XP_HAVOK

that's probably what they mean by assassin's group as I imagine he's a higher member of the group

spoiler warning to the shows I know similar to how when someone is bit they can turn in 5 minutes to 12 hours it has been shown someone can have immunity to the virus or weird powers like hearing the zombies speak and having them guide them or the dumb zombies not attacking them if I remember correctly probably due to the same virus in them mutating them to a certain degree you could show someone with one of the powers shown in the show as a bit of spice that throws a wrench in everyone's gears and also makes them worry what someone could do of they weren't good and had an ability of some kind or potentially an illness or disease flaring up someone getting the flu or something contagious and them needing to figure out what it is the stress that brings up problems it throws wrenches into plans and groups making people have to work together that normal don't like to. maybe potentially killing someone off not to walkers or other people but an illness or disease showing that there is other things to worry about and how fragile life is 🤔

I can think of one very massive plot point you could use but it contains spoilers lol. it would basically make everyone have to talk and possibly show more of the scientist/doctor part of Alex

also sorry for the long ass paragraphs I love the series and it's hard to explain simply as well as not many novels dip into it without doing the I'm average but a ladies man super genius bs you talk about. there is like 6 or 7 movies I think rather then you trying to watch the walking dead and while good is long so long lol the games are good if you end up liking that universe highly recommend they transitioned over the years from action to more of the horror elements but still have really good action. wouldn't recommend the series universe while cannon it's big like very big with lots of lore and complicated things always happening that doesn't come to light to much later. Great to watch would be a pain in the ass to write a novel for though also sorry for another long as paragraph. best of luck on the intern stuff and college classes exams I know they are soul crushing. may the energy drinks caffeine work wonders 🙏 lol

resident evil. there is 3 universes you can think of it like marvels movie universe and the comics/series universe and the games universe. it's a zombie apocalypse set of movies and games where the government makes a "cure all" serum that heals almost every sickness however it had the side effect of reanimating dead cells even when someone dies reanimating the body with the most basic human function to feed and that spreads the virus. there is a lot of government things going on in the background and there is even an antidote and cure in the movie and i think in the games and series universes but they work differently. also the virus has the ability to mutate people to an extent basically enhancing their abilities to think and react as well as their strength and agility they however can die pretty easily think of it like a nerfed super soldier serum but provides a lot more healing. there is also a game series that kind of is a different story entirely it goes into the cannon universe much more the government has a lot more control the virus is much more "contained" a lot more variants. there is also a lot of different main characters basically it gives you a lot of choices of where to start or how you want to structure it. I'd recommend the movie universe it's much smaller easy and quick to learn fun to watch and not a massive jump up from the walking dead.

I think volumes might be better. don't make a whole nother book. People sometimes have criteria a book has to meet before they read it like having 100 chapters and so on the bigger it looks the easier it will be for people to read your story also it can do very well and make it on the leader board or whatever it's called and that would let many more people read the book as well also splitting them makes it so this ark when it's over won't get as many powerstones splitting them.

your building up the characters, the world and giving everything depth it will make chapters longer but everything feels great with the story

case not cast

also he could have no memories of the system for a bit making everything more real and it would be good on you cause not a massive amount of lore to go over chances for characters to die, and depending on whatever reward you give him less chance to stand out when you have the zombie apocalypse and alice who possesses the ability to regen and increased strength and a genocidal Ai the red queen.

I'd heavily recommend resident evil he gets the comfort of escaping the walking dead to suffer the mental blow that is zombies it also fits the theme so far. you could make him a simple cop with very basic training of how to shoot a gun and subdue someone. you could work it like the games where ammo is hard to get and there isn't waves coming at him as he has to navigate the city. or a scientist/doctor who they found but has "amnesia" from the same gas that flooded the place and caught Alice. he enters with no memory and has to go with the squad to get something "classified" and slowly recovers his memories its something ive never seen in novels so far. the goal could be a simple escape racoon city before it gets nuked as in the lore many people escaped that place it has bits of action, puzzle solving, science and a few other things to pick from. also it appeals to the same type of audience people who love zombies stuff only downside is he doesn't get the time to make preparations or maybe he did but only slowly remembers them as time goes on. you could nerf alice slightly as she just recovered her memories and is paranoid with no idea whats happening but the instincts of a badass soldier and combat training as well as being different for some reason and slowly transition her into a badass could also nerf the zombies as the gas effects them in some way till they start to shake it off and can move faster could make the role the red queen has in blocking them stronger to have more puzzles or side quests could nerf the soldiers or alice with the limited amount of ammo that is brought into the hive could buff his role by only him having access to certain locations and some possible knowledge he can slowly remember or plans his past self made that might help or unintentionally hinder them 🤔