Disabled Zombies

Elmidena

The idea just popped into my head, what happens when a special needs person arises from the ground/becomes infected with the virus? For example, do the ones who were blind or deaf have a built in "zombie sense" in order to shuffle towards victims? Do they overthrow their handicap with some new sense of survival, such as feeling vibrations or sensing body temperature in the vicinity?

Due to the undead in all likelihood lacking a nervous system, I would imagine those wheelchair-fast to be able to walk as the zombie can seemingly have a fantastic range of motion regardless of synapses. If and muscular strength carries forward from the person when they were alive, then these zombies would be formiddable foes indeed (or at least the ones that didn't have an electric wheelchair).

But what about amputee zombies? Sure we've all seen zombies missing an arm or leg or whatever here or there, but what happens if when they turn they're already missing limbs? Do they grow back, or are they able to Frankenstein more on from the remains of their future food sources?

ChaseThisLight

From everything I've seen and/or read, they just stay as they are when they get zombified. Being a zombie doesn't heal you, it just reanimates your corpse as is.

If they're blind, they stay blind - though yes, I'd say they would have some sort of sense of smell for flesh, which I think all zombies have.

If they were disabled via amputee or paralyzed they wouldn't grow limbs back or suddenly be able to walk, nor would they do the Frankenstein sewing limbs on thing (they'd not be able to function to do that; though I suppose it's possible for some messed up person to harvest zombie parts to create a Frankenstein-esque zombie :eek:) . Anyway, they'd simply drag themselves around to get to food.

Gandalph

Alot of people are in wheelchairs due to dead nervous systems so maybe these systems would come back to life to allow the zombie to walk, but if the persons been in a wheelchair too long then the muscle fibre wouldnt be strong enough to even support their weight so the zombie wud prob be just face planting every time they decided to try stand up

As for the deaf/blind these senses are also dead so who knows if they reanimate or not, it could be just like a zombie nibbling on an already deceased corpse thats gonna stay dead and not rise again

BigDuffman

Gandalph wrote: »

Alot of people are in wheelchairs due to dead nervous systems so maybe these systems would come back to life to allow the zombie to walk,

Well not exactly....if your nervous system isn't "dead". It can be from severe nerve damage or from a break in the spinal chord. Which will remain the same as a Z as it would when alive. Depending on what Z strain your talking about it does not heal just reanimates (unless you have some insane stem cell related T Virus hybrid).

SmileyPaul

BigDuffman wrote: »

Well not exactly....if your nervous system isn't "dead". It can be from severe nerve damage or from a break in the spinal chord. Which will remain the same as a Z as it would when alive. Depending on what Z strain your talking about it does not heal just reanimates (unless you have some insane stem cell related T Virus hybrid).

Hit the nail on the head.

or get worst, Z's already dont have the greatest co-ordination and thats because of the viruses intrusion into the nervous system

ladypip

I think whatever shortcomings your body had in life it would have as a zombie, If your wheelchair bound you would be just as disabled, if your blind you wont be able to see.

There is no regeneration of cells after zombification

However i think a zombie would adapt obviously an electric wheelchair would be useless after a while so the zombie would use its hands to drag itself around to get to a food source.

After a short time decomposition would render all Zombies blind So maybe previously blind zombies would have an advantage?

Great question I love being made to think outside the box.

ScumLord

I'm not sure, the zombie virus has to overtake the nervous and somehow substitute the resources the living body provides cells. Maybe it could completely overtake the nervous system to guarantee it can be used as the body decays. If it coated or changed the nervous system any gaps could be closed on the likes of people with spine injuries where the damaged area is actually quite small.

It can't repair anything though and those paraplegics won't be able to walk as their muscles will have wasted away. They may may just get feeling back in their lower half thinking everything is great only to turn into a zombie shortly there after.

The main point is though the zombie is dead, it can't create new cells so it can't repair any damage.

Elmidena

In the Walking Dead (hated that series....too slow and slushy, not enough awesome) they had brain scans that showed a certain degree of posthumous reactions within the hypothalmus and medulla oblongata if memory serves correctly (haven't seen it in a long time and don't care to watch it again, so excuse any fallacies). If there is some new brainwave activity, then that would most likely have some effect on the system.

