The Boomer: A Character Study

No, this isn't about Mr. Esiason, Bengals fans. Thinking in between respawns of versus mode in Left 4 Dead, I pondered, "Who is/was the Boomer?" He's a puke-filled grenade with projection abilities rivaling little Linda Blair's, but what was he like before he turned and how did he gain such bile-bending talents?

He wasn't just a random, morbidly obese person turned zed shown by the 5 sizes too small shirt; at least he had the foreknowledge to wear sweat pants, amiright? He has no facial hair, so he could've been a child for all we know. With the presence of festering boils and a constant gurgle in his step, something just didn't agree with his zombie digestive system. He couldn't have just eaten too much human; I don't think that happens (plus Boomers wouldn't be such a rare spawn).

My first thought was he tried to eat other infected people when savory survivors were scarce. It would be an easy answer to his ultra-severe indigestion. Though why does the scent of his bile attract hordes of other zeds? That candied concoction wouldn't attract more zombies to the piñata party. But also why would the Boomer want to share the tasty treats if he had a problem with overeating anyway? Those hordes would also want to destroy the Boomer before he even was able to tag the survivors with his scent. He can't tag other zeds either, so it must be a combination of vomit + survivors; I imagine it's like cheese-covered broccoli for them.

This all relies on the presupposition that zombies eat humans, which doesn't seem the case in this zompacalyptic universe. It's an odd situation when nearly all other games recognize this tenant. The undead just wish for genocide in this case. The living can't be turned. There's no room for greed over food. It's just killing and hate, an even finer distillation of zombie culture.

Or I could be wrong. The Boomer could just be distraught and angry at himself for eating away his stress only to cause more. That's it! He's a new breed of suicidal zombie!

-- "I can understand the attraction, but I hate the clingy ones!"