The trickiest scenarios in zombie stories involve uncertainty over fellow humans on the run together. Was s/he really bitten by zombie? Will s/he transform to be another zombie? Should s/he be imprisoned or terminated? How should there be a fair decision for the sake of all? Yet, upon closer reflection, before transformation, that might not even occur, panicky, selfish and treacherous humans can already prove more dangerous than ‘mindless’ zombies. If we all have potential to become this or that, may none be too quick to demonise or deify anyone, including oneself.
With countless zombie flicks in the media already, there is the danger of stereotyping and demonising zombies. Of course, zombies are fictitious, but what if zombie-like phenomenon arises among humans and animals? Will it be so clear-cut, that once someone has transformed, that person becomes an immediate and irredeemable threat? What if there is a cure? What if there are human-zombie hybrids, who are more humane than monstrous? More ethical nuances are needed.
The humans you abandon, whom you could have saved, might become zombies, who haunt you later, for abandoning your humanity earlier. Yes, the law of karma can live through ‘undead’ karmic creditors too, if they do exist in real life. To save another human is to save a piece of your humanity too, to assert it, and continue qualifying as a true human being. To abandon another human is to lose your humanity instead, to become a ‘monster’ within, even if still a human without. Zombies are not the real challenge, when our humanity is what being challenged.
