Fanfic / Biggest Fear

Biggest Fear is a Dawn of the Dead (2004) fanfiction written by Thecricketsarecalling in April 2004 and completed a year later.

It details the life of the survivors especially Ana after Michael's apparent suicide. It is known for its plot twists, filling in the gaps, and a crossover with another one of George Romero's classic zombie movies.

A sequel called Dusk of the Dead was released in April 2008 which takes place 15 years after the end of Biggest Fear.

Biggest Fear provides the following tropes:

• Aborted Arc: Nothing much is really explained why some survivors are immune and why immune ones die after getting bitten by a zombie again.
• Alternate History: Apparently set in May 2004^note The Special Feature's Andy's Lost Tape shows the beginning of the outbreak at May 8, 2004. and ends by 2010 if one takes note of the details.
• After the End: What is left of America after the zombie apocalypse.

• Anyone Can Die: Due to the zombie apocalypse nature, anyone main character can die.
  • Nicole is killed when a group of rogue U.S. Army soldiers raid the island.
  • Terry is beaten to death by a group of motorcycle bandits. He dies just as the large survivor group rescues him.
  • Utopia is raped and beaten to death by the motorcycle gang.
  • Ana dies peacefully after reuniting with Michael^note who actually survived his suicide attempt and is immune to the virus due to blood loss of giving birth to her second child.
• The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best in People: One group in East Buffalo Township consists of everyday people, police officers, and soldiers banding together to survive. They accept anyone in their group as long as they are not hostile.
• Armies Are Evil: The soldiers that resorted to raiding. One of the well-known groups raided the island the survivors were in, killed Nicole, kidnapped Ana, and raped her 36 times.

• Bittersweet Ending: Oh boy, this fanficiton is definitely it. When it appears that Michael would eventually reunite with Ana after so long, it is revealed that Ana is dying of blood loss after giving birth to her second child with the late-Captain Rhodes. Michael is disheartened and tries to make up for lost time even if it is a mere two hours. Ana dies peacefully and the survivors mourn her death. Eventually, they recover from her death and look forward to rebuilding what is left of society in that island such as raising both Hunter and the second child to have a good childhood, thus implying a hopeful future. It is also implied that the zombies all died out by the end of the story.
• Black Dude Dies First: Averted. Kenneth actually survives the rogue soldiers' attack and lives alone for a year before Michael and new survivors reach the island.

• Crapsack World: Naturally, since this is set After the End. You got zombies on what hand and rogue survivors/raiders/bandits on the other.
• Crossover: Part of the story crosses over with Day of the Dead (1985)
• Disappeared Dad: Hunter's father Michael, who was thought to be long dead.
• Driven to Madness: Captain Rhodes snaps as it appears that Ana committed suicide. Ana never did kill herself but she had to leave the Florida bunker as she needed to search for her son Hunter. She had Dr. Logan plant a fake body to make it appear she committed suicide.

• The Hero Dies: After reuniting with Michael and talking straight for two hours trying to process what happened in the past five years, Ana dies peacefully in her rest.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • Terry distracts the bikers from catching Hunter at the cost of his own life.
  • Ana. She distracts the rogue soldiers from catching Terry and Hunter, thus buying two precious time to escape from the island while she is captured herself.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters:
  • The rogue soldiers that raided the island. They kill Nicole and force Ana to become their sex slave.
  • The biker gang. Not only do they brutally murder Terry, they also pillage the large survivor camp in Pennsylvania. They were described to have killed, burned, and rape both woman and children. Thus, it was satisfying to read once New Jersey brutally exacts his revenge on the leader for raping and killing Utopia.
• Improbable Infant Survival: A four year old Hunter survives the long journey from Milwaukee to East Buffalo Township due to the guidance and Heroic Sacrifice of Terry.
• Luke, I Might Be Your Father: After Hunter is rescued by Michael and the survivors following Terry's murder, Michael has the feeling that Hunter has his features.
• Luke, You Are My Father: Hunter then asks Michael why does he look like the man in the photo with his mother Ana^note Taken during the time of the mall.. Michael then realizes that Hunter is his long-lost son that he did not know even was born.
• Next Sunday A.D.: The first few chapters are set 2004-2007 while the story itself was written in 2004 and only completed in 2005. The later chapters take place in the next decade.
• The New '10s: Not really seen but if one reads in between the lines, the story ends in 2010^note Michael is stated to be 40 years old at the time of the outbreak. His driver license has him born on March 16, 1964. At the final chapter, Michael states that he is 46 years old. 1964 + 46 = 2010.

