From novices to enthusiasts, we all wonder what the world will look like in a zombie apocalypse. How long till human civilization meets its grotesque end? And what would happen in the first 30 days of the zombie apocalypse?
A mass hysteria, callous wholesale killing, and inevitable destruction- humanity will squeal for its existence.
Think of the most ruthless bloodshed and relentless destruction of any sign of civilization; the zombie apocalypse will tint the world in gloom. Call it nature’s revenge or another prevalent viral outbreak; the apocalypse will proceed gradually to absolute incapacitation of the system.
The most vital healthcare sectors and fortified systems will see their policies pulverize, their strategies shred, and their monarchs macerate- zombie apocalypse will quite possibly be the quietus of the world as we know it.
However, zombies won’t take over the world in a snap. The zombie apocalypse will be a consequence of a zombie virus. How it spreads, is structured, and acts in the host’s body- an extensive study is yet to be carried out on the zombie virus.
However, using the available knowledge banks, we know that it is far more sinister and fatal than other viruses. Most viruses render severe infection or lead to the host’s death, zombie virus; however, it lets the host have a healthy life. The virus stays latent throughout the host’s life and instigates infection upon its host’s death.
What happens next? A gruesome and hideous reanimation. And these reanimated beings will roam around feasting upon living begins and growing their hordes.
Hell will break out; havoc will be wreaked- the first 30 days of the zombie apocalypse will quell the order, tip the balance, and sieve the sanity. Chaos will prevail, hysteria will reign, and barbarism will suffuse.
Let’s peep into the crimson-hued and tumultuous zombie apocalypse and see what the first days of the zombie apocalypse have for us.
Our survival is bleak but stick with us to know how you can survive even with slim chances of existence.
The time line of zombie apocalypse
Breathe a sigh of relief; a zombie apocalypse isn’t abrupt eradication of the entire humanity abruptly. You won’t see humans dropping dead or decaying away instantaneously. It won’t capsize everything in a blink of an eye; it will progress gradually like other pandemics.
Before we outline the timeline of the zombie apocalypse, let’s recap the causative agent behind this mass hysteria- the zombie virus.
Pre-zombie apocalypse
The zombie virus isn’t one of the vastly studied viral strains. Therefore, the knowledge about it is based on conjecture and theories.
Theories suggest that the zombie virus bears stark semblance to the rabies virus regarding its behavior and prevalence. A zombie virus has a universal, which is a hundred percent fatality rate and typically centralizes itself in the host’s brain. It is said that such a virus can be formulated for biological warfare or nature’s sinister way of avenging itself.
Regardless of their origin, zombie viruses can be transmitted through one of two possible media;
1) Infected water sources
2) Air-borne routes.
The virus will breach your system and rest in your brain, whether inhaled or consumed. Here, the virus hibernates while acquiring its sustenance. The life of the infected host is the latent period of the virus. The zombie virus enters its infection period after the death of the host. And this will mark the beginning of the zombie pandemic. But can we control or contain the zombie pandemic?
There is, and cannot be, any cure for the zombie virus. We cannot rewire the brain, redo the reanimation or isolate and quarantine zombies. They are strong enough to break from the quarantines, and capturing walking dead bodies requires skills and the most vital nerve. They may be brainless, but they are programmed to kill humans with a remarkably targeted approach.
The dynamics of the zombie virus pandemic aren’t different from other pandemics the world has endured. One or a few gets infected, and the virus spreads and continues to transmit meteorically. Well, in the zombie virus, accelerate the transmission rate to a hundred times.
From its silent incubation to its grim plateau state- let’s outline the protracted timeline of the zombie apocalypse.
Here we have sketched the timeline of the 30 days and focused on the possible scenarios we might observe. Note that, in any pandemic situation, the first 30 days are of great significance as they give us an idea of the possible immensity and deathliness of the virus. Also, remember that the zombie virus is more fatal than other viruses, so the accelerated transmission and worsened consequences don’t match or apply to the other viral pandemics.
With all that in mind, let’s move on to the foretold timeline of the zombie apocalypse.
