Zombies: they groan, they stumble, they drop limbs. They redefine the phrase “You only live once” and could be coming closer than ever before.
They’re the constant threat on AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” and the Pride and Prejudice revamp- “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.”
In Miami, Fla. and Doylestown, Pa., there were attacks upon other human beings that seemed cannibalistic in nature. Zombie Walks fill the streets with costumed corpses and some Penn State students are involved in “Humans Versus Zombies.”
Pop culture shows that a plan for survival is paradigm in the midst of an attack by the undead. Penn State student Josh Day (senior-kinesiology) said that if he were ever faced with a zombie attacking him, he would “probably pick up the nearest object and hit them with it, and then run.”
Olivia Janicelli said that she, too, would run away.
“It’s hard to even think of what you’d do because it just seems so unrealistic,” Janicelli (sophomore-community environment and development) said.
When asked what he would do if faced with a zombie attacking him, Bill Hood said that he would try to fight them off, but that he would likely not make it through the attack.
“I mean, I’m not an incredibly physically fit person muscle-wise, so I’d probably be eaten,” Hood said.
However, Hood (senior-broadcast journalism) said that in the event of an apocalypse, his first stop would be a gun shop owned by a friend, and then Canada. He would head there, he said, because he thinks the zombies would be friendlier and that the cooler weather could affect the undead.
Kayla Bracall said that she would scream if ever faced with a zombie attack.
“I always think that if I’m ever in a situation like that I’d just scream,” Bracall (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) said.
Bracall, who said that she thought the attack in Miami was “horrifying,” added that she would try to run, though she’s not the best runner.
Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Forensic Science Program Frank Dorman said that he doesn’t believe in a zombie apocalypse happening.
“I just don’t give it any credibility at all,” Dorman said. “I think it’s fantasy stuff out of the movies.”
However, there are those who believe that an apocalypse of the undead could possibly occur. Hood is one of those people.
“Obviously it would not be fun,” Hood said. “I think it’s entirely possible right now.”
Hood, a fan of zombie-related entertainment, said that the only problem he saw with the event not happening is “restarting the dead,” but that he believes in the idea of a disease that makes one want to eat other people.
So, prepared or not, believers or not, the Penn State community could hear groans of the dead on campus one day. Whether they’re simply coming from the television is a different story.
