zombie apocalypse

[thekinetic]

I was writing one about an apocolypse where society is falling apart and a strange mystic chooses a man to be a savior to protect as many as he could find before the inevitable end. But obviously I'm not going to get it done on time so I'm going to have to set the date for when the end of the worlders choose next so I can play off their stupidity and paranoia.

P.s. It has great ending, and endings are the most important part.

[RandyTheBettaFish]

+1 with PaintingPintos. The Mayan calendar already ended. Andd guess what? We're still alive! *laugh laugh*

[harleraven]

Personally, I'm more worried about mutant pirate ninja velociraptors. Those turkey-sized things are out to get us all with their sais and swords! :P

Really, though, it's fun to make believe. If people TRULY believe in undead zombies, I'd be a bit scared that they might need professional help. However, there are viruses, fungi, and parasites that do basically hijack the central nervous system of animals to make them behave unnaturally. One ant parasite turns the abdomen bright red and makes the ant go up in a tree where a bird will eat it. The parasite needs the bird as a secondary host. Another parasite needs water after it infects its first insect host, so makes the insect basically go drown itself. There's some pretty freaky stuff in nature.

[TheCrabbyTabby]

Yeah. There is also a family of fungi that needs a bug host in order to reproduce. It starts off as an airborn spore, then gets inhaled by the bug (most insects and arachnids have slits in their exoskeleton that allow an exchange of air within their body) then it grows inside the bug's body until it bursts free, and then it releases spores into the air to start the cycle all over again. This picture shows what the fungi looks like when its releasing spores into the air.

[harleraven]

Yup. Those fungi hijack the ant to make it go to a place suitable for the fungi to grow. It's pretty creepy, but neat.