The Living Dead: Is such an attack possible, and how

would we survive one?

Jordan J. Fanucchi
Period 2 Adv. English II
 How possible is a zombie attack? You may say impossible, that it’s just fiction, but

that could be a grave mistake. The correct answer is possible, but improbable. There are

several ways a zombie could be created, but not all of them are even remotely likely

and/or capable of a mass outbreak of vicious zombies. One way a Zombie could occur is

the Voodoo zombie. Now, the voodoo zombie isn’t all that dangerous, and is in no way

infectious at all. Realistically, ignoring Black Magic and other possibly fake means of

zombification, the voodoo zombie may be created with an employment of natural

neurotoxins. For example: the poison from a Japanese Fugu blowfish. These neurotoxins

slow your body functions to a point where you would be considered dead. With the use of

a drug like datura stramonium or some from of Alkaloids, the victim may be ‘revived’ in

a trance-like state, possibly wit no memory. Obviously, these zombies are not infectious,

and tend to not be vicious or cannibalistic. But they still are extremely creepy.

Another possible zombie creation method is a ‘rage virus’ as seen in the move ’28

days later’. Now, obviously the virus seen in that movie does not exist, but there are

several realistic possibilities as to a real rage virus. A rare disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob

disease, is just one of these. It is the disease found when a human is infected with Mad

Cow Disease. The symptoms are as follows:

 • Blurred vision (sometimes)
• Changes in gait (walking)
• Hallucinations
• Lack of coordination (for example, stumbling and falling)
• Muscle twitching
• Muscle stiffness
• Myoclonic jerks or seizures
• Nervous, jumpy feelings
• Personality changes
• Profound confusion, disorientation
• Rapidly developing delirium or dementia
• Sleepiness
• Speech impairment

Additional symptoms that may be associated with this disease:

• Memory loss
• Anxiety, stress, and tension

Sounds a lot like a zombie, doesn’t it? Now, this disease is rare, occurring in about 1 in

every 1 million person. But, imagine a mass contamination of this disease. This would

likely result in an outbreak, possibly widespread, of a real rage virus.

Another possibility for the rage virus is an evolved form of the rabies disease. Already

we know Rabies is transferred via bite or saliva.

In the beginning stages of rabies, the symptoms are malaise, headache, and fever,

while in later stages it includes acute pain, violent movements, uncontrolled

excitements, depressions, and the inability to swallow water (hence the name

hydrophobia). In the final stages, the patient begins to have periods of mania and

lethargy, and coma. Death generally occurs due to respiratory insufficiency.

Now, the rabies virus takes a few months, typically, to take effect. If there was a

mutation, allowing it to travel faster, say, perhaps a few days, we would then see a rage

virus style zombie with a short incubation period.

 The final zombie creation method, if the most questionable, is still there. It

involves a brain parasite known as Toxoplasma Gondii. This parasite tends to infest the

brain of a rat. The rat naturally avoids, out of fear, cats. The parasite somehow, by

controlling part of the brain or some sort of chemical is still unknown, reduces and

sometimes destroys that fear. The reason for this is that the cat’s intestine is the ideal

breeding ground for this parasite. Rats are not that different from us humans, the reason

they are used most for animal testing. A simple mutation could cause the parasite to affect

humans, and over half the human population has the parasite. This probably would not

ever create a zombie, but the idea of a brain parasite is still scary.

Now we know some of the different types of zombie, what would you do in an

outbreak? First you should understand the different types of outbreaks. There are 4

classes of a zombie outbreak. Class 1 is small scale and rural. No more than 50 zombies

and small amount of casualties. Class 2 is small scale urban outbreak, likely to have

around 100 zombies and a much higher number of casualties. Class 3 is at worst a

nationwide epidemic. It is typically a large scale urban invasion, at the least around a

hundred mile radius from the originating city. Class 4 is the worst, a full-scale zombie

invasion, a world-wide epidemic. On a scale of one to ten, you are totally screwed.

Now that we know the different types of zombies, we should discuss proper

weapons for zombie defense. We will divide this section into different categories: Hand

to Hand, projectiles, and Guns. Each type of weapon has advantages and disadvantages,

so make sure you decide which weapon would best suit you and get your hands on one!
 Hand to Hand combat is never the best option. If you are close enough to a

zombie to hit it with a melee weapon, you are too close to a zombie. But, being prepared

is essential, so let’s cover the pros and cons of several popular [and not-so-popular]

zombie melee weapons.

