Chapter 23 Pt 1 - The Devil's Workshop

[Kn1ckerb0cker33]

i'm not even going to bother starting an argument about this so i'm going to leave it at this: Apologies for insulting you with my tongue in cheek phrase and referring to the forum as "kids."

yay!

[nikvoodoo]

Another point is that the 'army' are carrying dead and/or alive bodies with them: Bricks/Tardust/Lizzy/Saul perhaps?

my apologies that I accidentally took credit for your point. So why do they take the bodies with them? Well, we've already seen them keep stores of food (which are in theory now a smoldering pile of char right now), but could also be possible that the zombies have taken hostages for a more specific purpose? We saw that they kept zombies close by in buildings near the Tower, is it possible that they would know who is important to each group around the city? Assuming the zombies overwhelmed the Mallers and took them alive and dragged them back across the city to the hospital and the Tower area, could it be for the specific reason to create a rise out of the survivors they might encounter?

Maybe, maybe not. Just a thought.

yay!

could I use phrases like "Human beings of a younger age?" or "Those between that of infancy and young adulthood?" Maybe take some of the sting out of it?

Nah....those are too wordy. Screw it. I'mma go back to Children of the Corn from now on. That way I still get the effect, but the children of the corn can still rise up and murder me in horrific ways if they feel so inclined.

[Kn1ckerb0cker33]

I think this is very observant of you, and my apologies I accidentally took credit for your point. So why do they take the bodies with them? Well, we've already seen them keep stores of food (which are in theory now a smoldering pile of char right now), but could also be possible that the zombies have taken hostages for a more specific purpose? We saw that they kept zombies close by in buildings near the Tower, is it possible that they would know who is important to each group around the city? Assuming the zombies overwhelmed the Mallers and took them alive and dragged them back across the city to the hospital and the Tower area, could it be for the specific reason to create a rise out of the survivors they might encounter?

Maybe, maybe not. Just a thought.

Hmm, now that's an interesting theory. I originally thought that they were merely keeping them alive to turn them into "zombies," but maybe they are intelligent enough to isolate who could be important and lure out the remaining survivors. Maybe under the orders of Inky?

Or perhaps they could be experimenting on them, creating new "abominations" a-la Warcraft III or maybe Paul has enough speech to interrogate them? Unlikely but an idea.

[nikvoodoo]

Hmm, now that's an interesting theory. I originally thought that they were merely keeping them alive to turn them into "zombies," but maybe they are intelligent enough to isolate who could be important and lure out the remaining survivors. Maybe under the orders of Inky?

Or perhaps they could be experimenting on them, creating new "abominations" a-la Warcraft III or maybe Paul has enough speech to interrogate them? Unlikely but an idea.

Can we just hope out loud that none of the zombies possess that much intelligence to interrogate? That would suck somethin' fierce...not in terms of a twist. I just mean for the characters. If the zombies keep that much of their higher brain function and aren't devolved to animals, I can't imagine how the tower (or any group for that matter) can survive.

[Grognaurd]

Nik, I have a slightly different take on behemoths. When ferral, they will fight / eat biters. But, in service of a smart one, these instincts can be suppressed in the rudimentary zombie society.

[ZacTMac]

This is my first time on the forums. Please forgive my mistakes.
Some of my thoughts...

The Hospital Team have been chased into a room with no exit, a Zombie growls, and I think the door is shut [00:58]. I can't decide if the team shut it or if the Zombie did, but I think this is the door shown in the artwork and will lead to the team meeting the Person in the artwork. I think this Person is someone with influence over the zombies and is probably the "Paul" suit/tattoo zombie. If it's not "Paul", then someone new who was involved with the original cause of the zombie crisis is going to be revealed. I don't think this identity will be revealed till Part 3 or Chapter 24.

