Stages of the zombie apocalypse.

[Spudzill]

This is what the world during and after the apocalypse would IMO most likely look like.
30 minutes after patient zero if the virus acts quick enough is pure unadulterated chaos with local police being overwhelmed and possibly brfore the news even gets a report out so most people, even in the affected area aren't aware of what's going on. Every attack is a shock.
30 hours and the news is all over it, and people nationwide will start panicking, making run on supermarkets, sitting glued to the tube, trying to quickly run to government appointed shelters. The National Guard will be in full force but will be overwhelmed by the volume of problems which will escalate. Shut-ins and the like will probably be what survives.
30 days and the initial confusion and chaos are over but so is society. All thats left is devastation. The shut-ins will come out to scavenge food and other goods. The few survivors will meet up and join, for the need of allies to watch their backs as they will become nomadic to obtain more stuff. Oddly most meetings of human beings will be amicable due to ample resources and a common foe.
30 weeks will see roving vehicle packs descending on urban areas( as well as any habitation) to scavenge life's essentials, but as these goods are beginning to get scarce meetings with newcomers are often violent becoming usually violent within the next couple months.
30 months will see crudely fortified walled towns growing food behind the walls. Armor and hand wepons will be crude mostly scavenged sporting goods and yard tools as the knowledge to custom build will mostly be lost and nobody's trading right now.
30 years will have the crudity of the armor and weapons refined to something more like the middle ages and scavenging parties may or may not be a part of the landscape but the old society will be long gone.

[carllarson]

There was a recent offering on e23 with a 15 day timeline. Seemed suitable for the beginning, especially in a island nation.

[bstubby]

Maybe I have a skewed view of human nature, but I find it hard to believe that the interactions between people would be amicable at any point when scavenging for food and supplies.

I can't recall what the average timeline is off the top of my head, but I know that most decently populated areas in the US (and by extension most western countries) are only a few days from running out of food. It is only the constant operation of the supply chain that keeps supermarket shelves stocked. After hurricane Katrina it was 2 or 3 days before water and food supplies were scarce.

The spread of the devastation also depends on the source and vector of infection. If it is a natural contagion that spreads from "patient zero" through bites or scratches and has a rapid onset (around 30 mins from exposure to zombification) then it will generally be as fast as the zombie could move. And how does a zombie determine which direction to go? Does it follow prey or wander randomly? Would the vast majority of zombies wander the city where they converted or strike out across the land? I would forsee a much more protracted length of time where the local country would teeter on the verge of collapse before either going over the edge or recovering. That "twilight" time would make for an awesome campaign setting with lots of politics and paranoia mixed in with the occasional zombie combat encounter :)

[Phoenix_Dragon]

I think the main question wouldn't be so much "What happens afterward" (Which we have many natural disasters and breakdowns of order throughout the world to draw reference from), but "how does it happen anyway," especially in a US city. As fun as zombies are, they're a horribly visible vector, and one that can be combated by one of the most easily-accessible methods to fight a "disease": firearms. The transition from Patient Zero to "full blown zombie apocalypse" is rather poorly explored territory, and one most vulnerable to disbelief. With most zombie apocalypses seeming to start in major cities, it seems like several things have to go wrong for it to progress like that. Especially once the military gets involved, who seem to get seriously underestimated in zombie movies. Well, okay, any disaster-monster movies.

Starting it out in rural areas makes it easier, I would think, since the zombies could start spreading, and have higher numbers over a larger area before people start catching on.

[Spudzill]

Originally Posted by bstubby

Maybe I have a skewed view of human nature, but I find it hard to believe that the interactions between people would be amicable at any point when scavenging for food and supplies.

I can't recall what the average timeline is off the top of my head, but I know that most decently populated areas in the US (and by extension most western countries) are only a few days from running out of food. It is only the constant operation of the supply chain that keeps supermarket shelves stocked. After hurricane Katrina it was 2 or 3 days before water and food supplies were scarce.

