UnDead Biology: The Possum

Hey! This I part two of my series on various zombie specimen. Feel free to use some of these if you don’t already have something similar. Also, read the first of the series; the Runner. I've also taken a strategy used by Max Brooks in World War Z. Thanks and enjoy!

This is an interview with Dr. Martin Lowell of the 32nd Battalion in Danville County, Georgia. This is the first reliable account of the famed Possum zombie because Dr. Lowell survived.

Put simply, they play dead. They will lie on the ground in a pretty convincing position and when you get close enough they strike. Of course, everyone knows that anything that looks like it should be dead usually isn’t in these days, but this one actually looked dead. Not undead, but dead.

We needed medicine and the nearest center was a pharmacy in a small abandoned town. Well, it wasn’t “abandoned,” but you know what I mean. I usually go with a team of about six guys, but today was special; apparently, in the very pharmacy that the medicine was at, a package that was accidentally dropped in a botched supply mission. So, today, we had a whole platoon of thirty.

I told them it was a bad idea, but no one ever listens to a doctor, though you’d think they would. So, off we went to the graveyard. When we got there, it was quiet. We got in, grabbed the medicine, and started loading it to the truck. We went back in and found that the package had crashed through the roof. As the grunts were trying to figure out how to get it out, I started browsing around.

I know, it was pretty stupid, but I was bored, and those meatheads couldn’t figure their way out of a crossword puzzle on a kid’s menu. I came around a corner in one of the aisles and saw two bodies. One was devoured and the other was in a bloody heap. I grabbed a long, thin pole I found on the ground and turned it around. I’ve never seen one of these guys up close; it was very interesting.

I kneeled down and started observing what I thought was a head wound. That’s when I found out it wasn’t. Before I could even scream, it shot up and almost bit me. Luckily, I fell back just in time. It turned around and started grabbing my pant leg. I kicked it in the face a couple of times, but it wasn’t giving up. I finally decided to scream for help. One guy, Richardson, I think, came around the aisle and looked in horror. He finally decided to pull out his gun and shoot. Bang! [He makes a gun with his hand and imitates a gun shot pointing toward his leg, which is in a cast.] He shoots me in the leg.

[A nurse and two soldiers walk in to the Isolation Room. Dr. Lowell looks up and chuckles.] Well, I have to go. I asked for a lobster dinner before I leave.

[As it turns out, Private Dave Richardson had not missed. He shot the Possum in the head as it bit down on Dr. Lowell’s leg. Dr. Lowell was “cured” an hour after this interview.]