As screams echo through the ether, Samantha cries out for her father once more. Trapped inside the MPD chamber on Griffin Station, the young girl endlessly battles the undead hordes under her command through tears and fury. Her story is one of innocence lost and vengeance sought across fractured timelines and universes colliding. For those who wish to unveil the dark truth behind Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies, the saga of Samantha Maxis is one that forever altered reality itself.
A Past Erased
To fully comprehend the tragedy of Samantha, one must first understand who she was prior to the madness. Born June 4th in 1934, she was raised during wartime in her native Germany under the sheltering love of her father Dr. Ludvig Maxis. Though strict at times preoccupied with work, he doted on his daughter greatly with almost daily excursions to Der Riese and other Group 935 facilities. Despite the environment seeming peculiar to outsiders, Samantha came to view it as a second home. Her intelligence and curiosity shone bright even from a young age – qualities which quickly bonded with her protective father. “She’s such a special little girl Charles, far ahead compared to others her age. I dare say she has a smarter head on those shoulders than me already!” Ludvig would joke.
The two were nigh inseparable, weathering even Ludwig‘s divorce and ensuing isolation from peers together. Far from lonely, Samantha’s days became filled with lessons on science, writing and the natural world when not playing pretend. Her dog Fluffy also featured prominently, with many diary pages depicting idyllic times walking German meadows or napping by the fireside. “Fluffy keeps me and daddy safe when we sleep at night” Samantha scrawls, documenting how her pet would patrol outdoors alerting the pair to any intruders. Even with Fantasies of fairies in the garden or tea parties with her stuffed animals, Samantha Maxis enjoyed an otherwise normal childhood… until that fated day in 1941 upon reaching Der Riese.
Beauty Corrupted
On September 5th, Group 935 convened under Dr. Maxis to showcase their teleportation research headed by Edward Richtofen. Samantha accompanied her father eagerly, though silenced immediately once inside the facility. “You know the rules pumpkin, no running off now yes? Today’s demonstration is very delicate,” he warned. Wanting to showcase Richtofen’s achievements to nearby Nazi officials, Ludvig unlocked a nearby cage beckoning his daughter’s dog. “Fluffy will help conduct a little test. Don’t worry my dear girl, everything will be just fine.”
Despite Samantha’s panicked protests, Fluffy was locked inside the chamber and Richtofen activated the facilitie’s mainframe. “Initiating test subject transfer in 3…2…1..” – only for violent flashes of red lightning to erupt seconds later. Alarms blared as all present shielded their gaze, only dying down once the doors slowly creaked open. Fluffy emerged a mutilated corpse, reanimated and wreathed in torn flesh with soulless eyes aglow. Ludvig stood frozen with horror as the creature that was once his daughter’s pet leapt forth, tearing his throat open in a fountain of blood. Samantha’s shrieks rang out only silenced as Richtofen restrained her. Together with Dr. Schuster, they could only watch while Fluffy‘s demonic form escaped into the night.
Only the next morning did Richtofen cautiously release Samantha from her guarded room. He guided the child back downstairs, an ominous hum reverberating from the chamber her father had opened. Inside spun a mysterious device labeled the MPD with cryptic markings dancing across its surface. Approaching slowly, Samantha reached out a hand as images of strange realms flashed before her eyes. She understood intrinsically this ‘Aether’ contained untold power – life and death balanced upon a razors edge. Temporal gateways cracked open deeper still before a guttural growl seized her concentration once more. Emerging from the shadows, Fluffy returned utterly consumed as a hellhound – any glimmer of innocence long extinguished from what was no more than a bloodthirsty beast. Samantha screeched for her beloved pet to return, only to hear her own voice transformMid-sentence into commands. Fluffy paused hearing his mistress, head cocked awaiting further order. Swallowing hard, Samantha slowly exhaled feeling restraints leave her mind and a new realm of possibility flood forth. These creatures would bow to her as their queen. The dead would walk for a new era to follow…
Vengeful Apotheosis
With Group 935 now devoted unquestioningly to serving her, Samantha Maxis ushered in a new age of undead terror 1939 onward. Mass experiments to weaponize zombies were conducted ruthlessly under Richtofen’s supervision in various sites:
- Kino Facility – Theater converted into a research bunker on008ri. Experiments caused first localized outbreak killing 57 scientists.
