By JerZ Phenom and Reigning Chaos
Supports 6-12 Players

A Tough Day on the Job by Phenomenal
Feeling the air in his lungs, hearing the footsteps around him, smelling the rot in the air, Tyler wished he were dead, for the mind need only die once. Or so he hoped.

How long had he been on the floor? His forehead burned from where the bullet had a cut a narrow groove across the wide span of flesh. One inch to the left and he would have been one of the lucky ones – one of the ones who wouldn’t come back.

Snapped back into reality, Tyler barely remembered how the day had begun. He remembered the stress of organizing paperwork on the third floor of his office building – a place that he had been cornered for the last seven years of his life. What a joke. He didn’t know stress until the dead majority started to eat the living minority. He didn’t know stress until he was at gunpoint merely three hours before. And now, with this life hanging on a thin filament over a score of hungry maws, he felt the fear deep in his bones. He wished he were dead. He wished the bullet had found its mark. He wished that he were never born.

His legs spasmed then remained still. His breath filled the silence. Tears of sweat dripped from the sides of his head as smoldering flames from the invasion still remained ablaze. Through the inferno, he could finally spot where he was. The burning cubicles and large elevator insinuated that he was on the top floor of his building. As his vision returned to relatively normal, he noticed that several of his co-workers bordered his wounded body. However, they all appeared to be dead, eaten alive by the merciless zombies that had plagued the defenseless workplace only hours before. Tyler climbed up to his feet, feeling his joints ache like he were a man of sixty instead of a man of thirty five. He distinguished a pistol under one of the sweltering cubicles. Five bullets existed in the barrel. However, hope was the last thing in his mind at this point, and Tyler had reached his last resort. Surrounded by dead co-workers, Tyler rested the pistol’s cold barrel against the side of his temple, then ran his index finger over the hammer of the gun. His finger quivered on top of it, then curled into itself. He released the weapon. He would never use it. Not against himself. He wedged a closed fist into his mouth, holding back the tears. He knew zombies still subsisted in the burning building, and if he wanted to survive, he had to be stealthy about it.

Tyler could hear the creaking of dried flesh as all the heads of the dead men and women pivoted in his direction. Congealed eyes ascertained. Cracked lips salivated. Raspy gasps echoed from tattered windpipes. Prey was in their midst. He stepped backwards, never taking his eyes off the silent approaching mob. His back collided with the unflinching metal of the malfunctioning elevator. The lead groaner stumbled towards him. Its broken jaw quivered with excitement. The creature tripped over itself, and fell. Its head smacked hard on the floor with a muted crack as rotted cartridge shattered from the fall. The groaner didn’t even miss a beat. It raised his head, revealing a smashed nose and proceeded to its victim. Tyler, still wearing his blood-stained dress shirt and tie, raised a leg and landed his boot into the groaner’s face.

“Go to hell,” he muttered and slammed his boot again. And again. And again. He stomped over and over with whatever energy he could muster out of his injured body. But it was no use. Ten more zombies slowly gaited their way toward Tyler’s direction. He had dropped his pistol adjacent to the cubicle, and he was already regretting not pulling the trigger. The zombies’ shadows enveloped his body, and death was imminent. The leading zombie lunged for Tyler’s body in pursuit of his blistered flesh. In mid-lunge, a shotgun blasted somewhere in the darkness. The flash of light blinded him and in but an instant, his face was splashed of what felt to be cold syrup mixed with chunks of bone.

“Tyler get up!” he heard, “Just run. Just get up and run and shoot anything that gets in your way.”

The deafening voice pierced his ears, one that could only belong to his eccentric partner, Jackson Segal. Three more shots were blasted into the zombies’ decaying backs. Tyler climbed out of the elevator, astonished to see that the two remaining co-workers who had been lying on the floor had been awoken by the thunderous gunfire. Tyler and Jackson helped the three to their feet. None of them appeared to be seriously wounded, just disoriented from the day’s occurrences. Jeff Karstens, the oldest of the four, had worked in the building for over thirty years, and had become known as the crackhead of the building. He even revealed that he had kept an automatic gun in his desk for the last twenty years. They knew that they needed to get that gun, and most importantly, get the hell out of the nightmare that now existed in the five story building.

