Zombie Cliche Lookout: Distant Gunshots
The zombie apocalypse is going to be a fairly lonely place, other than the giant hordes of zombies of course. However, just because the majority of other people have turned into zombies, by no means are you alone. Forgetting that can have some pretty dire – even deadly – consequences.
Characters tend to find this out the hard way. They’ll foolishly assume they’re alone, only to be preyed upon by a less than savory survivor. That can lead to all kinds of nasty stuff: being robbed, assaulted, murdered, kidnapped for some sort of horrifyingly creepy “breeding/re-population” program. I could go on and on. Suffice it to say, make sure you’re aware of what’s going on around you.
Not all of these encounters are bad, of course. A lot of times this is where a character will be reunited with a fellow survivor, generally surprising and scaring the both of them.
About this Episode:
Okay, so I know what you’re all thinking: is he seriously introducing a new character? Actually, this is Stewart, one of the main characters of the comic whom we haven’t seen in quite a while.
Joking aside, we’re back in the woods with a different group. These guys stayed behind at the cabin, tasked with the job of securing the place. Unfortunately, the cabin was completely destroyed in the move, so I’m going to have to build a new one, but that’s not too big of a deal.
Discussion Question: Zombie Blood
Let’s assume that the zombies in question are the classic, reanimated dead variety. With that in mind, do you think they’d be bloody messes, or would the blood be more or less coagulated and settled in their legs? If the heart isn’t pumping anymore, would it really stay liquid and distributed through the body? Do zombies behave that differently from normal dead bodies? How does the brain factor into this?
Typo alert, Zombie Cliche Lookout, first paragraph, second sentence, after the comma, not–>no 😀
Only one this time? Sweet!
Fixed.
Yeah, I have got to say, sometimes your typos are few and far between! 😉
That makes it easier for me too! 😀
Looks like Monday’s episode came a little early! 😀 Or did I misread Dave’s annoucement? 🙂
Either way, fantastic work for quickly throwing a few plants down on a green baseplate, I would definitely think this to be some kind of swamp or grass land area! 😀
Hah, I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not. Outdoor scenes are tough for me. I did try to mix things up a bit. There’s a bit of a hill in the background, and I tried to use a lot of homemade tress.
That’s exactly what I thought the second I see the 1st panel of today’s episode !
Hah, well I tried anyway.
I probably wasn’t clear enough or just mis-wrote it like an idiot. Either way, new arc starts today.
“Do zombies behave that differently from normal dead bodies?”
Well… ehm… yes 😉
Hah, well yeah. I meant as far as their blood/circulatory system works.
I know… but this sentence made me LOL when I first read it (and I read i out of context at first) haha
Oh yeah, out of context it’s pretty damn funny.
Without any “pumping system” I imagine zombie to be like big “blood bottle”. As blood not running anymore through the body I imagine it to be viscous maybe sticky, rotten.
Something you don’t want to be recovered with anyway !
Yes indeed. But wouldn’t the blood also settle to the lowest areas? I’d think a lot of zombies would have bloody, bloody feet.
I kept the idea that “blood” will stay in the veins and arteries, if I’m correct those can’t be empty or filled with air, so even a dead body (I mean real dead) have veins and arteries filled with blood (at least at first).
Now if those veins or arteries are damaged, blood might “escape” from them and flow through the body to the feet (gravity of course).
That said, I realize how weird it is to make an explanation about physical zombie abilities sounds “realistic”…
My understanding – and I could be way off base here – is that as soon as you lose blood pressure, it starts flowing to the lowest place. That ends up causing pooling on the bottom of the body.
I learned from CSI that if a person dies in a prone position, they can determine if the body was moved from where the blood settled and caused “bruising” under the skin (i.e. if a person died on their back, their blood would pool and congeal there, but if someone turned the body over, it would stay under the back skin).
I would imagine that the remaining blood in a zombie would settle and congeal at the lowest part of their body – whatever that happened to be when they died – and would probably stay there when they started moving around. So, for example, if someone got infected, sat down on the ground and died, the majority of their remaining blood would settle to the backs of their legs. Similarly, if someone died on their feet and fell down, their blood should settle to whatever “down” would be for their position.
Of course, that all assumes that the reanimation happens hours after death. If it’s one of those “fast-acting” viruses where the body gets back up after less than an hour – and before coagulation – then yea, the blood would likely settle into the feet, as it did in Marvel Zombies (one of the M.Zeds asked why his feet felt heavy and another one made that point).
Would it make sound ? Like “splotch splotch” when they walk ?:)
Hah! Good lord I hope so.
Oh man Dave! I never thought of that. I mean I figured that the blood would bee all congealed and turn brown or black, but I didnt consider how it would collect in the lower body if the person remained upright once the heard stopped.
It funny that I didnt realize it. When I was a teenager I actually saw the body of a man who died of a drug overdose with his head and upper body hanging off the side of his bed. (My best freinds father owned an apartment building in a less then affluent part of town) I wont go into details, but the guys face and hands were so bloated that he looked like a cartoon character.
Now all I can picture is zombies that waddle with grotesquely swollen legs as opposed to shambling. Honestly, Im not sure if blood congeals because it gets cold or because it stops moving. Im assuming it temperature related.
I’m not sure if it’s due to the cold or the lack of movement, or both. That’s a really good question. I need to interview a mortician or something like that for this site.
Obviously, a mortician with a sense of humor.
It’s the stopping of movement in this case that makes blood cloth. And yes gravity will pull on blood… unless it cloths very fast.
And as Dave says before, as soon as you loose pressure, the blood goes down.
For example; you know how some people can get lightheaded or even faint when they get to an upright position? That’s the same mechanism. Your head goes up in the air very fast and your heart sometimes doesn’t respond fast enough so the blood gets pulled out of your brain and you get lightheaded or faint.
What you can also try is look at the back of your hand (if you have good visible veins) Just let you hand hang down for a minute or so and see how your veins fill up and get thick…. then hold your hand up in the sky and see the blood drain from it. Even with a working heart gravity does it’s work.
In our legs we have our muscles helping our heart, by walking around and contracting our legmuscles we help pump the blood towards the heart (there are valves in our veins). That’s why some people can get thrombosis if they sit too long (like in a long flight), thy stop moving their muscles, gravity does its work, the blood in our lower legs doesn’t flow as fast and little bloodcloths form… thrombosis…
I really have no idea how a zombie-body could work 😉
Holy crap that’s some good info. What do you do for a living, FL?
Clear simple explanation… You left me speechless Dwaas !
this is a good episode
Thanks!
I guess I imagined the blood always coagulated instantly in place.
One of the big ways zeds are different than corpses is the lack of bacterial action. Putrification has alot to with the bodies own bacteria and outside bacteria feasting on the remains and breaking the corpse down. Zed apparently stop this or they won’t last the weeks and months they do.
Zeds are also apparently really good at retaining water. Mummification is accomplished by removing most of the water from a corpse. This leaves a shriveled mas which doesn’t move very well. (Remember the line in “The Mummy” where they all thought the mummy looked “juicy”)