If we were to be hit with a zombie pandemic like those presented in the George Romero movies and shows like THE WALKING DEAD, its spread might, and probably would, much resemble that of the Black Death of the Middle Ages. During the 1300s, bubonic plague, caused by pathogens found in fleas carried on rats (I’ll always think of that remake of NOSFERATU, the one directed by Werner Herzog, where there are rats literally everywhere.) decimated a full third or more of the population of Europe. That kind of human devastation is hard for us today to even contemplate, too big and ghastly to wrap our brains around—unless we do so under the safe guise of fiction, which is exactly what all those zombie movies and shows allow us to do.
Take a look at the GIF provided at the link below. It’s the scariest thing you’ll see all day. You will find it more palatable if you imagine, instead of a plague killing hundreds of thousands of people, it’s a zombie outbreak. Such is what people who dislike Horror fail to understand. Pretend Horrors make those of the real world easier to process. Zombies are psychologically beneficial.