Zach Dawson

A hardened survivor of the fall of civilization during Universe B, who rose to mythic status due to his accomplishments resisting the zombie hordes of the Tall Man.

Beginning of the End
Grabbing lunch at a local fast food joint with his father, Andrew Dawson, Zach met his high school friend Tyler Walker. They had been on the football team together and remained close despite Andrew's disapproval of Tyler, whom he perceived to be a morally weak person. At this chance encounter, they discussed the government investigation of the Marõid ship, and were interrupted when the first of the infected individuals arrived. A pack of zombies entered the restaurant and killed everyone within. Andrew Dawson, a veteran of Iraq, took out several attackers until he was killed by a single tall zombie. Zach and Tyler fled back to their home, where they stored food and armed themselves with weapons from Andrew's personal store.

Michael
After laying low for some time, observing the zombies, Zach's relationship with Tyler is strained by Tyler's cowardice. They meet a man named Michael Kavanaugh, who resents Zach bossing him around due to the age difference. He believes in a rescue, and Zach wants to proactively search for help. Tensions rise between the two, culminating in a murder. Cornered in a safe house, Zach convinces the three to split up and run to a vehicle, purposely sending Michael a way he knows is watched. Michael is chased down and dies screaming for help from Tyler or Zach. Tyler realizes Zach knew that Michael would die, and used him as a distraction. Zach continues to look down on Tyler for his weakness, but they mend their friendship.

Admitting Defeat
Hiding his infection from Tyler grows more difficult, and Zach soon discovers Tyler has also been hiding a similar bite, to which he has succumbed much quicker. Despairing and out of options, Zach takes Tyler and the last of their supplies and makes the long drive to Fort Kenneth, where he believes a military presence persists due to communications with his uncle. He arrives and they are both taken to separate rooms. Zach meets his uncle, Pierce Dawson, a scientist who attempts to cure them. However, Zach later discovers that in order to understand the pathogen, they were require to perform a vivisection on Tyler's brain. Discovering this infuriates Zach, who feels he has been betrayed. He only brought Tyler here to be cured. Pierce, however, is convinced that he saved Zach and did a good thing. Zach learns that DC has fallen and a horde moves north. Soon after, the compound is overrun and Zach breaks free. He evades the attackers, familiar with their modus operandi, and sneaks through the ruins. He finds his uncle Pierce, being tortured by the same tall zombie who killed his father. Zach sneaks to Pierce when the zombie leaves, and Pierce reveals three bits of information. The tall zombie is their leader, more intelligent that the others, who wants information from Pierce. Pierce then tells Zach where to find his notes, and more importantly, the product that he was able to make. The last bit of information is the code to detonate the nuclear bomb underneath the base and destroy the local zombie horde and the leader. Zach, however, values his life too much, and fails to understand the significance this strike would have had. Pierce dies and Zach finds his notes, along with a cache of the drug which will slow the process of his transformation by preventing the pathogen from reaching his brain. He meets a wounded soldier named Barry Staples, who has been bitten. He cries when he learns there is a drug that can save him, and Zach cries too, knowing there is not enough. He silently begs Barry to leave, but with no other choice, he guns the soldier down.

A New Beginning
Equipped with Pierce's notes, a cache of the drug and military weapons, Zach evacuates the ruins of Fort Kenneth. He travels south where he encounters a group of people who have managed to survive by constantly being on the move, rotating between Five Holds. He meets the five rulers, Nikolaj Strickland, Bruce Ayton, Raymond Ellis, Seamus Desmond and Joshua Locke. He befriends Bruce's son Philip and becomes close with a girl named April Stapleton. He begins to wonder if this could be a promising life, until they find Raymond's group slaughtered during a rotation. Signs of a firefight indicate that they were cooked and eaten by humans, not zombies. Zach and April spend a night together watching the stars, and the next day they are attacked by cannibals. Zach collapses from a beating, and wakes to find the party slaughtered. Bruce and his men are half-eaten carcasses, Philip is roasted on a spit, captain of the guard Old Stump was decapitated and used as a puppet, April's friend Gwen Walton nailed to a wall, but no sign of April herself. Zach burns the remaining bodies, and limps away.

