The only time you may remove your headset is during your
communication headset.
designated rest period, at which point it should be returned to your operator for
These pieces of equipment are extremely
recharging. To find out when your next six-hour rest period is, check the schedule
valuable to Abel as they are the only way for
us to co-ordinate runners who are out on posted in the Quad.
assignment.
Abel’s radio communications system operates on a VHF radio frequency around
As such, any carelessness on your part that 250mhz. This gives us a working transmission distance of 5 miles. Your headset,
endangers the equipment with which you
however, will only transmit back to us within 1 mile of the last field repeater. Make
have been trusted will be taken very seriously.
sure to check in with your operator as you’re leaving transmission distance.
I should not need to stress the importance of
you reading this document and considering its Depending on the particular equipment used to assemble your headset, you may
“advice” a direct order.
be able to adjust the frequency you’re using. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS. Our aerial
Read it thoroughly, abide by its rules, care for operates on a very narrow band and as such you may be unable to find our
your equipment.
communications frequency again once out in the field.

Report any unusual headset behaviour to your operator at the first opportunity. Do
not assume that any problems will resolve themselves with time. Remember, a
small fault can become a total failure if not addressed quickly.

23
Care
Your headset has been designed with a certain level of durability.
However, it is not a piece of well-machined electronics of the type
you may have been used to pre-outbreak. As such, you must
abide by the following rules when wearing your headset.

• Do not drop your headset. Most units are capable of

withstanding everyday knocks and bumps of the severity
you are likely to encounter while in the field. However, any
serious impacts will have the potential to dislodge delicate
interior wiring which is extremely difficult to repair. Do not
drop your headset.

• Avoid prolonged exposure to moisture. Most units are

splashproof, but none are able to reliably withstand
immersion. Again, water damage is extremely difficult to
reverse, and should be avoided at all costs. All runners
have been issued with waterproof headgear. If you are in
wet conditions, immediately don this and ensure your
headset is well-covered. Upon returning to Abel, report any
interactions with water to your operator.

• Never expose your headset to a live electrical current. Any
external current is likely to short the circuits in the unit,
rendering it useless.
It should be noted that, as all units are unique, each headset will
have slightly different resistances to certain types of
environmental factors. In all cases, however, caution is of the
utmost importance. Your headset is the most valuable thing you
carry. Keep it safe.

24
Section 5

Who are the Runners?

25
26
Section 6
Notes from the Runners
EVAN DEAUBL, RUNNER 7
Beginning your career as a
Runner can be daunting, but
it helps to remember that
every one of us had to
undertake their first run at
some point.
Some of our veteran
Runners have shared their
experiences below, along
with some words of
encouragement.
I hope you find them as
inspiring as I do.
Jody Marsh, Runner 4
My first run was such a disaster. I tripped and
fell down a hill, nearly broke my headset and
started panicking because I thought Janine was
going to kill me. Like, really kill me. She used to
scare the life out of me. But it was OK in the
end. I actually found an old van full of
computers at the bottom of the hill, so she
wasn’t too mad.
I’m always getting lucky like that, though.
Falling over something valuable or accidentally
dodging zoms or whatever. Simon - Runner 3 -
he calls me Clover. Basically, what I’m saying is,
you’ll be fine. Just don’t forget to tie your shoes!
Stephanie Miller, Runner 17
I was all nerves before the gates went up, but
that helped. It helps to have some nerves,
because it’ll give you the drive and the energy
to get out there and do your best.
It wasn’t as bad as I expected once I got
outside, and I was with Evan, so I knew I was
safe. Since then, I still get nervous, but I
wouldn’t trade that for anything. And if you’re
ever scared, just remember: Everyone here is
behind you.
Garik Duvall, Runner 20
We were all rookies once. And there’s no-one
here’ll tell you it’s easy. It’s not. It’s not easy, but
it’s right. It’s right that we’re out there, doing our
jobs. Only going to be someone else if it’s not
us. And it’ll make you appreciate what you’ve
got right here.
Food, clothes, clean water - someone had to go
out for all that stuff. Someone had to risk their
life for the paper I’m writing this on. It makes
you think. Makes you thankful. So no, it’s not
easy. But you’ll get through it. We all did, and
there’s nothing special about us.
27
Section 7

Runner’s Test

This is an example of the test given to Runners before

Question 1 of 5
You are out in the field, when you come across the fol-
lowing supplies. You are only able to carry one of the
items. Which would you take?
they are given their field certification. You will need to
score 80% or higher in order to gain your certification,
so ensure you prepare for your test properly. Once you
feel you are ready to take the test, report to your
Operator, who will make the appropriate arrangements.

A. A warm, waterproof jacket

B. A crate of tinned beans

C. A box of 9mm bullets

D. A vial of insulin

E. A broken cellphone

F. A baseball bat

Check Answer
28
Chapter 3

Life at Abel

Chances are you’re a fairly new arrival here at Abel.

If so, welcome! The following materials should help
you get acquainted with your new home.

We’ve included a map so you don’t get lost, a few

tidbits from some of Abel’s most savvy residents,
and a little glimpse behind the scenes at our
watercooler chat. Enjoy!
Section 1

Map of Abel Township

Hospital

Food

Comms

The Quad
Recreation

Housing Armoury

30
Section 2
Welcome to Abel
Doctor Myers
My name is Maxine Myers and I work as a Doctor here at Abel.
As you can imagine, this is a long way from Intensive Care at St.
Clare’s, but we get by. There are a few other Abel residents who
have some experience, and the Runners have managed to bring
us enough supplies to create a passable field hospital.
We’re able to deal with almost everything the outbreak can throw
at us. Thankfully I haven’t had too many major traumas to deal
with just yet, though; there’s still a shortage of plasma around
here. Rest assured, though - if you can get back to Abel alive,
we’ll make sure you stay that way.
Janine de Luca
My name is Janine de Luca and I own the ground upon which
Abel Township has been created. I help to build and maintain
Abel’s infrastructure, especially its electronics and security
systems. While we are still a long way from creating a completely
sustainable set of amenities, we have been making exceptional
progress in improving Abel’s facilities in the past weeks.
I am, in particular, pleased with the improvements to our
transmission range and our camera coverage in the field - having
such a wide network of CCTV equipment to tap into is a real
blessing.
My next task is attempting to repair an e-reader picked up by
Runner 11. Maybe then we’ll have more than four books to go
around. We live in hope.
Sam Yao
I’m Sam Yao and I’m Abel’s chief Operator. What that means is
I’m the guy who spends his days hidden in a corrugated iron
shack talking to myself. Only kidding. My job’s to co-ordinate
Runners in the field, keep records of what happens during an
operation, and make sure everyone gets home safely.
I also like to try and keep spirits up in the field. I’m a bit of a
comedian. I’ve got this one joke I’ve been working on about a
Sprinter and a Crawler at a buffet... It doesn’t really work on
paper, though. Come and find me and I promise it’ll make you
double over.
31
Section 3

The Civil Improvement Committee

So now you should be familiar with the layout, history and some
of the population of Abel Township. You’ll know where to collect
your rations, where to shelter in case of attack, and who to look
for if you’re in need of a chat.

