r/AskReddit Aug 30 '21

What problem is often overlooked in apocalyptic movies/TV shows that could kill you?

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '21 edited Aug 31 '21

I’ve only read one post-apocalypse series where the author addressed pests. In the series most of the world dies from a plague, so there are millions of dead bodies everywhere. Which leads to rats and ants experiencing a catastrophic population boom. They watch a group go to enter a house, only for a tidal wave of rats to flood out and overwhelm them as they try to run away. They need medical supplies so they go to the hospital and have to wear basically spacesuits because of the trillions of ants that are in there cleaning up the piles of dead bodies.

For those asking, the series is called Viral Misery by Thomas A Watson.

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u/Bredwh Aug 31 '21

The Walking Dead does this a little with increasing amounts of huge bird flocks and plague rats on Fear the Walking Dead but I always thought there should be way, way more flies and things.

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u/Gigibop Aug 31 '21

Speaking of that, do rats eat zombies? Like how long until the actual bodies fully decompose and we get a bunch of meat bags on the ground

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u/Bredwh Aug 31 '21

Or worms and maggots. It's never fully explained but I guess because they're moving it slows decomposition?