Infected

Creation & Behavior
The infected are known as the few that were desperate enough to eat the crops that unexplicably 'became sick', which in the end led to the quarantine of the Jancovich Islands. As some suffer from cases of insanity and brain damage, they can be hostile towards eachother, although they aren't deemed hyperagressive. Most of the effects of the 'spoiled crops' seem to come from a mutated type of "moss fungus" which can not only grow inside living beings, but it causes some damage to the being it grows upon due to the brain-damaging alkaloids that the fungi produces.

Variations
The fungi has an effect on anyone that has eaten the spoiled crops ever since the Jancovich islands began function as an "independent" region. The effects vary for everyone, in example, the fungi can grow in a widespread manner on different people, though it has never covered the whole body of the host. Also, different inviniduals (based on age and based on size) may react differently to the alkaloids produced by the fungi. Frail, young children can even die because of overdosing on the alkaloids.

Progression

 * Day 1: No effect.
 * Day 2: Nausea, breathing difficulties caused by the spores planting themselves possibly around the trachea.
 * Day 3: The infection begins to show on the outside through growing out of facial cavities to the rest of the head.

Trivia

 * The 'Moss Fungi' is based on a real life fungi that plagues spoiled crops, known as ergot (Claviceps purpurea). Ergot-spoiled bread that was commonly eaten during the middle ages caused an ergotism epidemic, known as "Saint Anthony's Fire".
 * The idea for a sort of 'disease' has come from the cliche of most 'horror action games' containing either zombies or other sorts of 'infected'.
 * The image in this page for the 'Infected' is from Ken Barthelmey's concept art for Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. A lot of his concept art contained interesting and 'scary-looking' ideas for a sort of 'infected enemy'.