Zombie
From The D Archives
The most traditional definition of a Zombie would be a person, who has died, and then due to fairly diverse reasons, has re-animated.
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Non-dead Zombies (unconfirmed)
It is commonly believed, that there can be, and has been so-called non-dead zombies, that have been used as beast of burden on agricultural work in places such as plantations. These sorts of zombies usually have a "zombie master" of some sort, who acts as the leader of these zombies, and according to some sources, even possesses their souls. The zombie master, as the reader can probably guess, is usually a human. According to this somewhat outdated theory, a normal human becomes a zombie after his or her soul is somehow 'stolen' via shamanic medicine and practises. These slave zombies also seem to lack free will, but do not possess the same physical urges as the zombies of the more popular theory do.
Zombies of the 2nd type
The more popular theory surrounding the definition of a zombie is centered on the re-animated corpse. According to this theory, a corpse will be able to re-animate after it has been infected by a virus, some sort of radiation or other unknown causes. The key difference between this theory and the aforementioned one is, that the re-animated corpses possess the urge to attack and eat the flesh of the living. The zombies of this theory can be considered much more hazardous to all life around it, than when compared to the zombie(s) of the first theory.
The zombies of the second theory possess another rather terminal trait: whoever fells victim to the bite of this type of a zombie, will undoubtedly turn into a zombie himself/herself soon enough. Whatever the zombies of this theory carry inside their rotting bodies seems to be contagious to humans - and even animals, according to some sources. The zombie does not seem to solely exist for the purpose of spreading the disease; rather it seems to possess an insatiable hunger for the flesh of the living. This hunger, it seems, isn't solely hunger in the sense of a feeling needed to be suppressed. Rather, the zombie of this theory seems to be interested of flesh for the sake of consuming it. According to some sources, the supposed autopsies of these sorts of zombies has shown, that the zombie still possessed the hunger for living flesh even after its' stomach (along with all of the other internal organs) had been removed. This information gives us the right to conclude that, in some sense, these zombies are not engaging in their homicidal activities for the sole purpose of acquiring food. Rather it seems that they possess the urge for living flesh, but have no real ways to suppress it. Their hunger is bottomless, if it can even be called hunger in the traditional sense, as concluded before.
The zombie of the second type can function without its' internal organs, but it still needs its' head and most importantly, the brain to function. As long as the zombie of the second type has a brain, however, the hunger for living flesh exists. As for the physical abilities of a zombie, it seems to possess a slightly better physical strength than a human, but in no sense can it be called superhuman in any way. This ability of slightly added strength manifests itself in a zombie as a tight grip, but that seems to be the only considerable difference. The
The brain of this zombie is also its' weak spot; conclusive evidence has shown, that by causing severe head trauma to the zombie, will effectively kill it. The zombie can also be dismembered, or even cut in half - but it still remains very much alive and dangerous until the brain is eliminated. It is also advisable to burn the corpse of the zombie after it has been eliminated in order to stop wild animals from feeding on the remains of the corpse - and possibly spreading the disease.
As for the behavior of these zombies, they are in a constant state of aggression, and may or may not became even more aggressive as they identify potential targets for consumption. However, these zombies seem to be quite slow, and usually "hunt" either alone or in packs. It is not unheard of, that in the case that these zombies manifest in the thousands, that a large group may be formed. as for the psyche of a zombie, this can be said: when the person dies and re-animates, the specific individual persona along with any memories is effectively wiped out. The re-animated person, no matter what, is no longer the same person as who he or she was as a living human being. The person who has been re-animated is to be considered deceased - only some vague memories of past life in the way of places visited etc. might be present in the now undead brain. These memories, however, are not enough to successfully conclude, that the undead zombie would have his or hers former personality lying dormant - or even bits and pieces of it - in the re-animated brain. The re-animated person may, based upon this information, return to the place he or she once frequented based on his or her memories - but then again may not. It would appear, though, that the only reason for this behavior is once again to just acquire prey to feed the appetite - thus there's no real sentimentality implanted upon it.
The lifespan of a zombie of the second type has also been highly debated. It has been agreed, that a zombie lifespan lasts about a year, until the necrotic degradation destroys the last of the living tissue on the zombie along with the bones. Many rank the degradition of a zombie into three stages, but in no way should one consider the last (3rd) stage of the degradation to be any less lethal than the first two stages. It should be noted that, during the opening stages of the transformation, the skin of the zombie turns leathery, and gradually rots off, until there's no more skin anywhere on the body. The falling of the last of the skin and tissue marks the beginning of the "death" of the zombie, since after missing all of its' skin, the bones will start to degrade - and eventually perish completely.
