How will it begin?

[flesheatingzombie]

My opinion on how it will begin is straight and simple. There will some sort of chemical involved that, will be either used for a cure for a disease or war, that will be unfinished and accidently released into civilization. When will it happen? Of course...I believe it will happen sometime in the future.

[OVERKILL]

 I almost totally agree that this would be a likely cause, except I'm not so sure about it being accidental.
 If it's a war development for the military, who says its our military?  Every country has enemies and who knows what countries will be our enemy in the future. What biological weapons are the working on right now? Even if it's our own country, what's to say they wouldn't test it on us? A small, rural town in a mountainous area would be perfect for an experiment of that sort. The terrain would act as a natural barrier to help quarantine the town, do it during winter when everthing is froze so there's less traffic to reroute, or during the spring rains when bridges could be blown up and attributed to flooding. Numerous excuses could be made up to account for the dead and missing persons.
 If it's a new miracle drug, I could see it as being negligence on the part of the pharmaceutical company. Rushing drugs through development, bribing the FDA, falsifying tests or any other measure to get a drug to market faster before the other companies catch up.

[flesheatingzombie]

Interesting comment regarding a miracle drug. It would be amusing to see a miracle drug become the destruction of the human race.

[viwerty89]

Yes, a miracle drug... Such as a cancer cure? Cure for the common cold?!?! Hmm... Well, it could very likely be related to the pharmaceutical company. But biological warfare would only be logical if the attack was from continent to continent otherwise the good guys/bad guys just created an army of undead to worry about.

Pharmaceutical drug seems logical.

[OVERKILL]

 It could be continent to continent or some crazy a** dictator with huge stores of supplies and an underground complex. I mean look at history, the Nazi's were one of the most prolific builders of underground bunkers. If Hitler had the supplies to sustain a large population of "perfect Arians" and a zombie virus, none of us would be here today (except possibly blond haired and blue eyed people reading this- I'm neither).
 If a military thought the virus was perfect, let's say a time release where the infected cease to function 72 hours after initial infection, I could see them releasing it thinking this failsafe infallible. But then what happens when they infect someone else, which requires another 72 hours and another. They may take account for this in the lab, but there are too many variables in the field to consider. What if the virus mutates?
 Let's all hope that if there is anything even remotely like this being developed that those who make decisions about it's release never choose to release it. Let's also hope the various pharmaceutical companies test their products thoroughly, and that watchdog groups, independent testers and government authorities make sure no drugs with zombie side effects are never released.
 I worry about rabies research too.

[Wraith]

Hollywood has already provided us with the 'miracle drug' idea.  Have you seen ' I Am Legend'?  The movie started out as a cure for cancer that went terribly wrong.  Even the ending when they showed the survivor colony seemed plausible.

[OVERKILL]

 Hollywood has came out with enough zombie theories to ensure I never sleep good again, the miracle cure just being one of them.
 So what ways do you think it could "realistically" start Wraith?

[Wraith]

My guess would be some bio-chemical testing gone wrong. 

I think the story behind 28 Days seems like the most likely candidate. I know they weren't REALLY Zombies, but close enough for me.  This seem more plausible to me.  Eco-terrorists break into a "secure" facility. Yeah zealots who wont listen to reason and understand that bad things are contained here for a reason break into a lab that is creating horrible a horrible virus!  The lab is also guilty of creating something that cannot be contained, nor properly secured that if gets loose can destroy all of humankind.
Stupid people who can't read warning signs, and know of a poorly secured testing facility + highly dangerous virus/chemical that turns people into mindless eating machines and seems too darn easy to get too = Zombie outbreak.

Another serious possibility is something akin to the first Resident Evil movie.  Even the follow up movies show some after effects of a Zombie outbreak.  A company testing said highly dangerous materials and tried to hide it from the goverment to cover it all up.  That would increase the outbreak factor.

People would still survive without every coming in contact with Zombies.  Some small island populations for example.  ie.. native tribes living on small islands in the pacific.  For everyone else long term survival becomes a serious issue.

[24/7420]

Too many theories on how it gets started (not gonna start that rant) I'm more concerned with when and what kind of zombies they will be.

24/7

[OVERKILL]

 Well, work that into the response. Give your theories for how each type might spring up and a timetable for when it could happen.