Author: Jack Flacco

Ever see dominoes at work? One goes down, they all go down. Not much can stop the chain reaction of pieces toppling each other once it begins. It’s over when every single piece lies on its back, shattered from its organized state. This Monday Mayhem post will look at the collapse of civilization by the hands of the undead. Of course zombies haven’t taken over. Yet.

Many empires and regimes have crumbled due to discontent of the masses, an all-encompassing geological disaster or a biological catastrophe so grand no one was left to record it. Sometimes the combination of the three had triggered the ruinous tragedy. Aside from the history lesson, the ancient civilizations of Assyria, Egypt, Greece, Rome and countless of others have long since disappeared. The lot having suffered rebellions, invasions, earthquakes, plagues. Other than a handful of monuments, and artifacts, not much is left.

What would life be like if a real zombie apocalypse were to take place? Experts have discussed this topic to death (no pun intended). Is it a wonder? It’s a fascinating topic. The destruction of life on this planet, ushering in a new breed of organism higher than humans in the food chain. Let’s have a go at a few scenarios in order to inspire some conversation.

The Plague—A hospital somewhere in the United States receives a patient with flu-like symptoms. In their care, the victim, Patient Zero, experiences convulsions, pale skin, and blood oozing from the ears. Patient Zero dies. The doctors order the body to the morgue. The hospital has yet to enact any quarantine protocols. One of Patient Zero’s former attending doctors begins to feel feverish. It’s only a fever, nothing to worry about. The doctor drops on the waiting room floor and convulses. Blood runs from the ears. Whatever Patient Zero brought into the hospital is now airborne. Still, no quarantine. Back at the morgue, Patient Zero suddenly rises from the table and lunges at the orderly who was prepping the body for an autopsy. Death comes fast. In the waiting room, the doctor also dies, but not before having breathed on a dozen or so patients. One of the patients makes a run for the doors. Her arm is broken. She doesn’t care, no way is that thing that killed the doctor going to kill her.

The hospital finally enacts quarantine protocols. Rubber gloves, masks, segregated sections. It’s too late, though. The whole hospital is contaminated, and what became of Patient Zero soon takes hold of the others. The woman with the broken arm dies in an alley. She rises again to join her brothers and sisters flooding the streets from the hospital exits. The pangs of hunger dictate their walk. One at a time, the dominoes fall. A hospital becomes a school. A school becomes a government building. Within a week, mile after mile falls in the hands of the zombies seeking meat. Within a few months, United States, Canada, and South America lay in ruins. Europe soon falls.

The Parasite—Having prepared his BBQ’d meat, potatoes and vegetables, a man sits to eat at the balcony table with the view of the city as his entertainment. He ingests the meal, cutting the morsels in measured pieces. The knife has trouble with one portion of the meat. A little undercooked. He’ll be fine. After dinner, the man lays down on the couch only to wake up three days later, disoriented by a terrible throbbing headache. He wobbles from his condominium to the street in a state of confusion. A little girl approaches him on the sidewalk from the opposite end. The man attacks the girl, biting her in the shoulder. To escape, she scratches his face and runs.

The bite pounds on the girl’s shoulder causing her to go numb in a park under a tree. Parasitical eggs from the man’s saliva enter the girl’s blood stream to lodge in her brain. She blacks out. Her young age causes the eggs to hatch quickly and mutate. She hops to her feet. Disoriented, she finds her way to a school. There, the biting starts. One child at a time, the parasites feed on the children’s brains until the parasite mutates further to crave flesh.

Like dominoes, society falls.

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, on sale October 22.

Do you think these scenarios are so far-fetched that they can’t happen? Do you have scenarios of your own?