Hi, my brave readers! Today I want us to do a little thought experiment together. An experiment that, I admit, has stayed with me in every word I’ve written in my Becoming a Zombie series, because if I’m honest hahaha there are things even I couldn’t handle.
The question is simple, but its answer is anything but easy: Would you survive a night in the world of the Becoming a Zombie series?
Get ready, because a night in this universe is more than just darkness. It’s a test of endurance, cunning and, above all, a constant fight against despair.
The Apocalypse Overnight
Picture this: one day you wake up and the world you knew is gone. In an instant, “overnight”, humanity has been almost wiped out by a virus. There are no clear explanations, only total chaos and the certainty that something big, something global, has happened.
Time passes and the streets that once buzzed with life are now desolate landscapes, with abandoned cars and an oppressive silence broken only by the guttural sounds of the dead. Electricity fails constantly, especially at night, the television and the phones stop working, leaving us cut off.
In this hell, food is scarce and the air itself fills with the unmistakable stench of decomposing bodies. Do you feel ready for that first breath of air?
The Flesh Eaters: A Constantly Evolving Threat
In my series, the living dead are not a static threat. At first, they are guided mainly by sounds, which makes loud noises, like a car alarm or an unsilenced gunshot, a death sentence. But over time, they adapt, and their sense of smell sharpens, detecting humans by scent.
Besides, not all zombies are the same. While there are dead wandering aimlessly, there are also the terrifying “packs” or “great masses” that move in an organized way. My characters call the latter “beta zombies”, and they behave like ants or animals working together, literally clearing the whole area of living beings.
To survive a night, you would need more than a weapon. You would need silenced weapons, the ability to move without making a sound, and the astuteness to avoid the “packs” that can detect you from afar.
The Darkest Twist: A Living Zombie?
But the series isn’t limited to ordinary flesh eaters. Over time, my characters discover an evolution of the virus: the “Abnormal Humans” or LZ (Living Zombie). These are bitten or contaminated individuals who, instead of dying, enter a zombie period of transformation that can last from a few hours to several days.
During this period, the LZs experience severe headaches, very high fever and lapses of time when they lose human consciousness and want to bite and attack everything in their path. They can perceive smells better and spot where the zombies are, but they also develop a need to eat human flesh to heal their wounds and endure the change. Yes, you read that right: the LZs’ survival comes at an immense moral cost.
Once the change is complete, if they manage to get through that time, the LZs become inedible to the beta zombies and are like invisible to them. They gain abilities like seeing better in the dark and feeling less hunger for normal food. However, their personality is altered, becoming more lethal, cold, showing little humanity and a sharper survival intelligence. The question is not only whether you survive, but what you become to make it.
The Price of Survival
A night in this world would test not only your body, but your mind. Loneliness is overwhelming, anxiety and fear are constant, and the decisions you make will force you to confront your own moral limits.
- Would you be willing to murder a few people for your survival or that of your loved ones, like some of my characters do?
- Could you swallow your vomit and keep moving in the face of the constant sight of death?
My characters prove that, to survive, they all had to be killers. Trusting strangers is a luxury, and human nature was also strong, as strong as that of the living dead.
So, going back to my initial question:
Would You Survive a Night in the World of “Becoming a Zombie”?
One thing is certain: it would be a night that would change you forever. A night where the line between human and monster blurs, and where every decision counts. I think we all know that, if we were honest with ourselves, few of us would make it through that first night.
I’d love to read your opinions in the comments. What would you do? Who would you trust? What instinct would you follow? I look forward to your answers.
Thank you for reading and for immersing yourselves in this universe I am so passionate about!
I appreciate you all so much, Kassfinol.