History Main / ZombieInfectee

->'''Ed:''' What's up with your hand, man?\\
'''Pete:''' I got mugged on the way home from work.\\
'''Ed:''' By who?\\
'''Pete:''' I dunno, some crackheads or something. One of them bit me.\\
'''Ed:''' Why did they bite you?\\
'''Pete:''' ''I don't know, I didn't stop to ask them!''
-->-- ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead''

--->'''Dr. Bryce''': "I'm not even infected!" *swings ax, coughs BadBlackBarf* "Or at least I wasn't until you threw me in with the rest of 'em!"
** Then, {{Inverted| Trope}} in "274", when Julia's psychological projection causes her to accuse coworker Sarah. Though she exhibits a prominent hand tremor, that symptom is from another medical condition Sarah is keeping secret.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. In "The End", Dean travels to a BadFuture where the Croatoan virus has infected humanity, and his future self has [[TookALevelInJerkass become cold and ruthless]]. At one point Future!Dean does a sudden BoomHeadshot! on a member of his team he claims has been infected. As Dean couldn't see anything wrong with the man, he naturally starts to wonder if the strain is getting to his future self.
* In ''Series/LovecraftCountry'' racist and violent cop Sheriff Hunt turns into a Shoggoth after being bitten by one. Lampshaded by George.
-->'''George:''' What happens if you're bitten by a vampire?
* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' has a short-lived version in Jim in the first season. He is bitten during a nighttime zombie attack and tries to hide it, but the other survivors notice him acting suspiciously in the morning and physically force him to reveal the bite wound.
** Later in Season 5, [[spoiler:Bob gets bitten and doesn't tell anyone, choosing to leave without saying anything so that he can die alone without endangering them. This bite is hidden from both Bob's friends and the audience until he gets captured by cannibals, who amputate and eat his leg without bothering to check him for bites. This makes his reveal a MomentOfAwesome ("I'm tainted meat!") as well as a {{Tearjerker}}.]]

* In ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000,'' Genestealers are vanguard infiltrators of the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Tyranids]] who covertly arrive on planets to create "cults" of the native population. They do so via infecting them with their "kiss": an injection of Genestealer biomass that drives them to reproduce and create monstrous hybrids devoted to spreading the cult and destabilizing the planet's government and defenses. Quite often, if a cult is discovered and destroyed, some of the soldiers sent to wipe them out are actually infected by the Genestealers during the battle and are allowed to "escape" to further spread their infestation. Quite often the only indication of this infection is confusion and memory loss on the part of whoever was taken by the Genestealers, which is often attributed to stress or fatigue from intense fighting. It's unclear how much of this is genuine memory loss and how much is due to the infected person hiding what happened.

* Parodied in the ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "Epidemiology" when a zombie plague hits the campus. Rich (a doctor) hides being infected among the main characters and doesn't reveal it until he starts turning, as he thought he "was special". A jealous Britta then reveals she was bit too and immediately starts turning as well.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E2MissionToTheUnknown "Mission to the Unknown"]]: In a {{Transflormation}} variant, Lowery gets jabbed with a venomous Varga thorn, dooming him to turn homicidal and then change into a Varga plant. He conceals his infection from his companion Cory, but luckily his involuntary murmuring of "kill" as he begins to lose it warns Cory of the threat.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars "The Waters of Mars"]]: Maggie is already infected by [[MurderWater the Flood]] when she's found unconscious in the passage to the bio-dome, but the base has quarantine procedures and so she doesn't physically transform like the other victims until after she's already in quarantine. [[spoiler:Roman, on the other hand, immediately tells the others to leave him behind when he gets a drop of water on him.]]

* Doubly {{inverted|Trope}} with the character of Leon in ''Fanfic/ResidentProject.''. Leon admits to Claire and Sherry that he's been bitten, and volunteers to go into danger several times on the basis that he's on a ticking clock anyway. And then it turns out that due to a unique combination of heritage and history, he is the one person in a trillion who actually ''is'' immune to the zombie virus.

