The Walking Dead: How did Shane become a walker?
In last night's episode (s2e12 - "Better Angels"), Rick killed Shane and Shane turned into a zombie. My first reaction was "How?!. If he didn't get bitten or scratched, then how did he turn into a walker? The way I see it there are 3 possibilities.
Rick killed Shane using his knife and we know that in s2e10 rick had already used that same knife to kill a walker. So maybe there was still some walker blood on the blade and this caused Shane to rise again after Rick stabbed him. But wait a minute. In that same episode s2e10, Shane used his own knife to kill a walker and later in the episode when he was trapped in the school bus he used his knife again to cut his own hand. If our hypothesis were correct, Shane would already have turned into a zombie in s2e10. So, we have to look for another explanation.
The second possibility is that Shane did get infected with walker blood in s2e10 but that the walker virus only turns you into a walker after you have died. The problem with this hypothesis is that if walker blood doesn't instantly turn you into a walker, then why are walker bites and scratches so deadly?
Our third hypothesis is that walkers don't cause the infection. Sounds weird, right? Remember in Season 1 when they are at the CDC and the scientist tells Rick that it does not matter because the virus is airborne and that they are the walking dead? So, if a human is not killed by a head injury, he automatically turns into a walker at this point. This is similar to the classic Romero zombie films where everyone who dies (in whatever way or fashion) comes back as a zombie. So zombie bites and scratches are not how the virus spreads. Zombie bites and scratches cause infections that are 100% lethal. They cause the victim to die, but they do not turn the victim into a walker. It's the airborne virus that has already infected everyone (and now lies dormant in their bodies) that wakes up when the victim dies and then turns them into a walker.
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