Zombies by Joseph McCullough Read Free Book Online Page B

are they places where death and corpses are common, but they are also generally full of the ill and injured who can offer no resistance to an attacking zombie. Thus a single zombie can kill numerous people in a short space of time. These victims, now part of the recent dead, will also reanimate and join the rampage. In such a way, the number of zombies caused by contamination can easily multiply in the first few hours.

    Previous pages: The Peoria Outbreak, 1958
    One of the first major atomic zombie outbreaks in the United States occurred just outside the city of Peoria, Illinois in the spring of 1958. The contamination began when a nearby paper mill illegally dumped several vats of industrial waste in a creek near a family-owned graveyard. Soon after, three recently deceased members of the Jeffries clan clawed their way up from their graves and wandered into the city. Over the next thirty-six hours, the hordes swelled to over 100 zombies, including most of the members of the local high school football team. Local law-enforcement and emergency services eventually contained the outbreak before military help arrived. Over 150 people died during those three days of terror, not including the Jeffries family who were dead to begin with.
IDENTIFICATION AND THREAT
    Because atomic zombies were the first zombie variety commonly accepted by the modern media, they have shaped the public perception of the undead threat. If you ask most individuals on the street to describe a zombie (and they don’t run away), they will most likely describe an atomic zombie. Put simply, an atomic zombie looks like an upright corpse that happens to be wandering around. They are generally deathly pale, have vacant, slack-jawed expressions, and walk with a limping, shambling gait. They will often extend their arms, groping the air in front of them, trying to grasp any living thing that comes near. Even from a distance, anyone who has any knowledge of zombies should be able to recognize them by their odd stance and movement.
    Atomic zombies have only one motivating factor: the need to feed. 12 While zombies have no metabolism as such, the chemical process that animates their corpses also slowly burns at the meat and tissue that holds the zombie together. Consuming more flesh gives the chemical process an alternate fuel source that will keep the zombie going. While no exact studies have been done, it is estimated that just a small handful of flesh or a small animal like a bird will keep a zombie going for at least a day or two.
    In their quest for flesh, zombies wander aimlessly until something catches their attention. Atomic zombie eyesight is incredibly poor and is based on movement. They will react to anything that moves faster than their own shuffling walk. For the most part, these zombies rely on their hearing, which remains acute even in death. They generally notice any unusual sound louder than a slight breeze and will move in the direction of the noise. The louder the sound, the quicker they react (although “quick” is a very relative term here). Atomic zombies also possess a sense of smell, though this sense has only one setting. Once they are within a few feet of a living creature, zombiescan smell it. It remains unclear exactly what scent zombies smell, though sweat remains the strongest contender. 13
    The smell of living prey triggers this type of zombie’s famous “moan reflex.” Those unlucky enough to have heard the moan of a zombie wish only to forget the experience. Many who have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder relating to zombies have reported that it is the moan, more than anything else, that haunts their waking dreams. Zombies create this sound by pushing the excess gas generated by the chemical reaction up through their throats. The result is a dry, warbling groan that can be heard from several rooms away.
    At first examination, the moan might seem a strange survival mechanism, as its only function is