Once I began branching out and actually reading a variety of zombie books, I found myself drawn into the debate regarding what exactly is the zombie and how the monster is generated. Some speculate (at length), that there is no way a person could die and then be reactivated. The fantastical/unscientificness of the entire scenario is so implausible to them, they cannot help but first laugh, and then weep in frustration at any who consider it a viable means of zombie generation.
I mean, it does make sense to give a little giggle at the idea. Unless the zombie were supernaturally empowered, a corpse cannot physically resume walking (let alone groaning i.e. no air moving through vocal cords) even if a virus (a particular strong nasty) infected the body. Can a virus be active with a dead host? No synapses could fire through the nervous system and thus invigorate those grimy, grasping limbs, no teeth could chomp, no hunger could drive the unholy being to such desperate and terrible acts of cannibalism. I ask unambiguously if someone were to know of any science/theory that would allow this.
Other authors like Brian Keene and David Wellington have envisioned the zombie as a supernatural being--literally they are creature reanimated by demons or other spiritual means. They are not, in essence, really inflicted by a virus even if the spirit/devil enters them through bite. It is a hypothesis or rather a fantastical idea, but I am more drawn to the third scenario stated below.
Finally, (and this seems to me a newer or newer to mainstream idea) that a virus can make one corpse-like that is a person lives while infected but becomes immune to pain and virtually immortal unless major organs are shredded (the most effective being the brain). We even have known flesh-eating diseases which make one's skin so the concept of a person walking around with skin rotting and peeling off their bodies is not an unknown occurrence. With known hallucinogenic drugs, leprecy, and all the other ugly bacteria and viruses lurking in our world, I would well imagine a catastrophic outbreak of zombie.
This is why the third zombie origin story appeals so much to me. It's plausibility. The other stories are certainly entertaining and thought-provoking. However, it is the idea of the corpse-like zombie that gives me the chills because it so the most likely to occur. The idea of zombie becomes more real, the threat turned up a notch. I remember how vulnerable we are to disease and contagion (especially as I type this with a sinus infection).
Some might argue if the people are alive, then we have a chance to save them, heal them. Salvation from the zombie is not just a bullet to the brain. Perhaps we could save them with a miracle cure. Perhaps all we need is an anti-virus. Yet, we know many viruses are immune themselves to cure. They wouldn't be viruses otherwise.
And, if we know these zombies are still human, still able to have a life if we could just find the right inoculation, would that make it harder to put them down when necessary? When time and the masses are at stake, can you take out the individual knowing mom, your neighbor, or loved one resides behind the mask of zombie infection? This adds a whole new dimension to the gruesomeness of zombie. The zombie is no longer simply a metaphor or a mindless enemy to dispense. The zombie evolves into another, deeper reflection of your own humanity. It had before, but in this new vein, it becomes increasingly important for the human to weigh the consequences of how they dispose of the walking dead.
What about you, phantom readers, what type of zombie seems most realistic or appeals most to you?
And how, if you were faced with a living undead, would you contend with the creature?
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