But in order for you to get a real sense of Abel as a community,

we think you need to hear what we talk about at the end of a
long day.

We’ve included a photo of Abel’s “graffiti wall” so that you can

catch up on the latest news around Abel and get involved in the
conversation!

Anna Jackson

32
33
Section 4

Sample Mission Log

ASSIGNMENT SR396
Time Event Notes
Purpose: Retrieve Fuel
09:14 Runners Standby R13’s mic volume faint - headset for repairs
Target Location: Motorway
Overpass
09:15 Gates Up Gates clear of hostiles; no cover needed
Target Distance: 3km
09:16 Runners Away
Personnel: Runner 4, Runner
13, Runner 18 09:16 Gates Down
Estimated Length: 01:30:00
09:26 Status Check Nothing To Report
Duty Operator: Sam Yao
09:36 Status Check NTR
Physician On Call: Dr Myers
09:38 Contact 1 Crawler (terminated by R13) 1 Shambler (R4), No Injuries

09:46 Status Check NTR

09:52 Arrival at Target Area Clear; R4 Commencing Primary Objective

09:54 Contact 1S(R13), 2S(R18), NI

09:56 Status Check Recovered approx. 2L fuel, R4 continuing

10:01 Contact 2C(R18), NI

34
Time Event Notes

10:03 Contact 2S(R13), 2S(R18), NI

10:04 Contact 1S(R18), 4?SPrinters sighted, Abandoning Primary Objective

10:06 Status Check Returning Abel w/appx.4.5L fuel, 3SP In Pursuit ETA 10:30

10:08 Report R13 Suggests Engage Hostiles, Permission Granted by MDS

10:09 Contact 1SP(R13), NI

10:10 Contact 1SP(R18), NI

1SP(R13), Injury Sustained R4(Reported Minor, No Infection

10:13 Contact
Risk), Recommend Immediate Return Abel

10:16 Status Check Runners Inbound, No Threat

10:26 Status Check NTR

10:28 Report Visual Contact Established, Runners Inbound, No Threat

10:31 Gates Up Gates Clear; No Cover

10:32 Runners In Dr M. Myers Attending

10:32 Gates Down

Operation End Primary Objective: Complete (4.5L Fuel Retrieved)

10:32
Kills: 13
Injuries: 1(Mn,NIR)
Other Notes: R13 Headset For Repairs

35
Section 5

A Brief History of Rofflenet

When the Internet was first conceived with funding from the US Department of Defence as
ARPANET, its entire intent was to be decentralised, and thus resilient in the case that parts of
the network might be damaged and destroyed. As a result, you might have hoped that,
following the mass societal breakdown during the ZN1 outbreak, the Internet would have
survived. Events have not been so favourable.

As ARPANET evolved into the latter-day Internet and began to handle many orders of
magnitude more traffic, the structure of the Internet drifted from being fully decentralised to
instead being supported in many places by fibre-optic “internet backbones”: chains of ultra-
high-throughput routers routing the majority – or even entirety – of any given country’s internet
traffic.

The greatest problem presented by this evolution of the internet was that power requirements
at traffic-switching datacentres increased proportionally with the increase in traffic.
WHAT IS ROFFLENET?
Datacentre power consumption soared into the megawatt range and large teams of engineers
Remember the internet? Rofflenet
and system administrators were required to keep installations running smoothly. This in turn
is like that, only with far fewer
meant that whereas the internet had begun as a peer-to-peer network maintained by pictures of cats - because it’s
academics, it was now entirely managed by commercial interests. much, much slower.

While the Internet had retained its ability to withstand the total annihilation of any single node, But it does work, and it’s become
the preferred method of long-
ZN1 proved problematic in that its impact was global. The knock-on effects directly impacted distance communication between
almost every installation handling internet traffic and the result was near-total collapse. the few islands of humanity left.

36
WHAT IS ROFFLENET?
As a runner, you probably won’t
come into direct contact with
Rofflenet, but many of your
activities will be related. We
receive national bulletins from
Narwhal Tower, which may
result in missions for you.
Keeping Rofflenet working
means hardware, software and
diesel need to be collected, as
well as couriered to new
enclaves that aren’t yet online.
Rofflenet also means e-mail. If
you think you might have friends
and relatives in other enclaves
and townships around the
world, talk to your R.net
operator about getting an R.mail
address.
After all, there’s a non-zero
chance you might be able to
reconnect, and incoming e-
mails get printed on Janine’s
tractor-feed dot-matrix (at least,
until we run out of fanfold) every
Wednesday morning.
For technical details on Rofflenet,
ask your R.net operator for a copy
of http://narwhal.roffle/docs/
rofflenet-primer
Luckily, prior to the ZN1 outbreak, various collectives concerned with the resilience of the
Internet in the face of doomsday scenarios had begun designing methods for the creation of
alternative networks. Projects like the libertarian Darknet looked at building more decentralised
and stealthy networks that would be resistant to interference from malicious governments.
We at Narwhal Tower were instead focused on the particular scenario of infrastructure
breakdown and how a workable network could be propagated without the freedom to move
people or hardware around.
Our patterns were called Rofflenet, which stands for “Radio Operated Free Form Link-layer
Emergency NETworking”. The principle was that, with just a two-directional radio and a laptop
sound card, it should be possible to build a rudimentary modem. Once you had a working
modem, you should be able to tune into a transmission to download the Rofflenet software.
The software would include everything you would need to reconnect to the internet via your
modem, albeit at cripplingly slow speeds. We had prototype software and a few test networks
up and running when ZN1 hit.
Thanks to our location away from any urban centres, high altitude, diverse antenna array and
frankly massive diesel generators Harold and Horace, we found ourselves routing much of the
UK’s longitudinal emergency communication, first by voice, and later by hand-patching radio
receivers to transmitters. As the situation worsened, many channels went dark as emergency
radio operators stopped transmitting and were never heard from again. But some links stayed
strong, and grew stronger as survivors entrenched and developed strategies to hold the zoms
at bay. We were pivotal in sharing these strategies with other enclaves.
A few days in, with four surviving members of #rofflenet distributed but isolated around the UK,
we dusted off the Rofflenet plans and began to rebuild a new Internet.
Alex, Liv and Richard, Narwhal Tower
37
Chapter 4

Playing
Zombies,
Run!
Get the most out of Zombies, Run! with a tour of the
app, information about how a mission is structured,
outrunning zombie mobs, and how to best expand
your base - straight from the designers of the game.

CC-BY lululemon athletica

Section 1

Introduction

HOW TO PLAY Zombies, Run! is running game and audio adventure for the iPhone and iPod
1. Buy “Zombies, Run!” from iTunes App Store Touch (coming to Android in Spring 2012). In the game, you take on the role of
Runner 5, receiving orders and instructions directly through your headphones.
2. Put your headphones in

3. Choose a playlist Hundreds of lives are counting on you. You've got to help your base rebuild from
the ruins of civilization by collecting critical supplies while avoiding roving zombie
4. Run, jog, or walk!
hordes. Can you save them and learn the truth about the zombie apocalypse?
5. There is no number 5
Zombies, Run! Season 1 includes 23 story missions and 7 ‘supply’ missions
(designed to be highly replayable), representing at least 40 runs worth of
gameplay. During runs, you’ll receive story updates in between tracks from your
own music playlists and automatically collect supplies to allocate to your base
when you get home. The more your run, the bigger your base - and the bigger your
base, the more missions you unlock.

