Adam Alasdair's Blog

Thank you to the five hundred and thirty brave people who downloaded my books over the weekend!

Self-publishing is a powerful tool for authors, and is the wave of the future.  The old publishing companies are middle-men who used to be the gate-keepers of who and what got published.  Their reign (maybe not of terror) is nearly over.  While a lot of what gets published may be so-called "vanity publishing," the future will be dominated by individual authors writing what they want to write, without the often stifling influence of large publishing houses, which have historically consumed most of the profit for their own benefit.  Especially in regards to e-book publishing, the new way of doing things is one in which an author...an artist, really...has the freedom to express him or herself, and present the written word to an audience in a way that is both more cost-effective to the consumer and at the same time environmentally conscious.  The hundreds of people who got to sample my work over the weekend did so without doing anything more than transmitting bits and bytes through the magic of the interweb...no trees were harmed in the creation and transmission of these histories and ideas.  Thanks, and bring on the future!

And Again: Spears, ancient but good.

Firearms and the Zombie Apocalypse...

So by now everyone has probably watchedthe season finale of "The Walking Dead," with the long-awaited prisonassault.  While it didn't go down exactlyas I'd expected, in important ways I feel like my analysis of the probableresult was pretty spot-on.  If you'vebeen following the things that I jot down on this blog, you'll know that I'vewritten two different pieces about the concept of Woodbury attacking the PrisonKingdom of Rick.  You'll also know that Ithought that Woodbury had about the same chance of success as successfullynavigating an asteroid field in The Empire Strikes Back...except the Governoris no Han Solo, and his "ship" is certainly no MillenniumFalcon.  In other words, a snowball'schance in Hell, as they say.

Most of this gut feeling came from thestate of the Governor's army...I mean, the Governor's a psychopath, so he's notgoing to get scared of much, but his followers on the other hand...well, theyleave a lot to be wished for.  Theyaren't (err, weren't) soldiers...just giving someone a weapon and telling themto follow you isn't the same thing as actually training and preparing them tofight.

In the end, the Governor's assault onthe prison was broken with ridiculous ease. All the defenders had to do was employ a few flash grenades, and alongwith some help from the dark nastiness of the tombs and a handful of hungryzombies panic spread like wildfire among the Governor's grand army.  A couple of bursts of automatic fire and thevictorious horde was reduced to a terrified mass of speeding motorists, runningfor their lives back to Woodbury, even though they weren't even beingpursued.  This is the response we shouldhave expected from them (although I thought that a lot of more of them would becut down in the process of extricating themselves from the prison...actually,did anyone actually get killed in the prison? I remain unsure, despite the statement that the recent attack was abloodbath, whilst the Governor was attempting to drive his minions back intothe fray).

Now we can all wait hungrily for thenext season of The Walking Dead.  Thelesson we've learned from this season is that it's harder than it looks toattack a group of determined people who have a fortress to defend.  And also that Carl may be a serialkiller.  And that Andrea should've shuther yap and used the pliers with the quickness, as it were...and many otherthings.

So by now everyone has probably watched the season finale of "The Walking Dead," with the long-awaited prison assault.  While it didn't go down exactly as I'd expected, in important ways I feel like my analysis of the probable result was pretty spot-on.  If you've been following the things that I jot down on this blog, you'll know that I've written two different pieces about the concept of Woodbury attacking the Prison Kingdom of Rick.  You'll also know that I thought that Woodbury had about the same chance of success as successfully navigating an asteroid field in The Empire Strikes Back...except the Governor is no Han Solo, and his "ship" is certainly no Millennium Falcon.  In other words, a snowball's chance in Hell, as they say.Most of this gut feeling came from the state of the Governor's army...I mean, the Governor's a psychopath, so he's not going to get scared of much, but his followers on the other hand...well, they leave a lot to be wished for.  They aren't (err, weren't) soldiers...just giving someone a weapon and telling them to follow you isn't the same thing as actually training and preparing them to fight. In the end, the Governor's assault on the prison was broken with ridiculous ease.  All the defenders had to do was employ a few flash grenades, and along with some help from the dark nastiness of the tombs and a handful of hungry zombies panic spread like wildfire among the Governor's grand army.  A couple of bursts of automatic fire and the victorious horde was reduced to a terrified mass of speeding motorists, running for their lives back to Woodbury, even though they weren't even being pursued.  This is the response we should have expected from them (although I thought that a lot of more of them would be cut down in the process of extricating themselves from the prison...actually, did anyone actually get killed in the prison?  I remain unsure, despite the statement that the recent attack was a bloodbath, whilst the Governor was attempting to drive his minions back into the fray).Now we can all wait hungrily for the next season of The Walking Dead.  The lesson we've learned from this season is that it's harder than it looks to attack a group of determined people who have a fortress to defend.  And also that Carl may be a serial killer.  And that Andrea should've shut her yap and used the pliers with the quickness, as it were...and many other things.

Forgive the production quality...this is my first foray in the high tech future that is YouTube...

