Melanie from 'The Girl with All the Gifts'

B>“Hungries toggle between two states. They’re frozen in place most of the time, just standing there like they’re never going to move again. Then they smell prey, or hear it, or catch sight of it, and they break into that terrifying dead sprint. No warm-up, no warning. Warp factor nine.”

Although we have become inundated with zombies of every sort, The Girl with All the Gifts

takes the zombie apocalypse in different ways, mirroring more 28 Days Later than the traditional Romero style of zombies. Dealing with the second generation born of the outbreak, the main character Melanie quickly becomes both the protagonist and the narrator’s viewpoint.

Melanie

Melanie

F: Pr (04)/Typ (06)

A: Typ (04)/ Gd (10)

S:  Pr (04)/Typ (06)

E:  Ex (20)

R: Ex (20)

I: Rm (30)

P: Gd (10)

Health: 32/42

Karma: 60

Resources: Fe (2)

Popularity:  0

Talents:

Melanie would be considered to have the student* talent.

 Powers:

Second Generation Hungry

Melanie is the second generation born to those infected by the Ophiocordyceps unilateralis spore and has been modified by the spore to both be immune to the effects that her parents had. Melanie still has adverse reactions when exposed to uninfected humans, as well as greater physical abilities (for her age and size). As one of the second generation hungries, Melanie maintains her intelligence (which is easily genius level), and is ignored by any other first generation hungries. Melanie however has some limitations out of her nature, which are listed in limitations.

The need to feed:

Although Melanie maintains her sentience in most situations, Melanie’s nature changes dramatically when exposed to uninfected humans. Melanie’s FASE increases as she immediately goes into ‘feeding mode’. As such, Melanie must be kept restrained when in flesh to flesh proximity to humans (Although those in hazmat suits and similar seem to be protected from this affect, and it is theorized by book fans that Melanie is actually different than the other second generation hungries in the ability to resist her instincts).

Contacts:

Melanie is generally well-liked by the surviving human scientists and could consider many of them friendly. Melanie’s main contact is Helen Justineau, the chief psychologist that Melanie interacts with.

Limitations:

Melanie’s limitations are due to her nature as a second generation hungry and her age. As such, Melanie has the following limitations:

The Need to Feed:

while also granted an increase to her FASE, Melanie potentially suffers from the same mindless need to feed that the other hungries do…. although this is debated due to Melanie’s interactions in the book. If Melanie is no different than the other second generation hungries, she must make a Psyche FEAT at –2cs whenever encountering uninfected humans. Hungries immediately attack with the purposes of devouring the uninfected, and will normally not stop until they have managed to devour the human in question.

Age:

Melanie is only ten years old, although she is an impressive genius.

Notes:

Originally I was going to do a write-up on the hungries, but I figured I’d focus more on Melanie as she is definitely the best example of both the infection and the second generation. I may still go back and write-up the hungries as I think the take on the ‘zombie’ infection is a cool one.

I tried to work out how certain effects would be within a game mechanic, hence the bump in Melanie’s stats when she goes into ‘feeding mode’. I figure this is pretty typical (within reason) when the hungries are agitated. I put Melanie’s reason as high as I did was based on discussion within the novel about her genius and the descriptions as it was outlined…but I’m not as confident about this and it is open to debate. I think it is possible the people around Melanie were overselling her genius, but not by much.