Crazy shit bro.

thats a pretty awesome plot hook though

That's pretty cool.

There's actually another parasite that does this but instead of just killing the ant and spewing spores it forces the ant to cling to leaves so hebivores will eat the and and "expel" the parasites. It all starts with snails.

There is also a parasite that infects ants that takes over their brains that makes them climb up to the highest thing they can reach and wave around a lot so birds will eat the ant so it can infect the bird.

First sign of Z-Day?

I never know parasites/spores could do stuff like this. I always thought that it was sci-fi.

Yeah it's actually kinda scary when you think about it. Cold viruses and bacteria have been evolving to compensate for drugs and treatments developed by humans, not to mention the mutation of Avian Flu to allow it to spread to homo sapiens, it actually seems scientifically plausible that a fungus or small worm-like parasite could eventually evolve to infect humans in the same way it infects ants. I'm not sure what purpose that would have for the organism in question but it still seems plausible.

Indeed. The more you know about biology and wildlife, the far more frightening it is than any science fiction.

Although, in the case of humans being susceptible to a zombie fungus/virus the way those ants were is jumping the gun somewhat. Insect brains are extremely simplistic, to the point where a roach has been wired to be remote controlled. Humans are a little more complicated than that. A more likely scenario (in the foreseeable future) is that a resilient virus, parasite or fungus will find use of the human body as an incubator or host in some horrifying way... I submit the bot fly as evidence.

Yea I was thinking the same thing. Ants have a very simple nervous system, It would have to be something very complex to be able to manipulate our maze of electrical endings. It takes us years to learn to control our motor functions.

I agree that taking complete control of a human brain really does jump the boarder into science fiction. I think I got a little too liberal with my wording there.

I do think that by infecting certain parts of the brain it could create an uncontrollable desire to do a perticular thing like eat. A desire to eat human flesh and moan "braaaainnnnsss," I would say no, but it still sounds like it would be an interesting U:O campaign idea. Zombies covered in mold or spores that could turn other people into zombies. Or zombies that spread their zombiedom via some parasitic brain worm a la "Night of the Creeps."

Yep Yep and resident evil 4 and 5.

Well, a parasite or disease that causes specific brain damage can result in severe, violent personality change as in the case of Phinneas Gage's railroad work accident. This is roughly the idea that the comic series 'Crossed' is based on; in that people do not become "zombies" rather, the most sadistic, depraved and violent versions of themselves.

Crossed? Never heard of it but I'll have to check it out. Sounds almost like a mixture of "The Crazies" and the Rage virus from "28 Days Later" but still very different.

Fair warning about "Crossed" BLT...

It is VERY graphic, and VERY much a "mature only" read. I've read a lot of zombie things in my time and I was not able to make it past the second comic.

Oh, yeah... second what Hydra_Lord said, for sure. It's almost more disturbing to me that the creators came up with what these psychos are doing in their *sane* minds rather than how the infected in the comic are actually depicted doing said things... and considering how graphically they are depicted, that's saying a lot.

...I realize this probably does nothing to assuage the desire to see it, but fair warning, seriously.

Lol the people that made crossed always makes messed up stuff, its the same dude that made preacher, aswell as other comics, lol he also made one about a prostitute that got super powers

I read some young adult book when I was in middle school about a fungus taking over a town and turning people into zombies. The zombies didn't bite. They would surround a person or stand over a person who was sleeping. Then they would exhale the spores and the victims would breathe in the spores and turn into a zombie as well.

Hydra_Lord said:

Fair warning about "Crossed" BLT...

It is VERY graphic, and VERY much a "mature only" read. I've read a lot of zombie things in my time and I was not able to make it past the second comic.

Thank you for the warning. I was about to dive in thinking it would be classic "Zombies eat your face!" kind of stuff. At least now I have some idea of what I'm getting into.

ChrisDLR said:

Oh, yeah... second what Hydra_Lord said, for sure. It's almost more disturbing to me that the creators came up with what these psychos are doing in their *sane* minds rather than how the infected in the comic are actually depicted doing said things... and considering how graphically they are depicted, that's saying a lot.

...I realize this probably does nothing to assuage the desire to see it, but fair warning, seriously.

Actually it makes me want to read the comic even more! I love books etc. that explore peoples darker (darkest?) sides. Just tell me one thing, is there any animal abuse shown or detailed in the comic? I ask because that's the one thing I really can't deal with (aside from spiders... *shiver*).

Notorious_BLT said:

Actually it makes me want to read the comic even more! I love books etc. that explore peoples darker (darkest?) sides. Just tell me one thing, is there any animal abuse shown or detailed in the comic? I ask because that's the one thing I really can't deal with (aside from spiders... *shiver*).

There is no animal abuse that i'm aware of... but there is plenty of abuse.. plenty of it.