Walkers

*"Multitudes of sluggish, diseased bodies roam the city, looking for survivors to sate their ravenous appetite. These sickly figures were former men, women, and even children that have now become thralls to The Pathogen."*

## Walkers

### Aliases

Class 1 infected, Shambler, Shuffler, Biter

## Physical description

### Species

Human infected with the first strain of The Pathogen

**\*This entire page must be moved to the "wasters" page, as a recent development led to a splitting of wasters and walkers into two different enemy types instead of having the terms be interchangeable for one.**

## Overview

A waster is a human that has been infected with the earliest strain of The Pathogen, and subsequently underwent turning. Even though there were strains of the pathogen that came before this strain, this one was the first strain to cause infected people to "turn". As wasters were the result of the first strains of the infection, they were dubbed "Class 1 infected" by scientists.

During the early days of the initial outbreak, wasters, or Class 1 Infected, were the only infected type seen in the city. As The Pathogen began to evolve, mutate, and spread throughout the city, new, dangerous strains began to emerge: fast-turning, running types and later - the more fearsome mutants. However, the walker strain was always the most transmissible strain and as a result, walkers remained the most numerous of all the infected.

Class 1 infected are characterized by their weary, miserable nature and are weaker, slower, more clumsy, and significantly less intelligent than the average human being. Considering the sickly nature of this type of infected, they present the least danger out of any and all infected types. At the same time, though, wasters can also be considered the MOST threatening of the infected types due to their omnipresence across the whole map, and their seemingly endless numbers.

## Gameplay

Wasters are the weakest infected type and also the weakest enemy type overall that can be encountered (save for crawling wasters). They have the lowest health out of any other enemy and are easier to deal with compared to other types of infected because of their slow speed, feebleness, and simple attacks.

## Characteristics

The embryonic, or initial strain of The Pathogen was relatively weak and not extremely virulent. Healthy human immune systems were strong enough and capable of resisting the infection for a fair amount of time, leaving only the elderly and the immunocompromised as the most vulnerable targets for The Pathogen. Healthy individuals exposed to the pathogen suffered nothing more than minor flu-like symptoms and then fully recovered. Eventually, as the pathogen evolved, even healthy people could not fight off this strain for more than a few weeks, and everyone that was infected eventually succumbed and turned. The fatality rate for these initial strains was notably low and only a small percentage of the infected actually died from symptoms alone - most underwent transformation into wasters/walkers.

The emergent strain of The Pathogen caused mostly degenerative symptoms on people who were infected, battling the immune system and breaking down the host's body over days or weeks until it can no longer resist the microbial onslaught of the infection. When the body can no longer fight the infection, it will fall into a coma to complete the process of turning. Once they have woken up, they are now turned and a walker. Because the body has expended every resource possible in fighting the infection, wasters will be physically frail, weak, slow, and lethargic. Their bodies will seem to have nearly "wasted" away, hence their name.

Though the waster strain was not as virulent as the subsequent runner strain, it steadily grew in virulence until the time elapsed between infection and turning shortened to almost a quarter of what it used to be. This meant that people turning within weeks of getting infected changed into people turning within days.

### Mental Qualities:

When The Pathogen gains control of the brain, it will "shut it off" momentarily, causing a coma-like state, as it begins to rewire it for control. The amount of control The Pathogen gains is never complete, however, as only a fraction of the brain is reactivated - primarily the brain stem, leaving the infected with limited functional capacities. The infected individual essentially reverts to a primitive, animal-like state - focused purely on the hunting of prey and sating of their hunger.

Firstly, walkers lose most, if not all, of their higher-brain functions. Speaking, reflecting, remembering, and all capacities for logic and reasoning are generally no longer present after the host turns.

Walkers seem to suffering from a sort of encephalopathy or encephalitis (a broad term describing any disease that alters brain structure or function), or perhaps The Pathogen causes symptoms similar to such conditions.

The Pathogen induces a type of amnesia very similar to Alzheimer's, where the infected host loses the capability to recognize anybody and is intensely violent towards those around them.

The Pathogen's main focus is to control the brain, and to do that it must bypass the immune system. When it finally breaks down the immune system, penetrates the blood-brain barrier, and gains limited control of the organ, it momentarily shuts the brain off and begins the last stages of infection. When the person wakes from the coma, they will have fully-turned and are now a walker.

Like others infected with The Pathogen, walkers can no longer experience fear and will charge headfirst into dangerous situations with little regard for their own safety and self-preservation.

