Zombie Apocolypse, How bad could it really be?

[friskers96]

One thing that has always bothered me about the Zombie Apocalypse is everyone thinks its the end of humanity... I think it would last a year and a half tops, the plaque that happens after the fact would probably be far worse. A body would decompose to bones within a year so at about 6 months the muscles wouldn't function most likely... So the killer would be disposing of all the zeds before the plague starts...

Zombie toolkit: stocked boat to the Caribbean and a flame thrower.. And a secon boat for all my little paper masks

[StayPuft]

LOL! Well, frankly, you are probably correct. Thing is... that wouldn't make for a terribly interesting movie. LOL! In reality, zombies probably wouldn't be that huge of a threat. I am sure a good number of people would turn initially, but then it would just be a matter of waiting it out. Zombies, by the very nature of what they are, the walking dead, would have an expiration date. They would eventually fall apart.

So, yeah, I agree with you. If something like that ever even happened, I doubt it would be quite as catastrophic as in the movies.

[samuraitrev]

If you've EVER seen a Zombie movie it's pretty clear Zombies are not the only thing that turns bad... It's that quiet neighbour who waves now and again. Who will be the 1st to demand your car keys and water bottles at knife point and won't hesitate to gut you to save his/her family.

In short the apocalypse would be dog-eat-dog and what's left the Zombie gets...
Pray it never happens...
Is that scenario too dark?

Or

Would the greatness of the human spirit join as one tribe to protect the future of humanity and stand firm when all seems hopeless. I think I prefer to think the latter...

[soundguy]

can't remember where I saw it.. but someone did an 'expose' type deal on a zombie apoc.

it went something like this:

if there were actual 're-animated- corpses.. IE.. dead tissue moving. then they have the following hurtles to clear...

1, they don't heal / regenerate. any injury they get just gets worse.


2 since people are mostly water.. peutrification would be a huge issue. literally.. like bloating.

3 next would be insect predation.. BIG TIME.

fly maggots and ant hills would be enemy #1 to a walking dead.

4 with soft tissue like eyes going quick.. 'hunting' would be limited.

5 dehydration. this plus damage from 1-2-3 would mean an ambulatory zombie will soon be a crawler..and then a layer.

6 environmental factors.

desert? migth as well be zombie jerky after about 5 days.

below freezing? zombie pops. ice crystals damage cell membranes. at thaw the thing would turn into a puddle....

humid/temperate/tropical? great place for bugs and stuff like fungi.. etc..

i'd give a 'walking dead' outbreak about 2 weeks in most conditions. towards the end of that.. the bodies would be slow and frail and just disgustingly falling apart.


all that said. the zombie scenerio i subscribe to is the 'infected living person' type. IE.. 28 days / 28 weeks later.

adding a heartbeat takes care of pretty much my entire list as long as the individual can eat and drink and otherwise have regualr biological functions. just add a heaping dose of 'crazy' and 'agression' and there you go...

parting shot:

what cause this? biological warefare? natural mutation of a disease? that 'vector' may be more worrisome than the zeds. staying uninfected would be the real trick...

[Wasteland Jack]

First of all, if these zombies were truly undead, they wouldn't be able to walk, move, groan, etc without blood flowing, so we need to look more towards what soundguy echoed, viral infection.

In this case the infected would not be undead, but just sick. So running around rampant with your samurai sword lopping off the heads of these "zombies" would most likely have you locked up in Rikers or some out of the way insane asylum.

I think the infection would spread quickly at ground zero, but I really don't see it going much longer than six to seven days. Once the pattern is figured out, the authorities would move in, possibly cull the infected (you know for the sake of the safety of the rest of the population), and then keep a watch out for any remaining rogue strains that may have been produced during transmission.

There would be a lot of legal fallout and a plethora of lawsuits that follow. Probably a couple of reality shows would spring up, causing a general sense of indifference toward the whole event. And eventually we will all forget about it just like we always do.

[soundguy]

being a realist.. I can completely 'see' a bio-weapon.. or natural mutation causing something like this. Imagine.. um.. pandemic rabies.

IE.. it kills the host slowly.. lets them live long enough to be a vector.... easy to transmit. and makes the host violent.

i used to play a video game based on that. 'left for dead' was suposedly about a mutated rabies virus..e tc.

again. calm heads and planning would keep you alive.

[friskers96]

I could see infection getting really out of hand real fast. There was an incident a while back with a guy that was carrying a real contagious disease and was supposed to be "quarantined" of sorts. He somehow managed to get onto an international flight to Europe, and not really remembering the exact destination I do remember it was a major city. 1 person on an international flight can easily infect an entire plane of what, 130+ passengers at least. Hit the ground and they all spread, now you have infection on two fronts, quickly turning into more. it like the ping pong ball in a room of mouse traps. It would be fast and I really have little faith in the government agencies to be able to maintain control of something like that. Oh, the cases of people getting past the "No Fly" list were mostly TB related, more than half I believe were drug resistant strains.

My wife tells me that it could never happen, and I always tell her it will. My best example is the Flu Vaccine. Its always mass produced at the start of flu season with no real clinical testing, and people swear by it and line up like cattle to get it. The flu just mutates from year to year usually so vaccines are produced from the previous strain, what if some one get it wrong, or the new mutation interacts with the vaccine in an unexpected way? Another fear as far as Bio Terror would be something like a weaponized mutated for of something like West Nile Virus or Encephalitis. Not much can easily get into the brain and nervous system but the ones that can can get nasty...

As far as "culling" goes, I have a hard time seeing that happen even though it would be beneficial to the whole. no one wants to pull the trigger and no one has the set to step up and make the call for fear of hurting their political image. Guess thats what makes Zombie movies so great, seeing the system fail and all this personal turmoil trying to make the tuff decisions..

[PJON]

I disagree with you all.

I think the walking daed are already here ! Do you know some one, maybe you work with them, or a neighbor, maybe a relative....maybe even you.

Some people in this world, just exist. They wake up, go to work, come home and do nothing. They do not strive to improve themselves or this world. They do not adventure past their own comfort level. These are my walking dead, and i love em. These are the people i strive to wake up and join my chaos.

I can spot them. When i do I will attack them Challenge them to breathe. Challange them to break the chains of nothingness and join my army of fun.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light



“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

― Albert Einstein

[friskers96]

Ahh, a romeroist...

I think I just made a word!!

---

I'm also kicking myself for not remembering who wrote that... DERP!! The big DT..

[soundguy]

(06-05-2013 06:55 PM)friskers96 Wrote:  . Guess thats what makes Zombie movies so great, seeing the system fail and all this personal turmoil trying to make the tuff decisions..

that's what most 'decent' zed movies are all about anyway. intrapersonal human relations.. and the zeds are just an antagonist... sometimes not the major one. other people .. are..