[xaviersaint]

Let's say for argument sake, an attack happened on the highway, people were bitten, clawed at, etc. To escape they locked themselves in their cars or could have been ordered back to their cars by authorities, etc. Blood and mayhem continues and those people continue to stay in their cars. They turn and they can't escape because they can't figure out the locks.


Now to give you an idea. Heat beating down on a car at 80 degrees while turn the car into a 123 degrees within an hour. Now this is clearly summer time in Georgia and it isn't 80 degrees and all the humidity. Remember why they say a fever is bad? At a certain temperature damage can be done to the brain?

So the formula is let's say far to say 90-100 degrees beating on cars for hours plus the oven factor. Some of those turned could have simply had their brains literally fried by the heat.


Now that doesn't explain the ones where the windows were down, etc. but there's always potential for that heating effect to still occur and we must also leave the possibility of other survivors coming on this wreckage and scouring as well.


Not to say that this is what they intended, and I mostly think they just sort bypassed it, but here's a plausible explanation for some of what occurred on that highway.

[Major Tom]

That is a reasonable explanation.

In World War Z, Max Brooks writes of thousands of zombies trapped in cars by seat belts, etc, but I don't recall any mention of accelerated deterioration.

If you have read WWZ you know that the Brooks zombie is a durable sob. They are oblivious to deep water pressure and they are so toxic most bacteria can't survive on their body. This slows down deterioration and allows them to last over 5 years under certain conditions.

I don't believe he explained away your heat theory.

[Devirtue]

or just some very bad story telling

[juicius]

Devirtue, on 03 November 2011 - 01:20 AM, said:

or just some very bad story telling

Yeah, no way zombies could walk on ocean floor from one continent to another.  Underground mountains, valleys, trenches, continental shelf, etc.

[zombiehunter]

what about the dead bodies around the CDC? Nah to many dead dead to have the "everyone infected" virus.

[xaviersaint]

ZH, I'm starting to think you're right about that. Which really makes you wonder what Jenner did say to Rick.


That said, again I'm just trying to theorize about why it happened and in a way get around the bad story telling they did have. But seriously, brain trauma from heat, especially southern summer heat, makes sense.

[UniformSierra]

Must not have been hard for the military to get overrun. You have tons of civilians coming to you for protection and you also have walkers that have yet to get dirty and decompose. The only way to identify them is by the way they walk and that could be too late. Imagine the mass panic at the CDC. Would be nice to see a little explanation for things like that in webisodes.

[DeadCave]

As far as the ones that have their windows down but still dead, I'll guess that they were survivors that weren't bitten but died in their cars after being trapped for hours by walkers milling about. Perhaps the walkers that kept the living inside their cars moved on and they rolled down their windows but were afraid to get out, and died anyway from dehydration and/or starvation... being too weak to move.
The corpse that Carl found the arsenal of cutting weaponry didn't seem to be a bitten person, but he didn't have his window down. He might have died in his truck as is.
Remember that one part where T-Dog was searching in the cars for meds and whatever and saw that bloody car seat in the rear... obviously some terrible stuff happened on that highway.

A sad tale in-of-by-itself.

[Nocturne]

Yeah about all those dead bodies.  I thought the CDC walkers were in the transition stage before turning but you now have me wondering.  I thought people dying in the cars may have been in accidents (should be paying more attention maybe?)  now I'm asking myself were they killed before they turned? if so, how?  toxic chemicals? Your theories are very interesting!

[mikemcdee]

Kirkman said on "The Talking Dead" that they were killed by some sort of brain trauma, like a car accident.  I really think he was scrambling to explain it in a way that made sense with what will be revealed from Jenner.

Kirkman said there were lots of ways to get brain trauma in the Zapocalypse.

[stableboy]

Good theory about the brain trauma, but not many of those cars were banged up.  It would be interesting to see if the keys were in the ignition.  If they were in, the people left in  a hurry.  If not, the people took them with them when they left out of habit.

[zombiehunter]

What I didn't get was the random flipped cars on the highway. Why would some cars be flipped over?

[Jonathan]

Looks like a pile-up. People driving too fast around a bend, come up a pile-up and all kinds of crazy things happen.
We're not the best drivers down here in Ga, ya know?

