A zombie is a REANIMATED DEAD body

The Science:

For reasons unknown the bodies of the recently deceased are rising from the grave.  This is a zombie.  Anyone who dies during a zombie plague returns as the walking dead.  The limitation of the risen dead is governed by how decayed that body is at the outbreak of the zombie plague; a skeleton cannot return as there is no muscle and sinew to move the bones, and no brain to drive it.  It’s not a virus, not chemicals; it is dead people getting up again.

The Lore:

Nothing can epitomise a zombie more than corpse arms pushing out from the soil of a grave, a dead body sitting up on the mortuary slab, or cadaver clambering out of its coffin.  Watch a good zombie film closely and you’ll even see a zombie sporting clues about how it originally died (car crash victim, drug overdose, operating table)

Note about zombie bites

A bite of a zombie does not directly create another zombie – the bite kills its victim but just as any dead body will return to life during a zombie plague, so it is also the case here: victim gets bitten, victim dies, victim then returns to life as the walking dead.  The time taken for this varies according to the severity of the bite.  A serious attack can result in death and reanimation within minutes whereas a slight nip can take up to a week.

There are three general bite / attack scenarios:

i.    Extreme attack: Victim is attacked by a large number of zombie and is pulled to pieces before reanimation is possible
ii.   Moderate attack: Victim is killed by zombies but the speed of devouring is slow enough that the body remains intact enough, long enough to achieve reanimation.  Since zombies do not eat other zombies (see rule 3), the point at which the corpse becomes a zombie, other zombies lose interest.
iii.   Slight attack: Victim escapes with minor injuries only to succumb to death and zombification over a longer period.

Further note about zombie bites and infections

Question: “if you are bitten by a “zombie”…and there is no virus or chemical that causes the dead to rise, why do you die if bitten?”

An infection does not have to be virus, poison or chemical based – it is possible to get a bacterial based infection from a rusty nail. Also, consider Komodo dragons; these are huge lizards that have around 50 different strains of bacteria in the saliva of their filthy mouths. After biting their prey they release it then wait for it to die of the severe infection. The zombie bite is similar in that a zombie mouth is, as you can imagine, an extremely dirty, germ ridden place. The microbes living in a zombie mouth will be passed into the blood stream of a living human in the even of a bit, leading to fatal consequences.

A zombie is a MINDLESS automaton

The Science:

The zombie is dead flesh driven by stimulus to feed; there is no high level brain activity, just basic motor function to enable it to shamble after food.  Residual memories may exist in what is left of its brain which causes it to gravitate towards known locations.  There may also be some very rudimentary use of tools, for example hitting a barricade with a stick but they are just as likely to bash at that barrier until their hands break off.  Additionally they may back away from fire, but they won’t “think” any further than how they get from where they are to where you are.

This issue of zombies that learn is a fine line; basic instinctive reactions to repeated situations are possible, e.g. associating a location as being a source of food and returning there.  This is not a high level of thinking; a goldfish will “learn” that the lifting of the tank’s lid means food is coming and so will come to the surface.  It eventually also discovers that when a fishing net is put into the tank it is time to hide in the castle.  However, a goldfish will not co-operate with other goldfish to lay traps.  As for goldfish, it is so for zombies – there is a huge leap from repetitive training to use of guile.

The Lore:

A reanimated corpse is simply an automaton driven by the desire to consume human flesh.  That is it – no power of logic. The retained memories of their former lives may result in instinctive actions like sitting in a car with their hands on the steering wheel.   This is due to the “habit” of driving a car rather than thoughts of actually driving anywhere.

A zombie is driven by HUNGER FOR ANY LIVING FLESH; human, animal, whatever.

The Science:

Zombies are motivated by one thing: the desire to consume livingflesh.  Because all zombies are dead they will ignore each other.  If a zombie happens across an old piece of meat – be it a severed limb or tin of beef – it will ignore that as well.  A zombie does not care what species its prey is as long as it is living.  Zombie instinct may value human prey as higher priority but it WILL NOT EXCLUDE NON-HUMAN TARGETS.  Thus animals are also not safe.

The Lore:

Zombie senses (sees? smells? hears?) living flesh, zombie shambles after it.  Zombie sees something hot-blooded even closer, zombie aims for that instead. If it lives – it is a target.

A zombie is stopped by DESTROYING THE BRAIN

The Science:

Operating purely in the pursuit of feeding, a zombie has very rudimentary powers of reasoning.  It does, however, need something to control those motor functions.  It can find its way around or
over obstacles and it can try and break down barriers – it may even have some residual memories (see rule two) retained from when it was living.   This still requires a controller – the brain.  Without it, there is no way of driving and coordinating the dead flesh.

