(Covers information from Anderson's universe)
The Global T-Virus pandemic was a global-scale outbreak of the T-Virus, triggered by two separate outbreaks in Raccoon City and Tokyo, Japan in 2002. By 2005, almost the entire human population had been either infected or killed, with the biosphere almost entirely destroyed as well. In 2012, the potent anti-virus was released, beginning the resurrection of the Earth and destroying anything infected with the T-Virus.[1]
Prelude[]
The T-Virus was created as a treatment for various illnesses. The first indication of any problems with the treatment came in Capetown, where a young boy who had received T-Virus treatment choked to death on a cable car ride to Table Mountain, then reanimated as an Undead and killed or infected the other occupants. The Umbrella Corporation was able to cover-up the incident. Soon after, Umbrella co-founder Dr. Alexander Isaacs began considering its use as a military weapon, and killed his fellow partner, Dr. James Marcus, to ensure this path. Some years later, Dr. Isaacs became inspired by the Hebrew deluge myth, and he and Umbrella's High Command planned to intentionally release the virus across the planet and, after several years, destroy the Undead with an airborne anti-virus. An elect few were to be kept in cryogenic preservation for the duration of this apocalyptic event, and be released to a world without the destructive consequences of war and climate change. To ensure the project go ahead as planned, Dr. Isaacs' plan required that key Umbrella personnel be cloned, including himself.
Alicia Marcus, Dr. Marcus' daughter, inherited a 50% share in the company, though the otherwise unanimous approval of High Command was enough to invalidate her opposition. A recording of the meeting was secretly uploaded to the Red Queen's mainframe; though the computer system was unable to kill Umbrella employees, it was able to assist Alicia by programming a clone of Alicia, Alice, to have a strong opposition to Umbrella. Alice was placed in a security role within Raccoon City's Hive complex alongside another man, Spence, with who she developed a romantic relationship. Alice began helping Lisa Addison, an environmentalist plant within the Hive, to acquire the necessary evidence to destroy Umbrella.
Initial outbreaks[]
Whether influenced behind the scenes by Umbrella, or an independent agent altogether, Spence also chose to betray Umbrella, and stole a number of T-Virus and Anti-Virus samples with the intent of selling on the black market. When he released T-Virus into the facility during his escape, Red Queen responded by releasing Halon gas into the Hive, killing much of its workforce. However, the T-Virus had successfully spread into the air, and the staff were able to reanimate regardless.
Umbrella sent a commando team in to find out what happened, breaking into the Hive and dragging Spence, Alice and Lisa's brother Matt with them. The Red Queen attempted to stop the team, killing some; however, they refused to listen to her warnings. They shut her down, causing all the infected to be released. Everyone except Alice and Matt died before the Hive could be sealed again. However, Matt was scratched by a Licker, which caused him to mutate. More Umbrella troops arrived, taking both captive for experiments.
Alice was infected with the T-Virus, bonding with it a cellular level and didn't mutate; this was likely thanks to her original's progeria, which the virus couldn't affect long. Umbrella reopened the Hive, allowing the Hive outbreak to evolve into the Raccoon City Incident. Umbrella decided to see if Alice or the mutated Matt, now called Nemesis, would be the better version of successful T-Virus assimilation; both refused to kill the other and turned on Umbrella. Seeing both a lost cause and that the infection would soon become airborne outside Raccoon, as it had been 3 days since the outbreak, Umbrella launched a nuclear missile at Raccoon City Hall, destroying the building and much of the city.
Umbrella recovered Alice's body from the wreckage of a helicopter, deciding to try bringing her back to life. They also squashed the news footage of the outbreak, labeling both Jill Valentine and Carlos Olivera as terrorists trying to blame Umbrella for an "accidental" meltdown at the power plant. Alice was successfully brought back to life, with enhanced physical abilities and psionic powers. She managed to escape with the help of her friends, but Umbrella would be able to track the new Project Alice through satellite feed. With data on Alice, Nemesis, the undead and the mutations from Raccoon City, Umbrella began feverishly working towards the decimation of the world's population.
Initiating the Plan[]
To better help them understand the nature of the infected, Umbrella had reactivated the Red Queen and charged her with using the Umbrella Prime testing facility to conduct the research. Using simulations in major cities of the world at the facility, Umbrella shows the potential the T-Virus possessed to the world and sold the countries the virus, building a new arms race in the hopes that the virus would be stored poorly and begin the infection. "Patient zeroes" (people infected with the T-Virus) were also released into various countries by Umbrella to ensure the initiation of outbreaks around the world. At least one such outbreak occurred in the Japanese capital of Tokyo, where an infected J-pop girl transformed and attacked a businessman at the Shibuya Scramble, spreading the virus to the rest of the city and then Japan itself.
Since Isaacs and Alicia Marcus would be placed in cryo-stasis with the rest of Umbrella High Command, Albert Wesker was made chairman of the Umbrella Corporation during the outbreak. Having complete control of the organization, Wesker operated from the main facility under Shibuya Square in Japan. To lure survivors into their clutches so they could be experimented on, Umbrella prepared a false safe haven called Arcadia which was a tanker hiding a testing facility within. To pacify the staff that would be forced to hideout in the underground Umbrella facilities, a clone of Dr. Isaacs was created for the purpose of trying to domesticate the undead and make them subservient.