Sooner or later anyone facing zombie opponents is going to have to utilize everyday objects that are not normally considered to be or used as weapons.  In fact, these items (and there's a bewildering variety of possibilities) are in general more common than firearms or other weapons and they are commonly encountered.  Every household will certainly have something (and probably many somethings) that can be utilized as an anti-zombie weapon as the situation warrants it.  Due to the inevitability of having to face a zombie armed with something that wasn't intended to be used in armed conflict, everyone should familiarize themselves with the basics of turning everyday objects from the environment into weapons.The most obvious of these items are commonly employed around the house as tools.  A partial sampling of such items might include the following:Axes and hatchets- These items are intended to chop through saplings and branches, and to a lesser degree the chopping of fire wood and kindling.  They come in a variety of sizes and weights and are more than capable of inflicting a fatal crushing blow to a zombie's skull.  Axes were a fairly popular purpose-built weapon from antiquity through the European Middle Ages, since they were cheap and simple to manufacture.  They were also quite good at piercing armor, although their weight and balance tended to make them less adaptable during combat when compared to swords.  Note that axes and hatchets in your barn or garage (or your neighbor's barn or garage) are not the same as the medieval variants that were specifically designed for combat.  The domestic axe is a tool, meant to be used against immobile, non-resisting timber.  When used against lumbering zombies, keep in mind that the weight of axes, especially heavier models like fire axes, makes them poorly balanced as weapons.  They are slow to recover from a missed strike.  Also, missing the zombie means the chance of striking yourself with the axe blade, which is sufficient to cause a debilitating wound (leaving you slow or immobile and less able to escape the still-dangerous zombie).  With these as with other weapons, they should be matched to your physical strength.  If you have no choice and need to use it in a pinch, fine—but if the tool or weapon isn't effective given your level of physical strength, find something more appropriate as soon as possible.Hammers and picks- Another excellent make-shift weapon against zombie attackers, hammers come in even greater variety than axes do.  These are shorter weapons, obviously, than axes and therefore they necessitate that the user get dangerously close to a zombie foe.  However, their weight and reach makes them relatively handy in close, and they have the ability to inflict a depressed skull fracture or pierce the skull.  The claw end of the hammer has some of the characteristics of medieval war picks, although the point(s) are not nearly as acute as the medieval examples.  Historically, war hammers and the related war picks were developed during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries as a response to improved armor technology.  Articulated plate armor was largely impervious to sword blows, because the glancing surface would cause attacks to slide harmlessly off.  Even if an opponent managed to strike a hard blow with a sword, in general the solid plate that covered most of the body could not be cut or pierced by swords.  Because of this, knights and other warriors began to carry axes and especially hammers and picks in addition to their other weapons.  Upon encountering someone in full plate armor, the hammer or pick was deployed as an armor piercing weapon to bludgeon through the enemy's defense.  Clearly, if the intent of such weapons was to inflict damage to someone wearing steel plate armor, then an unarmored zombie skull is relatively vulnerable to the piercing and hammering effect of such weapons.Baseball/Cricket Bats- These are clubs, albeit specialized clubs used for organized sports.  They can readily be turned into weapons in a pinch, as scared apartment dwellers and mob enforcers can attest.  Clubs are one of the oldest forms of weapon, up there with stone spears and knives.  Deadlier forms of club were created over the course of man's millennia-long pursuit of warfare.  Often these were embellished with stone or metal spikes or blades in an attempt to make the weight and impact of the club do even more damage once it hit.  Baseball or cricket bats need to break their way through the skull or crush the spinal column to be effective against zombies.  They are capable of achieving this, but bear in mind that a certain amount of strength is required, and timing is important.  Also keep in mind that wooden clubs can potentially break: baseball bats are designed, as you know, to hit baseballs, not skulls attached to the mass of a moving zombie.  Using a tool for a task it isn't designed for is a recipe for the failure of that tool, and your anti-zombie bat might break at the handle (its weakest point) when delivering a hard blow.  If you use a bat remember that if the weapon fails you need to be ready to flee or quickly locate an alternative implement before you become a hot lunch.Screwdrivers- Good quality screwdrivers, whether Phillip's head or flat, can become effective stilettos in a pinch.  If you're only familiar with the term stiletto in reference to shoes, the pointy heel in question is actually named after an even more pointy type of medieval dagger.  Stilettos were narrow bladed weapons that usually lacked an edge, being entirely designed around the use of the needle-like point for thrusting.  They could pierce through weak spots or gaps in armor, or they could be worn in a smaller form as civilian self-defense weapons.  The idea is essentially to focus a lot of force on a small point, with the idea that the point with them pierce through the target.  Screwdrivers are capable of serving in this role, though their effectiveness would be even greater if they were modified by sharpening the point to a more acute edge.  When targeting a zombie with such a weapon the eye sockets are probably the best place to strike: remember that you're trying to get to the brain, and you don't want to risk your screwdriver skittering off the curved surface of the skull, leaving you vulnerable to a bite.  Screwdrivers are close-range weapons that should only be used if nothing better can be found.  Remember that the zombie's danger zone extends only a few feet in front of the creature, limited by the reach of its arms.  By closing to strike with a screwdriver, you're entering that danger zone and potentially making yourself vulnerable.Kitchen knives- Similar to the use of the screwdriver, the kitchen knife is a close-ranged weapon that should be used carefully and only if nothing better is available.  The technique of using a kitchen knife is similar to that of screwdrivers.  Primarily useful as a piercing weapon, the kitchen knife should be targeted at the eyes or the base of the skull in order to incapacitate the attacking zombie.  Secondarily, if your knife is sharp enough you can use it to slice at your attacker, but remember that 1) an incapacitated zombie is still dangerous and 2) if you're using a knife you're within striking distance of the zombie's hands and jaws.  Where knives are concerned the larger the better, in general, realizing that even the largest knife is not the most ideal weapon.  