The other member of the four survivors was Mark Peters, a college intern who had felt lucky to have found a job in this economy. But lucky was the last thing he felt at this point. It looks like his trip back to Northwestern University would be a little delayed if he was killed by the dozens of zombies within the office building.

The fastest route to the office was a spiral staircase nearby the main elevator. The five rushed to the stairs only to find scorching flames impeding their quickest chance of survival. They turned around only to see that the other exit was quickly becoming obstructed by zombies rushing at their prey. The dead moved closer. For the first time since it all happened, Tyler was able to meet their cold stares. He would kill them. Every single one of them. Nothing would have him on his knees again.

A dead woman missing half of the skin on her face grabbed at him from the side. Mouth open. Teeth bared. Tyler pushed the dead woman backwards. The creature pinwheeled down the burning stairs, and toppled over backwards. Tyler wheeled around in time to catch another groaner almost fall on top of him. He stepped aside in time to let it fall to the ground. He lifted the groaner’s head, dug his fingers into its eye sockets, and stripped free the two rotten balls. He crushed the fleshy orbs in his palms. A black liquid mush squeezed through his fingers.

“Can’t bite me if you’re blind,” he said.

He figured that he should be disgusted, feeling the black rot seep through crevices between his fingers, but it didn’t matter anymore. He raced down the stairs firing the pistol into the heads of five more zombies. Reaching Karstens’ office, he opened the bottom shelf, desperately seeking the gun that his bizarre co-worker had claimed to own. He threw his whole arm into the deep drawer feeling simply old files and papers until he felt a cold metal at the bottom of the drawer. Tyler lifted his blood soaked hand bearing a loaded M16, then smeared the black zombie blood over his face. Elation blossomed deep in him. Nothing truly mattered anymore. Life and death were of but one entity. There was work to be done.

More than half a year ago, Reigning Chaos posted a preview on Forge Hub that not only caught my interest, but the interest of many other members with the idea of an infection map taking place in an office building exclusively. Although simple, this was no ordinary map. Unfortunately, RC lost interest leaving an incredible idea in the Halo 3 graveyard. Until one day, I noticed that RC had posted an adoption thread that included Human Resources in all of its glory. The map was handed to me sometime in March. I know, you’re like, it took you more than 5 months to complete a map! Essentially, yes, but you can blame my lack of time and No-I’ll-Do-That-Tomorrow Syndrome for that. However, about 2 weeks ago I finished the map’s construction and made several changes throughout the map’s testing. RC helped me along the way with the gametypes he initially had in mind, so we could make the game as fun and creepy as possible. Thus, after 8 long months, RC and I give you Human Resources.

“A problem”: A problem essentially uses many of the aspects seen in Manifest merged with several settings of Save One Bullet. Humans spawn on the top floor of the office building and are forced to pick from one of the three paths on this floor: Spiral staircase, vent, or back staircase to the second floor. The humans start off well armed, but ammunition is limited throughout the map. However, you will not be finding any rocket launchers or snipers lying around the map, as RC and I agreed to make weaponry as realistic as possible. Also, But you didn’t think it would be that simple, right? Two killballs acting as fire caused by the zombie invasion in the building obstruct entrances to the third floor. Therefore, humans are forced to holdout against zombies, using a checkpoint teleporter system similar to the one in Manifest. After 60 seconds, a grav lift spawns above each kill ball acting as a sprinkler putting the fire out. Objects spawn within the kill ball allowing humans to pass through safely. The humans, if still alive, reach the third floor where they must stay aware of other zombie entrances and the ones from before. An elevator shaft leading to the fourth floor is also blocked with fire, and the humans must hold out for another 60 seconds until the “sprinkler” spawns and they can safely drop down. Likewise to Manifest, humans should look at this as a mission to get to the bottom floor to get out of the burning building swarming with zombies if they want to survive. Once humans drop to the fourth floor, there is no way back up. Therefore, they must hold out on the fourth and fifth floor connected by a small ramp until time runs out, in essence, meaning that they survived.

