Handling the Undead Trivia Quiz

Answer: Stockholm

On August 13th, what could only be perceived as an electric field intensified, causing painful headaches and an inability to turn off electrical devices in the Stockholm area. Only one man saw a small creature burrow into a gravestone-- no one else realized the significance of the event until, at one point, it simply released.

David Zetterberg, his wife Eva, and his son Magnus all felt the pain of the headache set in. While David headed to work, Eva took Magnus to her parents' place. An hour later, fearing an impending issue, David received a call from the hospital-- Eva hit an elk during her drive. When he arrived at the hospital the pain intensified; alarms sounded; lights were blinding. And then all of a sudden it stopped. David felt his headache disappear in an instant but didn't notice the small, white creature fall from the ceiling and burrow into his wife. When he squeezed her hand he was shocked to find it squeeze back...and then she sat up.

Mahler, a journalist, returned home with groceries to find his daughter, Anna, still in bed and still alive. Anna's son, Elias, fell to his death off the balcony two months earlier. Experiencing the same headache, Mahler laid down on the sofa and felt immediate anxiety-- his pacemaker seemed to be going double its regular rhythm. The pressure built before stopping, like with everyone else. A short time later he received a call from the hospital: the dead had started to rise; they were escaping the morgue. He decided that this was worth looking into.

Answer: Playing a zombie video game

Flora and her grandmother, Elvy, also felt the headache worsening while Flora played video games (specifically "Resident Evil"). When the pain started to distract them too much they decided to play cards in the kitchen. Flora and Elvy developed a bond over the years, partly through the connection they shared to a certain 'sense'. Somehow, the two of them were able to sense certain things that others couldn't-- hidden pasts, hidden thoughts. When the pain came to a head, the two of them went outside to the yard. As the headaches came to their worst moments and disappeared, Elvy collapse to the ground and told Flora that this was the moment when the spirits of the dead had been set free.

In the hospital, David couldn't believe that his wife, whose chest cavity was still exposed, could awaken from death and attempt to speak to him. Calling a doctor in to view this phenomenon, they discovered that her heart was not beating-- she didn't need a pulse to function. In the morgue, Mahler began to take photos of the bodies, risen from their slabs. While a handful of hospital staff attempted to handle the situation, he stood back in shock...perhaps his grandson, buried in a city cemetery, would be affected.

Elvy sent Flora to bed and prepared herself for the evening as well when she heard a loud scratching at the front door. When she opened it she found that her deceased husband, Tore, dead for only a couple days, had returned. He walked past her and attempted to enter his old room, the one Flora was staying in. Flora and her grandmother locked him inside and attempted to figure out what happened and what they should do next.

All across Stockholm, medical professionals and police determined that just over one thousand people had returned from the dead-- all of them died in the last two months.

Answer: False

Arriving at the cemetery, Mahler parked his car out front and expected the worst-- a horde of the undead at the gates-- but found a desolate hill of graves. He found his way in and climbed up to Elias' gravestone to hear scratching from deep in the earth. Sure enough, Mahler knew what he needed to do. He dug with his hands, reaching the casket buried underneath the damp soil to his grandson and, when he reached the coffin, he opened it to find Elias trying to get out. While this version of Elias looked withered away, he nonetheless seemed to resemble the boy he once was.

At the hospital, news crews began to invade Eva's room. David discovered that his wife was one of very few reanimated people who could still talk (albeit not as intelligibly as before), possibly because her brain had yet to deteriorate.

Flora and Elvy waited for an ambulance to arrive to take Tore from the bedroom and when it did, a priest accompanied the paramedics. Elvy spoke to him about the possibility of a Second Coming before Flora asked to ride with them to the hospital, just to get a lift into the city. When the ambulance departed, Elvy thought she saw the figure of a woman reaching out to the vehicle, but only for a brief moment before it disappeared.

Mahler drove home with his grandson on his lap. Bringing him into the house he received a call from his editor who, while sympathetic, asked for the photos and text for the story-- it may have been the biggest story of their lives. Mahler didn't disagree.

Answer: Haiti

Further developments formed in the night. As the city continued to deal with the crisis at hand, more 'reliving' patients were admitted to Danderyd Hospital. Hospital workers started to get into fights which, allegedly, were caused by a new ability to read one anothers' minds. A neurologist attempted to have a conversation with Eva but with little substance.

