Poll: How many people would survive the apocalypse?

[Nicko2580 398]

I love this article: http://www.cracked.com/article_18683_7-scientific-reasons-zombie-outbreak-would-fail-quickly.html

To summerise: 
 

• Zeds have too many natural predators. Insects like flies, mosquitos, maggots and other things that feed on flesh would devastate the zombies reasonably quickly. And that's just the small predators - not to mention larger things.
• Anywhere hot would see zombies reduced to putrified, rotting sludge within a few weeks. Dead flesh does not do well in heat.
• Anywhere cold would see zombies freezing on the spot. Limbs get stiff and hard even when we have warm blood pumping through our veins and zeds don't have this advantage.
• It's actually bloody hard for zombies to spread their disease if the only mechanism is through biting. One vs one, most humans can stop themselves getting bitten unless it's a surprise attack. Having to get within biting distance of me means you're also in reach of my hammer. Biting is a shitty way to spread disease.
• They can't heal from any sort of damage. Cracked leg? Fucked zed. Broken arms? Fucked zed. There's no healing. Like that zed in The Walking Dead that Rick first sees crawling through the park. 
• Everywhere is full of zombie proof barriers. Zombies can't climb, or cross water, or deep snow, or sand, or pretty much any obstacle that humans can traverse with relative ease.
• There's just no possible way that all the people on Earth, united, and when taking the above into consideration, could possibly be wiped out via zombies. We have the weapons and the armies. We have intelligence. We would annihilate them before it ever even got to apocalypse levels.

​So I am going to go with the option, "Pretty much everyone on earth survives." 

[Demoth 366]

Hard to impossible to really tell. It would depend on so many things.

 

Also, by coincidence I just watched a fictional documentation about a scenario like that where an engineered rabies strain is released by mistake. It spreads as fast an influenza or so but in rabies form. Your average zombie scenario seems similar, depending on the incubation time and so on.

 

In that scenario, after about a year 1,4 billion people would be infected and about ~980 million already dead (no, not infected or undead-dead, gone, you get it). Some states or at least governments would collapse, depending on whether vaccines work or whatever more would die. It would be global due to the way it spreads, but you could still have safe spots. The major urban centers would rather suck, though.

 

Also, it would depend on other mammals or insects, if they can spread it, etc.

 

"Me" or anything closely would surely be a stupid answer because there's also tribes living out there immune to certain infections, in addition to people all over the planet being naturally immune to various diseases. Many people would surely die, but humanity would probably make it. Humanity as a whole, not your average western citizen too dependent on the infrastructure that would certainly collapse in such an event.

 

Or in other words, I doubt many people on this and other game forums would still live after some time.

 

E: I personally think from the way it was presented and explained that it's NOT a scenario to make fun of or to laugh at. They also said that there's always "good" and "bad" research going on in that sector. Also, a virus can also mutate over time. It's actually very scary if you think about it, but it is, after all, a possible scenario. Just like an asteroid or something big hitting earth sooner or later.

 

It's funny you mention that, because Cracked.com did an article about how a zombie apocalypse would be stamped out pretty quickly, as oral bites are not an efficient way to transmit disease. The line that always made me laugh was, "Remember when that one dog got bitten by rabies and a month later every dog had rabies? Wait, you mean that didn't happen?"

 

Edit: I said "oral" bites, as though bites can also be done anally or spiritually.....

Edited February 28, 2014 by Demoth

[KarmaCoin 72]

It's actually bloody hard for zombies to spread their disease if the only mechanism is through biting. 

 

I'd agree that a zombie apocalypse would get crushed if the only way to spread the disease was through biting. What do you think about other scenarios like an air born infection similar to the flu? 

 

An air born disease scenario seems far more dangerous to me.

[Nicko2580 398]

I'd agree that a zombie apocalypse would get crushed if the only way to spread the disease was through biting. What do you think about other scenarios like an air born infection similar to the flu? 

 

An air born disease scenario seems far more dangerous to me.

