Chapter 29-2 Beyond Our Walls Part 2

[Osiris]

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.

It seems that the context of rabid was more figurative than it was literal.

[Hellbringer]

It seems that the context of rabid was more figurative than it was literal.

I posted in the Tanya and Saul immunity thread that my crazy theory revolves around some sort of super anthrax. I bing'ed some images of people with anthrax and one can see how anthrax victims and zombies could look somewhat alike. It's not hard for me to start fathoming that the haze, the turning, and infection could be from some form of super anthrax that evolved from a primitive, prehistoric form of it and got trapped under the earth's surface for such a long time.
Rabies, anthrax... same thread of theory. Maybe. Ok, I'm grabbing at straws probably. Probably cattle-anthrax laced straw at that.

[trubkir]

Figuritive or literal the post got me thinking along the lines of drugs and cures. If the effect is caused by a virus then any and all anitbiotics are useless against it. If the effect is caused by bacteria like Hellbringers "Super Anthrax" then some sort of super antibiotic might work. I then thought what does experimenting on slow turners mean? If she is experimenting she has to be culturing samples from the affected people because that is the only reasonable way to analyze effects of drugs. If you just inject a person with a drug there are too many variables out of control to say whether the data collected is valid. There is something to be said for both Anthrax and Rabies. Anthrax is mostly spread by spores which are breathed in or ingested. Rabies is spread through direct contact mostly from the saliva of the biter to the blood of the bitten. We seem to have both these methods of infection plus numerous symptoms which appear to validate either hypothesis.

[Bullethead]

A further thought on Tanya,

I recall when she first joined the Tower she was more than interested in everyones journals. A moment occured when she was eager to tell Michael something. But he went super dick mode on her and she got fed up, left, and said "I will talk to you some other time".

Did we ever find out what it was that she wanted to tell him?

[nikvoodoo]

A further thought on Tanya,

I recall when she first joined the Tower she was more than interested in everyones journals. A moment occured when she was eager to tell Michael something. But he went super dick mode on her and she got fed up, left, and said "I will talk to you some other time".

Did we ever find out what it was that she wanted to tell him?

Nope. But if she's about to be put out to pasture from the Irwin-ites, I'd wager she's about to reveal more information about slow turners and finding ways to combat the infection.

Might be enough to spare her life....and keep her in a shock collar so she doesn't go too far.

[Adventureless_Hero]

Might be enough to spare he life....and keep her in a shock collar so she doesn't go too far.

lol! Pet zombies come to mind. Fido.

[nikvoodoo]

lol! Pet zombies come to mind. Fido.

Just keep the pet zombies away from Rex, Zombie Killer.

[Allie]

So I was reading some of the comments about how Michael was trying to guilt trip Pegs, Datu and the rest to stay with him.
But seriously remember how in the last few episodes Michael mentioned that he had grown to care about them more than he had his old unit back when he was in the Army? And remember their motto, 'no man left behind'. So Michael expected that if he had to stay, his group would rally around him and fight with him. Instead they decided to abandon him because: 'they got tired of fighting'.

So the world is overrrun by zombies and what do they decide to do? Go back to civilian life. Pegs will go grow flowers or whatever and kelly who knows what she'll do. Datu will abandon his friends who risked their life in a zombie infested territory to rescue him to take care of Hope who he barely just met. I mean where is the loyalty? For Pegs who said she cared about Michael but couldn't 'sacrifice her principles' to fight alongside with him but would do it if necessary back in the Colony. What kind of principles are those?

This episode really affected me because I thought the group had grown to be almost like a family and for them to just ditch Michael like that left me in Shock. Riley was always one of my favorite characters and now I know why. She's the only one that decided to stay with Michael which I think is awesome. And for those of you saying they had every right to leave Michael, think about this, would Lizzie have abandoned Saul if he decided to stay as well? No. She would have stayed and fought. Anyhow, just a small rant. So sad Michael is all alone. hopefully he gets reunited with Saul and Angel if they're still alive.

[Red Shirt]

We never learn what happens in happily ever after land unless the monster's carcass twitches (hinting to a sequel).

Rule #2: Double Tap. Always Double tap.

I've said it once and I'll say it again. The hows and whys might be revealed later, but the outbreak has some sort of geological origin. Can't say that it is exclusively fault lines, hot spots, volcanos or Digg Dugs but each of the places mentioned by the Colonel just ain't the most stable places in the world. Even the places such as Houston, Chicago and NY have geological.... stuff going on (Thanks RedShirt). This doesn't mean that the ground must be shaking and breaking Cecil B DeMille-Moses-dropping-the-10-Commandment-style. Just that there is some yet to be revealed connection. Again, there is something about Hawaii's Volcanos that made them 'nastier, meaner' than the one's in L.A.

You're welcome. My research into this has galvanized what I already knew... This Planet is a damn dangerous place to live. When you look at things from a perspective of the geological timescale, It is a miracle that anything has lived long enough to evolve into anything. Simply put, this planet is trying to kill us all off. The planet has damn near succeeded in the past.

What I find even more frightening, though it doesn't (yet) keep me awake are the million(s) y/o bacteria that has been discovered in caves and the tens and hundreds million y/o bacteria that has been revived in the lab.

The Volcano/Fault Line disparity is a good point, though I think that could be the simple difference between cracks in the surface and actual 'holes' in the surface. If that is the case, Iceland and the Philippines are in big trouble. Sorry Datu.

Now, if it is indeed the difference between cracks and holes, then East Africa is in a massive world of hurt. Not simply a fault line, the planet has actually split open here and the Horn of Africa is moving away from the main continent of Africa. Eventually a new ocean will form as the rift continues to widen, Much like the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Also of great concern, is the Yellowstone Caldera/Super Volcano. Yellowstone is actively out-gassing volcanic fumes today, and would likely have been the first place that this happened.

As Burt would probably say, "Have fun sleeping tonight."

*for Non-Vets, "Autovon phone" refers to the government's secure telephone network, which was designed to survive a nuclear exchange. The official name changed to something else in the 80s, but we kept on calling them Autovon where I was stationed. The phones can be used to call any other phone on the network, worldwide, but only have a limited ability to connect to the civilian phone system.

That would be the DSN or Defense Switched Network. All the capabilities of the AUTOVON and more. Much, much more.


Well, part three is out and I listened to it while writing here. I'm going to go checkout the storm that is surely (Shirley?) brewing there.

[Zombiphobe]

I thought the Michael/Pegs break-up scene was very well done. While listening to it, I could see the end coming and no way for either party to avoid it. Michael had to stay in Fort Irwin due to his military obligations, something Pegs couldn't seem to fathom. Pegs couldn't enlist, being extremely uncomfortable with guns, something Michael couldn't seem to fathom. They each wanted the other one to be with them, and yet couldn't understand why it was such an unreasonable request.

On the plus side, it gave me hope that the group would reunite again down the road. I was worried when Datu handed over his journal that it might be the last we hear from them, but I don't think the Michael/Pegs romance is over. I'm sure we will see her again, and hopefully others too.