Zombies - Updated 17/12/13

[Lianam]

So they have to die for the virus to kick in and then the virus restarts the bodily functions?
And you say this makes sense?

Okay I think I worded that wrong. Just take what The Goatman said. Is it still pretty illogical? A bit to a lot, but who cares! It's the most logical explanation I can come up with for how the Zombies in The Walking Dead work.

I've personally always been partial to the "we don't know what the heck causes it or how it works, but it makes dead people want to eat living people," explanation.

I believe there is a fungus that takes control over ants and kills them, then the ant's dead body is used as a means of reproduction of self and spores.

This is probably the closest thing you could get to a plausible draw for a backstory, but zombies never really did make sense to begin with.

Found it:
Clicky
It's the inspiration for the game "The Last of Us" I believe, I think it's my favorite possibility for zombies.
Still doesn't discredit this though

While we're talking about The Last Of Us... it's a great game. Well, the story, characters, and world are great. Gameplay is decent. Highly recommend it, has good feels.
Also the Zombies in that circumvent the issues in that article mainly because the fungus first originated on crops, which allowed it to become widespread very fast before most people actually turned. And they do have some self-perservation instincts, and are able to maintain their bodies.

My favorite Zombies would be the Alien parasite type- Headcrabs from Half-Life, the Flood from Halo (fun fact, just about everything in Halo is a biblical reference- the Flood representing and named after the great flood in the Bible), or the Zerg Infestation in Starcraft.
For aliens wanting to wipe out a population, creating Zombie-like parasites is actually is a very clever idea when you think about it:
All you need to do is just unleash it upon major population centers and major militaries bases and wait for it weaken the population to the point where you'll only encounter minimum resistance doing the rest. But above all it also like recycling in weird messed-up way: you turn your dead enemies into a usable resource capable of moving itself so you don't have to deal with the pain of cleaning up the millions of corpses that would otherwise litter the streets- it's like if the Ceph from Crisis used dead humans to automatically build foot soldiers instead of having to manually use them to build spaceships. (Yes, aliens in a game do that.)

[TacticalBacon]

So they have to die for the virus to kick in and then the virus restarts the bodily functions?
And you say this makes sense?

It's a fiction. It's not supposed to make sense

[BlackWaltzTheThird]

It's a fiction. It's not supposed to make sense

It should make sense within the bounds of its own universe. That said, I think this discussion is getting rather off-track for this topic.

[Comrade]

Small update: I changed the ending of chapter 3 a bit, and I'm currently in the middle of writing chapter 4 Finished chapter 4 and sent it for proofreading.. looks like this week is gonna be full with zombies

[Comrade]

Chapter 4, Gunpowder

We make our way to the main school building, trying to avoid all the major groups of zombies that roam around the grounds.
It looks like the way to the school is mostly clear, so we should be fine as long as we're careful not to get their attention.
I decide to ask Kenji something I had in my mind.

"Do you think we'll find any survivors in there?"

"I doubt there are any. Outbreaks tend to spread quite fast in such crowded areas, so probably most of the people who were around either escaped or turned, at least that's what I'm hoping for."

"What do you mean hoping for?" I ask exasperatedly. "Do you want the other students dead or something? And wouldn't we stand a better chance if there were other people here?"

"Have you gone mad?!" Kenji whispers urgently. "We can't trust anyone with our information and supplies. If an agent finds out about my plans then the feminists would be all over us, like flies over dog poop."

I have no idea what he's talking about but I'm pretty sure he got carried away in his fantasy rants. I just don’t get how the feminists can get involved in these situations.

"What do the feminists have to do with the zombies anyway?" I ask, immediately regretting it.

"Hisao, I'm disappointed in you, how can you not see how the feminists were behind this whole zombie thing, some sort of plot to root me out of my stronghold, or maybe a failed military experiment, it all makes sense! Hisao, we gotta get to the bottom of this outbreak and stop the feminists from taking over the world with their zombie drone slaves!"

"Uhh, yeah I knew that, I was just making sure you were unto it as well." I try to humor him.

Kenji stops in his tracks.

"Looks like I was wrong about you Hisao. You are smarter than you look. I think."

I think nodding and smiling is the best course of action in this scenario. It seems like whenever you try to challenge his "logic" he goes into berserk mode and rants for an eternity.

"Anyway, it's not like there's anyone in school that I care about. There are a few which I don't mind, but no one like you."

I stop dead in my tracks, nearly getting a heart attack. "Clarify that now." I demand. This whole blood brother thing might have gotten into a very disturbing territory.

"They won't listen man! They are all blinded because of the fascist feminist liberal media! Which sucks because some of them really are blind, it's like being blind twice! See how cruel the feminists are, double blinding people just to keep their zombie master conspiracy secret! But you and I are different Hisao, we can see beyond their lies! We are free minds! What about you though? Is there anyone specific you wanted to rescue?"

Damn, I hoped he wouldn't ask me that, I can't tell him the truth, he'll go mad.

"Uh.. yeah! There's this guy I met the other day, he seemed capable and willing to help us fight against the feminist zombie fascist thing… yeah, so I was hoping to see if he managed survive the outbreak."
I come up with something, hopefully he'll buy it.

"Very nice Hisao. Surely if you think he was worthy of entering our order he'll manage to handle a couple of pesky femi-zombies. We'll keep an eye out for him."
Kenji seems impressed with my story, good. I just hope those two are okay back there.

We get to the yard in front of the main school entrance, but there is a minor obstacle in our way in.
by minor obstacle I mean a pack of five zombies clawing at the doors, it seems like they haven't noticed us yet, but I can’t see how we can get to the school without getting rid of them.
Kenji seems deep in thought. I hope he can figure out a plan, because I can't come up with anything.

