Photojournalist Frank West is alerted by an anonymous source that something is occurring in the town of Willamette, Colorado. Flying into town via helicopter, Frank learns that the town is in the midst of a quarantine invoked by the U.S. military and observes several violent incidents throughout. Wanting to cover the story, Frank asks the helicopter pilot to return in three days and is promptly dropped off at the town shopping mall. Upon entering the mall Frank learns that the quarantine is due to a mass zombie outbreak, which managed to infect a majority of Willamette’s population.