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nazmazh · 6 days ago

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Okay, so, just saw an ad for 28 Years Later and it gave me an idea for a setting.

[I don't think zombies in the 28 Days Later universe work this way. I honestly don't 100% know tons about the lore there. I think they're a rage-virus thing.

I think the way the zombie virus works in my idea might have been suggested by a character as the case in The Walking Dead comics at least, but I don't think it was necessarily confirmed as being definitely true there.]

Anyway:

So, zombie apocalypse happened. It sucked to say the least, but the initial onslaught burned out eventually. Turns out that rotting animate corpses that apparently lack proper integrity maintenance systems or regenerative capabilities do at some point just completely fall apart. This means that after the initial outbreak, there was a time limit on how long the hordes were going to be the biggest problem.

Eventually, yes, life largely gets back to mostly-normal. The outbreak certainly caused some damage, but it wasn't on the level that most of the world was destroyed or even that too many of the structures or social institutions were destroyed.

We're not at typical post-apocalyptic, "brought down to isolated communities trying to learn subsistence farming and dealing with raiders" level. Most governments remained intact. Most cities remained intact. Some cities were heavily de-populated, but have mostly been resettled to an extent, especially if there's important infrastructure there. Some towns or villages were definitely wiped out. They may have been resettled, to an extent - Agriculture, mining, lumber, etc. are all going to be major components of rebuilding, so sources of these are important to resettle.

Imagine a vibe not-entirely unlike society returning to normal after the COVID vaccines started heavily circulating. The world has gone through a period of deep shit (expressly more deadly than COVID, yes), a period of isolation and uncertainty, but as a whole, while there are changes, the world did not "fall".

So now we get to the rub of how the zombie virus/whatever infection works in this world: It's not actually spread by the zombies themselves. It's a basically entirely-widespread airborne disease that's entirely otherwise benign in living humans [You can expand its host range however much you'd like with accompanying complications - Mammals? Vertebrates? Animals in-general?].

It's so weak that all but the most weakened/ill host's immune systems keep it completely under control. But, once the host dies, the infection takes control of the body systems [nervous, muscular, etc. however you want to make it work] and essentially reanimates the corpse, pushing it to go forth and spread the infection.

This includes attempting to get energy from any potential food source, regardless of previous appetites, etc. Death and necrosis is setting in on all the systems, so repairs, integrity, etc. are non-existent anymore. Digestion, respiration, and bloodflow etc. aren't necessarily going to work fantastically either. Either way, as with all things, despite all the biological reasons why zombies shouldn't be possible, they happen here, until they literally cannot function anymore. Destroying the motor control sections of the brain mean that the infection can no longer effectively puppet the whole body, and there's only a limited amount of time/effect that the infection can assert from disconnected/dismembered body parts.

Okay, so that's where we're at with the practical effect of this virus. Any death, short of the classic "removing the head and destroying the brain" carries with it a near-certainty of the corpse reanimating as a zombie. The myth that it was the bites spreading it basically boils down to "suffering the major trauma of a human biting a chunk out of you is pretty nasty already, and these humans are actively necrotic, so there's tons of opportunistic bacteria, fungi, viruses, etc. breeding out of control in them, not to mention the nasty byproducts of cell death too, so they're pretty likely to be fatal quickly if not treated properly" (and that's incredibly difficult in a zombie apocalypse scenario).

*****

So, while life has largely gone back to normal, large swaths of the population died and its a huge worldwide trauma. And for sake of making this world operate the way I want it to, we'll say a vaccine hasn't been found/isn't possible for this infection. It's quite literally a new normal they have to deal with.

The really interesting part to me, now, would be, say a generation or two removed from the initial outbreak, what does life look like?

My first thought was stuff like workplace accidents:

"Shit! Terry just fell off the scaffold!"

Normally in our world, this would be a first aid kit, spinal board, some on-site first-aiders, possibly actual medics of some sort, and calls to 911 for an ambulance, and hopefully Terry's not in too rough of shape.

But in this zombies-as-background-reality world?

"Shit! How bad are we talking? Shotgun?"

Like, all first aid - All medicine really - Now carries with it an inherent risk of your patient turning on you - Even if not outright dead, a sufficiently weakened person could be a risk for the infection taking hold. Something like a multi-vehicle crash could be a minor crisis as a new mini-outbreak springs forth from the tragedy.

So, now, triaging as a whole - Accidents, emergency rooms, etc. Now comes with "If they're not immediately saveable, do them and everyone else an act of mercy and keep them from reanimating. Especially don't let them be any amount of aware as the infection starts turning them".

Hell, that might even apply to situations that would be survivable in our world with extensive treatment/intensive care. That state might leave a host too weak to resist the infection. What even would hospitals look like at this point?

