Chapter 40-2 Monsters

[LiamKerrington]

I don't understand why there is a jump to the conclusion that Ink has been turned? Yeah, he seems stronger than any normal man but, um, haven't we been talking (ad nauseam) about performance enhancing drugs and Bill's former workplace?

Also, has anyone thought/suggested that he may be on a course of strong antibiotics (coincidentally the same as the Tinks) - forced on him while in custody - to try and preemptively halt any infection caused by the prison tats? I'm sure the authorities would go out of their way to prevent a killer dying of septicemia before he could be incarcerated.

Are there any performance enhancing drugs available which let you jump out of the third floor without harm and run like crazy that someone with a rifle has only little chances to shoot him? Do drugs like these allow you to snatch an arrow out of mid-air that was shot at you from a range of a few yards with a professional bow? Do performance drugs allow you to bare-handedly kill a person by ripping a head apart (Paul)?
What I am saying here is this: At least at the point when Ink entered the Tower he was turned. That does not necessarily mean he was turned down in the van at the court. True.

My catch though is a simple one: He "kicked open the door." That's the way Michael describes it in #40-2. Doors of cars and vans are not simply kicked open. This is especially true for prisoner-transport-vehicles, because these usually have reinforced doors, windows and chassis. So "kicking open" a door is kind of a feat. And I have serious doubts that "only" performance enhancing drugs allow someone to achieve this: "kicking open doors". This may be different if the doors are heavily damaged. But if this is true in this particular case, then automatically two questions pop up:

a) why did them zombs stop their attack, when they were so close to reaching "food"?
b) More importantly: Why did Ink not leave the van earlier?

Ok, about a) you could say: Them zombs just wanted to make it easy for their natural born leader to get out of the van; they recognized him as such and so let go of him. (This theory I wouldn't want to support right now; I might, though, if Ink infact has started turning and "smelled" like the zombie-lord so early already ...).
But then b) raises doubts: If Ink already was the zombie-lord at that time, why did he wait to get out of the van so late and not much earlier?

Too bad we have some facts, and yet too little information to make a final estimate. Any theory so far mentioned seems to be solid and still has some "lackings" as well. The theory I enjoy so much is the one telling "us" that Ink was wounded by the three biters, then he mutated within 30 minutes to become strong enough to blast open the van. Too bad we don't know what has happened between 10:42 and 11:12 - so in the 30-minute gap. Did Ink attempt to pry open the door several times? Were there other zombs at the van and die they "try" anything??? This would help "us" understand the situation a lot better, I guess ...

Best wishes!
Liam

[Gnex]

Somebody needs to give CJ a swift kick in the backside!!!! The pity train left 2 seasons ago!!!

[tonyhind86]

Are there any performance enhancing drugs available which let you jump out of the third floor without harm and run like crazy that someone with a rifle has only little chances to shoot him? Do drugs like these allow you to snatch an arrow out of mid-air that was shot at you from a range of a few yards with a professional bow? Do performance drugs allow you to bare-handedly kill a person by ripping a head apart (Paul)?

Super-soldier serum from the Marvel comics?

Until the third part of this chapter is released (6 days and counting...), we really have no idea about Ink's status and the circumstances of his release from the van. I agree with Liam about the reinforced doors - performance enhancing drugs probably wouldn't allow them to just be kicked open. For me, the main question at this point is "what was he doing at the lab before his arrest?". Hopefully this question will be answered soon because it's driving me crackers!

[scbubba]

STORY TIME!

I remembered one of the other things I thought of.
"what if"

bill Roberts is paranoid schizophrenic. while this typically does not manifest itself with visual hallucinations, what if at the moment of turning(or NOT turning) he had his entire mental state snap? by this I mean the biters attacking him became normal people rescuing him? all the normal people fleeing the scene became biters fleeing the scene? what if by creating the "little ones" and behemoths he is simply trying to gain an advantage over the enemy/ us as biters he believes we are? what if all the crazy ass symbols he draws/ tattoos are what he interprets as the language he and his "normal people" speak? his master call that he sends out is simply his normal voice(to his ears at least)and the scary part is...what if hes right?? the entire idea is far too interesting (and far too plausible) to rule out. the scene with the two biters at the end of this episode made me start to question just what is in fact real and what isn't. itll be interesting to see where this goes from here.