Quality knives shouldn't break, but keep in mind that you're using it for something it really wasn't designed for.  If you're in a fancy (or well stocked) kitchen you might find a cleaver.  Used in a manner similar to the hatchets, the cleaver's strengths are its weight and sharp edge.  A hard enough blow should be sufficient to cut through the skull, though like the knife its short reach places the user in some amount of danger.Scissors- Most cheap scissors won't be much use against a zombie.  But if you happen upon a high quality set of scissors, especially those meant to cut fabric, they can be pushed into service as a sort of stiletto.  The ring-shaped handles can be used to secure a decent grip around the base, and the blades are capable of concentrating sufficient force on a small point, which means they can be used as piercing weapons.  You're probably familiar with the possibility of using scissors as makeshift weapons, because of the presentation of such a scenario by Hollywood.  Remember that zombies are not humans, and so "close" doesn't count: only the brain or the spinal column will do.  You'll need to use significant force to make it happen with scissors, and like other short weapons you'll be in danger the whole time.Table legs- Another form of club.  Lighter and generally less effective than baseball bats (if it's heavier, great, but then you're going to have a hard time breaking it off the rest of the table).  They're included here in part because pretty much every house or apartment has some of these inconspicuously holding up the furniture.  If it's all you've got, it's better than nothing.  Use it to find your way out as quickly as possible, so that you can locate something better to defend your flesh from hungry zombies (with an emphasis on the "as quickly as possible" bit).Pans- The right pan can be a decent weapon, in an emergency.  Especially high quality examples.  Pans have mass and are resilient enough to survive multiple blows.  Cast iron, while extremely heavy, is probably the most lethal of this category of improvised bludgeoner.  Dumbbells and other weights- Another regularly encountered item, these are similar to the cast iron pans mentioned above.  It's all mass, and all about using that mass to crush the zombie's skull before he gets the upper hand.  The variety of hand weight known as a "kettle bell" (give a shout out to Russia for the idea) could be a very capable close-in bashing weapon, provided you can get your hands on a light enough example.  They look basically like a cannon ball with a cast loop-like handle attached to the top.  Swing one with enough force and the right timing and you'll have pulp instead of a zombie.Shovels- Finally a weapon with some reach.  Shovels can be pressed into service as a type of pole arm: they allow the user to keep some distance between him or herself and the offending zombie, and they can be used to both bash and pierce.  Remember that a shovel blade is not sharpened for battle, and it's not going to shear through a zombie skull like you think it might.  But with the right strike in the right spot, you'll survive to live another day, and get or manufacture a more effective weapon.Pitchforks- Pitchforks (and scythes) have a long history of being put to use in (mostly failed) peasant rebellions.  The failed part comes in when you consider that the authorities, depending on the time period, had either plate armor and warhorses or firearms with which to put down the rebels.  Luckily for you, zombies don't have any of these things, and so you won't be facing a cavalry charge or a fusillade of rifle fire as you stand ready with your trusty pitchfork.  These items give you reach, and the formula for effective piercing applies: lots of force focused on a small point (actually several points).  Pitchforks can also be used to pin or maneuver zombies, if such tactics become necessary: impale your victim and then control him by manipulating the handle.  You won't destroy the zombie by this method, but you might allow an ally to get an opening to strike or give yourself time to run or get a better weapon.  Keep in mind that the handle might break, and be prepared if that occurs.Rebar & steel pipe- Building materials offer up a range of products that might be used in a pinch as makeshift clubs.  A piece of iron pipe or a short length of rebar encountered at a construction site might be sufficient to save your life, so that you live to run/fight/starve for another day.  The technique is obvious: you supply the force, it supplies the mass and transmits the force to the skull.  Crush away.The Halligan tool- The holy grail of improvised anti-zombie weaponry, in my humble (but educated) opinion.  Usually found in the proximity of firefighters, the Halligan tool is sort of like the bastard stepchild of a Swiss Army Knife and a crowbar, which firefighters use to poke, prod, pry, smash and generally dislocate all manner of inanimate objects in the course of their firefighting duties.  It combines the characteristics of a war pick with a short spear, and has the added benefit of being highly useful because of its regular "day job" utility as well.  You may well need to do some breaking and entering, and a Halligan Tool is your ticket to a successful life of post-apocalyptic crime.Crowbar- An obvious follow up to the Halligan Tool, a crowbar is a heavy steel tool designed to destroy things.  The hammer builds.  The crowbar smashes.  A hard blow and you'll reduce the zombie's skull to nibblets.  Keep in mind that this isn't a light weapon.  To use it and recover in time you'll need decent physical strength.  Like the Halligan Tool, the crowbar is a spork for the apocalypse: it does several jobs, and it does them pretty well.The Chainsaw- I include this here in part because it is a staple of some zombie fiction, and has been held up as an improvised weapon by Hollywood.  Obviously a chainsaw can be used as a weapon: in fact, they are quite dangerous to use, even if you're familiar with them.  Loggers have been slicing themselves up (accidentally) with chainsaws for a long time.  They'll easily tear through most of the things in your path (and you, if you're not careful).  Movies probably portray the chainsaw as a weapon because they're scary and dramatic.  In reality, this should be about the last thing you want to grab as a means of defending yourself.  If you're trapped with nothing but a letter opener and a chainsaw, pick the chainsaw.  Otherwise, get something less ridiculous.  The chainsaw's strengths are also its main weaknesses, in a sense: it has the power to dismember a body, but it's going to spray bits of that body all over the place (read "you") in the process.  The fact that zombies are infectious masses of dead tissue should make you think twice before you decide to frolic amongst the flying zombie bits.  Chainsaws are heavy, so if you're not already pretty strong, don't bother to try and use one as a weapon.  The torque from their operation makes them still more difficult to use against attacking zombies.  They are extremely noisy, so if you haven't managed to alert every zombie in your immediate vicinity, well, you have now.  They run on gasoline (or an oil/gas mixture) which means they can only be used as long as the fuel supply lasts.  Essentially, chainsaws are terrible weapons.  Leave them to the actors who are only pretending to fight zombies.

