Where do zombies come from?

Well, it depends on the type of zombie. The cannibalistic living dead that infect by way of biting and transmitting a disease... yeah, there's the issue of a lot of people apparently being bitten and getting away, spreading the disease. It makes little sense, I would agree.

But if you have something like 28 Days Later where the "zombies" are spreading a very fast-acting virus by way of bodily fluids it becomes considerably easier to accept. Stephen King's "zombies" in Cell become what they are by means of a mysterious signal. The Return of the Living Dead gave us the brain-hungry zombies where bodies are reanimated by some airborne toxic chemical. Even Night of the Living Dead reported the source vaguely as some sort of "radiation." There are also more supernatural versions in which zombies are possessed corpses of some sort, at which point all bets are off.

So really, it all depends on the kind of zombie you're going with. I tend not to favor the notion that there are a standard set of zombies in fiction because when you start looking at the history of it there have always been varied takes on the creatures. I didn't even get into the mind-controlled, voodoo "old school" zombies...

When a lady zombie and a man zombie love each other very much...

That means all the zombies must have been bit/scratched and then escaped, and then turned to zombies

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Untrue.

Jcomp said:

The cannibalistic living dead that infect by way of biting and transmitting a disease

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Untrue

Even Night of the Living Dead reported the source vaguely as some sort of "radiation."

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There was a report in the film that the source could (read: probably) was the radiation from a returning space probe.


It's very tempting to confuse the living dead with Vampires. This is not the case.

Assuming, for the sake of argument, that by 'zombie' you mean the traditional Romeroean walking corpses, then the answer is simple.
There was no 'patient zero' who became the first zombie and spread the infection.
The whole point of this type of zombie is that they are the risen dead.
ALL dead bodies become zombies.
You don't have to die as a result of zombie interference to become a zombie. "Everyone who dies gets up and kills".

If you do get bitten and then get away, you'll just die sooner. This may be a side-effect of whatever it is that re-animates the zombies, but it could possibly just be the kind of infection you'd get if you made a rotting corpse bite you.


Decide you can't face this new, exciting world and shoot yourself through the heart? Zombie.
Have a heart attack after seeing your daughter kill and eat your wife? Zombie.
Hit by a car driven by someone fleeing zombies? Zombie.

And so on...

Bmwhtly said:

Assuming, for the sake of argument, that by 'zombie' you mean the traditional Romeroean walking corpses, then the answer is simple.

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I didn't. Don't know how my statement is "untrue" given that there are indeed works of fiction where cannibalistic zombies infect by means of a bite that transmits the disease to the victim (World War Z, for instance). This appears to be specifically what the OP was referring to. While it's true that in The Walking Dead comic book all the dead return to life, that's not always how the zombie infection is presented. Which is why I lead in with "depends on the type of zombie." There's no one definitive standard of zombie, much as people like to pretend otherwise.

????

I did not realize there was an official system of zombification.


"Zombies" if anything trace back to occult magic where the dead were risen OR the living were pressed into catatonic servitude; Santeria and Hatian voodoo came about long before Romero.


To say there is only one type of Zombie is like posturing and claiming vampires absolutely can or cannot be killed with silver (yes, silver, not sunlight), as there are multiple variations on the mythos.

Bmwhtly said:

Decide you can't face this new, exciting world and shoot yourself through the heart? Zombie.
..

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Funny, Stephen King has a short story in The Night Shift where this is almost exactly what happens, and it keeps the man from returning as the risen dead.

post was not directed at you. The bottom line is these things are not exactly "testable" so many people create many mythos, just like vampires and werewolves. I agree the premise you mentioned seems to depend on an awful lot of "escapees"

in my novel a bite transmits the disease, which was orginally created as a science experiment. dozens were created and bit the scientists, spreading the disease. it happened from that point...

scarletpeaches said:

When a lady zombie and a man zombie love each other very much...

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sad part is im going to add this to my novel since my zombies arent dead, just transformed.

elindson said:

sad part is im going to add this to my novel since my zombies arent dead, just transformed.

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As long as you mention the genius that is Scarlett Parrish and send me a free copy.

scarletpeaches said:

As long as you mention the genius that is Scarlett Parrish and send me a free copy.

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if i ever get a huge deal i will

There are different rules regarding zombies. One of the cool ideas postulated from the original Night of the Living Dead, was that hell was full so the dead walked the earth.

I don't think it's too much of a stretch to see how the zombies were made in The Walking Dead. They are slow and I would think many people could get a scratch or bite one on one in the first few days. Remember that in show, it is at least a week or more after it all started. So now they follow sound and smell and group together in a slow shambling herd, but it started out as one on one attacks as people changed. They also haven't yes established int he show how long it takes to change exactly. They said there was a bad fever, but how long?

But even in the second episode, that deputy escaped, but could easily have been scratched or bitten in the process.

Essentially, there are a whole load of different zombie 'types,' all which put forth their own reasons for the rise.

I'm not really a big fan of 'no matter how you die, if you kick the bucket you come back a zombie' zombies. Only time I've really liked this is in Maberry's ROT AND RUIN.

I'm more into the 'contaigen' model of zombies, where zombification is more or less an illness which transforms you into a zombie, much like the walkers in The Walking Dead. (or Geeks, for those that prefer the term.)

An interesting point, and one I've thought of many a time - if zombies are after flesh, how do any make it to the point where they have one bite and BOOM - zombie? Wouldn't there just be a bunch of eviscerated crawlers twitching on the ground, risen but unable to move because of massive muscle-tissue damage? Well the idea isn't just that the still mobile 1-bite victim managed to get away, but because of one of two concepts.

