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At a time when most people are getting ready to pack it in for the day, you're just getting started. There's not much daylight left, so keep your eyes peeled as you prepare to cruise the Greater New Orleans waterfront looking for zombies.

Date: January 25, 1965
Place: The Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency, New Orleans Office

With the light fading fast, you brief the eight assault team members on the mission. You tell them that poison darts are today's weapon of choice. When propelled from a high-powered rifle, the darts impale themselves in flesh and release their cargo of dimethyl mercury, one of the nastiest poisons known to man and a proven zombie-killer. The reason you've opted for poison is that swords are unreliable in water combat and explosive bullets make it hard to identify zombies and you need identification since you're trying to trace the outbreak to its source. However, poison is also riskier than other extermination methods because the zombies can take up to a minute to die, and sometimes the darts get hung up in clothing and are unable to deliver their lethal payload. So you've brought your sword and shotgun along, just in case.

You embark from a spot near Pete Lambke's houseboat. Reasoning that zombies might be put off by the noise and smells of the oil refineries to the east, you choose a westerly route.

Erstwhile zombie hideout

Within a half-hour, the river widens and the busy docks of the city give way to the flora and fauna of the bayou. Swamp moss hangs from the trees like cobwebs, and swamp rats (a potential food source for a desperate zombie) frolic on the riverbank. At precisely 4:43 p.m., you come across a dilapidated fishing shack in the shadows along the south shore. You sweep around for a closer look and spot the first zombie: a white male, late-thirties, probably transformed a couple of weeks ago. One of his eyeballs is starting to droop and his cheekbones are visible through his rotting flesh. He starts toward you and is waist-deep in the water when a dart hits him in the shoulder. He pulls it out, but it's too late: moments later, he's floating face-first in the water. Two more zombies, one male and one female, emerge from the shack and meet similar fates.

You congratulate the other agents and guide the boat in closer to pick up the dead zombies when suddenly, a slime-covered zombie bursts out of the water behind the boat and grabs Agent Jay Fonteneau by the ankle. The zombie tries to pull Fonteneau into the water, but before it can, you grab your shotgun, put it to the zombie's chin and pull the trigger. The newly-headless zombie slips into the water and Agent Fonteneau hauls himself back on board, grimacing and clutching a deep bite wound on his lower leg.

A half-hour later, Agent Fonteneau is vaccinated and rushed into surgery at Tulane University Hospital. You seize the opportunity to head down to the basement morgue and get a report on the zombies. The coroner informs you that none of the four were primary zombies; that is, all had received the virus from the bite of another zombie and not from an infected tick or animal. Surprisingly, the zombie whose head you took off offers the most useful clue. He was wearing a jumpsuit bearing the logo of Ray's Gas and Propane, a popular boat refueling stop along the river west of the fishing shack.

When you return to Intensive Care, Agent Fonteneau is out of surgery and resting comfortably. You join the other agents in the waiting area. They look haggard and burned out. "This is what it's like all the time," says one agent with exasperation. "It never stops." You look at him and say, "it stops when we find the source." With that, you pull out the map below and call the agents over.

1) Peter Lambke destroyed 2) Lambke houseboat 3) Fishing shack 4) Ray's Gas and Propane

    Somewhere inside the city limits.

    Along the river east of the city.

    Along the river west of the city.