• Peaceful in Death: Ana closes her eyes one last time and is seen smiling peacefully as she expires.
• Post-9/11 Terrorism Movie: One of the non-movie examples. Many citizens blamed the zombie outbreak as a form of terrorist attack.
  Ana (watching the neighborhood in chaos): Is this another attack on the country?
• Product Placement: Lots of them.
  • Monica was apparently part of Playboy.
  • Hunter is given Matchbox toy cars on Christmas Eve 2007.
  • Michael, New Jersey, and Utopia find a mint condition Shelby Mustang GT 500. They use this car to raid Milwaukee of supplies before leaving for East Buffalo Township, Pennsylvania.

• Road Trip Plot:
  • First with Michael, New Jersey, and Utopia as they head to the Pennsylvania countryside to link up with a loose group of survivors.
  • Hunter and Terry as they find a note to head to Pennsylvania.

• Shotguns Are Just Better:
  • Kenneth continues to use his shotgun that he raided from Andy's store.
  • New Jersey is armed with a double-barrel shotgun.
  • Several friendly and hostile survivors are armed with shotguns.

• The Reveal: Michael's suicide attempt failed as the bullet merely grazes his head due to his shaky hands. It is also revealed that he is immune, one of the lucky few around the world. His survival is unknown to the group until the end of the story.

• Zombie Infectee: Michael after he is bitten, though later it is revealed that he is immune. New Jersey at some point was bitten and was just surprised that he didn't chain.
• Zombie Gait: The fast running zombies are eventually reduced to shamblers as the decay progresses. Hence by the fourth month of the outbreak, they could easily be outrun.

Dusk of the Dead provides the following tropes:

• Ambiguous Ending: Jason and Mary escape in a boat to an unknown destination hoping to ride out the zombie apocalypse.
• Anyone Can Die: Since it is a zombie apocalypse, anyone can die. See Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome below
  • New survivors arrive. Of the three survivors, only Jason survives. Swann is bitten by a zombie and is put down while Dallion dies from having his neck slashed.
• Black Guy Dies First: Kenneth and Billy are mentioned to have died of a mysterious disease.
• The Big Rotten Apple: New York is mentioned to be run by psychopaths that want to create an Empire.
• Call-Back:
  • The nightmares Hunter had when he was a kid turned out to be premonitions of the virus returning.
  • Mary goes on to look for who her real father really is despite being told he died years back.
• Dead Person Conversation: It's ambiguous on this one whether the author intended it to be a hallucination or a real ghostly encounter. Mary is rescued by a mysterious soldier as she enters the long abandoned bunker where her father was killed. The said mysterious soldier kills the zombie and they both climb up the rope into the surface. Both then have a conversation why would a young girl doing there all alone. The soldier then says he was stuck their a long time ago and now he has been set free. He then gives Mary his dog tags. Mary looks at the name of the tag and it turns out to be Captain Rhodes' tags, her biological father. As she looks back up, the soldier disappears. She finally finds peace knowing that she finally found the closure that her real father died and at the same time her father was at peace now.
• Deep South: The main story is set in Florida. Swann mentions about survivors witnessing zombies battle sharks in the Gulf Coast.
• Disappeared Dad: The fate of Mary's father who died in Biggest Fear.
• Due to the Dead: Happens multiple times here.
  • Hunter and Mary give their final respects to Kenneth, Billy, Mc Dermott, Sarah, and Michael as their remains in burned in a funeral pyre.
  • Mary finding the dog tags of her father Captain Rhodes, finally finding the peace she has been looking for so long.
  • After Hunter dies of his stab wounds, Jason and Mary pay their respects to him as they burry him in an unmarked grave.
• The End of the World as We Know It: Discussed by Swann, Jason, and Hunter knowing that the virus has returned. It implies that the virus is indeed supernatural and that it is either a Class 2 or Class 3b.
• Genre Shift: If one indeed sees Mary meeting her late father Captain Rhodes as a ghostly encounter rather than a hallucination, then is the first time something supernatural happens in the story.
• Growing Up Sucks: Hunter is 19 years old while Mary is already 15. By then, they realize they are on their own after the deaths of the other survivors and must survive this brave new world.
• Half-Sibling Angst: In one chapter, this becomes a conflict between Hunter and Mary ^note Since Mary was the child of Ana and Captain Rhodes.
• Happily Married: Philip Swann was happily married with his wife named Dorothea. Unfortunately, they got separated when Philly got overrun. He assumes she did not make it.
• Hero of Another Story: Dallion Foster flew Philipp Swann and Jason Warren from the now-overrun Philadelphia refugee camp.
• Hope Spot: In the ending of Biggest Fear, it heavily implied the virus would die out and the human race would finally rebuild what was left of society. The second chapter crashes these hopes.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: Hostile survivors are still encountered despite the human race's survival looking slim.
• Irony: [[In the previous story, Michael asks New Jersey a favor in which he takes care of the former's daughter should he die of old age first. As the story starts, it is revealed that New Jersey died first and Michael dies last.]]
• Mercy Kill: Hunter and Mary apparently did this to the adult survivors just as they expired to prevent reanimation.
  • After Swann is bitten by a zombie and is dying, he begs Jason to shoot him in the head so he won't come back as one. Jason reluctantly agrees.
• Nightmare Sequence: Mary receives one. In her dream, she is in a dark bunker wherein a bloodied corpse in a military uniform is reaching out towards her and asking for her help. YMMV but this could mean she received a supernatural premonition of seeing the fate of her father.
• Nuclear Option: Discussed by a survivor that the situation was so grim that nuclear weapons might be used against the zombies as the humans were slowly facing extinction.
• Only in Florida: The survivors head to an outpost in Florida.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: If one considers Mary meeting Captain Rhodes not a hallucination.
• Peaceful in Death: Michael smiles to his son Hunter and his half-daughter Mary right before dies peacefully of old-age and disease.
• Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: Still the only way to take down the zombies.
• Replacement Goldfish: It's just been a few days since Swann knew Mary and then both were keen on starting on a relationship despite being 15 years of age apart^note Since Swann's wife is implied to have never made it out from Philadelphia. Hunter was initially disapproving due to the age gap. Unfortunately, Swann dies just before the end and causes a bigger heartbreak for Mary.
• Retro Universe: It's already 2024-2025^note Biggest Fear started in 2004 and ended in 2010. The author states 15 years have passed since the end of Biggest Fear and that the original outbreak was 20 years prior. yet the world is either in pre-1900s technology and nowhere near our current technology.
• Riding into the Sunset: Jason and Mary ride a boat into the sunset into an unknown destination.
• Road Trip Plot: The survivors travel from Wisconsin down to Florida via helicopter. They get to see parts of the rural countryside along the way.
• Scenery Porn: The countryside the helicopter flies above the on the way to Florida.
• Sentient Cosmic Force: YMMV on this. If one seriously takes those premonitions in Biggest Fear seriously, then it would explain why Hunter's nightmares as a kid finally became true.
• She Is All Grown Up: Mary is 15 years old now and has to face her fears of surviving the second zombie apocalypse.
• Shout-Out:
  • Swann mentioning about zombies fighting sharks in the Deep South.
  • New York is mentioned to be a Wretched Hive where psychopaths rule in the hopes to create an Empire.
  • Zombies walking underwater? Where have we seen that before?
  • To some degree, the fact the main character dies as per his nightmares despite trying to avert it.
• Slashed Throat: Dallion's fate at the hands of hostile survivors.
• Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome:
  • Kenneth, New Jersey, Sarah, Billy, Mc Dermott, and Michael die.
  • Just before the ending, Hunter dies.
• The Hero Dies: Hunter accidentally stabs himself during a scuffle with hostile survivors, thus finally fulfilling his premonitions that he was going to die in a field during a sunrise.
• The Stinger: The entire premise of the story.
• 20 Minutes into the Future: 15 years have passed since the ending of Biggest Fear.
• Viking Funeral: Hunter and Mary cremate the bodies of Kenneth, Billy, Mc Dermott, Sarah, New Jersey, and Michael so that they won't reanimate.
• Wham Line:
  Hunter: Sickness mostly...we think the virus is coming back, that's why we burn the bodies."
  Survivor" It has.
• Whole Episode Flashback: Chapter 3 has Hunter narrating his whole life to Swann aboard the helicopter.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Hunter's nightmares of him dying became a reality.
• Zombie Apocalypse: It appears it had never ended and just experienced a decline before The Virus mutated into another strain.
• Zombie Gait: The new breed of zombies are slower now which is an advantage to what is left of the human race.