Walkers lose all of their memory - they will attack, kill, and eat loved ones with no hesitation. Coupled with the loss of higher-thinking, they no longer are able to do things they should be extremely familiar with when they were uninfected: opening doors, driving vehicles, finding their way home, and using a cell-phone are only a few examples.

benign

### Physical Qualities:

When the human body fights infection by a walker-strain of The Pathogen, the body as a whole and its immune system expends a great amount of resources, and as a consequence the host body grows weak and infirm. Once the infected person enters the last stages of infection and succumbs to The Pathogen, they will return just as enervated and frail as they were before they turned. From the moment the walker turns and wakes from the coma, it is still significantly frail from fighting the Pathogen. As a result, the diseased body will be physically incapable of vigorous activity and will only be able to move slowly and perform the simplest of actions. Coupled with the loss of muscular density and obtainment of symptoms resembling those of osteoporosis (severe weakening of bones), the body of the infected will be extremely fragile and easily damaged. This means that bones and limbs are relatively easy to break and dismember, when compared to uninfected, healthy humans. Also, a walker will have lost a significant amount of strength and muscle mass, meaning that a walker is often easily overpowered by most reasonably fit people. Their weakened legs and absence of energy means they can only move at a walking pace, and their loss of coordination gives them awkward gaits that resemble shuffling or limping. In the face of all their physical limitations, walkers are still far from harmless and can easily maul and devour a survivor, given the chance.

### Appearance:

Physical appearance-wise, walkers, along with runners, are generally the most unchanged by The Pathogen - at least when compared to other infected like mutants. For the most part, they retain a human silhouette and as a result can sometimes become almost indistinguishable from an uninfected human at distance.

All walkers seem to share a few common physical characteristics as a result of the infection:

* bleeding eyes,

Some walkers appear to have areas of their body bandaged, and a valid inference from this is that the wounds underneath could be where the Pathogen entered and infected the host.

### Behavior:

Like any other infected, walkers generally exhibit highly aggressive behavior towards uninfected humans. Upon detecting a survivor, a walker will attempt to kill and consume them, sometimes even in the reverse order. Lacking in the special abilities that more advanced infected possess, walkers often utilize the straightforward method of grabbing and biting into their prey until they are dead. Though walkers will attempt to bite any part of the body they can get their hands on, they tend to bite the neck area, as it is most accessible for them. Oftentimes, this severs major blood vessels and causes the victim to bleed out and die quicker rather than slower (fortunately).

Strangely, there have been a few cases where some common infected (walkers and runners collectively) seem apathetic or indifferent to an uninfected's presence, but for the majority of the infected population, extreme antagonism is the expected behavior towards any uninfected person.

Walkers are sensitive to light

Like all other infected, walkers pick up pheromones that infected humans produce, and so may completely disregard a human in the process of turning. However, these pheromones are only detected during the process of turning, so walkers will still attempt to kill people who are already infected but not yet turning,

### Idle walker behavior:

##### **Idle walkers:**

Idle walkers are those that tend to remain somewhat stationary and are less active than other walkers. They do not "patrol" or "wander" like other walkers, and it seems their awareness and senses are lowered. They seem to be temporarily zoned out as a result of their symptoms. These walkers aren't actively hunting humans and seem to be apathetic to their surroundings until sufficiently provoked or roused out of their stupor. These walkers are less dangerous than other walkers because of their inactivity. Most idle walkers remain idle unless bothered, but some will "wake up" after a while and begin to wander.

If observed without being detected, idle walkers can be seen doing a number of actions, usually indicative of the sickness they are suffering from:

