The following is a timeline for I am Legend including the spin-off, I Am Legend: Awakening plus additional information from the movie.
The Krippin Epidemic[]
2009[]
- Dr. Alice Krippin genetically engineered the measles virus to cure cancer and tested the virus on 10,009 patients that all had different strains of cancer, miraculously all of them survived. Later, she is interviewed about her massive discovery and says that this virus is the "cure to cancer". She later goes onto TIME's magazines and other newspapers. Everyone thought the cure was the start of something great, but it would be something that would bring the world to its knees.
- 5,000 patients start to to experience rabies like symptoms which made them go berserk and bite anyone within reach which caused the infection to spread, shortly after the virus went airborne with a new strain that had a 90% mortality rate, 1% remained the same but the remaining 9% became strong killing machines that fed on the 1% of remaining humans. 25 patients have died from this. Fun Fact: Once a person is infected, they can only see normal people as monsters, while they see infected people as normal people. (Shelter)
- After the virus goes airborne, canines and rats start to get infected with the virus. Deer and Lions are the known animals that are immune to this virus. People start witnessing infected dogs coming out at dusk, revealing that the virus has vampire-like symptoms. A person then snaps a photo of the dog and it goes on the news and on articles online.
- Alice Krippin's cure is labeled as a disaster.
- At this point, Dr. Neville has ordered local hospitals to stockpile antiviral drugs and to start military quarintine protocol.
- Darkseekers are beginning to appear.
Somewhere In Central America...[]
In the early stages of the KV Pandemic, a refugee camp has been opened somewhere in central America, and is taking in patients infected with KV for treatment. As a young boy and girl watch from the outskirts of the camp, a military convoy arrives. The soldiers, dressed in NBC suits, open fire, massacring both the patients and personnel. A soldier then throws a grenade into the camp, destroying it. As the convoy leaves, the children stare in horror and grief at the camp's disintegrated remains. The girl then weeps tears of blood, revealing that she is infected. (Sacrificing the Few for The Many)
Miami, Florida[]
In Miami, Florida, during the first stages of the outbreak of the Krippin Virus, Doug and his wife are driving along the freeway to work, with their children, Luke and Ethan, who they plan to drop off at school along the way. During the journey, the family gets caught up in a gridlock. The mother decides to drop off Doug at work first, and when they turn on the radio, they recieve emergency broadcasts. The bus for Luke and Ethan's school drives by them, and Ethan notices that the driver's eyes are bleeding, revealing that he is infected with KV.
After sundown, Ethan sees other families fleeing the streets outside the car. Doug goes out of the car to investigate, armed with a golf bat. Suddenly, a mob of Darkseekers appear outside the car, dragging the mother out and tearing her to shreds. They then throw the bloody, beaten Doug across the car's hood. Doug begs his children to escape with his last dying breaths.
Luke and Ethan climb out of the car's windows and run, chased by the Darkseeker hordes. Ethan assures a terrified Luke that they will be fine, and the two brothers try to hide under a deserted truck from the Darkseekers. However, a Darkseeker discovers them and tries to drag Luke out from under the truck. Ethan tries to hold on to his brother's hand, but loses his grip, and Luke is dragged away and presumably killed.
Ethan escapes off the freeway from the Darkseeker hordes, and hides in the foliage. He is eventually found by a rescue team, who take him to safety aboard their helicopter. The team tries to question Ethan, but the latter, left grief-stricken and catatonic by his brother's death, does not answer. (Losing Voice: Ethan's Story)
New Delhi, India[]
In New Delhi, India, during the KV Pandemic, Vatsala and her family are preparing to evacuate to a shelter. That night, Vatsala sneaks out of her home and into the chaotic streets of the city, and sees her boyfriend, Pritam, atop an overturned bus. As the two embrace, Pritam begs Vatsala to return to the shelter without him, and promises that he will be waiting when Vatsala comes out.
Vatsala returns to her home, and, through a secret passage in the house, goes through the underground network of tunnels to the shelter. However, her father, fearing she may be infected, refuses to let her in for 48 hours, declaring that if Vatsala is ill, "We've already lost you." Vatsala swears to herself to never forgive her father for this.
Vatsala spends the next 48 hours waiting outside the shelter with food and water left for her. She begins to suffer the early symptoms of KV, but is in denial that she is infected. Eventually, Vatsala turns into a Darkseeker and tries to break into the shelter. The door to the shelter then unexpectedly opens to reveal vicious-looking monsters instead of her family. In a fit of rage, Vatsala brutally kills the creatures, then, hungry, devours their remains.