I agree that muscular atrophy would be a large hindrance to those with spinal injuries etc, but perhaps with enough exercise in moving around they could tone it somewhat. Not saying that I believe in bodybuilder zombies now, and yes they don't regenerate but surely the repeated extending of tendons etc would have some sort of building up effect on the body in question. Otherwise, would all infected not just fall over at some point as decomposition sets in and destroys ligaments etc? If that was the case, sieging for x amount of months would be the solution, and I don't believe this to be the case. Of course, perhaps there already are disabled zombies reanimated and they gain such upper body strength from hauling themselves around that they wind up as the Tank out of the Left 4 Dead saga.

According to the background info on the Witch out of same series, she wanders around in sunlight crying because she hates the sun as it burns her and makes her feel incredible discomfort as her body temperature increases; indoors or in rainy conditions she is crouching. (I cosplayed as her in the past hence knowing this....) Does that not indicate that she, one of potentially a huge horde, have a pain reactive system? That the nervous system is still in place and reactive? This is at odds to the general "braindead" aspect of zombies and leads to interesting theories in my opinion.

A person is clinically described as dead once there is no more response from the medulla oblongata; this means that there are no longer electric signals being relayed from the body to the brain. The medulla oblongata is in charge of autonomous reactions in the body such as breathing, the heart beating and vomiting. Zombies vomit in the L4D saga incidentally. So this also indicates that something that was a cerebral function that "regenerated". With the exception of modern experimental technology, nerves do not regenerate in a human. So if the nerve system is shut down, but when the zombie apocalypse hits it is switched on again, then who are we to surmise that that is the extent of the nervous system's capabilities? Why is not plausible that the dendrites, axons, neurons etc located around the body are also sparked into life, even if they weren't usable beforehand?

Not every zombie is created through an airborne virus, there's rituals and other sci-fi aspects that can cause them, we don't get to choose the apocalypse :P I'm quite sure the zombies that arise from the ground have had dead nervous systems for a potentially long time, or at least a set number of months for the assumed level of decomposition to relay, otherwise they would look fully normal, bar pooling effects.

Yeah gonna wrap this up, didn't realise how much I'd ranted on, but again, input is welcomed. I like a good discussion!





Also sorry for the medical jargon. You can probably twig I've studied anatomy&physiology....

ChaseThisLight

But the fact remains, the muscle is dead. The tendons are dead. The ligaments are dead. A zombie isn't going to build upper body strength or tone anything by dragging itself around - if anything it's going to wear out it's clothes/flesh from the constant friction between it's body and the ground. Their bodies are constantly decomposing, which is why in any zombie movie/game, you see them in different states of decomp - because they are dead and not healing/regenerating or whatever.

The only thing technically "alive" is the brain, and even then only a certain section of the brain. Since The Walking Dead was mentioned:

Dr. Jenner stated that the walkers are only partially revived; what I surmise from that is that the part of the brain that is revived functions to move the body, to trigger the need for flesh, but not to regenerate or even repair any other part of the body.

Will they all just fall over from decomposition? Some, maybe. If you think about it, eating flesh, etc. must do something for them, they obviously crave/need it - my thoughts are that it nourishes them somehow, and those that get enough to "eat" are in better condition than those that don't. Using The Walking Dead as an example again,

the zed that Rick killed in the park that was crawling along half gone; she looked dessicated, like she'd not eaten in awhile. Furthermore, take a look at the zeds in the show - they do just lie down, as shown when that zed on the bus which first appeared to be nothing but a dead body but then moved as if waking, when Rick passed by.

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As for the Witch in L4D - I don't rank her, or the Tank, or vomiting zombies, or say, the dogs from Resident Evil or any of the other abnormal zombies from that movie, as realistic examples for zombies

(like the crappy freaks from Resident Evil: Afterlife. wtf?)

. They're fun to see in action in game, or in a movie, but they don't make sense otherwise. BUT - that's just me; I hold to Romero zombies, and think the likes exampled above are fanciful. See, the thing to remember is that the genre has grown so much, and there are so many versions of zombies, some more out there than others - I saw one that had the virus transmitted through a mosquito bite! - that we could all debate this till the ZA comes.

ScumLord

Sunshine! wrote: »

I agree that muscular atrophy would be a large hindrance to those with spinal injuries etc, but perhaps with enough exercise in moving around they could tone it somewhat.

No that would require growing new muscle tissue and growing new connections in the brain, they would need to be able to relearn how to walk.

Otherwise, would all infected not just fall over at some point as decomposition sets in and destroys ligaments etc?

All the infected would gradually wear away to nothing like everything else in the world, even rock decays.

If that was the case, sieging for x amount of months would be the solution, and I don't believe this to be the case.

It would be the case that you would just have to wait out the worst of the virus with zombies becoming weaker and weaker, so easier to deal with.