Mercer Colony and Loss of Faith
Zach believes that the happiness he felt has cursed him, and when he finds Mercer Colony he is skeptical of its survival. He befriends Nathan Lancaster and, eventually, Sara Abbott, with whom he initially argued relentlessly. When the first mammoth zombie arrives, Zach makes a sudden connection, knowing it is related to the information the Tall Man wanted from Pierce. Normals invade the Colony, and Zach chooses to save Sara, letting Nathan be eaten alive. The two of them flee while Roger Mercer and the survivors are left to die at the hands of the zombies and a scout team from the Prison. Zach finally is convinced that large groups are doomed, and a shaken Sara agrees to live with him in their old safe houses.

Three's Company
Zach and Sara discover dead zombies with a broken arrow lying amongst them. Believing that someone else is living in the vicinity, Sara hopes for an ally, but Zach sees the stranger as a threat. They discover it is Kent Francis, a survivor of Mercer Colony who had joined with Thaddeus Milton Crawford. A talented archer and woodsman, Kent also prefers to live alone. Despite initially clashing with Zach's personality, they agree to coexist separately, and even become friends.

One day as Zach works in the garden, he is approached by Sara, who was supposed to be sick. She reveals she has not had her period, and believes she is pregnant. The couple is on the verge of panic at these implications, forcing Zach to communicate with the large group now inhabiting the Lab, exchanging his knowledge about the zombies for Lawrence's guarantee that they will care for Sara during and after her childbirth. Kent arrives soon after, journeying south following the rumors of a Safe Haven.

Zach meets Walt Quigley, a former member of the Five Holds who was separated from Nikolaj's group when they met up with the truck from the Farm. Walt saves Sara from being bitten, and Zach reluctantly allows Walt to stay with them. During this time, he and Sara fight often, and Walt becomes close with Sara, convincing her to make up with him. Together, the pair convince Zach that it is safer for her to go to the Lab. Alone again, Zach investigates the Safe Haven that Kent told him about.

A Recurring Nightmare
On his way south, Zach encounters a band of cannibals also heading to the Safe Haven. He kills a group of them, and captures the retarded boy Tom, who tells him that they took April captive. They put a baby in her belly then cut it out and made her eat it. Zach begins hunting the others, and captures a pariah among the cannibals, the one reluctant to eat human flesh. The captive, Stewart, tells Zach that Tom lied and that April is still alive, and she delivered a baby girl. Something in Stewart's voice changes when he mentions the baby and Zach suspects he is hiding the fact that it is his. Zach discovers a complicated manipulation where the real Tom was killed by him, and that the leader Don had been masquerading as the simpleton. Stewart escapes and Zach finds April, weak and controlled by drugs. She begs him to save her daughter, whom she names Amy, and it is implied that Zach kills her before leaving. Stewart failed to save his own daughter, being driven off by Dmitri and Gonzalo, whom Zach later killed.

A Lonely Winter
During the winter, Zach awaits the day when Sara will give birth. During this time, he is approached by a group of strangers. Charmed by their leader, he allows them to stay in one of his safe houses, albeit far from him. Over the winter, he comes to know the group well. Marcel Sutton, the leader. Lloyd Graves, the sharpshooter. Claude Larson, the muscle. Herbert Holland, the brains. Oberon Bowman, the quiet one. Jackie Barrett, the punk rocker. Bridget Hubbard, the pretty one. He grows fond of them, but still insists they leave in the spring, in accordance with their deal. He is almost sad to see them go, until he discovers Claude stayed behind to kill him. Claude attacks him with his hammer, but Zach fights him off and kills him with a power sander. Enraged, Zach begins hunting them.