In the course of Zombie Apocalypse
Week 1: The Incubation Period
Day 1- Day 7
Be it rabies or zombie virus, every virus follows a singular and determined viral transmission trail. It began with an incubation period, succeeded by an infection period, and peaked with the plateau period. Considering the unique virality of the zombie virus, the transmission and fatality rate eerily differ from other viruses.
Incubation is the duration from exposure to the first symptom of the virus. Typically, it varies from virus to virus, mainly depending on the replication rate of the virus. In most cases, the symptoms aren’t apparent in the incubation period. But once the virus completes its incubation, the initial symptoms surface, which can be contained or cured through vaccines and medication regimens.
How much does the zombie virus pertain to the average incubation period? Unfortunately, not much.
Our lack of knowledge about this virus is a consequence of the fact that this virus behaves and reacts entirely differently to the viruses we know. Where viruses exhibit incubation periods of days to months (at most), zombie viruses feature years-long latency or incubation. Most viruses may or may not result in the host’s demise. One well-established thing about the zombie virus is that it will not kill you; it will wait till you die.
However, this can stand true for the initial outbreak; the zombie virus may mutate exponentially after the explosion rendering uncertain consequences, shrinking its latency, and bringing about immediate death.
Let’s adjust a few known aspects of the zombie virus here. Assume that such a virus was toyed or planned in a heavily guarded facility and, in manners unknown, escaped from the facility. Conspiracies say it was invented for biological warfare. The virus is introduced into the world and is consumed through infected water or air.
Say, the virus exhibits a week-long incubation and can bring about the death of its host within days, like other viruses. Initially, the virus develops hotspots, infecting pockets of people. Like other pandemics, a handful of deaths doesn’t cause country-wide wailing of the sirens. However, it will alert the healthcare and research sectors to explore these newfound and gruesome incidents.
Reanimation would have been completed before they could even assemble their heads. A few handfuls of dead bodies will unintelligibly groan and run amok for fresh brains. With the entire world and thousands of new brains, they will devour to their fullest.
While most will be slain, bitten, or split open to their death, some might escape wounded- injured with the zombie virus running in their bloodstreams. What comes next? Traumatic death followed by hideous reanimation.
The wounded would be the ones helping to swell the horde of zombies. From a few handfuls to a literal horde, billions of living beings would fall short of fulfilling the growling hunger of zombies.
Considering the increasing infection rate during the incubation period, incubation and infection periods may seem similar. But the infection period will tint the world with crimson, pile up the dead bodies, and populate the world with decaying beings.
Let’s delve into the infection period of the zombie virus.
Week 2: The Infection Period
Day 8 – Day 14
First, pray that you don’t have to witness this period. The infection will be marked by an exponentially increasing fatality rate and widespread decimation of living humans.
Let’s start with the infected ones. The infected or wounded ones will attempt to escape the affected area. However, they won’t escape their fate. They will be reanimated if the wounded move to another city and die. They will proceed with the chain of infection—a new town, a new batch of fresh brains, and another massive number of reanimated beings.
A few handfuls of infected beings will have a cascading effect wiping out area after area and reanimating human after human. This will be high time for the healthcare and research sectors to devise methods to win this battle. But this is when the world will wholly recognize their brutal fate- their ghastly, grey, and unforgiving reality.
The zombie virus won’t be any other health and economic challenge; it will upend normalcy and disrupt order. With the virus spreading at a meteoric rate, containing it would mean infected sharing hospital beds and morgues overflowing with dead bodies. And you might see your authorities on television accepting their folly of not addressing the situation early and failing to contain it. Consider that a sign that you are left alone and have to fend for yourself.
If you are fortunate and live in the least affected area, rush to your nearby mall and panic-buy essentials. Stockpile the food supplies, safeguard your doors and windows, and stay indoors or underground.
Prepare yourself for living a pre-industrial lifestyle with bare minimums and zero luxuries. The zombie apocalypse won’t be a health crisis; it will be a global and collateral collapse. With healthcare sectors shutting down and governments on their knees, electricity and water supplies will dry up within days.
