It must be difficult to live life as a zombie. To have no hope. No dreams. To pretend of being of value to others only to suck all the good from them until there’s nothing left. It must be tough to have a false sense of purpose, treating humans as nothing more than a piece of meat.
Maybe you shouldn’t read this Monday Mayhem post. If you’re a zombie, I don’t know if you’d understand.
How can zombies live with themselves? Their moral compass is broken. They have no ability to see what they’re doing is wrong. Their loyalty lies in one thing—to fulfill their selfish inner craving they have festering in their putrid shell. What do they see when they look at themselves in the mirror? Do they see good? Do they see the pain they cause themselves and to others?
Zombies have their horde with which they commune. They’re all the same, though. Following the pack. Not thinking for themselves. Much of their undead life consists of roaming about seeking of whom they may devour. Sure, they have their dormant phases where they appear as if they’ve gotten better, hanging with their brothers and sisters in a quiet state of depression. But that doesn’t mean they’re harmless. Once they catch sight of another victim, nothing prevents them from kicking into full chase mode.
At least zombies have something to which humans can aspire. If anyone dares attack them, they don’t run. They don’t hide. They simply show their rotting teeth and hit their future kill at a time when it’s at its most vulnerable.
Unlike other carnivores, zombies will keep pursuing their quarry even after sustaining an injury. The undead may have lost an arm, a leg, the front part of their face, but they’ll do everything in their power to exhaust their victim until the victim can run no more.
When the evil predators finally catch their prey? They consume them while they’re still alive.
Then there’s the little matter of the zombie bite. All the undead has to do is snap and wait until the virus takes effect. If they can’t kill their target, they’ll do one better—make the target into one of them. What better way to guarantee the zombie culture will not die? The perfect plan.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather remain human than become a maggot infested drain on civilization bent on destroying the good in people. Sounds to me like a lot of work to keep tabs on victims in order to ensure they’ll one day either become food for the miserable lot or part of the problem.
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Is there such a thing as a good zombie?
Looking to God 
Ok, that’s interesting. Just a couple of days ago I was thinking about how a Zombie Apocalypse would look like from their point of view. Because, let’s face it, most of the time it’s about people trying to survive while fending off Zombies, or, like in “The Walking Dead”, it’s more about the people around you.
Good post, indeed.
Not sure you could technically consider a zombie evil, unless it was somehow concious that what it was doing was wrong. And it’s not always clear whether zombies actually need to feast on our delicious flesh and brains in order survive. If they do require nourishment to survive, then they’re no more evil than any other predator following its survival instincts. As they say, nature is cruel…
I have to agree with you. I have no desire to be a zombie. I’d miss chocolate way too much.
Good post Jack, but sadly I don’t think there can be a good zombie. There is no thinking in the survival that zombies exist in. Sad… But they do make a predictable enemy to deal with.
I think you’re right. No denying zombies come in one form: evil.
Well we do have ‘Sean of the Dead’ so we have Evil Comedy….! (he he he)
There are a lot of well used words in this piece of writing. It must be awful to have no hopes and dreams! Oh man, my heart goes out to all of you zombies stumbling around blind…I like the part “The perfect Plan”. Thanks for the post.
You could almost substitute the word zombie for the word wasp. The only difference being no one ever turned into a wasp after being stung.
Chris
Metaphors make things interesting!
There might be a good zombie if a little brain matter is still there at the right place. (example: Warm Bodies)
For a few seconds, I was thinking of a creature other than zombies. Very thoughtful post.
Thanks Charles. I’m glad you felt that too. By the time I finished writing it, I’d realized I could remove the word zombie and replace it with almost anything.
Zombies and other creatures following the animal instinct and herd mentality are akin to Metropolis where the average worker goes into a meaningless job and cranks out widgets for a use he or she does not comprehend. Repeating the same movement over and over for no reason but the job. Then we take the little we make from that job and immerse ourselves in methods to forget the job. Life is complex and yet simple.
That was more or less the explanation I’d found most convincing about why there are so many zombie stories come out around now: they represent the lurking fear these days that life is just this ongoing string of tasks, maybe none of them hard in themselves, but also unsatisfying to overcome, and relentless and unending and unavoidable and always coming, however much you try to get ahead of it.