Overview of the Major Factions in Safe Haven, Part 3 (Patreon)

In Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 3, you will encounter several major factions throughout the story. Some you have met already while others will be introduced in Part 3. Depending on your introduction to them, you may be allies, neutral, or enemies. This article provides an overview of the major characteristics of each of these factions and how their stories have evolved in the outbreak so far.

Please note, this article contains major spoilers for Part 3. Many of the spoilers have already been revealed in some of the original short stories found on this Patreon. If you are trying to remain spoiler free in anticipation of Part 3’s release, you will want to skip this article.

Red Mamba Biker Club (Thelma’s Gang)

You first meet Thelma and her gang, called the Red Mamba Biker Club, in chapter 3 of Part 1, if you venture to the convenience store mentioned to you by Jamie. Thelma has kept open her store in the early days of the outbreak and charges exorbitant prices for common goods. Numerous armed security guards, all of them members of her gang, protect the store. If you choose to purchase items with no trouble caused to the RMBC, you will increase your relationship with them. However if you are caught robbing from the store, your relationship will drop with them. This relationship carries over when you meet them in chapter 8 of Part 3.

Still in Part 1, on your way home from saving Jamie at Chipper Ridge High School, you pass by Thelma’s convenience store to find it closed and boarded up. A sign indicates that looters overtook the store, causing Thelma and the RMBC to leave.

What you don’t know at that point in the story is that Thelma and her gang head out at Nightfall and take refuge in an abandoned amusement park not far from the Junkyard. From there, they have taken on the role of noble raiders who rob from bandits and share with the less fortunate. They have questionable morals at this stage of the outbreak but will seek out allies to ease the difficulty of living through the apocalypse.

While you are getting used to living in the Junkyard, Thelma’s second-in-command, Drake, rides up on his motorcycle along with other members of his gang. He’s there to get his Harley-Davidson fixed by Kevin. Again, your conversation and willingness to help Drake will affect your relationship with him and therefore all of the RMBC.

It’s not until your trip to the Regional History Museum that you again encounter Thelma and her crew. The survivors who have taken over the museum had gone to war with the RMBC, and you are forced to take sides. Depending on the side you choose, you will gain an ally and an enemy group.

The Museumers

The Central Colorado Regional History Museum shut down just after the start of the outbreak. Several members of staff as well as patrons visiting the museum that day have taken refuge in the building, using its resources to survive. In chapter 10, your group comes across an injured member of the museum right outside the Junkyard while he is scavenging. Along with a team of survivors from the Junkyard, you take back the man named Gilbert across a monorail to the museum. Once there you meet the rest of the Museumers. You may recall from months ago, a series of polls were conducted on Patreon to select many features of the museum as well as the survivors who live there. The museum survivors are gracious for helping Gilbert and even offer to make a lunch for your crew. They seem like an honorable group, though Rachel remains skeptical of their true intentions.

After lunch you are offered a tour by Mel, one of the younger museum staff members who remained after the outbreak. While touring the museum, you soon discover a grisly fact — the Museumers have taken prisoners who they torture and starve. You soon learn the prisoners have been accused of robbing the museum and killing the family of one of the museum survivors. From there you must decide if you believe the Museumers or the prisoners, who say the murderers were only accidents.

As you consider your next move, the museum is attacked by the Red Mamba Biker Club. Thelma and her crew have come to rescue their members and enact some revenge. Again you must choose a side which has lasting consequences.

The Paynes

You meet Cliff and Delilah Payne in chapter 2 if you live in the country setting of Nightfall, called Stodgy Farms. The Paynes have pulled over a couple and their van while passing through town, and Dee leads a small group to rob the couple. You may interact with the brother and sister Paynes, who are friendly towards you as longtime neighbors in the community. They have an obvious ruthless outlook at the start of the outbreak and seek to rob others to survive. Your choices in this encounter affect your relationship with the Payne Gang.

You will again meet the Paynes in chapter 11 when they approach the Junkyard. They have taken Kevin captive and seek to ransom him to the group. If you do not live in the country and never met them, you will start with a negative relationship score. If you have a prior relationship with the Paynes, you may be able to reason with them and avoid a violent encounter. This is also a pivotal point of the story as they are accompanied by Sam and Peter Makarov who have joined their gang. If Tommy is in your group at this point in the story, he will be enraged at the site of the Makarovs and seek retribution for killing his mother.