I think what Tanya found in the journals is not evidence for the traitor but evidence for the theory of an outside force working around or above the zombies. I thought it strange for zombies to dig up dead bodies with no tools, but had believed they had until this chapter. I think something is making Tanya think someone other than the zombies dug up the bodies. This is one reason why I think the Person the Hospital Team meets could be a non-zombie and is part of some mastermind group, probably the group that started the zombie crisis to begin with.

The zombies are now carrying around live, non-zombie people. They could be for being eaten, but I think there is a bigger plan for them. These people will be used either to gather/produce food, or there will be forced reproduction for continual (but very slow) food production or for more zombies. I'm wondering if all the live people being captured are women, like Tanya. I re-listened to "Purgatory Part 3", and from where the audio of Samantha stops she may not have died. I could be wrong and have forgotten something Datu has said since then. But based on how well the zombies were guarding Tanya before leaving her behind, I think these live people are more important than being a meal.

Thanks for letting me share my thoughts.

[Arkum]

What a great ep. Some thoughts/theories I have

I am thinking the same thing as ZacTMac here that we will soon meet up with a non-infected in the hospital, maybe a cliffhanger for the finale.

I think the zombies had a backup base of operations at the hospital in case something happened at the Arena. Now they are just making the journey to base #2 when Riley and Bert see them. I don't think they were trying to hunt them down. I also believe that Lizzie/Tardust?Bricks are among the live bodies being dragged with them.

My guess is that Saul is still free out there, tracking a group and they will lead him to the hospital. Or he's gonna go Rambo at the tower and help clear out there trouble first. Not sure which I am most confident in.

[kdalton]

Who in the world is Randy? Is it the guy with Michael or the zombie hauling Tanya? If the latter, how did they know each other? I am confused?

[Adventureless_Hero]

So why do they take the bodies with them? Well, we've already seen them keep stores of food (which are in theory now a smoldering pile of char right now), but could also be possible that the zombies have taken hostages for a more specific purpose? We saw that they kept zombies close by in buildings near the Tower, is it possible that they would know who is important to each group around the city? Assuming the zombies overwhelmed the Mallers and took them alive and dragged them back across the city to the hospital and the Tower area, could it be for the specific reason to create a rise out of the survivors they might encounter?

I was thinking on this too, but kept wondering back to the Samantha/Kalani/Datu scenario; there we got a first-hand glipse into what they are doing with survivors. They drag them back to thier hive, starve them for a few days, then tear them to shreds. Why? I was wondering if they were just doing it for fun, or to please the "one with markings" through some sort of ritualistic offering. Then again they could have been holding them as bait, hoping that a larger group would come to thier rescue.

On thinking back to these chapters I got to wondering about Ink and the one with markings. If they are two seperate leader type zombies, are they working together? Didn't Samantha say that thier Tower was over run by a zombie that infiltrated thier building then opened the way for other Zombies to get in? That sounds just like Pin Stripes M.O. So if Samantha wound up at the arena, and her building was infiltrated by Pin Stripes, then can we assume Pin Stripes is working with the main horde, the horde that appears to have relocated at the arena?

Anyway, getting back to the survivors being dragged around by the horde at the hospital. Taking the title of the Chapter into consideration, I am going to go out on a limb and say that one of the reasons they keep survivors is to experiment on turning them into new types of zombies. I can imagine seeing pin stripes (who I firmly believe is Ink) experimenting on the survivors to create his children--the small ones. Hopefully this just involves some biting or the mixing of infected blood with survivor blood and not something horribly morbid; like zombies raping survivors.

[RYE]

If I were in the hospital right now getting to the roof and checking to see in the helicopter works would be priority one. They have a pilot with them, if the copter starts which Kalani though it would its really the only way out of the hospital that doesn't involve becoming dinner or a zombie. Still I'm pretty sure at least 1 of the 4 isn't coming back to the tower. If the hoard is as large as it sounds, Micheal will not risk a rescue mission. Resources are spread too thin. The 4 on on their own to find a way out. Time for a hail mary pass..... I hope it works.