First: the ever popular Chainsaw. The chainsaw, although portrayed as a Zombie

killing wonder machine, is in fact a terrible weapon for several reasons. First, there is the

weight. A Chainsaw is usually very heavy, and clumsy. With the weight of a chainsaw,

and the fact that you are likely to be surrounded by zombies just dying to sink their teeth

into you, you might very well end up cutting off your own arm rather than a zombies

head. Second, there is fuel consumption. Unless, for some reason, you have a limitless

amount of fuel, a chainsaw probably will not last that long, and once its out of fuel, its

essentially as useless as a rock, and you might as well just chuck it a zombies face in the

hopes of crushing its skull. Maneuverability, also, is a problem. I a zombie managed to

get a hold of you from behind [and in all likelihood, this will happen], good luck trying to

get it off of you with that clunky chainsaw [or any other bladed weapon, for that matter].

Then there is the blood splatter. With the spinning part of the chainsaw, there will be a

large amount of blood and chunks of flesh flying, basically, everywhere. Not the best idea

if its transmittable by bodily fluids. And lastly, we have noise. The chainsaw is extremely

loud, and any zombie within ear shot will hear it and come running. You might as well

ring the dinner bell and set yourself up on a giant plate.

 Pros: Makes you feel powerful, slices through flesh and bone quickly, lots of

weight behind the swing.

Cons: Covers you in zombie goo, attracts the attention of more zombies, heavy,

and may run out of fuel, possible danger to user in a struggle, mutes out

surrounding sounds you may need to listen for.

-the OZORT zombie survival guide.

Next on our list, we have Stung Guns/Mace. Carried by many people, this seems

like it might be a good idea, right? It’s handy, and it impairs attackers. Well, if your

attackers are normal humans, it would work, but not with zombies. Mace won’t even

slow a zombie down, and typical stun guns don’t have enough power to do anything to a

zombie unless hit in the head. Also, there is the battery issue. When it runs out of power,

it’s about as useless as a baseball. Essentially useless, if you have one, you can use it as a

distraction, but don’t even consider it as a weapon.

Pros: No blood = no disease, relatively quiet and compact, may stun a zombie for

a short period of time with a direct head shot.

Cons: No batteries = no use, body hits are useless, short range exposes user to

zombies grasp.

-The OZORT Zombie Survival Guide

 Next are the Brass Knuckles. It adds some extra BAM to your punch... But why

would you want to punch a zombie? This is probably one of the worst ideas for taking on

zombies. If you’re only taking on one zombie, it could be an okay weapon, if you want to

spend five minutes slugging a zombie in the face until you smash its brain to a pile of

useless goo. Overall, this weapon is essentially useless.

Clubs! Another overly glamorized weapon, bashing a zombie’s skull in would

obviously work wonders to incapacitate it, right? Wrong. A simple club wouldn’t destroy

the brain in the first few hits and you would likely have to spend several minutes bashing

a single zombie’s skull in if you want to accomplish anything. ]

One classic example that comes to mind was the incident a few years back

involving a young man who had taken a bunch of PCP painkiller and after a

thorough beating from four police officers during which he sustained numerous

hits to the head, he kept standing up.

-the OZORT Zombie survival guide

Now, we come to Knives. Knives are a nice aesthetically pleasing weapon, but not

much else. The blade won’t do much damage to the brain, even if it does pierce the skull.

It would be difficult to score a direct temple hit to kill a zombie every time, and there’s

the matter of retrieving the blade afterwards. Better than Brass Knuckles, but not by

much. Useful for utility purposes, but don’t dull your blade attempting to slay zombies.

Swords- They are everyone’s favorite zombie slaying weapon. Running around

with a shining blade and decapitating Zombie’s seems perfect! In reality, it isn’t so great.

Slashing won’t do much damage, even if you aim for the head, unless you are going
against a mob of armless zombies. Stabbing won’t do much good either, unless you can

accurately stab a grape from 3 feet away. A well-made machete may work, but test it out

first. If you can swipe through a 2x4 in one hit, you can make it through bone. If you

can’t, however, it’s essentially useless in zombie combat.

