Chapter 43-2 The Darkness Ahead

[Kc]

(and why does "CJ" not get a link when we talk about her? do we have to say "chinwe?")

Three letter minimum auto-link in the wiki.

[Gooer]

Good point. Thickening of the tissues, swelling of the brain, increased blood flow...heck, even eye strain.
Was it causing him to turn or acting on the part of him that had turned?

So, has this happened over and over again? The Yeti, Abominable Snowmen, Sasquatch, Trolls all from past episodes? That could be why ancient symbols seem to cause the reactions. Or, it could be responsible for points of evolution in our species. Man, this is rich stuff to think about.

Think it's the first time we've heard of the headache. So far, all turnings have been instant, with pain (i'm assuming from) the turning, although it could be something related to the headaches....

[tonyhind86]

Think it's the first time we've heard of the headache. So far, all turnings have been instant, with pain (i'm assuming from) the turning, although it could be something related to the headaches....

It's curious that Saul and Tanya haven't experienced the same pain after seeing either the note, or Ink's tattoos. Maybe they truly are immune

[Storm]

It's curious that Saul and Tanya haven't experienced the same pain after seeing either the note, or Ink's tattoos. Maybe they truly are immune

Or maybe Datu's keratin level is just higher than theirs... Remember that their numbers are going back Down now.

[tonyhind86]

Or maybe Datu's keratin level is just higher than theirs... Remember that their numbers are going back Down now.

Datu suffered a full on attack. Tanya only recieved a light bite (check out my rhymes ) and Saul was tainted by infected blood because of his gunshot wound. That, combined with a certain DNA profile may define the level of infection.

[Eviebae]

Datu suffered a full on attack. Tanya only recieved a light bite (check out my rhymes ) and Saul was tainted by infected blood because of his gunshot wound. That, combined with a certain DNA profile may define the level of infection.

Saul and Tanya's experiences seem to be important in that they were carefully planned to highlight certain aspects of their respective exposures:

Saul
Exposed by fast turner (Tommy)
Nearer to Ground Zero (LA)
By a bloody bullet tiny dosage (probably heated by the bullet)

Tanya
Exposed by a slow turner
Far from Ground Zero (San Diego)
By a bite (not terribly deep, but deep enough to leave a scar)

[skankyfish]

I feel like the idea of a separate form of understanding from what we know as our language is totally plausible, all things considered. how the brain interprets images and information is what our entire reality is made of. the words im typing right now are only read by all of us as that< - because of how our brains are wired, all of us wired similarly...with that in mind, imagine if that were not the case? imagine if what we see as "X" all the sudden means "sun". its not a change in our interpretation of X, its a change in the way those infected interpret it. I will drop one science-y thing...follow this link!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

its not a matter of a "zombie language" so to speak, just a different way of communicating. everyone is WAY overthinking this.

todd-0

The problem with synesthesia as a solution is that no two people have the *same* synesthesia. Storm associates one set of colours with certain letters, but another synesthete will associate a totally different set, or they might change depending on the context. Some people don't see colours, but associate a taste or smell. So for all the zombies to not only understand a set of symbols due to acquired synesthesia, but to assign them the *same* meaning...it feels too far-fetched. Less far-fetched than any supernatural meaning for sure, but still far-fetched!

[Grognaurd]

@skankyfish & @7oddisdead

I do not think 7id meant this solves the mystery as much as it was an example of how complicated the brain really is. Some people report similar experiences with LSD. Me, I have no experience with the hard drugs. I have enough fun with the classic alcohol and caffeine .

If I go crackpot, I could envision a fungus as a contributor to the outbreak. It could provide a cognitive dysfunction and psychedelic experience. The wild card is that it might drive the infected to a warm, dark, moist environment to provide a better place for the corpse to be consumed and converted to fungus. We do not see 5 million dead in the streets. They had to go somewhere. LA is very dry, and the sun and air would dedicate the corpse and the one universal constant of life we know is water. I am not saying this is it, I am just pointing out there is still a lot of fertile soil for the zombie mythos rather than the same ol same ol and this is the behavior that the fungus which creates zombie ants. It highjacks their brains and sends them to a better place to die.
@scbubba

Yup, there were probably several types of antibiotics there. Unles. This hospital was stockpiling this particular antibiotic... Din dun dun... I think its utility is rare enough that it would not warrant a whole cabinet full. My guess is that since we are hearing the super composit journal, only the most relevant name was recorded. Of course, it is almost as likely that we can be experiencing misdirection.

[Footbutt]

If I go crackpot, I could envision a fungus as a contributor to the outbreak. It could provide a cognitive dysfunction and psychedelic experience. The wild card is that it might drive the infected to a warm, dark, moist environment to provide a better place for the corpse to be consumed and converted to fungus. We do not see 5 million dead in the streets. They had to go somewhere. LA is very dry, and the sun and air would dedicate the corpse and the one universal constant of life we know is water. I am not saying this is it, I am just pointing out there is still a lot of fertile soil for the zombie mythos rather than the same ol same ol and this is the behavior that the fungus which creates zombie ants. It highjacks their brains and sends them to a better place to die.

this made me think of that news article about some Siberian ice drilling that unearthed a 30,000 year old virus. "it only infects amoeba", but it got the wheels turning...
your mention of the fungus sounds spot-on. biological life/virus/fungus can be global and most likely is the cause, do to the enormous widespread infections.

i really can't see us knowing a ton about how Ink does what he does. we may never know. the fact is that he's a villan, and like most awesome villans, he's really good at being ahead of the game for the majority of the conflict. and now, things are coming to a conclusion: Michael and squad will win the day!

[Grognaurd]

Saul and Tanya's experiences seem to be important in that they were carefully planned to highlight certain aspects of their respective exposures:

Saul
Exposed by fast turner (Tommy)
Nearer to Ground Zero (LA)
By a bloody bullet tiny dosage

This is essentially true, although I will not rule out a possible exposure on the roof of Locked and Loaded. He says, a my leg, he's got my leg... This was the researcher from Raydon Labs with the level 3 ID. It does not say he was bitten, but they were not keeping journals then and I think their is a narration by Michael saying these events were reconstructed. I have to go back and listen to this...