Note: Zombies, Run! is not a location-based game. While we can use GPS to
track your speed and distance, you don’t need to be anywhere special to play and
we don’t require you to run anywhere specific in the game. In other words, we
don’t show you a map of places in the real world you need to run to (yet) - you can
run around your local park, along a riverbank, across a beach, or on a mountain,
and the game will still work fine!

39
Swipe the screen to see Zombies, Run!
1. Tutorial: We open with a simple (and skippable!) introduction.

2. Home: Get a birds-eye view of your home, Abel Township, along with a
‘Slide to Run’ shortcut to get moving immediately.

3. Missions: Pick a mission to play. You can also resume partially-completed

missions, replay old missions, and view Run Logs.

4. Mission Options: Pick a playlist, decide which tracking mode to use (GPS,
Accelerometer, or None), and whether to activate zombie chases.

5. Run Display: View your current distance, time, and pace, along with all the
supplies you’ve collected and story events that have occurred. Options to
pause the mission, and also replay a story or radio clip.

6. Run Complete: View a summary of your mission, including total supplies

collected and zombie mobs evaded. Also, tweet your mission summary to
your friends!

7. Base Builder (aka Supplies): Tap an area to see its current health and
level, and drag and drop supplies on to areas to increase their health.
Zoom in and out to get the full detail!

8. Base Builder: Dragging and dropping a supply item.

9. Codex: Find out the story behind the people you meet, places, you
visit, supplies you collect, and artefacts you find...

40
 Section 2

Mission Structure

Missions in Zombies, Run! last for about 30-40 minutes in total, depending on the length of music in your selected playlist. After a
mission, you’ll hear clips from Abel Radio. Supply pickups and zombie chases will continue.

Supply pickups
Occur both in time
with the story as well
as semi-randomly.

Zombie Chases
Occur both in time
with the story as well
as semi-randomly
and last around 1
min each.

Story Clips

Missions have 5-7
clips at 1-3 min each. Abel Radio
In between clips, you’ll
hear a track from your
music playlist.
A typical mission lasts 30-40 min

41
Section 3

Zombie Chases

If you’re playing on an iPhone and have GPS tracking activated, then you have the PICKING A PLAYLIST
option to turn on “Zombies Chases”. This means that during your run, you’ll Music is one of the best ways to motivate
occasionally hear the game say, “Warning: Zombies Detected”, followed by a yourself while exercising, so that’s why we
continuous series of beeps. made it such a central part of the game.

We also realise that everyone has their own

This means that you are now being chased by a zombie mob, and you’ll have to
increase your speed by approximately 20% over the next minute - or get caught.
20% might not sound like a lot, but it’s the difference between
a walk and a jog, or a run and a sprint, so you really do
need to pick up your pace if you want to escape!
individual tastes in music, so in Zombies, Run!
you can choose your own playlists to run to.
If you want suggestions on what might make
a good playlist, check out our team’s
preferences!

If you do get caught, don’t worry - you don’t

die! Instead, you’ll automatically drop some
items to distract the zombies and get
away.

42
Section 4
Expanding the Base
THE STORY CONTINUES...
The Codex doesn’t just have information
about the people, places, and supplies you
encounter - it also tells you a little about the
special artefacts you collect.
If you read these carefully, you may find hints
about a deeper story than the one you’re
listening to during missions...
When you’ve finished a run, you’ll have collected a range of supplies, from first aid
kits to ammunition to sports bras.
In the Supplies tab, you can drag them on to different areas in Abel Township to
build them up (tap an area to see its current health and level). The more you build
up an area, the more people can live in Abel Township, and the more missions
you’ll unlock.
Some supplies are worth more to specific areas than others - for example, ammo
will be more valuable to the Armoury than to the Hospital, so it’s best to use
common sense when assigning supplies!
You can also learn more about the supplies you’ve collected by visiting the Codex.
43
Chapter 5

The Making
of Zombies,
Run!
Learn about why we made Zombies, Run!, get the
lowdown on the decisions we took when designing
the gameplay, art, and graphics, and find out more
about the people behind the game.

You can also read the Mission 1 script, including

commentary from the Zombies, Run! team, and
listen to the first part alongside the script.
Section 1
Why We Made It
ZOMBIES, RUN! IN NUMBERS
1. Crowdfunding campaign launched on
Kickstarter in September 2011
2. Over a month, 3,464 Kickstarter backers
contributed, making it the most successful
Kickstarter videogame of 2011
3. Zombies, Run! launched worldwide on the
iTunes App Store on 27th February 2012
(two days before our own deadline!)
4. Held the worldwide #1 Top Grossing
position for Health & Fitness Apps for two
weeks
5. In two weeks, players have spent over a
decade running - almost 90,000 hours
6. At an average walking pace of 3 miles per
hour, that’s well over 250,000 miles, or the
distance to the Moon!
Imagine a game where you’re running in the real world and you’re being chased by
zombies. Sounds fun, right? That’s where Zombies, Run! came from.
Of course, it’s not quite that simple, because if that’s all the game was, it’d get
boring pretty quickly; zombie groans can only motivate you so far.
But what if there was a story that made you want to keep running? What if there
were people who you cared about, mysteries you had to uncover, and a world you
wanted to explore? Now that’s an experience that would be different from all the
other running apps and games out there, something that would really motivate you
to throw on a T-shirt and lace your trainers on a rainy Sunday morning. That’s
Zombies, Run!
Why a running game, though? The truth is that almost everyone wants to be fitter
than they are right now, whether you run a marathon every month or a walk down
to the shops feels like an expedition. That impulse doesn’t come merely from
wanting to lose weight or look better, it’s because we know that running can be fun
- when you get good at it.
We’re the same. Some of us run only occasionally and others run 40km a week,
but we all wanted to make running even more fun and exciting than it was, and we
all wanted an extra push of motivation to get us out there. And using zombies just
made sense on so many different levels.
45
We also wanted to make a game that worked for as many people
as possible - not just people who lived in cities or athletes for
whom a 5k is merely a warmup.
That led us down a careful game design process and it’s why
Zombies, Run! doesn’t do a lot of things that many people expect
a running game should do. The game isn’t strictly location-based
(yet) because not everyone lives near mapped points of interest or
runs along roads; it doesn’t punish players for running slowly,
because we don’t think that’s the right way to motivate everyone;
and it doesn’t make you look at your screen all the time because
we know that’s distracting and potentially dangerous.
What’s left? Audio - one of the very best and most-overlooked
ways of telling stories. And so in Zombies, Run!, we combined a
compelling story with light game mechanics that didn’t stray too
far into the world of gamification, but instead supported the
experience.
One month later, with 3,464 supporters, it was clear there was an
appetite, and six months later, with the community’s support,
Zombies, Run! was launched for the iPhone and iPod Touch (with
Android coming in Spring 2012).
In the first two weeks of release, our players have spent over a
decade playing Zombies, Run! and walking, jogging, and running
the distance to the Moon. It works, and we couldn’t be happier
that we’re helping people to run farther and faster than ever
before.
Zombies, Run! isn’t a game for everyone. That’s what happens
when you give a game a story with real character and heart. But
maybe it is a game for you. And that’s all we wanted.
Everyone at Six to Start, and Naomi Alderman

When we launched Zombies, Run! on Kickstarter in late 2011, we

weren’t sure what to expect. We thought it was a great idea and
we trusted that other people would as well – enough to decide to
crowdfund the game instead of going the usual route through
investors or publishers – but there’s nothing scarier than putting a
project out there, especially as a smaller indie developer, and just
hoping people will support it.

