𝑪𝑯𝑰𝑪𝑲𝑬𝑵 𝒁𝑶𝑴𝑩𝑰𝑬𝑺, 𝑺𝑷𝑨𝑪𝑬 𝒁𝑶𝑴𝑩𝑰𝑬𝑺, 𝑬𝑽𝑰𝑳 𝑴𝑨𝑮𝑰𝑪 𝒁𝑶𝑴𝑩𝑰𝑬𝑺?

What do we know about the traditional zombie, and not the enhanced zombie 2.0 version as illustrated in the popular TV series "The Walking Dead?" Reincarnated corpses incapable of communication or rational thinking, the zombification process replaces a person's cognitive reasoning with an unwavering desire to consume human flesh. The zombies stagger slowly but relentlessly towards their prey without any kind of emotion, recognition or intelligence. Has the entertainment industry gotten it wrong about zombies all this while? The answer is most likely "yes," if for no other reason than the creative decision of shock value that draws an audience to a film.

The lessons in plain view by mother nature are often ignored if not discounted. They run the full gamut from microscopic to macroscopic. Here are some questions and facts that need to be considered when talking about human zombies.

𝙌. 𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙣 𝙯𝙤𝙢𝙗𝙞𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙨?

A. For example, in the movie "Resident Evil: Extinction," the character played by actor Oded Fehr is bitten during one of the group's fights in the dessert. He knows he is infected and the clock is ticking until the virus overtakes him. He embarks on a suicide effort to help the group and draws the zombies to him. The zombies are not attacking each other because they themselves are infected, so why would they attack him? Compare this to the movie "World War Z" where when bitten by a zombie, the person "turns" usually within 10 seconds! Two consistent facts in zombie movies: (1) the bite victim is alive at the time it is bitten, and survives the bite long enough to turn into a zombie (2) seeing a living person while eating a previous victim, the zombie will often abandon their kill and pursue the new target, controlled by the virus to continually infect new victims, not eat them.

𝑸. 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒄 𝒁𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒂 𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒎 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍? 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 "𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒏𝒆" 𝒔𝒐-𝒕𝒐-𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌.

A. The answer could be partly attributed to the fact they don't appear to eat anything that has been dead for more than a few minutes. This minimizes the possibility of zombies wasting their efforts on bites that won't result in new infections. After all, the virus doesn't benefit from zombies biting things that are already dead; it only benefits if the bite victim is alive at the time it is bitten, and survives the bite long enough to turn into a zombie.

𝑸. 𝑺𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒔?

A. The virus activates primitive functions that don't require conscious thought, reactivating only those portions of the brain that benefit its need to spread. These would include the hypothalamus which controls the sensation for hunger, the sensory cortex to be able to see or hear prey, and finally the motor cortex to enable the zombie to have the mobility to capture its prey.

𝑸. 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒘𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒛𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒆?

A. Actually, yes. Since the hypothalamus only functions in an ON/OFF condition, the "hunger" of the zombie will never be satisfied. It would be inclined to eat until there is nothing that is left (yet we never see this happening in the movies). Yet, this itself doesn't make sense, for the main purpose of the virus controlling the zombie is to make other zombies. If the victim is devoured, the virus has lost the opportunity to infect a new host. This is not unlike something like rabies, which completely changes the way a dog behaves, transmitting the disease by the urge to bite others.

𝑸. 𝑺𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒛𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆?

A. Well, TV shows like "The Walking Dead" have taken artistic license in solving that riddle by implying that everyone actually has the dormant virus whether they are bitten or not, "turning" when they die. This idea in itself is not farfetched as it may seem.

Zombies, whether those created for entertainment purposes or ones existing in nature, have one thing in common: parasites. A parasite is dependent on a creature other than itself to complete its life cycle. In the process it may sicken, weaken or even kill its host to complete its purpose. Some parasites are known to affect areas of the brain of its host, influencing the host’s behavior to accomplish the end goal of the parasite... transmission.