SPOILER ALERT!  If you aren't caught up on the most recent Walking Dead episodes, wave off!  You're about to ruin your life!  Don't read the following!
Ok.  I've already blogged about the Governor's upcoming attack on the Ricktatorshipians at the prison (The Walking Dead: Prison Assault, below).  Or maybe we should be calling them, collectively, the Democratic Republic of Atlanta Survivors, now that Rick has renounced his imperium.  Anyway, if you've read my earlier post you'll know that I consider the assault on the prison to be a fool's errand, from the point of view of the Governor.  He's crazy, so maybe he's not thinking things through clearly, but anyone who puts much thought towards the proposed prison attack can see that there are significant obstacles to success.  Now that we know a little more information, I'd like to stress this point even more that I did before.I've spent a lot of time over the years studying and teaching military history, and one of the things that military historians of antiquity are always interested in is the size of opposing armies.  This is made much more complex by the fact that ancient commentators usually heavily exaggerate the numbers of the losing side, so that historians constantly have try to figure out the truth.  Some people are highly opposed to this, insisting that the figures are accurate.  They spit the derogatory term "revisionist" at those who don't agree with them.  Anyway, I'm a revisionist, I suppose...most enemy armies are highly inflated in surviving chronicles, because those accounts were written by the victors.  Alexander the Great did not fight a quarter million Persians at Gaugamela.  Sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but that figure is not possible.But wait!  For the upcoming prison assault, we actually have decent figures for the opposing sides!  All we have to do is comb through a few of the back episodes, and we learn some very crucial information, if we want to use our historical powers of deduction to predict the future (no, historians are not just interested in the past).  As luck would have it, a conversation between Milton and the Governor provides us with detailed information concerning the size and composition of the Governor's Woodburyite Militia.  According to this conversation, the Militia is made up of the following: 1) the "able-bodied," twenty in number, 2) the not-able-bodied, who suffer from various health problems, six in number, and 3) kids, and yes the Governor's right about adolescence being a modern construct, but you can't undo this simply by saying so...there are six adolescent commandos in the Governor's ranks.  This gives us a total of thirty-five gun-wielding live bodies, of which fifty-seven percent are neither sick nor in the fourth grade.But we have still more information: in the preview of the upcoming final episode, we learn that the Governor is upset over Merle slaughtering eight of his people.  At least eight is the figure my ears heard.  The eight good people were probably not drawn from the Governor's auxilia of grade-schoolers and the aged, but from the cream of the non-health-compromised twenty.  If the Governor did indeed leave Grandma and Timmy at home with the mint julips, the warband he led unknowingly into the crosshairs of Merle was composed of his "best" fighters.  So we should subtract these individuals from the total, leaving the governor twelve decent soldiers, six old and sick individuals, and nine children for cannon fodder.Against them are arrayed the surviving D.R.A.S. citizens: Rick, Daryl, Maggie, Glenn, Beth, Carl, Michonne, Carol and Hershel ().  All of these individuals, even Beth (whom they should develop more as a character, by the way) have been shown to be competent in a fight.  Some of them are extremely capable.  Even crippled Hershel is ready to throw down, and you'll recall from the destruction of his farm that Hershel is capable of becoming a berserker in the right circumstances.  Michonne, Daryl, Rick, Maggie and Glen are all deadly.  Carl is a budding little psychopath whose only toy is a gun.  These people are nasty in a fight.  They're also used to working together, which is crucial for military operations, now as in antiquity.  The Governor's mob is not.  His regiment of decent people got cut up pretty badly by Merle...only one person...who wiped out a goodly chunk of the decent Woodburyites all by his lonesome.  A casualty rate of eight to one in favor of the enemy is not something to be proud of, unless you outnumber your opponents by more than eight to one.  And even then it's really not something to be proud of.  I'm thinking that the morale and the cohesion of the Woodburyite Militia is not particularly noteworthy at this point.  From the point of view of the Militia, they've been attacked twice at the town itself, and then ambushed outside it, with considerable casualties in each encounter.  They've only seen two slain enemies.  Clearly they're not getting the best of the exchange.  And as we lead up to the attack on the prison, we've got to be honest and say that more than fifty percent of the Governor's army is made of shaky conscripts.  Things do not look promising for his future as a post-Apocalyptic Napoleon.

