If you are bitten by a zombie should you kill yourself?

In a zombie apocalypse survivors not only have to worry about being killed by a zombie but being turned into a zombie as well. A Zombie has to be killed by blows to the head but a survivor can be infected by merely being bitten by a zombie. Once infected little can be done to help the individual if there is no cure and it is only a matter of time before they turn into one themselves and begin attacking the living. So should someone who is infected by a zombie kill themselves in order to stop them from harming others?

In the movie Resident Evil Extinction, a convoy of survivors stop at an abandoned motel to search for supplies. One of the survivors, L. J. Wayne is bitten while clearing the rooms and keeps it a secret instead of telling the others what happened. He knows his fate is sealed but he carries on anyways without doing anything about it. Latter on the next day the survivors get into a heavy fight with zombies. Half way through the fight however Wayne turns into a zombie and bites the guy he was fighting next to. Wayne didn't tell the others because he knew he would have been dispatched immediately, instead of killing himself he stayed alive as long as he could for what appears to be selfish desires.  He helped the survivors in other fights while infected but ultimately screwed over one of his friends because he didn't know the guy next to him was infected. 

Wayne was not an egoist; he was more of a utilitarian. He did not perceive that the risk of him turning at an inopportune time or before he could kill himself outweighed the amount of help he could give to the survivors while he was alive. He was not a perfect utilitarian so he did not kill himself in order to guard against the possibility that he would turn into a zombie and infect his friends but he was one. He was a ticking time bomb and no one knew about it and he was killing zombies until the bitten (bitter) end. Wayne didn't tell the other survivors he was infected because he wanted to live and was afraid of death; it looks like he put his needs ahead of the needs of the community. Not telling the others of his condition was not a completely selfish act as he still continued to help the others in fights with zombies and gather supplies while knowing none of it was aiding himself since his fate was already sealed. “Most people do not examine their motives to an ultimate justification and so are not consciously motivated that way” (Salazar 2). Although it seems like he was keeping it a secret only to benefit himself he did not examine his actions that closely.  He was scared and not actively betraying his friends. He was not an egoist because he did not “ignore the legitimate needs of others” (Salazar 2) after he was bitten. He continued being a part of the community...albeit up until the point where he took a chunk out of  his friend. When his friend was bitten he did what Wayne should have done instead.

The guy who was bitten by Wayne was a utilitarian. He volunteered to sacrifice himself as a distraction when storming a compound that contained an experimental cure (if only Wayne could have lasted another hour to find out this information) for the infection and a helicopter. They needed a distraction and he knew it was too risky to go for the cure because it might not work and he didn't think he’d get it in time. Instead of going for the cure for himself he sacrificed himself so the other survivors could grab the helicopter and get to safety. Trading one condemned life for six.

           Although this situation has no chance of happening (we hope), the actions can be applied to the actual world of the living, the one where the dead stay that way. Putting the greater good ahead of your self is what utilitarians believe in. This is what the two guys in this movie tried to do (one more successful than the other but its the thought that counts right?). It is a noble action and an unselfish action to sacrifice your life for someone else and even more noble to keep helping your friends even after your fate is sealed by a disease or infection for which there is no cure. Utilitarians believe in the greatest good and the pain Wayne went through to help his friends and the sacrifice made by the guy he infected created much more good than bad (even tough Wayne munched on his friend his previous actions saved other lives). People can learn a few hings from the selfless acts that they performed.

Salazar, Heather. “Self-Interest,” The New Catholic Encyclopedia, Series on Ethics and Morality, ed. by Robert  Fastiggi. Gale Cengage Learning, 2013