Air born or water born viruses would be a much bigger threat. But then essentially we would be wiped out quickly, if the virus is as infectious as it is in most Zombie fiction. 

Air born means even getting near a zombie would get you infected, let alone getting splattered in blood from one (never understood why that didn't infect people, personally. :p ) or hanging around corpses. 

You guys should check out Plague Inc if you haven't already - design your own viruses and see if you can wipe out humanity:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/246620/

[rickyriot 1009]

I think the premise needs more explanation, it's too vague to give an answer on the limited information. For example if the zombie apocalypse happened either in or outside of the mainland UK how would you factor in that we're an island and have significant defences set up around the coast after millennia of fighting or defending our neighbours. How clever are the zombies? Are they brain dead hordes or like "I Am Legend" (the book, not the fucktard of the movie) intelligent and social? Are they vicious, are they fast moving? etc, etc..

 

All these questions which may have been answered to an extent in the thread already (forgive me I am answering OPs first question) need to be answered.

 

 

The bottom line? I am pretty much a loner in life who has in the past spent some years travelling Europe and Africa on my own, I have little empathy for other individuals and I have no problem with killing someone if it's going to benefit me. My family is disparate and small and I have no kids or dependants. I know how to survive from foraging and hunting and I've got a ridiculous amount of patience so don't tend to rush into situations. I'm also not stupid, in fact I tend to be overly analytical. I realise what all that makes me sound like. Don't get me wrong I am actually a really nice guy who wouldn't shit on you for no reason and I'm happy to have a conversation with you about anything and respect your viewpoint. The reason I mention my "self psyche evaluation" is not for some ego trip, but to highlight I am probably the type of person who would survive the zombie apocalypse better than most. If anything I would revel in the current global community crashing in and around itself rather than freak out about it.

I apologise if that last paragraph sounds like the braying of an egotistical cunt who has an overly inflated opinion of themselves. I understand why you might think that, but as I say it's more to bring a context of what I would think about an apocalypse (of any kind) rather than to sound cool or better than anyone else. I'm not.

[KarmaCoin 72]

Air born means even getting near a zombie would get you infected, let alone getting splattered in blood from one (never understood why that didn't infect people, personally. :P ) or hanging around corpses. 

 

Unless you were say genetically immune...

[KarmaCoin 72]

You guys should check out Plague Inc if you haven't already - design your own viruses and see if you can wipe out humanity:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/246620/

 

Yea, biological weapons are scary

[antonioajc 500]

I'm just baffled by people that vote the "Just me!" option. If I was the last human on Earth, then I would just kill myself. After that point of being the last one, humanity is extinct. There's no point on living, if you can't at least reproduce.

Edited March 3, 2014 by AntonioAJC

[infiniteripper 8]

I voted 10,000

[Sebidee 167]

Given the actual effect of the zombies, then the starvation after the collapse of society, then the disease that would rip through high concentrations of survivors THEN the instability and lawlessness of a kill to survive world (which is the stage Day Z is at) I would say easily 95% of the human population could die. Especially considering that the countries with the highest populations would also have the worst means of combating the apocalypse. So, 5% of 7 billion is.... 350 million, Most likely in more developed countries or where there is a low population density like North America,  Siberia/Russia and Australia. South East Asia, India, Japan and much of South America would be wiped out.

[Sebidee 167]

 

 

Two factors would likely increase the death toll: i) if this was a truly global event. No pandemic has ever caused infection in every country across the world simultaneously. ii) we think of 'zombie infection' as having a 100% mortality rate. No pandemic has ever been that lethal - the worst top out at 50-75% mortality rates for those infected.

 

 

 

One problem, you are forgetting about modern transport links. Infected survivors (assuming it could take a while for them to turn) could easily travel all over the world in hours, you also have to consider that the easiest, that is to say the best, transport naturally goes straight to the highest population centres. If the black death had that kind of spread then the death toll would have been much higher.

