Yet another Dawn of the Dead thread

Cafe Society
1

It occurred to me that a group of people isolated on a ship…cruise, naval, submarine, etc…for some time before the start of the zombie plague, would effectively make them safe indefinitely.

In the case of a naval vessel, the presence of small arms fire would quickly end any outbreak onboard.

How long could a ship keep passengers and crew alive without pulling into port or having any land support?

Lets assume the ship can anchor to a spot just a few miles offshore to pick up tv and radio brodcasts…and also to save fuel (where ya gonna go?).

They discover:

  1. Zombie-ism is spread by bites from zombies.
  2. A zombie bite is eventually fatal.
  3. A zombie is killed only by killing the brain.

Still unknown:

  1. Whether zombie-ism is caused by bacteria, virus, prion, etc.
  2. How long a zombie can live (if not killed).

Aside from ships, what other isolated groups would be safe?

2

Without knowing how the plague came about in the first place, it’s hard to say that anyone would really be safe. After all, people in the new DotD turn into zombies almost instantly, and it looked like the rest of the world was having much the same problem as America, so presumably the plague appeared on every continent simultaneously, since I don’t think too many people would get on a plane or boat after a zombie bite.

3

As silly as this sounds I was just wondering the same thing myself. It’s what prompted me to ask questions about what Marines carry into combat in General Questions.

Marc

4

According to The Zombie Survival Guide , the best possible place would be one of those oil drilling platforms way out in the ocean, because no zombie would ever possibly make iit there. An island is second-up, but you always run the risk of a zombiefied ship shipwrecking on your shore, spilling out zombies, or the eventuality that a zombie wandering the ocean floor might literally walk up out of the surf.

5

“Safe” is a relative term.

First and foremost, we are assuming that the personnel aboard the vehicle in question are able and willing to work with one another. On a submarine or military vessel of some kind – even some merchant marine vessels – this would be a reasonable assumption.

Aboard a cruise ship, I dunno. What’s the likelihood of several hundred civilians allovasudden not being able to go home and shutting up and doing as they’re told, even as the food is suddenly rationed, and they’re put to work, doing chores the Captain deems necessary to the survival of the whole? Hell, I think once the news got out, the Love Boat would become the Pandemonium Princess.

Crews aboard oil rigs would be safe for a time, but there’s the matter of resupply. Eventually, they’d have to worry about scurvy.

In the original DOTD, news broadcasts carried on for quite some time. Eventually, they quit. Isolated survivor groups on ships would be able to gather the information necessary to their survival, and take steps. In the remake, on the other hand, all we see is total insanity bursting loose, followed by the complete shutdown of all media within 72 hours of the outbreak. How much information could get through? These poor schmucks on the boat may not even know how the disease is transmitted… and that’s if it’s a disease. Keep in mind that even if naval officers normally carried small arms around everywhere they went, how willing would they be to shoot their crew, even if they were acting weird and crazy? By the time the crew figured out what caused the disease, half the freakin’ crew could have been bit… and that may well signal the end for the other half, don’cha think?

In the original DOTD, anyone who died for any reason came back as a zombie. This would pretty much mean the total infection of every island and landmass, no matter how small or large. In the new version, though, only zombie bites caused new zombies… so, theoretically, any isolated landmass could escape infection, provided they immediately quarantined themselves and shot down any incoming aircraft, and sank any incoming boats. England’s too close to Europe – they’d be screwed – and Australia’s too frinkin’ big – but New Zealand might have a chance, as would any number of small inhabited islands worldwide. Hawaii. The Turks and Caicos. Even Guam and suchlike.

Next, we introduce the matter of pirates. Seems like a boatload of armed guys who found themselves running low on certain essentials may well find this a viable option for obtaining them with a minimum of expense.

I propose a theoretical fight between the Revenge (formerly a Naval ship of irrelevant origin) vs. a Princess cruise liner. Who wins?

Again, it depends on your definition of “safe.” The George Romero zombie movies always made it VERY clear that the LIVE folks were the REAL monsters…

6

I would suggest that a nuclear submarine would be safer until you had to surface. Safer from zombies, anyway. Obviously eventually something catastrophic would happen, but otherwise it seems a pretty safe bet. Plus if you look off in the distance and do happen to spot a zombie on a drifting lilo heading straight for you, you can just sail away. What would be the downfall of the sub? Running out of dilithium crystals or something? Or if you had smart enough people aboard, could you manage it?

Alternatively, why not hide in a city on the moon? You know all those cities on the moon, that we live in. Because it’s 2004.

7

Things might get a little weird on a ship/oil rig once the food supply really runs out and they have to eat the dead…

8

My point exactly.

True, you can supplement your diet with fish and kelp, to some extent, but sooner or later, you’re going to run out of everything BUT fish and kelp, and that’s where the cheese begins to bind, yes? True, a nuclear submarine or aircraft carrier, lacking fuel requirements, could stay at sea indefinitely, but sooner or later, that thing is going to need routine maintenance that can’t be handled properly outside drydock… and sooner than that, most likely, the crew is going to get mighty sick of fish and seaweed. Literally, in fact; scurvy is bad news.

Then what?

9

I suppose then the crews would have to mount armed expedition to the mainland to restock the dwindling reserves.

Hell, maybe just driving an M-1 Abrams tank down the road could squish a thousand zombies dead per minuite…do that and have some soldiers with uzis and flamethrowers pick up canned food, diesel fuel, medicines, ammo, etc.

10

The problem of the City on the Moon is that, yes, you would be safe from zombies, but you’re not considering the two most dangerous things about living on the Moon:

  1. the high rents

  2. THE ZOMBIE MASTERS!

11

Which begs another question I’ve been pondering. How many people can an M-1 run over before the treads become so gummed up with human remains that it throws a track?

Marc

12

Fortunately, the Amazon Women provide companionship, taking the edge off.