Post-Zombie Apocalypse World?
What will our world be after the attack?
Did artist Francois Baranger have the pending undead apocalypse in mind when creating the above image? Maybe. Maybe not. However, seeing such an image brings to mind what our world will be like once the dead walk the earth. Surely the work by Francois lacks the blood and general carnage that will lie after such an event, however, depending on the level of the outbreak and duration, it is quite possible our world could be entirely shattered and left in ruin.
Awareness is key to our survival friends, be it underground or underwater or even having moved to some other location, defeating the dead will be our next great challenge.
Comments (17)
Nic (Toebo23) on 13 Dec 2007 at 5:40 pm #
just found my new desktop pic.. wow
Martha Rose on 13 Dec 2007 at 6:21 pm #
Certainly, our world will look very different following a full scale outbreak. Even if most of us manage to survive, our priorities will change. I think that this is treated very well in the authoritative “World War Z”.
However, rebuilding our civilization in it’s current image may well (eventually) become possible. The question we’d then have to ask ourselves is: would we want to?
The only true benefit (if there can be any) of a zombie apocolypse is the clean slate we would find ourselves with if we did manage to survive. When thinking about how to get through the end of the world, it might be worth thinking about the new world we’re trying to survive for - something worth living, fighting, dying and (worst
of all) coming back for.
After all without hope, without plans for the future, how different would we really be from the zeds themselves?
Sboomarang on 14 Dec 2007 at 1:34 am #
well said martha rose,
well said indeed.
i havent seen i am legend yet, but i imagine that. at least whats in the commercials
splint.chesthair on 14 Dec 2007 at 10:14 am #
So, what’s the liklihood of the infection being ever-lasting? Is it more likely that the zombies will eventually starve and “die” or that the infection finds a cycle of that keeps it going where animals can be infected (in which case we’re boned) or the zeds can last indefinitely on animals and other sustenance or that whatever causes the infection never goes away and people can be infected at random by insects, human carriers, etc.?
I think that has a big impact on the after world.
Martha Rose on 14 Dec 2007 at 12:04 pm #
That’s an interesting question, splint.chesthair. Slow zeds seem to be able to keep going until they literally rot away, which could take quite some time.
If there is no reservoir of infection (eg. animals, insects, etc), then we would theoretically be able to wait it out. Provided there were no new infections, after a very, very long time there would be no more zombies.
That seems a little unlikely - we could well see a reservoir of infection, preventing ANY new infections would be near impossible and, realistically, we don’t want to have to wait that long (none of us would live to see a zed free world, to be sure).
However, it may be possible to minimise the zombie threat to the point that “normal” life again becomes possible. Precautions like setting up green zones, regular checks (at least at first) for possible new infections and having as little contact as possible with the zeds (i.e. only a select few need leave the green zones, and they must be fully checked and possibly quarantined before mixing with the rest of the population) could help a lot.
Ideally, a vaccine or “cure” for zombism would be best. Bringing lost loved ones back would be ideal, but simply rendering existing zombies non-infectious (through a vaccination program or the release of a neutralising agent) would reduce the biggest problem of living in a post-zombie world.
Of course, this is highly blue-sky. It is unlikely that we would have much in the way of trained scientists or research equipment following a zombie outbreak. It would be a complicated task NOW, but after an apocalypse it may take generations before research is even a possibility,
Also: thank you Sboomarang.
Maethor on 16 Dec 2007 at 2:32 am #
I actually have a belief that it will not be as lasting as believed
I think that most zombies will dry out in about 2 weeks to a months time due to no water intake. In dryer climates it will be faster. My plan is to head to a remote desert location. Somewhere that is a 1 week walk day and night because most zeds will dehydrate in arizona desert before they make it the ones who do will be slow and easy for a small group to pick off. My plan is in the high desert, there is plenty of caves and food up there as well.
Some guy on 19 Dec 2007 at 11:50 pm #
theres one fact about zombies they are dead bodys they the only vaccine unfoutnetly could only work when just infected therodicaly because by what merical sorry for the term of say bring the dead back to a live human there body has probably decayed to far and there ogains are puncherd by bullets or weapons whats so ever so well planning when to come out think…. how long dose a “decaying” human body take to fully or just the brain to decay and to competly die off
even though this may see as a crule but true term “onec some one is there dead your not going to bring them back to who they where no merical medicen in this time line or black magic of any kind”
you must agree with me on this one
jakal on 20 Dec 2007 at 2:19 pm #
Once a zed always a zed until dead. As for social order who knows what a zombie apocalypse would bring. Take Katrina for instance it brought out the worst in most people, not only would we be fighting for our lives against the zeds. We would be fighting those who think because law and order has taken a holiday that it would be ok to rape pillage and murder.
Hopefully like minded people who care about society as a whole would ban together and the laws we still regard would still stand. I for one would not be put out by taking the lawless and the ones who have little disregard for humanity and lumping them in with the zeds. He who has the guns gets the gold for all the good it would do. I would do what needs to be done to protect mine and any other that would still hold the belief that we are fighting for our humanity as well as our lives.
Martha Rose on 21 Dec 2007 at 4:34 pm #
“onec some one is there dead your not going to bring them back to who they where no merical medicen in this time line or black magic of any kind”
Well, yes and no. Resurrecting the dead doesn’t seem scientifically possible (never say never, but I wouldn’t hold out hope).
However, there are some interesting issues here. First of all, we don’t really know what “dead” is. Seriously, look it up, it’s actually a really interesting problem - death is defined differently in different countries. If someone is on a ventilator, all their organs bar one working fine, are they dead? What if that one is the brain? How low does brain activity have to be before you’re “dead”? And how do you accurately measure that? Death is pretty difficult to define (and it’s even been misdiagnosed, in a few bizarre cases).
