the environment of the Earth resulting from the introduction of extraterrestrial matter and, where necessary, shall adopt appropriate measures for this purpose.”
It must be stressed that the main concern described in the document revolved around the fear that a deadly virus would be mistakenly released into the Earth’s atmosphere, a worldwide pandemic would begin, and an unstoppable plague would escalate, ultimately killing each and every one of us. But what if that same pandemic didn’t just kill us, but soon thereafter brought us back from the grave, in the forms of billions of terrifying, violent killers, all intent on preying on human flesh and nothing else?
It might sound just like the hypothesis outlined in Night of the Living Dead, until the realization hits home that the plans to cope with the outbreak of an alien virus were discussed, and planned for, by the highest echelons of NASA, the space programs of the former Soviet Union and the United Kingdom, and the governments of numerous other nations—and decades ago, too. Preparing for the sudden surfacing of an alien-originated pandemic may not mean that government officials are also secretly anticipating that a zombie apocalypse will be far behind. On the other hand, there’s nothing to suggest they aren’t secretly planning for just such a possibility.
Andes Cannibals
There can surely be very few people who do not find the notion of cannibalism to be wholly abhorrent. It is one of the world’s major, long lasting taboos—unless, that is, you happen to be one of the undead, in which case it is practically de rigueur to chow down on the human race. It must be said, however, that none of us can say with complete and utter certainty that, when faced with a grim death by starvation, we would not resort to devouring the newly deceased. In all likelihood we would not do so eagerly, but, as a necessity, it might not be out of the question. Just such a situation occurred in 1972, high in the mountains of the Andes, when, after a plane crash, the survivors were forced to do the unthinkable and feed on the dead.
The date was October 13, 1972, and a Montevideo, Uruguay-based rugby team—the Old Christians Club—was flying to Chile, where they were to play an opposing team. The game, however, was destined never to take place. The crew of the aircraft, a Fairchild FH227D, made a fatal error during their descent towards the city of Curico, Chile. Powerful headwinds slowed the plane to a significant degree, leading the crew to become completely confused as to their exact location. Coupled with the fact that, at the time, the vast Andes was covered by dense clouds, the crew became further disoriented and began their descent while still travelling through the mountains, rather than after they had exited the huge range. The result was just about as disastrous as conceivably possible: the plane clipped two peaks, both wings were violently severed, an entire section of the remaining fuselage was torn open, and the remains of the plane slammed into a peak now called the Glacier of Tears.
Carnage, chaos, and death reigned supreme: five people lost their lives when they were sucked out of the gaping hole as the plane made its tumultuous descent. Four died in the crash itself. Three failed to last the first night. One passed away the following day. Another one lingered on for about a week before finally dying. Seven were tragically killed during a powerful avalanche. And three more died as the weeks progressed. Incredibly, however, sixteen managed to survive against the harshness of Mother Nature and the effects of the impact.
There were, however, two major problems facing those that were still clinging on to life. First, since the crew had become severely confused concerning their location prior to the crash, there was major uncertainty on the part of search and rescue teams regarding the actual location of the impact site. As a result, the search was abandoned after eleven days. The survivors were now all alone. And second, there was even worse news: since the flight was not a long one, provisions on the plane had been kept to an absolute minimum. A few snacks and candy bars aside, there was nothing to eat. Fortunately, snow could easily be converted into water, which prevented death from dehydration. It wasn’t very long, however, before the survivors of the crash weren’t just hungry—they were starving. There was only one possible way for them to keep going, if they chose to take it, that is. It involved breaking that aforementioned taboo.
One of the survivors, Nando Parrado, commented later that even though the hunger of those still alive grew to voracious levels, they did all they could to stave off the near-inevitable, such as even contemplating eating the cushioning material contained in the seats of the aircraft. It was all to no avail, however. Finally, the decision that nobody wanted to take was taken: since the cold weather, the ice, and the snow combined had prevented decomposition from setting in, the dead would serve as food. Like it or not, there was no choice if the group was to survive longer than a few more days. It was a decidedly grim task, since most of the dead had been very good friends of the survivors. Resorting to cannibalism worked very well, however: by feeding on the meat of the dead, the sixteen that were still alive managed to keep starvation at bay until they were finally rescued on December 23, some two months after the terrible accident that led man to devour man, high on the Andes.
Ants
While the human race has yet to experience a zombie outbreak of the type that decimates society to a massive degree, such a thing has most assuredly already occurred in other species. Take, for example, the ant. Ants are particularly susceptible to a particular kind of fungus that has the startling ability to control their mental faculties and use and manipulate them in what is very much a zombie-like state. It’s a fungus called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis. As to how and why this particular fungus works so well, one only has to take a look at the movie version of World War Z, which was based on Max Brooks’ novel of the same name.
One of the main reasons why the movie was given a “13” certificate, rather than a “Restricted” rating, was because it one hundred percent lacked the graphic slaughtering and devouring of the uninfected that are staple parts of The Walking Dead, Night of the Living Dead, and Day of the Dead. Certainly, in Brooks’ novel, the zombies act like the typical reanimated cannibals we have all come to know and love: there is lots of blood, gore, and the living torn to pieces.
The movie, however, makes two very drastic changes from the approach of the book: (a) the infected are of the fast-running kind, rather than of the slow and steady variety; and (b) those affected by the virus are not driven to kill and eat people—in the slightest. In fact, quite the opposite is the case: the sole goal of the mutated monsters is to spread the virus by infecting as many unfortunate souls as possible. After the infected bite down hard on their victims, they simply move onto the next person, and the next, and the next. Eating the attacked in bloody fashion isn’t even a part of the equation, hence the “13” certificate. Those who unfortunately fall victim to a bite transform within a matter of seconds, or minutes, and are equally driven to spread the infection. And this all brings us back to Ophiocordyceps unilateralis and the ant population.
In the same way that in the World War Z movie, the spreading of the virus is the only goal of the zombies, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis acts in an extremely similar fashion: it’s all about survival and absolutely nothing else. The whole process eerily mirrors the average zombie movie. Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is what is known as a parasitoid. In essence, the virus relies upon a host to allow it to live and thrive. The zombies of the World War Z movie chose us. Ophiocordyceps unilateralis chooses ants, specifically one kind: Camponotus leonardi, the carpenter ant.
The deadliest part of a zombie is not the creature itself, but its mouth, which, via
