Bernie Reference Sheet

Bernie, radioactive zombie.

Age: 34 years dead.
Height: 5’10” to top of head, 6’3” to top of suit.
Weight: 80lb

Origins: Was killed and subsequently reanimated in 1985 when an experimental military weapon malfunctioned, destroying the military base which housed it and flooding a nearby town with radioactive fallout. Was hunted and later recruited by the Zombie Extermination Department.
NOTE: Bernie is not a skeleton, but his skin is so mummified and shrunken that he looks like one.

Occupation: The ‘specialist’ of the Zombie Extermination Department. His job is to handle any threats which cannot be disposed of by merely crushing its skull, but require complete incineration in order to be destroyed, such as fungi zombies. Otherwise, he picks off the odd zombie in the group.
He’s actually invaluable to the team, as he’s the one keeping Mango and Roswell’s destructive tendencies in check.

Personality: A worried soul. He constantly finds something to fret about, be it a tear in his suit, a messy room, or the thought that someone has a poor opinion of him. He’s rather anal, believing that everything has its own place it’s supposed to be and that rules should be strictly followed. If someone blatantly disrupts his sense of order he will get very indignant, but it is a hollow attempt at bravado and he will hurriedly back down if his bluff is called. He tries to let it go, to go with the flow and be cool, but he just can’t help it. Bernie is desperately trying to change himself because he really wants people to be with him, not necessarily like him but at least tolerate him.

Bernie is sensible, diplomatic, cautious, very clever, and quick on his feet. He’s easily spooked, but rarely frightened by physical monsters (he is a ZED agent, after all). He cares deeply for the well being of others and will go out of his way to help them. He will kill monsters, but if under attack by a coherent being he will do his best to talk his attacker down. Failing that, he will resort to inflicting pain upon his opponent until he backs down.
His greatest fear is being utterly alone.

Weapons/Abilities: As a radioactive zombie, Bernie’s body is constantly emitting gamma radiation against his will. The hazmat suit he wears is customized to contain said radiation, and he wears it solely for the safety of others. Without his suit, a person standing adjacent to Bernie would be subject to approximately 1 Gy per every three minutes. An average human subject to 5 Gy will inevitably die from radiation poisoning within fourteen days, experiencing vomiting, fever and hair loss beforehand.
He is able to emit large amounts of UV radiation at his will. Bernie’s body emits it evenly across his skin, so he cannot control its direction or focus, only its intensity, like a light bulb. He uses this as his primary method to kill zombies, doing so by removing his gloves, grabbing a zombie’s head, and delivering a burst of UV radiation strong enough to literally boil the creature’s brain. In short bursts, it can be used as a non-lethal weapon, essentially giving his enemy various degrees of instant-sunburn.
In extreme cases, he will remove the upper halfof his suit and let loose, frying everything within line of sight. This makes him the perfect weapon against creatures which require total disintegration to be destroyed and vampires.
Bernie throws up when extremely excited, weather out of happiness or nervousness. He finds it disgusting and embarrassing, but he can’t help it, as it is an instinctive reaction some species of zombies have. His bile, as well as his thick blood, is highly toxic and emits enough radiation of its own to sear flesh upon contact.

Supplies: In the backpack built into his suit, Bernie always carries a spare hazmat suit, a swatch of suit material and tape to patch up small holes, a reflective strip of film to place over his visor (lets him see out but prevents people from seeing his mummified face), a Geiger counter to check for leaks in his suit, a second Geiger counter in case the first one breaks, and two cell phones for the same reason.

Strengths: His toxic blood, the gamma radiation he constantly emits, and the UV radiation he can emit at will makes him extremely dangerous to engage in close-combat. Vampires are particularly prone to his abilities, as while UV radiation gives humans sunburns, it causes vampires to burst into flame. As a zombie, he cannot feel pain, and only a brain-injury can kill him. Because of his unique body chemistry, he is impervious to extreme heat. Bernie is intelligent and able to think on his feet.

Weaknesses: Bernie has absolutely no fighting skills. His bones are brittle and easy to break. He is not very strong, and his suit and glow prevents him from being stealthy. Unlike his comrades, he is not able to re-attach a limb without the assistance of a surgeon. Bernie can be overly trusting, gullible, and will place the well-being of others before his own. If his suit tears in the presence of a friend or civilian, his first priority will be to get away from that person or repair his suit to prevent radiation poisoning.

Winston Flash: Before death and reanimation, Bernie was technically one Winston Flash. As he had no memory of his living life, Bernie did all he could to find out who he was in life. Unfortunately, the more he researched Winston Flash, the more he realized that he and Winston were not the same person. Winston, identified by his trade mark pinstripe suit and hat, was a frequenter of Jazz clubs, a ladies’ man, and the life of every party he went too. Every piece of information Bernie found depicted Winston as smooth, care-free, and confident; a “cool cat” of his time. For these qualities, Bernie envies Winston greatly, and desperately tries to be more like him. He never succeeds, as his anal tendencies get the better of him. When Bernie sleeps (as a zombie of his type needs to at least three hours every week) he dreams that he is Winston, dancing at various clubs and finally feeling care-free.