Easily the best weapon listed up to this point, we come to the hatchet, or axe. If

you have the option, it is advised to pick a hatchet. The Axe is large and heavy, and

makes accuracy difficult. Hatchets are smaller, and considerably lighter. Sharp points are

not all that necessary. Remember, it’s not for cutting; it’s more of a wedge to smash in the

skull and pulverize the brain! Hatchets are probably one of the best, and most widely

available hand to hand weapons.

Martial arts weapons… No. Although good for combat with normal humans, they

aren’t meant to kill, let alone destroy a brain or remove a head. If you aren’t already a

master at a martial arts weapon, using one is worse than going hand to hand with a

zombie.

Regarding the scythe, there is a bit of a debate on the practicalities. When made

properly, it is like a sword on a stick, giving you awesome range and leverage. Possibly

more deadly than a chainsaw, plus silent and hard to find, there are just as many negatives

to this weapon. It has essentially no practical use besides serving as a weapon, and its

large size would make any sort of crawling or traversing tight spaces extremely difficult,

if not impossible. If you have one on hand and a zombie attacks, it could serve as a useful

weapon, but don’t go out of your way to find one.

Hammers can be treated similar to a hatchet or axe with a couple of exceptions.

The crowbar-like end can easily pierce the skull, and the blunt end could fracture and
damage the brain very easily. Widely available (you could probably find one in about 5

minutes if a zombie attacked right now) and cheap, it’s your best bet if you don’t have a

zombie arsenal collected already. Alternatively, the range is poor, and has limited use in a

grappling situation.

Probably the best weapon you could get easily is the crowbar. Besides being very

useful as a tool, the crowbar has many uses in combat. The back end of a crowbar can

work similarly to a club, and the hooked end can work almost like a hatchet, and once the

skull is pierced, you now have something on the end of a lever to scramble brains with.

The sharp end can easily puncture a zombie’s eye socket into its brain and is fairly easy

to retrieve.

A trench knife has the potential to be one of the best zombie killing weapons ever.

The only problem with this weapon is its rarity. Trench Knives were designed to puncture

metal helmets in WWI, so no problem in reaching a zombies skull. The brass knuckle

style handle also adds a lot of extra power to your punch. They don’t make trench knives

too much anymore, and the ones you can probably find will be antiques, and most likely

have weakened over the last 90 years.

The space mace, designed by tom Anderson, is easily the best zombie weapon out

there. It features a ball with interchangeable spikes and an axe head. It basically combines

a hand axe, a mace, a spear, and a trench spike, and can be used as a hammer. This

weapon is becoming more easily available, and is the best recommended weapon ever.

Now that we have discussed some options for melee weapons, we will take a look

at projectile weapons. Remember, if you have to fight a zombie, it’s only as a last resort,
and no matter how good you r weapon is, it won’t be good enough and running is always

better.

We’ll start with slingshots. I’ll sum this weapon up with one word: No. It has no

power to pierce a skull and poor accuracy. Dennis the menace has yet to kill Mr. Wilson

with his slingshot, and you have even less chance of killing a zombie.

A compound bow has a better chance of killing a zombie, but even if you can

score a head shot every time, it isn’t a guarantee that it will be a kill, and you might just

end up having a zombie with an arrow sticking out from its head on top of you as you

think what a great shot that was.

Similar to the compound bow with a couple of differences: Almost impossible for

a newbie to aim properly, and it offer less power at full draw. On the upside, they are

simply constructed, and easy to restring should the string break at an inopportune

moment. With the right design it can also be used as a staff weapon, making it two in one.

A crossbow is basically a rifle with a built in silencer, massive amounts of

ammunition, less power and a slower reload time. It will do a fair amount of damage, but

it probably cannot shoot a flaming arrow, which is the staple reason for any weapon using

arrows as ammunition. Much heavier than a conventional bow, but with the prospect of

sights, that downside is balanced.