Vengeance
Zach is permitted to enter the Lab, and does so to visit Sara frequently. They discuss what to name the child, and Zach's names are Tyler if it's a boy and Ava if it's a girl, as that was the name his mother would have named him if he'd been a girl. Sara wants to name it Peter after her deceased brother, and they cannot come to an agreement. As he is leaving, Zach is shocked to find Marcel campaigning for a position in the Lab. When he sees Marcel, he takes a shovel and begins to brutally beat him during a speech. He is stopped by Karl Stone. Marcel is imprisoned, and Jackie is captured although the others escape. Oberon and Herbert free Jackie, and Lawrence makes the decision to expel Marcel, allowing Zach to tail him to the others. The others realize that Marcel is being tailed, and Lloyd snipes him to prevent him from exposing them. Zach still manages to find them, and guns down Jackie in a firefight while the others escape.

Man o' War
Zach joined Henry Maddox with Hunters Stephen Adair and LeShawn Burks to wipe out the last of the cannibals. In his final days, Zach became more and more consumed by his bloodlust, and his pursuit of the Tall Man. After several clashes, Zach finally was convinced that the next generation of the Tall Man's enhanced zombies would spell doom for humanity. A desperate bid for the survival of the human race led him to reach out to Lawrence Miller, asking for help. Despite the situation with the Prison nearing war, Lawrence was the only leader of the major powers to recognize the Tall Man's threat, knowing Zach to never exaggerate. He sent a detachment of some of his best soldiers along with Zach to Fort Kenneth, where it all began. Zach, accompanied by Sanjay Desai, Angela Holcomb, Angus Fletcher, Nellie Serafim, Sam Capello, Kenny Gagnon, Collin Sanchez and a full squad of fighters entered the ruins to prepare a trap, and instead walked into one. Ambushed by a horde of Lurkers, Hunters, Mammoth and Berserker, the group is torn apart. Sam and Kenny are killed, and the nuclear detonator is lost. Nellie is torn apart, and Sanjay and Angus are separated. Zach is struck from the platform and falls into the depths of the facility. Barely alive and fighting off Lurkers, he finds the lost nuclear button and retrieves it. He finds the corpses of the captives who gave birth to the Fourth Kind, and realizes his fear has come true. He fights his way upwards again, arriving just in time to stop the Tall Man from killing Angus. He strikes down the Tall Man and taunts his old enemy before detonating the explosion as he should have done one year ago. The nuclear blast destroys all local life forms, except for the Speeders who left with Angela, and Collin's group. This includes Zach himself.

Legacy
The legend of Zach Dawson elevates him to a nearly mythic status among the survivors. His name is well known by all, though stories about him are often falsified. The impact he left on the world was felt heavily by his son, Tyler Dawson, pushing him to try and live up to his father's legend. After Zach's death, Sara gives birth to a baby boy, whom she names Tyler as Zach wanted. She also learns that one of the Fourth Kind is Zach's half-sister, and christens the beast "Ava."

Part of his deal with Lawrence Miller and Tim Reyes for Sara's safety was that he provide blood, stool, hair and semen samples. Lawrence made the geeks examine it to confirms his suspicion that although Zach somehow resisted the infection taking over his mind, the alien pathogen was still altering his DNA. This led to the conspiracy wherein Lawrence spirited his son away, swapping him for a fake one that died when the last Prisoners attacked the Fort. Zach's enhanced genetics are still clearly present in his grandchildren, Kuma Dawson and Galen Dawson.

