What Kind Of Zombies Should 2020 Throw At Us?
When the world went into varying stages of lockdown and we found it was called Coronavirus I saw a lot of jokes about zombies being added to the mix.
As the months passed I think it is safe to say we will not be seeing these hungry flesh-craving killers anytime soon (thankfully!). However, to keep your creative juices flowing I’ve tried to compile a list of different kinds of zombies we’ve seen in our movies and games over the years to see which ones you might have preferred and which one you think we would most likely survive… or not.
World War Z
In the movie, the zombies can be seen as fast undead creatures who like running around in a pack. With these zombies, you are very unlikely to not get infected as their primal instinct is to infect those who are healthy and move on. Unlike other zombies on the list, they do not kill. All they do is seek out strong and healthy candidates to continue the spread in order to keep the virus alive. Once you are bitten or scratched they move on to find their next victim.
What makes them so deadly is that they have animal-like characteristics that help them obtain this goal. For example, they will pile up onto one another in order to get over walls or reach high places, just one of their many animal like behaviors.
They are driven to infect any healthy human they see on sight and rely on their sight and are attracted to any loud or man-made noises… so talking is out of the question!
You will more than likely not be able to escape the infection for very long at all! Even if you somehow manage to kill one of these deadly predators you will not escape the wrath of the others close by, as I’ve said before they are pack hunters and can easily be triggered.
Highschool Of The Dead (Anime)
Although the origin of the virus in this series is unknown, we do know these zombies rely on their sense of hearing to detect where their prey is. They can easily be avoided if you move through your surroundings quietly, as they do not use their sight to see.
They fall back in line with the ‘classic’ zombie trait with their drive and need to feed on human flesh. So they will rip you to shreds and kill you once they get their hands on you. They are the perfect example of what a classic zombie should be like as we’ve seen in movies, games, and read about in books.
However deadly they are they can be disposed of by decapitating or damaging its head. Shooting, hitting, or cutting off any other limb will result in you slowing them down allowing you to escape if you are lucky.
We have also seen a few new tricks where survivors cover themselves with the blood of a zombie to try and “fool” the infected to try and escape.
Train To Busan
Firstly, you should know that these zombies are incredibly fast! Similar to those in World War Z, however, the difference is that they rely greatly on their sight. They also seem to be far more intelligent than the other zombies we’ve seen and read about. These zombies can also be seen roaming around in groups, so avoiding one might be a walk in the park but an entire group… well, that’s a totally different matter…
They rely on the movement of their prey to help indicate where the next target might be. When I watched the movie some of the survivors used to cover the train’s windows with newspapers. This seemed to have a camping effect on the zombies as they no longer had a direct line of sight with their prey as well as minimizing the sight of movement.
Although it is unknown as to how the virus spread we do know that it takes just a few minutes for it to turn a person. Making it very easy for the undead to overrun large cities and in turn making it very difficult for survivors to escape.
The Last Of Us
How could I not add everyone’s favorite fungus-infected deadly zombies?
The Last Of Us reminds us that in a zombie apocalypse that we don’t have to just worry about the undead but that we also need to keep a close eye on our fellow survivors who would do everything they can to survive… even kill innocent bystanders.
Like many undead viruses, this fungus attacks the host’s brain and begins to alter the host’s behavior. The host then goes through 4 stages of mutation each growing more and more deadly than the one before, making them a lot stronger by the final stage.
Uniquely as the infected go through the 4 stages they soon reach the final stage which is their own death… yes, they die!! BUT only so that the fungus can continue to grow by creating spores within the host which serve as a breeding ground of the fungus to spread.
The infected will find a dark moist corner to die in and contribute to increasing the deadly fungus. The spread of the fungus can only be transferred directly through a bite or inhaling the spores directly.
It was said that survivors who stay in safe open spaces are relatively safe as the spores are grown in dark corners and can normally be found underground.
Left 4 Dead
In this super fun game series, the virus is called the “Green Flu” causing drastic increases in aggression and loss of the brains main functions. The infected are attracted to noise, movement, bright lights, and occasionally anything covered in Boomer Bile.
Don’t be fooled by their appearance if you find one looking a bit wounded, they are super-fast runners, who climb, and fall great heights without them getting hurt. They will often lean against walls, sit, stagger aimlessly, or vomit displaying signs of them being unwell. Unlike other zombies, you will find that they can also attack each other (Not the boss/bigger zombies) but the common flesh-craving ones, the reason for this is unknown.
On a worse note, the common zombie can mutate into a bigger, stronger zombie with different kinds of abilities. So far only 8 have been identified and it is unknown as to why they mutate. Loud noises attract massive hordes of the infected along with one or two bosses. They do not have to be shot in the head to kill, however it makes it a lot easier if you do!
So whether it takes hours, minutes, or seconds for the living to turn into the undead do you really think we are ready for a zombie apocalypse with the current events in 2020? After all of the things, we’ve seen and heard this year it probably wouldn’t surprise me!
Lots of Love
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I remember the beginning of the Coronavirus. I absolutely didn’t take it seriously until they did a state wide emergency order for people to lock down. I was so scared. Most of the world didn’t take it serious at the time. As far as zombies, you have some terrifying scenarios considering the choices you have. I would be mostly terrified of the World War Z zombies. Mostly for their ability to concentrate their efforts en masse. It’s scary to think they would scale walls and buildings just to get to people. Left 4 Dead zombies would be really horrific. I couldn’t imagine running into a tank or a hunter….or that damn witch. I still haven’t watched Train to Busan but I will, so I can see what is going on there. I think The Last of Us has the most realistic condition of how zombies can come to be and how it’s a constant evolution beyond the infection. That’s so maddening LOL. It’s been a while since I saw High School of The Dead, so I can’t really comment on it.
Either way I would probably be dead because I would be too scared to do anything to survive LOL. I wouldn’t even shoot a gun.
Hi James,
I think we are in the same boat, I would like to think I’d be able to save myself or be able to survive but I know I won’t be able to take a life even if they are declared dead. It’s a scary thought and I don’t think we are ready should something like this ever happen.
You need to watch Train To Busan, it is a good movie and. I enjoyed how honest and fresh it was and just seeing zombies being zombies nothing weird or supernatural about them.
If 2020 does decide to throw a few zombies into the mix we need to stay in contact via radio :)
Lots of Love
AzuraCub