Zombie

**Zombies (also known as Zeds, Walkers, Roamers, Lurkers, Biters, Z's, Meat Bags, Freak Bags and Zak))**are monsters throughout fiction. They are beings that have died and raised from the dead. They commonly appear in horror fictional works, often depicted as mindless undead creatures attacking and eating others.

## Origins

Zombies have various theorized origins with one being ancient voodoo practices in which voodoo doctors have reanimated corpses through magical means. A process like this would usually require "zombie powder", made with sharp and small needles that puncture the skin and allow a deadly neurotoxin to paralyze the victim, destroying part of their brain where they can make decisions. The purpose of these resurrections is to control the bodies in a similar manner to puppets, making them completely subservient to the will of the one who raised them. They obey the commands of the necromancer without question, performing whatever tasks put before them. They will remain active until the spell is broken or until the necromancer dies.

Other theories of their origins include a viral infection that spreads through the Zombie making contact with broken skin. The virus can also spread to the air, resulting in all newly killed people reawakening as Zombies once the virus takes over the host's brain. In George A. Romero's *Living Dead*films, Zombies were recently deceased people brought to life by some form of radiation from outer space.

## Physical Appearance

Zombies appear as humans with pale skin and yellow or deep crimson blood due to decomposition. Pieces of flesh tend to fall off any part of their rotting bodies, exposing their tissue and bones. Zombies' eyes also tend to fall out sometimes or turn permanently bloodshot or pale white. Their fingernails tend to have an advanced growth rate and may even be classified as claws.

## Nature

Zombies are always violent and are usually searching for living organs and flesh to eat. They appear and attack in very large groups and are rarely alone, however they are unaware of these groups; accidentally making them. Zombies are attracted to sounds, since it could be food, so they go to any sound they hear. Zombies are also unphased by most objects and can't destroy them with ease, but it should be noted that a group of persistant Zombies could take down an obstacle that a healthy human would tire from trying to do so. A Zombie will pursue all prey until it is either eaten or gone out of sensory range.

Zombies are very dimwitted and can easily be outsmarted by anyone, also usually shambling and being clumsy with lack of coordination. Zombies also do not have the brain capacity to speak, but can moan when sensing prey, which is their form of communication. Since Zombies are no longer able to feel any pain due to their receptors, nerves and veins stopped to function, they also unable to grow tired, sick or weak and age, capable of living unless their heads, brains or entire bodies are destroyed however they will eventually die out as they continue to disoriorate until they've decomposed completely. Zombies are also amazingly brave due to the lack of intellect, common sense and emotionless personality, recklessly attacking anything in sight. Also while not considered superhuman, Zombies are roughly 3 times physically stronger than they were in life, not restricting itself from using it's full strength in fear of breaking bones as in the case with humans.

A Zombie's most dangerous and terrifying weapon is their infectious bite or scratch, being enough to pass on the infection to another human being and eventually the victim will succumb to the illness and die, reanimating as a Zombie seconds after death. Being killed whilst infected but not yet turned accelerates the process unless the infectee's brain is destroyed. The total time for total zombification varies depending upon the subject's immune system and where the virus is placed in the body. It can be swift as a handful of minutes or as long for days, but there is no way to tell until the transformation happens.

## How to Fight

Zombies can be outsmarted easily and survivors can take advantage of their slow speed with removing their head or destroying the brain will kill the Zombie. Melee weapons like knives, clubs, axes, swords, staves and even screwdrivers are quite common to dispatch Zombies but when fighting swarms, firearms can be used to aim for the head or even set up traps. Another strategy is to set Zombies on fire because this will kill them with ease.

## Variations

### Runner

Runner Zombies are one of the biggest threats to surivors. Runners, obviously, have the ability to run, which is a horrifying aspect to those that are being pursued. These Zombies are a primary target and should never be overlooked when fighting hordes. They will gain ground on survivors and bring them down, either killing or disabling them and leaving them for the slower infected. A survior should never try to outrun the Runners, since they do not tire like humans do. The only way to stop them from running is to disable their legs through severing large muscle groups or completely severing their legs. Other than that, the only other way is to outright eliminate them.

Runners are technically living infected but are still a form of Zombies. As such, they are able to run for a long duration. When they gain in speed and fervor over their slower cousins, they lose in durability, as they can be killed by wounds to the chest, bleeding out, thirst, starvation or even the infection itself. But do not count on that, they may still require a head shot just like normal infected.

## Notable Appearances

* **The Walking Dead:**A TV series about a man named Rick Grimes who gets shot and goes into a coma, waking up to the dead walking and his best friend is dating his wife. He goes across America trying to survive in the new world. The undead are mostly known as Walkers which are reanimated humans from a disease and bite to infect, respond to noise and very unintelligent and highly aggressive.
* **Night of the Living Day:**
* **World War Z:**
* **Left 4 Dead:**
* **Call of Duty:**A "Zombies" mode in some of the Call of Duty video games, mainly the Black Ops series. A storyline of four characters; Tank Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, Takeo Masaki and Edward Richtofen who are surviving the zombies and are trying to use time travel to save the universe. The zombies are reanimated corpses from Element 115 meteors as well as other monsters including Hellhounds and Crawler Zombies.
* **28 Days Later:**
* **Zombie Survival Guide:**
* **Highschool of the Dead:**
* **Dead Island:**
* **Resident Evil:**
* **Zombieland:**
* **Half Life:**
* **Dead Alive:**
* **Shaun of the Dead:**
* **Dead Rising:**
* **Dying Light:**
* **Dead Snow:**
* **Warm Bodies:**
* **No More Room in Hell:**