This volume is dedicated to a study of weaponry and battle tactics as they specifically relate to an apocalyptic zombie outbreak.  What exactly do I mean by “Zombie Apocalypse?”  That's an interesting question.  Certainly the lessons learned from reading this volume could be applied to other sorts of zombie epidemics.  Locally, a large enough outbreak might even replicate many scenarios found in a true zombie apocalypse, even if society was elsewhere intact.  But the true intent of this book is to prepare readers for a world-wide zombie pandemic.  This specifically means a plague of zombies so large that nations around the world collapse and the living dead outnumber the living by a wide margin.  In the hypothetical situation this volume assumes, after the initial destruction and devastation caused by the breakdown of societies around the globe, as much as 99% (or even more) of the world's human population has fallen victim to zombies or the fallout of the breakdown of civilization.  The world inhabited by the relative handful of human survivors will be very different from that of the early twenty-first century that is our present.  This is especially true in the so-called First World nations, whose relatively privileged and well-off inhabitants have the longest way to fall as civilization world-wide takes on many of the trappings of our medieval or ancient pasts.  If you live in Africa with only minimal access to electricity and running water, the new world of the apocalypse isn't going to be so different.  Except for the ravenous walking corpses.  But for the denizens of the wealthy countries of Europe or the United States the fall will be shocking and dramatic.  It will also more than likely be the cause of greater loss of life, since the citizens of the First World mostly lack many of the basic survival skills that we've exchanged for our technologies and machines.  Much of this volume's content is directed at the citizens of the modern US.  Certain sections, especially those related to firearms and ammunition, are designed to be of use by survivors who have access to the remnants of early twenty-first century America's gun culture.  In much of the rest of the world these sections will be of only partial value, given the differences in the rates of gun ownership and the prevalence of firearms and ammunition.  Other sections, such as those dealing with ancient or improvised weaponry, should be useful to survivors around the globe.  So the advice contained herein has some utility no matter where you find yourself at the dawn of the new world—the world of the zombie—even though some of the content is biased in favor of American survivors.  Fight well, and remember to always watch your back.



