From what I've seen of the zombie apocalypse as related on The Walking Dead, I would describe the people afflicted in the following way-
When a person dies and comes back as a "walker", nothing is left of that person but his dead and decaying corpse, albeit reanimated by what seems to be a colony of viruses driven by an insatiable appetite for human flesh and blood. When a "walker" looks at you, growls, stalks you and attacks you, it is that colony of viruses working through the person much as you might think of a person possessed by a band of demons.
Herschell Green didn't see it that way, and when the survivors, desperate to find the missing Sophia and needing safe harbor after the hunting accident that almost claimed the life of Rick Grime's young son, took refuge on the Greene farm, they learned in time that Herschell saw them not as dead people reanimated by a virus, but as sick people who might one day be cured.
When they discovered Herschell kept in his barn captured walkers, many of whom were former friends and relatives, including his wife and step-son, it was Shane who took matters into his own hands and led the remainder of the survivors in what amounted to a massacre of the walkers, shooting them down as they filed out of the barn one by one, before doing so demonstrating to Herschell that this was not merely "sick people" by shooting a just captured walker multiple times in the torso with a high-powered rife, with no discernible effect.
Herschell and Rick watched helplessly as the massacre went unabated. Until the last walker came out of the barn, at which point the stunned survivors were faced with the same emotions Herschell had struggled with for months, in what was probably one of the best, most stunning, and most heart-wrenching, mid-season finales of all time.
When the show returns in February, more than one question will be answered, at least in part, not the least of which will be, how could this have happened without anyone's knowledge. Or was it a purposeful deception meant to protect the secret of the barn. But perhaps more importantly, the secret of the season one finale will finally be addressed. What was the big secret whispered by the doctor/scientist to Rick Grimes in the final moments before the Atlanta CDC exploded?
Some have posited he told Rick his wife Lori was pregnant, but I doubt that, since he seemed surprised when Lori told him this in the previous episode. The more likely guess bandied about is that he told him everyone was infected, which means everyone who dies will come back as a walker regardless of the means of death. The only difference a walker's bite makes is that it hastens the process. Which makes sense, given the countless numbers of walkers displayed thus far. It seems pretty obvious that not that many people would survive a bite long enough to escape a walkers grasp, then die and be reanimated, while most people who are eaten don't have enough left of them to return. An exception was "bicycle girl" from the series season one premiere, who was infected a few minutes before being half-eaten, the implication being the walkers stopped eating her when she "revived".
Whatever the case, I have no problem with the series thus far, unlike the myriads of other complainers who want non-stop zombie actions and chases, deaths, etc. That too would get old and predictable. I commend the writers for their focus on character development and story. In this show, believe me, there is plenty of blood and gore to go around. In fact, a little bit goes a long, long way.
Thanks to Perez Hilton for providing the embedded clip.
