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Description
A creative exercise in making some zombie types. From left to right are plant zombies, crust zombies, and rod zombies. Not terribly creative names, I admit.

Plant Zombies - Human hosts taken over by a plant-based parasite. Victims of this parasite usually die quite suddenly as growth begins within their heart and brainstem, but it will take days for them to rise again as zombies. During this intermediary phase, the plants within metastasize the bone of their host, breaking it down into vital nitrogen compounds and replacing it with tough yet flexible cellulose. Plant Zombies move by pumping fluids through their bodies and using a series of plant-based receptors loosely modeled after our own mammalian muscle receptors. As the victim's body becomes boneless, it begins to move in a sinuous, octopus-like fashion that betrays its inhumanity. Furthermore, its soft and skulless head often sloughs away from itself in large wet flaps, loosely mimicking the appearance of a flower. Plant Zombies devour only bones from their prey, burying the rest for no real reason and to no real benefit to themselves. During periods of sufficient humidity, they release spores that will carry the plague to others.

Crust Zombies - Human hosts taken over by a parasitic species of worms. These parasites are extremely tiny at first and seek to change their host's DNA to accommodate their adult form. They do this by secreting potent biochemicals that encourage large scale developmental alterations, "convincing" the body to change the way they want it to. Victims gestate new parasites for several days and then face a sudden drastic decline in health as the worms quickly grow larger within their bodies. Towards the late stages, a host begins to secrete a grey, sebaceous substance that hardens into a misshapen shell. By the time the infection has run its course, the former human is a malformed golem filled with massive writhing worms taking the place of its muscles and organs. Crust Zombies have powerful muscle memory and carry many of the nervous ticks, reaction times, and sensitivities of their victims. This is because the worms that form their new bodies copy the plans of the old. Some Crust Zombies will instinctively flinch, twitch, stumble, or give pause in situations where the former human would have. However, these actions are all instinct-driven. Crust Zombies eat by shoveling food into their single facial orifice. While not especially fast or dangerous on their own, cracking their shells release agitated worms that move with blinding speed and serpentine grace. These zombies are far more deadly injured than healthy.

Rod Zombies - Human hosts taken over by an unknown alien organism. This entity manifests itself as rods that gradually grow from the body of its victim. Unlike the other two zombies, this process is not sustainable and will eventually overtake the zombie itself, forcing it to stop moving and become a network of spiny rods that continue to grow out in an endless latticework. Just being near these entities is enough to contract the "disease", as if the rods can infect one's very soul. Death is a slow affair, despite the rods appearing well before most other symptoms.

Description
A creative exercise in making some zombie types. From left to right are plant zombies, crust zombies, and rod zombies. Not terribly creative names, I admit.

Plant Zombies - Human hosts taken over by a plant-based parasite. Victims of this parasite usually die quite suddenly as growth begins within their heart and brainstem, but it will take days for them to rise again as zombies. During this intermediary phase, the plants within metastasize the bone of their host, breaking it down into vital nitrogen compounds and replacing it with tough yet flexible cellulose. Plant Zombies move by pumping fluids through their bodies and using a series of plant-based receptors loosely modeled after our own mammalian muscle receptors. As the victim's body becomes boneless, it begins to move in a sinuous, octopus-like fashion that betrays its inhumanity. Furthermore, its soft and skulless head often sloughs away from itself in large wet flaps, loosely mimicking the appearance of a flower. Plant Zombies devour only bones from their prey, burying the rest for no real reason and to no real benefit to themselves. During periods of sufficient humidity, they release spores that will carry the plague to others.

Crust Zombies - Human hosts taken over by a parasitic species of worms. These parasites are extremely tiny at first and seek to change their host's DNA to accommodate their adult form. They do this by secreting potent biochemicals that encourage large scale developmental alterations, "convincing" the body to change the way they want it to. Victims gestate new parasites for several days and then face a sudden drastic decline in health as the worms quickly grow larger within their bodies. Towards the late stages, a host begins to secrete a grey, sebaceous substance that hardens into a misshapen shell. By the time the infection has run its course, the former human is a malformed golem filled with massive writhing worms taking the place of its muscles and organs. Crust Zombies have powerful muscle memory and carry many of the nervous ticks, reaction times, and sensitivities of their victims. This is because the worms that form their new bodies copy the plans of the old. Some Crust Zombies will instinctively flinch, twitch, stumble, or give pause in situations where the former human would have. However, these actions are all instinct-driven. Crust Zombies eat by shoveling food into their single facial orifice. While not especially fast or dangerous on their own, cracking their shells release agitated worms that move with blinding speed and serpentine grace. These zombies are far more deadly injured than healthy.

Rod Zombies - Human hosts taken over by an unknown alien organism. This entity manifests itself as rods that gradually grow from the body of its victim. Unlike the other two zombies, this process is not sustainable and will eventually overtake the zombie itself, forcing it to stop moving and become a network of spiny rods that continue to grow out in an endless latticework. Just being near these entities is enough to contract the "disease", as if the rods can infect one's very soul. Death is a slow affair, despite the rods appearing well before most other symptoms.