Have you noticed this?

**lectio** · Feb 14th, 2011, 06:00 PM

In Chapter 3 (part 3 of 3), Burt talks about the smart zombies. The climbing zombie has a level three security badge from

"That one there, lying there, trapped me in the bathroom. It just waited for me to come out..."

"You see that badge clipped there to his belt? It's a level 3 ID for Radon Labs. Must have been pretty damn smart to get that badge."

I wonder if we're going to see Radon Labs featured in upcoming episodes? I'm willing to bet that they were involved with the outbreak. Angel's theory of the mental hospital being the source of the outbreak is probably off, but remember how the first zombies - the ones on the highway - were described by Michael as being covered in scars? Maybe they were test subjects; experiments gone awry. A containment failure could account for the sudden outbreak. The first of the outbreaks were reported to be in Los Angeles and downtown San Diego. There are major research universities in both of those cities; there would be research labs nearby, and the biotech industry seems to be clustered up around San Francisco and Menlo Park.

Maybe something kind of clandestine project?

**lectio** · Feb 14th, 2011, 06:05 PM

(nerts - I was so hoping Radon Labs would show up as a secret wiki item)

**nikvoodoo** · Feb 14th, 2011, 06:49 PM

@Lectio- Good catch! I don't think anyone has presented Radon as a viable location to explore. If it's going to come back at some point, it's not going to be soon. I don't even know if it will come up this season. We might have to wait until the decision is made to discover the origin of the outbreak. And as of right now, everyone is focused on a safer stronghold to survive in. As long as Burt is in charge, no one is going to make a move like that.

**mascaria** · Feb 14th, 2011, 07:15 PM

Do you remember when Kalani said that the survivors of the other tower had zeroed in on the center and they'd ventured out there and brought back some weird stuff, but he didn't remember what?

Should we speculate that not only is Radon Labs somewhere near the center and that perhaaaaaaaaps The Colony is exploring the area!

**lectio** · Feb 14th, 2011, 08:04 PM

Originally Posted by mascaria

Do you remember when Kalani said that the survivors of the other tower had zeroed in on the center and they'd ventured out there and brought back some weird stuff, but he didn't remember what?

Should we speculate that not only is Radon Labs somewhere near the center and that perhaaaaaaaaps The Colony is exploring the area!

Hrm. Thinking about it, it does seem more likely that the outbreak was not airborne in nature. The Santa Ana winds are mentioned in Chapter 17, I think, and Michael clearly establishes the start of the outbreak in early May. Prevailing winds would be moving west, down the mountains. The first appearance of zombies is in Los Angeles and San Diego, according to the news broadcast that Michael overhears in episode one.

If the outbreak starts as a containment failure in a biotech lab, it would be pretty likely that it would start somewhere up around Menlo Park with the biotech research firms up there, or in a university lab. UC Davis near Sacramento was gunning for a hot lab a while back (I don't know if they got one or not), so it's not unreasonable to think that in this story, a hot lab was active somewhere near the outbreak. It's unlikely that a hot lab would be operating as a private company, but Radon might have been operating as a contractor. I think it's likely that it started somewhere north of LA, and was spread by people fleeing by car on highways. So the initial spread of the outbreak, if it starts in California, would be north-south, and then gradually spread west.

I don't think Saul or Angel took the keycard from the climber's corpse, but it's not unreasonable to think that the corpse - and the keycard - is still out there. There aren't too many jumpers, and probably not many climbers, either...so it would still be possible to go back and retrieve the card. Radon Labs might be out of power by now, but they'd probably have auxiliary generators on line - though the supply of fuel would be, most likely, exhausted. If the keycard system worked on battery backups (as a failsafe against power failures), they'd still be operational.

"Their bodies were littered with scars and bruises." That's what Michael says about the first zombies - and since it would take time for those to accumulate, I'd think that it would have taken a while for them to get like that. I'm willing to bet that there was some kind of an experimentation program already running for some time. The mention of 'Ink,' the schizophrenic murderer headed to the mental hospital in Chapter 1 (and presumably the smart, super-bad zed) - maybe he was transferred to a research program? Maybe the hospital was running a research protocol?

Maybe I should be working on my term paper instead of looking at maps of highways and thinking about disease vectors?

**HaveCrowBarWillTravel** · Feb 15th, 2011, 06:31 AM

Holy Cow have you guys opened a can of worms with that one!
My only question is about Kalani and Hawaii. If.. and a big IF at that- LA was the epicenter, how did Hawaii get hit earlier and worse?
I may be wrong about "Earlier" but that's the impression I got from Kalani's story.
The Climber's corpse isn't going to be there. The creatures are scavengers and cannibals. They've been dragging anything with meat on it back to the arena (presumably).
There has clearly been a progression in the creatures behavior. I'm of mind that they're evolving, BUT... I also feel like they're different "Breeds" so to speak (Behomoths for example). Experiments in human evolution? Patients at the crazy house the test subjects?
I'm pretty sure the Lab would have its power off grid. They'd have to in order to keep any prime specimen from being destroyed by power outage. Can you imagine the CDC losing power? Yikes!
The infections isn't airborne. Proof is Kelly's nephew.

**HaveCrowBarWillTravel** · Feb 15th, 2011, 06:32 AM

I've also noticed... this thread has 5 yellow stars.. What's that about? LOL

**Wicked Sid** · Feb 15th, 2011, 02:43 PM

I just want to clear up that most likely there are no such climbers. Normals can climb and presumably the smart are also able to perform such an act. Therefore, the one Saul and Angel encountered was ether a normal or more likely a smart one as Burt pointed out.