Harran Stadium

The Harran Stadium was the latest addition to the cityscape of Harran. The stadium is a modern multi-discipline stadium with a seating capacity of over 60,000 people, built for the Global Athletic Games. It was the largest building in Harran, and served as an architectural gem which prided the Harranians. The Stadium served as the main stage for the Global Athletic Games, hosting most of its events and all official ceremonies.^[1] The Stadium was also intended to become a major attraction for tourists, with the desire being that the Stadium would be often-used for important sporting events.^[2] In addition, it appear in The Bozak Horde.

Global Athletic Games and the Harran Virus[]

Just before the start of the Global Athletic Games, the city of Harran tried its best to keep the madness which plagued Harran under the radar from the athletes. Some athletes, however, disappeared shortly before the games, and rumors had begun circulating about crazy people attacking others. Some of the athletes and their families took the first planes out after the stories, instead of remaining behind to participate in the games. On saturday, the final day of the Global Athletic Games, many visitors had decided not to attend the games. There were still a massive quantity of spectators, but a sizable portion was gone.^[2]

The main event, the parkour race, featured a large track where each athlete had to track and collect ribbons of his or her assigned color. The winner of the course had to not only be the first over the finish line, but also bear all the appropriate ribbons. Shortly before the races occured, the horses which were kept in a stable below the stadium started making frightened noises, but as the cause was expected to be related to the noise of the crowd, nothing was done. Mel Wyatt, one of the participants in the parkour course, was also nervous as she had been spooked by the horses. Shortly after the parkour had started there was a minor commotion among the spectators, which looked like fighting. This commotion would gradually take over more and more sections of the stadium, with screams coming from the places where the fighting was going on. Several spectators jumped over the rails and onto the field. The cheers in the rest of the audience gradually turned into screams, and the spectators were being evacuated accordingly. Too late it was realized that the infected had infiltrated the stadium, with them now also being present on the field. Some of the athletes were tackled and bitten by the infected. The events at the stadium was the first public encounter with the infected, and some of it was caught on television and seen around the world.^[2]

The police arrived in the middle of the madness, having sent out their riot units to deal with the chaos. Gunshots were fired, despite the difficulty to tell apart the infected from the spectators. Not long after the police had arrived, the military had joined them in fighting the infected, but despite their combined numbers, the infected were winning the battle. To combat this issue, a helicopter had been called in, firing at the individuals who remained in the stadium. Civilians were trying their best to escape the stadium, but even outside of the place the tumult didn't end as more police and soldiers arrived one the scene. Because they were ill-equiped and unprepared, they were being massacred. Those that weren't killed shot at anything that moved, infected or not. More people may have been killed by friendly fire then than by the zombies.^[2]

A few weeks after the start of the epidemic, and the number of infected Harran citizens kept increasing, a field hospital was opened at the Harran Stadium at the call of the City Council and Ministry of Defense. Those who showed symptoms were to report at the hospital where they would be treated with the new medicine which was being developed by the Global Relief Effort, which would stop the development of the virus in the infected body.^[3] It was said that there were many doctors working at the stadium, with advanced medical equipment also being in place.^[4] When the virus continued to rapidly spread throughout the city, Old Town and the Stadium field hospital were both placed under quarantine. Nobody was allowed to enter, or leave, the stadium. Medicine, food, and clothing was provided to the hospital once a day.^[5]

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