46
Section 2
Development Sketches
The logo and icons for Zombies, Run!
were inspired by traffic sign symbols
because of their clear-cut and bold visual
style. For example, the logo’s running
man character was based on the one
seen on the usual Exit sign. Thick
borders and brightly-saturated colours
are used in the item icons to give clarity
and to colour-code the different item
groups.
This bold visual style used throughout
the design sets a realistic and serious
tone to the game as it works very well
contextually since it is based on our
current real-world signs.
The base environment design was
initially drawn like an infographic
showing growth of the buildings as
coloured bars. This looked a little
abstract and did not really indicate too
well the development of the base
‘texturally’ – you don’t really get much
satisfaction for seeing some building that
has improved, because they are all bars
in just different lengths and limited
colours.
So to resolve this, actual buildings with
detail are drawn in like SimCity. The
perspective is also changed to isometric
to allow the buildings at the back to be
less obscured. This perspective was
tricky to draw at first, since everything
has to be accurate in angle. A door was
used as reference to draw the buildings
and ensure that they are all consistent to
scale.
Estee Chan

Artist and Graphic Designer
Our initial infographic-style basic display
47
Buildings in Abel Township

The ‘Sleeping Area’, which became known as Housing. There was a great deal of discussion internally about how the residents seem to knock down their
housing so frequently...

48
User Interface Concepts

Early concepts focused on a more futuristic and stylised view of the base.

49
Section 3
Directing the Audio
From our earliest discussions about Zombies, Run!, it was clear that
quality audio was absolutely vital to its success. With the right actors,
the right sound design, and the right set of performances, it seemed
like we had the opportunity to make something really special. No
pressure.
In approaching the recording, there was one thing I was horribly
conscious of: that game audio too often sounds like every actor was
not just recorded at a separate time and in a separate room, but in a
separate space-time continuum and reading completely different
scripts. So I set myself a rule for the recordings: wherever warranted
in the script, and wherever technically feasible (always an important
caveat), we’d record all dialogue between two characters with those
two actors actually in the same room.
In the end, we managed to accomplish this for about 90% of the
dialogue in the game, which I was incredibly happy about. Maybe I’m
just being idealistic, but I think you can tell. When you listen to Jack
(Rhys Jennings) laughing at Eugene’s (Nathan Nolan) story of losing
his trousers in the Quad, you can hear them bouncing off one another.
When you listen to Dr Myers (Sally Orrock) comforting Sam (Phil
Nightingale) as the soldiers gun down his ex-lover, you can hear her
place a gentle hand on his shoulder. And when you listen to Janine
(Eleanor Rushton) berating Sam’s choice of condiments, you can hear
his cheeky grin as he responds.
Recording season one proved to be a massive amount of fun, and
being able to give a group of talented actors the time and space to
develop performances they were proud of was incredibly
gratifying. Hopefully you’ll agree it was worth the effort!

Matt Wieteska
50
Section 4
Mission 1: Jolly Alpha Five Niner
Matt: Our Pilot is played by
Julianna Lisk, who's also Runner
6. Julianna was great to work
with; her chilling dying-pilot-
zombie noises completely
defined how we wanted our
zoms to sound. In order to get
her delivery right here, to give
the sense of her speaking over
the sound of the helicopter's
rotors, I had her put on some
headphones and played loud
death metal while she delivered
her lines. I'm not sure whether it
helped or not, but it was fun.
Adrian: If you've played this
mission, you'll know this line
was cut. Why? It sounded too
much like "silly zombies," which
would've been a bit out of place.
Listen to the mission audio. 

Best heard with in-ear headphones.
1. THE HELICOPTER
FX: CHOPPER NOISE
The player is sitting in a helicopter buzzing
over zombie-infested territory. In the plane is
also a PILOT, female, mid-20s. They’re heading
towards Abel Township, a small isolated
settlement in a sea of zombie-land.
PILOT

So, you can see the city now as we loop round.
Well, they call it a city… Not much more than a
few fences to keep the zoms out.
<slightly mocking>
Sea of Zombies, Tiny little island of humanity. I
just don’t know how they live like that.
<decisive. But ambiguous: does she mean ‘we’re
here to help’ or ‘we’re here to kill them all’?>
Well, I guess they won’t be living like that much
longer.
<to you>
Naomi: Almost from the start of
thinking about the game we
wanted the first episode to start
in a chopper. In fact, this was
Matt's idea, and the moment we
all heard it, we went "yup, that's
where it begins". We wanted to
drop you into the middle of the
action, to set up a lot of
questions and drama, to give
you a reason to be running for
your life the first time you went
out, not just out on a "normal
run". And we couldn't really do
the whole 'breakdown of
society' plot that zombie movies
usually cover... we needed to
start much later than this. "Get
from the choppa!" was a great
place to start.
51
So I expect you’re not allowed to say what you’re Adrian: And here we have the
being dropped into the township for, huh? classic 'protagonist can't speak'
moment, used so well by
<pause>
developers like Valve!

Nah, I thought not. I know how it works. They

don’t even tell you till you get there.

<on radio>

Abel Township, Abel Township, this is Jolly Alpha

Five Niner from Mullins Military Base. We’re 5
miles out approaching from the east at one
thousand one hundred feet, bringing in med
supplies, some vac-packs, shelters and a Matt: Casting Sam Yao was
temporary loan of one of our people. Abel really important, given that he's
Township Jolly Five Niner requesting permission
the voice we hear most often.
to land?
We needed someone friendly

YAO
 and warm, but with a sort of

Got that. Er, I mean, roger that. You’re clear
to… yeah you can come on in.
PILOT
 a real joy to work with. Which is
Roger Abel Township, heading down now.
<to you, more quietly>
I can see clear as day we haven’t got half the
supplies we usually bring. That means we’ve lied
to the township.
<pause>
nervous edge to him. Philip
Nightingale proved to be just
perfect for the part, and he was
always a plus when you're
spending several days in the
studio with someone.
Naomi: What I really loved about
Phil's performance was that he
was able to bring both a
vulnerability and a light comic
touch to Sam.
52
Alex: This became both my
favourite and most hated line of
the script. I've listened to the
first part of Mission One ("ZRS1-
M-E01-01") easily more than a
hundred times while testing the
ZRRunController, the "engine"
that manages the game
sequence while you run. For me
this line always stuck out, being
highly recognisable even playing
through headphones on the
other side of the room. When the
intensity of concentration in the
office reached fever pitch in our
final weeks of development,
Matt and I would start yelling
passages from Mission One Clip
One at each other to defuse,
and my favourite was always
"PROJECT GREENSHOOT?
NEED TO KNOW BASIS?"
Yeah. I know. You don’t know anything.”Project
Greenshoot”? Need to know basis? – oh yeah, I
heard them tell you that just as you boarded –
and then you’ll find out what your mission really
is.
But you know if you and me pooled info maybe we
could…
FX: Noise of gunfire. Rocket launchers.
Someone’s shooting at the chopper.
PILOT