So what's a Zombie Infectee to do? Nothing. No, seriously. [[AHouseDivided Any group]] trying to survive in this apocalyptic situation will always have at least one idiot {{Jerkass}} who gets bitten or scratched and [[StagesOfMonsterGrief refuses to face the truth]] [[WhatHaveIBecome (traumatic as it is)]] [[DirtyCoward and tell anyone]], knowing full well [[PoorCommunicationKills their silence will cost lives.]] They don't seek help because they know there is nothing for their condition [[DrivenToSuicide but a bullet to the head]]. They tend not to take steps to make sure they at least don't endanger others once they die. A HeroicSacrifice is the last thing on their mind, and trying the VampireRefugee route is suicidal in most cases.

The Zombie Infectee is almost certainly (and, in their defense, rightfully) afraid their friends will kill them in cases where the protagonists have figured out that a bite or [[DeadlyScratch scratch]] will pass on TheVirus. Fear of discovery means they live their now shortened lives terrified and in denial, and as a result they end up behaving irrationally because of it. Alternatively, they will desperately cling to the hope that they will be [[TheImmune the one person immune]] to TheVirus, despite it so far having a 100% fatality and 100% conversion rate — in the most headstrong cases, they may try to ResistTheBeast.

At this point, the onus, unfortunately, is on the heroes to [[VirusVictimSymptoms notice the erratic behavior]] (for a ZombieApocalypse, anyway) and [[ShootTheDog take the appropriate and necessary steps]]. Other people — friends, relatives, lovers — may also sink into denial and [[ZombieAdvocate try to hinder the heroes from dispatching the walking liability]] before they become the walking dead. When they do turn, the Zombie Infectee will almost always infect or kill at least one unsuspecting victim (often the ZombieAdvocate, for additional [[{{Irony}} tragic irony]]), unleash [[TheHorde the horde of zombies]], destroy all the ammunition, or find some other way to cause a really bad day for the remaining survivors.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* The weird but excellent ZombieApocalypse/House fic ''The Rampant Disease'' features an infectee House refusing to let his love interest kiss him because they know TheVirus is spread through bodily fluids. (That the story also contains two of the more egregious instances of DieForOurShip ever seen detracts slightly, but it's still a great story.)
* There's a ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' fanfic called "Mistakes" where Mustang becomes an infectee after getting bitten on the wrist and refuses to admit what bit him. Despite admitting the truth eventually, Mustang ''averts'' the trope by being cured when his totally infected arm gets torn off by the Gate.
* Happens to several characters during the Roleplay/DCNation version of ''ComicBook/BlackestNight,'' most notably to Troia and Oliver Queen.
* Doubly {{Inverted}} with the character of Leon in ''FanFic/ResidentProject.''. Leon admits to Claire and Sherry that he's been bitten, and volunteers to go into danger several times on the basis that he's on a ticking clock anyway. And then it turns out that due to a unique combination of heritage and history, he is the one person in a trillion who actually ''is'' immune to the zombie virus.

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

-->"Listen to me, you fuck! My father kept a secret once. He had been bitten by a vampire. He kept it a secret from me and my mother. By the fifth day, he was turning. That night he attacked my mother. And then he came after me. I killed my own father, Padre. I got no trouble killing you."
* ''Film/{{Quarantine}}'' involves a news crew and a group of firefighters locked into an apartment complex with a bunch of other people and a zombie infection. They store the infectees in the same room that most of the living people are congregated. Guess what happens?

* ''Film/TheLastDaysOnMars'' (2013). One man not only acts like this, he tries to persuade the hero to leave behind a woman who's also a possible infectee in a ColdEquation situation. [[spoiler:When she finds out for sure she's infected, she leaves the vehicle and kills herself to stop the hero trying to save her. The other guy gets all the way to the DropShip, and the hero has to battle the infectee to stop him getting to the spaceship orbiting overhead, which would risk spreading the infection to Earth.]]

* The 2017 Australian film ''Cargo'' is based on this premise. A family are in the Australian Outback when the wife is infected by the zombie-like plague. She urges her husband to take their baby daughter to safety but he refuses and so gets bitten after she succumbs, so he then has 48 hours to find another family that can look after his daughter before he also turns into a zombie.