Overall, the infection period implies a rapid recession to the times we lived in caves. But like other viruses, zombies reach a plateau phase. After all, the human supply will eventually run out, and the death rate will halt.
Let’s see what stealth transmission and late realization would cost human civilization.
Week 3: The Plateau Period
Day 15 – Day 21
If we were to protract the mapping to 100 days, two hundred seventy-three survivors. But this statistic doesn’t reflect the plateau phase. A plateau phase is when the virus has reached the maximum infection rate and stabilizes at that rate. In most viral outbreaks, the infection and the death rate would start dropping from the plateau phase, and hope might be restored.
However, the zombie virus’s plateau phase means zombie reign crystallization, disruption of human sanctity, and validation of a grim future. Zombie viruses will reach a plateau period at billions of dead bodies, crumbling of systems, decline to ancient ways, and pertinence of survival of the fittest protocol. The infection and death rate will drop as fewer living beings and widespread zombies hunt for fresh brains.
Also, this phase is crucial for those who want to survive or have somehow survived the zombie pandemic. Think of it as the time which will initiate the beginning of the end of the zombie apocalypse. How? Let us explain.
Zombies need an inexhaustible supply of fresh brains to feed their hunger and propel their survival. With most people dead or reanimated, zombies will be left with limited new brains. Theories suggest that zombies can live up to 20 days without consuming brains.
Start counting from when the plateau period peaked until the 20th day. Hold on a few more days; you will walk carefree someday. Though the sight might not suit your taste but trust us, the freedom to roam free would feel phenomenal. But for now, let’s focus on the almost post-apocalyptic period.
Week 4: Almost Post-apocalyptic Period
Day 22 – Day 30
Deeply hued in crimson with a pungent reek of corpses stretched all across- the world will be turned into a vast open graveyard. You may or may not witness zombies decaying away to their death or running wild for fresh brains. But don’t mistake this time as the end of the zombie apocalypse.
In such desperate times, zombies might adapt and hunt for living animals to support their survival. Animals aren’t their preferred prey but will sustain on animal flesh until they find the next living human. And this is precisely the time you want to wait out. Sooner or later, most zombies will be overcome with starvation and the overwhelming need for brains. Once you see zombies dying away, plan your escape to a region unreachable by zombies. Plot it strategically and execute it faultlessly; your life depends on it.
But what will the world look like after this massive human eradication? Let’s have a quick peek into it. A world smeared with red, amassed with corpses and humanity weakly shrieking for its existence. A world adorned to thrive and systematized to flourish will diminish to debris and ashes.
Enduring society will witness its absolute annihilation and be pushed to seek mere survival. Dead will be assimilated into the earth, the reanimated ones await their inevitable death, and the survivors will rummage earth for their persistence.
How to stay alive in the first 30 days of the zombie apocalypse?
First, prepare yourself mentally and emotionally that you will lose more than you can anticipate. Next, at the first news of the zombie pandemic, start preparing yourself for a long hibernation. If a grocery store is blocks away from your home, find a house near the grocery shop. Or ideally, find a shelter outside cities or abandoned areas, or pick your favorite mountain view.
Stocking and finding a perfect shelter are just half the battle. You must ensure that you have sufficient to sustain the 30 days and tools/ weapons to encounter any uncalled attack. Avoid leaving your shelter unnecessarily and step outside only when it is urgent. Figure out the ways to keep yourself engaged and entertained. With no internet and electricity, you might have to go the extra mile to figure out the amusements for yourself.
Also, keep a lethal weapon close to yourself. Although zombies may not look strong, their drive for fresh brains can compel them to tear your front door down. So, secure your windows and doors with additional guards, stay alert, and be prepared for any attack. Remember, zombies may look ‘weak,’ but don’t let their apparent anatomy deceive you. These beings are far more powerful and cunning than they appear.
Conclusion
What will happen in the first thirty days of the zombie apocalypse? The world will be Immersed in hysteria and doused in crimson. It will be relentless plunder of human sanctity, the gross dismantling of life, and an unforgiving eradication of the existing order.
Even with the slimmest survival chances, some humans will survive to witness the brutal carnage and hope to re-introduce the order.
