#ask:all that's left

[ruvviks]

Okay so I love zombie stuff, I love seeing how they affect the world and how people respond to them, and your premise sounds fascinating.

Did the government do much to try getting the zombies under control after the safe zones were made, or did they think that would be good enough? How much of the population was left after the initial outbreak and how is that affecting things in the current setting?

I have more I could ask but I'll save it for later 🤣 also if these are things talked about in the story feel free to keep your answer here vague

HIII THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS <33 most of it is indeed gonna be mentioned in the book as well as the story unfolds but since it will be very long until i actually finish anything i'll go over most of it here, keeping only a few things vague for bigger plot twists but also i try to not use shock value in this story so you can probably already figure out what's really going on but that just makes the story more fun >:^)

so as a bit of background information: the virus starts off as a virus that pretty easily spreads from human to human and then as soon as people start turning to zombies it basically turns into a different mutation that kills the host a LOT faster than the original strain does, the original strain is still out there during the initial outbreak which happens in europe but eventually fades out the more prominent the zombie version of the virus becomes because victims of the original strain end up getting bitten before the virus kills and turns them so they die before they can spread it. i hope that makes sense. i feel like it does

ANYWAY since it's a regular virus at first and just starts turning people at some point seemingly randomly (but in reality it's not as randomly as what humanity thinks), the first wave of zombies is HUGE in like. west/central europe. because everyone who's infected just becomes a zombie and especially in city areas they then turn 1-3 people before they get killed since these zombies are FAST especially in the early stages. it does take a while for it to spread beyond europe but generally speaking the initial outbreaks in countries cause a large chunk of mainly city populations to get wiped out pretty fast, which leaves most of specifically europe and city areas in asia in ruins. other continents have more time to prepare which causes the lethality rate to be a little less high but for some reason still not by much... INTERESTING...

so the initial outbreak is in europe and then starts spreading rapidly over land to other countries and then continents as well. it differs from country to country what kind of measures are taken to try and control it but for Some reason it seems like no matter what they do the virus just. keeps spreading... INTERESTING... it does take a good few years before it's spread all across the globe which is a fascinating phenomenon to think about. imagine having to continue your life as normal while there's ZOMBIES running around on another continent. i'd cry myself to sleep every night

the united states specifically uses an advisory body made of several external organizations (both irl and fictional, so for example the world health organization would be part of it but also just a bunch of fictional organizations that are kind of like that) which helps determining what the best course of action is. they came up with the blueprint for the network of safe zones and tunnels connecting them together and since the story takes place 30 years after the initial outbreak, other countries are now also using that strategy to at least get people to safer areas while they work on trying to manage the wasteland

one of the fictional organizations here is matrix corp, which started as an independent medical research organization back in the 1980s and has since then grown to hold the monopoly over most of the medical research of the western world. next to research they also focus on developing rapid research methods to speed up testing and trials for creating vaccines and such, which is why they end up gaining popularity so quickly over the years with all the diseases the world has to deal with leading up to the zombie apocalypse

in the story itself, matrix is still in charge of a lot of decisions in the world when it comes to "the safety of humanity" since governments have put so much of their trust in them already during other outbreaks, which were all controlled by matrix pretty easily. this arguably gives matrix more power in the world than the actual governments themselves have which is also an interesting dynamic and it's explored more in the story itself, especially with some very interesting things the main characters learn on their journey back to los angeles >:^)

as for the wasteland surrounding the safe zones, in the united states specifically there's not much being done about it surprisingly but at the same time it's not really clear for both the reader and the characters as to why. as also mentioned in the summary, while the main characters are traveling they learn that there is SO much more life left in the wasteland than what the government wants them to believe which adds to what i said earlier about the discoveries they make on their journey. there's many things going on that will change their view on their own "safe" lives within the walls of los angeles forever

[ruvviks]

hiiiiiii i am. absolutely obsessed w all that's left. pls tell us more about it aaaaAAAAAAA