Remembering Pritam will be waiting for her, Vatsala goes out into the desolate city, to the overturned bus. There, she is greeted by the now-Darkseeker Pritam, and leads him back to the shelter for food. There, it is revealed that one of Vatsala's brothers is still alive, and that the creatures in the shelter Vatsala killed were actually her family, who she was hallucinating as monsters. Vatsala and Pritam, seeing the former's brother as a monster, attack and viciously kill him, unaware that he was actually Vatsala's brother. (Shelter)
ADX Florence, Colorado[]
ADX Florence, Colorado, USA, is the most secure prison facility in the United States. During the early stages of the KV Pandemic, a prison guard enters warden Halloran's office. He informs him that all the prisoners have been loaded into the buses, " 'Cept him of course." The warden then signs a document at his desk, telling the guard to "show him no compassion." As prison buses carrying Halloran, prisoners and guards are driving into the mountains, away from the prison, he says in a voiceover, "Even now, in this time of darkness, he does not deserve it!"
The story then shifts to John Edward Lord, an imprisoned terrorist who was deliberately left behind at the prison to die, with no information on the outbreak. John is left alone in his cell with no food or water, screaming in rage in the deserted prison.
At a military base in Fort Lee, Virginia, the general reports to the colonel that Colorado has been declared a hostile territory. It is then reported that contact with the convoy carrying Halloran has been lost, and the order is given for Colorado's entire power grid to be shut down.
In ADX Florence, after three days locked in his cell, dehydrated and starving, as the Colorado power grid is shut down, the electronic lock for John's cell deactivates, freeing him. After drinking from the prison's water supply, John stocks up on ammunition. Planning to start a new life in the wilderness and finish his book, John flees the prison in a stolen SUV, and drives off into the sunset.
In the night, while driving through the desert, John comes across the wrecked and overturned prison buses from ADX Florence, and the mangled corpse of Halloran. When John gets out of the SUV to investigate, a Darkseeker jumps down from atop one of the wrecks at him, prompting him to shoot it. It is then revealed that the wrecks are infested with Darkseekers. As John flees in his SUV from the Darkseeker hordes, he, narrating the story, explains that the act of terrorism he was imprisoned for was meant as patriotism; he believed that his beloved America had become corrupt and bankrupt, and that it needed to be destroyed and then reborn.
John flees back to ADX Florence, pursued by the Darkseekers. The Darkseekers corner him, and John engages them in a last stand. (Isolation)
Queens, New York[]
During the early stages of the KV outbreak in Queens, New York, police officer Carlos Caligid recieves an APB reporting a stabbing in an alley. He drives to the scene, and is tasked with taking the body away to be burned, as it could be infected.
Later, as the sun sets, Carlos drives away, in search of shelter. (Fighting Chance)
Robert, Zoe, their child Marley, and Sam try to leave New York in the chaos of its evacuation. Robert, (dressed in a military uniform) decides to stay in New York on his own in order to try to stop the Krippin Virus as he is a military doctor. They tell Marley they are going on holiday. Robert relives the panic and terror on the streets as the citizens of the city try to escape before the Darkseekers take control. Military are seen scanning eyes to make sure that they aren't infected. When they got to Zoe, the scanner makes an error and says that she's infected. Robert convinces them to scan her again. The scanner says healthy and she's good to go. When Zoe and Marley get on the helicopter, Marley gives Sam to Robert while saying to her to protect him. Robert waves goodbye to his family as he walks away.
All of a sudden, a darkseeker is seen grabbing a helicopter, causing it to spin as Robert watches, in horror, the helicopter crashes into the helicopter his family is in. (I am Legend)
2012[]
- Sunday, September 9th: Robert Neville, now living in deserted, post-apocalyptic New York, tries to hunt a deer alongside a full-grown Sam, but the deer is killed and taken by a family of lions.
- Monday, September 10th: Robert Neville's dog Sam gets infected by Darkseekers. He kills her as she becomes vampiric.
- Tuesday, September 11th: Robert Neville buries his dog Sam and risks his life trying to kill Darkseekers.
- Wednesday, September 12th: At 8:49 A.M., Robert Neville discovers a cure. At 8:52 A.M., he gives his life defending it. Anna Montez and her son Ethan drive to Vermont with the cure.