The Payne Gang will likely be enemies of your group at the end of this encounter. However there may be opportunities to salvage the relationship and make them into allies.

River Dogs

Your first encounter with the River Dogs occurs in a scavenging trip with Kelly to a gas station in Chapter 7. Towards the end of your trip, you meet the three River Dogs who wander into the gas station looking for food and supplies. Well-armed and taking cover, the River Dogs start a tense engagement that can lead to a violent altercation or a completely friendly conversation. While they are reluctant to give too much information about themselves, you learn that the three friends are living nearby with their group who are all part of a softball team known as the River Dogs.

After that first meeting you will not encounter them again until chapter 8. If you choose to use a CB radio to search for other survivors, you will meet the leader of the River Dogs, a man named Casey. By listening to him broadcast on the radio, you will learn he seeks to aid other survivors and offer them a place in his community.

You may also meet three other River Dogs in chapter 8: Emily, Amir, and Athena. They are spotted scavenging an area not far from the Junkyard. While some of your group is wary of scavengers in the area, others have no problem sharing the resources. If you choose to track the three River Dogs and meet with them, you can choose to be friendly or aggressive, even robbing them of the food and supplies they have found or extorting them for additional resources. This encounter may lead to new allies or enemies.

Towards the end of Part 3, you will have the opportunity to travel across Sapphire Lake to meet with the River Dogs. You may forge a partnership with them for mutual trade and protection, raid them and steal their supplies, or force them to pay supplies to be left alone by your group.

Silverthorne Militia

You meet the main antagonists of Part 2 in chapter 7 when Keith and his group come to the hilltop camp to make an offer to you — join the Silverthornes or be declared enemies. While you talk to Keith, a tense disagreement occurs between Madison, Brody, and one of the Silverthornes named to Benton. At this point you and Keith may attempt to resolve the dispute with diplomacy. Otherwise the encounter devolves into a firefight.

While the Silverthornes offer a place in their militia to your group, the results of your first encounter with them may lead to a shaky alliance or complete opposition. Kelly may be taken hostage, Benton may be captured, and members of each side may die in the firefight. All of these outcomes will have a cascade effect in Part 3 where you will solidify an alliance with the Silverthorne militia or go to war with them. You may also need to rescue Kelly and possibly trade with Benton.

Though it looks like Keith is in control of the Silverthornes, readers of the Diary of the Silverthorne Militia, Part 1 and Part 2, learn of Mr. Sullivan who has taken charge of the operation, a sizable FEMA camp several miles from the Junkyard. Even Keith answers to Mr. Sullivan. It’s not until chapter 12 that the MCs group venture to the Silverthorne’s camp that the next major encounter occurs. It’s at this time Kelly may be rescued if she was taken prisoner in chapter 7.

New Army

Not much about the New Army is known until deep into Part 3. You will encounter them briefly in the Soldier prologue when you visit the air field to rendezvous with Colonel Faulkner. The next major encounter occurs in chapter 8 when you go on a scouting mission around the Junkyard with Rachel. A New Army helicopter flies over you and Rachel while you are fighting off a small group of zombies. Other details are revealed in a Patreon short story, New Army Progress Report. The New Army is a well-supplied and well-armed militia led by Colonel Otto Goodman who has taken control of numerous battalions and deemed himself the leader under the new banner. At this stage of the story, you may have your suspicions about the true intentions of the New Army, but at the moment you do not know whether they are a peacekeeping organization or well organized bandits. Though you will encounter them in chapters 11 and 12, much of their story occurs in Part 4.

Other Factions

Those groups explored in this article comprise the most important factions you will face in Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven. By no means are they the only groups surviving in the area around the Junkyard or in central Colorado. Small groups have taken over train yards, hotels, and other areas all within a short drive of your current base. All of these factions combined do not present the greatest challenge, which belongs to the infected. This is mainly a story about the constant threat of zombies who alone pose the greatest risk to you and your group’s survival. Though society is falling and many groups are rising up to challenge one another for supplies, they all face one constant enemy – the Zeta virus — that turns humans into zombies and will kill any who stand in their way.