THANK YOU SO MUCHHHHHH <333

so the story is set in a universe that's kinda like ours?? except there's been a lot more things going horribly wrong for a good amount of decades (government collapses. economical crises. diseases. global warming. etc and so on) to the point humanity kinda had no other option than to actually get their shit together and work together to make life more bearable and more livable for everyone. and they finally started achieving that and then there was a zombie virus outbreak. oops :(

the story itself is set in the future (i think it's around 2050 ish. if i remember my own notes correctly) which is a few decades after the apocalypse and the situation has sort of stabilized a bit. not really improved since there's still so many ghouls (they have many names in the universe but i call them ghouls because the main characters do) and there's many MANY areas that are uninhabited / uninhabitable in general

people have grouped together in massive safe zones which differ in size all over the world. the story itself is set in the united states so i'll focus on that, there's basically important cities which have a lot of defenses set up which serve as the main safe zones of the country. the cities are connected by an intricate network of tunnels through which travel is possible but still not all that recommended

the main characters are from los angeles and they travel to opportunity, which is a huge megalopolis on the east coast that stretches from around the atlanta area to nearly the coastline and it's still actively growing in size. their job is to make a documentary about the place since there's some anniversaries and with that a bunch of festivities coming up :] but then of course while they're inside there's a breach and the place gets overrun and then they have to somehow find their way back home to los angeles since opportunity ends up left in almost complete ruins

SO YEAH that's basically the setup of the universe and the story!! i loooove zombies so fucking much i can't explain this to you but the whole dark and gritty feel around it is a bit overdone imo so i wanted to like. put it in a more colorful jacket by giving it the vibes of the playlist basically :] it's gonna be a written story because well i can't really turn it into a tv show but it would work soooo well as a tv show. trust me

[ruvviks]

all that's left season one playlist explained under the cut if anyone is interested!

wouldn't it be nice - the beach boys

this song is the opening theme of the show and plays after a short sequence that explains the situation in the world up to the apocalypse; disease and crises plagueing the world to the point humanity has no other choice but to come together and try to make life more livable for everyone. the sequence ends with saying that things are finally starting to look better, and then it instantly cuts to the opening of the show with the cars of the main characters driving through a tunnel in the wasteland of the united states, with this song playing over it and the title appearing in the middle of the screen. it's a very ironic opening theme since things WERE in fact starting to look better, and then the world ended

put your head on my shoulder - paul anka

this song is featured in "opportunity falls" which is exactly what it says. the huge megalopolis suffers from multiple breaches across the entire length of the wall allowing a huge horde of what appears to be mutated ghouls in, and it loses control of the situation to the point it can't be saved anymore. this scene specifically features part of the main characters as they drive away from opportunity, while the wall is blown up by the megalopolis' faulty security system, allowing even more ghouls entry through the rubble. i initially wanted to use "what a wonderful world" by louis armstrong for this scene but the current song fits the rest of the vibes of the playlist better, while having similar energy to the other song

the introvert - st.arnaud

this song is featured in "rendezvous" in which the main characters all travel north to a supposedly abandoned facility once used by matrix corp, to meet up there, since the breach in opportunity caused them to be split up. it plays over a travel sequence for three of the main characters- mac, beau, and vladislav- and essentially emphasizes the similarities between the three of them despite the vastly different backgrounds they come from. i mainly picked the song because it has fun vibes for a travel sequence, but it fits with their personalities as well

dear mccracken - bug hunter

this song is featured in "wasteland blues", a chapter with slower pacing since the main characters find themselves stuck in a settlement that initially seemed friendly but at the same time seems to be holding some sort of secret. it's specifically a song for mac (whose pov is followed most in the story), who is curious about what's going on and decides to investigate; which is a nice parallel to what this song starts with. it basically serves as mac's introduction song, which is strange because the story has already been ongoing for a while at this point. but it lines up perfectly with mac's personal struggles throughout the story- he IS a main character, but would rather not see himself as one, and constantly shoves himself to the sidelines to let others take a place that is rightfully his