Settings:
Duration- 4 Minutes
3 Rounds

Humans-
SMG Start, No Secondary Weapon
No Shields
100% Damage Resistance
50% Sheild Recharge
75% Damage Modifier
90% Player Speed
150% Player Gravity
No Vehicle Use
No Sensors
White Color

Zombies -
25% Zombies Start
50% Damage Resistance
25% Damage Modifier
Normal Shields
0% Recharge
No Weapon Pickup
Infinite Ammo
125% Player Speed
50% Player Gravity
Enhanced Sensors
Black Color

Score Settings:
1 Point for zombie kill
1 Points for infection
2 Points Last Man Standing bonus
“FIRE!”: Fire is a VIP variant game similar to “A problem,” in many ways, but actually has a substantial goal. Humans spawn on the top floor once again well-armed but ammunition is still limited. However, this time humans have a firefighter that they must lead down the burning building before they become engulfed by the zombie invasion. The firefighter is a bit stronger than the humans requiring three hits from a zombie to kill him, while humans only require two like in "A problem." Humans must again wait 60 seconds for the sprinklers to spawn, then they can proceed to the first VIP destination on the third floor of the building. Zombies still spawn in the enclosed teleporter room using the teleporter checkpoint system. After another 60 seconds, humans can drop down to the fourth floor and race to the lobby’s front door, where another VIP destination is placed. If the humans reach the destination, it effectively means that they reached the front door of the building and escaped.

Settings:
SMG Start, No Secondary Weapon
No Shields
100% Damage Resistance
50% Sheild Recharge
75% Damage Modifier
90% Player Speed
150% Player Gravity
No Vehicle Use
No Sensors

Base Players-
50% Damage Resistance
Normal Shields
0% Recharge
25% Damage Modifier
No Weapon Pickup
Infinite Ammo
125% Player Speed
50% Player Gravity
Enhanced Sensors
Black Color

Score Settings:
2 Points for VIP Takedown
5 Points for Goal Arrival
Tips:

The overshield, spawning after 120 seconds, can help dramatically. It allows you to take on humans head on. Whereas one shotgun shot would kill you earlier, it becomes two, which means that you can use your sword to kill them.
Use your radar a lot considering humans have no idea where you will be.
If you enter the fourth floor teleporter (all the way to the right in the zombie spawn room), and want to get back up to the upper floors, there is a teleporter leading you back to the second floor in a portion of fire near the ceiling of the meeting room.
Jump! This will decrease the chance a human has to get a headshot, and basically confuse the hell out of them.
Humans:
Stick together and be aware around every corner. Assassinations kill you the quickest.
NEVER go out alone, the only times a person should go out is to get ammunition.
Communicate as to when the sprinklers spawn, so no person gets left behind.
Try to save the first aid kits (regenerators) located on the third and fourth floor for when you truly need them later in the game when there are fewer humans and more zombies.

Spriral Staircase Transition:

Second Floor Transtion:

Looks like Jeff won't be making his tee time...
Third Floor Transition:

Special Thanks:
Vyctoriouz: For recovering objects not once, not twice, but three times for me – and testing.
Rorak Kuroda: For giving advice throughout the map’s construction, and testing multiple times.
Given to Fly: For helping begin the first version of this map with Reigning Chaos, and testing.
Nick the Ratman: For being a cool guy and testing and stuff.
And thank you for the rest of the testers!
• Ace of Spades
• rifte gifle
• Stoyben
• Xang Yang
• 16 Explodin Cars
• Kraz3d Goat
• Youtuber
• Prod
• GD27 BlueDevil
• Forgotten Wing
• Eyeless Sid
• Halo LeaderNS1

A problem

FIRE!

*If you like Clue, be sure to download the Human Resources Clue Compatible Version*

HR Clue

Clue