There is scientific evidence for parasites that can affect the brain. The "toxoplasma gondii" parasite has been studied as it infects the brains of rodents. Incredibly, the infected rodent's behavior is drastically affected to the point it becomes fearless around cats. Why? Because cats are the actual target of the parasite, not the rodents who would most likely be eaten by the cats, thus infecting them in turn. Incredible stuff! A fact that is even more terrifying is there is laboratory evidence mounting that an estimated half of all humans on this planet have a dormant version of that parasite in their brain!

𝑸. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒏𝒐𝒕-𝒔𝒐-𝒐𝒃𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒏𝒐𝒏-𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒛𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒆𝒔?

A. There are a few. You see animals like ravens in a zombie movie being infected yet you don't see anything like herds of zombie cows attacking the living. Yet, there are examples of animal to human transmission of viruses, the contracted bird-to-human disease called Histoplasmosis is one.

𝑸. 𝑺𝒐, 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒛𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆?

A. Well, they do and they don't. Take vultures for example. The popular myth exists that vultures prefer things that have been dead for days. In actuality, they prefer their meals fresher ... they'll definitely pass up carrion that's been dead beyond "freshness." If their prey is more recently dead to their liking, they will pick the animal clean in a matter of minutes, even at times eating the bones. They fight and bicker over dominance for feeding spots. The popular human zombies do not appear to do that and unlike vultures, they do not draw other zombies. They are individually focused. What also appears lacking in zombie movies is the action of predators like wolves, bears, coyotes, etc. who are not averse to taking advantage of any opportunities for a meal and attacking the weak and defenseless, which is exactly what a zombie would be.

In the “Never In A Million Years Would I Ever Have Thought” category, nature presents an example of zombie-like activity that doesn’t seem to be the product of virus control in an organism, but rather normal characteristic behavior. This can be found, amazingly enough, in the harmless butterfly... or is it harmless? This link will lead you to an article concerning a tendency observed in Milkweed butterflies that feed on that which they once were, living caterpillars: (https://www.livescience.com/butterflies-drink-their...) So, maybe the idea of zombie animals isn’t so far fetched after all!

𝑸. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒛𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒛𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈?

A. For starters, the movies never go into any details of "how" a human zombie would be able to function. It's not a very interesting subject to most nor does it make for an exciting part of a movie. But here are a few arguments that are overlooked:

1) The virus is hypothetically able to activate neuronal circuits present in the spinal cord and brain, but since the heart and its circulatory system are no longer functioning, the ability for locomotion, walking around, should not be possible. They certainly would not be able to run. Brain activity doesn't prevent rigor mortis and since it occurs shortly after death and lasts an average of 72 hours, the reanimation of infected humans is contrary to the fact the human zombie should be stuck in a locked-up condition with no mobility whatsoever. We never see this in the movies.

2) The sensory cortex was previously mentioned as the virus-activated region of the brain that would affect a sense such as eyesight. The zombie is often portrayed with those milky looking eyes. Comprised of soft tissue, eyes depend greatly on oxygen. Heck, even we experience "dry eyes." In the deceased, the eyes are prone to dry out and decompose rapidly. A cornea is only useful for transplant up to an estimated 20 hours after a person's death. How are the zombies able to see with any degree of clarity? The eardrums of the zombie would deteriorate, as would the rest of their auditory system, yet in "World War Z," sound is a motivating factor for zombie attention.

3) Getting back to the most basic of premises, the activation of the hypothalamus, sensory cortex and motor cortex of the brain cannot logically be perpetuated after death since even brains cannot survive without a circulatory system; a system that injects glucose and oxygen into the body's blood that in turn produces the energy the brain needs to function and survive, not to mention muscles that would enable them to have any sort of strength to hold you when gripping.

4) There are countless other factors that are ignored in the movies. Consider the four seasons as they affect various areas of the planet. These include human tissue freezing in extreme cold, accompanied by probable bone cracking that would cause the skeletal frame to collapse under its own weight, the rapid deterioration of human flesh in hot, humid conditions causing decomposition and attack by insects and bacteria, arid conditions of dessert areas that would dry out and rot the corpse quickly, et. al.

Considering all the above factors, it shouldn't be difficult to avoid human zombies and to decrease and decimate their numbers, but then, we wouldn't have all of those movies to engage our monster fantasies in.