The Lore:

Vampires have crucifixes, daylight and stakes, werewolves have silver bullets and fire, so zombies have a bullet in the head or some other brain destroying action.  All ghouls need weaknesses; there has to be one way of stopping these things.  Note: if the head is chopped off at the neck then the zombie is disabled but it is still “alive” (though the body will cease to function).

A zombie SHUFFLES

The Science:

A zombie is a dead human.   It has sustained injuries (before and after it died), it has rigor mortis, and it’s decomposing.   Limbs in this state are anything but supple – rotten, broken old legs simply won’t move very quickly.  A newly risen zombie made from a recently deceased body in good condition will be quicker than a years old rotted one, but running and sprinting are beyond it.

The Lore:

Shuffling is one of the main characteristics of a zombie – they can be easily outrun (in fact the way they lurch around is almost laughable). A zombie’s strength is not in its agility, it is in its huge, ever increasing numbers and single-minded craving.  A running zombie is just too advanced; it’s like a vampire that can walk around in sunlight.

Zombies CANNOT TALK

The Science:

Talking, as in engaging in a prompt and response conversation requires high level brain activity which, as stipulated in rule two, is beyond a zombie’s capability.  In this respect “talking” and “speaking” are different actions; the process of using the tongue and mouth to form words means a word is spoken, but there is no intelligence behind it.  It is possible, then, for a zombie unthinkinglyto utter words and short sentences – though this becomes practically less likely over time as mouth, tongue and lungs decompose.

The Lore:

Moan and groans, yes. Hisses, Ok, guttural growls, sure.  Even the odd awkwardly formed word or two as residual memory, but reasoned conversation?  No way.   If you’ve got a dead body that can chat with you then call it a ghost or demon or some other possessed thing, but a zombie it is not.

Zombie plague is never EXPLAINED, forget viruses, meteors, etc The Science:”When there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth”. That’s all. No explanations. The Lore: Having no idea why the zombie plague has started adds to the confusion, panic and general creepiness of the whole situation. People will offer opinions about what caused it all, but it’s just theories – there is no hard and fast answer.  Radiation, strange meteorites, government experiments, zombie masters – arse. If a film-maker cannot think of a good reason, they should leave it unexplained.

Zombies are DEAD HUMANS – not animals

The Science:

Human brains are far advanced to other creatures on the planet – we
are the only species capable of abstract thought and reasoning.  This is the key factor that makes humans the only species that is susceptible to zombification.  Ironically, it is a human being’s unique capacity ofsapience - the ability to apply knowledge, experience or understanding – that is removed after becoming a zombie; a reasoning, thinking individual is reduced to a non-thinking, hunger driven automaton.

It is interesting to consider how a zombie plague would affect close relatives of humans.  A species of chimp called Bonobos exists which share 98% of human genes, uses tools and has complex group relationships.  In the absence of hard facts I can only contend that a Bonobo may possibly become reanimated, but it would only be partially so.  The moving limbs would be uncoordinated and reflex driven with not enough brain power to manage higher functions such as walking and stalking.

The Lore:

Zombie novel “The Rising” by Brian Keene has, of all things, a zombie goldfish.   Irish zombie film Dead Meat has a zombie cow.   It is not what springs to mind when you think zombie.   A key characteristic of a zombie is that it is likely to be your husband, neighbour, best friend who wants to eat you.  Or a policeman, clown, random naked person.  Not your cat.

A zombie has NO SPECIAL STRENGTH

The Science:

Dead flesh decomposes.   Zombies are dead; ergo they continue to decay (though at a far slower rate).  Eventually – and here is hope for the world – they will stop working altogether.  When there is no sinew and muscle left on the bones at all, the zombie can no longer move and so is no longer a threat.  Consisting of decomposing flesh, a zombie is, if anything, weaker than a live human.  Its strength is in its vast numbers, no sleep requirements and in the fact that it is not constrained by pain or any consideration of self preservation

The Lore:

Newly risen zombies may look pretty human – indeed you might not realise your Aunt Alicia has turned if she’s still fresh.   Give it a day, or a week or a month and you’ll start to notice sunken cheeks, festering wounds and the stench of putrefying flesh.  When she does come at you though, you have a fair chance of just pushing her off – if she is alone.

A zombie is NEVER REFERRED TO as a “zombie”

Not so much a rule as an observation;  dummies, the infected, the dead, the undead, “them”, it seems that the word “zombie” is conspicuous by its absence in films.  In the original Dead trilogy the word is not used once.

CORRECTION: yes it is used.  Once.  In Dawn. Thanks contributor below.