The spread of the devastation also depends on the source and vector of infection. If it is a natural contagion that spreads from "patient zero" through bites or scratches and has a rapid onset (around 30 mins from exposure to zombification) then it will generally be as fast as the zombie could move. And how does a zombie determine which direction to go? Does it follow prey or wander randomly? Would the vast majority of zombies wander the city where they converted or strike out across the land? I would forsee a much more protracted length of time where the local country would teeter on the verge of collapse before either going over the edge or recovering. That "twilight" time would make for an awesome campaign setting with lots of politics and paranoia mixed in with the occasional zombie combat encounter :)

The depopulation makes the supplies last longer. Remember zombies don't just kill you, they make you one of them. Which makes more of them faster. If you are reduced to, say a hundred thousand survivors left, in say , North America, after about 30 days the supermarket stuff will last longer. As I said people will be nomadic wandering from market to market for food. Resouces will be plentiful and all living humans will share a common enemy. Until the supplies run out.

[Spudzill]

Originally Posted by Phoenix_Dragon

I think the main question wouldn't be so much "What happens afterward" (Which we have many natural disasters and breakdowns of order throughout the world to draw reference from), but "how does it happen anyway," especially in a US city. As fun as zombies are, they're a horribly visible vector, and one that can be combated by one of the most easily-accessible methods to fight a "disease": firearms. The transition from Patient Zero to "full blown zombie apocalypse" is rather poorly explored territory, and one most vulnerable to disbelief. With most zombie apocalypses seeming to start in major cities, it seems like several things have to go wrong for it to progress like that. Especially once the military gets involved, who seem to get seriously underestimated in zombie movies. Well, okay, any disaster-monster movies.

Starting it out in rural areas makes it easier, I would think, since the zombies could start spreading, and have higher numbers over a larger area before people start catching on.

I disagree. In an urban area the "natural resources" to make zombies-people-are far more plentiful and densely packed. A quick acting zombie plague would rip through a large population center unbelivebly fast. Moving in extremely rapid waves that get scary as hell. In a mathematical progression. The only problem with the scenario is keeping the military from just barricading the city and nuking it, but if the plague moves quick enough there is no way for the response times to keep up with the spread.

[smurf]

The films have been poor, some have called them metaphoric. But usually it is through bite or blood etc.

However, the T Virus of Resident Evil was a better way to transmit the virus. It could be transmitted by various means.

[Kaldrin]

Originally Posted by Spudzill

I disagree. In an urban area the "natural resources" to make zombies-people-are far more plentiful and densely packed. A quick acting zombie plague would rip through a large population center unbelivebly fast. Moving in extremely rapid waves that get scary as hell. In a mathematical progression. The only problem with the scenario is keeping the military from just barricading the city and nuking it, but if the plague moves quick enough there is no way for the response times to keep up with the spread.

A couple of Canadians did a study about this too. They figured, mathematically, that there was a certain time limit to a zombie apoc for the survivors to overcome it or be completely overrun is fairly short.

[ed_209a]

Originally Posted by Spudzill

The depopulation makes the supplies last longer. ... Resouces will be plentiful and all living humans will share a common enemy. Until the supplies run out.

I think predator logic bears this out. It doesn't make sense to risk injury for a non-scarce resource. With most people dead, canned food won't be scarce. I would predict caution and suspicion, but not much actual conflict until the food runs low. (I should add, this is between visibly prepared groups. Visibly weak/unprepared groups will always be prey.)

[Pragmatic]

Read World War Z. In the book, zombies are just people who died. An hour after turning into a zombie, they still look alive, but they are violent and empty-eyed. They look more like mentally ill types (needing to be captured and taken to a hospital for observation) than the walking undead. In the book, it was known as "African rabies," because it made people biters.

Think about it: Who are the first people who come upon zombies? The police, paramedics, and hospital staff. The first victims of the outbreak are going to be the people who are taught to handle emergencies. Large swathes of them are going to become infected before it is even known that it's a major problem. Hospitals and police stations could be overrun very quickly.

Then consider that, for most people, we don't know what happens two doors down, much less in the next neighborhood. Screams in the night will go unremarked in some neighborhoods. Gunfire isn't even reported to the police. The lower-income areas are going to be breeding grounds for zombies.

And in the higher-income areas, families will hide the victims, until such time as they break loose and infect the rest of the family. Entire subdivisions could become swarms of zombies behind locked doors.

Our biggest problem would be disbelief. "The dead are rising to feast on the flesh of the living? Eh, I've seen a hundred movies. That only happens on the big screen. Must be drug addicts or crazy people."