'''Note:''' A few zombie works (movies, literature, etc.) have [[TakeAThirdOption taken a third option, so to speak.]] If the point of infection is near the end of a limb (which it often is), that limb can then be removed, a literal LifeOrLimbDecision. The person may die due to shock and blood loss anyway, but at least he's not getting back up again to snack on your brains. Hopefully.

* ''Series/WalkingDead'' has a short-lived version in Jim in the first season. He is bitten during a nighttime zombie attack and tries to hide it, but the other survivors notice him acting suspiciously in the morning and physically force him to reveal the bite wound.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' episode Zombizou, in which the titular VillainOfTheWeek causes a ZombieApocalype via kisses instead of biting, Rose ends up being kissed on the leg as she [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished tries to get Chloe back to the safety of a bus]]. Like with all the other zombie tropes the episode follows, she doesn't tell anyone and ends up making the situation go FromBadToWorse.

At this point, the onus, unfortunately, is on the heroes to [[VirusVictimSymptoms notice the erratic behavior]] (for a ZombieApocalypse, anyway) and [[ShootTheDog take the appropriate and necessary steps]]. Other people — friends, relatives, lovers — may also sink into denial and [[ZombieAdvocate try to hinder the heroes from dispatching the walking liability]] before s/he becomes the walking dead. When they do turn, the Zombie Infectee will almost always infect or kill at least one unsuspecting victim (often the ZombieAdvocate, for additional [[{{Irony}} tragic irony]]), unleash [[TheHorde the horde of zombies]], destroy all the ammunition, or find some other way to cause a really bad day for the remaining survivors.

* Variant situation in the ''Literature/{{Newsflesh}}'' universe. ''Everyone'' is carrying a load of Kellis-Amberlee (the virus that causes zombies in their world), thus qualifying as a Zombie Infectee, but it typically remains dormant. Until the host dies, then s/he will reanimate if over 40 pounds in weight. Yes, this is ''all'' mammals, [[RaisingTheSteaks not just humans]]. In some cases, the virus goes active in a living being, a process called "amplification", which turns the host from living being to chompy zombie, bypassing physical death. Blood tests to detect amplification are routine, even if the subject is not showing symptoms at the time. Amplification cannot be hidden for long, no matter how hard the imminent zombie tries. As a result, dying characters will generally choose DyingAsYourself instead.

* A random event in ''VideoGame/{{Rebuild}}'' describes one of the ZombieApocalypse survivors in your fort having, apparently, been bitten weeks prior and hiding the fact from everyone. Eventually, the infection is discovered and he/she killed (or cured if you have [[FindTheCure researched the zombie serum]]). This is less likely if you have a hospital (and medicine in the third game).

* Happens unknowingly in Creator/GarthEnnis'... ''strange'' book ''ComicBook/{{Crossed}}.'' One member of the party is shot (the eponymous Crossed are intelligent, just psychotic), and seems to just be in shock. However, there's quite a OhCrap moment when a scouting party witnesses a group of Crossed [[spoiler: soaking bullets in their semen]]. Cue rampage. Note that the heat from a gunshot flash sterilizes the bullet. It the reason most doctors leave the bullet in unless it's putting pressure or stuck in something vital.

* The ''Film/ResidentEvilFilmSeries'' have examples of good and bad Infectees. Notably, a recurring minor character from [[Film/ResidentEvilApocalypse the second movie]], EthnicScrappy L.J, is bitten in [[Film/ResidentEvilExtinction the third]]. What's infuriating about this example is that the movie is set well after the zombie plague has swept through the world, so he couldn't exactly plead ignorance; L.J. had likely seen the same thing happen dozens of times. And yet he keeps his infection a secret, even as he begins to sicken. Once he turns (which [[RuleOfDrama inconveniently]] happens during the big zombie attack), he almost kills TheChick while both are locked in a car, and then infects one of the likable main characters, who does the right thing and takes as many zombies with him as possible in a massive explosion.

