Zombies Essay

Zombies!

This paper is is dedicated to all those who are ill-informed about the danger that is a zombie. I will give you information on how they are created, what they live on, how to kill them and much more. I hope that this information will help you if you were ever to encounter a zombie attack.

A zombie has many definitions. One definition is " a voodoo spell that raises the dead." another is "a voodoo snake god." Both are completely ridiculous, the best definition, I have heard, so far, is "an animated corpse that feeds on living flesh." Now that we have a basic understanding of zombies let's find out how they came to be.

A man by the name of Jan Vanderhaven had first "discovered" the virus. The name of this virus is solanum, its origins are still unknown. Solanum is only distributed through the bloodstream, being either a bite or needle. It travels through the bloodstream, from the the initial point of entry, into the brain. Once the virus enters the brain, it uses cells from the frontal lobe and destroys it in the process.

These cells then reactivate the brain stem, and leave the heart, lungs and other major organs shut off. The need for oxygen has been completely eliminated. Any memories prior to infection are gone and the only mental decisions they can make is which "piece of meat" to go after.

Now that we have a good understanding of how it all works, lets take a look at he symptoms you will receive if you are bitten by a zombie. Hour 1: you will receive pain, clotting, and a brownish purple discoloration near the wound. Hour 5: you will have a fever between 99-103 degrees Fahrenheit, chills, slight dementia, vomiting, and joint pains. Hour 8: numbness of the limb were the infection is located, increased fever by 3 degrees, increased dementia and loss of muscle coordination. Hour 11: paralysis in lower body, overall numbness, and slow heart rate. Hour 16: Coma. Hour 20: heart stoppage and zero brain activity. Hour 23: reanimation. This may differ by several hours, depending on the individual. However, if any type of animal is infected it is immediately destroyed.

When one becomes a zombie, there are things gained and things lost. Lets first look at physical capabilities. An eyesight of a zombie is still that of a human as far as depth perception goes, whether they are able to tell the difference between a human and one of their own is still up for debate. They have a heightened sense of hearing. Not only are they able to hear extremely will, but they can also determine the direction its coming from. Their sense of smell is also heightened,they are able to smell living pray above all others. Even in wind conditions they can smell living prey from a mile away. Their sense of touch is completely gone, all nerve receptors are numbed and useless. Their sense of taste is unknown completely.

Decomposition is something that often goes overlooked when debating about the lifetime of a zombie. It will not only slow down the speed of a zombie, but, depending on their environment, also completely kill them...again. After 3 to 5 years of decomposition the brain could become completely decomposed, which would once again kill them.

The speed and agility of a zombie is not something to be taken lightly. A zombie takes 1 step every 1.5 seconds. Most people think to themselves, I can outrun them no problem. More than often they turn out to be wrong. The one factor that most people underestimate is a zombies ability to be tireless. We may be able to outrun them, but we also need to rest. So if your planning on running and not fighting zombies, be prepared to run for about 5 years and have a place to rest at least twice a day.

Moving along to the spiritual and emotional feelings of zombies, we find that joy, sadness, confidence, anxiety, love, hatred, fear and a thousand others are all gone. This allows zombies to have no remorse for anyone they kill. Which then brings us to their mental capacity, which is as useless as their emotions. Their ranking of mental capacity is lower than that of an insect. If you put 20 zombies on one side of a broken bridge and 1 human on the other side, the zombies would keep walking towards the human. If 15 of them were to fall off the other 5 wouldn't change their tactics in the least.

Zombies have one main food source, human flesh and blood. They can and will consume as much of it as they can in any given amount of time. They never get full and will never stop till its all gone. Their motivation isn't driven by it, but rather programed. A zombies digestive system is next to nothing. The flesh they eat will sit in their stomachs till they once again die. Never being altered by their own bodily functions.

A question often asked in movies, books, even games, has always been "how many of them are there?" The answer to this question is fairly simple. If you can count all the survivors left in the population and subtract that from the world population you will have a close to accurate answer. For all those who start thinking ahead to the point of repopulating, I would not worry. Zombies reproductive systems are completely useless. So zombie newborns will not be a problem.

To most peoples surprise zombies are not ageless, the average life expectancy of a zombie is between 3-5 years, maybe even longer. It truly comes down to decomposition. If you take a zombie that is in a colder area, they may be able to survive longer than a place that is hoot that could speed up the process of decomposition. So don't forget about your geography and environmental science, it could prove to be a matter of life and death.

Now if your the kind of guy or girl who thinks a bare-knuckle brawl or spraying bullets from a machine gun is the best way of action, be sure someone shoots you before you leave. There is one way and one way only to kill a zombie. DESTROY THE BRAIN! Nothing else will work. If you feel like wasting ammo and energy go ahead, but you putting everyone else at risk as well. A zombie can live through anything, except for destruction of the brain.

Now that we have a good understanding of what a zombie is, as well as their physical attributes and their anatomy, lets take a look at some things that can help you with your fight with the undead. We will look at the supplies you need to live, the weapons and armors you can use, structures and vehicles and finally a strategy.

Now supplies are the things you need to survive. After you have completed fortifying your house, you must gather the following items. Please note that some items will be explained later on. Water, 3 quarts a day, for washing and cooking, hand-pumped water filter, 4 replacement filter, Cistern for collecting rainwater,Iodine and/or purification tablets, Canned