Story

This page describes an interpretation of the plot and story elements for Dead Ahead: Zombie Warfare. The following information is based on in-game cutscenes, developer interviews, and fan speculations due to a lack of any storytelling after stage 4.

Synopsis

Located within America and its environs, Sheriff Bill and a team of other survivors try to find a refugee in a post-apocalyptic world infested with the infected. In their attempt to do so they only found more problems, eventually fueling their drive to put an end to the zombie epidemic.

Plot

The story begins at Joe's Repairs, where Bill is arduously trying to fix their bus. After finally managing to turn the engine back on, Bill and other survivors head off to search for a safe zone. During their travels through the rural town of stage 1, they find a message about a safe zone called Lamos written on a van, which seems to have been painted by marauders as there's a bike seen behind the van with a freshly opened can of paint. Meanwhile, some marauders are seen exploring and looting the small rural area but they haven't achieved anything except meeting their untimely demise. After defeating Paramedic, the survivors continue on with their journey, discussing the Lamos safe zone on the way, hoping it's a safe shelter or an outpost.

Bill and the others arrive at stage 2, a remote desert town. At the same time, marauders have already made their way to it long before them. After getting everything they needed, the marauders left the town, expecting to please their boss with what they've gathered. Sometime later, the group arrives at a hospital and encounters what they assume to be a recently deceased soldier. Unsure of his condition, Bill steps out and takes a precautionary poke at the body with his rifle, discovering, much to his surprise, that he's barely alive. Bill asks a few questions to which the soldier only replies saying that he was too late, and turns into a Bulletproof, forcing Bill to retreat . After clearing out all the zombies and the Boss, the Survivors headed off to Lamos.

While driving, they got caught up by some marauders who tried to push the bus into wreckage with their vehicle. They realize the existence of hostile survivors and decide they will have to fight. Following the trails of their attackers, they wound up in a city mostly controlled by marauders, which in the end wasn't safe at all and turned out to be a trap. Fighting through zombie and marauder-infested territory, the survivors encounter their main transportation vehicle and promptly destroy it, forcing them to flee. With nothing standing in their way, they headed out to the next location.

The city where these events occurred, in stage 3, was once the location of the military and their battles against the infected. A group of scientists, who were present at the same time as the survivors, came to the conclusion that there's nothing that could be done now, that it's "no use making a plan", as this city is yet another area with "maximum contamination levels". The only safe place to go now is wherever they (assumed to be existing threats like zombies or direct orders) will let them. The scientists set off, moving forward with a grim outlook.

Bill's group arrived in stage 4, a forested town by the name of Mountain View according to a sign at a fire station. It is yet another urban area-turned-military site. They make a quick stop near a gas station, collecting whatever supplies and fuel they could gather. While packing up, the scientists' vehicle passes by Bill and the survivors, seemingly escaping from something. They turn around to find their answer in the form of a large horde of zombies steadily approaching the bus from behind. Bill tells everyone that they're leaving, taking a few shots before riding off into the rest of the area. Along the way, they would encounter a few zombies exhibiting some rather strange abilities, like Demon and Necromancer.

After clearing through, the survivors have reached stage 5. The majority of the town was already overrun by zombies. As it later turned out, they stumble upon a seemingly safe zone, a corn farm in the countryside. The barn within the corn farm was already occupied by the marauders, who've made it their new base. Bill took the opportunity to loot the place for supplies but failed to seize it as the marauders who settled there were well prepared.

Having no other options but to press on, Bill's team enter stage 6, a Chinatown of a large city. Within the streets, they've met even more new enemies with extraordinary abilities, like Psy and Small Insectoid. These monsters and all the other strange infected they've encountered so far finally catch Bill's attention, and now that he and the rest of the survivors have no real goal, Bill decides to lead them to the final battle against the infected by eliminating the source of the plague, once and for all.

Following the trails of some stronger zombies, Bill's group discovers stage 7, a ruined town that appeared to be surrounded with strange blue zombies, terrifying alien-like creatures, and bright floating plasma. In the dark, they can clearly see that some of these creatures were glowing. The town bore many signs of extraterrestrial presence from the aforementioned enemies to the mysterious machines lying in ruins throughout the area and the many destroyed buildings damaged with oddly spherical holes. For Bill, it was a sign that they were getting close to the source.

Making their way through the infested town, the survivors have finally reached stage 8 and found the source – a huge, dangerous, and an active spherical pod that crashed into a prison. They fought their way through the city and into the prison area where they face and destroyed Cephalopods. After much pain and sacrifice, Bill and the rest of the survivors come out victorious, having killed Cephalopods and putting an end to the epidemic.

Plague

The plague is an infection that weakens the host, eventually killing them, and turning any dead creatures into zombies.

According to Z-Nation newspapers articles it is known that the infection firstly started due to an unidentified airplane of unknown origin that crashed into the city of Lamos. This airplane crash seems to have caused deaths on its own, as not long after people started to dissapear. The infection became widespread thanks to the "Free Hugs" campaign which encouraged people to hug their collaborators (they had a Free Hugs sign on them to show off they were part of this campaign). About thirteen people approached Free Hugs for a hug, but instead ended up with deep bite wounds. Soon, medical facilities were overwhelmed and destroyed by the infected before it advances to other locations, zombifying whatever it comes across.

What seems to be the primary source of it is a blue substance inside Cephalopods that turns any being, dead or alive, into a terrific zombie with prominent insectoid features upon direct contact, though victims still remain somewhat human in appearance. Pooch implies the existence of canine hosts, and so far remains the only example of infected fauna. Zombies have very little instinct in self-preservation and wander mindlessly as rotten husks, occasionally augmented by malevolent energy, seen with the likes of Demon and Prisoner.

Considering that the first infections were spread via saliva/blood, it is likely that over time the plague evolved and became airborne. Due to this, it infected all living beings, and now anyone who dies inevitably turns into a zombie (except those who had preliminary protection or total destruction of their body, typically by fire or explosions). The airborne plague is not as strong as the source and takes much longer to progress towards more dangerous mutational growths.

There is no known cure for the plague. However, TMF units (Cap, Flamethrower, Soldier, Swat, Rogue) and Specops suggest it is possible to develop preliminary resistance that prevents zombification. The only way to truly stop the plague from spreading, however, and the main goal of the game, is to get rid of all of its primary sources.