Flora headed into the city to meet Peter, a friend of hers who lived alone in a run-down building. When she arrived she told him the events of the night and he seemed unphased. When they headed to the store, Flora was shocked and disappointed to see that life simply went on despite the reanimation of hundreds of people. Citizens either didn't seem t care or they weren't letting it show.

David picked up his son for school and broke the news that his mother was in the hospital, carefully omitting her death and subsequent reawakening from his story. He headed to the medical examiner to see his wife.

Mahler made every attempt to make Elias more presentable. After a bath and an attempt to give Elias a glass of water (saltwater, as per Haitian custom), he was phoned by his daughter, Anna, Elias' mother, and she discovered that her boy was there with him. When she arrived she asked to see her son but, to Mahler's surprise, she claimed that it was not Elias as Elias is dead. He was once her son, but he only exists in their memories.

Answer: Baby bottle

Anna was unable to figure out a reason to protect the body of her son-- after all, his mind had long-disappeared from the body. Before she could call the cops to take him away, he decided that they should head southward to their cottage even though she disagreed with the idea. Upon their arrival they found solitude, safe from the city. Anna noticed that she was becoming invisible to her father, at least in terms of the decision-making, and he headed into town for work and supplies. When he departed she tried to get Elias to drink; she managed to do so with a baby bottle, much to her surprise.

Elvy worried about Flora and headed to the TV to watch the return of the Swedish President. To her surprise, he neglected to mention the biblical relevance of the events that transpired the night before. When she continued to watch the TV she was shocked to find a figure she'd seen earlier appear on the street only now, she recognized it as the Virgin Mary. The figure told her what needed to be done before reaching out to her and marking her with what she'd need to spread the word.

David, waiting for his son to finish school, decided he'd try and contact Mahler, the author of the article in the paper. He left a message before picking Magnus up and taking him to the park. His son, having been exposed to school, began to ask questions about his mother that David couldn't answer. All he said was that she'd be back again, somehow.

Answer: Hagar

Mahler returned home with the groceries and found that Anna had made progress with Elias. Using a sugary solution in a baby bottle, they found that he reacted to the sustenance, actually drinking it down.

Elvy and her friend, Hagar, headed out to persuade people of the coming of the Lord, Jesus Christ. This consisted of their traveling through the neighbourhood and knocking on doors. They did this until a storm started to form and create static in the air. When the lightning and thunder welled up, people started to show up, seeking solace at Elvy's house.

David, meanwhile, needed to cope with his first nights without his wife. Spending the time drinking and looking after Magnus, he was particularly worried when his son asked if everything would be alright with him if Eva didn't come back. That night, David and Mahler discussed their situations over the phone with one another and laid their stories out on the line as confidantes.

Answer: Rabbit

After the second day, the news seemed concerned with how to handle the undead situation. More tests were run, employees were leaving the hospitals at a faster rate than normal due to mental anguish, and the military had moved the reliving to the Heath for the time being. This was a decision made by Sten Bergwall, a man who may have committed suicide the night before due to his own anguish.

David awoke the next morning to bring his father-in-law and his mother into the apartment for Magnus' birthday. When they found him awake in his bed they presented him with a new gift, a rabbit he promptly named Balthazar. David and his father-in-law, Sture, contemplated the possibility of Eva returning home after rehabilitation while David thought about his job.

Flora's friend, Maja, arrived to tell her about the plan to fight for the dead to have their rights. Meanwhile, Elvy dealt with a bout of exhaustion; considering her goal of informing the people of the second coming, she'd been overexerting herself for the cause.

At the cottage, Mahler continued to try to 'train' Elias and bring him back to normal while Anna watched on. Finally, reaction stirred when Mahler used a remote-controlled car and an electric train set to get Elias to move; both worked. To their surprise, Elias showed great interest in these toys and broke them open to find their batteries. When Mahler tried to stop Elias he was surprised to meet with resistance, a high-pitched noise, and the feeling of being watched. When the prying neighbour, Aronsson, stopped by to say hello he discovered what had been going on. When he left, Mahler and Anna packed their things and headed out on foot.

Answer: Flora

David, Magnus (and Balthazar), and Sture headed to the Heath to visit the reliving Eva for the first time and upon their arrival they were told that there was a great chance that the odd phenomena of being able to hear others' thoughts would occur the closer they got to the deceased. This, however, did not deter the other visitors arriving at the time. Although they were blocked from entry by a guard requesting that all animals stay out, Sture placed Balthazar into his pocket to protect him for Magnus.