One, the virus that transforms the person into a zombie realizes that to best transmit itself, it needs to create spore colonies (read: zombies) capable of infecting others. This would rule out tearing victims to shreds. While the idea that a virus can be self-aware is a little out there, stranger things in evolution have happened. Just look at the way trees disperse seeds - trees have 'realized' (I realize this is a HEAVY dumbing down of Darwinism and the like, but bear with me) that animals are willing to eat fruit, and therefore will encase their seeds in edible material so that their seeds can grow after they are excreted by the animal, or - if you really want to look at it - host. A cold virus makes you cough, spreading the virus further, rather than killing you outright (also a byproduct of immune system, but hear me out).

Secondly, the idea that zombies are attracted to non-infected beings rather than infected beings. It wouldn't be too hard to stipulate that after biting a living person, the zombie reacts to the newly-infected person, seeing their friend trying to get away as a non-infected, and therefore more desirable, meal.

I dunno - I'm not a big fan of zombies that HAVE to eat flesh, I see it more as a desire to bite and infect. I mean, if they were looking to kill, the human body is more than armed with better weapons (like hands and feet) to kill, rather than teeth.

Anyway, every zombie novel more or less creates it's own rules - the zombies in my novel GREY DOGS aren't like others, just like Day by Day Armageddon zombies aren't like Romero zombies, etc.

Hope it helps. That devolved into a rant pretty quick, didn't it?

In my book, they are Scarlett Parrish zombies. But then, they also are not dead, do not eat people, or do most of the standard zombie type things.

Neither do my vampires, werewolves, angels, demons, trolls, poltergeists, or succubi. I've stated there are 22 paranormal races, so I've got 22 myths to rewrite the way I want.

If it seems ridiculous, make up your own rules. That's why you are the author.

scarletpeaches said:

When a lady zombie and a man zombie love each other very much...

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My very first thought upon seeing the thread title. Shoulda known SP would've beat me to it!

quicklime said:

Funny, Stephen King has a short story in The Night Shift where this is almost exactly what happens, and it keeps the man from returning as the risen dead.

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Well, no... you're right that isn't exactly what happens. I thought the zombie story was in Nightmares and Dreamscapes? Called Home Delivery... about the... well, zombies on the island (I'd always wondered why no one else, usually, addressed zombies coming out of the ocean) and the pregnant girl. Highlight for spoiler... kinda. And old dude knows he's having a heart attack and dying so he has his friends and family pretty much blow him to bits with three different shotguns at the same time. Friggin awesome story.

I don't remember the zombie story in Night Shift.... what's the title, does anyone know?

Shamble!!!

So, hi. I like zombies.

IDGS was pretty bang on with the explanation of 'Infected'. Generally there's a couple different types of zombies that are used in fiction but specifically in film. Listing them briefly:

Romero zombies: They're slow, stupid and actually dead. They'll eat any bit of you if they can. You die? You're a zombie, doesn't matter why. These are the zombies that won't fit into Hell because Hell hath no more room. (ex: the original Dawn of the Dead)

Brain zombies: They want your braaiiiiiins. They're also slow, and actually dead, but a little fussier eaters. The origins of these zombies can range from chemical compounds to just whatever the writer feels like. (ex: Return of the Living Dead)

Fast zombies: You know how the others were slow? Yeah not so much anymore. These ones are still dead, but are faster, slightly smarter and generally scream instead of moan. (ex: the 2004 Dawn of the Dead)

Infected: These guys aren't dead, just infected with possibly the nastiest virus this side of the Black Plague. That means that they're still fast, but can be killed by other means than just a head shot. (ex: 28 days later)

And lastly:

The original Zombi: (who was undead before it was cool) they're actually from Voodoo (more info here) ritual that zombifies a person and brings their dead body back to life. What I'm not sure of is if they eat people or just hang out being dead.

Each author or auteur seems to put a different spin on them, to make them scary or more humorous so pretty much you can do what you want with them story wise. Poor things can't really complain about mistreatment anyways.

You could solve the problem easily: When they're hungry, they bite to eat. When they're not, they bite to reproduce. And either way, if you survive a bite, you later transform.

_Richard

Perhaps the reason for a rapid spread of a virus type zombification is the "zombies" are drawn to movement and will relinquish a victim for one that is moving and gains their attention. It's the premise I have used.

Some other options:

* It is a disease similar to Toxoplasmosis - where a tiny (almost invisible parasite) changes the entire behaviour of the host creature causing it to act in a way that will spread the contagion.
(It has been used in several recent stories)

*There's also a great graphic novel set in the last days of the zombie apocalypse - where humans have made a deal with Vampires to defend themselves from the zombies.
In that version (in a world which has vampire & zombies) the cause of zombism is clear: Since vampires cannot die what happens if you lock one in a box for a few hundred years? It turns out that's what someone did a few hundred years ago ... the vampire slowly decayed and the virus (or toxoma or whatever) decayed too - now it is slow moving and decaying and anyone it infects also has the damaged version too. So Zombies & Vampires have the same cause.

There are plenty of other options.

Mac

Real zombies, products of witch doctors and voodoo usually in Caribbean countries like Haiti or Africa, Cameroon. People are fed toxins (usually from puffer fish) which can put subject in state similar to death. Subject is declared dead and buried. Later, the witch doctor and henchmen dig up subject and enslave them for the rest of their lives or sell them off into slave labor.

Walking Dead type zombies, ghouls risen from the dead that wander the earth feasting on the living. Zombie serves as a metaphor of sorts of the death that stalks us all.

28 Days type zombies, products of infection/contagion that spreads via contact. This is a more modernized version of the zombie and it the latest in vogue these days.