need help

[Cold and dead]

working on chapter 2 of a fictional novel, my hero's have a dilemma... they are in a infant word of a hospital and are faced with infant zombies, like what would you do?

[PatD]

They are no longer human babies. They are just "fun size" zombies. If they are able the crawl, I take them out. If they are unable to move, I leave them. I don't think zombies age so I wouldn't worry about them developing the ability to walk.

[shrapnel]

Moved to Zombie Combat Tactics before someone shows up and is a jerk.

As to zombie babies... meh. Babies are pretty useless until they're, what, 1? A zombie that can't even hold its head up on its own isn't really going to do much.

[Cold and dead]

was more of a moral question...

[shrapnel]

Right, but, zombies.

[OhioKaos]

Morally speaking, to "be a zombie" something that was once alive is now dead...but is mobile and deadly and has but one goal: eat human flesh (or brains). One could put down a "zombie baby" without a qualm whatsoever (other than maybe risking insanity if left to thought about how the BABIES that these Hell fiends now are met their end...)

[AUA]

On the topic of zombie children (more specifically, zombiefied children that I/others would have close personal ties with), that decision would have to be relative to the background and thought process of the survivor. The questions that it boils down to is,

'What do I identify this individual as?'

If that ID is zombie (which is an irreversible corruption of that person and thus cannot be considered to be the same human being ever again), then the survivor takes the shot.

If that ID is zombie with concession, the survivor believes that there is some way to reverse the zombie state (or that unprovoked 'loss of life' is unnecessary, as would be the case with vegans or others with similar philosophies), and may not take the shot if possible (although they would probably be able to take it should themselves or others be in direct danger).

If that ID is 'human' with concession, the survivor still associates the zombie as being a human, albeit afflicted; the survivor probably won't kill the zombie, even if themselves or others are in danger, unless this belief is fundamentally changed.


The cognitive justification for doing so would be hard on the mind in any event, however; unless you differentiate between 'human' and 'zombie', and treat the 'zombie' as in the first case.

Ethical systems don't exactly have support for zombie apocalypse situations.

[Doctorr Fabulous]

Srs bsns. Eliminate the threat. The hammer dance would also be effective, given a good pair of boots.

[Cold and dead]

Looking through the glass window in the infant ward they saw what remained of undead infants. Most were dead, some half eaten, and some were laying there only partially missing flesh. They had grey skin, no teeth, and undeveloped muscles, as though in a state of purgatory they could never get up.

[Doctorr Fabulous]

Looking through the glass window in the infant ward they saw what remained of undead infants. Most were dead, some half eaten, and some were laying there only partially missing flesh. They had grey skin, no teeth, and undeveloped muscles, as though in a state of purgatory they could never get up.

Yup. Tap dancin' time.

[Penzanse]

Lawn aerator shoes?

[TheLastOne]

I dunno, I'd focus on the inherent creepiness of zombie babies (think train spotting baby on the ceiling thing).

Probably not a threat, but might be a cool horror moment or baby jumps out at somebody scaring the group or whatnot, maybe this just leads to some good dialogue about how the characters feel about killin zombabies (TM). They can obviously just bail, maybe part of group says we go around, others say we cut our way through?

[Doctorr Fabulous]

Lawn aerator shoes?

Have 'em check maintenance for one of these:

[Duke Raze]

Do your zombies eventually rot or become less lethal? If so there is no reason to screw with your mind leave them to wither. If not collect them up and cremate them en masse. One by one would really screw you up if not then it would later. There is a scene in Crossed by Garth Ennis where the two protagonists (Guy and Gal) shoot regular kids because they were cannibals and had killed one of their group. Unless these zombies are much more mobile than regular newborns there should not be a real threat.

[MandoMan7]

im preeeeety sure that after everyone had to put down their first close freind/family member/lover, i dont think this would get past the "thats creepy, we should go around. good idea" but i do think it would be a good plot device to screw with your readers.

[Redeyes]

A bunch of helpless, small and light zombies would be just the thing for research.

[Jeriah]

I'm pretty sure the "It tried to bite me but had no teeth!" gag has been used before, with an old lady or something, but it's worth repeating. Baby tries to gum someone to death, at first they freak, then they realize it can't hurt them and are relieved. Or, then there is an "oh shit" moment where they realize the baby slobbered all over a cut they'd received earlier...