There is a moaning sound, and a shuffling, the tension in the air is palpable. It goes quiet and then… we jump. It’s here, there, right in front. Arms reach out to grab and teeth prepare to bite. Then a sharpened piece of wood, a stake, is driven firmly into the face-craving flesh.

Another moan echoes from those of us watching the TV. This is a moan of disgust as the flesh… and blood… and brains spread across the TV screen… the prosthetics and special effects are quite real these days.

The Walking Dead is on TV, just one of the many post-apocalyptic stories and shows that are quite popular at the moment.

I seem to have been caught up in them, recently. I just watched the film World War Z, a fairly fast-paced, big-budget disaster. That’s disaster movie, not disaster of a movie. At the other end of the budget scale I watched Zombies vs Cockneys. A fun-filled romp through the East End of London. It’s worth watching for the chase scene with Richard Briers, these zombies don’t move as fast as the ones in the Brad Pitt movie. East End zombies obviously don’t get paid as much as their Hollywood counterparts.

I also just finished reading The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R.Carey, which was an interesting take on the genre. There were zombies but they weren’t all bad, evil or completely mindless, but I won’t spoil it for you, it’s worth reading.

So why are we interested and fascinated by Zombies. Why do we watch and read these narratives? It’s possible that we want to associate with the struggle of the non-infected. Perhaps we relate to their fight; staying alive against the odds. We believe that we could be the survivor, to continue living. We like to think that we could be the hero, to cope in the adverse situation. To live and survive.

It’s also a nice little bit of escapism. Our lives are an everyday struggle of wandering aimlessly looking for food and other things we need to survive. We’re mindless and unaware of the damage we do to those around us and the world we inhabit. We moan on a daily basis.

We’re the survivors, we’re also the undead.

We live lifeless lives. But we don’t have to. Make the choice.