Zombie


 * This article is for the undead enemy seen in Call of Duty: World at War. For the game mode, see Nazi Zombies.

Zombies, also known as either Nazi Zombies or Imperial Zombies depending on their origin, are the remains of dead German and Japanese World War II soldiers who were reanimated by an unknown virus or experiment. They are featured in Call of Duty: World at War in the Nazi Zombies game mode.

When playing Nazi Zombies while on Xbox Live, your gamertag shows your status as being one of the following, depending on what you are playing:
 * Nacht der Untoten: "Stopping an army of the dead"
 * Verruckt: "Slaughtering undead lunatics"
 * Shi No Numa: "Killing the undead Imperial Army"
 * Der Riese: "Bathing in Nazi Zombie blood"

Creation
thumb|202px|right|The radio locations and the message. In Shi No Numa, a radio message can be heard in the starting room by turning on three radios. The message is "R-4808n 37 14 06 115 48 40. I hope that you are receiving this transmission Peter, if not then all is going to be lost. You must know by now that we failed to contain the Asylum and we had to move the experiment here. Location the numbers will guide you. The giant must remain (static) at all costs, repeat, Der Riese must remain (static) at all costs. The DG experiments continues. You're our only advantage now. Find Doctor Richofen (static is in this word, but it is still audible) and Doctor Max, they may know what's going on. The use of 115 is dangerous at best. I'm not sure how much longer we can continue here. We've lost most of our best people. I hope you get this. I hope I happen to be there too but I'm almost out of hope. 60 54 06.96 101 55 44.94." The numbers are the coordinates of Tunguska and Area 51. Dr. Max is probably Dr. Maxis. DG experiments is a reference to the Wunderwaffe DG-2. The asylum is the setting of the second level, Verruckt. 115 is element 115, an element found in meteors and known to power the Wunderwaffe. The meteor containing 115 is shown in the map Shi No Numa outside one of the swamp areas. It is still unknown who the person giving this transmission is and who Peter is. It can be assumed that they are American, as the person giving the transmission has an American accent. Some people believe that the man hanging in Shi no Numa is Peter.

In Der Riese, the creation of the zombies and hellhounds is explained. Dr. Maxis was testing zombies and trying to control them. The problem was that they would always go berserk and try to kill him, resulting in their deaths. He was also testing teleporters by sending zombies through them, but they never reappeared at the mainframe. All of these experiments were done with his assistant, Edward Rictofen. When he used his daughter Samantha's dog, Fluffy, as a teleporter test subject, he accidentally created the first hellhound. The dog was teleported, but like the rest of the subjects didn't reappear at the mainframe. It did however reappear in a ball of electricity and mutated into a hellhound. When Samantha came running in and started questioning her dad about her dog, Edward left the room. Edward then betrayed him by locking him and his daughter in the room with the hellhound, which then killed them.

115 (Ununpentium) is the name of the element that comes from the crashed meteorite. It also is the element that powers the Wunderwaffe DG-2. In one of Doctor Richtofen's quotes, he states that the meteorite is where the element comes from. It seems that the element and possibly the meteorite are important pieces to the Zombies phenomenon because the number "115" is constantly found in Shi No Numa.

In a radio message from Der Riese, Dr. Maxis says there is a large supply of 115 in "the Nevada base". The Nevada base is obviously Area 51, which is referenced in the Shi No Numa radio message. This reference is the numbers said before and after the message starts. One of those groups of numbers are the coordinates of Area 51. The American who is transmitting the message may be an "operative" as mentioned by Maxis in a Der Riese radio message.

Behavior
One theory of how the bodies of dead Nazi or Imperial soldiers are reanimated is that, towards the end of World War II, German tests and experiments with high levels of radiation on human subjects may have led to the reanimation. The zombies seem to have reverted to a primal cognitive state, as they will attempt to kill or incapacitate any human through melee attacks. They are unable, or possibly unwilling, to use any weapons, and will neither dodge bullets nor avoid grenades. Even when both legs are blown off, the zombies will continue to crawl and attempt to kill any live human. The zombies also show an odd behavioral characteristic in the sense that they will not attack a human being that is dying, yet instead go for the humans still alive. It is unknown why this is done, but it may be a thought process in what's left of their primal mind that the humans that are still healthy pose them a threat.

As shown by the Der Riese radio messages, the zombies were meant to be controlled, but they would always end up going berserk.

Characteristics
Some zombies will die from only a few rounds from a M1911, while other zombies can withstand up to or exceeding two blasts from a Ray gun. Zombies also have varying movement speeds, from a slow stumble to an outright dash. In Verruckt, the zombies seem more evolved, being able to reach through boarded windows and swipe at the character, and can hop on and off of window sills. It can also be noted that in Verruckt, some zombies march to the windows, as if marching with an army. Finally, in Verruckt, the Zombies seem to have evolved enough to attain the ability of speech, or at least, something that can be considered speech. The zombies are often heard shouting, "Damn,", "No!", "Die, Die!" or "Lets eat his soul!" and scream, laugh and moan more than just yell like in Nacht Der Untoten. Zombies that are seen marching and some with brighter Nazi bands on their right arm (which sometimes is covered by a rolled up sleeve) are usually found to be carrying power-ups, such as Insta-Kill or Max Ammo. The zombies also look different from each other. Some look as if they were burned to death, while some are missing arms, or even have exposed, bloody ribcages.

Trivia

 * In Verruckt-Der Riese, zombies say something that sounds like "Sam", which could reference Samantha, or simply "Damn" after being shot.


 * On Verruckt, when a player is downed, a zombie may do a Moonwalk, a reference to Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean". Zombies also make MJ sounds in Shi No Numa, like choo-cha!


 * On January 29, 2009, someone hacked into an electric construction roadsign in Austin Texas, changing it to alternate between displaying "NAZI ZOMBIES AHEAD!", and "ZOMBIES! RUN AWAY!!!!!". It is very possible that the hacker was referring to Nacht der Untoten, if not just combining Nazis with zombies, both of which are famous in popular culture. A few drivers actually thought that the dead came back to life and that the government was trying to warn everyone, while most just got a big laugh out of it.


 * In the game Wolfenstein 3D, some of the enemies are zombified German soldiers. The zombies in World at War may be a reference to them, but there is nothing official to indicate that.


 * Some Zombies are seen marching in a comedic Nazi fashion towards the windows in Verrückt.


 * It could be possible the Nazi Zombie levels pays a tribute to the European Nazi Zombie films of the 1970s and 80s, such as Zombie Lake, Oasis of the Zombies, Shock Waves, and so on. The Imperial Zombies pay a tribute to the horror movie genre "J-Horror".


 * Also, a mysterious noise will usually come out of nowhere and can be heard when a round is going to end.


 * The history of the zombies is shown in Der Riese/Radio Messages.


 * Very rarely, if you throw a grenade at a zombie about to come out the ground, they will go into a crouching stance


 * The Nazi zombies are dressed in the SS honor guard uniforms, which ironically points out their loyalty, even in death to their fuhrer, Adolf Hitler.


 * Although it is not and never will be true, some fans believe that there is a Zombie Hitler in Nacht Der Untoten.