What the hell…? They’re shooting! That’s not
coming from the township! Who the hell has a
rocket launcher in this sector, who the hell
has…?
FX: A crash of engines, the high-pitched whine of
something going very badly wrong. One of the
rockets has hit the chopper.
PILOT

We're hit. I've lost the tail rotor. Mayday
Mayday Mayday.
<This should be said fast maydaymaydaymayday, but
calm - you want to remain cool and calm on the
radio so your calls can be understood>
Naomi: In fact, this line [“Project
Greenshoot...”] that will now
never leave Alex till the day he
dies wasn't written by me! We'd
been toying around with
different names for the player's
secret mission. I'd written first of
all something odd like "Project
Manticore", but we wanted
something people could easily
spell if they wanted to discuss it
in a forum! Then I came up with
Project Reed, but David Varela,
who read the scripts for me,
pointed out that that could
equally be spelled Project Read.
At the very last minute, on the
day we were recording, I was
still making handwritten changes
to the script. Nathan, the actor
who plays Eugene, suggested
"Project Greenshoot". And there
it was, to torment Alex forever...
53

Richard: It looks so simple on
the page. The parachute noise
was recorded by flapping a
duvet cover around in my living
room. The tree crashing involved
an afternoon of running around a
forest, beating up trees and
generally looking like a lunatic to
any by passers.
Matt: It wouldn't be the first time
you'd received funny looks in
the name of a sound effect...
Jolly Alpha Five Niner is going down three miles
east of the township. Two souls on board. Aircraft
is grey with black lettering and trim.
We're going in hard brace brace brace.
FX: MASSIVE CRASH
A voice comes over the radio.
YAO

This is Abel Township calling, this Abel Township
calling. Supply copter can you hear us?
<aside>
They’re going down fast, holy moly.
<to us>
Can any of you hear us? Open your chutes! Jump!
Jump!
FX: A rush of air. The chute opening. A crash
through undergrowth.
FX: Heavy breathing. In your ears. Your breathing.
FX: Crackle of static
YAO
 would probably be able to
Hey, hey. I um. This is Abel Township calling,
over.
Naomi: We had advice from a
backers who's ex-military on
these lines, on how they'd be
spoken and what they'd say.
Their advice is why the pilot
sounds so cool under pressure.
Naomi: This used to say
something else. I had a lot of
swearing in the script. Adrian
made me take it out. He was
right. But still. I like swearing.
Richard: This has been ignored.
I decided it might feel weird to
have someone breathing down
your neck. I thought the player
provide their own foley FX when
it came to breathing.
54
Alex: We don't tell you where to
run in our game, or base the
game on where you are running.
And, given that we don't have an
infinite amount of time in which
to record hundreds of
permutations of the same
dialogue, instead, Naomi gave
the script a sense of place using
generic features that you might
see on your own skyline. At the
least, we hope this prevents the
mention of landmarks from
jarring with your real-world
experience — but ideally, we
hope that when Sam mentions
the tower you can look up and
know exactly which one he is
referring to, and perhaps even
make it your destination.
Matt: This actually worked really
well for NPR's tester - she heard
the line about the tower, looked
up and recognised something in
her environment. It was fun to
hear that.
<aside>
They’re not answering. Their comms equipment
coulda been fried.
FX: sound of your parachute unclipping, a heavy Matt: I love the sound design
fall to earth. You landed in some trees but here - it gives a great sense of
you’re OK, on the ground now. place & situation.
YAO

Listen, if you’re alive, if there’s anyone alive.
This is Sam Yao from Abel Township. I’m just the…
I’m just the radio operator man, I’m not supposed
to handle this stuff.
FX: crackle of static
You’ve come down in a nest of hostiles. They’ve
heard the noise. They’re coming. There are…
thirty. No, forty. No… crap. Your only safe path Naomi: This is the key moment
is towards the tower, you should be able to see for me. On the page, and even in
that from where you are. If there’s anyone alive a TV drama, this could be a
there, just run. cheesy line. But I spent a lot of
time writing this while listening
FX: very faint, distant moan
to the music I listen to when I'm
at the gym, to get myself into
Run!
that mindset. And my thought -
<play opening track> and I think it works - is that
actually when you're really out
there it's pretty awesome to
have someone shouting in your
ear telling you to run!
55
The Complete Mission 1: Part 1 On the opening track of Zombies, Run!
Naomi: There needs to be a theme tune. I envisage heavy rock drums and high
octane distorted guitar. Something akin to the Buffy theme.

Best results with in-ear headphones. Matt: I totally agree. The first time I played this mission I had "Dyer's Eve" by
Metallica kick in at this point, and it was incredible.

Alex: We had many ideas for how we might do something special for the first track.
We explored composing our own power track, or automatically searching the
runner's music collection for candidate tracks from the correct genre. Ultimately,
though, we left the track to the player's choice - any runner who has spent a little
time perfecting their playlists should get an earful of their own favourite music to
kick off at this point.

Adrian: I have always been impressed by the atmosphere conveyed in Assassin's

Creed 2 when, after you've waded through what seems like hours of boring futuristic
nonsense, you climb up your first tower and you get the beauty shot - along with
some fantastic music. But unfortunately we couldn't figure out how to do it here
given our time and budget.

Naomi: Yeah. The first time I played it through, at this point I got a polka? Which
was hilarious. But I think that's fine really - it's a funny idea for a game and we've
tried to make it both fun and funny as well as scary and intense. So I like the
possibility of weird juxtaposition too!

56
2. THE DOCTOR.

YAO

Wow there’s… there’s someone alive down there.
Running. Hey, hey can you hear me?

<aside>

No answer. Still, look at ‘em go. Heading for the

tower just like I said.

<to us>

OK, running person, if you can hear me… you’re

going great. The main group’s behind you and
you’re going to come out of this forest soon but
there’s a…

<pause>

yeah, I can’t think of a phrase that’s not “small Matt: This line is very whedon-
army of zombies”, sorry, don’t do so well under esque. In a good way.
massive pressure, there’s a one of those directly
to the east of the trees, so if you head more
towards the old saw mill, you should be able to
see its massive red signs from where you are…

<pause>

<aside>

Man. Look at that. They’re changing direction.

They can…

57
<to us>

You can hear me! OK, OK, we can keep you safe.
It’s cool, it’s cool, we can bring you in.

<aside>

No we can’t ask them that. They might be injured.

