Zombie Cliche Lookout: One Works, One Watches
When it comes to surviving zombies, it pays to have someone watching your back. Or more than one someone, if you can swing it. Part of the problem is that people just aren’t all that good at multitasking. Sure, we do the best we can, and a lot of us do a lot of multitasking day in and day out. But experts agree, it’s not the way we’re wired to work. Instead of doing one thing well, we’re doing a bunch of things poorly.
These days, most of us have the privilege of enjoying the most safe and secure period in all of history. That means that we can afford to do a bunch of things poorly most of the time without having to worry that it’s going to bite us in the ass too hard. Of course, that only goes so far, as many texting and driving PSAs are keen to tell you. At any rate, in a zombie-infested world things won’t be nearly this simple.
About this Episode:
I’m trying to do some different things with trees and plants in the background. This time around, I built some skinny birch trees (my wife’s favorite). There’s some really great plant and tree creations out there, and I’m trying to be inspired by them.
Discussion Question: Starting Small
Yet another another question posed by BrickVoid, which I’ll do my best to summarize here. Let’s say that the zombie outbreak starts somewhere remote, how would it spread and take hold, and what sort of factors would affect it? Would the speed of zombies, for instance, have any bearing on how easily the zombie outbreak takes hold? Would slow zombies be eliminated before they could become an overwhelming problem, or would people not realize what was happening until it was too late?
Typo alert, Zombie Cliche Lookout, third sentence, after the second comma: “of us to a lot ” to–>do
Discussion Question, after the second comma: “outbreak take hold” take–>takes
Only two typos today, very good today, Dave! 😀
Fixed both.
To me, Russell looks like as if he is staring suspiciously at Dave like, ” Jerk, don’t you DARE put zeds here, or you are screwed.”
In the third panel.
Hah; I like this reading.
Michael must not have much engine knowledge at all, because otherwise he’d probably have told Russell what he thought the problem was, which can irritate some people. 😀
Here’s hoping Russell doesn’t mind or simply ignores comments about what the problem might be1 😉
Maybe he knows how much mechanics hate that?
Regarding the trees, they look quite good, although they’re a bit blurry. Dave, could you add some photos of the scene with them in focus to this post, or on a link? 😀
I guess the spread of the virus really would depend on two factors.
The amount of time between infection and the onset of zombification, and how quickly the authorities grasp the situation and react to it.
If the period of time between infection and zombification is relatively short, say 12hours or less. In that case an infection in a remote area might be contained provided that the authorities react quickly enough.
My problem with most infection simulators is that they don’t account for human nature or air travel
Best case scenario I can imagine would be an infection in a remote facility that is already set up to deal with a potential biohazard. (Say a government or private research facility set up to work with potential contagions) In a case like this there will probably already be protocols in effect to contain a potential outbreak of something nasty. In most zombie fiction that involves this type of scenario there is usually some mitigating factor that breaks down security and allows the outbreak to spread, Industrial espionage, a group of mischievous teenagers, or something like that.
Now if the virus takes longer to incubate and a person is infected and doesn’t realize it, or realizes it and panics and conceals the infection (another popular trope) then the potential for disaster becomes much worse. Lets say some crazy mutation occurs on a remote university campus. For arguments sake lets say Michigan Technological University which is located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and is pretty remote. Lets say this happens on a Friday and the infected tech is headed home to Chicago for a long weekend. Not knowing hes infected he hops in his car and drives to the airport and hops a flight home. From the airport he gets on a commuter train for the ride home. He turns on the train and starts attacking people. Before hes subdued he bites 6 people and infects them but they all survive for the present because of the help of the other commuters who figure that this guy is just some nut. They get a little first aid or maybe a tetanus shot and some stitches for the bites and are released. Lets say of the 6 infected people, one of them turns the next day in a crowded venue like a nightclub and the other gets on a plane the next day and turns in a different city infecting their entire immediate family.
By this point the original patient has been processed by the police who are treating him as a psychiatric or drug case . The are having trouble subduing him enough to transfer him to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation so they keep waiting for him to tire out or for the drugs to wear off. No one has even taken this guys vital to realize that something is very wrong. IN this way another 24-48 hours pass and the beta and gamma patients have turned and are infecting people. Of the 20-30 now infected several have traveled by plane to other cities or possibly countries.
Lets be charitable and say that the medical authorities now figure out what’s happening and issue immediate instructions that infected people are to report immediately to a hospital or military base for quarantine. How many of the infected but not yet turned will comply, how many will suspect a conspiracy or will just plain blow it off. Lets say that things get out of hand at one of these quarantine centers and the cops or the military have to shoot a bunch of zombies, how will that affect the willingness of the infected to turn themselves in?
A lot of variables to consider.
Lol it almost looks as if hes trying to be funny for the audience 😀
2:45 hours after the expected publish date and still no comic! Dave, you might want to look into this! 😀
Totally my fault. I’ll have the new comic up as soon as I can.
nice