Infector

The Infector was a unique Necromorph whose sole purpose was to convert corpses into new Necromorphs, multiplying the forms that spread an outbreak. Often among the first creatures created by a Marker signal, it acted as an accelerant, turning a room full of the dead into a host of fresh threats within minutes. For survivors such as Isaac Clarke, an Infector at work among intact bodies was a priority to destroy, since every corpse it reached became another Slasher to fight. (Dead Space; Dead Space 2)

Anatomy#

The Infector was formed from a human torso and legs. Its wings were made from a flap of skin taken from the chest, fused between the host's bent and broken legs. The jaw collapsed within the body, while the rest of the head broke and twisted into a proboscis and feelers, with the spine providing support and the attachment points for their movement. The proboscis, built from mutated bone, muscle, and spinal tissue, was the delivery mechanism for the pure Necromorph tissue used to infect new hosts. (Dead Space)

To reanimate a corpse, the Infector enveloped it in its wings, extended the proboscis from its spinal cavity, and stabbed it into the skull, injecting a yellow fluid stored in an internal bladder. The creature seemed to prefer corpses that already bore head wounds, possibly because this spared it the work of cracking the skull. Aboard the Ishimura, Unitologists were seen to have prepared their bodies for the creatures by boring a hole in the center of their foreheads. (Dead Space)

Role in the outbreak#

The Infector existed to spread the infestation. It generally appeared in areas where many of the dead were gathered, such as the morgue aboard the Ishimura and the Church of Unitology on the Sprawl, and worked to turn those bodies into Necromorphs as quickly as possible. The forms it produced depended on the outbreak and on the host. In the events on Aegis VII, Infectors generally produced Enhanced Slashers, while the corpses of Marines became Twitchers. During the outbreak on the Sprawl, Enhanced Infectors made Enhanced Slashers and ordinary Infectors made ordinary Slashers. The form was understood to be capable of creating other single-body types of Necromorph, though only Slashers and Twitchers were observed being made. (Dead Space; Dead Space 2)

Several accounts described those becoming Infectors aspirating a yellowish bile from their mouths as one of the first signs of the transformation. The creature was itself fragile, with few parts to sever beyond the infection proboscis, which was only revealed while it was at work on a corpse. If no bodies were nearby, an Infector behaved like any other Necromorph and attacked directly, and it would sometimes rest by sticking to walls or windows when it ran out of corpses to convert. (Dead Space)

Variants and later forms#

A very rare Enhanced Infector appeared, recorded only twice throughout the Sprawl outbreak, distinguished only by a slightly darker coloration. By the time of the events on Tau Volantis, the Infector no longer appeared in its winged form at all, its role of reanimating the dead taken over by the crab-like Swarm Infectors that the Guardians there ejected to spread the infestation. (Dead Space 2; Dead Space 3)