DOCTOR

All the more reason to ask them that.

<to us>

This is Doctor Myers, only medic here at Abel

Township. Lord knows I’m sorry to ask you this,
but your route will take you almost past the old
hospital. We know there’s medical kit still there
from the first wave of infection. If you could
pick up even one or two that would help us.

SAM YAO

<to Doctor>

It’s too dangerous. You know what happened to

Runner 5…

DOCTOR

The zoms have all followed the noise of the
crash.

SAM YAO

But what about whoever fired that rocket
launcher?

58
DOCTOR

If someone wants to kill that runner, taking an
unusual route will make it harder not easier.
<to player>
I don’t want to be hardheaded, but everyone in
this township earns their keep. You should be
able to see Robinson hospital now – one of the
buildings, Gryphon Tower, is the tallest in the
abandoned city. And if you can’t find anything…
we might not be able to let you in when you get
here.
<play music>
<during music, ding two medpacks>
Matt: One of my favourite things
about Mission 1 is the way we're
introduced to Abel before we
arrive. lines like this, combined
with the way Sam & the Doctor
debate the player's fate, give us
an immediate sense of Abel as a
society.
Adrian: One of our beta testers
mentioned this line specifically
as his favourite!
59
 3. CHATTING WITH SAM

SAM YAO

OK, OK. Man, that’s great, you’re making good
time. No broken legs I guess!

Hey, listen, I’m gonna call you Runner Five. Just

‘cuz… I don’t know your name, and we just lost a
runner. In that same hospital you’re running
through now. She was so fast, and really funny,
and clever, and me and her we sort of…

<a sigh. yeah, Sam was totally in love with the

previous runner 5. She was perhaps not in love
with him. It’s a more wistful what-if scenario>
Alex: For me, "our new runner
… she was amazing. But hey, you could be our new
five" is a story in four words.
Runner Five.

<nervous laugh> Naomi: Yeah, for me too. I think

Adrian: This whole sequence
ended up being rather lengthy in
the first cut, which slowed the
mission down too much. It's
nice to have a pause in between
action, but not too much.
If you make it back alive.
<chatty now, just keeping you occupied>
Yeah, the runners are pretty important to keeping
us going here… any fuel we have goes to working
the generators and the truth is if you’ve got two
legs and you can go above a slow shamble you’ll
be able to stay out of the zoms’ way, am I right?
it says so much about the
apocalypse.
Naomi: Ah, a justification for
"we don't just drive places" and
"even if you're walking, it's fine".
Good to get that in early ;-)

60

Adrian: Of course, you aren't
really going through the ground
floor of a hospital. But we figure
that by this point, the player gets
that this is fictional. At least, we
hope so!
<checks the scanner – we can’t see this obvs but
there’s a distinctive ‘scanner ping’ noise, or
maybe just some switches flicking>
Huh. Yeah, OK, your pace is good, but maybe head
through the ground floor of the hospital? There’s
a little swarm gathering in the parking lot I
don’t like the look of and…
<checks the scanner, that ping again>
Yeah, that’s good. You could even pick up
anything interesting you pass. We think there
might be some… well, we sent the old Runner 5
there looking for some file the Doc’s interested
in. So, you know, if you find anything official-
looking lying around…
Richard: There is no scanner
ping noise, I thought it might be
confusing rather than distinctive.
What there is, if you listen
carefully, amongst the switches
is Sam taping a screen. This is a
recording of me flicking my
whisky glass, filled with
"inspiration", one late night in
December. The "inspiration" was
Glenfiddich 15, in case you
where wondering.

<next music track>

<during music ding another few medpacks and ‘you

have found a file of documents’>

61
4. THE FILE

SAM YAO

Hey, there you are! I’ve got you on camera now,
great to see you, even though you’re kinda
blurry!

Huh, what’s that you’re carrying?

Look at this Doc, Runner Five picked up something

in the hospital.

DOCTOR

Is that the Centers for Disease Control file?

SAM YAO

What’s that?
Naomi: So we have three story
DOCTOR
 strands starting off in this
<very cool, official> episode, playing off each other:
what's Runner 5's secret Project
… Runner 5, I don’t say this lightly, that box Greenshoot, who shot the rocket
could be worth your life to protect. Don’t drop launcher at the helicopter and
it. what's in the CDC box? Getting
anywhere near answering those
SAM YAO

What is it? questions will take the whole
rest of the season, and probably
DOCTOR
 longer (but don't worry, I do in
It might be nothing. It might be everything. fact know the answers :-) )

SAM YAO
 Adrian: Good job we don’t have

So a pretty narrow window of definition. a smoke monster in this game,
then...

62
DOCTOR
 Alex: A fair way into the
What’s that shadow over there?
FX: ZOMBIE GROWLS
SAM YAO
 of the game (great story, and
Oh no. This was what… when we sent her out, this
was what happened. They’re following you Runner
5. The swarm from the carpark, they’re following
you now, run!
FX: LOUDER, NEARER ZOMBIE NOISES
<BREAK FOR MUSIC>
development process we
realised here that simply gluing
together the two major features
zombie chases) would take the
whole thing from "pretty cool" to
"totally awesome". If you've
enabled zombie chases and we
have enough data to tell how
fast you're running, Sam's
instruction at this point triggers
an actual horde of simulated
zombies to chase you down.
Your range finder starts to beep,
a voice tells you they're just
100m away, and if you don't
pick up the pace they'll be
clawing out your eyeballs in no
time. RUN!
Adrian: It is, in fact, totally
awesome. I had to test this
mission many, many times, and
it was still fun even after the
tenth time!
63

Adrian: Full disclosure: it
doesn't matter if you speed up
here or not. We debated whether
to remove this or not, but
decided that it worked well
enough in the story to justify
keeping.
5. THE SWARM
SAM YAO

<worried>
They’re so fast, why are they so fast? They never
run, why are they running?  Runner 5, Runner 5
they’re gaining on you!
FX: ZOMBIE MOANS REAL CLOSE
DOCTOR

Runner 5! You’re not far from the gates now. If
you can keep going we’ll send some people with
guns out to meet you. Only one zombie is close to
reaching you. Just put on a burst of speed now!
FX: A SPECIFICALLY FEMALE ZOMBIE MOAN, VERY VERY Matt: Our very own Victoria
CLOSE. Grove, who has a truly incredible
voice.
SAM YAO

Oh god it’s her. I can see her. It’s… it’s the Adrian: A tester claimed that
old Runner 5. She’s the one chasing you, she’s… this was a male zombie. Nuh-uh!
she’s still wearing her uniform, she’s…
<Sam is pretty choked up by this. As you would be
to see the girl you really fancied turned into a
zombie>
64
RUNNER 7

Runner Five. It’s Runner 7 here, head of runners.
The Doctor’s told me you’ve found something
useful in the hospital We’re sending out a couple
of people to bring you in. Just keep running. As
fast as you can.

FX: FEMALE ZOMBIE RIGHT IN YOUR EAR

Don’t look back. She’s right behind you. Just Naomi: I love this line, and I love
run. the way Stephen Guy delivers it.
I hadn't thought much of it in the
<BREAK FOR MUSIC>
script, but in the reading it
becomes so sinister.

