Fear The Walking Dead Theory: Zombabies?

On Sunday’s episode of Fear The Walking Dead, Madison brought up an interesting question: If a baby is stillborn in the zombie apocalypse…will it turn?

While we’ve seen all manner of zombies thus far in both The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead, from elderly zombies to child zombies and everywhere in between, one thing we’ve never seen, thus far, in either show, is a baby zombie (Which shall henceforth be referred to as a “zombaby”).

Now, the reasons why are fairly obvious and exist outside of the show. First, logically, if a walker bit a baby, it would probably consume a huge part of it, and the baby would have no means of escaping without being completely consumed; In short, biting as a method of turning a baby is just plain illogical and would break the audiences’ suspension of disbelief.

Secondly, the idea of watching a baby get bitten by a zombie, even if it were a plausible way of turning one, might, frankly, be too horrific for even veteran The Walking Dead fans to watch.

It certainly would make sense. Thus far, the show has gone out of its way to avoid showing babies dying in the show: Judith, who died during The Governor’s assault on the prison in the comics, survived that event in the show, a pretty significant change, considering.

Even when we were made to believe Judith was dead, we never saw her die, instead, watching Rick and Carl finding her empty, blood-soaked car seat.

Thirdly, the pure logistics of trying to make a zombaby for the show, assuming either of the first two cases were not issues, would make trying to have one on the show (And acting like a proper zombie) nearly impossible anyways. I imagine even a master special effects artist like Greg Nicotero would be hard pressed to make a baby look like a walker without making him or her extremely uncomfortable. On top of that, the simple fact is that babies can’t act like a walker; The moment it coos or cries, the illusion is shattered.

But, what if there is a way for babies to turn in The Walking Dead?

Now, we’ve seen pregnancies before in The Walking Dead, most notably, Lori’s, and more recently, Maggie’s.

Lori, as pictured on the right, did not come out of her pregnancy intact, dying from blood loss as Maggie attempted a C-section. Maggie, meanwhile, when we last left her, was suffering from complications, i.e. the worst time to meet Negan, so…we have presently have no idea in what sort of state she or the baby are in. With Negan around, God only knows.

In these cases, the situations tend to lean toward the danger falling on the mother’s end, with the potential being of her dying either during the process of giving birth, or from complications while simply carrying the baby.

Yet, on this past Sunday’s Fear The Walking Dead, while trying to psych out the female pirate, Vida, Madison gave us a theory that, quite honestly, I’ve never heard before, either in show or out of it, and one that completely flips the whole idea of pregnancy in a zombie apocalypse on its head.

Madison suggested that, if a baby is stillborn…that it might turn.

It’s a very scary thought, isn’t it? The notion that, if you’re far along in a pregnancy, should your baby die for some reason while you’re still carrying it, it may just turn around and try to eat you from the inside out.

Scarier still is how much sense that makes in the world of The Walking Dead. I mean, we know that everyone is infected, we know that whenever someone dies, so long as their brain is intact, they will turn, and we know that a baby, as early as seven months into a pregnancy, is capable of surviving outside of its mother’s womb, so, if a baby becomes stillborn at anything beyond seven months…what’s to stop it from becoming a zombaby?

…NOTHING.

So far as we know, there is nothing to stop a stillborn fetus from turning into a walker (A crawler?). With this being a distinct possibility, how long would it take before it attempted to force its way out?

Now, granted, lacking any serious musculature or teeth, the baby wouldn’t be able to bite its mother, or claws its way out, but, what happens to its body once it’s died? Does it get consumed by its mother’s body? Or, does it begin to decompose, and, if so, how long before its decomposition pollutes it mother so badly that it kills her?

Sadly, I don’t think we’ll get to see this issue explored more fully, perhaps for reasons not too different than those I mentioned earlier, but, am I wrong in saying that I wish we did?

More from Fear The Walking Dead Season 2

• Fear The Walking Dead targeted with copyright lawsuit over season 2
• Fear the Walking Dead: Madison was dropping hints all along
• Fear the Walking Dead season 2 marathon ahead of season 3 premiere
• Fear The Walking Dead, Passage, Parts 1-8: Things To Note
• Fear the Walking Dead 206 deleted scene: Madison’s regret

Morbid though it would be, I feel there would be no greater way of impressing upon fans, particular those who may have become desensitized to the environment, just how bleak and awful the world The Group now finds themselves in actually is.

I would love for Fear The Walking Dead to show us something truly new; To show us a new threat, one that, up to this point, neither the characters in the show, nor we the viewers, had ever even thought about before. Who knows? Maybe we still will…

So, that was my latest The Walking Dead Theory. Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know! And, if you like this and want to read more of my writings, specifically about how to survive a zombie apocalypse, why not pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can get it on Kindle here and on iTunes here!