The Infected (28 Days Later)

The Infected are vicious zombies that were living people infected and driven insane by the Rage Virus and the main antagonists of the film 28 Days Later, and its sequel 28 Weeks Later. Former inhabitants of Great Britain, they have become infected with the contagious Rage Virus and this warps their brain cells in order to make them see all living humans as enemies and objects to be hunted down and slain viciously.

The main goal of the Infected is to hunt down and ruthlessly kill as many people as they can find, and also to spread the Rage Virus, by biting their victims in their throats to turn them into another Infected. The Infected are true hunters. Being nocturnal, the daylight hours are the only safe moments in the day for the survivors of the Rage-induced holocaust which has exterminated all the inhabitants of Great Britain.

Origin
Two scientists at Cambridge University, named Warren and Clive, were attempting to kill anger in domestic violence, and thus they invented a viral strain which they hoped would cancel all anger. Once they injected a vicious criminal with the viral strain, he became psychotic and attempted to kill Warren and Clive, forcing them to kill him. The criminal had become the first Infected in the entire country, but fortunately he was killed before he could infect anyone else. Whilst trying to mutate the disease into a harmless substance, Clive decided to isolate a strain of the Ebola Virus and then mix it with the strain he had created. Then he injected this new virus into a chimpanzee and waited for the results. Unfortunately, in the chimpanzee, the virus mutated. It now produced the opposite effect of what its original purpose had been; thus the chimpanzee became full of uncontrollable rage. Clive had created a Rage Virus. He then was so disgusted that he shot himself, but Warren remained behind to eradicate the experiment. Clive had nonetheless informed an animal rights organization about the experiment before his death, and then the organization broke into the lab that night and attempted to unleash the chimpanzees. Warren did his best to warn the activists of the danger they were facing, but they refused to listen and unleashed the chimpanzee. The chimpanzee bit a female activist, and she became the second Infected in the country. She bit Warren, and he became the third Infected. The other three activits became the fourth, fifth and sixth Infected, and, being consumed with uncontrollable rage, rampaged through Cambridge biting, killing and Infecting the citizens, producing a vast army of Infected which then spread out across the country in order to expand the hordes of Infected and spread the lethal Rage Virus.

The Invasion of Infected
The Infected initially attacked market towns and small villages before spreading to the cities and Infecting most of the population. In the market towns they seemed to have built up a vast army of Infected but then, perhaps realizing that they had no further need of more members, once they had arrived at the cities they simply killed the inhabitants. Everywhere in England was attacked by the Infected. The Rage Virus had induced their stamina and durability, because they became disinterested in personal nourishment - Drink, food and excreting waste meant nothing to them any more. Indeed, Rage could slow down the body so it no longer needed to excrete nor cared for food. The Infected spread out across the country to the main cities, and set Manchester aflame after numerous confrontations with the British Army, who were eventually ordered by Prime Minister Tony Blair to shoot to kill all the Infected on sight. Initially the Infected had no name, because the civilians believed them to be rioters, but as their invasion increased, the Media realized the Infected were the hosts of an unknown virus, which they named "Rage" as the Infected were viciously killing without reason, and thus it was only appropriate to name the hosts of the Virus "the Infected."

As the Infected reached London, there was literally no Army left to protect the city, many of them having become Infected themselves or having been slain by the monsters. Thus the Infected were allowed to enter the city and to take off as many victims as they desired. Twenty-eight days later, London was completely empty; all citizens having been killed and deposited elsewhere, or having become Infected and seeking yet more victims.

28 days later
There were perhaps about six hundred Infected left in England alone twenty-eight days after the initial Outbreak of Rage. They could come and go as they pleased; the Army and other citizens being dead; the whole of Britain was theirs. The survivors had learnt not to make contact with the Infected at this stage; their only source of contact was in order to kill them. The Infected were still nocturnal, as they had detected handfuls of survivors all across the country, and thus they attempted to hunt them down at night. A month after the first Outbreak, the Infected lasted another twenty-eight days before dying of starvation and injuries bought on due to their battle with the Army during their invasion. All of Great Britain's inhabitants were dead when the last few Infected perished and the country was no more.

Powers and Abilities
The Infected seemed to have a high level of stamina and physical endurance; they are never shown resting or sitting down. This could be due to the fact that the Rage Virus makes their bodies unable to cope with rest and creates a permanent state of rushed rage in the victims. The Infected's eyes also seem to be permanently wide, as if with terorr; this could be because of their previous state before being Infected. All the Infected vomit infected blood, and dwell in pitch-black areas, although as seen in 28 Weeks Later they could hunt in the day, although they were not as effective. Traditionally, they were night hunters. An obvious feature of the Infected is their eyes, which glow a brilliant red, symbolizing their supreme rage and hatred for other living people.

There are three-four main ways to become an Infected. One is a bite to the throat, which severs the arteries of the victim, spreading the disease. The second is having infected blood being vomited at one's face, which also spreads the disease. The third is to be bitten on any other part of the body; i.e. legs or arms, which also spreads the disease. A fourth, yet unknown, way of spreading the virus is through humans called Carriers - the Carriers are technically Infected yet immune, they show no symptoms. The Carriers can Infect people if they come in contact through saliva or blood; such as through a kiss a person could be Infected; as was shown with Don and Alice Harris in 28 Weeks Later. The same thing happend when their children; Tammy and Andy arrived in France, and possibly, when doctors checked their blood, the virus Infected them.

The Infected run at speeds which are approximately twice the speed of a normal person, thus making them formidable predators. A curious feature of the Infected is that they are vulnerable to military fire, yet they seem to survive wounds which would kill a normal human, as many of them are shown with their throats torn open by other Infected or other horrific injuries such as severed limbs or severed wrists. The Infected's main method of attack is a bite to the throat which releases the Virus into the blood of the victim, thus creating another Infected. The Rage Virus takes only thirty seconds to manifest in an Infected and thus is a very powerful killer; as in two hours thousands of people could be turned into Infected.

Appearances in other media
The Infected appears as recurring main antagonists in the 28 Days Later comic books and the graphic novel 28 Days Later: The Aftermath of the same continuum.