I had similar thoughts before - but about zombies in general and not Ink directly. Can't find where I originally posted it, but here is one of the animated shorts that were made to companion the "I Am Legend" movie. This one is by Orson Scott Card and deals with (sort of) the scenario you are talking about...

[Gnex]

I have to say that Kelly is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters, hated her in season 1 but she is slowly winning me over week after week...... Now don't go killing her KC!!!

[scbubba]

Reading Liam and 7odd posting on the spread rate in LA got me thinking: why do we assume that it spread evenly in a circle from Ground Zero (or an area around GZ)?

We KNOW it spreads when a biter turns another person. We assume that the Haze is an area effect phenomenon that can turn people. What we actually know is that there were a lot of dead bodies at GZ when Saul and Victor went. The Haze was there when they were and they didn't SEE any biters in the area. The effects of the Haze (coughing, feeling sick) have been experienced by people near GZ on multiple occasions. Victor was able to breathe normally with no perceived effect at GZ when the Haze was not present. CJ sent people to GZ who experienced the typical Haze reactions. One person MAY HAVE been turned by contact with the Haze. Little One #7 was able to operate, at least for some amount of time, within the Haze.

So, is the Haze the cause of zombies? Can normal biters tolerate it themselves? What about Little Ones and/or Ink? Obviously it has something to do with the zombie stuff but damned if I know what it is at the moment....

Anyway, back to the spread. We have, at the fastest, people turning 10 miles from GZ in about 30 minutes. At the slowest, assuming 7odd's much wider circle of GZ to be 5 miles, we have people turning 5 miles from the origination point in under an hour. The first assumes that normal biters managed to move at 20 miles per hour, on average since they may have stopped for a snack, during that time frame. In 2005, the record for fastest 10 mile run (by a human) was set at just under 45 min so it would be doable by a zombie, I guess.

But I seem to recall that the early biters (as witnessed by Michael, Saul, and Angel on ZDay) were not moving at those speeds. So, I'm thinking that we had something hit a larger area of LA, centered at Inglewood, and turn a bunch of people simultaneously to get the propagation speed we have reported.

Maybe that means that the Haze at GZ is dying down. The first occurrence was a big blast and no that the pressure has been released, and continues to be released over time, it's much smaller and more localized....

Anyway, I'm real interested in finding out what's in those air samples Tanya got and what that might mean for physiological changes in her and Saul....

[Gnex]

I'm curious about the rumbling at Ground Zero...... From what I am seeing Inglewood to Lynnwood is somewhere around 6-8 miles????

That seems very close for the group Tanya radios to not be able hear/feel anything that they felt????

So whatever is happening in Inglewood is extremely controlled???

[tonyhind86]

I'm curious about the rumbling at Ground Zero...... From what I am seeing Inglewood to Lynnwood is somewhere around 6-8 miles????

That seems very close for the group Tanya radios to not be able hear/feel anything that they felt????

So whatever is happening in Inglewood is extremely controlled???

That's assuming it was an earthquake. Perhaps an underground explosion?

[Bullethead]

Don't forget scubba, somehow these things got to HI...the whole thing may not have started at Ink-lewood after all and this is just a rare coincidence.

[Jeebogs]

Are there any performance enhancing drugs available which let you jump out of the third floor without harm and run like crazy that someone with a rifle has only little chances to shoot him? Do drugs like these allow you to snatch an arrow out of mid-air that was shot at you from a range of a few yards with a professional bow? Do performance drugs allow you to bare-handedly kill a person by ripping a head apart (Paul)?!
Liam

So we're only willing to suspend our disbelief with regard to the simultaneous worldwide zombie apocalypse, chemically enhanced zombies/genetically enhanced zombies, a mystical toxic 'haze' periodically emanating from cracks in the ground but in no way are we allowed to postulate that a mad scientist could have created a PED that would allow any of what you mention because we have no real world example of one.

Okay.

I'm not saying that it IS or WAS a PED, but what I am saying is that we really don't have a concrete reason to think Ink has or hasn't been turned. It could be either.