Division Zombie Essay
Matt Coon Mrs. Scott English Comp 15 March 2013 Zombies A zombie is defined as a deceased human body that has somehow become reanimated and autonomous, yet no longer has sufficient brain or vital functions to be considered alive or capable of thought. The characteristics of a zombie have evolved over the years and throughout various cultures. In Africa they portray a zombie as a soulless being used as a slave for a voodoo priest. Never the less we will take a look at the American portrayal of the modern day zombie.
We will do this by dividing the “zombie” into four different categories; the walkers, the runners, the crawlers, and the mutated zombies. In the older legends, zombie lore usually involved some form of voodoo or evil magic, but most modern zombie-themed media centralizes the idea of a rapidly spreading disease or virus causing the human species to turn into mindless beings with an intense hunger for the human flesh. Walkers were the first breed of zombie that actually craved human flesh. The usually spell-induced African zombies were just soulless beings; they had no desire to feast on people.
Very fragile, and mostly decomposed, these “walkers” move extremely slowly. However, what they lack in agility, they make up for in magnitude. Usually walking around aimlessly, the walkers normally travel in groups, a lot like a flock of birds, but at the first sight of flesh the group converges and the next thing you know your overcome. Of all the types of zombies, walkers are probably the most realistic. The idea of somebody dying and being resurrected as a necrotic, dead cannibal is terrifying to a majority of the population.
They may lurch about and stumble comically, but it only takes one to alert the rest of the group and nest thing you know you have an army chasing you from all directions. All for the BRAINS! Created to put zombie movies at a faster pace, the “runner” is not technically a zombie. Customarily originated by a man-made disease or virus, these zombies are exceedingly fast and viciously savage. This is why happening upon a single runner can be just as deadly as meeting an entire horde of the inferior walkers. Assumedly because quick, hard-to-catch targets darting around the screen present more of a threat han those slower moving zombies, runners often play the most crucial part in zombie-based video games and films of this day and age. Zombies are nothing but soul-less, rotting bodies; so what happens to them when they lose a part of themselves? Started by the popular video game Call of Duty, crawlers are normal zombies, walkers or runners, who had their legs dismembered in an attempt to kill them. Usually caused by trying to cut them or some sort of explosion. These zombies are typically slow moving and easy prey; but if you are not vigilant they can be very hazardous.
Even if they can’t chase you down and attack you, they still carry whatever infection or virus put them in their current condition, and they are more than capable of passing it on while fighting you off. They will often attack the feet and ankles first, in attempts to infect and weaken you. Then, when you fall to the ground, they feast. Last of all, there are the mutated zombies. Mutated zombies were started by the popular video-game-turned-movie series, Resident Evil. Infected, panicked, and fighting to retain life, scientists attempted to create a serum to battle the virus.
At first it seemed as if it was working, and the disease was to be cured; alas, most of them turned into to heaps of rotting, radioactive flesh, starving for the taste of brains. There are other cases where a zombie is doused in radioactive material, afterwards becoming virtually unrecognizable afterwards. These unlucky few are freakishly disfigured; they are also generally very agile and extremely strong. Not only infected, most mutated zombies also come radioactive, one touch who knows what may happen?
Uninfected humans often have no chance of survival when standing up to one of these monsters. Even though the will probably never happen, it is always going to be one of the human race’s biggest fears. Maybe this essay will help somebody through it by knowing all of the many types of zombies, each one stronger and faster than the other. We also know never to turn your back on a zombie, even if it is just crawling around snapping at your ankles. The zombie apocalypse might not happen any time soon but it is always good to be prepared.
