The Saviors (Patreon)

The Black Plague originally surfaced in the year of 1935, after a young vagabond contracted a mysterious illness seeking refuge in uninhabited territory

Believed to have been scavenging for quite some time, Shadrach complained of a fever and was reported to suffer from delirium and a stark lack of coordination after trespassing in and around the Great Crater. He was escorted to the closest medical center, Adansonia Grove, where he was held before a distress call went out for further assistance.

The vagabond Shadrach and other infected were airlifted into isolation at the Deluge Research Facility for study, where Professor Gordon O’Ganik led the investigation of the mysterious illness.

The case study Shadrach bred ultimately revolved around watching him deteriorate, as all attempts at curing his aliment seemed fruitless. Tormented by sickness, Shadrach was forced into a solitary containment ward when his immune system overreacted to a cocktail of serums and resulting in painful rashes over the bulk of his body. It was here that he met a young girl in a room of her own, isolated from the general populace.

With her as his only real companion for years, Shadrach came to understand his doctor's motivations through the girl--how the doctor's breakthroughs in biological science helped save her life despite her diagnosis, and how he dreamed of eradicating this terminal illness with the results from Shadrach's case study.

Shadrach warmed up to Professor O' Ganik after that, agreeing to brave his suffering if it would help the doctor's wish come true. Though they'd never so much as touched hands, Shadrach and Mallory were best friends up until the day Shadrach succumbed to his mental decay and ended several lives aboard the Deluge.

Shadrach was immediately put into cryogenic status, while a story was cooked up to cover the fatal shootings. Mallory's health quickly declined as a result of the trauma, and she found herself undergoing several experimental treatments to save her life. She was eventually saved with an intravenous introduction of Artificial Chaos Energy, and stabilized with a Life Support System maintained by Chaos Drives.

Her stability wanes slowly and steadily and she was eventually put into cryogenic stasis as another donation to science. Her last words were recorded as:

"Father...I believe in you..."