Flora also arrived at the Heath with a bag of fruit for her friend and the goal of visiting her grandfather. When she arrived she ran into Elvy and her group of doomsayers. Elvy projected the image she saw on TV to Flora before heading on her way. Flora noticed how haggard she was looking as she rejoined the line behind David and Magnus. She was not allowed in since she had no documents proving her familial relation to her grandfather so, instead, she jumped the fence. Once inside she saw that the Heath was simply new graves for old bodies. As people started to visit their loved ones she discovered that something terrifying would soon commence. As a sharp sound rang in her head she laid down on a bench and watched as a figure emerged from within her.

To escape the possibility of capture, Mahler and Anna took Elias out into the boat and made their way to an island in the archipelago as fast as possible. Though they forgot several essentials they felt they could make it work although they began to experience the telepathy around their reliving child that they had heard about. When they settled in on the island, Anna informed Mahler that she had been able to hear his and Elias' thoughts for a while. Mahler was forced out by the sound of throbbing in his head, even though he'd done so much to help his grandson.

Answer: A drowned man

When David, Magnus, and Sture headed into the house now containing Eva, they found that she was able to converse with them in an almost unnatural way. Although she responded to their questions, it was almost robotic. When Magnus handed her Balthazar, they were shocked to see her destroy the bunny, tearing off its head.

By the end of the day, Flora had reached Peter, her friend, in his hiding place in the Heath. Although people were warned that the intracellular power found in the reliving would be expended in a week or less, the Heath would be closed that day following several other unexplainable incidents.

Mahler headed to shore to retrieve fresh water for himself and Anna and when he left, Anna tried to get through to Elias and discover why he was so afraid, even in his thoughts. When she placed him inside she was surprised to see a white figure moving near the water but she believed it was an animal. When she went inside, however, she discovered that it was actually a drowned man having returned from the waters. He tried to get in but she held the door shut and waited for her father to return. Mahler was getting back late-- too late, in fact. As the sun set and his fuel started to diminish, he took shelter on a different island for the night with the supplies.

Flora spent time with Peter in the dark basement under the Heath, reading each others' minds before they parted and Flora decided to head out. As she left she watched as the dead emerged from their homes to congregate under a lightpost. When this happened, however, she also witnessed five young men arrive with baseball bats to create some action.

Answer: Mahler

Flora was unable to stop the five men from attacking; once one of the reliving tried to grab a hold of one of them, they started swinging away. When one believe he'd been bruised by the reliving, he taunted one of the victims on the ground and was shocked to find that it could reach out and bite him, clamping down on the arm and tearing off a piece. In retaliation, the boys doused the bodies in petrol and set them ablaze. Flora could do nothing but watch as a figure much like herself removed something from the bodies shortly before ignition.

David returned to work at the club but found that he couldn't really see the humour in most things; some of the comedians performing were already joking about the Heath. He headed home instead and, exhausted, went to bed.

Mahler finally gained his bearings and reached the island to hear Anna's screams inside. She informed him of the drowned man and his attempt to reach Elias; Mahler found a severed hand in the window of the bedroom. When he went outside to dispose of the creature he found it to be an abomination and threw up at the sight of it. As it lunged towards him, he slipped in his own vomit, tumbling to the ground and hitting his head on a rock. Anna watched from afar as the creature tore into him. Elias advised her to think good thoughts-- it seemed provoked by evil ideas-- but it was too late. Though she struggled to get a weapon she found that the best way to stop its advances was by imagining a pleasant song. This granted her the opportunity to escape in the boat with Elias, at least for now, and the two of them drifted out to sea.

Flora realized the truth as she watched small white caterpillars emerge from the bodies of the twice dead corpses in the fire. The image of herself was none other than the creature sent to reclaim these souls. After calling Elvy she raced to find Eva and free her spirit from her body. This she was able to do.

David, awakening from a dream, discovered a small white caterpillar resting on his chest and a figure to his side seeking to reclaim it. Before he sent it off he came to terms with letting go and released Eva into the spiritual world.

Flora continued back to the courtyard to find Elvy and relayed the message-- they needed to do something. Elvy was never meant to spread the word to the living; she was meant to free the dead and return their spirits to the afterlife. It was too late though; SWAT teams began to open fire; they were pulled into a van and driven to safety.

At sea, Anna received a call on her cell phone. It was David. After hearing a story from him she assured Elias that there was no reason to be afraid. As a small white caterpillar emerged from within him, she said that one day they would be together again.