Poison Zombie



Poison headcrabs produce a bloated, reddish/purplish, slow-moving, and hunched-over "carrier" zombie, referred to as a poison zombie, that seems to have even more endurance and resilience to damage than its brethren. Usually seen encumbered with several other poison headcrabs hitching a ride atop it, when this zombie senses an enemy, it hurls these hitch-hiking headcrabs with great distance and accuracy, although the headcrabs may jump off by themselves. Carrier zombies are not, themselves, poisonous; if one has no more headcrabs to hurl, it will attack with its claws like a traditional zombie. Their presence can be detected by their strangulated heavy breathing or muffled moans.

Poison zombies are unique in the fact that the headcrabs latched to their bodies appear to be interacting with their host. While other headcrab zombies serve as a host for individual headcrabs, the poison headcrabs attached to a poison zombie appear to be from it. The fact the poison zombie is off color and bloated would suggest that the headcrabs are either sucking nutrients from the body, or are using the body to store or create their acute neurotoxin.