And that leads to hospice care and funerary customs. Pretty much all handling of remains is cremation now, or something else that completely obliterates the tissue, preventing any chance of reanimation. Morgue work is a lot more of a dangerous game, it typically begins with being absolutely certain to destroy the brain, if it hasn't been done already. Those facilities are stocked with heavily armed guards, and there's likely not much allowance for dignity of the corpse.

Speaking of dignity in death - Terminal illnesses, old age, etc. are now major concerns. If someone dies and isn't in a place they can be contained, then their zombie can start another chain of deaths. So, stuff like planned death dates become common. Proper goodbyes, then euthanasia in a place where the zombie can be immediately and safely put down - Out of sight and mind of any friends or family who would otherwise be traumatized by the whole process. Hospice care essentially is just making sure the patient is okay long enough to get their affairs in order and say their farewells.

An interesting thought: Crime, and murder specifically, now have some added challenges. If you kill someone, you have to be sure to do it in a way that their zombie doesn't just immediately attack you back. The organized criminals probably have execution and disposal methods that destroy the head/brain pretty efficiently, or at least ways of keeping the corpse from being an immediate problem.

But, those second-degree, "things got out of hand quickly" kind of murders? Those are now things that maybe people work even harder to avoid, just because of how immediately dangerous they could be. Hell, even stuff that could cause massive bodily harm might be reconsidered - If you get into a fight, you really don't want to do so much damage that your opponent zombifies and starts trying to rip you apart too.

But, I mean, humans gonna human, so it's not like murder will disappear entirely from society. However, as mentioned above, coroners and morticians will basically have to start by making sure any corpse isn't going to jump back up at them - So, they'll have to sort out cause of death from the "destroy the brain" wound. Plus, crime scenes will be a bit less predictable, as corpses will get up and leave them, not to mention, potentially causing more death and destruction as they go off in search of their own victims.

If the infection affects other animals, that's a whole 'nother set of things to consider - Animal agriculture and veterinary services are a whole lot more dangerous. Heck, slaughter and processing of carcasses will be a risky prospect. Probably not so risky as to sway all of society to vegetarianism/veganism, but the process of slaughter and butchering will definitely need some new safeguards added in.

Anyway, that's a very long-winded exploration of some of the thoughts for what might be going on in this world.

*****

If I were to tell a story in such a setting, I think I'd start on a cold-open of some sort of construction or industrial accident. You start with some quick establishing of the site and that various normal activities are going on. Nothing seems weird or out of place from our world in this set-up. Not yet.

Then, the accident happens. eg: Poor Terry falling from a scaffold, as above.

You get the normal initial reactions you'd expect for our reality: "Terry? Terry!"

"Shit! Is he okay?"

"I think he's still breathing"

"Call a doctor! Call 911!"

"Get Jenny out here!"

The usual sort of furry of activity you'd probably expect. Then, you get a phrase that seems normal to us in this context:

"Give him some room! Get back, get back!"

Normal. Reasonable.

Practical in our reality as much as this one - Less of a risk of people bumping into each other or Terry, making things worse. Gets people to focus and organize, etc.

Maybe we cut to the other conversation above. Someone goes and tells Jenny/whoever. She's up in her office, or elsewhere on site - A supervisor or maybe a company medic. Someone who is trained for this, either way.

"Shit! How bad is it? Have we called it in?"

Cut back to Terry and the crowd around him, doing what they can to help without getting too close. Terry's breathing is rough, people are looking appropriately upset and nervous.

We hear Jenny's steely, authoritative voice from off-screen. Her tone is even, clinical. It's not entirely dispassionate, but definitely practiced and assured (or at least projecting this tone). Clearly, she's someone who's prepared to deal with this sort of difficult situation.

"I'm here. What are we looking at? How bad is it?"

We expect to see her rocking up with a first aid kit and maybe, like , a spinal board or something. Instead, we hear a round being racked, a hammer being cocked, or the safety being switched off, etc. - Some signifier of "gun", anyway.

And we cut back to see Jenny trained on Terry's head. Behind her, some others are bringing the expected first aid supplies.

From there, maybe you have it play out that Terry's indeed too far gone, but Jenny, as professionally and respectfully as possible puts him down.

Or maybe you have it that the on-site medics/first-aiders get close and it turns out he's winded and cracked some ribs, but he's gonna be okay, so Jenny very carefully disarms her gun and everyone breathes a huge sigh of relief, especially Jenny, whose hand is very visibly trembling now that the incredibly tense moment has passed and she quite thankfully doesn't have to shoot her friend in the head.

Either way. Then we pan out to show the rest of this post-zombie society and explain what the hell that was all about. Possibly have the camera linger on some signage warning people to not hesitate when it comes to triage.

#worldbuilding #zombie apocalypse #post zombie apocalypse

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