achey bones - the happy fits

this song is featured in "something not quite right", which is both a reference to the evil within 2 (one of my favorite games of all time), and in this case it refers to the chapter in which the main characters find themselves traveling through a town where some sort of local militia seems to have taken control- but for some reason something about it doesn't seem right, in ways i won't elaborate on for now. they meet a young girl who was born and raised there and despite her family having been killed, she refuses to leave; the song is a breakup song and in a way parallels her situation with town and having to let go of it in order to get herself to safety. the vibes of the song are very cheery, which is in line with the rest of the playlist, and it contrasts the heaviness of the situation the main characters are in

growing pains - sophie meiers

this song is featured in "houston falls", a painful parallel to earlier in the season with opportunity, and the scene playing out is painfully similar too; houston's wall blowing itself up because of faulty security systems, but rather than leaving the town exposed to ghouls, it opens the way for an enormous horde of ghouls to follow the main characters out of the city back into the wasteland. this song plays over the scene in which all of that happens, causing the urgency and seriousness of the situation to really settle in for both the main characters as well as the viewer

weeds or wildflowers - parsonsfield

this song is featured in "acts of kindness", another slower part of the story in which the main characters have reached a friendly settlement and they decide to stay there for a while to help them setting up defenses for the incoming horde of ghouls. they don't know whether or not it's going to help at all, but do it anyway- which is where the title "acts of kindness" comes from, and it also relates to the song since "weeds or wildflowers" also refers to an unknown outcome. it plays over the sequence in which these defenses for the settlement are built

thick skull - paramore, julien baker

this song is featured in "everybody dies", a bit later in the show when the main characters are just leaving another settlement and they've been violently attacked by a horde of mutated ghouls. they haven't suffered any losses, but they've taken a great hit, and the gravity of the situation is kicking in more and more the closer they get to los angeles. it also seems as if trouble keeps finding them wherever they go, which also lines up with the themes of the song

a teenager in love - dion & the belmonts

this song is featured in "welcome home", which is the last episode of the season. the main characters have managed to safely make their way into well-protected los angeles and the characters who live there return to their families and friends and introduce their new friends to them. it's a light-hearted song playing over a sequence showing a happy ending and new beginnings, but at the same time there's this looming feeling of doom since you can see that there's still 5 whole minutes to the episode so this can't be the end

heaven - partybaby

this song is the closing theme of the first season and it plays while the end credits roll. in the moments before that, the main characters are shown going to bed now that they've settled back in, but suddenly loud sirens start going off in all of los angeles, and it cuts to black, and the credits start rolling. the sirens keep going at the same time though, while the song starts playing too, and the viewer can hear people screaming and crying, cars driving wildly, gunfire, and ghouls. the song references the west coast (where they are right now) and sings about "cause we're all gonna die one day anyway / they say we're all gonna be together in heaven" which is fitting for this moment, since the viewer is essentially listening to people dying horribly to ghouls. it's a horrifying ending to the first season and makes you look forward to season two

[ruvviks]

ok but. u gotta give us some Opportunity lore. that place sounds soooo cool

HEHE IT IS VERY COOL!! there is so much to say about that place so i'll try my bestest to keep it brief

opportunity is basically a huge megalopolis on the east coast of the united states, stretching across two states from around atlanta to the coastline. it's a very impressive project since there's no ghouls inside the safezone at all which is insane because in the surrounding areas there ARE many many ghouls!! so they fought off all of that while still building the walls + defenses surrounding the zone WHILE also keeping everyone inside safe. this is why it's such a popular place and basically one of the most important places in the world, because it shows progress and is a symbol of hope

the outer walls of the city are of course defensive but at the same time they're like. facilities. if that makes sense. you can go inside the wall. it's a building. but also a wall!! the ground floors are mostly these huge hangars where vehicles and whatnot are stored with large hangar doors that open up into the city as well as into the wasteland (never at the same time for. obvious reasons), and the many levels above ground floor are for a variety of things; there's offices in there, laboratories, dormitories for opportunity's own specialized armed forces (squads of trained people who go out into the wasteland for various tasks such as clearing out troublesome locations where ghouls are holed up, helping survivors, and getting supply drops), armories, etc etc

