Donald Harris (Don)

-*Yeah...? Alice, l love you too... —*Don's last words to his wife, before kisses her and before overwhelmed by Rage Virus.

**Donald Harris** was the central protagonist-turned-main antagonist of the 2007 apocalyptic horror movie; *28 Weeks Later*.

He was the husband of Alice Harris and the father of Tammy and Andy Harris. He was a survivor of the Rage Virus when it originally decimated Great Britain before becoming one of the infected. He survived the first outbreak, but caused a second outbreak after his wife unknowingly infected him. He was the central protagonist for the first half then became the main antagonist throughout the rest of the film.

He was portrayed by Robert Carlyle, who is famous for playing villains, including the *Castlevania Lords of Shadow* version of Dracula, Renard in *The World is Not Enough*, the Wendigo in *Ravenous*, Rumpelstiltskin in *Once Upon A Time*, and Francis Begbie in *Trainspotting.*

## Biography

Don was born on 13 March, 1962. He and his wife Alice sent their children, Tammy and Andy, on a school trip to Spain shortly before the Original Outbreak of the Rage Virus. During the outbreak, Don and Alice were taken in by an eldery couple (Geoff and Sally) who barricaded themselves inside a cottage, where they remained with fellow survivors Karen and Jacob for an unknown period of time.

### *28 Weeks Later*

One day during the outbreak, Don and Alice were preparing dinner for the group. Don tried to comfort Alice, who missed their children, by reminding her that they were safe in Spain.

Their meal was interrupted when a young Boy from Sandford pounded at their door, begging for help. Don reluctantly let him inside and the boy explained that his family, who were infected, were chasing him. Shortly thereafter, the cottage was attacked by a horde of Infected. Don proceeded to fight them off while the others (save Karen, who was bitten and infected, then killed by Don) tried to escape. His fight was short lived, however, when he dropped the crowbar. Don then fled upstairs to the bedroom, chased by several Infected, and tried to get Alice to leave the house with him. But Alice refused to leave until she found the boy, and the room was quickly overrun by the Infected. Panicked, Don fled the room, abandoning Alice and the boy.

Escaping the cottage through the bathroom window, Don was chased by hordes of Infected across the fields to a dock. He narrowly managed to escape via motorboat, while the Infected claimed Jacob, who fell from the boat. Don then kept travelling downriver, until he eventually arrived at a military quarantine camp, where he remained until the repatriation of London began.

Don became the caretaker of the Green Zone in London, District One. Twenty-eight weeks after the Original Outbreak, he greeted and reunited with his children Tammy and Andy for the first time in eight months (after the two children came to District One from Europe), and took them back to his penthouse apartment. When Tammy and Andy questioned the fate of their mother, Don told them about the attack on the cottage, but lied that he had seen the Infected kill Alice, and that there was nothing he could have done.

The following day, Don found Tammy and Andy missing. He was later informed that Tammy and Andy (who had left the Safe Zone) had been found and detained, as had his wife. Don, shocked and worried over Tammy and Andy's discovery of the truth about their mother's fate, went to see his children in detainment. Tammy and Andy furiously questioned why their father had lied to them about their mother and Don struggled to maintain face, simply telling them that whatever had occured was "a good thing" and that everything would be alright. Don subsequently slipped past military security to Alice's isolation cell, and reunited with Alice, apologising for leaving her behind.

Don then kissed Alice, unaware that she was a Carrier of the Rage Virus, and was accidentally infected by her saliva. Don tried to fight the infection, but he was soon overwhelmed by the virus. The infected Don brutally beat his wife to death and went on a rampage in District One, respreading the Infection.

When the civilians of District One were herded into safe rooms, Don broke into one of the safe rooms, attacking and infecting the trapped crowds. He appeared to follow his son, Andy, through the streets, and avoided the firebombing of District One.

Don, and a large number of Infected who had also survived the firebombing, escaped into and occupied the ruins of London, and swarmed into the London Underground as dawn approached. In the dark Underground, Don ambushed Major Scarlet Levy, beating her to death with a rifle. He shortly after stumbled upon Andy on a train platform in the Underground, and tackled him. Tammy arrived just as Don bit a screaming Andy on the shoulder, until Tammy's voice drew Don's attention to her. After a moment locking eyes, Don charged at Tammy, who first slowed him by shooting him in the left arm, then put him down with a headshot.

