Wnd #55

[Red Shirt]

So, spin it around. Maybe the survivors are beginning to understand "zombie". Granted this is more complicated, but the contagion, infection, narcotic, alters behavior, physiology and perspective. Why not language?

I really only had one reaction to this:


Everyone is already infected... I was only going to post the video to be silly, but this just jogged something loose that has been quietly incubating in my brain waiting for the right moment to pop out... This is gonna get weird and disjointed as I go through my chain of thoughts.

Tanya has said that she could discern no difference between infected blood and normal blood. This might be because her training is as a veterinarian and might not have included things like the human side of immunology, microbiology, virology and so on. She may not know what to look for or not recognize something that shouldn't be there. Like the recently discovered giant viruses that were thought to be something else they were so large...

Then my train of thought blew through that station when I came to the realization that:
Maybe Tanya's inability to find anything is because whatever "it" is, it's not out of the ordinary because IT'S BEEN THERE ALL ALONG.

But what is "it?" Surely human microbiologists even in a fictional setting would have found something like that, right? Not if it's hidden in plain sight.

When I started the ""Ink," the origin and meaning of his tattoos..." thread I mentioned in the Hydrocarbons section that the chemical symbol on his wrist resembled Benzo(a)pyrene's carcinogenic interaction with DNA. As I mentioned, A great deal of these hydrocarbons are found in coal tar, oil, fossil fuel, ect., the stuff found underground.

I (think I) penned that well before the Inglewood Haze really came into play. Many Hydrocarbons are/can be gaseous or be easily aerosolized. I've also mentioned my suspicions about the nature of ancient viral DNA that has been incorporated into the Human Genome. (Articles HERE and HERE.)

Then it struck me. We're not already "infected." We are already latent "Zombies." Of the entirety of the Human Genome, 98% of it is Non-Coding. The Hydrocarbon laden haze attacks the DNA directly like a carcinogen and unlocks the non-coding DNA and forces it to code. (Again?) Now, some of this Non-Coding DNA does actually have function, it's just not part of the blueprint that makes us Human. It is likely though, that like the ancient viruses, some of the code are genetic fossils of pieces what we used to be. Different people of distinct genetic histories and/or different parts get unlocked and get expressed resulting in the menagerie of zombies: biters, runners, jumpers, behemoths and so on.

TOWTM and the Inklings? He just might understand what is going on and is steering this retro-evolution to suit his needs. The hospital? Ch. 23 3/3 @4:18 "Blood soaked bed was surrounded by countless needles." I'll bet he is/was experimenting with drug/steroid/hydrocarbon cocktails to select the perfect latent DNA activation.

This brings me back to the Arena. Something tells me that it wasn't just feeding and entertainment for the horde. I think it is more likely that it was training and selection for new Inklings.

Where's my Hat?


(And here I was, fearing my well of inspiration was going dry.)