Important question regarding zombies

RobG · Apr 9, 2015

As we all know the inevitable zombie apocalypse we will most likely all soon experience requires as much thought and planning as possible. A heated debate on the subject between a friend and I regarding the inner workings of a zombie arouse and I am interested on some public opinion.

Do zombies breathe? I am led to believe when death greats us all our stomach microbes or bacteria (or some tiny shit in or stomachs anyway) now unregulated by our brain essentially dissolves us from the inside out fairly rapidly, starting with the soft tissue (importantly lungs included) this means that actually if zombies require functioning lungs to moan, groan and say "brains" and things like that, then actually the (inevitable) zombie outbreak will be much less severe than we all anticipate, as only the very recently dead would make for a viable zombie.

If however they do not need lungs then there will be potentially billions of zombies and we are all fucked. I hope you all now appreciate the gravity of this question. To any who dismiss the zombie as fantastical nonsense, I say only this to you.... I will make sure the decapitation is quick.

I am currently working on plans for a fool proof zombie resistant suit, should this post spark some debate I will consider sharing my plan for an extremely reasonable price.

turtleman155 · Apr 9, 2015

just gonna link this

http://www.cracked.com/article_18683_7-scientific-reasons-zombie-outbreak-would-fail-quickly.html

RobG · Apr 9, 2015

xD well the person who wrote this is either the guy who has discovered the zombie virus and wants to ensure the world gets complacent before his master plan unfurls, or will be the first one to succumb to the mutated virus, explode and infect hundreds...

Hemectu · Apr 9, 2015

Voodoo zombies do breath.
Historically Undead Zombies don't breath.

Fun fact: even after death the body contains pockets which have either air or fluid. When these pockets expel from the body, or inflate due to decomposition, they can make noise, sometimes creating the impression of 'breathing'.

Most likely we will have a mixture of "28 Days Later" style zombies mixed with Flesh Eating Bacteria. In this case the people are not Dead but in an extreme state of aggression and low mental function. One of the basic functions of the lower functions of the brain is Eating, paired with excessive aggression could mean you'd see acts of Cannibalism.

Maybe we will be lucky and get a World War Z style outbreak, one can only hope.

Bobob · May 6, 2015

Do zombies go to the toilet? Where does all the eaten human flesh go?

Zotis · May 10, 2015

I think in understanding the potential of a zombie apocalypse, zombies themselves first need to be understood. How they have currently developed in film is based on Romero's portrayal, which is purely fictional. What Zombies actually were in the past was dead people raised to life with voodoo magic. I've heard that african voodoo witch doctors actually made a paralizing toxin to make people appear dead, and then later they would dig the people out of their grave so they would walk around in a zombie-like state as the toxin began to wear off.

More research is required, but what I've read so far seems to implicate that an actual zombie outbreak is impossible for two important reasons. First of all there is no such thing as magic. Secondly you would need a lot of toxic powder to cause a global epidemic.

However, you may actually need to prepare for an entirely different sort of apocalypse, like the illuminati wiping most of the population out to save the Earth from being environmentally destroyed, or possibly nuclear holocaust. Personally I think the world will end in the biblical sense.

Vold · May 10, 2015

A dead corpse can't move on its own if the cells involved in the movement are dead. When the heart stops beating no blood goes to the brain and if it does not have nutrients it cannot send any instruction. If something takes over your brain it not only has to be able to send instructions over your body but also it has to keep all the muscle's cells and neurones intact connected and working. But, there is no way something can keep your cells alive if your heart isn't pumping blood.

Only a living organism like an evolved parasyte that takes over your body while still alive and modifies all your bodily funtions (or main ones) in order to be able to keep your body working and cells alive upon death.

Realistically speaking, a zombie can only be a person that is alive but has no control over his/her body whatsoever; so it can be killed, if the heart stops pumping blood or the brain collapses. So, in regards to the original question, it would breath and have a heart pumping blood,... it would even have to poop and pee. :3

Zotis · May 10, 2015

Something like the rage virus in 28 Days Later makes slightly more sense. David Cronenberg also made a movie called Rabid in 1977 about a rabies-like virus that caused a similar effect to a zombie apocalypse.

Maybe an alien invasion where they use a mind ray to turn people into zomboids?

Or a demon apocalypse where demon's invade people's bodies...

But yeah, traditional zombie apocalypse, soooo unrealistic.

Vold · May 10, 2015

Yeah, if the rabies virus mutates into something that rapidly infects the host making it very agressive but does not mess up with the body so that it can survive for longer than just a few days, then it would be the closest thing to a zombie, imo. It already spreads through the saliva, so that part is covered.

Jetcutter · May 10, 2015

In real life, "uninfected" persons could fend off Zeds quickly. The Zombie threat would be thwarted so quicky, it would be meaningless.
But heck, fun to roleplay, right?

Zotis · May 10, 2015

Guy · Jun 11, 2015

I have been a longtime zombie fan, since my first remembering. Romero zombies would be cake to handle, so would the walking dead style of mostly slow. Zac Snyder zombies would be the hardest to be ready for and survive past the point of running out of immediate food in your chosen shelter. Remember, they run like hell, don't stop to rest, and you have to make headshots to drop them. Headshots on a zombie or anyone running is a stone bitch. 28 Days ragers are not quite as bad, since they are still living and a center of mass shot will put them down as well as a headshot, if not as instantly.

The best zombie story book I have read is by John Ringo. Zombies are living infected people, and it is a bio attack that creates them. Part of the engineered biological attack is a phase where the zombie is compelled to remove all their clothes to be sure that they don't die from compaction, which is what happens when, quite frankly, your shit has no where to go.

Very well thought out set of books, I think the first two are in paperback and I am waiting for the third to make it out of hard cover.