Adrian: This moment triggers a

zombie chase, if you have GPS
activated. Two sprints in a row -
what are we trying to do you
poor players?!

65
6. THE BASE

FX: BURST OF GUNFIRE

BASE SOLDIER
 Matt: These lines represent my

This way! This way! Run! single, embarrassing cameo in
the game. Urgh.
FX: FEMALE ZOMBIE MOANING AND GROWLING WITH RAGE

SAM YAO

They’re going to shoot her… I can’t watch, I
don’t want to…

DOCTOR
 Matt: Sally's delivery here kills

<interrupting, kindly, softly>
It’s what she would have wanted Sam. You know it
is. She wouldn’t have wanted to live like this.
BASE SOLDIER
 later missions. While we
Run! We’ve got her!
FX: A SINGLE GUNSHOT PENETRATES THE OLD RUNNER
5’S HEAD
FX: A LAST RATTLING COUGH FROM THE OLD RUNNER 5
me. This moment was really key
for us developing the
relationship between Sam & Dr
Myers, which really paid off in
recording this moment, Naomi
and I decided that, were we
playing the game, Sam & the
Doctor would be our ship of
choice.

DOCTOR

<satisfied>

Got ‘er.

SAM YAO

Raise the gates! Raise the gates!

66
FX: SOUND OF GATES RAISING

VARIOUS VOICES
 Adrian: I really like how this

<general hubbub of welcome> provides you with a sense of
home, and of the desperate
Welcome!
need that the people of Abel

Hey, you picked up medpacks! Township have. Tinned food is

Want some water?
Great to meet you, come sit down.
What were you doing in that helicopter anyway?
Did you bring any food? Any canned food? Dried
food?
what they want.
Naomi: Yeah, man, I didn't
realise how plaintive that line
would be, but when I heard it in
the cut... it's that moment where
comedy and horror shade into
just absolute tragedy. Ugh.

Hey! Good to see a new face!

The Major’ll want to see you when she gets back…

<Not over headphones now but in front of you>

SAM YAO

Hey, good to see you in the flesh! The… totally
unbroken skin not bitten by zombies flesh, right?
Step back, step back everyone, don’t crowd, give
Runner Five some space. Can’t take in so many new
faces right now!

67
UNKNOWN VOICE

<very soft>

You think that’s who they’ve assigned? For Matt: I love that we get to do the
Project Reed? dramatic twist ending here. Or,
as I like to call it, 'pulling an
<Bam. The End.> Abrams.

68
Section 5

Meet The Team

ADRIAN’S PLAYLIST Adrian Hon, Co-Creator and Producer

1. The Execution of All Things 
 Running and I go back a long way. At school, everyone did
by Rilo Kiley 5k runs, which is simply painful if you’ve never really run
2. Queen Bitch by David Bowie before. So I swore off running. But then GPS happened, and
running got interesting. Over the years, I used progressively
3. Walk On by U2
more sophisticated GPS watches and smartphone run
4. Immigrant Song 
 trackers, and eventually worked my way up to doing 40k a
by Trent Reznor & Karen O
week (and believe me, it’s definitely more fun to run when
5. Theme from the Graffiti Artist 
 you’re good).
by Kid Loco
But I didn’t forget what it was like when I was starting out, and that’s why working with Naomi,
6. TRON: Legacy and Reconfigured
Alex, Matt, Estee and Richard on Zombies, Run! has been an absolute pleasure. We’ve made
7. Gimme Shelter 
 something that I know will help motivate people to run farther, faster, and more frequently - and
by The Rolling Stones have a lot of fun in the progress.
8. A New World by DeVotchKa
Naomi’s scene-setting in Mission 1 and the up-tempo launch of Mission 3 never fail to get me
9. Here it Goes Again by OK Go moving. Matt’s relentless dedication to directing the audio and writing the fantastically funny

10. Apotheosis by Austin Wintory
11. Rebellion (Lies) 

by The Arcade Fire
12. Moulin Rouge End Titles
13. Portions For Foxes by Rilo Kiley
and immersive Abel Radio keeps me going further. Alex’s single-handed development of the
app quite literally made the game possible, and his implementation of zombie chases have
made a good game into a great one. Richard’s brilliant work on the epic Mission 1 intro brought
our fictional world into reality, and Estee’s art and graphics for every part of the game, including
the beautifully detailed Abel Township and lovely game tutorial, easily equal the best out there.  
I hope you enjoy the game as much as we enjoyed making it!
69
Naomi Alderman, Co-Creator and Writer NAOMI’S PLAYLIST

Oh how can I pick a favourite thing? It’s all so much better than I was imagining Some songs I listened to a lot while writing
this (don’t judge):
in my head the day Adrian and I started talking about this crazy idea. Estee’s
graphical work has been phenomenal - I especially love the icons and the • Another One Bites The Dust by` Queen
satisfaction of levelling up a part of the base. And although I know *literally • Crash by Gwen Stefani
nothing* about how the back-end’s been constructed I know that it’s been
• Jump by Madonna
incredibly complex, painstaking work and the fact that it all works so smoothly is
testament to a huge amount of work by Alex behind that glossy facade. • Ready to Go by Republica

• Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac but the club

I would basically like to celebrate though how version from the Queer as Folk soundtrack
incredibly funny all the guys working on on the
I have terrible taste in music. But hopefully
project are. If you could eavesdrop on our ZR good taste in stories.
Skype chats, you would be doubled over with
laughter. It’s been a huge amount of work to
make the project - and there’s more work ahead
- but it’s also been hilarious and enriching. The
kind of fun you imagine it might be to work on a
game, and which it often isn’t. This is the fabled
work that is “more fun than fun”.

My playlists are ridiculous. And I have to tell you, I was listening to my ridiculous
playlist when I was writing the game, to remember what it’s like to be out there
puffing and panting even while I was sitting at my desk (it’s pretty hard to write
while running. Or even walking!)

70
MATT’S PLAYLIST Matt Wieteska, Sound Director
My working playlist is pretty long, so I’ll just There’s been so much great work on Zombies,
give you a quick tour of the highlights:
Run! that’s it’s really hard for me to choose a
1: Retreat! Retreat! by 65daysofstatic 
 single highlight. When all’s said and done,
The perfect thing to kick you off the starter’s
though, I’d be remiss not to call your attention to
block. Great to accompany that first cup of
coffee. our wonderful voice cast. We had the privilege of
working with some talented, committed actors on
7: Queen Bitch by David Bowie

I defy you not to feel uplifted by this; one of my Season One, and their performances really
favourite songs, inspired by one of my favourite brought our story to life.
bands. Speaking of whom:  
In particular, I want you to listen out for the
14: Sister Ray by The Velvet Underground

This one won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it’s an alarmingly realistic portrayal of Molly by Emma
absolute masterpiece. I probably listen to this Lock in mission four and Victoria Grove’s incredibly moving work on missions
song about twice a day. Go ahead, judge me.
eleven and twelve. We had crazy fun with the entire cast, and I think that comes
45: Flight of Icarus by Iron Maiden
 across in the audio. Great job, guys!
There’s something weirdly inspiring about the
pomp of Maiden. This sits in the metal part of the I’m not much of a runner, unfortunately, due to some medical issues (no, not lazy-
playlist, which tends to hit around mid-afternoon
when I really need a pickup. itis), but I’ve found my own way to enjoy the Zombies, Run! experience: walking,
alone, as the sun comes up over Highgate Cemetery. Spooky.
Finally, 70: Land by Patti Smith

A writer I adore just totally blowing it away. Yes,
please. “aww, pretty boy, can’t you show me
nothing but surrender?”