[gracie lou]

Jonathan, on 03 November 2011 - 08:18 PM, said:

Looks like a pile-up. People driving too fast around a bend, come up a pile-up and all kinds of crazy things happen.
We're not the best drivers down here in Ga, ya know?

Imagine if there had been a dusting of snow!!!

[keith2772]

I was stuck in a traffic jam on my way to Savannah once for 4 hours. There was an accident where a jeep flipped over and they had to get paramedics through and had to keep traffic back for the medvac helicopter to land. The helo got the guy out but the paramedics had to treat some of the peole waiting in the traffic for heat exhaustion. It is by no means difficult to imagine an accident tying up traffic and people holing up in their cars because of wandering zombies. I remember having the windows rolled down and it still being almost unbearably hot. Plus the show hasn't played out yet. Maybe we find out that some people get bitten and die but don't turn. I doubt if that would ever be revealed but it could certainly be considered.

[EChappelle]

I agree. There are several additional clues in the scene.

1. There is still fuel in some of the vehicles.  
  ie. T-dog used a gas tank to siphon fuel.
This suggests, that some people did not run out of gas, using the a/c in the heat.

2. unlocked and open car doors.
  ie. Lory entered the cards easily for supplies
Most people, would secure a car and possessions. If there was chaos, the would not have enough time.

So, yes,  I think the zeds attacked from behind and front. People fled. Most likely, into the woods. Zeds followed and ate them.

Some survivalists, like the two campers, visited the highway and scavenged. Due to the excessive trash...too much trash for a typical traffic jam. Eventually, they were “picked off” thats why the horde roams the area looking for remaining stragglers.

In the end, I hope the writers, allow a few victims to escape to safety.

[Mazz]

The military could have been in place with barricades on both directions of the highway, or alternatively there were multiple car accidents in the panic causing a massive traffic jam. People were forced to stop. Some got out of their cars in the long delay to stretch their legs and get fresh air, and because not all cars would have had A/C.

Large groups of zombies passed through, causing confusion and chaos, and possibly the reason for the accidents and traffic jam up ahead or reason for a military barricade. People already out of their cars were bitten, escaped back into their cars or died/killed outside, some people panicked and vacated their cars to run, resulting in some empty cars.

The remaining people remained in their cars, terrified, while zombies pawed at their windows trying to get in. Many of these people probably stayed in their cars waiting for the chance to make a run for it, eventually committing suicide out of despair or dying from heatstroke and/or dehydration. I can barely imagine the horror of being stuck in a hot car, with zombies outside pawing at the windows trying to get in to you.

It also could be that many cars were smashed because people tried to force their way out when the zombies appeared. Larger trucks may have overturned cars trying to push their way through the traffic jam. I imagine it would have been like bumper-car mayhem.

And I agree with the original thread starter, that any zombies in the cars could have perished in the heat unable to get out. It can get up to 160 degrees F (71 degrees C) in a car on a hot day. Most zombies don't use handles or latches, it makes sense that they would not have been able to get out of the cars after turning.

However in season one of TWD there was a zombie who attempted to open the front door to her old house every night out of habit, so I suppose it's possible that they should be able to open car doors, however while in a "hunger frenzy" they probably wouldn't.

[Blazeffd]

Perhaps it is an airborne virus that affects everyone differently. Just like viruses we currently have, some die, some live.  My immune system or DNA or whatever could not mesh with the z (insert cause) my body shuts down and dies. Others bodies fight it off. Others bodies are a breeding ground for it causeing their bites/ body fluids to be like a mega dose that can now take over those that could of fend it off before, rinse repeat.   Would explain the random dead unappeared bitten bodies.

Or perhaps they are infected somehow and heat stroke. Just don't remember all the windows being rolled up.

[zombiehunter]

Maybe the next set of webisodes will be about the herd/highway.

[mikemcdee]

If I remember right wasn't there an overturned tractor trailer?  If the horde came from behind that could explain how the pile up happened.  Massive car pile up and lots of brain trauma so the people may have died as a result of their injuries.  At least that's what Kirkman tried to say on The Talking Dead.

[jkicak]

here is how i see it.... the virus was not airborne at first and around the time of the highway jam... maybe it took a mutation for it to become airborne (this is what could have been told to Rick at the CDC) and since the people were not infected before they died they didn't become Zs.... i would expect that you need to be infected before death to be reanimated. now that it is airborne a huge percentage will carry and pass the virus so then a huge percentage will now reanimate.