THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE IS NIGH!

Whether you like it or not, zombies are here to stay.  They’ve overwhelmed our pop-culture, lurching (sometimes sprinting) inexorably into our movies, TV shows, comic-books and video games.  AMC’s The Walking Dead, based on Robert Kirkman’s long running Image comic series, is a ratings juggernaut.  A blockbuster adaptation of Max Brooks’ bestselling World War Z , starring Brad Pitt, is set for release next summer.  With a new game in stores and a fifth film on the way, the Resident Evil franchise is alive across multiple platforms, and shows no sign of stumbling.  But a recent string of disturbingly gruesome real-life incidents has some people wondering if an actual Zombie Apocalypse is just on the horizon.

•In Miami, a naked attacker was shot and killed by police when they found him chowing down on a homeless man's face.

•Authorities in Maryland have arrested a man who confessed to dismembering his roommate, and then feasting on his heart and brain.

•In New Jersey, a crazed man stabbed himself repeatedly with a 12 inch knife, and threw his intestines at police who were trying to subdue him.

•A Montreal man sparked an international manhunt after allegedly killing a university student with an ice- pick, dismembering the body, and eating some of the flesh.

•Across Russia, a lethal homegrown heroin-like drug called Krokodil is turning junkies into corpses at an alarming rate.  The narcotic reduces skin to scales (hence the reptilian moniker), and in some cases, has caused users flesh to rot away, exposing bone.

Last week, Centers For Disease Control spokesperson, David Daigle, contacted The Huffington Post, calming fears that an army of mindless flesh eaters is poised to rise from the dead.  "CDC does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead (or one that would present zombie-like symptoms)."  The CDC does, however, maintain a Zombie Preparedness page on their website. Thankfully, I'm not an alarmist.  I know, that in the event of worldwide pandemic, zombies are the least of my worries.  The sad truth is, death would come in the form of my friends and neighbours, struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. But if repeated screenings of The Road Warrior has taught me anything, it's that there's nothing a full tank of gas and sawed-off double-barrel can't solve.