There’s been a lot said about zombie infection from the street level, but we have yet to see much of anything about a zombie infection on a macro one. Thankfully, a couple of fellas named Kevan Davis and Matt Cordes wrote a web application that does just that. At first glance, you might raise an eyebrow, but once you wrap your head the display (requires a little reading), you’ll see an story unfold before your eyes.

In a nutshell, each simulation starts with one zombie (represented by a green dot) who moves towards the purple dots (representing people) who either fight or flee. If a person dies, the purple dot goes red, then fades to green whereby a new zombie is added to the horde. If they flee, the purple dot goes pink, and races around the city map like a toddler on coffee.

Overtime its fascinating to watch a sea of purple dots turn green as the zombies manage to infest every single area of the map. In my simulation, the zombies started out strong, but they were surprisingly beat back until only two zombies remained. Humanity was poised to wipe out the zombie infection, but the zombies surged once again, and this time, they couldn’t be stopped. In the course of a few minutes, I watched each city block transform into a lumbering green menace until not a living human remained. It was interesting to observe the tipping point of each block and to see where the infected reached critical mass.

The real lesson learned that if you see a zombie, you should kill it. Even at the cost of your own life. Your sacrifice might be the one thing that keeps the dead down for good. Otherwise, if you flee to save your own life, you just might insure that we all go down. Cheery, isn’t it? That the only way to survive as species is for you to die.

God I love this genre.

Zombie Infection Simulator (zombies.insertdisc.com <- new window)