Family
Zach's parents were Andrew Dawson, a veteran, and Wendy Dawson, who was infected shortly after the outbreak. Andrew was killed by the Tall Man in front of Zach, while Wendy was used as a test subject in the Palace, where she gave birth to Ava Dawson and was killed by Leader. Andrew's brother Pierce Dawson was a USAMRIID scientist who experimented on treating the infection until the fall of Fort Kenneth, where he was captured and tortured by the Tall Man. He passed valuable information on to Zach before succumbing to his wounds. Zach fathered a son, Tyler Dawson, on Sara Abbott, who ended up also adopting the daughter of Zach's former girlfriend April Stapleton. Tyler Dawson became a feared guerrilla leader during the West American Collective occupation of the east coast. His subsequent infection by an EIDR strain led to him becoming the most feared zombie leader on the world, leaving behind a pair of genetically enhanced human sons, Kuma Dawson and Galen Dawson, the grandchildren of Zach Dawson through Tyler birthed by Sadie Hunt, who would go on to become the most fearsome warriors of their generation.

In the Disrupted Timeline
Upon awakening in the city during the Ravager's broken paradigm, Zach was confused and reacted violently. He first fought against the Guardian and Sean Clements until they joined forces, becoming the three dragonlords and attacking the Ravager. Zach mounted an Arthrax Dragon, whom he named Necrobane. During the battle, he and Necrobane saved Bulk from Tarzahk by killing the latter. When Tyat'Naghra and the other Apocalypse Lords were released, Zach directed Necrobane to devour the Time Serpent. Zach attacked the Ravager, and with Sean and the Guardian's help he struck down the thief. Now in control of the Temporal Matrix, he focused on the Guardian's voice, telling him to think of home. He pictured the place he spent the winter with Marcel's group, and the entire conglomerate population was transplanted into Universe B.

Zach became one of the three dragonlords, preferring to live solitarily and spend time with Sara Abbott. He joins the other two to settle the dispute in China, and later leads Team Black south to eradicate an Inferus infestation in Brazil, and is forced to accept the help of the Prime Magician to fight off the Primordial Dark, from whom he learns the Tall Man is alive. They chase after the Primordial and his allies, but Zach's heart is not into it. He wants to go after the Tall Man, but the Guardian convinces him to stay after they nearly fight. Zach wounds Adam, but they escape. Frustrated, he returns home and finds Sara is still on a diplomatic mission to the Empire. He quickly leaves again to find the Tall Man once Necrobane has recovered from his wounds.

Zach finds the location he learned from the Primordial, and sees it is heavily infested with monsters. The Denizen has made some strange deal with the Tall Man, and is contributing to sealing the Inferus infestation. Zach rescues the captured Lawrence Miller and Karl Stone. They are pursued by the Tall Man's assembled armies, and the Annihilation Wave begins.

During this conflict, Zach briefly joins the other dragonlords and the Apocalypse Lords to fight against three new enemies who have stolen the Apocalypse Lords' powers. They are defeated at first, but recruiting the Bane allows them to kill Thomas Carson and Miranda Kaur. Zach rides out to find the Tall Man and is joined by Sean Clements and the Defenders. Zach detonates a Gobulin reactor, stripping the Tall Man of his powers, and kills him. The Denizen then allows the Inferus to consume him and his garrison, seemingly in response to the Tall Man's death.

Haunted by the events of the Annihilation Wave and the Guardian World War, Zach struggles to find happiness. He follows Sean into Asia during the ghost crisis, and watches him 'die' at the hands of the Adam-Ghost. Zach and the Guardian enter the cave while Team Red secures the cave entrance. They join forces with Wraith, and are attacked by the Adam-Ghost. Wraith is defeated, the Adam-Ghost kills the Preeminent, only to be struck down by Sean and the Eldritch One. Carefully observing the struggle, Zach knows what must be done. He guns down Sean, who mutters "clever" before toppling through the portal. The Guardian draws on Zach, believing him to be crazy, but Zach knows that Sean was still possessed. Believing him deceased, Zach takes it upon himself to travel through the gate and shut down the invasion. He steps through the portal and works with the Guardian to destroy the gate.

He remains trapped outside reality until the Blaubist brings Gerald Rowan to the tomb of the dragonlords to restore the main continuity.