The World goes to Hell[]
Washington DC, which is now fully infested with Undead & other T-Virus abominations.
Humanity entered a Dark Age as the world was overrun by the undead; though lacking intelligence, the undead's sheer numbers and unending hunger for flesh made them extremely dangerous nonetheless. As shown in Afterlife, as the number of infected grew, prisoners were released to help fight back out of sheer desperation. Within a few weeks, the T-Virus had completely consumed the United States and only a month later, the rest of the world fell. Any organised resistance or form of governance collapsed, overwhelmed by the undead hordes. Though the virus was only intended to wipe out the surface population of humans, it mutated and affected the Earth herself. Wildlife infected and mutated, entire swathes of forests died off and bodies of water dried up leaving much of the planet a barren wasteland. Slowly but surely, the Earth began to wither and die, a final massive casualty of Umbrella's orchestrated holocaust.
What few survivors that were left learned to stay on the move and avoid large cities where the infection was at its worst. Speed and constant mobility were their only defense against the unending horde of undead. A convoy led by Claire Redfield and Carlos Olivera was one such example; however, they always ended up too late to help others that radioed for assistance, something that weighed heavily on their consciences.
Occasionally, the humans would be aided by nature, as shown in Resident Evil: Extinction. Swarms of infected crows were known to feed on flesh, indiscriminately. The entire undead population of Las Vegas was purged in this manner. On the other end of the spectrum, there were survivors who remained in their cities, defending themselves vigorously, as shown in Resident Evil: Afterlife.
In Resident Evil: Retribution, the White House itself appears to have become another safe haven during the outbreak; surrounded by large walls and other barricades, which prevents millions of Undead from getting in. It may possibly house some remnants of the Military, and Leon Kennedy's "resistance".
In the decade that the outbreak occurred, things grew progressively worse. The undead began mutating, growing mandibles for catching prey. The Undead also started getting smarter, rather than pointlessly wander or wait outside the strongholds of humanity, they instead began burrowing. Worse, the wild life mutated as well, created giant winged monstrosities that made air superiority void.
Survivors[]
The White House
The spread of the t-Virus was devastating, but it was not absolute. According to the White Queen's satellites scans, out of the planet's pre-outbreak population of 6.5 billion (US numbering system) human inhabitants, there were 1,733,548 people uninfected on the surface. In Resident Evil: Afterlife, survivors are discovered taking refuge in the LA jail and over 2,000 known survivors, including Alice, Claire Redfield, Chris Redfield and K-Mart are aboard the Arcadia, captured by Albert Wesker in an effort to keep his infection in check by feeding on their flesh. A brainwashed Jill attacked Arcardia with Umbrella, killing survivors on whim. Wesker pretended to defect from Umbrella, gathering the remains of the U.S. military together with his troops at the White House, along with Leon Kennedy's group. This was all part of his mission to wipe them out.
Ending the Pandemic[]
Following the betrayal of humanity by Wesker at the White House, humankind is reduced to just over 4,000 people left, gathered in only a few settlements based around the world. This meant 1,729,548 people died between Extinction and The Final Chapter. One such settlement was in a tower in the ruins of Raccoon City. Led by a clone of Doctor Alexander Isaacs, three massive Undead armies, each led by Umbrella tanks, launch an assault to destroy this settlement and end humanity once and for all while other Undead armies led by Umbrella forces went after the remaining settlements in other parts of the globe. To counter this, the Red Queen, in truth an innocent pawn in Wesker's plot to destroy the majority of the remaining humans in Washington, DC, contacts Alice who alone survived Wesker's betrayal and informs her of a potent anti-virus developed by Umbrella and kept within the Hive. This anti-virus was designed to be airborne and kill anything infected by the T-virus upon contact. By releasing the anti-virus, Alice could end the pandemic and save what is left of humanity.
Alice travels to the ruins of Raccoon City where she helps the survivors repel the assault of Isaacs and the first Undead army. Accompanied by a team of survivors, including Claire Redfield, Alice enters the Hive where she encounters the real Isaacs and Alicia Marcus, daughter of Doctor James Marcus who created the T-virus in the first place and of whom Alice herself is a clone. With the aid of Alicia and the Red Queen, Alice defeats Wesker and chases Isaacs, apparently killing him. Alice takes the anti-virus from Isaacs and attempts to release it upon the surface, only to be stopped by Isaacs who is killed by his clone. Alice releases the anti-virus, killing the thousands of Undead in the vicinity. The Hive is also destroyed by Alice with explosives, killing Wesker, Alicia and the thousands of Umbrella employees and Umbrella High Command held within, effectively destroying the Umbrella Corporation.
While the anti-virus is released into the world and is airborne, it has to travel on the winds and will likely take several years to circle the globe and kill everything infected by the T-virus and ending the pandemic. Humanity eventually rebuilds their lost civilization with assumedly the help of the Red Queen.
Sources[]
- ↑ Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017).
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