Chapter 29-2 Beyond Our Walls Part 2

[HardKor]

I interpreted the whole Datu giving Michael his journal thing a little differently. I think the important part was the fact that Datu insisted that he was going to continue keeping a journal. It may have been a subtle hint that we haven't heard the last of the crew heading off for Boulder.

[Wingnut]

I looked and hadn't seen anybody mention this idea, so forgive me someone has and I missed it. I'm not sure if I buy in to the theory of Saul and Tanya having some genetic immunity to whatever is causing the zombie outbreak, but if they do I had a thought as to possibly why. Saul and Tanya are some of the few African American characters on the show, and the Sickle Cell trait, which is hereditary, is present in 1 in 500 African Americans. Generally, Sickle Cell is a bad thing, but it is actually provides protection against the parasite that causes malaria. Perhaps it could also afford some protection against to whatever is causing the zombie outbreak as well?

[nikvoodoo]

I looked and hadn't seen anybody mention this idea, so forgive me someone has and I missed it. I'm not sure if I buy in to the theory of Saul and Tanya having some genetic immunity to whatever is causing the zombie outbreak, but if they do I had a thought as to possibly why. Saul and Tanya are some of the few African American characters on the show, and the Sickle Cell trait, which is hereditary, is present in 1 in 500 African Americans. Generally, Sickle Cell is a bad thing, but it is actually provides protection against the parasite that causes malaria. Perhaps it could also afford some protection against to whatever is causing the zombie outbreak as well?

Hidey hi new guy....or gal....love the handle!

This was brought up somewhere in the vast expanse of this forum at some point. Most likely in the Saul/Tanya Family immune thread, but it's definitely an interesting idea. If the killer cocktail of antibiotics pumping into Saul isn't the reason, it could be as plausible as any other reason why they are immune where others are not.

[Wingnut]

New guy. Long time listener, first time caller, etc. etc.

I'm leaning towards the drug theory as well. It works better for story telling because it gives the characters some hope of a "cure", which can then be used as a plot device to drive the story towards some sort of conclusion. Having it be something genetic that causes the immunity, while interesting, doesn't move the story along as much since it doesn't offer much of a hope for the rest of the remaining population.

[Devilish Pizza]

A theory just popped into my mind, and I'm in a rush, so can't check through the posts to see if someone has already posted this.....
I think that Tanya could have been bitten by the slow turner that she was experimenting on way back when. It could have happened at a time when she was the only person looking at him, and he went a bit rabid for a short time, and managed to bite her.
And when she said that she experimented some drugs on a slow turner, she could have meant herself, and found that some worked, but they were extremely limited in amount, so didn't mention it to anyone.
Any similar feelings?

[Osiris]

A theory just popped into my mind, and I'm in a rush, so can't check through the posts to see if someone has already posted this.....
I think that Tanya could have been bitten by the slow turner that she was experimenting on way back when. It could have happened at a time when she was the only person looking at him, and he went a bit rabid for a short time, and managed to bite her.
And when she said that she experimented some drugs on a slow turner, she could have meant herself, and found that some worked, but they were extremely limited in amount, so didn't mention it to anyone.
Any similar feelings?

VERY interesting thought! No, I'm not sure that has come up, but... +rep for one of the better theories I've read since burrito farts.

[Osiris]

Further proof that Kiwis > *

[Devilish Pizza]

Also, the Commander mentioned that all the land masses located on or near the ring of fire. If that's not just a coincidence (which, with KC it most likely won't be), then we here down in NZ would be beyond fucked! Seeing as our entire country is in the ring.

[Osiris]

Was nice reading your posts, bro. Best of luck.

[trubkir]

A theory just popped into my mind, and I'm in a rush, so can't check through the posts to see if someone has already posted this.....
I think that Tanya could have been bitten by the slow turner that she was experimenting on way back when. It could have happened at a time when she was the only person looking at him, and he went a bit rabid for a short time, and managed to bite her.
And when she said that she experimented some drugs on a slow turner, she could have meant herself, and found that some worked, but they were extremely limited in amount, so didn't mention it to anyone.
Any similar feelings?

Rabies has been brought up before but the whole experimented on herself angle is a new one for me. She could have been biten, realized she wasn't turning quickly but could feel the "effect" working. Vets get vaccinated for rabies and she probably made some hasty assumptions that since the disease has similar symptoms to rabies that she might be somewhat resistant. After deducing she had a time window she just started playing with the pharmaceuticals available and got the scavengers from the Colony to look for others she would be interested in trying.

Now that you got me thinking about this I realize that Rabies vaccines are basically dead rabies virus. Maybe she was taking blood from infected people and trying to isolate the active pathogen and finding something to kill it. The french guys who made the original Rabies vaccine in the late 1800's dried infected blood to kill the rabies virus (from Rabbits for all you non animal testers out there to protest). So maybe the drug cocktails weren't for immediate injection maybe she was culturing the pathogen and seeing what would kill it. This is another can of worms. Maybe the different types of zombies are actually caused by the mutations Tanya was causing. One more thing Tanya gave Saul antibiotics which would have no effect on the zombie virus as antibiotics are for fighting bacteria. I never heard the term antiviral with any of the drugs mentioned so far.