Zombie CSU (37 page)

“What would it be like to die slowly from a zombie bite?” speculates therapist Jerry Waxler. “It’s just a much speeded up version of dying from life. We all start dying the minute we’re born, and then we watch ourselves with varying degrees of self-awareness.”

That brings up an interesting point: What
would
it be like? In zombie fiction and film we’ve all seen characters die, slowly or quickly, from infection, but rarely is this explored from the point of view of the infected person. Author David Wellington is one of the few who takes a shot at this, and his book
Monster Island
has some fascinating and unnerving scenes with a doctor who is going through that process.
⁴

“The terror would be incredible,” says Dr. Kearney. “And there would be grief, too. Not just over one’s own life coming to such a tragic end; but grief of the harm a person might do after he’s lost his fight and succumbed to the zombie infection. The fear of becoming a monster, something harmful to those we love, is a dreadful thing, but it’s very common. You see it in victims of abuse who fear that they might grow to become abusers themselves. You see it in substance abusers who, in moments of clarity, realize the actual or potential harm inherent in their actions and yet feel powerless to stop themselves from taking that next crack pipe. The fear is similar here because these people are also being gradually overwhelmed by a process of negative change. Granted, substance abuse is treatable and zombie infection, according to the movies, is not…but the psychological process has definite similarities.”

“Fear and anger toward an identifiable person/thing would be a difference,” observes Professor Ladany, “but the stages of denial, anger, bargaining, and acceptance would still be there. The acceptance may not happen, however, until after the zombie state sets in. I would also suspect that the process of turning into a zombie may involve a change in personality such that dominant personality styles become exaggerated (for better or worse). For example, an angry person may become more angry, an extroverted person may become more extroverted, etc.”

Dr. Gretz observes, “I think it would depend upon their religious beliefs and personal strength. If I knew I were dying and would become a threat to people around me after my death I would be emotionally distraught. However, if I were dying and knew that preparations had been made to eliminate that threat to others (such as destruction of my body after death), I would probably go through the same six steps common to all dying from denial to anger, to acceptance, etc.”

“Grief,” agrees Dr. Kearney, “would be a constant and terrible presence in all our lives. It would be its own kind of plague.”

“Usually, grief is a very private thing,” says Gretz. “We attend funerals and wakes to share our grief with others and to support the grieving. However, there are many people who find it extremely difficult to attend such events or even visit people in the hospital because of mortality issues. While grief is generally private; we don’t expect strangers to attend the funerals of loved ones. However in national crises like a 9/11, a Pearl Harbor, the great influenza epidemics, there is a sense that ‘we are all in this together.’ Following WWI and the great influenza epidemic that killed more people than the war itself, everyone either lost someone in their family or knew someone who had. There was a great sense of vulnerability and an awareness of one’s own mortality. At the same time, I think that many people finally entered a mild state of denial. Think of the Cold War—when I was a young child we had practice ‘duck and cover’ exercises in school in case of a nuclear attack. This was particularly true around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis when everyone thought the end was right around the corner. By the time I finished high school, we didn’t even talk about it. College students were actually praising all things Russian and Che Guevara was a national hero on US campuses.”

The Zombie Factor

When asked how this applies to zombies, Gretz says, “I think a zombie plague might be dealt with similarly. In locales where there were actual outbreaks, those people who saw one would become hyper vigilant—possibly to the extent that there might be real psychological damage. However, in areas where none had been seen, many would simply deny their existence and any danger (especially if admitting the danger would cause them any real inconvenience). As in most grief situations, I think religion would become increasingly important, both philosophically to explain what was happening and psychologically to help people deal with it. ‘There are no atheists in a foxhole’ would apply on a national level—remember how church attendance spiked during WWII and after 9/11; and I’m told that most of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan attend services whenever they can.”

And he makes a final point: “There is one more complication; during the flu epidemic, people often avoided wakes and funerals for fear of catching the flu—many of those who did attend did catch it and died. With a zombie plague, initial responses might be (1) how do I know you’re not a zombie, (2) could I catch the plague from you or whatever, or even, (3) what sin did you commit for God to punish you in this way? And that will do a completely different kind of damage to our culture and our minds.”

J
UST THE
F
ACTS

Death and Undeath

What is it about dying that so deeply terrifies people? Considering that most people have, or claim to have, religious or spiritual beliefs that promise paradise after death and an end to all human suffering, it would
seem
that death should be welcome rather than railed against.

Expert Witness

“People are obsessed with death because it is the one thing they cannot at all control,” says Rabbi Michael Shevack. “They can delay it, dance around it, and maybe, at times, detour themselves away from it. But, death is totally inevitable and we are all face to face with the ultimate irony of life, that we are ‘born to die.’ We fear it because we can’t control it, and we can’t control it, so we fear it. Death renders us powerless. Like the famous poem by Shelley, ‘Ozymandias,’ we are reduced to rubble, no matter how exalted our accomplishments and egos. The fear of death is what causes the obsession with death, which includes all sorts of religious paraphernalia and psychological-projective symbols as well as a tremendous amount of cravings for it—death voyeurism—I would call it. We ritualize our fear to expiate it. And in the Jewish and Christian traditions death is always associated with sin, which is considered the cause of it. If we are born to die, it is because we have sinned in some fashion. So, there is moral-fear, and retributive-fear heaped upon its already fearful nature.”

Dr. Gretz observes, “People have always wondered what happens after death. Like the old Peggy Lee song, ‘Is this all there is?’” we wonder what’s next. As children, we are often frightened of the dark and the unknown. Most religions answer that question with possibilities of endless light and joy or endless darkness and despair. I think the television news and the current round of increasingly violent movies and video games has also played a part. On the one hand, they bring death right into our everyday lives. Unfortunately, they also make it unreal to us. It is something that happens to others and isn’t totally real because we play the same game tomorrow with the same characters. The actor who is killed in one show is in another next week. Until about fifty years ago, most children attended at least one wake and funeral for a family member, neighbor or friend before they finished grade school. People died at home rather than in the hospital and they were washed and prepared for burial at home. Only the wealthy could afford embalming. So children grew up watching loved ones slip away. They had time to say their good-byes before or after the person died and they watched as the body/casket was lowered into the ground, giving them closure. Today, we try to protect children from all that—violent movies, TV shows and video games notwithstanding, and children often never gain that closure. The result is often not only a fascination with death but also an unhealthy fear of it.”