Tuesday, April 30, 2013

‘Z’ is for ‘The Z,’ the world’s only zombie reservation.



‘Z’ is for ‘The Z,’ the world’s only zombie reservation. It’s the farthest thing from appearing in any of my scheduled books, at present the tentative setting for my seventh down the line, and so it’s closing out the A-to-Z challenge.

The Z lies deep in the north-west of The Frontier (see ‘F’), and is the only place in the world that still experiences zombieism. Zombies are very old hat for this world, a vestige of an apocalypse so old there is no record of it. It’s widely believed that zombieism is caused by magical bacteria, which is why The Z is such a quizzical place. That the infected only spawn from this place seems more like a curse.

A nice place to keep your undead.
The geographic area is a mild plateau featuring jungle flora and extreme humidity. Anyone who dies there rises, yet people who spend significant time there and die elsewhere do not rise. Zombies exported from The Z can spread the condition through fluid transfers, yet the infection spreads much less quickly in such cases. This has been documented by Red Brigadier Wisemen (see ‘R’) who were willing to subject themselves to the condition for the betterment of common knowledge. Searching for the cause is impractical do to the myriad flesh-hungry beings that live there, and because of The Z’s wardens.

Regardless of the cause, The Red Brigade has set up a barrier around the entire plateau, and thousands of believers spend their entire lives there, ensuring no zombies escape. They do not begrudge the risen, seeing it as merely the final change and likely one coming from The Fifth, their most feared god. A zombie is a fellow to be respected, just as a farmer who turns into a scholar is. What the Red Brigade do they view as both in service to the rest of the world, and ensuring peace to their undead brothers and sisters. The task is so great that many zealots seek other infections, such as vampirism and tentacalia, to assist in keeping zombies away from their borders.

The Red Brigade also serve to prevent other creatures from entering ‘The Z,’ as zombiefied humans and triclopes are bad enough. A zombie centaur or hadrosaur is much worse. The apex zombie predators are stuff of legend, roaming in the very depths of the plateau, along with a lost tribe of scientists who were allegedly seeking to weaponize the area’s unique bacteria.

37 comments:

  1. Congratulations. A wonderful A to Z. And I am hard put to know what I want to know more about. Rather a lot. Thank you.

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    1. And thank you for your support throughout! I'm glad you've enjoyed it. More fiction to come from this world, sooner and later.

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  2. Love it! I was wondering if we'd see Zombies over here :)

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  3. Every Zombie should have a reservation :) Yay for completing A-Z!

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    1. They're people, too! According to the Wisemen.

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  4. I love the lost tribe of scientists.

    The tour through your world has been amazing, John - thank you!

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    1. Thank you for coming along through all of it. Cheers!

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  5. Ooh, weaponized zombie bacteria would be very bad indeed. Great meeting you over the challenge. Your world is amaZing!

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    1. Haha, excellent Z-ing! And it's been a pleasure meeting you, too, Shell. Will read your finale tonight.

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  6. A zombie reservation! Now that's creative.

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  7. Great idea John and congrats on finishing the challenge.

    Kelly's Eye - Writing, Music, Life

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  8. Great end to your posts. Love what you've created here with the zombies. Congrats.

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  9. This must go on... you got me now! Congrats on the A-Z and letting us in on, hopefully, what is to come!
    KaTy Did at: Life's Ride As I See It

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  10. Zombie hadrosaurs... somewhere across the veil, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is looking at you and saying, "Man, that is seriously messed up, but in a very interesting way."

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    1. That'd make me very happy! His Lost World had a profound impact on me in my teens. It was the first book where I realized the narrator couldn't be in real jeopardy since he lived to tell me about it.

      Still the best of all possible plateaus. I wanted it to be out there.

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  11. Wow--fantastic end to your panoply of selections. I hope you keep on writing as you are exceptional and completely, wonderfully, fascinating!
    To butcher Jack Nicholson's quote, "You make me want to be a better writer" !

    jean
    thanks for everything! xox

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    1. Thank you, Jean, for being so exuberant and supportive all month. It's been a total pleasure getting to know you!

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  12. Remind me to stay away from that "perfect place for the undead".

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  13. I enjoyed your posts and many of the places you have created sound well worth a visit but I might have to pass on The Z ;) Congratulations for finishing the A to Z Challenge.

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  14. Very creative! Makes me want to go back and read your whole series...through this challenge, I've come to terms with zombies, vampires, and other paranormal creatures. I used to stay completely away, but my physical therapist made me watch The Walking Dead...and then there was no going back...I'm reading all this stuff I never used to. And enjoying it. I especially love the bit about the lost scientists trying to make a weapon. Good stuff!
    Tina @ Life is Good
    Co-host, April 2013 A-Z Challenge Blog
    @TinaLifeisGood, #atozchallenge

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    1. I try to handle the paranormal a little differently. You can see my V-day post wipe out most of vampirism in a very sanitary fashion. Thank you for stopping by!

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  15. Wow, the Red Brigadier Wisemen have hard-core dedication. Congrats on finishing the challenge! The world you've created is so intricate and fascinating, and I've enjoyed learning about it. Best of luck with all your books.

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    1. Thank you for the wishes of luck. I've got another submissions package headed out soon.

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  16. Given the humidity + zombies, I am surprised that anyone could stand to go near the place without having their sense of smell surgically removed. And I'm trying to imagine a zombie centaur. That would be frightening! I wonder, do the Brigadiers who spend their lives guarding The Z choose to die (and rise) there as well?

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    1. It's why very few centaurs and triclopes hang out up there. Only humans with their poorly developed noses can manage it. As for whether they decide to rise again - some future flash fiction may answer that!

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  17. It could be a nice place to drop off criminals a la "Escape from New York" style.... :)

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  18. What an interesting place to store zombies, and an interesting way to create them. Magical bacteria seems perfectly plausible in this world you've set up.

    Congratulations on making it all the way through the alphabet! We're done!

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    1. All done! Now I just have to write something for tomorrow. And every day after that.

      Darn it.

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  19. That was written so realistically, I almost believed it!

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  20. Love this! I need to go back and read through your first posts as soon as I can find a spare moment. Your world is truly fascinating. When are you going to do a post on the Fifth? Or did I manage to miss it?

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    1. I never finished it on account of the lung infection. It will have to appear later, possibly as a Friday Flash.

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  21. A zombie reservation is quite original.

    Yay, we finished the A to Z challenge!!

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  22. Well, you went out with a bang *or was that an escaping Zombie* I have really enjoyed your unique and imaginative tales! Now I have time to visit the ones I've missed:) I look forward to reading your future works *even if it's concerning the undead*
    Cheers!
    Sam

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  23. Thank goodness for the Red Brigade, can you imagine the apocalypse that would ensue if zombies were allowed to roam freely through the frontier.

    I enjoyed getting through this challenge and it feels like a great accomplishment but the highlight of the experience has to be discovering so many supportive, encouraging, creative people. It's been inspiring. Thanks for your consistent support, reading your posts became a nightly ritual. Good luck with your projects, I'll be checking in.

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  24. This is interesting, it seems so that you're not giving them a total negative meaning! It is most interesting, but mainly funny, because I have Zombies too. They live under water and they're a warrior tribe!
    It was a real pleasure knowing your blog and I'm looking forward to read more!
    But take care most importantly!
    How are you?

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  25. Really fascinating world, John. Best of luck with the querying, I'll be there in the queue when the book's finally out there. =)

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