Chapter 28- Last Dying Breath Part 3

[yarri]

And this is what I'm wrapping my head around...did the cracks cause the boom..or the boom cause the cracks...when your given so little info..the natural progression is to tie them together

Just means we have to work it from both angles... which at the moment hurts my brain

[Ra1th]

Here's my problem with the earthquake releases ancient bacteria problem. The outbreak happened simultaneously throughout a number of major cities. The only way that could have happened is if there were a number of earthquakes in a number of different places. And if there was something like that taking place, then we would have heard about the earthquake that came before the outbreak. Also if the boom michael heard was the earthquake that began the outbreak, then they would have mentioned crazy shaking. An earthquake would need to be an 8 or higher to start cracking the ground open the way it was described, and I guarantee you that everyone would have felt a level 8 earthquake. Just my two cents. Also angel still isn't back yet.

[Leah]

I'm still keeping to my theory that the cracks are impact-cracks, form something landing with major force.

1. Cracks run only locally (Inglewood is not that big), an earthquake would cause larger cracks and buildings would collapse, not burn.
2. Michael and other survivors must have felt the ground shaking. - But they did not
3. None of the news teams reported the ground shaking, which would be their reason to go to Inglewood.
4. Buildings were burnt, my guess is that whatever landed also burned with the rest.
5. Also explaines the dead corpses, these were people who died during the impact/ crash, not by zombies.

Only problem I see with this theory is the BIG BOOM we heard in Chapter 1. If that BOOM was the crashing of the vessel, the news reports were on it way to soon. However, if something landed and then exploded, that would give the news crew time to be there on time.

Thoughts anyone?

[Triggernator]

Just as an aside. As a geology student I can tell you that anything biological underground in Hawaii is likely to be crispy fried due to all the magmatic chambers under the island and the fact that the island isn't all that old. Also the idea of multiple earthquakes is very unlikely as we know from the news casts from season 1 (The two things, Part 3) it is in multiple cities (Detroit, San Diego, New York, Houston, Chicago) across america and internationally. None of other mentioned (save San Diego) cities are near a Fault system, so a tectonic hazard is out of it.
Also the Saul's Antibiotics didn't save the infected person, but what if the are acting to prevent Infection. It is mentioned that they stop the reproduction of bacteria right? So what if they are stopping the initial infection from spreading, acting as an inhibitor and slowing the growth of the zombism. This might lead to Saul gaining a form of immunity, as now he has been infected with a weakened version of the virus (like an inoculation) due to the bacteria being weakened from the Antibiotics in his system.

[Grognaurd]

The Salk Institute?

http://www.salk.edu/

Nah, it is too far south

[7oddisdead]

alright, i try to keep the more "crackpot" stuff out of the chapter discussion threads...but here we go....fiction ahead.

ive been thinking along similar lines to leah's above post about impact cracks. really something about the entire description of the scenery at ground zero didnt add up. as many others have mentioned, an earthquake type thing couldn't have caused them..people would have mentioned that..the explosion couldnt have been underground...michael likely wouldnt have heard it from his location at school..

sooo


saul can joke about it as much as he wants, but to my outside eye..this feels very alien. the way im seeing it is this; ship enters our atmospere at a high enough velocity heading straight for the ground that a sonic boom of sorts happens over not just inglewood, but all of LA..hence michael hearing it from the school..obviously the ship or whatever must have been relatively small to avoid burning up on entry..and something like that could hit the earth with enough force to cause the cracks but perhaps it didnt stop at the surface..it just kept goin down...leaving us with a lovely alien bacteria soup up here to deal with...and i mean, shit..if i were invading another planet, first thing i would do is bring in something that would cause the planets top species to wipe itself out...hands free genocide..heh

well enough of my made up stuff..(ive been reading a ton of hard sci fi lately, can you tell?)

another thing though...what if saul isnt immune, but simply a carrier? wonder why lizzies getting sick...

kaw

[Eviebae]

I'm assuming that exposure to The Haze caused the zombie outbreak. I'm also assuming that Ground Zero's explosions (Michael Bay!) and cracks in the ground allowed more of The Haze to escape all at once and that it continues to escape at larger, more toxic levels than anywhere else (otherwise it would dissipate with the first Santa Ana). That all sort of implies a massive and continuous supply of the stuff.

If you say natural disaster, you have to account for Ink and his prescient tattoos. If you say manmade, you have to account for the science of it all.

::Edited to Add:: It acts like a toxin and a disease at the same time.

[Litmaster]

In association to all i'm plugging three things together from what we learned today. And it could be far fetched i admit that.
1. Cracks that go far underground from (possibly) a minor earth quake. That they beileve could be a gas leak
2. Way back when in chapter one Michael hears a boom that makes him leave his classroom
3. Many almost all zombies turn within seconds or a minute.

