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The zombies in my novels. 2/12/2013 9:48:57 PM
Talking about those darn Zombies. Zombies are a big business in the real world nowadays: movies galore, TV shows, graphic novels, best selling novels, etc.. I suppose people say, "What does THIS "Thompson" guy have to say that's different?"
Well, somethings old, somethings new.
As usual, my zombies are reanimated corpses who feast on living human flesh. Mine, however, are not caused by a plague (no spawning a new one by biting a normal human), either due to an act of God or some horrible chemical accident. Mine are always conjured by evil people or beings, usually to increase the hazards of being a human.
As to speed: the George A. Romero's original "Night of the Living Dead" "shamblers" to the fast zombies of a lot of later genre films. It depends on their condition. I know this is not a totally original idea but I base mine on length of time dead before raised, length of time after being raised, general "wear and tear" since being raised, and when was the last time one fed. If food is plentiful, they regenerate an amount based on their intake: a lot of flesh makes for a sprinting and strong zombie. The adverse is also true: privation causes their bodies to rot faster, damaging leg muscles and ligaments and they fall, left to pull themselves along the ground until they fall to pieces or are eaten by others of their kind (flesh is flesh to my zombies). Of course, that kind of meal does not heal them as well as living human tissue.
I think probably, starting in "Baker's Dozen 2: Nightshade Version 1.1", where we have powerful entities CONTROLLING many zombies, I have wandered into new territory.