opportunity is the only safezone in the united states where the united states military is not active at all, it has its own armed forces to protect itself with :^) other than that it does have a lot of matrix activity (mostly just matrix scientists in the research labs of course where they're trying to look for a cure / vaccine, but matrix also has their own armed forces called matrix agents which are active there too)

since the wall stretches on for MILES it's divided into sections which are all managed separately, so they all have their own control center and own armories and labs and whatnot to make it easier to oversee rather than have the whole entire wall managed from one place only. the different control centers communicate with each other of course but especially in the labs they try to focus on different research, to cover a LOT more ground while also updating each other on their findings to hopefully get to a cure / vaccine faster. but somehow they're still not getting any closer despite all their efforts... INTERESTING...

as for life inside the megalopolis, it's divided into cities within the place so there's also a lot of empty space between those which is managed by rangers basically LMAO, and within the cities there's neighborhood clusters which all consist of a main street with all the important stuff (community center, religious places, grocery store, schools, etc) and houses surrounding that street. there's one huge shelter for each cluster which makes it easier to deal with breaches in the wall because it's a lot easier to get people to safety that way and deal with the ghouls in the meantime :^) the design of the clusters also makes it easier to just. in general predict where people are gonna be moving in case of a breach or outbreak which also makes it easier to prepare for situations like that to begin with, which is why opportunity is such a success

opportunity is the main location for the first act of the story and it's super fun to play around with :^) but then there's a huge breach. and ghouls get inside. on a scale NEVER seen before. which makes you think. is it really a breach... or did someone do this on purpose... INTERESTING...

[ruvviks]

okay. first all that's left ost question. pls explain the song in what we leave behind 👀

another one thought/question is that i was thinking abt it while making breakfast and i think all that's left would be v interesting as a video game that's divided into episodes. like whatever remedy's doing with alan wake.

anyway i am soooooooo in love with all that's left btw. i'm not even into zombie stuff but this one is soooooo cool. :]

HEHE THANK YOU SM <3 i love zombie media entirely too much i was obsessed with it when i was younger to the point i had entirely too many dreams about the zombie apocalypse. which is where half my zombie story ideas originated from including parts of the story for all that's left LMAO

so in "what we leave behind" the song playing is everyone dies by parsonsfield which is a song that i've always heavily associated with the story for some reason?? specifically because in an alternative ending i came up with, all the main characters did end up dying in very like. regular human ways to die in a zombie apocalypse in a way to show to the readers that, well, everyone does still die in the end despite how beautiful a journey or story can be etc etc and so on, and to show that there IS an end to all this but the main characters' good deeds end when they die, not when the story is over if that makes sense. they keep on being good even after the story is done. but i ended up kind of scrapping that because i preferred a more open ending that leaves room for own interpretation of what happens between like, the end of the story + when the main characters die. but the song has always stayed in my heart

which is why i added it to that chapter specifically! in "what we leave behind" the different players in the story (it's season two so that's three separate parties whose story you've been following the whole time) have all found themselves in predicaments scattered across los angeles; one group has been separated after a devastating breach in one of the districts, another group has been hunted down in the wasteland around the city, and the third group has been chased out of the city for their smuggling crimes (helping people out of los angeles into the wasteland to find a safe community to live in)

it's a chapter in which all hope seems lost which i think fits with the song in a way. there is very much the threat here that people are going to die, but it's part of how life goes, and i think the upbeat sound of the song contrasts the heaviness of the chapter very well which is something that i keep doing with this story because it creates an almost nostalgic feeling (for me personally, idk if it comes across well)?? as if you as the reader are very much aware that the story has already been told and there's nothing that can be changed about it anymore, and the soundtrack is reminiscing on what happened back then :]