* Infected may sometimes randomly double over and clutch their abdomens, seemingly in pain, and this is often accompanied by the infected vomiting. The infected may make a groaning or retching sound when doing so. The vomit in question is bloody and red in color, suggesting either hematemesis (bloody vomit from internal bleeding), or simply the regurgitation of consumed human flesh. This may last for a few seconds, and in this time they are vulnerable to attack and their perception is lowered.
* Infected may be seen staring directly at walls or the floor for long periods of time, seemingly zoned out. Usually if an infected is seen doing this, that specific individual infected will not move away from their spot on their own unless detecting a survivor. They seem to be in some sort of trance, and with their awareness reduced like this, it makes them easier to sneak up on or sneak past.
* Infected may be witnessed on the floor having a seizure that usually lasts for several seconds. When this is over, they may get up, but will sometimes remain on the floor in that spot indefinitely, ignoring all other stimuli except for an uninfected survivor getting close to them.
* Though infected are not known to be quiet, as groaning and other vocalizations are common behaviors, they may occasionally bellow or wail loudly for a few moments, which may unintentionally announce their presence to survivors. The cause of this is unknown, however one theory is that it is the original host in agonizing pain, attempting to regain control of their body.
* When observing a walker eating a corpse, they may glance at the corpse's face (if it has an intact one) and suddenly freeze in place as if paralyzed or deep in thought. After a few moments they will resume eating again. And similar to a gorger, another thing that might happen during a walker's feasting is they may randomly vomit. After this, they will usually discontinue eating and stand back up. It is theorized that the original host has momentarily gained consciousness and is disgusted by what they have found themselves doing. Some walkers can even be seen sobbing or whimpering as they feast on a body, seemingly aware of what they are doing but unable to stop themselves.
* A walker might sometimes be seen engaged in combat with nothing. This is not a bug - they will swing their arms at or attempt to grab the air, suggesting that severe, intense hallucinations are a symptom of The Pathogen. They will be roaring in rage or crying as they fight their nonexistent enemy, sometimes both.
* Some walkers will fall to the ground, curling into the fetal position and begin making choking sounds. After a few moments, they will suddenly quiet and die - apparently having choked to death, whether on their own blood or flesh they have eaten that is not being digested.
* The walkers that appear to "lie in wait" to ambush survivors may not actually be attempting a strategy to obtain easy prey, but rather are actually dormant until their senses detect an uninfected survivor. This dormancy may be a side-effect of being infected with The Pathogen. Since walkers that do this are usually found in dark places, one theory to explain their dormancy is that they are not able to photosynthesize enough energy for movement.
* Though walkers in pursuit of a survivor will attempt to forcefully break down or ram themselves through doors that survivors close between them, an idle walker that is not currently pursuing survivors may be seen standing at a door, repeatedly bumping into it softly. This may imply that the walker has a limited memory of what doors are used for, but has forgotten how to use one. Another theory is that the walker was in pursuit of a survivor behind the door but eventually lost their stimulus and forgot what they were doing.
* A walker outside may be seen staring into the sky, sometimes with their hands in the air. These walkers' perceptions are lowered and they can be easily snuck past or snuck up on. It is theorized that these walkers are attempting to photosynthesize while awake.
* Some walkers may randomly start bleeding profusely from their mouths and fall over, dead. It is unknown as to exactly what the pathogen does to cause this.

hostility and violence

## Strategy

### Evasion (Avoidance & Elusion):

Evasion consists of both **avoidance** and **elusion**. Evading walkers is relatively straightforward, and much less difficult than evading other other infected types, or bandits - they are not fast, and they are easily distracted, making escapes or preliminary avoidance both easier tasks. Good avoidance and elusion techniques are key to surviving walker-infested areas.

##### Avoidance:

Idle walkers are usually somewhat pacified - they are zoned out, in a state of low activity, and so their senses seem to be diminished. They are comparable to distracted children. To evade walkers effectively, it is imperative to keep walkers in this state of pacification by not stimulating them.

Moving quietly and keeping a low-profile is usually enough to not attract an idle walker's attention. Staying out of sight is also imperative to keep idle walkers pacified. Some find it even possible to move right through the middle of a walker-infested area by using this method. Moving too close to a walker or staying in their line of sight too long may stimulate them enough to come to their senses. If one walker is active in an area full of walkers, chances are that a chain reaction of other walkers "waking up" will commence.

Staying still and not moving is very effective at concealing yourself from idle walkers - however it is not foolproof. If you let an idle walker move too close to you, they can still detect you by smell. Be aware of your surroundings and steer clear of walkers that seem to be moving in your direction. Luckily, walkers have no concept of stealth, and as such it is quite obvious when one is approaching.

##### Elusion:

If you have caught the attention of an idle walker or two, then avoidance has failed. Elusion of pursuing walkers is still very possible and quite easy if good situational awareness and the right strategy is kept on hand.

Breaking a walker's line of sight for long enough will cause them to lose you. Running around a corner or moving behind a large object counts as breaking their line of sight. They will usually attempt to follow where you went, but their impaired capacity for memory will make them forget where you went if you stay out of sight long enough. If a walker is in pursuit and there is a large enough object nearby with space on all sides, a good strategy to employ is to hide behind the object, breaking the walker's line of sight. When the walker gets close to getting around the object and seeing you, move to the other side of the object. Keep repeating this by continuously circling the object, just out of the walker's sight, until the walker eventually forgets where you are and cannot figure it out. Staying quiet is also imperative here. Making noise will just keep the spotlight on you, and motivate the walker to continue searching for longer. For larger numbers of pursuers, one can "slingshot" around a large object. This means to run directly behind something, circling it for a bit, and then come back out in almost the same direction they came, thereby staying out of the line of sight completely the entire time. This works better with utlizing sneaking when coming back out.

