Something about zombies.

No, I don't plan on that much. The parts of the brain that'd regulate interest in culture, etc., would probably be largely inactive. It's mostly "We want their brains, kill kill kill" with these guys.

Oh, a fun one is to remove the instinct that keeps you from using your full strength, that way when they run, they run faster but you can see them pushing their muscles and bones too hard and them snapping under the stress. This way you've got zombies that are good for a quick burst and then have lumps under their skin where torn muscles have bunched up. I was planning to use that for somebody with the same ability, but it just sounds so cool that other people should use it too.

That is a pretty nice idea, yeah. I was planning on doing something like that.

Zombie culture? Sounds kinda neat, just as long as you stay away from Zombeh and its "I can has brain?" mentality.

I'm trying to think maybe a "he who survives longest leads us" mindset - reflected by the 'survivors' (i.e the pesky stay-alivers). The zombie leader, I think, would be a zombie who's been 'alive' for twenty-three years and has killed about three-hundred people with mostly just a spear, and the 'survivor' leader would be one who's been actively stayin' alive for about fourty years now.

That's another point in this scenario - the First Outbreak was nearly sixty years ago, I'm going for a very "post-apocalyptic" feel. Everything's going to be a big hovel of shit - there'll be no household computers, no cell phones, no terribley advanced technology at all. Guns are in high demand but ammo's runnin' extremely low because none of it's been manufactured in fifty-two years, and people are just barely makin' do hunting wild animals and foraging for canned conservatives, most of which I IMAGINE would be spoiled by now... but some of it might still be edible. Little miracles.

Brainstormin's a lot more fun if you've got people t' do it with.

I never liked the idea of a zombie leader. Then again, I like it when zombies are created by death itself, no virus needed.

Wait, by longest surviving, do you mean prior to becoming a zombie, or as a zombie? Are we talking about someone who fought off the zombie for years and years, and then becomes their leader when he finally gets bitten (or however it works? Or just a zombie who's really good at not getting permanently corpisified? Because if a larger portion of the world is made up of zombies, I wouldn't think that staying alive as a zombie would be that hard.

I wonder if these zombies will have cook books. In fact, will there be a high society of the zombies, as well as zombie rednecks? Just think, "Woohoo! We got a live one boys!"

The longest surviving zombie as a zombie. If he manages to stay alive for a long time as a normal human, he gets eaten with extreme prejudice - and just for clarity, the humans the plot centers around are IMMUNE to the virus.

Anyway, surviving as a zombie is harder than you might think. For one thing, you might starve - the Immunes' brains create several enzyms that the zombies need to survive, and if they go longer than a few months without a good few mouthfulls of grey matter, they'll die.

Then there's power struggles, zombie turf wars, etc.

And let's not forget wild animals, which aren't affected by the virus.

Edit: And no, no high society. They're basically animals. Very intelligent animals, but animals. So kind of like humans, but more rotting, and less morally inhibited.

edited 8th Dec '09 1:00:47 PM by Mister Always

You'd think people would just start making ammo though, I know some of the really good stuff is hard to make but a decent machine shop could hammer some ammo together out of aluminum if necessary.

That's when you bring in a sledge-hammer. I don't care how badass you are, a sledgehammer will end you.

You have to put into account range, speed and priority. Let's hope the person doing the sledging can endure swinging it more than 10 times.

And pray that these zombies aren't the ones from Return Of The Living Dead, in which case a head shot does nothing.

@Deboss: Going to make that a plot point.

@Moriatti: Drop The Hammer?

@Schitzo: Answer: The Big Guy ... But you're right.

@Sand Josieph: Headshots will kill them, but getting a headshot even on a normal target is hard (which is why it's such a big deal). These guys run at roughly 30 MPH, jump like motherfuckers, and they're agile as fuck, too, so getting a headshot would be hard even for a trained marksman/sniper. Central mass is easier and generally just as effective in at least slowing them enough to execute them. Kinetic shock, and all that.

edited 9th Dec '09 1:28:36 AM by Mister Always

This is starting to sound like it would work better for a game rather than a story on its own.

I do have something similar, but there are different types of zombies- they're less intelligent than what you suggest, but the y are tougher, and some have these odd plates of bone growing on them.However, about one in a thousand turns into a different creature, which does retain its intelligence and is similar to a walking tank- they direct the bigger horde. Finally, there's an even tougher, single, and hugely intelligent animal that controls them all.

I've actually decided to revamp my Reaper idea. Basically, something is in the air and whomever isn't immune to it becomes a savage infected individual. Since these guys aren't actually dead, they must eat to survive. Getting too close to one of these guys can increase the risk getting the "disease". However, these infected individuals aren't the reapers themselves. The reapers are what becomes anyones' corpses exposed to the airborne phenomena. Just think, right behind the fast but killable runners, are the slow but unstoppable walkers.

You could ave a situation, ammo wise, where the good stuff for automatic rifles or even bolt action models are something you save for special occasions, and that most of the time you go 1860s and use a multibarrel shotgun or breach loader with just black powder and lead balls. Making a rifle from the 1700s or even mid 1800s is fairly simple, a spring, some flint if you're going way back, and a rifled tube. The hardest part is getting a stock and sights that are useful.

Important Question:

Is there a disease or chemical substance that, when it gets into your system, makes you really really hungery? As in it tricks your brain into thinking it's starving so you just start eating everything in sight (hehe...omnivorous zombies)? Oh, and is there a medical condition that causes you to start "rotting" while you're still alive?

I personally would not give the zombies a leader, which (if Wikipedia is right) apparently is called an Ochlocracy. I feel that it removes an element of fear.

You end up getting that 'take out the head' rubbish thrown around by both the audience and the viewer.

Also, (perhaps I missed it) how intelligent are these zombies? This can drastically change how you are going about this. If you make them near-human intelligent there are going to be those who will try to resist the urge for the 'greater good'.

Do these zombies learn over time? Will they begin like relatively normal zombies and slowly adapt?

@ Josieph, maybe and yes. I'm not a chemist but I know there do exist either diseases or chemicals that causes flesh to rot (the term is necrosis).

I personally would not give the zombies a leader, which (if Wikipedia is right) apparently is called an Ochlocracy. I feel that it removes an element of fear.

You end up getting that 'take out the head' rubbish thrown around by both the audience and the viewer.

Also, (perhaps I missed it) how intelligent are these zombies? This can drastically change how you are going about this. If you make them near-human intelligent there are going to be those who will try to resist the urge for the 'greater good'.

Do these zombies learn over time? Will they begin like relatively normal zombies and slowly adapt?

Taking out the head would do relatively little structural damage. First, they'll all murder you. Then, the one who murdered you first's the new leader.

And yes, basically human intelligence. The twist, however, is that they have no inhibition. They're basically humans at their worst - uncaring of anybody but themselves, greedy, gluttonous, and [[Made Of Iron hardy.]]

You get zombified, you start eating a lot of people. It's as simple as that.

I understood that taking out the head would do little damage. I am stating that people would convince themselves that taking out the leader will solve all of their problems.

However, this just might be my issue and you should probably ignore me. This does sound like an interesting concept.

It's going to depend on how you have your zombies set up. If a brain removal doesn't kill them, then they have to be running on magic of some kind.

Or good ol' trioxin!

EDIT: Trioxon 245 to be exact.

edited 14th Dec '09 8:18:37 PM by Sand Josieph