This assumption is really fanciful, because zombies are the classic protagonists of the most unreal horror movies since the end of the last century.
The undead have returned to the imagination of the most spectacular pseudo-science thanks to series like The Last Of Us, which do not present these fantastic beings as buried people who come out of their graves to terrorize the world of the undead, but which give them a scientific explanation that could not be totally inaccurate or unbelievable.
And yes, if you think about it, the urban settings of the empty, lifeless streets in the series are more in line with the world of quarantine memories than mere fiction; sure, the buildings have thankfully not been blown to smithereens, but other details, like the wildlife running around the cities, are very much in line with what happened in the spring of 2020. That's why you've probably wondered about this grim apocalypse at some point in your life, especially if you've seen the series: what if something like this suddenly happened, in which a bunch of dead people or people infected with a deadly virus ran through the cities to attack you? How long would it take you to die and what would be the best way to deal with such an eventuality?
“The first thing that happens at death in a human body is that the contractile proteins in the muscle tissues begin to break down.”
A curious and difficult question, depending on many factors. First of all, if there were a zombie apocalypse in the traditional sense of the term, i.e., dead people entering the realm of the living to terrorize, kill, or devour them, you would obviously be ahead of the game. After all, if you're young and fit at the time, or at least if all your body organs are functioning properly, you shouldn't have too much trouble escaping them. Unless you are surrounded by hundreds or thousands of people, most rotting or decaying corpses are very weak. Many would barely be able to run, as they could not support their weight on their legs.
Not So Strong
“After death, one of the first things that happens in a human body is that the contractile proteins in the muscle tissues start to break down,” says Jonathan Bennion of the Institute of Human Anatomy in Salt Lake City, who highlighted in an IFL Science article something we always miss in zombie movies: zombies are extremely weak.
Logically, the safest place to go in a zombie apocalypse would be a tomb. Or a morgue.
If they were like the ones in The Last Of US series – zombies that retain their physical abilities and even seem to double them in strength, power, and stamina – the best thing to do would be to take cover. Obviously, avoid large cities, where the risk of contagion is higher, but small towns are not a good idea either if the virus that turned them into zombies has reached them: again, the experience of the coronavirus has taught us that a pandemic can spread much faster in small communities of people, and it only takes one infected person to bring the whole thing crashing down.
So where is the best place to hide? Jonathan Bennion agrees with his colleague Justin Cottle that the colder the place you hide, the better, because “your muscles and joints will be more tense and won't work properly,” he explains. Both cite the example of Game of Thrones and explain that it's possible that no one would think to start populating the place where the zombies start, which is north of the Wall. Yes, that might be a good strategy: the safest place to go in a zombie apocalypse, logically speaking, would be a tomb. Or a morgue. If they have so much to gain by populating the realm of the living, it would be up to the living to occupy the realm of the dead.
In any case, it is better to live in a world of zombies than in a world of vampires or werewolves, whose paranormal abilities are more aggressive. Zombies will never have something that living, breathing humans have, namely intelligence. It is your intelligence that will get you through, rather than brute force. Even preppers know this better than anyone.
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