Danny Boyle's genre-redefining 'fast zombie' horror movie 28 Days Later - and its sequel 28 Weeks Later - is one of the most iconic depictions of the living dead ever committed to the big screen, however one ordeal experienced by Naomie Harris' Selena was more intense than anything movie fans actually got to see.
Set between the two movies, BOOM! Studios tie-in comic 28 Days Later sees Selena return to the UK, hired as a guide by a group of journalists who hope to expose the origin of the Rage Virus outbreak so that its horrors will never be repeated. While the team are quickly picked off, Selena is able to help the survivors make it as far as Edinburgh, where they must once again contend with the franchise's true horror - other humans.
Selena quickly discovers that Edinburgh is now under the rule of former gang lord King Dixon, who resents her group for using scavenged supplies he sees as his property. In 28 Days Later chapter 15 - from Michael Alan Nelson and Alejandro Aragon - Selena is subjected to 'the Mannequin.' This horrifying fate takes the form of a small cage with a red circle drawn in its center. While Selena had seen the structure earlier, it's only now that she's informed of its horrific purpose: those who upset King Dixon are forced to spend a night within the cage, surrounded by the series' nocturnal horrors. Sympathetic gang member Raj explains that the red circle is the only safe space in the cage, and if any part of Selena crosses it, she'll be torn to pieces. The torture takes its name from the fact that only those who are able to remain still like mannequins will ever see the morning.
The Mannequin is another horrific example of the series' theme that normal humans can be even more cruel and vicious than the 'zombies' infected with the Rage virus. Over a long night, Selena manages to survive, even as she begins to hallucinate under the barrage of horror that surrounds her on every side. While the movies depict plenty of terrifying fates handed out by both regular humans and Rage carriers (and originally had a far darker ending), the comic takes its time stressing the immense psychological toll this experience takes, and the fact that its unique brand of horror comes from human invention, not the uncontrolled violence of the infected.
Like many zombie stories, 28 Days Later explores what humans become under intense pressure, and how they maintain or abandon their own humanity in a suddenly savage world. In the case of the comics, the story focuses even more on the threat posed by humans, as a big enough catastrophe pushes the very worst people to the top and makes the previously unthinkable a way of life. Thankfully, Selena is able to steel herself and escape King Dixon's Edinburgh, meaning that should there be a further sequel in the 28 Days Later series, fans may get to see how the two-time survivor copes with a world - rather than just a country - fallen to Rage.