Ghouls

Ghouls, also called biters, rotters, the dead, and geeks by survivors, are reanimated humans infected with the Inferno Virus, who's only goal is to consume the living.

## Ghouls

A fresh ghoul, showing few signs of decomposition

### Notable Features

Unending hunger for flesh, high durability and strength

## Overview

### Transmission

The most common method of transmission is through bites, which pass the virus directly into the bloodstream and cause infection. Also, while physical contact with a ghoul's saliva or blood will not cause the fatal infection, any fluid contact with open wounds will lead to transmission. Death can be potentially avoided if the bite is on an appendage, which can be immediately amputated. However, this does not always work, and bites on the torso, or on veins or arteries are universally fatal.

Once infected, the virus invades the brain and shuts down most of the brain, reactivating only its critical areas, specifically the brain stem and cerebellum, though limited signals exist elsewhere.

### Physiology

The reanimated human beings will not "die" under conditions that would ordinarily cause the death of a regular person. They do not feel pain, can survive even the most brutal bodily injuries, and despite their unending appetite for flesh, they do not need food, water, or sleep to function.

The virus' reanimation of parts of the brain allow for movement of the limbs, jaws, neck, and even the limited use of its sensory systems. Ghouls are also stronger than a living human when fresh, as the brain's muscular restrictions are lifted in death. Though, they will slow as the body decays. Even when decapitated, the head will remain alive, even though it would be harmless.

#### Intellegence

Most ghouls (i.e., “furious”; ~80-90% of cases) are unintellegent and driven on instinct and anger, though some (i.e., “smart”; ~10-20% of cases) are actually frighteningly intellegent, and can climb small obstacles, use tools, and even retain small memories of their past lives. Smart ghouls can also ascend and descend staircases, albeit very clumsily and slowly.

Ghouls cannot generally operate doors or gates and only try to do so when they are relatively "fresh"; they tend to try to bash through obstacles rather than going around them. If they spot prey, they pursue them ceaselessly, showing ravenous hunger. Ghouls are drawn to noise (such as that of a gunshot), because they attribute the source of the noise to be caused by potential victims. They also tend to form groups and stick together, and mimic the actions of other ghouls, giving them a mob mentality.

### Destruction

All ghouls slowly rot and decays like other dead organisms. Over time, flesh and muscles deteriorate, and it becomes less and less formidable, resulting in weaker and slower ghouls.

They are only truly killed by destroying the reanimated regions of the brain. Attacking other areas will result in the ghoul being knocked out for a time, before reawaking. A severed head can remain animated and aggressive until the brain is destroyed or eventually melts from decomposition. Fire has little effect on zombies, other than possibly angering them further, and normally lethal things such as acid or electricity also do little to impede them. They can be paralyzed if their spinal cords are severed.

## Trivia

* Their main name is a reference to the first true zombie movie ever made, *Night of the Living Dead,* where the dead are called ghouls. Similarly to AMC's *The Walking Dead*, the dead are never referred to as "zombies" because the stories take place in a universe where zombie media didn't exist.

## Gallery

A ghoul-hunting group going out during the early days of the outbreak, circa 2014A mob of relatively fresh ghouls in late 2014A few-days-old ghoul found in 2015Ghouls significantly more decayed in 2018