[Sebidee 167]

Wait, so what are the rules?

 

So if we are going on Day z, then:

 

1. Zombies are fast and dangerous

 

2. The Virus is not airbourne.

 

3. Zombies do not need to be headshotted to be killed.

 

So already it's quite different to say, the walking dead,, which I'm guessing everyone is most familiar with. Since the zombies don't need a headshot they would be more susceptible conventional weapons, but since they are faster they would cause much more casualties among civilians.

 

Now there are a couple more rules that we need to get straight. I guess it's most fair to let the OP decide.

 

4. Do zombies die of starvation like in 28 Days? or are they functionally immortal like The Walking Dead? Since Day Z seems to be quite a bit after the outbreak then I would go for functionally immortal,

 

5. Can zombies KILL people by biting them? as in to say if you are bitten do you always come back? In The Walking Dead and the World War Z BOOK people always turn to zombies even if they are killed by them, then again those zombies have to be headshotted which is not the case in Day Z. In 28 Days if a zombie bit someone's neck and they bled out then they would just die, these probably mean that less people would actually turn, especially if you consider the next question...

 

6. How long does it take people to turn? Now this is a very important question and it has to do with the spread. If the turn is slow, like in The Walking Dead or The WWZ book then there is more chance of a bitten person travelling long distances by air and road thus spreading the virus world wide. However, if the turn is instantaneous, like 28 days, then there would be less of a chance of people being killed by zombies rather than being turned. It would also mean that zombies could infect larger amounts of people in a concentrated area VERY QUICKLY. The only downside to this is that it would be much less likely that the virus would go worldwide, in 28 days the virus could not leave Britain because of the sea and zombies would not have been able to use air or sea travel because they would be easily spotted. Apart from physical obstacles you also have to consider that if the change was instantaneous then the virus could ONLY travel as fast as a human could run/walk. If it broke out in China then how long would it take to get to western europe? months maybe?

 

GODDAMN! THIS IS COMPLICATED!

[TheWookieMonster 405]

Just myself, my boyfriend and a small ragtag group of survivors from various parts of the country. And my turtle or course.  :D I have read the entire Zombie Survival Guide so I would be well-prepared for such an event. The first thing I would do is locate a zombie-proof suit of medieval knight armor, a sword for zombie decapitation, the traditional chainsaw and some type of heavy vehicle, such as a tank, bulldozer or suv. Then we would set out on a harrowing journey across the country, most likely picking up other survivors along the way and losing a few to the zombie hordes as well. Eventually we would commandeer a military base or prison (wait, that may not be a good idea :o) as a temporary home until I was able to build my wookiee tree-city, where I would be proclaimed queen of the new world and proceed to implement bottle caps as the new currency à la Fallout 3.  

 

Yes, I have put an unusual amount of thought into this apocalyptic scenario.  :o

Edited March 8, 2014 by abentwookie

[Trayt 2]

For my answer, I used a slow moving zombie, without an airborne illness that needs to feed on human flesh in order not to rot away, because of this I put 1 billion. In the winter they would pretty much freeze in place, and if there was one zombie to start some how, they would die before they got through a single town.

So many possibilities makes this question extremely hard to answer. If you were to think of this like a plague that just happened to drive people mad or what ever, I would say a lot less would survive for the sheer fact that its a plague. 

[TheWookieMonster 405]

For my answer, I used a slow moving zombie, without an airborne illness that needs to feed on human flesh in order not to rot away, because of this I put 1 billion. In the winter they would pretty much freeze in place, and if there was one zombie to start some how, they would die before they got through a single town.

So many possibilities makes this question extremely hard to answer. If you were to think of this like a plague that just happened to drive people mad or what ever, I would say a lot less would survive for the sheer fact that its a plague. 

 

Zombies on the west coast and in certain parts of the south would still be fine! And even the frozen zombies would all thaw out in the spring and repopulate their numbers again. You would never be able to track down every frozen zombie and kill them before spring.  :o