71
Estee Chan, Artist and Graphic Designer ESTEE’S PLAYLIST

If I have to pick one thing I really like about the game, then that would be the
integrating of your music to the game’s radio show! It’s a novel idea and you feel
genuinely immersed into its world because of the excellent emotions and realism
put into the voice acting.
In terms of running – I haven’t been doing that
for years! This probably explains why I’ve been
getting more and more random aches and pains
now, since I do just sit and work at my desk for
long periods. So being part of the team making
a fun running game is very inspiring, and to my
surprise I have indeed started running again –
woohoo!
But just to make it last and not put too much
pressure on myself I’m keeping it to just Sundays for now, since Sundays are
reserved for leisure or casual activities, roast dinners, strolls along the beach (if
you’re lucky to have one nearby) and more wandering pigeons.
Some music I found works well with Zombies,
Run! are:
If you want the run to feel ‘super-EPIC’ then film
soundtracks work very well. If you watch a lot of
anime like me, you might have heard of the
Ghost In The Shell movie soundtracks – a piece
called Attack the Wakabayashi from the second
movie is brilliant.
Another good one is Dou (Movement) from
Black Magic M-66, which has a nice 80s-run
away from the Terminator-style feel.
If you want a juxtaposed ‘weird-eerie’ kind of
atmosphere when you run, then you should listen
to happy/bouncy music like Halcali. The kind
that should sound innocent, but is changed when
placed in a serious context. It’s a little like the
feeling of when uplifting ragtime or happy old
jazz music is played in a horror film...

72
ALEX’S PLAYLIST
Ambient music for coding and relaxing:
• Owsey’s remix of Gotye’s Somebody that I
Used To Know (Google it!)
• Arrival of the Birds by The Cinematic
Orchestra
• La Ritournelle by Sébastien Tellier
Noisy music for hacking and running:
• Beautiful Lies by B-Complex
• Summit feat. Ellie Goulding by Skrillex
• Depth Charge by Zircon
Alex Macmillan, Lead Developer
Zombies, Run! is the largest creative project I’ve been a part of to date, and so
was made up of a lot of entirely new experiences for me. I have vivid memories
of sitting down for the first time with Adrian, Naomi and Matt in a central London
café and having the concept explained to me for the first time.
Back then, not knowing Adrian and Naomi
so well (Matt and I had been friends and
collaborators for years already), my strategy
for coping with large amounts of new
information was to make as many notes as
possible, and I filled two sides of A4 with
tiny doodles as Adrian and Naomi built a
picture of their game. Those doodles
became my architectural blueprint for the
app.
When I’m writing code, music helps me get into two different kinds of “zen state”
— ambient, chillout music helps me relax when piecing together the structure
and components of the application, and angry electronica and drum and bass
helps me power through the code line-by-line.
73
Richard Bell, Sound Designer RICHARD’S PLAYLIST

My favourite part of this project was the recording sessions. Despite the Sound design makes it difficult to listen to
music as you work so my list includes tracks
frequent calls of "BUS!" and "AIRCRAFT!", as we paused recording due to
to triumphantly export missions to:
exterior noise, I thoroughly enjoyed being in the room with Matt and the actors.
• Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

It's always a pleasure when everyone has a sense of humour.
The Boss. Who else?
The actors were all excellent and no one • Decimate by David Ford

batted an eyelid when they saw the "recording Addictively chirpy. Great refresh for the ears.
studio" we had built in Matt's bedroom: • Rambling Man by Laura Marling

mattress against the wall, duvet over the Seems oddly appropriate.
shelves and air mattress wedged into the • Apocalypse Please by Muse

corner to deal with a problematic echo. Mostly for the title.

Back in Edinburgh, working on the editing,

Skype has provided me with the office chat
and prevented the potential onset of stir-
craziness. Having such immediate access to
the rest of the team for clarifications and
distractions made it much more fun.

74
Section 6

Credits

Zombies, Run! was created by Six to Start and Naomi Alderman.

PRODUCTION TEAM CAST

Adrian Hon Co-Creator, Producer Philip Nightingale Sam Yao

Eleanor Rushton Janine
Naomi Alderman Co-Creator, Writer
Sally Orrock Doctor Myers
Matt Wieteska Sound Director Clare Kissane Runner 8
Rhys Jennings Jack
Estee Chan Artist, Graphic Designer
Nathan Nolan Eugene
Richard Bell Sound Designer Jennifer Tan Runner 4 / Nadia

David Varela Script Consultant Russell Barnett Ed / Lem

Stephen Guy Daltry Runner 7
Alex Macmillan Lead Developer
Nick Kay Runner 10
Thom Nelstrop Runner 3
Victoria Grove Paula

The Lead Author of The Runner’s Guide v1.0 was Matt Wieteska. Juliana Lisk Runner 6 / Pilot
Layout and design by Adrian Hon, art by Estee Chan. Emma Lock Molly

75
Thanks to... Get Zombies, Run! for iPhone & iPod Touch
Lisa Long, Jo Goodson, Tim Cooke, Kickstarter, Adele Keating,
Nick Watson, Martin Roth, Idil Sukan, the London Jewish Cultural
Centre, Julia Jones and Shauna Reid of Up and Running, and
forum members of the class of Spring 2011.

Zombies, Run! includes:

ASIHTTPRequest by Ben Copsey © 2007-2011 All-Seeing Interactive
FliteTTS.m by Sam Foster © 2010 Sam Foster
Flite by Alan W Black © 2000-2008 Carnegie Mellon University
Search for Zombies, Run! in App Stores worldwide.
Requires iOS 5. Works on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod Touch 3rd
Gen, and iPod Touch 4th Gen.

cocos2d for iPhone © 2008-2010 Ricardo Quesada, © 2011 Zynga Inc

Coming to Android in May/June 2012.
FontLabel by Kevin Ballard © 2009 Zynga Game Networks

Glyphish Pro by Joseph Wain © Joseph Wain



Keep in Touch
Audio Credits Follow us on Twitter at @zombiesrungame
Thanks to Freesound.org for facilitating such an incredible
Visit our website and join our mailing list at 

database of sounds. Thanks, and credit, in particular to the
http://www.zombiesrungame.com
following Freesound users:

AleXtreme.de, Benboncan, CGEffex, Corsica_s, Erdie,

Gelo_Papas, Inchadney, Kolezan, Matt_G, RHumphries

Many thanks also to Andy Farnell of http://obiwannabe.co.uk for

his invaluable Pure Data tutorials on sound synthesis.

76