cult idea

The Zombie Cult (Do not have name yet) is a group of people surviving in a compound who believe that the infected were put on this earth to purge the world of mankind. They believe mankind to be a blight and they were spared because their god saw that they were pure and would be able to help rebuild and lead mankind into a new era.

They grow the mushrooms but not the regular kind. They grow the mushrooms that cause Special Infected. They /have/ a special infected.

Was a cult or some sort of group before the world ended. Leader of the cult had a drug house on the compound.

They closed their doors and managed to survive for awhile until the fungus got into their compound. Either some infected or the spore itself got in and attacked a few of the cultists and got into the drug house. The infected was killed in the drug house and the mushrooms that grew from its body were mutated by the chemicals that were used to make drugs.

The cult didn't get rid of the bodies, they moved them into a building in their compound and left them there and the mushrooms grew, the ones that were mutated took over the other fungus, destroying them and spreading like it was an invasive species.

The cult noticed how the fungus was growing and those who interacted with it and got its spores on them seemed to repel the infected somewhat. They began to take care of the fungus and harvest spores from it to use it to keep their compound protected. The leader decided to start making something with the spore, knowing how to make drugs, wanting to see if they can make an elixir that could help keep them better protected.

He created a drug like substance from it, very similar to the one APollo would create. It kept the infected away from them and kept them protected. However with the mutated mushroom it had some pretty bad effects, anger issues and paranoia, hallucinations but no one became infected.

High on the elixir and other drugs the cult leader addressed the cult and told him that the fungus was calling to him and that it had chosen him to become something better than what he was. He went into their grow house after giving his final sermon and ate one of the mushrooms.

THe leader was infected and became a Special Infected, the Drake as they would call it. He was confined in the grow house and at first the people were afraid but they soon realized that he wasn't a complete monster. He responded to their voices, especially to a song that he used to listen to all the time. They were able to get in and out of the grow house and gather the mushrooms for spores to continue to make the drug that would help them.

The cult leader's second in command took over and preached about how the fungus was a higher form of being and that their leader had ascended to be apart of this new life and they needed to keep the creature alive to help them. They started sacrifices when they noticed when the creature needed food, choosing one of their own to offer themselves as a meal to the creature when they needed more spores to create their drug.

 They would hold a sermon and do a last rites/ritual for the person chosen (who was normally happy and ecstatic to be chosen for a higher purpose) Then that person would go into the grow house and let the monster take them. The next day the harvesters would go in and take what they needed to create the drug, humming a song that eased the beast and kept it from attacking them. It seemed to respond to also the voices of the people who had lived there the entire time, showing that it had some sentience.

If anyone found the compound or was found by the compound's supply party they were taken in either by force or by convincing them that its safe and are used as sacrifices to spare themselves. (perhaps even cannibalism due to an effect of the drug they're taking)