Putting a solid door (no windows or screen doors) between you and the pursuing walker(s) is another great method to aid in elusion. The walker(s) will attempt to force down the door. If the door is strong enough, there aren't enough walkers pounding and clawing at it to bring it down, and you remain out of sight and quiet enough on the other side, walkers will eventually forget where you went and lose interest.

The most straightforward way to elude walkers is to ***run.*** They can only walk, after all. They cannot catch up to you, unless you run at the speed of snails. Putting enough distance between you and a pursuing walker(s) will usually lead to them forgetting what they were chasing, as you are already gone and cresting the horizon. This method, though simple and easy, also comes with its cons - running is risky. It's noisy, uses up stamina quickly, and if you are not familiar with the area, you may accidentally run into a greater danger than you are running from. You may have outran those three walkers, but now you ran right into a horde of twenty. Now you are out of breath and all that noise you made has caused the horde to set their sights on you. You don't have the stamina to fight them or run further and so you get torn apart by the horde. Always use caution when running around.

Another method to lose the attention of walkers is to distract them with something else. Walkers tend to investigate a strong stimulus, so lighting firecrackers, turning on a siren, and throwing breakable objects that make a loud sound upon impact are good ways to distract walkers. Combining this with hiding behind a wall or other object afterwards basically guarantees the walker to lose you. This method is only useful if a walker hasn't detected you yet or has only barely detected you and is investigating. This method is not effective if you are standing right in front of a walker, because in most cases they will ignore what you are trying to distract them with and go right for you instead. Fireworks are not edible, but the uninfected human standing right there who threw them is. Be careful, however, as making loud noises can be counterproductive - waking up/stimulating more idle walkers or summoning more, often worse infected types to the area.

### Elimination (Stealth kills & Active combat):

##### Stealth kills:

Like all other infected, walkers are most vulnerable when they have not detected you. Successfully sneaking up to a walker allows you to potentially instantly kill the infected in a single hit. This is easier with knife-type weapons, and is quieter this way too. Though no sneak-kill is not completely silent and can still catch the attention of an infected that is close enough by, this is often the most effective way to dispatch infected quietly. For an infected in close proximity to one that is to be sneak-killed, a viable plan is to wait until one of them moves further away before going for the kill on the other. There is always a risk to waiting, however, as one of them may just detect you and alert the other, losing the opportunity to at least take out one of them.

##### Active combat:

If a walker has detected you, there are several strategies to effectively and safely engage them in combat:

Firstly, walkers are least dangerous when they are alone. Since their physical strength has atrophied and they attack in a predictable manner, almost anyone can physically overpower a walker in single combat with relative ease. Dodging or intercepting their attacks safely, and then swinging a melee weapon of any type at their head is the most reliable strategy to kill a walker. Usually, only a few strikes to the head with a light melee weapon is enough to subdue the infected, if not kill it outright. Swinging at other body parts will still damage them and can even kill them too, but their decreased sensitivity to pain makes this method much less effective than striking their head and instantly disabling or destroying their brain. A walker may not flinch at repeated strikes to their body, but a good strike to the head may stop them dead in their tracks, even if it doesn't kill them. However, dismembering or breaking the limbs are also good ways to incapacitate walkers - the arms can be targeted to lessen their capacity for attack (they can still bite!), and the legs can be broken to immobilize them (but sometimes turn them into crawlers!)

Some survivors may be confident enough to engage several walkers in combat at one time. These survivors are usually more experienced, skilled, or better-equipped, but some are just foolhardy. Fighting more than one walker at a time will obviously multiply your chance of getting bit, scratched, or just killed by them, but some manage to pull it off due to the natural ineptitude of walkers. It is always a better idea to fight walkers one-on-one, but sometimes where survivors find themselves surrounded by walkers, there is little choice. There are still a few strategies to employ if you absolutely must fight multiple walkers at once:

* Fighting in a wide, open area gives you more room to step back if you need a breather to regenerate stamina or if you require time to strategize. Fighting multiple walkers in a small room can easily lead to you getting cornered and eaten. Fight them outside, or in a sufficiently large room where you are aware of all exits.
* Take account for and keep track of every walker - do not let any of them get behind you. Constantly move in a circle around them when fighting, or just make sure that you keep all of them in front of you so you do not get bit from behind.
* Be aware of any doorways or other places where more infected may appear and join the battle. Not being aware can lead to you confidently beating the walkers you are aware of, and then suddenly getting grappled by one you didn't see walk through the door behind you.
* Make sure you are in good shape - running out of stamina when fighting multiple infected usually means you will not have the power to push them away and resist being eaten if they all grapple you.
* Use companions - another weapon and thinking brain at your side can turn the tide of battle significantly. They may also be able to save you if you cannot escape a grapple, or are about to be eaten.
* Use distractions - throwing firecrackers or using other loud objects can effectively divide a group's attention, and give you opportunities to sneak attack them. AGAIN - be wary, however, that this can also attract more walkers.

