Zombie Apocalypse. Is It Possible?

Oh, okay.

Oh, and someone is trying to make a plausible ZA scenario and I want you guys, especially you Barkley, to take a look at it. I want you guys to focus on military's involvement because I'm not sure how it works.

Oops, double post.

edited 6th Jul '11 3:45:26 PM by dRoy

My major problem with 28 Days Later is that if the infected are in a constant mindless rage, they won't actively hunt. Because the incubation period is so ridiculously small, once there's a decent-sized firebreak (like open countryside) in human beings they won't spread very fast and can be easily contained. So I don't even think that Britain would go down. The first thing the government and military would do is organise safe zones to command and control from and then just round up the infected. They wouldn't even have to deal with the crisis alone, they could have drawn on allied military resources from both European and American sources.

edited 6th Jul '11 3:45:12 PM by pagad

I have to concur with the previous posts regarding the military would have no qualms about obliterating zombies. I think most people would have no qualms about killing zombies - no more qualms than they would have about playing a FPS computer game.

In fact, if you wanted to sign up to kill zombies, it'd be safest to wait for a few days so you don't get trampled underfoot in the rush.

I don't know. I kind of get while it would be easier, but also consider this.

A friend, a family member (Your mom, you brother, etc) or even a lover has become a zombie. This was someone you knew, someone you cared for. And they are now a mindless monster. A shell of your former self.

At least with other monsters (Vampires, Werewolves) depending on the circumstances they might still possess something of their old selves. But with this, they are just a shambling monster.

Now I admit I seem to be undermining myself, but my point is, that with people you don't know, it might be easy, but when you Grandma comes shambling around the corner looking for brains, I could picture some people breaking down and just letting themselves get killed out of despair, or deluding themselves into believing they could possible cure them or something nutty.

I must admit, the points about the military kicking ass stands. I think in the older Romero style movies, anyone who died under any circumstances (Heart Attack, hanging, old age) rose as a Zombie. That might explain how they end up taking over. People get blindsided when a guy who had a stroked suddenly started gnawing on their neck.

Yeah, that's one of the things. People know zombies. The only groups likely to actually object to shooting zombies are likely to be the diehard pacifists/loons.

Not quite. Since zombies always goes around in groups, each and everyone is pretty disindividuated so it would be easy to shoot them down. Also, if your grandpa goes around looking for brains, just lock her and call for nearest hospital, not let hesitate and get yourself bitten. If you do, you deserve it.

Not a problem here. You're a zed, you are dead.

It's just one of the many ways that not training people to be able to turn off their empathy is a bad thing.

^

It's a rather convenient little ability.

I've always wondered about the whole conservation of energy thing. Either the zombies would run down like cheap watches after they'd burnt all their calories in about a couple weeks, or the human survivors would enter a new golden age through the wonders of zombie treadmill perpetual motion machines.

You have no idea how awesome that just sounded.

Or they're just photosynthetic. If I were making zombies as tough as possible, that's how I'd do it.

Okay then, SOLAR zombie treadmills.