John Red

John Red is a character appearing in Abandon All Hope as a protagonist. John was the sheriff of Truckee prior to the outbreak and became the town's de facto leader, partially due to his years of experience in law enforcement.

Character Biography
John was born and raised in Truckee. His father was a sheriff and his mother was the owner of a local bar. His father was killed after he was called-in to handle a dispute at the aforementioned bar, John's father was stabbed in the ensuing struggle. John harbored a great deal of unnecessary hatred for his mother following this incident as he held her responsible for his father's murder as she both ran the bar and called in the crime. Fortunately, John was able to mend his relationship with her before she died in 2001.

At an unspecified point following his mother's death, John became the sheriff of Truckee and married a woman named Susan. Together the two had a relatively happy household until Susan was diagnosed with a terminal illness. John was by her side up until her death following which he fell into a deep depression. At one point, John even contemplated suicide, but he was saved by the emotional support of his best friend Gregory Klemm who is also the town's deputy.

2012
After being called up to investigate a disturbance at the Tilly Farm, both John and Greg had to fight for their lives when they encountered a group of seemingly undead men. John succeeded in killing two of the men on his lonesome, and was assisted by Greg in his rescuing of Ruth Tilly and her son Pete. Following a subsequent investigation of the cornfields, John came to the startling realization that were a horde of the men coming towards them, and the town. The four made a mad dash back to Truckee.

Following their return to Truckee, John discovers that the town has been attacked by the recently deceased prompting him to take drastic actions in the reclaiming of the town. Ultimately he succeeds, but at a cost of part of his sanity; during his attempt to win Truckee back, John investigated a local Chuck E. Cheese and discovered that, in his absence, a group of children holed up there and were subsequently devoured. The following night, John and Greg are witness to a broadcast by the government in which they claim that help is coming.

Three months later, help hasn't come. The pressure mounts up on John as the town looks to him for answers, answers he doesn't have. In addition to the stress, John becomes paranoid when he discovers that Greg had been having an affair with his wife, prompting him to develop trust issues. In addition to his trust issues, John's reliance on alcohol has increased to an unhealthy extent. John's inability to lead the town is used by Roberta Ravenstad's manipulation of the town, frequently stating that John and his deputies are incapable of protecting them.

Roberta, with the assistance of her son George Ravenstad, attacked and critically injured Pete Tilly and covered up the incident, blaming it on a bandit attack. In their covering up of the attack, George killed a guard named Riley Cole, and the two were able to use that loss to further their hold over the townsmen. John took the death of Riley personally as he had been the one who assigned her to that post.

Personality
Even though John is fundamentally a good man he is not without his flaws. After the death of his wife, John sank into the bottle and battled with alcoholism for a number of years, but was able to move on with the aid of his best friend, Gregory Klemm. Following the outbreak and discovering that Gregory had been having an affair with his wife, John returned to the comfort of the bottle, much to the dismay of the people he swore to protect. John's reliance on alcohol severely hinders his ability to think coherently and lead the town.

John isn't a natural leader, this much is made clear throughout the roleplay. He isn't mentally equipped to deal with the scenarios he is faced with, but in addition to that he is also stubborn; he will go to the edge of the Earth and back to protect the ones he loves.

John is a formidable opponent; possessing a brutality that aids him in combat. The aforementioned brutality stems from John's demons, and admittedly this scares him at times. John is an excellent marksman, regularly succeeding in hitting his targets.