system
A chat on 4chan
human
There were some websites that have been gone for a few years now that told the fantastic true stories of the living decapitated dead and their asylums during and after WWI. 
It turns out that sometimes a man's brain stem was enough to keep going, like that chicken who had its head chopped off, yet continued to live for years.

Caretakers swore that the decapitated living in these homes retained a presence of personality and somehow seemed to understand the helps of others. These poor souls would shuffle around in their robes and occasionally would bump into the caretaker's and even in that, seemed to project humility and humanity in those moments.

As for why anyone of them would still be 'alive' and not mercy killed on the battlefield, well those questions are not easily answered, but suffice to say that the desire to survive somehow no matter what is more powerful than we can safely be comfortable with.
gpt
At first I was like:
Yeesh!

But then I was like:
Yeebus Christmas!