The Zombie Virus
The most intriguing question after the careful reviewal of the zombies' capabilities has to be the origin.
There have been, and currently are, several theories on how a zombie is created, or rather, how a seemingly normal person can become such a vile creature. The most prominent, and the most truthful, is the one about the zombie-condition being a virus. A theory of the zombies being created from a virus also states, that the original zombie virus is spread by ticks that in turn spread the disease to rats etc. small rodents/animals. The rats manage to move the disease into urban conditions due to fairly large rat infestations in most of the world's major cities. The ticks themselves can, naturally, infect individuals themselves. These ticks carrying the virus only survive in tropical (read: warm) conditions, which also seems to give a reason for supposed zombie outbreaks in small isolated communities located in tropical zones and/or targets in the countryside.
According to this theory, the Mononegavirales family is the originator of the zombie virus. The theory states, that the rats etc. small animals and ticks can only be the carriers of the virus, but cannot be contaminated themselves. This particular claim is unverified, since there have been several unconfirmed reports about the virus possibly contaminating canines. There is, however, much less proof about zombified canines as opposed to zombified humans, in any case. Some scientists studying the matter have concluded, that it is possible that some animal species could be infected with the virus. This leads us to draw the conclusion, that perhaps the animal most favorable for infection could the one resembling humans the most in their genetic structure. Chimpanzees, as you can imagine, are a species on the list of possibilities, unfortunately.
As for the stages of this virus, it seems to be have the standard three: infection, coma and transformation (re-animation). What is most notable about this viral theory is, that apparently there exists a vaccine against the virus. This virus, once administered in the first stage will heal the patient. The vaccine can also be administered during the second stage, but according to said sources, the chances of overcoming the virus will be cut by half (50 % from the 1st stage's 100%).
The Zombie Virus: Solanum-brand
The second theory surrounding the zombie virus is quite similar to the first one. The distinct differences are, however, the following: the disease is spread by a virus known as Solanum, which is neither airborne or waterborne. The infection happens after direct fluidic contact, in which context the virus is 100% communicable, with a 100% mortality rate. Although the virus is most commonly transmitted through zombie bites, it is also possible to be infected through mucosal contact with the blood or entrails of an infected individual.
As for the cross-species infection matter, Solanum doesn't really respond. It is apparently fatal to all animals, but doesn't cause them to re-animate after death. Insects, such as mosquitoes, cannot be carriers of the virus either. The reason for this is, that insects are, apparently, able to sense and reject the infected fluids.
The origin of the Solanum virus in this theory is also quite interesting: there doesn't seem to be any. Supposed searches and studies haven't found any Solanum in nature. This brings us to conclude, that a possibility exists concerning Solanum's unnatural origin: in other words, Solanum could be a virus developed by human hands, and most specifically, hands employed for purposes of biological weapons research. It could have been released into the general population by deliberate means - or by accident. In either case, the fact that Solanum can't be found from the nature is greatly troubling, and gives liberty to very broad speculations, even.
Also notable characteristics of the Solanum virus is, that there is no cure for it in the way of a vaccine. The only way to attempt prevention of its' spreading to the human bloodstream, is to attempt an amputation of the limb which has been bitten. If the person has been contaminated with Solanum internally, there's really nothing to be done. Amputation, in itself, isn't the most effective way to stop the disease from spreading, either, since many cases have apparently demonstrated that once Solanum gets into your bloodstream, it cannot be destroyed by simply cutting off the bitten limb.
The symptoms of the Solanum virus are as follows. It should be noted, however, that the symptoms are similar with all of the other strains of the zombie virus. This small overview should be considered universal:
Symptoms
- Hour 1: Pain and discoloration (brown-purple) of the infected area. Immediate clotting of the wound (provided the infection came from a wound).
- Hour 5: Fever (99-103° F), chills, slight dementia, vomiting, acute pains in the joints.
- Hour 8: Numbing of extremities and infected area, increased fever (103-106° F), increased dementia, loss of muscular coordination.
- Hour 11: Paralysis in the lower body, overall numbness, slowed heart rate.
- Hour 16: Coma
- Hour 20: Heart stops. Zero brain activity.
- Hour 23: Reanimation.
External links concerning the subject
The Federal Zombie and Vampire Agency