## Personality

Don was generally a sociable and pleasantly quippy man when interacting with his fellow survivors at Geoff and Sally's cottage. He loved his family dearly, and seemed to be the rock in his and Alice's relationship. He showed selflessness and bravery when the cottage was attacked, and was most concerned for Alice's safety; but whereas Alice was highly compassionate to the boy from Sandford, Don was more concerned about looking out for his and their own. Don displayed a stronger survival instinct than Alice when they were trapped upstairs with the Infected between them, reluctantly abandoning his cornered wife and the boy when it became clear he couldn't save them without getting himself killed. By his own admission, Don was scared when fleeing the overrun cottage.

When Don reunited with his children, he was keen to show off his capabilities as District One's caretaker and seemingly wanted to impress them. He suffered powerful survivor's guilt from abandoning Alice, and feared his children's reactions to knowing what had happened to the point he lied about fleeing when she was cornered, an act which caused him to break down. Don's fear of his children hating him surfaced again when Alice was brought to District One - he was speechless when told his wife was alive, and when his children angrily confronted him about his lie about Alice, Don couldn't bring himself to confess to or directly address the truth to them, and was eventually rendered silent again in the confrontation. Don's survivor's guilt and inability to face his children's reactions ultimately led to his and many others' doom when he opted to instead face Alice and reconcile with her.

After Don became infected, he appeared unusually intelligent, and seemed to retain fragment memories (if not complete memories) of his family which heavily influenced his actions - something unusual in Infected, most of whom are reduced to mindless, rage-fuelled vectors for the virus with no trace of their higher mental functions. He appeared to recognise Alice after being infected, and it was implied that hearing Alice and later Tammy scream at him triggered flashbacks of Alice screaming at the moment he'd abandoned her. The infected Don was observed to stalk and follow Andy, initially without attacking. Despite Don somewhat remembering his family, it wasn't enough to stop him attacking them once he got close - in fact, the infected man's flashbacks of abandoning Alice appeared to further fuel his drive to attack them beyond Rage's usual psychological effects, such as when Don killed Alice in a particularly brutal and vicious manner. Don appeared disturbingly creative for an Infected when attacking victims, similar to Mailer; instead of attacking solely with tooth and nail, alongside the manner in which he killed Alice he also used a blunt-force weapon to beat Scarlet to death.

Though Don, like any other Infected, could shrug off and ignore crippling injuries in spite of his raging drive to attack uninfected, he seemingly possessed a ghost of self-preservation instinct when he avoided the fire of the District One firebombing. He was also capable of being somewhat calm when not attacking, such as when he avoided the firebombing's blaze and when he stalked Scarlet in the Underground. Don appeared to smile savagely when killing Alice and when he spread the Infection in the District One containment area, implying he retained some mental capacity to derive pleasure and gratification from harming the uninfected; similar to the capacity for sadistic impulses in the infected chimpanzees who'd originally hosted the Rage Virus.

## Trivia

* According to Don's identity card, his date of birth is 13/03/1962.
* Robert Carlyle, who portrayed Don in *28 Weeks Later*, was one of the actors offered the role of Major Henry West in *28 Days Later*, but he turned the role down.
* As one of the Infected, Don seemed to indulge more in killing than spreading the Rage Virus. However, he also appeared to possess intelligence usually devoid in typical Infected, and had more control over his actions than those infected with the Rage Virus usually do.
* The scene in which Don kills Alice seems to pay homage to a scene from *28 Days Later*, in which Jim kills Corporal Mitchell in the same fashion.
* Although a supporting protagonist and the key character in the first part of 28 Weeks Later, he later became the main antagonist when he caused the second outbreak**.**

* Despite his brutality and sadism, Donald is the most human of the Infected, because he never kills his children despite many opportunities, and he has memories of his family.
* Some theorized that Donald killed Alice because he knew she was a Carrier of Rage and thus he couldn't Infect her and had a hate on her already.
* Although he is the main villain in the infected, he has several minutes of screen time.

* It is unknown why Don had access to a military isolation cell, as he was the civilian caretaker of the Green Zone, which did include accessing all areas, but shouldn't have included presumed high security zones. It was most likely an oversight in security by the military.

## External Links

* **Donald Harris in 28 Days Later Fandom**
* **Donald Harris in Villain Fandom**