DerpooLand

On the December 12th 1999, nobody could have imagined that within a matter of weeks, the world would turn black and inky. A virus, the likes of which the world had never seen, was about to sweep the entire planet. Many had feared that the new millennium would bring about the apocalypse on January 1st 2000, and the world would laugh at them when their predictions never came true. Would the world turn into Roland Emmerich's vision of Bendy and the Ink Machine?

Patient 0
11:34 PM, January 2nd 2000: In Manila in the Philippines, a vet treating a Yorkshire terrier apparently infected with a strange virus is bitten by the dog, which strangely enough is colorless, only has black eyes leaking ink and no other facial features, except for a mouth which has sharp black teeth and an equally-black tongue. He restrains the animal and immediately attempts to clean the wound with cold water and anti-viral wipes, but it begins to leak ink as well. An ambulance arrives soon after and takes him to De La Salle University Hospital for stitches. By the time the ambulance reaches the hospital, the bite is showing signs of infection, veins now showing and turning black, and the man is dipping in and out of consciousness.

He is taken to Intensive Care as his condition deteriorates. Doctors determine quickly he has been infected with the rabies virus, but none are certain as to why it is affecting patient 0 so quickly as it can often take weeks for the strange virus to affect people like this after being exposed. The patient is transferred to Quarantine and experts are called in from London and Cambridge to evaluate him. Tests show that he has indeed been infected with the virus the dog had carried, but it appears to have mutated into a far more dangerous strain.

Six hours after being bitten, the man suddenly sits up on the bed, his skin darkening, his eyes all black, ink leaking from them as well as dark horns made of ink, and leaking more ink from some areas around his body. He was no longer human but a different entity called a Derpee, much to the shock of hospital staff, and lunges at a nearby virologist grabbing his arm and biting down hard, tearing a chunk of flesh away. The patient gets off the bed and runs at another doctor, grabbing and biting him. A security guard rushes into the room and restrains the patient. However, he too, is bitten. The patient is handcuffed to the bed and secured. The three staff who have been bitten are taken for treatment. Within an hour, all three men who were bitten are complaining of nausea and headaches. An hour after that, they are coughing up their now-darkening blood and losing consciousness for several minutes at a time. Three hours after being bitten, the security guard attacks a nurse treating him, biting her, before being restrained by another security guard. 20 minutes later, the virologist who had been bitten turns and bites four staff members before being restrained.

6:05am, January 3rd 2000: A group of 15 infected broke into the intensive care unit, overpowering doctors and security guard who tried to stop them. The patients in the ICU, wounded in various accidents (fires, car crashes, stabbings, etc) were defenseless against the attackers. The infected began to claw and bite and vomit ink at the people lying in the beds, many hooked up to life support machines. Within a few minutes, all patients in the ICU had been killed. Patients in other wards came to see what the noise was all about, only to be pounced upon by the infected, all turned Derpees. The Derpees rampage through the wards, killing dozens of people and infecting many more. By 1:00 PM, the remainder of the hospitals patients, as well as the police and security still left inside, had been evacuated from the building.

Several patients and staff who had been bitten were being treated in the hospital car park where tents had been set up to accommodate for the wounded as the building was no longer safe. By the time they realised what was happening to those who were bitten it was too late. By 2 o'clock, many more people who were being treated in the makeshift car park hospital were turning and attacking those treating them.

Police attempted to restore order, killing several infected in the process but still he number of infected grew, forcing the police to retreat back to Taft Avenue, and eventually from the area around the hospital all together. As 3 o'clock drew near, the infected had spilled out of the hospital and into the neigbouring parts of the city, killing and infecting as they went. Two hours later, the police had been pushed back to Aurora Boulevard, just past EDSA MRT station. The arrival of riot police and armed response units managed to hold the infected back and slow their spread for a while. But more and more people were becoming infected and turned into Derpees, and that meant the police were becoming outnumbered.

The infection spreads
Within 30 hours of patient 0 arriving at the hospital, there were close to 350 cases of the virus in Pasay with more than 200 people killed outright by the infected. Police started to arrive from neigbouring constabularies to lend support, but even they could not significantly stem the spread of the virus. At 5:30 PM, the Philhealth Trust that had run De La Salle University Hospital sent information to the Home Office and the Department of Health regarding what they thought to be a new strain of the rabies virus. At the same time, President Joseph Estrada was also being informed over the phone by Chief of Manila Police District Avelino Razon of how bad the situation was becoming, and he even asked for military assistance claiming that: "It's as though Hell itself has set upon Manila...everybody's killing each other, there's massacres going on all over the place. We need help and we need it now!"

The Knights of Rizal and Manila Police were dispatched shortly afterward with orders to shoot to kill any and all infected. By the 40th hour of the outbreak, the number of Derpees rose to 2000+ with at least 800 killed. At 7:00 PM the President declared Pasay City under a state of emergency and surrounding areas. The following is from Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno's press conference regarding the Pasay outbreak:

“At 1:30 PM yesterday afternoon, police received at least 126 "117" calls from staff in the vicinity of De La Salle University Hospital regarding a violent disturbance. Since then, the situation has escalated onto the streets of Pasay City with casualties believed to be in the thousands. As the Chief Medical Officer said earlier, it is absolutely vital that the public remain in their homes and avoid all contact with infected individuals. Anyone currently in Pasay City is asked to seek shelter immediately. If you are not in your home and are incapable getting back home please head to the nearest church, school or community center. Pasay City Police, in conjunction with local government, have set up protected shelters within these buildings. Locations of these safe zones are being e-mailed to all major news outlets as I speak. I would like to stress the need for calm, and that the situation is under control. Rumors that emergency services have collapsed or have fled are completely baseless. Police units from neighboring stations are beginning to arrive, as is a contingent of troops from the Knights of Rizal in an effort to restore law and order to the area."

