Chapter 27- The Thirty-First Part 3

[Litmaster]

Lots good has been mentioned already, but here's my main thoughts on the newest. Sorry for the length... I tried to make it as easy to scan/read as possible.


On Zombie Intelligence, Especially That Of 'Ink'
- Ok, first of all: INK, BILL ROBERTS, PINSTRIPES, "IT'S PAUL", TOWTM, ETC...... all the same zombie, who will be referred to hereafter simply as "Ink" as that is shortest.
- So at least some zombies can reason, understand language, follow commands in a chain of command
- Ink is the only talking one we know of, so I'm guessing that was him
- Angels musing about 'zombie cliques' seems to imply zombies forming social groups around a central leader
- Martin mentions about the fires in the Arena that only 1 lit the fires, while the rest (were ordered to) move them around
- Also the zombie calls of attack and retreat, given by rooftop Ink
- The mass exodus to the hospital seems to seal the deal that the local zombie tribe has formed a sort of army under Ink's leadership

Ok, nothing really new there. However,
- Some zombies are clearly either stupid or under the influence of overpowered senses (like the one who attacked the sweat-splashed wall)
- Burt theorized that the smarter they were in life, the smarter they were in death, too (so Ink was a genius serial killer ala Hannibal Lecter)
- But Ink also had difficulty entering the correct key code on our tower, even though he understood the numbers when they were given to him. He also jumped up to flee as soon as he heard the guys were out of ammo and presumably orchestrated at least two zombie-led ambushes.

Questions:
- Why is Ink in charge of this zombie tribe?
- What qualities--apart from intelligence-- qualify him for such leadership?
- Is the zombie hierarchy purely based on smarts, or other factors?

Well, I feel there is a whole lot about Ink's back story that is yet to come... Speaking of:


On Skittles Not Being Chomped
- He mentioned that he was "right there" and "they didn't look at me".
- But he had later encounters with zombies after him, like the time when he had to hide in the dumpster.

Theory: Skittles does not give off a scent to the zombies the same way that most people do. This could explain why he wasn't attacked (they didn't immediately recognize him as a target) and why he could hide in a dumpster successfully even though that other guy was found in a closet, out of sight.



On The Fate of Zombie Prisoners
- The torture games further reinforces the social behavior of the zombies. The Arena-Maulings are their version of the World Cup, I suppose.
- Martin mentioned that some prisoners were led to the center of the Arena, but he didn't know what happened to the others.

Theory: Some of the prisoners were brought to the hospital and had evil experiments done to them, to make them into Behemoths and other zombie variants. Still a lot of unanswered questions surrounding who is conducting the experiments (Ink is surely behind it) and exactly why. What is Ink's ultimate goal???



On 'Piss-Poor' Execution In The Other Tower
A little too harsh on C.J. and the gang, don't you think, guys? They had fallback positions, hidden orchards, remote weapons stashes, etc.... put Saul's crappy motor-pool modifications to shame! Certainly a lot of great planning and organization involved... no one can really dispute that. But:
- Yes, you guys are right that said the weapons stashes speaks to a lack of trust on C.J.'s part, and
- There seemed to be a small elite 'in the know' at C.J.'s tower who kept a lot of underlings in the dark, and
- Michael mentioned that the officers make the plans, but it is the NCOs who figure out how to make it work, so
- C.J.'s tower seemed to lack a committed core of NCO's to back up her plans. Also,

- The guys at our tower managed to repel a ferocious attack by the Mallers, even half-drunk and out of ammo
- The group at Michael's tower were smaller and less organized, but seemingly much closer knit
- Michael even mentioned he started thinking of them as soldiers, but then came to think of them as family
- And we will all die for our families...right?

Observation: It seems to me that C.J.'s tower, despite being physically and technologically superior, was inferior to ours in one essential aspect: heart. You could say that our guys have survived better because they came together as family, and that when TSHTF, C.J.'s group could never get beyond just thinking for themselves, thus dissolving into chaos.