If you were bitten by a zombie

[Mr. Laser Beam]

In the Walking Dead Universe, Everyone turns once they die.

Ok...now I have to ask (bear in mind, I've never seen the show): If zombism is the inevitable result of all death on TWD, then why does anybody on this show do anything at all? If they're all doomed to inevitably become zombies anyway, then what's the point of anything?

Are they trying to find a cure or something? Because that would pretty much be the only thing worth fighting for in a world where everyone must become a zombie.

 

[Gaith]

Oh, you meant hanky panky after being bitten? I wouldn't advise that. If it were a quick reanimation, and it was a long sex act, that you were quite into, the victim might die and reanimate before you noticed, and a sexy nibble could turn into something quite different.

Of course, safety is key. If all that can be done for an infected amigo is to tie him to a chair and let clothed volunteers re-enact that one scene from Death Proof, so be it. Just don't send a brother off to Valhalla carrying a loaded weapon, is all I'm saying.

 

[Davros]

Join the winning team. Undead and proud.

 

[Trekker4747]

Ok...now I have to ask (bear in mind, I've never seen the show): If zombism is the inevitable result of all death on TWD, then why does anybody on this show do anything at all? If they're all doomed to inevitably become zombies anyway, then what's the point of anything?

Are they trying to find a cure or something? Because that would pretty much be the only thing worth fighting for in a world where everyone must become a zombie.

Ummm, I dunno. Living?! I mean what do you care what happens to your body after you die? Between now and then just live your life and let everyone else deal with the consequences when it is all over.

 

[Thestral]

Ok...now I have to ask (bear in mind, I've never seen the show): If zombism is the inevitable result of all death on TWD, then why does anybody on this show do anything at all? If they're all doomed to inevitably become zombies anyway, then what's the point of anything?

Are they trying to find a cure or something? Because that would pretty much be the only thing worth fighting for in a world where everyone must become a zombie.

? Everybody dies in the real world too. Everybody turns in TWD-verse, but destroying the brain beforehand keeps them from coming back.

 

[Trekker4747]

Ok...now I have to ask (bear in mind, I've never seen the show): If zombism is the inevitable result of all death on TWD, then why does anybody on this show do anything at all? If they're all doomed to inevitably become zombies anyway, then what's the point of anything?

Are they trying to find a cure or something? Because that would pretty much be the only thing worth fighting for in a world where everyone must become a zombie.

? Everybody dies in the real world too. Everybody turns in TWD-verse, but destroying the brain beforehand keeps them from coming back.

Yeah.... I don't get what MLB was going for there. Life is only living if your body contingent on what happens to your body when you're dead?

To answer the other part of his question, no one in the series is "looking for a cure" they're more fighting to survive and to be fair the show is only tangentially about zombies. The zombies are only occasional threats and problems the characters have to deal with, more over the show is about them just trying to survive not only this post-apocalyptic world but how they work together and maintain a form of humanity during all of this. Largely since season 2 the biggest "threat" of the season has been something else other than the zombies.

In season 2 it was a break down/power struggle in the group dynamic between Rick and Shane. In Season 3 it was the battle with the Governor and in the first part of Season 4 it was largely dealing with the new illness in the prison.

Only season 1 really had the zombies as a "threat" but that season was only a few episodes long to establish the world.

But just because everyone turns eventually doesn't mean people should just give up and die. I mean these people have struggled with these types of questions (characters have contemplated suicide and allowing others to die from their injuries to prevent them from having to go on in this world) and they're really living tough, hard, lives of just trying to survive but they're still living. What does it matter what happens when they die? (As far as we're to understand the reanimated possess non of the memories or really anything of the previous person. The zombies are purely driven by instinct and the simpler parts of the brain as established int he 1st season finale.)

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I mean what do you care what happens to your body after you die? Between now and then just live your life and let everyone else deal with the consequences when it is all over.

I suppose it would help - and of course this question is also totally unanswerable, I'm sure - if it could be proven that a TWD zombie actually still had consciousness, so to speak. I mean, if it was just a body flopping around at random, with none of the original consciousness in it, then sure, most people wouldn't care. You wouldn't be "aware" as a zombie after you turned, if that was the case. But if you were? You wouldn't want to "live" like that, would you?

? Everybody dies in the real world too.

But at least they STAY dead...

Everybody turns in TWD-verse, but destroying the brain beforehand keeps them from coming back.

Well, that answers the original question, then. If I were bitten, I'd shoot myself in the head straightaway.

