Thread: "The Three Laws of Zombiotics" - STORIES, PSEUDO NON-FICTION, POETRY, ETC. NEEDED
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Old 08-08-2010, 12:34 PM   #72
derrell
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Solitaire1 View Post
As far as the virus being able to maintain and control a large body, one answer is that the zombie virus is like a swarm of bees or a colony of ants. The individual cells are extremely limited, but as a group they can do many things under the direction of a leader.

This can give us a clue on how to deal with zombies. If the virus functions in a manner similar to bees or ants, then it would have a queen zombie virus cell that directs the actions of the virus as a whole. If you destroy the queen virus cell and prevent the creation of a new one, then the zombie will collapse since the individual zombie virus cells can do little without direction.

Maybe not a specific queen virus cell but something more along the lines of a true dispersed intelligence. The virus seeks out the source of the chemicals in the brain and concentrates there at the beginning of the infection. As the virus multiplies the individual virus cells are able to link up and communicate due to the concentration of essential chemicals until a threshold is reached. It is then able to take control of the host. It could be this virus cooperative concentrated in the brain tissue of the host explains the zombies vulnerability to brain trauma. You have the same effect as a queen virus cell but it may actually be a group.

Since at the point where the virus takes control, the host is no longer alive it might be possible that the virus mimics, although not well, the functions of the hosts nervous system and other systems as well. Since to be able to move and eat the musculature of the zombie has to be getting energy from somewhere. In between feedings the virus could be actually feeding on the nonessential portions of the host body to provide the energy to keep up the search for food and other potential hosts.

This would also explain the observed behavior of consuming body parts other than the brain mentioned earlier. In essence the virus needs two kinds of fuel for the host body. The essential chemicals in the brain to enable it to keep functioning as a higher organism and the more mundane parts to fuel the remains of the host body.
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