There has been a shift in zombie narratives that have emerged since the 2019 spread of COVID-19: an eschewing of survival discourse that has dominated most previous contagion narratives in favor of a discourse that is indicative of an endemic. Endemic zombie narratives include Peninsula (2020), The Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy (2009–2011), The Girl with All the Gifts (2014, 2016), Mira Grant’s Newsflesh series (2010–2016), and The Walking Dead: World Beyond (2020–2021). Endemic zombie narratives suggest that living with contagion is possible but only through a recognition of various entanglements between contagion, climate change, and the status quo and, more specifically, by embracing extinction. When characters embrace extinction, they address the ways in which humans are part of the mass extinction events happening around the world by acknowledging shared vulnerability and developing emphatic empathy. To do so, endemic zombie narratives must reject Manifest Destiny and the hope imperative and shift discourse toward a multispecies approach that views the dead (or undead) as equally deserving of space. Ultimately, endemic zombie narratives carry the potential of moving beyond the status quo, thus providing a better framework for inclusive practices and environmental progress.