The Wreaker Virus

The initial Wreaker virus information is below.

Modes of infection: Airborne, contact
Symptoms: Within a few hours of infection, flu-like symptoms develop (i.e. runny nose, coughing, sore throat), which gradually become worse. Around 20 hours after infection the skin begins to darken into a grayish color, and blood begins to flow out of the mouth, ears, eyes, nose, and any wounds uncontrollably. Skin begins to flake off in large amounts. Brain activity begins to jump and heart rate becomes erratic. The infected begins to moan which gradually becomes inhuman high-pitched shrieking. After two hours of bleeding and moaning, the shrieking reaches its highest pitch and the infected starts thrashing as they appear to go into cardiac arrest. Brain activity is cut in half, and then the infected will go into psychosis, attacking every living thing in sight. Some infected however, will die after cardiac arrest and brain activity will flatline after the thrashing.
Effect of vaccine: None
Notes: Some will mutate into Wreakers, some won't, depending on whether they survive the bleeding and also depending on immune system strength and genetics.

When the virus enters a host through an open wound, its spread is much faster. Usually, this occurs only to people who were initially immune to the airborne strain. However, scratches and bites are the most common ways for an "immune" individual to become infected.

Because the saliva houses so many germs to begin with, when coupled with the Wreaker virus, a transformed individual's spit enables the disease to react to blood almost instantly. If a human is bitten, for example, the infected saliva will enter their blood stream and immediately set off a chain reaction. The order of symptoms will vary by the location of the bite, how much saliva is transferred, and how physically fit and healthy the person was prior to being bitten.

As for scratches, what happens to a victim depends mostly on one thing: the type of Wreaker doing the scratching. Scratches from regular Wreakers will do little to nothing, unless they happen to transfer a germ that would have harmed an individual in their life before the outbreak anyway. However, "special" Wreakers, such as Jumpers, will have a much different effect. The Jumper's elongated fingernails are actually reinforced with new, infectious dead skin, unlike common Wreakers whose nails remain made of the same composition that they were prior to transformation. When a Jumper scratches or claws at a victim, bits of their nails flake off and are displaced into the open wound. The microscopic pieces then float down the blood stream, starting at the point of infection, and begin to bond with the human's healthy cells. Bonding takes, on average, about an hour to complete between any two cells, therefore prolonging the onset of symptoms for minutes, even hours. Again, the symptoms vary based on location, and personal health.

((Hope that works, Neph. Change anything you like. Just thought I'd try to explain a few things that might otherwise be seen as possible inconsistencies in our RP. ))

OOC: Looks good Mesh. Also, I just realized people haven't been wearing gas masks...

Note: The WV (slang for Wreaker Virus), airborne virus is caused by the release of gas byproducts caused by oxygen injestion. Small amounts of the virus are mixed in with the exhaled carbon dioxide (albeit I'm smaller amounts than humans). Wreakers can also breathe underwater, because their unique tissue can act as gills. They also require less oxygen as their tissues can absorb oxygen directly.

Updated by Kevin Roth, operating under the Department of Homeland Security