Zombie Queen

The Zombie Queen, a character in the Wake the Dead book, is the leader and creator of the various types of Zombies found across the United States emanating from the Reno Hive. She is first seen in Chapter 16.

Appearance
The Zombie Queen is unlike any other zombie in appearance. She is a tall humanoid figure, with glowing and expressive amber eyes, nothing like the vacant stare of a normal zombie. She has hardened silver plates of rotted skin and unusual rows of spikes that grow from her shoulders and forehead. She has huge hands with massive claws, as well as leopard-like markings on her abdomen and legs.

Personality
The Zombie Queen possesses two unique traits as far as Zombies are concerned, in that she can both communicate with others and think for herself. She is a cold, calculating individual, immensely proud of her creations. She appears to have a sense of humor, albeit very warped and twisted, commenting to Your Character she is unsure whether she wants to kill you outright, or play a little first. The Queen is also intelligent, able to work out in seconds that when Shannon Fox asked her about drones, she meant regular zombies. Like all other zombies, she has a keen instinct to kill and eat humans, finishing off all but one of those from your colony kidnapped by the Siren. She also has excellent intuition, being proficient at knowing which humans will make good Queens, as well as being very strong determined, trying and failing three times before succeeding in making Your Sister a fellow Queen.

The Queen states her desires in a clinical manner, stating that she wants to monopolize and expand within her ecosystem, turning humans into zombies.

The Queen does, however, also possess a tender side, though this is reserved strictly for the zombies she creates. Your Character witnesses her gently and affectionately tending to her creations, caressing the membrane of their pod with the back of her hand. It is unknown what personality she possessed before being turned into a Queen, but it is likely, given her comments on how the process works, she was a strong willed individual, something the process of transforming her into a Queen has only enhanced.

Biography
At the beginning of the zombie pandemic, Candace, a local woman with strong motherly instincts, was forcibly kidnapped by Zombie drones and brought inside the Reno Hive to be converted into a Queen. She remained a Queen until she was killed in a duel with Your Sister, who beheaded her.

Wake the Dead

 * Chapter 16: Into The Deep
 * Chapter 17: Shadows of the Past
 * Chapter 18: Brought Low (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 19: The Solstice (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 20: Survival of the Fittest

Your Character
The Queen first comes across Your Character when they infiltrate her hive to try to rescue members of the colony kidnapped by a Siren. She recognizes you based on your smell, despite not having met before. She will not negotiate with you, calling you prey, but does answer some of your questions. She taunts you by revealing she has transformed Your Sister into a Queen.

Your Sister
The Queen attempts to turn Your Sister into a fellow Queen to help her during the solstice, failing three times but succeeding on the fourth attempt. She is proud of what Your Sister has become, and evidently has complete control over her, until Shannon develops an antidote to bring her human emotions back. The Queen struggles to regain control of Your Sister, and eventually fails. Your Sister beheads the Queen, but not before the latter mortally wounds her.

Powers and Abilities
The Zombie Queen is evidently a very powerful creature, being able to control and create various types of zombies, as well as effortlessly finish off a whole group of your colony. Whilst her full abilities are currently unknown, she has thus far demonstrated:


 * Zombification: Whilst ordinary zombies (Drones) can zombify others by means of biting them, the Queen has the ability to transform those drones into different types of zombie as she sees fit. These include Sirens, Soldiers, Scouts and Queens. The Queen achieves this by feeding them different colored liquid from her mouth, gold for Queens, green for sirens, amber for scouts and orange for soldiers.
 * Polymorphism: As Shannon notes, the Queen has a very high level of skill in biology, creating the various pods in which the zombies grow and change, engineering their properties and creating the liquid in which they are suspended. She also sedates them, to enable them to stay still long enough to change their form.
 * Zombie control: The Queen, as leader of the hive, is ultimately responsible for controlling all of the zombies that emerge from it, and thus they answer to her. She appears to have a considerable influence on them, her mere presence outside one of their pods is enough for them to stir.
 * Intelligence: Unlike all other types of Zombie, The Queen is a clever and sentient being, able to think for herself and respond to questions. This makes her very dangerous, as she can respond to external threats. She also appears to possess self control, choosing not to outright kill Your Character and their group at first opportunity.
 * Enhanced sense of smell: The Queen appears to have an abnormally developed sense of smell, even for Zombies, remarking that you and your sister smell the same.

Weaknesses

 * Decapitation: It is assumed that dismembering or manually removing the head of a zombie will result in instant and permanent death. This is confirmed when Your Sister beheads and kills her.