Annika Chardee

Annika is the main protagonist of The Rise of the Dead, portrayed by Annika Helgeson. She lived alone in the Safe house for many years after it was vacated by Jack and Ryan before being bitten by bitten by Alyssa. The two shared a lengthy mental communication and became friends, and Annika sacrificed herself to give Alyssa the Zombie Antidote.

Personality
Annika was prone to anxiety and a falsified sense of guilt during the apocalypse. She felt personally responsible for letting John die and eventually experienced a massive panic attack over all of the zombies that she had killed. Despite feeling like a bad person, Annika is remarkably selfless, refusing to take the Zombie Antidote herself and instead giving it to Alyssa. Annika also had no living family or friends by 2019.

Background
Not much is known about Annika before 2019, except for the fact that she lived in complete solitude for years and everyone she had once known died/was corrupted. She lived off of honey, a food that never expires, that was stocked up in the Safe house. Early on May 23, 2019, a mortally wounded John approached the house and entrusted her with the Zombie Antidote. She locked away the antidote and buried John, and was soon after attacked by a zombie named Alyssa. She was bitten, albeit indirectly, meaning that her corruption process took many hours. However, the poison created a mental link between the two that allowed them to hear each other's thoughts (and even allowed Alyssa to manifest herself as a hallucination. Alyssa telepathically guided Annika out of the safe house. Upon seeing the Zombie Memorial, Annika realized that zombies were still conscious humans deep down and felt remorse for killing so many. She had a complete breakdown and a vision where she was haunted by the zombies that she had killed. Alyssa manifested as a hallucination to Annika, and provided her with comfort and advice - saying that it was an understandable mistake and encouraged her to keep living. Alyssa revealed to Annika that she still had people out there she cared about, and urged her to take the Zombie Antidote. Annika returned to the Safe house and after a final confrontation with the Zombie form of Alyssa she reached the antidote. Alyssa begged Annika to take the antidote, but in a moment of compassion, Annika sacrificed herself to give the antidote to Alyssa and cure her.

Alyssa would eventually come to appreciate the gift she had been given by her new friend, and would eventually use her new abilities to spread the cure throughout the world. Annika was never directly seen again in canon, but it can be assumed that she was eventually turned into a Half-zombie when Alyssa traveled the world spreading her touch and rejoined society as it was rebuilt. She would be about 24 in 2026, when The Undead Heart ends in an epilogue.

Appearances

 * The Rise of the Dead
 * Rise of the Dead: The Undead Heart (Archival Footage Only)