H.E.R.C.



The Homeland Evironmental Risk Control, or H.E.R.C., was a paramilitary division tasked with containing the infection present within The Last Stand series.

History
H.E.R.C. was originally assigned to investigate reports of a suspected outbreak surrounding Union City four days after hospitals in the surrounding areas reported a high increase of patients suffering from similar symptoms.

As they worked to quarantine cities and evacuate citizens across the state, H.E.R.C. scientists began hand-picking citizens from evacuation lines in an effort to conduct highly unethical experiments on them in hopes of learning more about the infection.

Whether any useful information was gained, or not, remains unknown, as H.E.R.C. was eventually overshadowed by the military as the infection rates within the state sky-rocketed, before the infection spread to the rest of the country.

Eventually, the state was presumably declared a dead zone or successfully quarantined, although H.E.R.C. presence continued for a short while after Union City was considered lost, until all contact with the rest of the country was lost for survivors in the originating state.

Appearance In-Game
H.E.R.C. is a secondary antagonist within the Last Stand series, firing upon non-infected civilians in an effort to contain the infection, as well as experimenting on involuntary citizens in an effort to study the infection.

In The Last Stand: Union City, H.E.R.C. personel are first seen preparing citizens for an evacuation within a football stadium, before the player escapes in search of their spouse, who is being experimented on by H.E.R.C. scientists. Upon infiltrating the H.E.R.C. outpost in Union City, troopers open fire on the player.

In The Last Stand: Dead Zone, H.E.R.C. makes an appearance only in the loading screen text that details the events leading up to the game, although infected H.E.R.C. personel, from scientists to troopers, can be encountered.