** In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'' it is revealed that [[spoiler: Ethan Winters essentially became one of these after being infected my the Mold early one in the last game.]] Subverted in that, unlike most zombies, he functions like a mostly normal person with the only difference being able to survive massive amounts of damage. In fact, he is unaware of his status as one until the end of the game.

** Subverted in [[VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonOne Season 1]] when Kenny Jr., aka Duck is bitten, as no one hides it. It's less of an issue of denying the bite, but rather [[spoiler: the parents coming to grips with the fact that they're going to have to kill their son.]]

* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'' puts its own spin on this trope. The second major StoryArc involves [[BigBad Eggman]] unleashing the Metal Virus, a techno-organic plague spread by contact which [[UnwillingRoboticisation turns all the infected into mindless robots]] that Sonic dubs "zombots". This trope comes into play when Sonic himself is infected; his speed lets him burn off the infection into remission, but can't fully cure him. As a result, he spends the arc slowly being turned as the virus starts to overcome his speed, and unable to touch anyone for fear of infecting them too.
** The trope turns tragic in issue 22, when [[spoiler: a single infectee gets into Restoration HQ, resulting in its destruction.]]

--> '''George:''' What happens if you're bitten by a vampire?

* ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead''

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "The Purple Smurfs" a strange infection is turning the Smurfs into purple mindless angry creatures. Hefty hides his condition painting himself in blue.

*** Pregnant Luda gets bitten. Once her husband Andre discovers the bites turn the victim into a zombie, he sets his wife up in the maternity store, separate from the other survivors. Andre sinks so deeply in denial that he refuses to accept the truth, even when it's obvious TheVirus has her; instead he becomes her twisted [[TheCaretaker caretaker.]] Ironically, Luda doesn't kill anyone, because Andre restrained her when she went into labor (during which she died and reanimated). When Norma discovers zombie Luda, she shoots the undead new mother. Norma and Andre then exchange more gunfire, killing each other. Ana then arrives and shoots Luda's [[WhatMeasureIsANonCute newborn zombie infant]].

** In the anime, this scene is AdaptedOut, and the two girls are implied to be the only survivors. However, while exploring the mall for supplies and other survivors, Kurumi accidentally opens up a barricaded door, only to find out there were zombies inside. She later discusses this with Yuri, suggesting that since the barricade from the outside was still holding, someone inside was a ZombieInfectee, and ended up zombifying everyone inside the theater. Some FridgeHorror also occurs when they also mention children were in there...

* Variant situation in the ''Literature/{{Newsflesh}}'' universe. ''Everyone'' is carrying a load of Kellis-Amberlee (the virus that causes zombies in their world), thus qualifying as a ZombieInfectee, but it typically remains dormant. Until the host dies, then s/he will reanimate if over 40 pounds in weight. Yes, this is ''all'' mammals, [[RaisingTheSteaks not just humans]]. In some cases, the virus goes active in a living being, a process called "amplification", which turns the host from living being to chompy zombie, bypassing physical death. Blood tests to detect amplification are routine, even if the subject is not showing symptoms at the time. Amplification cannot be hidden for long, no matter how hard the imminent zombie tries. As a result, dying characters will generally choose DyingAsYourself instead.

* Frequently averted in the ''Literature/{{Newsflesh}}'' trilogy. Everyone knows that hiding your infection ends badly, so they don't try to hide it. They also run a blood test on anyone they suspect might have been infected. As a result, dying characters will generally choose DyingAsYourself instead.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** Corporal Stacy would've been this if it weren't for her military BootsOfToughness. Which was able to stop a bite of a zombie that just survived getting blown up with a grenade.[[spoiler:Although this doesn't stop Chantelle from kicking her out because of fear that she could still have been infected]].

* In the 1990 B-movie ''The Rift'', R. Lee Ermey plays the captain of a navy submersible that encounters mutant killer sea life that can infect other organisms, turning them to green mush. [[spoiler: When he comes in close contact with a half-dissolved corpse, he hides the fact that he's been exposed from the other two survivors ... but only because they're in a countdown-to-self-destruct situation, and telling them about it would cost them precious seconds to get to the escape pod. He drops back to let them board first, then seals the hatch while still outside and shows them his already-green wrist through the porthole.]]