When mankind stumbled upon agriculture at the end of the Neolithic period, it wasn't very long before he learned that taking things from others was easier than laboriously growing or making them himself.  Thus warfare was born, and quickly resulted in the invention of all sorts of sophisticated and specialized technologies such as weaponry and defensive fortifications.  Man is enormously inventive when it comes to figuring out how to kill his own kind (and members of pretty much every other species as well).  Combined with our inventions, our intellect makes us the deadliest predator to ever walk the earth.  In the event of an apocalypse-level zombie epidemic, however, this may no longer hold true.  Outwitted by the inexorable force of a microscopic pathogen (or space dust or however zombies come into being, for the purpose of this volume it really makes no difference), most members of our species would succumb to a threat that we can't beat with arms or intelligence.  With the bulk of the human population transformed into ravenous automatons, the survivors will face a transformed world where most of the old patterns of existence no longer apply.  There are myriad dangers survivors would face in this new world, and zombies are only one of these.  The environment itself would quickly become an enemy as the electricity failed (if you live in the US you can thank all the people who don't want to pay taxes, because our tottering electrical grid is long overdue for a radical overhaul).  Even in countries with better infrastructure, without human controllers most power would quickly vanish, taking artificial light and heat with it.  Water supplies would become contaminated for the same reason, a situation exacerbated by the large numbers of unburied corpses that would be a feature of societal collapse.  Food supplies might be largely looted or destroyed during the initial stages of the outbreak, as human populations became increasingly panicked.  Food remaining in supermarkets would become prey to a variety of rodent and insect pests, while rotting vegetable and animal products would teem with bacteria, making the corner store a dangerous place.  Fire would be an enemy, rather than an ally, as unattended pilot lights led to infernos in cities and suburbs.  Reserves of pressurized natural gas could explode, further increasing the danger posed by fire.  Around the world, nuclear power plants would eventually become grave threats to the regions surrounding them: without humans to maintain the coolant levels, spent fuel rods would inevitably cause thermonuclear explosions, poisoning the countryside in all directions with lethal amounts of radiation.  Without modern medical technology, survivors would be suddenly thrust back in time to the medieval world, where otherwise minor illnesses or injuries could prove fatal.  Obviously, the world of the zombie apocalypse is a dangerous place, even discounting the hordes of the  walking dead. But there are a number of other manuals detailing these and other dangers, and the reader is encouraged to make every effort to seek them out.  Preparation is the key to survival.  This volume has a different, more specialized focus than the literature that currently exists on the subject of zombies and the potential breakdown of society that could occur following a world-wide zombie plague.  It is important to remember what this manual is not, in other words.  You will not find much information on food supplies or general scavenging here.  There is no discussion of interpersonal relations beyond the requirements of armed combat.  Absent is a conversation about long-term goals or travel or, for that matter, that much about zombies themselves.  This book is not concerned so much with what created zombies but rather with how to engage them in battle.  The focus here is warfare, from the point of view of a historian who has considerable knowledge of military history.  It is a knowledge that is useful to apocalyptic survivors, and so I share it here with you.  In the end I want you and yours not simply to survive—I want you go to war.This book offers a discussion and analysis of weapons and warfare as these topics relate to surviving a world-wide outbreak of zombification.  In the modern world the concept of self defense is taken seriously by certain individuals, but in reality (at least in the developed world) the risk of violence is quite low.  Most people will go their entire lives without needing to defend themselves from violent attack.  In the post-apocalypse, both zombies and hostile surviving humans will make self-defense a necessity.  Everyone who lives past the end of the world will need to become a warrior.  This book is designed to offer some instruction on the nature of weapons and warfare in relation to the threats faced by survivors in a changed world.There are two general sections (or books) contained within this volume.  The first contains a detailed overview of the tools needed to provide for personal safety in the event of a violent encounter with zombies (and to a lesser degree, other people).  The second, shorter section deals with a discussion of some of the tactics needed to survive actual combat.  Overall, this volume is designed as a supplement to the existing body of literature.  It is not an extensive how-to manual, but rather a focused discussion of the tools and techniques needed to survive battle, and not meet a greasy and terrifying end accompanied by the gnashing of decaying teeth.