𝑸. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝑫𝑪 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂 𝒐𝒇 𝒛𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒆𝒔?

The idea of a zombie apocalypse is not without merit, though. Even the CDC has a reference to preparation for a zombie apocalypse as a means to teach emergency preparedness. (https://www.cdc.gov/cpr/zombie/novel.htm).

𝑸. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑼.𝑺. 𝑮𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂 𝒐𝒇 𝒛𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒆𝒔?

Even the U.S. Government conceived a plan in 2011, outlining steps to be taken in the event of an actual zombie apocalypse. Content included plans for future pandemics such as COVID that we are experiencing today. There were also plans for more farfetched ideas that included Chicken Zombies, Vegetarian Zombies, Space Zombies and Evil Magic Zombies! Seriously... it does! It was named "𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑷𝑳𝑨𝑵 8888-011 𝒐𝒓 "𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓-𝒁𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒆 𝑫𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆."

Here are highlights from a previous article I have written about this plan:

𝑨𝑺𝑺𝑼𝑴𝑷𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵𝑺:

a. U.S. and Allies will have the situational awareness necessary to conduct all counter-zombie dominance operations in this plan.

b. Zombie forces will become stronger with each human casualty (because each human casualty will become a zombie)

c. U.S. and Allied forces may be degraded as a conflict emerges and progresses.

d. LOAC (law of armed conflict) will not apply to zombies.

e. Domestic law enforcement agencies will address any CONUS (continental U.S.) based attacks involving zombies until martial law is declared

f. There is no known medical cure for a zombie pathogen. At this time, it can be assumed that once a human turns, they cannot be cured or reverted to human status. Seek out the nearest CDC (Center for Disease Control) for any hopes of medical breakthroughs during a time of a pandemic.

g. The only assumed way to effectively cause casualties to the zombie ranks by tactical force is the concentration of all firepower to the head, specifically the brain. The human brain will still be functioning in the zombie state, but it is universally agreed that the only part actually active will be the brain stem.

h. The only way to ensure a zombie is "dead" is to burn the zombie corpse. EMZ's (Evil Magic Zombies - see threat summary below) are the only class of zombie that may not be vulnerable to this measure.

i. The Chaplain Corps may provide the only viable means of combating EMZs. As such, atheists could be particularly vulnerable to EMZ threats.

j. Because accurate intelligence related to zombies will be hard to obtain using traditional methods, planners will have to assume worst-case scenarios derived from popular culture references (books, movies, comic books) to adequately model zombie threats.

k. Even if infected by a zombie contaminant or pathogen, human biology requires a regular intake of water and food. Absent proper hydration to offset the effects of progressing zombiism, zombie-infected humans will experience organ failure that will immobilize or kill the host within 30-40 days.

1. Marketing materials for most hand sanitizer products indicate the product kills 99% of all germs. Although none of these products has ever indicated any efficacy against biohazard level 4 pathogens like ebola, it is entirely possible that such products could limit or delay the spread of pathogen based zombiism if properly employed.

m. Zombies are undead and thus feel no pain or fear of death. Riot control counter-measures would be completely ineffective.

n. The human instinct for self-preservation can cause newly infected zombie hosts to deny their imminent zombification to nearby humans.

𝑹𝑬𝑺𝑻𝑹𝑨𝑰𝑵𝑻𝑺:

Allow nuclear weapon storage areas to be compromised by zombie forces

ii. Allow airfields or POL facilities critical to combat aircraft capabilities to be overrun by zombie forces

iii. Allow maritime facilities that support SSBN operations to be compromised by zombie forces

𝑺𝑯𝑶𝑹𝑻𝑭𝑨𝑳𝑳𝑺 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑳𝑰𝑴𝑰𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑭𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑶𝑹𝑺:

v. Offutt AFB (Offutt Air Force Bases in Omaha, NE) provides the only semi-hardened location capable of sheltering personnel responsible for commanding and controlling a coordinated combat action against zombie forces.

