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Sam Yao

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Sam Yao is one of the major characters of Zombies, Run!. He serves as Abel Township's lead communications operator and makes sure that Abel's runners return to the township safely. His base of operations is the comms shack, where he guides runners safely during supply runs outside the township. Occasionally, he will leave the safety of Abel to join Five and the other runners on a mission.

History[]

See Sam Yao/History

Personality[]

Sam is generally an upbeat and talkative person who takes great pride in guiding his runners safely during their missions. When nervous, he tends to make jokes and fill silences with words. He has shown that he can be quite thoughtful and introspective despite his joking nature.

Sam has a habit of narrating what his runners are seeing or doing. He says that this helps him worry less about the situation.[1]

Although Sam takes his job as operator very seriously, he often has casual conversations with his runners while they're out in the field. Most of the runners seem to appreciate this and enjoy talking with Sam while on their runs. Sam became noticeably uncomfortable when Major de Santa talked to the runners like they were soldiers, and asked her to be nicer to them.[2]

Sam cares deeply for the people who are close to him and becomes uncharacteristically angry when someone is threatening them. Sam will often choose the safety of his runners over the success of the mission, which frequently puts him at odds with Janine.

Sam is very loyal to his friends and is willing to disobey orders and put himself at risk to protect them.[3][4]

Sam has no sympathy for traitors. When Ephraim returned asking for help after previously leading some of Abel's people into a trap, Sam told the runners that they don't have to help him,[5] and although he reluctantly agreed in the end, he still expressed his distaste towards the man.[6] Sam later became furious at someone who seemed to have been acting as Van Ark's spy within Abel.[7] He also acted very coldly towards the true traitor once they had been revealed.[4]

Sam is not very good at lying or keeping secrets.[8]

Sam is proud of his Chinese heritage, although he wishes he could speak the language better and has some regrets over not paying enough attention to his granddad's stories. Sam is always excited when he has the opportunity to share something from his culture.[9][10]

Deep down, Sam struggles with feelings of insecurity and low self-worth.[11] This likely originates from his relationship with his parents, particularly his father, who he could never seem to please. Sam rarely voices these thoughts and feelings out loud though.

Although Sam does not think of himself as smart, he is quite intelligent. He managed to discover a set of coordinates hidden in a series of seemingly random numbers and letters added to the end of various Rofflenet messages.[12]

In the months leading up to the birth of his daughter, Sam grew increasingly anxious about becoming a parent. His own father frequently told him that he wasn't responsible enough, which left Sam worried that he wouldn't be able to be a good father.[10]

Sam loves Marmite, Curly Wurlies, Demons and Darkness, childrens' television shows, and the color green.

Relationships[]

Runner Five[]

Sam and Runner Five are very close friends. Sam was the first person Five met from Abel Township, and the first one to start calling them "Runner Five". Sam quickly developed an attachment to Five and their friendship grew from there.

Sam and Five spend much of their time together due to their working relationship as Operator and Runner, but they enjoy spending free time with each other as well, often by playing games such as Demons and Darkness.

Sam has become very protective of Runner Five. He is frequently concerned for their safety and quickly becomes furious if someone is threatening Five. In return, Five is quite protective of Sam as well. On one notable occasion, they nearly strangled someone who had been hurting him.[13]

Sam trusts Five implicitly. When there were suspicions of a traitor inside Abel, Sam never once believed that the traitor could be Five.[14][15] He trusts Five with not only his own life but the lives of his loved ones as well, shown when he entrusted his newborn daughter to them.[16]

Sam often writes letters to Runner Five expressing his admiration of their abilities, or his concerns over recent events, or just inviting them to hang out with him.

Maxine Myers[]

Paula Cohen[]

Janine de Luca[]

Appearances[]

The Way of All Flesh
5K Training
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6
The Home Front
Season 7
Season 8
Season 9
Season 10

Virtual Races[]

VR1 Run for Abel
VR3 The Xia-Hifa Heist
VR5 Halloween!
VR6 Tactical Zombie Division
VR7 Tomorrow Island
VR8 Train to Oban
VR9 Escape From Runaway Fairground
VR10 The Abel Manor Murders
VR11 Die Rise
VR12 Jack & Eugene's World Tour
VR13 Runners of the Round Table
VR14 Death Wish

New Adventures[]

Rule Britannia
A Study in Ichor
Negative Space
Pax Germanica
Abel's Buccaneers
Endless Sea
Finis Africae

Trivia[]

  • Sam likes pineapple on pizza.[17]
  • Sam does not like country music.[18]
  • Sam has watched and listened to his runners enough that he can identify them by the sound of their footsteps.[19]
  • Sam is frequently depicted wearing an orange hoodie in both official art and fan art.
  • On the Rofflenet board for the Halloween! Virtual Race, Sam's username is hello_operator.[20]
  • Alternate universe versions of Sam appear in several New Adventures.
  • Sam is the most recurring non-player character in the main storyline of Zombies, Run!, appearing in 333 out of 415 missions (80.2%) throughout seasons 1-10. (Note: This does not count Radio Mode appearances, hallucinations, or recordings.)
    • Season 1: 28/34 missions (82.4%)
    • Season 2: 56/64 missions (87.5%)
    • Season 3: 51/60 missions (85.0%)
    • Season 4: 40/42 missions (95.2%)
    • Season 5: 28/40 missions (70.0%)
    • Season 6: 37/40 missions (92.5%)
    • Season 7: 32/40 missions (80.0%)
    • Season 8: 23/30 missions (76.7%)
    • Season 9: 25/35 missions (71.4%)
    • Season 10: 13/30 missions (43.3%)