It might be self-evident, but it bears remembering that zombies are not people.  They might have once been people, but the creature they've become has a completely different set of capabilities and vulnerabilities.  As it specifically relates to combat, it is crucial to remember that psychology will only effect the reader, and not the zombie.  There are no psychological restraints for the zombie, and this is an advantage for it and a disadvantage for you.  You will be scared, even terrified when facing zombies, because your brain has the capacity to anticipate the future and dread what might happen to you if those decaying limbs manage to grasp your hair or clothing.  You can anticipate with horror what it might feel like, sound like, to have blackened, jagged teeth sink themselves into your flesh as you shriek and kick in a futile attempt to get away.  You have the capacity for fear, and that can complicate your attempts to resist zombie attackers.  In contrast, the zombie is incapable of fear.  It does not feel pain.  It cannot anticipate what might happen to it and react defensively.  The differing psychology between the living and the living dead is an important consideration that should not be taken lightly.In the history of warfare, from the first stone arrowheads to the use of atomic weapons capable of leveling cities, fear is an incredibly powerful tool for an aggressor.  There is a reason that medieval warriors drank alcohol, screamed war cries, and even bit the rims of their shields like the Viking berserkers.  These behaviors are all responses to the very real fear that humans instinctively feel when confronted with violence and the possibility of bodily harm.  The conditioning and training of soldiers since ancient times is in part an attempt to control the response that people feel when confronted with danger.  In a confrontation with zombies you will be afraid.  They will not be.The zombie's complete lack of fear changes how you approach the problem of defeating them in battle.  Assault rifles, for example, often have the capacity for fully automatic fire, that is, the weapon cycles after every shot and fires continuously until the ammunition supply is exhausted.  Soldiers in combat use this ability sparingly, because fully automatic fire would quickly run through the standard ammunition load carried by individual soldiers.  Automatic fire is mostly reserved for what is known as suppressing fire, i.e. firing lots of bullets in the direction of a hostile enemy in order to get them to duck and cease their own fire.  Obviously this is totally meaningless with zombies.  They can't be suppressed, because they can't feel fear.  Automatic fire should therefore be mostly discarded against undead foes, since all it would achieve is the squandering of ammunition reserves.Zombies, being undead, cannot succumb to wounds as humans easily can.  For a human (especially considering the post-apocalyptic dearth of good medical care) a gunshot or stab wound is extremely dangerous.  Even a small-caliber bullet can easily sever major arteries, leading to loss of blood pressure, unconsciousness and death.  The same bullet hitting organs like the kidneys or liver would result in much the same thing.  Lungs can collapse.  Piercing wounds to the lower abdomen carry with them the risk of infection and contamination by the bacteria of the digestive tract.  Wounds to the heart are of course fatal, as are injuries blunt or otherwise to the brain or the spinal column.  Even normally minor wounds to the extremities can prove fatal in the absence of medical care.  The various types of gangrene are fatal if untreated, and offer a particularly gruesome fate.  In short, humans are fragile sacks of meat with lots of vulnerabilities.  Zombies have few of these limitations.Zombies are immune to pain, which makes fighting one different from fighting a human.  You cannot inflict a painful wound on a zombie in order to gain time to escape, or create an opening for another attack, as you can with a human opponent.  You cannot debilitate a zombie through the use of pain.  Moreover, zombies will not fall victim to blood loss, as a human opponent might following a wound that is not immediately fatal.  Historically speaking, throughout human history most people killed on the field of battle were not killed outright: instead, they suffered one or more wounds that slowly killed them.  After the battle of Waterloo in 1815, for example, thousands of wounded soldiers continued to die from their injuries for several months after the one-day battle was over.  Zombies, in contrast to humans, cannot by definition be wounded, although their ability to function can be impaired if significant trauma is inflicted upon the body.  The point to remember is that a zombie will not stop unless major damage is inflicted to the brain.  Nothing else will completely stop them.  Thus combatants encountering zombies need to modify their techniques to take into consideration the difference between the living and the undead.Firstly, it should be remembered that while zombies are essentially super-human (or perhaps non-human) when it comes to fear or pain, they do have some of the same limitations that humans are constrained by.  In terms of their physical structure they use the same musculature and skeletal system to provide for mobility.  Just because they can't feel pain doesn't make their bones or muscles less susceptible to damage.  This means that they can be slowed or crippled by damaging attacks to the extremities, which might be useful depending on the situation.  Severing the vulnerable spinal column by cutting through the neck, or smashing it with a blunt instrument or bullet is a good way to stop a zombie: their vestigial brains depend upon the spinal column to relay information to the rest of body just like yours does, so the spine is a prime target for your attacks.  The main target, obviously, of any anti-zombie weapon is the brain that controls the creature's body.  Everything you do to strike at a zombie comes down to destroying the brain or severing itsconnection with the rest of the body, in order to eliminate the threat presented by that body (note that severed zombie heads, or heads attached to crushed spinal columns might still be able to bite, so watch your step).  Targeting the skull of a zombie, with the view of piercing through it to the vulnerable brain beneath is not as easy as it might appear.  Remember that the skull is designed by nature to defend the brain at all costs.  It is the hardest part of the human body for good reason.  Especially when considering the use of hand-held weapons keep in mind that breaking through the defense offered by the skull may not be easy.  You should always be prepared to strike again, until the creature stops moving.This is obviously a brief overview of the biological constraints of zombies.  I stress again that the reader should refer to more detailed discussions of the anatomy and physical capabilities of zombies found in other works.  The survey above is meant as a sort of refresher course prior to the lengthier discussion of weaponry that commences below.  In any event, with the dead far outnumbering the living, where they came from or why isn't in the end very useful information.