"Alright listen Hisao, we're going to try and distract them, pick up that rock and throw it at the wall to the right, if you make enough noise they'll look for the source, make sure your gun Is ready in case things go south."
Seems like a reasonable plan. I make sure my gun is ready, pick up a nearby rock that looks big enough to make a noise and throw it as hard as I can at the wall Kenji pointed at.

*CLUNK*

It appears to be working, the zombies stop thrashing at the door and start to head towards…

Oh crap.

The zombies run at us, flailing their arms and howling at the top of their zombie lungs.

"Plan B Hisao! Shoot them!" Kenji shouts as he jumps towards the zombies, hacking away at their flash with his axe.

I carefully aim at the head of the zombie closest to us. I think it is one of the night guards that work here. Well, worked here.
The bullet goes right through its head, it was easier this time, I wonder if I'll ever get used to this, and whether that is a good thing or not.
We manage to take out the zombies that were blocking our way and head for the door. I can see that Kenji is pretty bloodied up from the struggle, but he doesn't seem hurt. I don't think I ever want to know where he learned to use an axe like that - or where he got that axe anyway.

I'm about to open the door when I hear a howl from behind us.

"What the hell was that?!" I yell as I turn my head to look for the source of the disturbance.

I'm horrified to see a small horde of them running at us, there are at least 50 zombies there.

"Oh shit man, they must have heard the gunfire! We're screwed! Quick Hisao, get inside the school!"

I push the handle of the door, but It appears that someone blocked the door and I can't get it open.

"Fuck!" I blurt out. "Kenji, the door is locked, what can we do?"

This is pretty bad. I can't see any way out of this mess, we've reached a dead end.
It’s funny, before the accident I always fantasized I'd die in some heroic fight against the forces of evil alongside my comrades in arms, a death that I will be remembered for, probably a side effect of watching all those anime as a child. After my heart attack those thoughts were replaced by a depressing death from a heart attack at the age of 30 or something, but in some sort of cruel twist of faith, it looks like I'll get my heroic death after all.
The zombies are closing in on us, and we are forced to go up against the door behind us. Kenji grabs me by the shoulder. "Well Hisao, looks like this is it. It was an honor knowing you."
Just as the zombies begin to claw at our bodies, to my immense surprise, shortly replaced by relief, the door open behinds us and a stranger pulls us inside the building, then quickly shuts it again.
***


Hanako just finished treating my wounds. I think she did a good job, even if she won't admit it herself.

"Hanako?" I call out.

"Y…yes, Lilly?" I can hear her tiny voice answer me.

"Thank you." I say while giving her a sincere smile.

"It’s nothing, r..really, you shouldn't move too much until your leg recovers." she whispers, I can hear that she turned away from me when she said that.

"Umm, Lilly? There is no response yet." Yuuko informs me that her attempts to contact the police have been futile. I let out a sigh of frustration, it seems like we're on our own.

Hanako and I were in the tea room when it started, we decided to have a little end of exams party while everyone was going about their Sunday businesses. When we realized something was going on we locked ourselves in the school. Then we've found Yuuko sleeping in the library and decided to stay here.
While we went to get us some food from the cafeteria, I fell tripped and injured my leg so Hanako had to get medical supplies, and Yuuko had to watch over me here. We couldn't contact anyone from outside the school, and I'm not even sure what happened yet. Hanako said that what looks like dead bodies started to attack people. I'm not sure what to make of it yet, but I think our best option is to wait until we contact someone.

We sit there in silence for a while, until suddenly I can hear my phone ring.

"It's Akira!"Hanako says as she passes it to me.

"Hello? Akira?"

"Lilly! I'm so glad to hear you're okay! I tried to call you yesterday but there was no service."

I feel considerably relived to hear her voice. We tried to call her yesterday, but there was no answer so I was worried something might have happened to her.

"Akira, I'm at the school library with Hanako and Yuuko, there's no one else around, and the ground is filled with those… things" I can hear that she's in a car, is she coming to get us?

"Alright Lilly, you girls hang in there, I'm coming to get you!" she says. I think I can hear other people with her.

"Alright Akira, be careful!" I barely manage to say goodbye before she hangs out.

"So this makes things a lot simpler. We'll just wait here until Akira comes to get us and then we'll be alright! Is that okay?" I try and lighten the mood around here.

"O…okay Lilly."

I can hear Yuuko heave a sigh of relief.

Suddenly a series of loud bangs echoes outside the window. Yuuko nearly falls off her chair in surprise, and Hanako lets out a gasp.

"I think someone is shooting!" I say, trying hard to contain my surprise.

"I think you're r…right Lilly, should we ch…check it out?"

I think for a second. If there's shooting it must mean that there are people out there, and if there are we must take them with us.

"Yes, Hanako, I think the shooting comes from the front of the school, so you should take the key we got from the student council room. Be careful, if you find anyone out there, tell them we're waiting here and that help is coming, be careful, it could be dangerous out there."

And with that, Hanako goes off to find the source of the commotion. Yuuko still seems to be recovering from the shock the shooting gave her. I'm still not sure what happened out there, and Hanako won't say much. I just hope that everyone is okay and that the whole thing will clear up soon.

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I'm not really happy with the way I wrote Lilly's part, but other then that i think it came out rather decent. I think it is time to add this to the library.

[Sea]

Woo hoo! More words!
I think you have a much renewed sense of purpose and I'm interested if the outbreak at Yamaku is contained or in Japan or the world, as it being contained to Yamaku allows you to play out a totally different scenario.
I shall look eagerly to the next chapter, keep up the amazing work!