Zombie infestation in a small restricted area – A practical experiment

Now I know the zombie infection spreads and preventions have been done to death (pun intended). However what I am trying to present is a variation of the spread through a more practical experiment with the use of minimal technology. Differences from most of the other experiments will include almost no interference from the external areas, no weapons and some realistic assumptions of the zombies and the virus.

For the experiment we will be considering a drenched person a zombie. Now the start of it shall be done by catching hold of one person and pouring a bucket or more of water on him and then letting him be. This is very much in line with a bunch of scientists catching hold of a person and infecting him with a virus. As any regular zombie, this one would like to infect others. So now he pulls out a bucket and douses people around, more specifically as revenge on the guys who did it to him. The others drenched of course, would like to spread it around.

As we all know zombies are slow moving and so are people with buckets. However in the dead of the night where the other inhabitants of the hostel, sorry I meant closed area have nowhere else to go, after running around for a while do tire out and give up. As the say in Transylvania, the vampire is at the top of the food chain. So at some point of time when the uninfected figure that out they decide to finally give in. Others maybe pulled out of their secluded rooms of rest to be converted.

Now there are many others in the area also, who are generally asleep and unaware of the spread of infection outside. Zombies of course would like to bring as many as possible to the dark side. Now few more basic assumptions, one that we have already used above that zombies do have limited memories of the past and hence would most likely firstly try to convert people they know. Secondly they may be physically slower than the uninfected (a completely drenched person carrying a bucket full of water cannot run) but unlike in the movies they also are slightly logical and tactical, ensuring maximum conversion rate. They maybe generally irrational (come on, anybody running about in a dry place with buckets of water to throw around needs to be that) as the classical zombie, but they are good.

Conclusions:

Eventually as most of the inhabitants are converted in a matter of 2 hours but there are of course a few exceptions. There are some that refuse to infect others, watching others fall or just resting in peace. There are some who look normal (less drenched), who draw out unsuspecting normals to get them infected and of course there are those who believe the experiment is a scam for childish behavior and remain uninfected while trying to stop the virus altogether (an extremely small and unsuccessful minority). Zombies also were rational in case of existing viral attacks and certain members were spared for already being down with another infection. A minimal few of course who slept through the ordeal had no idea of the sudden infection and disinfection. The area was suddenly all clean in the morning and most blood (water) on the floor had evaporated. Some even believed it was just rain.