World War Zed

7. Lecture by: Dr Elena van der Nacht

Geneva, Switzerland

Lecture by: Dr Elena van der Nacht

"We are still assessing the full impact of the War; its effect on the population, animal species, economic recovery, and many other things, but one thing we do know, is that we, as a species, were very lucky to survive."

We sit quietly in the packed Great Auditorium in the United Nations offices in Geneva. Dr van der Nacht is lecturing on the post-war world. For many people who are unable to travel, this is a previously unseen insight into how many parts of the world adapted, survived (or in some cases, didn't), and how they tackled the Zombie menace. As fuel is still at a premium and border controls are still in place, travel is still strictly limited. Thankfully, the world-wide-web is back online, so the surviving millions around the world can see the live broadcast if they have access. The world TV network that has recently managed to plug into some of the old broadcasting satellites, will also broadcast the lecture live.

Dr van der Nacht continues:

"As we know, the infection spread quickly. The end result of this was often a mass migration of the populace away from the cities, a panicked flight to perceived safe areas. Most of the fleeing population almost instinctively sought out the less populated zones, government-controlled areas or strongholds of some sort. Many people took to the seas or lakes, many more clubbed together in small units for the purposes of defence, or pooling of resources. Eventually, many refugees managed to join up with various army groups and formed part of the fighting defences that saved the fragile remnants of humanity.

"Regardless of colour, creed, nationality or religion; we, as the human race lost millions of people around the world simply to starvation or disease. We, the technologically advanced, tool using ape, Homo Sapiens, got caught napping.  

"Right, all dramatism aside, some numbers to start you thinking a little.

"At the start of the war, the world's population was approaching seven billion people. At the time, this was increasing by approximately eighty million a year. The following numbers are my estimates, based not only on my own experiences but accounts from various colleagues. The percentages will obviously vary, depending on location.

"As I said before; at the start of the war, this planet had approximately seven billion souls going about their mundane little, Zombie free lives. All most of us had to cope with were children and road rage.

"After only two weeks of the infection, we estimate that this number had halved.

"The virus spread incredibly fast to begin with, infecting about a quarter of the world's population. After that, the rate of infection slowed dramatically as people ran for cover. Another quarter or so of the population died in the first year of the War from various causes as I mentioned earlier; predominantly starvation and disease.

"The remaining nine years of the war have reduced the world's population from its original seven billion to approximately seven million people. We are a shadow of our former selves, and yet we continue on. Less than one in one-thousand of us survived the Zombies, but survive we did.

"As a race, we were so cosseted by modern society that when we did have to revert to nature to try and survive, in many cases, we just simply didn't.

"Heading north, south, or to altitude did have the advantage for at least part of the year, of extreme cold. The cold was an enemy to survival, but a great boon to reduction, or indeed cessation, of Zombie movement. Sadly, cold didn't kill the Zombie, it merely paused it where it froze. Once spring came, so did the Infected.

"In many instances, man as a species reverted to an almost medieval level. The world, in general, was suddenly out of the control of the authorities; guns were rendered useless by the eventual consumption of available ammunition, and limited munitions production. In true medieval fashion, man retreated behind the high defences of his forefathers, arming himself with old-fashioned weaponry, sometimes even suits of chain mail or improvised suits of armour. Hand weapons became the norm.