Contrary to the Interior and Local Government Secretary's assurances, emergency call centers had been overwhelmed with calls for help and the city's police force had taken heavy casualties. Ambulance and fire crews were coming under frequent attack and there had been several cases of police officers deserting and fleeing Pasay City with their families. In a widely reported case, a fire crew attending a condominium fire on Roxas Boulevard was attacked by a group of infected. They held their ground by shooting water from their hoses at the infected for a few minutes until being forced to withdraw as more infected arrived. That fire spread throughout Roxas Boulevard and nearly a dozen buildings burned down, and over 75 people died in the flames. A few hours after that incident, the city's 117 call services were suspended due to call center overload and the danger of infected attack on emergency crews attending incidents.

Instead of responding to individual calls, ambulance and fire services were stationed in secure areas of the city, and only responded to incidents in said secure areas. Likewise, police set up defensive perimeters around these secure areas, although they would not be secure much longer. Emergency Services were starting to fall apart all across Pasay City, and the population was soon left to fend for themselves. The first soldiers began to arrive on the 6th of August, and set up checkpoints on the outskirts of Pasay City to prevent the infected getting out, effectively quarantining the entire city. 137 uninfected civilians were shot dead trying to break through the quarantine that day. The soldiers killed at least 300 infected in only a couple of hours, but more and more kept coming. By the early hours of 4th January, the Army, along with the remnants of Manila Police, had pulled out of the city and helped bolster the defenses set up to impose the quarantine.

According to top secret figures circulating within the various government agencies and departments involved, the numbers of Derpees were exceeding 40,000, with more than 8,000 dead. Government advisors warned that the situation was out of control and to brace for a possible larger scale crisis that could spread beyond Norwich. The dog that started the ordeal was revealed to have actually been a Derpoer, a demonic dog from a parallel universe populated by ink creatures, according to studies from the University of the Philippines

Virus breaks through the quarantine zone
On the 6th January, four days since the first cases of the virus were reported, the infected were attempting break through the army blockades surrounding Pasay City. Mortars, machine guns and even heavy artillery were used to hold off the onslaught, and for a while, it seemed to work. But more and more infected kept pouring out of the city, and ammo was starting to run low. The troops fought valiantly, and even support from PAF close air support was not enough to turn the tide. At 11:12 PM, the main army blockade on the A74, just outside Pasay City was finally overrun. In the next few hours, the remaining blockades were abandoned as the troops were ordered to pull back. On the 9th of August, the Prime Minister ordered an additional 10,000 troops to the NCR to help contain the virus.

ABS-CBN News reports
January 2nd - "And to round up today's news, an incident has been reported at De La Salle University Hospital. At least three people have been murdered by an unspecified number of attackers, with at least ten injured, four critically. Police have declined to comment further."

January 3rd 9:00 AM - "Welcome to ABS-CBN News Plus and the headlines this morning, a riot at De La Salle University Hospital. At least 30 people are confirmed dead and hundreds more injured. Unconfirmed reports indicate that rioters made their way through hospital wards and the intensive care units attacking and killing patients and staff alike. Police have not yet ruled out terrorism."

January 3th 7:00 PM (from an on-scene reporter) "The situation appears to be growing worse and the death toll has risen again, this time to 54. The number of rioters has, for reasons unknown, continued to grow, forcing staff and police to evacuate those remaining inside. The wounded are being treated in the car park as...(Derpees break through front entrance, over-running police)"...oh my god! They...they look like they're biting people...they're running toward us. Go now, get in the van!"

January 4th - "There are reports of chaos across Pasay tonight as violence sweeps the entire city. Hundreds have been killed, and thousands more injured. According to the Department of Health, this violence has been caused by a virus that is not from this world, which was first confirmed in De La Salle University Hospital by doctors on Wednesday afternoon. The President has sent in the Army and declared a state of emergency in an effort to restore the situation to normal. People living in the city are advised to seek shelter immediately and not to venture outside for any reason. Emergency phone lines are overloaded as...(newscaster stops talking and listens to his earpiece)...I've just received word that a travel ban is being enforced on Pasay City, effective immediately, quarantining the city. No unauthorized persons will be allowed to enter or leave Pasay City, and armed troops are setting up checkpoints on all roads in and out of Pasay City. The Home Secretary will be holding a press conference in an hour to explain this travel ban in further detail."

January 5th - "Thousands of people have died as these "ink-people", as the public are now referring to them, overrun Norwich and nearby villages. Soldiers from the Knights of Rizal manning the blockades on the roads in and out of the city are reportedly facing a sustained assault by large numbers of infected. The Department of Defense denies the soldiers are low on ammo and morale, but many reliable sources who have asked not to be named are saying that at least three blockades have been overrun, and that most units are running low on ammo. At least 16 cases of desertion have been reported, with all but four being shot immediately upon being captured."

January 6th - "President Joseph Estrada has ordered an additional 10,000 combat troops to the infected zone in an effort to contain the spread of infection. Current reports now have the death toll surpassing 25,000, with that number expected to rise significantly in the coming hours. All signs point to this situation worsening before getting better. According to the Department of Defense, all of Metro Manila and surrounding provinces are now under a state of martial law, due to the high percentage of police officers who have been killed in Pasay City, including those from other cities in the NCR, resulting in a lack of law enforcement and a massive increase in crime in which the army must now step in and deal with."