10 scariest plagues from sci-fi and fantasy

2. The Vampiric Bacteria from I Am Legend

When it was published back in 1954, Richard Matheson’s grim post-apocalypse novel I Am Legend was a groundbreaking work, so much so that it was actually an inspiration for the classic movie Night of the Living Dead. In I Am Legend, a virulent strain of bacteria infects the entirety of the world’s human population. Only one man, Robert Neville, seems immune to infection.

While the 2007 Will Smith movie of the same name featured humans becoming something closer to hyper-aggressive and super-strong zombies, the bacteria of the original novel turned people into straight-up vampires. Neville spends a great deal of time weathering the vampires attacks at night, and driving around to root out their crypts and kill them during the day.

Through research, Neville discovers the bacterial roots of the outbreak, as well as some chilling other facts…like that the bacteria infects both the living and dead. Those who were infected while still alive become sentient, intelligent vampires, while those who were already dead at the time of infection are reanimated into bloodthirsty killing machines.

The great, brilliant irony of I Am Legend is that by the end of the novel, Neville has become the equivalent of a monster of yore to the new vampire society. He kills them in their sleep, ruthlessly and without prejudice. The Will Smith movie went wide of the mark with a more traditional hero-goes-out-in-a-blaze-of-glory ending, though an alternate cut on the DVD release did try to amend that somewhat.

But no matter what ending you’re working with, this virus all but ends humanity. It’s not a happy story.