Could this 'boom' be from ground zero?

Yeah... I already brought that up back on page 7 with this:

On Ground Zero
If you remember, waaaaaay back in Chapter 1 (at 2:23, in fact) there was the sound a loud explosion when Michael was in class with that awful professor... It certainly seems now that the explosion happened at ground zero and was caused by some kind of seismic activity.

Also,

An earthquake or explosion wasn't something that any of the reports they collected in the Tower mentions. It seems to be likely that might have come up at some point.

Several people brought this up, but we should keep in mind that anyone around the boom was likely turned or killed. And Michael was 20 miles away from the boom, I think it mentions in Chapter 1...

Here's my problem with the earthquake releases ancient bacteria problem. The outbreak happened simultaneously throughout a number of major cities. The only way that could have happened is if there were a number of earthquakes in a number of different places.

Right, that's my issue with the whole earthquake theory. It would be one thing if they were all around the Ring of Fire (still really unlikely), but the reports on the TIVO Lizzy finds mention cities like Houston and Chicago... not near any fault lines there that I know of.

A viral outbreak of 'natural' origins is generally only going to have one epicenter. If there are multiple epicenters to the overall pandemic, that points to only one cause: bio-terrorism.

I'm still keeping to my theory that the cracks are impact-cracks, form something landing with major force.

1. Cracks run only locally (Inglewood is not that big), an earthquake would cause larger cracks and buildings would collapse, not burn.
2. Michael and other survivors must have felt the ground shaking. - But they did not
3. None of the news teams reported the ground shaking, which would be their reason to go to Inglewood.
4. Buildings were burnt, my guess is that whatever landed also burned with the rest.
5. Also explaines the dead corpses, these were people who died during the impact/ crash, not by zombies.

Only problem I see with this theory is the BIG BOOM we heard in Chapter 1. If that BOOM was the crashing of the vessel, the news reports were on it way to soon. However, if something landed and then exploded, that would give the news crew time to be there on time.

Thoughts anyone?

The cracks aren't just local (see above). The thing I can't figure out is, if this is caused by bio-terrorists, then why the underground delivery of the bacteria and why an explosion?? The only thing that could cause cracks like that is either an underground explosion or earthquake.

Also, I mentioned back on page 7 that the cracks probably spiderwebbed out from a central blast site, but in listening again Vic saw the crack get to a maximum width of 6 inches and then narrow again from there. This would mean no central blast site or UFO impact landing site. Didn't Kc already dispel that one with his joke about dead aliens?

Just as an aside. As a geology student I can tell you that anything biological underground in Hawaii is likely to be crispy fried due to all the magmatic chambers under the island and the fact that the island isn't all that old. Also the idea of multiple earthquakes is very unlikely as we know from the news casts from season 1 (The two things, Part 3) it is in multiple cities (Detroit, San Diego, New York, Houston, Chicago) across america and internationally. None of other mentioned (save San Diego) cities are near a Fault system, so a tectonic hazard is out of it.

Also the Saul's Antibiotics didn't save the infected person, but what if the are acting to prevent Infection. It is mentioned that they stop the reproduction of bacteria right? So what if they are stopping the initial infection from spreading, acting as an inhibitor and slowing the growth of the zombism. This might lead to Saul gaining a form of immunity, as now he has been infected with a weakened version of the virus (like an inoculation) due to the bacteria being weakened from the Antibiotics in his system.

Now that's something new... that Saul has been inoculated by a Zombie booster shot, of a kind. Gave you rep for that.

[zombiesurvivor]

Tanya did say that they tried those antibiotics on the slow turner at the Colony and they didn't work. Of course that's assuming that Tanya was telling the truth when she said that. But I'm more inclined to believe her on that account. I just don't buy the whole antibiotics made Saul immune thing.

The questions that pops into my head all the time is what is Tanya hiding under her bandage. Did she burn herself in surgery? Or is she hiding something else? What about Saul and his medicine? What is in his medicine?

[Jeebogs]

I liked the banter Between Saul and Vicky. Saul is really getting into his stride with all the film quotes, cheesetastic.
I was on the edge of my seat with all of KC's "Red Herrings" though, the arm in the crack, Sauls fall etc. Glad they both survived, but I had a feeling they would.

I still think CJ is treating VicSaul as pawns though. She's still holding back info from them. Designating which tank is whose? Hmmm. Also, why not give them extra tanks in the car? That way, their stay is extended and they have a sure supply for the journey home. The car won't mind carrying the extra weight, surely?