Gallery[]

Letters from Sam[]

Virtual Race Letters[]

New Adventures Letters[]

References[]

  1. ↑ Season 2 Side Mission 16: Zombies, Bike!
    [Sam describes how the runners are dodging zombies]
    Owen Landis: "Yeah, we do know what we’re doing, Sam, mainly because we’re doing it."
    Sam Yao: "I know, I know, but it makes me worry less about you if I just remind myself."
  2. ↑ Season 2 Mission 21: Always Take The Weather
    Sam Yao: "I mean, you know they’re not really soldiers, and they’ve all volunteered, and I get the stuff about discipline and I know it’s important, but we just try to… well, we try and be a bit nicer to them, that’s all."
  3. ↑ Season 3 Mission 21: Sin In My Heart
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Season 3 Mission 22: Your Cheatin' Heart
  5. ↑ Season 2 Mission 22: No Future
    Ephraim Whately: "You have to help me. I sent that message so you’d come when I left my hidey-hole. I knew you’d come."
    Sam Yao: "Yeah… no, you don’t have to help him."
  6. ↑ Season 2 Mission 22: No Future
    Sam Yao: "You were too kind to him, Eight."
    Sara Smith: "No mercy, Sam?"
    Sam Yao: "Not for anyone who tried to get my runners killed, no. If he lives or dies, well, it’s none of our business."
  7. ↑ Season 2 Mission 40: Little Lies
  8. ↑ Season 2 Mission 40: Little Lies
    Sara Smith: "I love our Sam, but if there’s one thing he can’t do, it’s lie convincingly."
  9. ↑ Season 2 Halloween Mission 3: Wai Chu Xiao Xin
    Sam Yao: "I am actually so excited about this. Like, I get to share a bit of my culture and stuff with people, like we’re in Sesame Street or something!"
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Season 4 Mission 11: Lullaby
  11. ↑ Season 3 Mission 24: Return To The Forbidden Planet
    Sam Yao: "You think you’re the only person here who’s ever disappointed someone? Who’s ever felt guilty at being alive? [...] I was a hopeless case. Disappointment to everyone. This job, it’s the only thing I’ve ever done that really made a difference, and if you die now, I’ll have failed."
  12. ↑ Season 2 Mission 31: Hello
    Sam Yao: "Just… for ages, it seemed like stuff was appearing on Rofflenet at random. Except not random? Every fifth message sometimes, or only on Tuesdays, or when the date of the month was a prime number. [...] I’ve been keeping track of these extra letters and numbers appearing at the ends of messages. Some of them repeat. And there were a few that looked like map coordinates, ordnance survey, leading to that church there on the horizon."
  13. ↑ Season 5 Mission 30: The Room Where It Happens
  14. ↑ Season 2 Mission 37: Sweet Escape
    Sam Yao: "Okay. Five - it’s an important one today. Really important. Janine said to send my most trusted runner, and uh, well, um, I mean, you’ve always come through for me, haven’t you, Five?"
    Maxine Myers: "Janine actually told you to send one of the runners who wasn’t under suspicion of being a traitor. No offense, Five, but Sam should have picked someone else."
    Sam Yao: "Yeah, but no one actually believes Five is the traitor, do they? Janine can’t believe that, can she? She didn’t mean don’t send Five, she just meant the others…"
  15. ↑ Season 2 Mission 43: The Final Countdown
    Sam Yao: "You thought [the traitor] was going to be Runner Five, didn’t you?"
    Janine de Luca: "I – yes. Yes, I did."
    Sam Yao: "Yeah. I didn’t."
  16. ↑ Season 4 Mission 22: Runaway Baby
    Sam Yao: "Here, Five. I’m passing the baby through the bars to you, okay? No one else touches her, no one else holds her until she’s back with her mums, okay? Just you."
  17. ↑ Season 2 Side Mission 3: Whack-A-Mole
    [discussing a local pizza place]
    Sam Yao: "Oh… did they do the kind with the pineapple?"
    Simon Lauchlan: "Ugh, you wouldn’t be a pineapple pizza type, would you?"
    Sam Yao: "Oh, hey now."
  18. ↑ Season 2 Side Mission 5: Top 40
    Sam Yao: "Uh, looks like Runner Three wants you to find him some… ew, is that country music? Yeah, well, we’ll just wait and see if you have room in your backpacks before we get that one."
  19. ↑ Season 3 Mission 46: Shoot The Runner
    Sam Yao: "Look, I’ve watched you all run so much. I don’t even need cams half the time. I’d know who was who by the sound of your steps."
  20. ↑ Zeefax board on Rofflenet


Abel Township
Notable Runners
Runner 5 (player) • Runner 3 (Simon Lauchlan) • Runner 4 (Jody Marsh) • Runner 7 (Evan Deaubl) • Runner 8 (Sara Smith) • Runner 10 (Chris McShell)
Other Major Characters
Sam Yao • Maxine Myers • Janine De Luca • Major de Santa • Jack Holden • Eugene Woods • Dr Lobatse
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