Editing Zombie (section)

=Modern zombies=
Zombies in modern settings tend to be the by-products of science rather than necromancy. Some animating agent, usually a chemical or virus (though radiation is not unknown), causes corpses to move around, and for some reason makes them hunger for living flesh. Although this is sometimes explained as the reptilian part of the human brain, which is only centered around finding something to eat, still being prevalent while the other parts responsible for higher reasoning and functions are dead. Thus, without anything really else on their minds but to hunt and eat, all they do for the rest of their undead lives is lumber about and occasionally relentlessly chase someone down to devour, even if they don't have any real reason to do so. This, however, doesn't explain why they don't eat each other...(though Romero Zombies' inability to attack anything that isn't sapient explains this.)

Optionally, people who are killed or bitten by zombies may themselves rise again as zombies; in such cases, this reanimation can usually be prevented by destroying or removing the head or incinerating the corpse (decapitation and fire usually work well on putting down zombies post-reanimation as well). George Romero's ''[[Wikipedia:Night of the Living Dead|Night of the Living Dead]]'' (1968) movie set the tone for the archetypal modern zombie, to the point that zombies of this archetype are sometimes called "Romero zombies", even though nobody actually says the word "zombie" in the movie itself. George Romero did another zombie movie, ''[[Wikipedia:Dawn of the Dead|Dawn of the Dead]]'' (1978), where there's an implied return to the idea of zombies from supernatural origins ("When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth").

Another more recent trait was the need to eat brains, introduced in the horror-comedy movie ''[[Wikipedia:Return of the Living Dead|Return of the Living Dead]]'' (1985). In this movie, the zombies can feel their bodies decompose, and eat brains because it stops the pain (likely via ingesting its endorphins). The zombies in this film are also the same person they were when alive (except psychotically slaved to their hunger for brains), hard to destroy (chop them to pieces and the pieces come after you), and are capable of climbing and running ([[Skub|despite many people thinking 28 Days Later (see below) introduced the running zombie]]).

More recently, especially in video games, another pattern of zombie has gained popularity: the so-called "fast zombie" or "[[Wikipedia:28 Days Later|28 Days Later]] (2002) zombie" (though the creatures in ''28 Days Later'' are not proper zombies at all, as they are still alive, albeit infected with a rabies-like behavior-altering virus). As the name suggests, these creatures are fast and aggressive and can be terrifying in small numbers, especially if they can infect with a single bite. And though they are still "alive," they are usually incapable of feeling pain, so an attack that would incapacitate a normal human may be shrugged off. Even a blow to a vital organ short of the brain or heart may be ignored, though they'll likely bleed out eventually.

So-called "real world zombies" are mostly just people who have taken some powerful mixture of substances and exhibit zombie-like behavior, including cannibalism. Fortunately, they are not contagious (at least if you don't do the drugs along with them), but do note that while you won't turn into an actual zombie, being bitten by a zombie-like human ''is'' still lethal even with a non-critical bite wound, due to infection and/or septic shock if the wound isn't disinfected in time.