Obviously, the **most** effective method in eliminating multiple walkers that carries the least risk of getting scratched or bitten is to shoot all of them with a firearm from a distance, but it is also obviously the most risky. Repeated gunshots may summon triple the amount of infected that were a problem in the first place (and maybe even invite some worse foes to your location). In general, firearms can kill walkers as easily as killing any human, but due to their decreased pain response, walkers may not always be stopped dead in their tracks from non-lethal shots. Shots to the limbs, especially those from smaller-caliber firearms, may or may sometimes not have the stopping power to incapacitate the walker. As always, headshots with any gun are best. Like a regular person, a walker cannot hope to survive a bullet to the brain. With most handguns and submachine guns, aiming at the head is best as walkers can sometimes survive several body shots from these types of weapons before falling. Shotguns are usually powerful enough to kill walkers from torso shots alone, and same for larger caliber guns like assault rifles and other high-powered rifles. Overpowered guns like mounted .50 caliber machine guns (HMGs) and .50 caliber sniper rifles are often able to kill walkers in single shots, no matter the location of the body that was hit. Using these weapons to maim limbs will quickly kill wasters due to the immense subsequent bleed damage, even if it wasn't an initially lethal shot.

Fire is bane to walkers. Walkers on fire are not smart enough to put themselves out, and they burn as easily as any human. Therefore, molotovs become one of the greatest and cheapest weapons in taking out hordes of walkers. Igniting oil or gasoline puddles are also effective methods for destroying hordes quickly.

Explosions are quite effective on walkers, and even better on hordes of them. They are easily destroyed by propane tank or oxygen tank explosions, and if not, horribly disfigured and too incapacitated to pose any real threat afterwards.

### Doors and Windows:

Individual wasters (non-horde wasters) will attempt to attack closed doors and windows to get through them and reach survivors. This will only happen if wasters are stimulated or agitated in any way. Idle wasters may lightly bump into doors or windows but will rarely attack these entryways without a stimulus like hearing noise behind one or seeing a survivor going through one. Their method of attack for doors, windows, and barricades consist of clawing motions or flailing their arms in wide swings. Sometimes they will be seen attempting to pull off wooden boards and other barricades.

It is important to note that wasters lose focus easily and without a stimulus, they will cease their attempts of attacking an entryway within a few minutes. Covering windows with drapes or blinds, keeping lights off at night, and staying quiet makes wasters forget what they were doing and lose interest quickly.

Otherwise, wasters are more than capable of breaking unbarricaded windows, though noticeably slower than any other type of infected. Once a window is broken, they will climb through it, usually stumbling and falling over in the process. Doors, however, present more of a challenge for this infected type. Weaker doors like screen doors or thin interior doors are vulnerable to breaking under a waster's repeated attacks eventually. Stronger doors like those of solid wood and metal are essentially safe from small amounts of wasters, but hordes can still present a danger. Even the weakest barricades are extremely effective in holding off wasters until they give up or lose interest. Wasters struggle heavily with barricades.

### Vehicles:

Wasters, especially when alone, are extremely easy to dispatch using vehicles. As wasters are stupid, they make no attempt to move out of the way of a vehicle barreling toward them. Hitting them at high speeds with the front end (or even back end) of a vehicle guarantees an instant kill, but may damage the vehicle more than the method of nudging them at a low speed until they fall over, and then proceeding to run over them with the wheels. Sometimes, hitting a waster at a medium speed may break their legs and turn it into a crawling waster.

When wasters are grouped up into hordes, things become more difficult. One can still attempt to smash into a horde of wasters at high speeds and surely it will be effective at killing many of them, but this can potentially cause great amounts of damage to the vehicle. The tires can also get stuck on the piles of bodies and gore, slowing or sometimes even immobilizing the vehicle. This method also carries the risk of not killing enough of them and the surviving wasters surrounding the damaged vehicle and trapping the occupants.

## Trivia

* Since it took such a long time for a human to fully succumb to the early strains of the infection, this also meant that people infected with the waster strains generally suffered the longest, and arguably the most.