and ooohh i never really thought about that tbh!! i think it could work as a video game but it would be a VERY cinematic game and i personally am not a big fan of that because i do like having things to do and especially with all the different perspectives and whatnot it would be very hard to keep track of the story while also trying to put down an interesting game if that makes sense SHGFDJGHDFGKD i did games & interaction in art school so this is like. the game designer in me talking LMAO

i do think some chapters would work VERY well as video game though, especially ones where a lot of stealth is needed or the more combat focused scenes. for example there's one scene in which they're trying to manage a huge horde of ghouls and like, lead them away from a settlement to then gun them down somewhere, i feel like that would be super cool to see in a video game >:^) but there's also a lot of scenes in which there's just a lot of talking and connecting to other characters going on which would be very boring to sit through i think :(

i've always visualized all that's left as a tv show and it would probably work best as that i think, because there's just so many characters and so many stories to tell that weave into one another very intricately. the visuals of the story would also just work best as a tv show because the way i'm imagining it is like a very vibrant tv show, bright colors and almost like, retro-y vibes?? basically the kind of vibes i put in those playlist edits, it contrasts the heaviness of the story very well + goes well together with the soundtrack!!

on top of all that (sorry i'm Going now) a tv show would give the story enough time to build up correctly, a movie would be entirely too short for that. with actual episodes and actual filler episodes focused more on exposition of the world and character conversations and a bit less action to give everyone including the viewer some breathing space, the story can actually be set up correctly and get people interested in the bigger picture of the universe i think :] it would have about 4 seasons of roughly 20 episodes per season, maybe the first season (book 1) would be a bit shorter on account of just following one group, but especially the next seasons (book 2-4 and Maybe 5 depending on how well i execute book 4) would just need more episodes because you're following around three groups in all those seasons. or at Least three. i can't remember my own lore. there's a lot going on just trust me

[ruvviks]

BONESSSS what's the lore for the song in everything burns. :]

WELL in "everything burns" surprisingly enough nothing actually ends up on fire. but metaphorically speaking it's all being torched to the ground. two of the main characters who were part of the traveling group in the first season now live in a settlement in the wasteland, one of the settlements they passed through on their way to los angeles :] however, in this episode the settlement ends up under attack by a massive horde of nearly unkillable ghouls (naturally mutated to become more resilient, at least, that's what they assume) and the song plays over a scene in which the damage in the settlement is shown through various shots of both up in the air as well as in the streets

[ruvviks]

okay. hi. explain how the not a crime to smile fits on the soundtrack 👀 hehehe

HI THANK YOU :] so just in general, all that's left season 3 (or actually book 3 for people who are new here, in my brain it's a tv show but i'm just writing it) features a lot of setbacks that kind of balance out the first few seasons; rather than working towards a goal, the main characters now find themselves taking a step back to try and gather themselves in the face of defeat. and to make things worse, during this step back they learn about even MORE information that obstructs them on their way, which naturally makes everything a lot more stressful than need be

in "a brighter tomorrow" the group has finally managed to make some progress; they've gathered intel that will help them later on in the story while trying to unravel the truth about matrix, they've survived a dangerous road through hostile territory, and they're getting close to reuniting with friends they haven't seen in over a year by then. not a crime to smile by the make believes plays over a scene in which they finally manage to get some downtime in for themselves, where they're not running from a horde of ghouls or getting shot at or anything the like; despite the horrors they still manage to find comfort with one another and they can have some good times between all the bad, which works very well with the song :] it would be the final scene of an episode so halfway through the song the credits would start rolling, which i think works very well with it too ^_^

[ruvviks]

all that's left question. is there actually only one cure or do they have like. many. but in different places which makes it logistically impossible to save both mac and the world.

GOOD QUESTION i honestly don't know in the bigger picture of things yet but the current idea is that one of mac's friends ends up with the only known sample of a possible cure and the choice is either save mac or preserve the sample for further development of a possible cure. they don't know if the sample will even work and they don't know if there's more out there and they have to act quick because turning into a ghoul goes pretty fast so they only have a small window which is what makes it a very stressful scene and fun to think about because what would ANYONE logically do in a scenario like that. i would just kill myself i think