- Siberia “Ascension” Site – Secret Soviet lunar launch location repurposed,suffered undead outbreak in 1962 with over 100 casualties.
- Rising Sun Facility – Built covertly in Japan’s Northern mountains. Sabotaged by Peter McCain in outbreak killing 72 personnel.
- Griffin Station – Nazi lunar base where Samantha herself became trapped in the MPD. Overrun by undead leaving one survivor, Dr. Groph.
Through the chaos, Group 935 fractured with submarine crews disappearing off the Northern Pacific coastlines and rockets falling from the skies. Entire civilizations found themselves consumed by the zombies under Samantha’s command as she listened gleefully to the roars of her “minions”. Only her puppet Richtofen would defiantly work to oppose his new mistress – quietly plotting to regain control amidst the bloodshed and mayhem.
Records remain fragmented precisely when, but key developments saw Richtofen cooperate with soldiers Tank Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski and Takeo Masaki across fractured timelines to change future events. While Samantha unleashed zombies targeting Group 935 sites seeking vengeance, Richtofen gathered allies and traveled through space and time itself breaching ancient vaults. His plan slowly took form – to escape the endless cycle of one dimension and seize power beyond Samantha’s reach. Only with the lab notes and decades of research logged by both himself and Ludvig could the key to unlimited divinity be obtained.
Transcendence
By October 28th, 2025 Richtofen had succeeded in fracturing the original timeline after eliminating Samantha’s spirit form. His peaceful paradise was not to last however as his former allies grew enraged by Richtofen‘s perceived deception. In the ensuing chaos, a gateway opened unleashing unprecedented supernatural forces from beyond reality itself. Former knight Sir Pablo Marinus was granted a cursed life through the non-realm “Dark Aether”, able to traverse multiple realms at will. Samantha herself awoke years later within a crumbling WW2 bunker, greeted by shadowy mediators offering a faustian bargain – return to life to locate her father once more in exchange for militaristic servitude eternally inside this new dimension. Deceived by the promise and emotionally vulnerable, she surrendered her humanity becoming the Forsaken – neither living nor dead but a manifestation of dark fury. Backed by new acolytes, she was determined to breach where no one else could tread.
For two months within the flesh, Samantha scoured battlefield ruins and decrepit bunkers honed intently on her search. Yet time flowed differently than before within the Dark Aether – two months comprising two days on Earth simultaneously. The contrasting timelines would splinter minds not focused, sanity degrading from days without rest held between nightmare and half-life. Even while scarcely remembering her own name or past, Samantha continued relentless until that fated transmission – “Come to me Samantha. It is time”. Hypnotized she passed through unto the presence of a towering behemoth chained below a floating crystal. IT confirmed ITself as former scientist Dr. Vogel, horrendously mutated after failed experimentation yet also within this prison from forces unknown. IT claimed to know the truth of Sam‘s father and what she must do next. Trusting her warped guide, Samantha faded further out of reality uttering three words before her conversion completed.
"Where is daddy?"
The Future Forsaken
Samantha failed ultimately to revive Dr. Ludvig Maxis, but the cycle continued anew as boyfriend Eddie Richtofen gathered familiar allies to seal away the Forsaken. Yet madness and tragedy is far from banished I fear – it has merely withdrawn deeper still for a new era. As the Dark Aether fractures out from dimensional seams, will Samantha remerge to complete her technological apotheosis? Can a grown woman walk back from the brink after a lifetime consumed seeking twisted purpose? Does a soul trapped between states ultimately conclude there may be fates worse than death? I have glimpsed between the lines of madness deeper than most dare explore, only to emerge with greater questions than answers. Light and Dark both shall have their say.
My allies uphold hope as ever while war rages eternal, believing redemption exists for all if chosen. But for figures like Richtofen or Samantha Maxis, perhaps the only salvation lies destroying the very system defining them. If the resume holds duty beyond price, is (un)death the sole way who they are dies too? Peace is the privilege of the innocent after all. As screams echo through the ether once more, the Forsaken beckons for a dance and I for one am oh so very curious to see where she’ll lead us next… Will you take this soldier’s hand, dear reader mine? Der Anbruch begins again!