AMC: The Walking dead question?

The show is playing out just like the comic series in this regard. The only real difference is that the comics revealed the details far earlier, within the first few issues. It's unusual in comparison to the usual method of operation for zombie apocalypse fiction but it's how this specific outbreak works. So yes, everyone who has died thus far is a zombie. Go figure.

And in regards to the dead bodies without head injuries, that was either an oversight or is due to some sort of exception (maybe the virus hadn't completely spread at an earlier point in time? Who knows). It wasn't ever pointed out in the comic book series so I'm not certain.

Ask Robert Kirkman (the writer of the comics and one of the show's producers) if you want to know why. This was his call.

Further, relevant details (at least in regards to how the virus works in the comics):

Time greatly varies between death and zombification, sometimes it is an instant process (rising within seconds after death) and other times it takes far longer (days). There is no real pattern to this, and, at least at the moment, seems rather random.

People do NOT need an infected wound (nor even just an open one for that matter) to become a zombie. It happens to EVERYONE when they die.

On that note, so far the infection has been explained as being an airborne contagion. And in regards to the virus' method of infection, I have my own little theory that this airborne quality is what the CDC guy, Dr. Jenner, whispered to Rick in the season one finale. But that's a whole different topic of dicussion.

The process is NOT speeding up. Someone will die in the future and they will not rise as a zombie nearly as fast as Shane recently did.

The zombies in The Walking Dead are NOT based on the concepts put forth in the Zombie Survival Guide. The two are COMPLETELY unrelated. In fact, Robert Kirkman has specifically stated in many interviews that he avoids zombie fiction (he even explicitely mentions Max Brook's two books, the Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z) like the [zombie?] plague [I kid] in order to keep from (even accidentally) absorbing info from other zombie mythos and inserting it into his own. He want's his own story to remain as original as possible.

PS: On a somewhat separate note, if you like the TV series I HIGHLY recommend reading the comics. It is easily one of the greatest comic books written in the past decade.

The survivors are fighting Walkers, not everyone who has ever died. There are 3 tiers now - The living, the dead, and the Walkers. Cemeteries did not rise up full of Zombies. There isn't a Marilyn Monroe walker.

As has been said 10000 times in here over the last 2 days, there are new theories about how the virus is transmitted. Most are saying it's now airborne. I'm saying it's either that or the virus is dormant in every living human (except maybe Rick) and only activates upon death (other than a traumatic brain injury death).

Edit: Yes, the cars on the highway to pose a continuity problem. I suspect that it will be explained by brain injuries (common in car accidents) and/or they died before the virus had infected everyone on the planet.

Everybody carries the virus, this is what the scientist whispered into Rick's ear at the laboratory. However, despite being living carriers of the virus, it only activates when you die. E.g get stabbed in Shane's case or snap your neck in Randall's case. Walkers have a lethal saliva that kills you and makes you undergo the same procedure, death and then reanimation. The reason why you damage the brain part of the body is because it is where the virus strikes. Destroying the brain stops the virus from taking action.

To clear it up for you, the zombies that just lie there e.g. inside the cars on the highway, inside the tank, they are a kind of zombies called 'lurkers' that act as if they are dead until someone gets near them or they are either actually dead from not getting human flesh for a long period of time, thus rotting away.

In the CDC, the guy told Rick that the virus is airborne. "The Walking Dead" doesn't refer to zombies. It refers to the living. Once one dies, you become a zombie regardless if you get bit or not. The only way to keep becoming from a zombie when you die is if you smash your brain. Remember when they went to the school and found the two guards? They weren't bitten but they still turned into zombies. Being bitten by a zombie doesn't turn you into one directly. The walkers saliva and bites give you a deadly infection which actually kills you. And once you die, that's when you turn into a zombie.

Sorry if it doesn't make much sense.

In the walking dead world, anyone that dies becomes a zombie. They wouldn't be against anyone that dies, just all those that die after the zombies came around. Thats why in the book (and I'm sure they will show more in the show) they smash the skulls of the dead before they turn.

they'll repeat the show don't worry the show is awesome it reminds me of dawn of the dead/28 days later I'm a fan of zombie movies so I'll continue watching this show the characters are pretty cool especially the little boy in the shower scene

el0w and the invisible man

are correct!

mark..is wrong.

that would obviously not explain the

two dead guards in earlier episodes.

rick made a comment about them

saying that there were no scratches or

bites on them.

so...el0w could have not explained it better!

how bout this gem of information... Shane was infected on the bus trying to escape the zombies. He stabbed a zombie with his knife and then used the knife to cut his hand and put blood on the bus door. Randall had open wounds on his wrist and Shane's knife wound hadn't healed so that blood got into Randall's wounds.

Good lord people. Everyone single person is infected. Doesn't matter how you die you come back as a zombie unless you die of a brain injury.

look it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Everywhere has the virus but it is inactive until you die or get bit