JFCC SPACE (The Joint Functional Component Command for Space headquartered at Vandenberg AFB, California) and USCYBERCOM (United States Cyber Command headquartered in Fort George G. Meade, Maryland) operations centers are located within protected military facilities-however zombie forces will likely overrun those installations within the first days of a zombie invasion.

vii. Airborne Command Centers are unlikely to be viable after the first week of a zombie invasion. Although refueling in air will extend mission capabilities, the support bases that refuelers operate from will likely be overrun by zombies. It is possible that islands like Hawaii, Guam and Diego Garcia might remain viable relocation bases if airborne C2 assets can make it to these locations

𝒁𝑶𝑴𝑩𝑰𝑬 𝑻𝑯𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑻 𝑺𝑼𝑴𝑴𝑨𝑹𝒀:

a. CONPLAN 8888 is designed to address the following types of zombie threats:

ii. Radiation Zombies (RZ):

1. RZ's are zombie life forms created after an organism is infected by a extreme dosage of electromagnetic and/or particle radiation

iii. Evil Magic Zombies (EMZ):

1. EMZ's are zombie life forms created via some form of occult experimentation in what might otherwise be referred to as "evil magic"

iv. Space Zombies (SZ):

1. SZ's are zombie life forms originating from space or created by toxic contamination of the earth environment via some form of extra-terrestrial toxin or radiation

2. "Zombie satellites" can be classified as SZ's, however they pose no danger to humans (unless they conduct an unplanned de-orbit). Typically, zombie satellites only pose a threat the SATCOM services like DirectTV (Refer to Galaxy 15 incident-May 2010)

v. Weaponized Zombies (WZ):

1. WZ's are zombie life forms deliberately created via bio/bio-mechanical engineering for the purpose of being employed as weapons. Zombie weaponization programs and supporting infrastructures are included in COAs to deal with these threats.

2. The movie "The Crazies" exemplifies the most common type of WZ (humans turned into zombies via exposure to toxic chemicals/gasses)

vi. Symbiont-Induced Zombies (SIZ):

1. SIZ's are zombie life forms originating from the introduction of a symbiont life form into an otherwise healthy host. Although the symptoms of symbiont zombiism is similar in most regards to pathogenic zombeism, the symbiont does not kill the host organism quickly, or at all. However, there is no known way to save an organism after zombiism has occurred-even if the symbiont is removed.

vii. Vegetarian Zombies (VZ):

1. VZ's are zombie life forms originating from any cause but pose no direct threat to humans because they only eat plant life (as indicated in the popular game "Plants Vs. Zombies"). Although VZ's do not attack humans or other animal life, they will consume all plant life in front of them. They can cause massive de-forestation or elimination of basic food crops essential to humans (rice, corn, soybeans).

2. Of note, where normal carnivorous zombie commonly groans the word "brains" semi-comprehensibly, VZ's can be identified by their aversion to humans, affinity for plants and their tendency to semi-comprehensibly groan the word "grains".

viii. Chicken Zombies (CZ):

1. Although it sounds ridiculous, this is actually the only proven class of zombie that actually exists.

2. were first documented in Jonathan M. Forrester's 4 Dec 2006 online article "Zombie Chickens Taking Over California".

3. CZ's occur when old hens that can no longer lay eggs are incorrectly euthanized by poultry farmers using carbon monoxide. The hens are then deposited in large piles to decompose. The hens appear to be dead when buried, but inexplicably come back to life and dig themselves out from the piles of dead chickens. After reaching the surface, CZ's stagger about for a period of time before ultimately expiring due to internal organ failure.

4. CZ's are simply terrifying to behold and are likely only to make people become vegetarians in protest to animal cruelty. They appear to be no direct threat to humans. They are different from WZ's because they are the result of actions taken to kill a living organism vice actions taken to deliberately re-animate dead organisms or impair life functions to a minimal function.

𝑪𝑶𝑳𝑳𝑨𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑨𝑳 𝑷𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑺:

8. Collateral Plans. The following USSTRATCOM plans may be implemented collaterally with CONPLAN 8888

a. CDRUSSTRATCOM

i. CONPLAN 8035 "Space Operations"

ii. CONPLAN 8531 "Pandemic Influenza"

- MoonJoey