Background

Michael Mudd was born to a ranching family in Riverdale Iowa. Growing up Michael learned the basics of ranching from his father, be it helping his father fix the barn, herding cattle or hunting predators who maybe harming their herd. Some of his best moments in his childhood were spent camping out under the stars with his father and the ranch hands. Michael never really loved owning a ranch with his family, but he sure loved the life of a cowboy. Wanderlust gripped Michael shortly after high school causing Michael to spend most of his life before the outbreak wandering from place to place picking up odd jobs on farms, in lumber mills & bars. Michael's love of the open road kept him wandering up until the outbreak began. When the outbreak hit Michael found himself outside Grand Rapids Michigan working for a lumber yard, when he noticed his co workers gathered around the radio with horrified looks on their faces. Michael listened intently, his facial expression quickly changed to match the other listeners, he was shocked and worried about his family back in Iowa. He quickly gathered his things from the job site and headed to his apartment to pack a bag and head home. While he was packing his bag Michael heard a strange gurgling coming from his patio. Michael grabbed a kitchen knife and looked outside to find his neighbor was has ripped the throat out of their landlord and started to attack the poor man. Michael flung open the door, stabbing his neighbor in the neck, Michael kept stabbing this feral human until it stopped moving. With the area no longer safe Michael grabbed his bag and headed towards his truck adrenaline pumping through his veins. Michael's thoughts turned to home as he started his journey across the Midwest to his families ranch. After a week of navigating the back roads of a chaotic nation Michael found himself at his families ranch or what was left of it. The ranch was gone with no trace of his family, the cattle were all dead, picked clean by the infected or slain by survivors for meat. A single note was left by his father it read "Mikey, we waited as long as we could, we went to a local evacuation zone. Don't come looking just SURVIVE." Michael took one look at the note, folded it and placed it in his coat pocket. Michael wandered for months until he heard a rumor of an Island where survivors were setting up safe havens. He booked passage on a local fishing boat, trading his truck for his one way ticket. The boat dropped Michael off on the shores off Braddock Island where Michael ventured inland, scavenging to survive until he could find a population center willing to take him in.