Zombie survival

[Deraldin]

I have learned several things about surviving a zombie apocalypse from left 4 dead.

 

1) don't make much noise, zombies are attracted to it

2)make sure you stick with friends because most of the other people who join up with you suck and often split up from the group

3)if you're headed for safety, screw the people behind you (every safehouse you enter in Left 4 dead, when you load the next area the door back the other way is blocked with furniture)

4)when a zombie makes a noise other than the standard "urrrrr" run like hell

5)when the apocalypse hits, alot of people will randomly leave well made pipebombs around.

 

Contrary to what the Zombie Survival Guide says, fire does indeed solve everything.

[Calax]

true, also any zombie will die from fire, in under a minute too

[Walsingham]

Joking aside, as my research indicates, the Z virus is almost certain to render all sub-dermal tissue a mass of inert infectious lesions. Most fire-based weaponry will therefore be completely pointless.

[Krookie]

not sure if you guys have seen this or if it's been posted in this thread but...

http://www.survivetheoutbreak.com/

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Joking aside, as my research indicates, the Z virus is almost certain to render all sub-dermal tissue a mass of inert infectious lesions. Most fire-based weaponry will therefore be completely pointless.

You make the fatal error of assuming it will actually be the Z-Virus.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

not sure if you guys have seen this or if it's been posted in this thread but...

http://www.survivetheoutbreak.com/

 

I don't think anyone did, thanks for the link!

[theslug]

Yeah nice link. I had a sweet haircut and was about to bang this chick becuase she lost her dad or something but she died becuase I left her to die and then I joined some kind of resistance force. It was pretty cool.

[Rosbjerg]

Just found a cheap paperback version of The Zombie Survival Guide in a funny novelty store (if you can call it that).

 

I feel totally ready for any outbreak now!

[Walsingham]

Joking aside, as my research indicates, the Z virus is almost certain to render all sub-dermal tissue a mass of inert infectious lesions. Most fire-based weaponry will therefore be completely pointless.

You make the fatal error of assuming it will actually be the Z-Virus.

 

What? How is that fatal?

[Gfted1]

not sure if you guys have seen this or if it's been posted in this thread but...

http://www.survivetheoutbreak.com/

 

 

Fun link.

[Rosbjerg]

Joking aside, as my research indicates, the Z virus is almost certain to render all sub-dermal tissue a mass of inert infectious lesions. Most fire-based weaponry will therefore be completely pointless.

You make the fatal error of assuming it will actually be the Z-Virus.

 

What? How is that fatal?

 

I could tell you - but then I'd have to kill you..

[Walsingham]

Joking aside, as my research indicates, the Z virus is almost certain to render all sub-dermal tissue a mass of inert infectious lesions. Most fire-based weaponry will therefore be completely pointless.

You make the fatal error of assuming it will actually be the Z-Virus.

 

What? How is that fatal?

 

I could tell you - but then I'd have to kill you..

 

Well? What are you waiting for? A gold invitation? Get on with it!

[DeathScepter]

yes it is

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Joking aside, as my research indicates, the Z virus is almost certain to render all sub-dermal tissue a mass of inert infectious lesions. Most fire-based weaponry will therefore be completely pointless.

You make the fatal error of assuming it will actually be the Z-Virus.

 

What? How is that fatal?

By assuming it is the Z-Virus, you have ignored the other possiblities! YOU ARE NOT PREPARED.

[Trenitay]

Are you prepared?

[DeathScepter]

yes i am

[Walsingham]

I think it's aperfectly sensible bet to attribute the phenomenon to a hybrid rabies/smallpox derivative. All the reported symptoms coincide.

 

The benefit of narrowing one's threat horizon is that one can devote more preparation to the most important issues, by taking up slack elsewhere. For example, I can relax the necessity of wearing full CBRN hazmat equipment. Such equipment would directly reduce my ability to move and fight, but would be unavoidable if the contagion were airborne.

 

Thus, by guarding against everything, YOU will be weighed down by crucifixes, wolfsbane, gasmask, chainmail, etc, and get 'eaten'.