Secondly, is a zombie “dead”? As a classical definition of a zombie then yes, they have to be in order to be called a zombie.
Still, if my friend was walking around attacking people, with bits of him falling off and rotting (and especially if I was still able to “kill” him with a headshot)…I’d think a lot of things, but I’m not sure I’d think he was dead.
I’m not saying that a “cure” for zombism is possible, or that zombies are alive. I’m just saying that we shouldn’t rule out anything without looking into it first. After all, these things used to be people. People we loved.
I think we owe it to them to understand what happened to them. To help them, if we can (even if all that means is killing them with dignity). We also owe it to ourselves to research this disease if we ever want to beat it.
And yes, some people may well decide to rape, pillage and murder. I;m not sure if lumping them in with the zeds is the best way to preserve our humanity, but in terms of survival I can see why some unspeakable things might be necessary. To kill another human being, even in defense of yourself or others, is never something to be proud of, even when it’s perfectly understandable.
ZAC Admin on 28 Dec 2007 at 11:20 pm #
“The question we’d then have to ask ourselves is: would we want to?”
I feel that it will all be circular… We will rebuild and feel that the new world is somehow a new and improved version of what previously existed. And to some extent, it will be. Yet it will only be a matter of time before another attack of the undead will come. I cannot help but wonder if the attacks will become more violent and more difficult to contain each time they happen.
“I actually have a belief that it will not be as lasting as believed
I think that most zombies will dry out in about 2 weeks to a months time due to no water intake. In dryer climates it will be faster. “
That is a great and interesting theory. I too believe that whatever outbreak happens, it will not last forever and will see an end for one reason or another.
swivel on 28 Dec 2007 at 11:25 pm #
Who knows if we will truly be able to cope with the zeds? They might be more difficult to kill than what we have seen in all of the movies.
saeferth on 30 Dec 2007 at 7:42 am #
if it was a full blown world wide zompocalypse i doubt it would end. Zombies would anything that kept them alive perhaps even being able to smash open cans to get at food and theres no doubt they’d go after any animal that strayed to close (dog, cat, livestock). But it wouldnt kill off all humanity, that would defeat the virus/parasite’s objective of long term survival. so you’d probably see a pattern of people rebuilding and then infection spreading again.
ZAC Admin on 30 Dec 2007 at 9:51 am #
“so you’d probably see a pattern of people rebuilding”
Then it would be in some type of containment areas, guarded by military, such as 28 Weeks Later? I would imagine so, along with the random rougue band of people who have setup camp somewhere and learned how to survive.
DILLON KING on 31 Dec 2007 at 11:55 am #
I have studied zombies my whole life I know how to kill were to go how it spreads and how it could happen so quickly. If you get scared just reading this stop know. Zombies are coming they will be here theres know stoping them. When they come if u dont plan u will die and ur family will die. Plan because when that time comes ur in deep shit. I have a pal who knows more about it than me he can answer any qustions u need answered good luck when they come…
Xero on 04 Jan 2008 at 12:08 am #
Dillon King, I don’t believe you can ’study’ zombies, everything thus far is what we gather from movies, television, radio, history*, myths, legends, and the like, Thus if a REAL outbreak were to occur, you would follow a pre-determined path based on what you thought was true, rather than what could really be happening.
(*not saying that there have/have not been zombie outbreaks in the past)
Also for some other things to consider, How are the zombies, Zombies? The zombies cause could range from all sorts of things,
They could be living people struck by some kind of disease that reduces their minds to a base level of bodily functions, For this there could be a cure. Or they could actually develop intellegence on their own maybe (assuming they arn’t killed off by the disease), For this you would also have to account if it could pass through animals (no offense but if insects were to get disease we’d have no chance no matter what your plans are).
They could be an actual infusion of dark magic, For this unless you somehow discover a sort of ‘white’ magic there is probably one way to remove the threat, and thats to finish them off, assuming that their magic doesn’t stop their rotting or makes them kill-proof. This would probably not be contagious to other species, but it would depend on the ’spell’
And than theres the ever so popular, Zombie, ‘re-death’ by destroying the brain, However, if the brain is required why not the heart? lungs? other vital organs? This is probably highly contagious to animals, because it has no logical (to us) explanation, and would probably create super zombies.
Also for the last one, watch out for people with guns following the zombies and shooting at survivors if Resident Evil taught us anything at all.
Dillon King on 04 Jan 2008 at 4:31 pm #
Your right about different things could cause an outbreak, about the bugs and animals as far as we know it is not contagius amung animals because the body rots to quickly but, of course theres always a chance. To kill a zombie you should shoot it in the head were not sure about why you have to I do have theores on every thing is dead except the brain and living tissue of course you have to move right? The reason you attack the neck is that you cut off all spinal cord attachment so as you may know you cant move right. I’m not an expert on magic but it is possible that it could be made possible to not kill a zombie. A super zombie is a zombie that has been alive for more than 5 years suposidly.
Bennie Escobar on 04 Aug 2008 at 9:32 pm #
“The question we’d then have to ask ourselves is: would we want to?”
… Who knows… I give it 5 to 10 years after the worst of the outbreak before the Zombies die off naturally. Think about it. It takes about two years for an untreated human body to decompose fully. If it’s a virus, it may not hit everywhere. Islolated islands may not catch it at all or catch it early enough to stop it. Up north and deep down south where it’s colder, maybe the virus won’t be able to survive. What’ll be the next big important step is what’ll happed in the next decade when the last zombie dies? Everyone across the world has a different opinion about how to create a utopia. There’s no garantee that just the good and kind-hearted will survive. It’s simply not our nature. Evil will always exist in some shape or form. When the time comes, we’ll see what happens…