We've all been in fist fights at some point.  Or most of us have been.  Sort of.  In something that looks vaguely like two hominids trying to ineffectually squeeze and poke one another.  That is, most of us suck at hand fighting.  We just don't do it enough.  If you do, you're either 1) a biker, 2) a convict or you were previously, 3) a cop (but that's specialized), 4) a professional boxer/wrestler, 5) a practicing martial artist.  In other words, most people aren't good at fighting with bare hands.  We're actually not really equipped for it, from an evolutionary point of view.  Neanderthal man was, and was strong enough to rip bits off of you.  But alas, the bigger muscles and smaller brain not a success story did make.  That is actually a wonderful lesson regarding the utility of unarmed combat in the zombie apocalypse.  Unarmed combat against zombies is foolish.  Some of my fellow experts would argue otherwise, but I strenuously object.  Allow me to make my case in the following pages.People who are expert fighters (or just really mean and tough) can do a lot of damage without using any weapons.  Part of this gets back to the fact that we're really not that tough.  We're poorly designed to take punishment, with relatively weak muscles and dangerously exposed vital organs.  Which means if you're good at beating people up you know that the majority of the population is pretty squishy and bad in a fight.  Most fights end quickly.  Boxing matches are boxing matches because the people involved are trained professionals.  Anyway, if you are a Shao Lin monk or a professional boxer (or whatever) you can probably take most people in a fight.   The key word here is "people."  Because you aren't going to be fighting people, most of the time, in the zompocalypse.  Most of the people will be dead.  But you will have plenty of zombies to toy with.There are a number of glaring problems with the concept of trying to fight zombies unarmed.  First, the zombies themselves.  Consider, for example, that a zombie is nothing more than a sack of meat and bones that wants to eat you.  It isn't really alive, but it is presumably host to a lot of little things that are---the bacteria that are hitching a ride on the slowly-rotting body of the zombie.  These bacteria are dangerous, and if you start wrestling around with the zombie you're likely to come into close contact with them.  These organisms don't have your best interests in mind and should be avoided.  Also note that this is over and above whatever pathogen created the zombie in the first place.  If you don't want to get infected it's probably a good idea to keep your hands to yourself.  Speaking of hands, notice that the typical attack utilized by the vast majority of the non-trained populace in a fist fight is, well, a fist.  And the fist is not an ideal weapon.  Even using one against humans is dangerous. The human mouth is more or less as dirty, bacteria-wise, as a dog's mouth is.  The chance of getting a nasty and potentially dangerous infection makes this a bad idea.  Before the apocalypse cutting your hands on some other dirty human's teeth wasn't too much of a problem because of antibacterial soap and antibiotics.  Yet again, the problem is a lack of medical care.  And punching a zombie is much worse than punching a human, because they're infected with whatever made them zombies and carrying around who knows what other bacterial hitchhikers.  You don't want to punch a zombie.  Ever.Once again, zombies can only be destroyed by destroying the brain.  Unless you have a handy parking tie or some other hard inanimate object to bash the zombie's head against, good luck.  The skull is the hardest part of the body for a reason and you aren't going to be able to get through that with your limbs.  The Shao Lin monks in the room might beg to differ, but all the regular people should never take it the street with a zombie.Another reason why it is extremely stupid to try to go hands-on with the undead is related to the nature of the zombie brain, and how it's different than yours or mine.  We, you see, (as living breathing humans) are not normally capable of exerting our muscles to their full potential.  The very good reason behind this is that if we did so we would risk damaging muscles, bones and connective tissue.  Our brains stop us from going fully berserk because the brain is interested in not ripping important parts that it might want to use later.  The zombie, with a mushy and primitive brain, does not have this restriction.  So zombies can exert their muscles to the full extent of their power.  Zombies that look smaller than you will very likely be stronger.  And the zombie doesn't care if it rips muscles or damages tendons.  This makes unarmed combat with zombies extremely dangerous.  If you can't get away, you're lunch.  For some real-world evidence to back up my assertion that you should pretty much never go unarmed against a zombie I offer you something Bruce Lee once said (and I'm paraphrasing): "if someone wants to bite your nose off, and they're willing to take whatever punishment you might inflict to make that happen, then they'll probably get the nose."  This, by definition, is exactly what a zombie is like in a fist fight.  They don't care at all what you do to them, they just want the nose.  And the rest of the stuff attached to the nose.  More evidence about the dangers inherent in hand fighting with zombies comes from a friend of mine who is a policeman.  The individual in question has a not-quite-politically-correct term for the strength displayed by many people who have mental problems.  The same concept works for individuals who have been partaking of illegal substances that aren't good for them.  Being really stoned or crazy can allow people to short-circuit the mechanism that normally doesn't let the body harm itself through its own strength.  These people can be extremely strong, and the police are very careful when they deal with them.  Zombies, in terms of strength, are going to be like the guys who get blasted on PCP and pick a fight with a dozen cops.  You really don't want to take them on by your lonesome.The only advantage you as a live human has against the undead in terms of bare-handed fighting is speed.  Zombies are slow, and so if you're careful you have the ability to outmaneuver them.  As long as they don't grab hold of you, you can outrun them or flank them.  Zombies have relatively poor coordination, and they can be pushed or shoved in order to unbalance them or knock them over.  A kick to the back of a knee should be enough to temporarily hobble your zombie opponent.  A sharp enough blow or kick to the side of the knee may break it, inflicting a more permanent crippling injury to the zombie.  Attacks like these are not designed to do anything other than gain you enough time to make your escape.  Fighting against even one zombie without a weapon is extremely dangerous, and you should break contact as quickly as possible.  Once this has been accomplished you can keep going and make good your escape and arm yourself in order to re-engage the zombie(s) on better terms.  If you are caught unarmed by a group of zombies, your only hope is to break contact and escape as quickly as possible.  It is not possible for unarmed and unarmored humans to survive combat with multiple zombies.  In such a situation the odds are simply too stacked in favor of the undead.Killing a zombie, in the absence of weapons, is a difficult task.  If you are able to grab the zombie's head and twist it sideways violently enough you may be able to sever the spinal cord, which would deactivate the zombie from the neck down.  The zombie's jaws would remain dangerous, but it would be incapable of locomotion.  In order to do this, you will have to be extremely careful to avoid the zombie's jaws prior to the snapping of its neck—just because you've grabbed the zombie by the head doesn't mean that it will desist from its primary and only motivation, which is eating you.  Action movies have done a good job of making it seem relatively easy to break someone's neck with a quick twisting motion.  In reality this is more difficult than the movies make it seem, in part because the person in question is going to be resisting your attempts.  In terms of the zombie, the muscles of the neck will almost certainly be tensed as it continues its single-minded assault on your person.  With a wriggling (and very strong) zombie trying fanatically to chew on your flesh it's going to be more difficult to emulate Hollywood's action stars than you think.  There are two relatively basic street fighting techniques that you might be tempted to use against zombies.  Pitted against a human opponent these things are extremely deadly, pretty much assured to stop a fight, even if they don't kill outright.  The first is gouging an opponent's eyes with the thumbs or one or both hands.  The second involves violently thrusting an opponent's head sideways while simultaneously driving your knee into the relatively soft portion of the skull around the ears.  Both of these things work against people, although they take a simple brawl and elevate it into the realm of attempted murder.  But then in the zompocalypse there is no such thing.So.  Eye gouging.  This is a particularly gruesome and terrifying wound to inflict upon a human opponent.  The eyes are filled with fluid which is somewhat pressurized.  If even a small pin is thrust far enough into the eye this fluid will leak out, and blindness is certain.  Eyes can be crushed and burst open by the strength of the hands, if you have the fortitude to actually delve into an opponent's head.  Beyond the eyes are the relatively weak bones of the ocular cavities.  Humans can be killed with a determined enough assault on the eye sockets.  Even if this doesn't kill the effect of losing one or both eyes may be so traumatic that you will have brought an end to a fight.  Against zombies, this is not so effective.As usual, there is no psychological impact on a zombie when you pop one or both of its eyes.  They don't feel pain and lack the ability to anticipate a future of partial or total blindness.  They simply don't care at all.  Moreover, in order to attack the eyes you’replacing yourself into the potentially very strong embrace of the zombie to your front, with what will probably be disastrous consequences.  If you have the physical strength necessary to fight off the zombie while you continue your assault on its eyes, keep in mind that putting your fingers into the insides of a zombie's skull is a very good way to get infected, or at least get a very dangerous “normal” bacterial infection that could also kill you.  Delving around in a zombie's body, especially while it's fully animated, should clearly be avoided at all costs.Smashing the side of an opponent's skull is a potentially lethal attack on a human.  The skull is weak at the side of head, and is much less able to stop intrusive attacks.  Against a human, driving a knee into this relatively soft part of the skull is a good way to inflict a serious brain injury.  With a hard enough blow the brain will swell, resulting in unconsciousness and death.  As above, you've probably gone into the territory of attempted murder.  But, zombies, as usual, don't cooperate.  A zombie's brain is only partially functional, so there's no guarantee that you'll be able to inflict enough damage to put your zombie down by battering it with a knee or elbow.  While you're attempting to knock your way through its skull, the zombie will still be trying to grab and bite.  In order to knee the zombie in the head in the first place, you'll also need to push its head downwards towards your rising knee—an activity that is dangerous in several different respects.  Grabbing the side of the zombie's head may result in a bite.  Pushing the zombie's head into your knee may also result in a bite.  And since bites are fatal, you've just lost in a very final way.As I conclude this section I would like to reiterate that unarmed hand-to-hand combat against zombies is extremely dangerous.  It is something to be avoided unless you have absolutely no choice at all.  It would be better to run.  The dangers of fighting a zombie unarmed put it just to one side of being suicidal.  Even fully trained professional fighters (boxers, etc.) are going to notice that their skills, which worked so well against living humans, are more than trumped by the vast advantages zombies enjoy in an unarmed encounter at arm's length.  This is not to say that contemplating unarmed combat is bad.  As with everything else in this volume survival is a prize won by those who are the most adaptable to changing conditions.  In Darwinian terms, survivors who are willing to use every tool and every technique are those survivors whose survival is “selected for.”  So unarmed combat should not entirely be stricken from your zompocalypse playbook.  But if flight or armed combat are options these should always be chosen first.  Hand fighting is the last resort of the desperate.