[theslug]

I got a question Wals. How exactly do these infected survive any significant length of time without proper nutrition. Sure people can live up to like 30 days without food but water is a detrimental problem to the zombie horde. The fact of the matter is that we are still talking about humans here. Sure, perhaps their brain chemistry and certain bodily functions have changed but they are still a mass of cells that need sustenance. And as much as gnawing on a dead guys foot might sound like a good meal for a zombie, there really just ain't much there. The water part of the equation is the biggy though. When we are talking about your standard city crawling with the infected, I ain't never seen no zombie downing a tall boy to quench his thirst. Especially in regional parts of the world, such as deserts where water isn't exactly plentiful, how do the zombies cope. And not only that, from a weather standpoint how would zombies do in the winter, say in the east u.s. where it can reach below zero easy. Zombies don't exactly wear overcoats or crawl inside recently dead animals/humans for warmth.

 

It is of the opinion of this poster that zombies or even people infected with the Z virus would be heavily compromised by the natural as well as man made environment and simply wouldn't be able to adapt to a world where they don't belong. In conclusion, I don't see myself bludgeoning a zombie to death in this lifetime or any other.

[Walsingham]

I got a question Wals. How exactly do these infected survive any significant length of time without proper nutrition. Sure people can live up to like 30 days without food but water is a detrimental problem to the zombie horde. The fact of the matter is that we are still talking about humans here. Sure, perhaps their brain chemistry and certain bodily functions have changed but they are still a mass of cells that need sustenance. And as much as gnawing on a dead guys foot might sound like a good meal for a zombie, there really just ain't much there. The water part of the equation is the biggy though. When we are talking about your standard city crawling with the infected, I ain't never seen no zombie downing a tall boy to quench his thirst. Especially in regional parts of the world, such as deserts where water isn't exactly plentiful, how do the zombies cope. And not only that, from a weather standpoint how would zombies do in the winter, say in the east u.s. where it can reach below zero easy. Zombies don't exactly wear overcoats or crawl inside recently dead animals/humans for warmth.

 

It is of the opinion of this poster that zombies or even people infected with the Z virus would be heavily compromised by the natural as well as man made environment and simply wouldn't be able to adapt to a world where they don't belong. In conclusion, I don't see myself bludgeoning a zombie to death in this lifetime or any other.

 

That's a really good point, and frankly I don't have an answer. Ultimately, as you say, the subject would need water and glucose. It is possible that the infection takes the form of a bacteria rather than virus, and that the bacteria supplants cellular mitochondria* with itself, producing ATP via some other mechanism, but I don't see how.

 

The only thing I can suggest that would be consistent with my hypothesis is that four alternatives are true:

 

1. Incubation rates are very slow, leading to a 'trickle' of zombies

2. The inability to take in water underpins the fact that few known outbreaks appear to spread

3. Where normal rabies causes excessive salivation and an inability to eat/drink, coupled with confusion/fear in the presence of food, the z variant does the inverse. If you or I had a parched mouth, and found we could assuage it whenever we buried our face in something (people) then we might well do so. It could also be that the subdermal vesicles produced in smallpox are involved.

4. We may be looking at a far more complex viral hybrid, beyond known technology.

 

 

*Mitochondria themselves are likely the product of an infection, according to some sources.

[Trenitay]

Maybe it turns them into plants and they now undergo photosynthesis. Perhaps they absorb moisture from the air to survive.

[Walsingham]

Maybe it turns them into plants and they now undergo photosynthesis. Perhaps they absorb moisture from the air to survive.

 

There's not a great deal of moisture in the air, usually. But it might help.

 

The use of photosynthesis might work, but I don't think you get nearly enough energy. However, as I say, some mutation of the mitochondria, or some other symbiotic infection would work. Maybe something derived from cultures operating on the ocean floor?

 

I was looking again at rabies, and it seems that partial paralysis of the limbs is associated with it. This would add further weight to the virus having rabies as an ancestor, given the zombie's natural awkward gait.

[Calax]

wait Z virus? Are we going to be facing an enhance version of the Umbrella Corporations Tyrant? this time with special drooling action?

[Walsingham]

wait Z virus? Are we going to be facing an enhance version of the Umbrella Corporations Tyrant? this time with special drooling action?

 

The mode of transmission is contact, and suggests to me that it is viral due to its apparent ancestry. But I don't have any specimens to examine.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

So don't run around naked and always carry a firearm of some sort?

 

This sounds easy. Surely the zombies have something more up their sleeves.

[Trenitay]

Zombies are very sneaky. Never get caught in tight spaces.