20 best badass women of horror movies

15. Selena (28 Days Later)

Slow zombies are bad enough. They can quietly congregate until they’re in a large, hungry group. Those zombies can sneak up on you. They only need to wait, really.

Fast zombies, on the other hand, are a new level of terror. After all, it’s at least easier to avoid a stumbling, shuffling denizen of the undead. When they’re sprinting after you, it takes only a single trip to meet your doom.

Technically speaking, 28 Days Later isn’t actually about zombies. The bloodthirsty people who race after our protagonists are still alive. They’re just infected by the “rage virus”. Effectively, though, these infected individuals have all of the hunger and infections rates of a classic zombie. They’re just way, way faster.

To survive in this kind of world takes some serious gumption. Enter Selena, who actually makes her appearance after fellow protagonist Jim has spent his time wandering around a deserted London. She saves Jim from the infected. When her partner, Mark, is also affected, she dispatches him without a second thought. It’s admittedly difficult to watch, but can you blame Selena? After all, her only other option was to watch him quickly turn into a bloodthirsty monster.

However, Selena isn’t a single-note badass. It soon becomes clear that she is just as emotionally affected by the disease as any of the other survivors. Her stony expression hides a woman who is, frankly, traumatized. Even in the midst of death and disaster, Selena realizes that she must also accept some of her more human aspects in order to make it out whole. Still, that doesn’t diminish her will to survive and rescue others.