 

[Trekker4747]

I suppose it would help - and of course this question is also totally unanswerable, I'm sure - if it could be proven that a TWD zombie actually still had consciousness, so to speak. I mean, if it was just a body flopping around at random, with none of the original consciousness in it, then sure, most people wouldn't care. You wouldn't be "aware" as a zombie after you turned, if that was the case. But if you were? You wouldn't want to "live" like that, would you?

The final episode of the first season established that the "you part" of the brain never comes back just the most basic, animal, functions of the brain. There's been some suggestion that some instinctual habits and/or memories may influence the zombie's actions but overall the zombies are walking corpses with no remains of the former person.

Hell, the idea that "the original person is gone" is pretty much the way zombies have worked in all forms of fiction, the zombies are purely active corpses with no awareness or real personality of their own.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Anyway, I voted that I'd leave the group and go somewhere else. That way, no one has to kill me prematurely, but I won't be attacking their group. Seems fair to me.

 

[JD]

Not all. I haven't seen/read them yet, but I believe Warm Bodies, Being Human UK Season 3, and In The Flesh all deal with zombies who retain or regain their personalities from when they were alive.

As for what for what I would do, I would tell everyone else in my group so they could help decide what to do, and so I could say my goodbyes.

 

[bbjeg]

I wish there was an option to go out fighting more zombies (like T-Dog).

If there were no zombies in the area (the one that bit me was the last one), I'd wait until the last minute before doing choice #3, though I'd rather be more useful in the end.

 

[Gaith]

Anyway, I voted that I'd leave the group and go somewhere else. That way, no one has to kill me prematurely, but I won't be attacking their group. Seems fair to me.

If the difference is a matter of hours, I'm not sure the concept of "premature" death has any real meaning here.

If you inform your group, they can take care that your remains won't be in a position to harm others. Surely that's worth a few crummy hours of your life?

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Yeah, but what if I'm wrong and I'm not actually infected. I also don't want to get shot prematurely

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The final episode of the first season established that the "you part" of the brain never comes back just the most basic, animal, functions of the brain. There's been some suggestion that some instinctual habits and/or memories may influence the zombie's actions but overall the zombies are walking corpses with no remains of the former person.

Hell, the idea that "the original person is gone" is pretty much the way zombies have worked in all forms of fiction, the zombies are purely active corpses with no awareness or real personality of their own.

Well, that helps. If my own actual consciousness (I don't just mean personality, I mean my actual consciousness and self-awareness) isn't involved, I guess it's not that bad. Kind of like the ultimate out-of-body experience, as it were.

That being said, I still wouldn't be too comfortable with a body out there that looks like me but is a zombie, even if my consciousness isn't trapped within it, so I'd probably still shoot myself.

 

[Silvercrest]

I'd prefer an option for "keep quiet and infiltrate a rival group filled with people I don't like. Om nom nom."

This.

"Philip, buddy! How's it going? Nice place ya got here. Mind if I find a quiet corner to hole up for ... oh, a day or so?"

 

[RJDiogenes]

Hell, the idea that "the original person is gone" is pretty much the way zombies have worked in all forms of fiction, the zombies are purely active corpses with no awareness or real personality of their own.

That's not true. Many zombie stories involve somebody coming back for revenge or some similar specific purpose (e.g. EC Comics). And there was also Simon Garth, who not only retained his human mind, but became a better person.

As for what I would do, I'd go a little Lovecraftian. I'd find somebody to hypnotize me into retaining my consciousness and personality after the change. If it worked, I would become a major asset to the group. If not, they could just kill me.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Many zombie stories involve somebody coming back for revenge or some similar specific purpose (e.g. EC Comics). And there was also Simon Garth, who not only retained his human mind, but became a better person.

Then there's Warm Bodies...

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07s-cNFffDM[/yt]

As for what I would do, I'd go a little Lovecraftian. I'd find somebody to hypnotize me into retaining my consciousness and personality after the change. If it worked, I would become a major asset to the group. If not, they could just kill me.

I've always thought that zombies suffer from uncontrollable hunger, delirium and overall discomfort so I don't know if retaining consciousness is a good idea. You'd have to be able to manage those things too.

 

[selina]

Depending on how much time I had left, I would go back to my group first and tell them about what happened. After deviding my stuff between them, I would ask them to burry me. I'm old-fashioned that way. Then I would shoot myself, assuming I actually had a weapon.

 

[auntiehill]

Bullet to the head. That's the only responsible thing to do. But if it was a limb, I'd go for quick Hershel option.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Hell, if I lived in the TWD universe, I'd probably shoot myself in the head even before I was bitten. I know I could never live in a world like that. I'm not anywhere near strong enough. I'd be too attached to the old world to be able to survive in the new.