Throwing stars, knives and tomahawks are a poor choice in weaponry. Knives and

stars aren’t killing weapons, but are merely made to hinder your opponent and cause

bleeding. And we know well that this is ineffective on a zombie. The tomahawk is better

because it is heavier, and has a better chance of piercing the skull, although any thrown

weapon (excluding the star, which wouldn’t kill anyway) requires a certain amount of
rotations, and the ability to judge and adjust the amount of rotations to a move target

takes years of practice, which most people don’t have.

If you’re even considering a rock as a weapon, here’s a better option. Take the

rock, and knock yourself unconscious with it. At least then you’ll save yourself the pain

of being eaten by a zombie. Really, A rock? Worst idea I’ve ever heard.

The only time I have ever heard of a sling being of any use at all was the tale of

David and Goliath. Not to mention terribly inaccurate, slings have almost no power. It’s

easy to make, but this is almost as bad as the rock.

A harpoon can be good for boosting morale, or having a little fun. It’s not likely to

kill a zombie, but you could attach one to the back of your car and drag a zombie around

for a few miles. You would be better off attaching a machine gun, though.

Guns are going to be a big part of your arsenal. It won’t replace the melee

weapon; there are several things that can go wrong with a gun. Guns can jam, run out of

ammo, you can drop your clip, and reloading can be difficult under the stress of an

undead attacking you.

There are several things you need to know about your gun before you consider it

for a zombie attack.

• Can it blow a human’s brains out?

• What kinds of ammo can you use with it?

• What is the effective range?

• How difficult is it to dismantle and clean?

Hand guns are great hand to hand weapons, and a lot of families already have at least

one. They are common weapons, and most, except for lower calibers, have the power to

reach the brain.

Rifles are one of the most dangerous weapons ever created. They come in

enormous variety, to a skilled shooter they provide amazing accuracy, and it can be

rapidly reloaded for multiple targets.

Shotguns are the over popularized choice zombie hunting weapon. Realistically,

they lack the range and accuracy of a rifle. There are some uses to a shotgun which will

be discussed under ammunition.

Machine guns are not the best choice of a gun. They create a large amount of

noise, run a high risk of jamming, and consume more ammo then a starving Ethiopian in

an all you can eat buffet. These weapons can be useful if you can resist the urge to just

squeeze the trigger and lawn-mow the mob of zombies in front of you.

Assault rifles are capable of killing a large amount of zombies if used right. A hail

of bullets does not replace a carefully aimed shot. Again, remember to not attempt to

mow the zombies down with rapid-fire. Ammo will be precious.

Ammunition is important. What’s a gun without ammo? We need to discuss the

different types of ammunition, so you can be aware what types of bullets are most

effective for your situation.

Although arrows weigh a lot more than bullets, there’s a lot of weight, and

therefore power, behind a foot of arrow shaft. With a sharp tip and a direct hit, an arrow
can drive straight into a zombie’s brain. This, however, would require insane accuracy, as

a hit anywhere besides the brain would obviously be useless.

Flaming arrows are a good replacement for lack of accuracy. The dried out

flesh of a zombie can easily ignite, and the zombie typically won’t know to pull the arrow

out, maximizing exposure to the flame. A flaming zombie has a chance of lighting other

zombie’s on fire, but you should be careful. Fighting hand-to-hand with a flaming zombie

is not a good deal. Also, be wary of your surroundings. Don’t risk burning down your

shelter, or starting a forest fire.

There are several different types of ammo, and it also depends what type

of gun you are using. First we will take a look at the different options for a hand gun.

Keep in mind what will be most useful for your situation.

First we have the Full Metal Jacket (FMJ). Full Metal Jacket bullets are

non-expanding and deep-piercing. Designed for penetrating armor, this means the bullet

will go straight in and out. Good for making itty bitty holes in a zombie skull.

The Jacketed Hollow Point has an exposed lead tip, designed for maximizing the

transfer of energy into your target. Basically, if the bullet happens to go all the way

through, you’ve got one hell of an exit hole, and a little entrance hole.

The Semi Jacketed Hollow Point has a ton of exposed lead at the tip, and

is designed to expand more than a regular Jacketed Hollow Point. If you can’t figure it

out, this bullet pretty much destroys most of the brain in one big bang.

The Full Metal Case or Truncated Cone is a good choice if you’re having trouble

getting a JHP bullet into the skull. This bullet is encased by a light copper and filled with

a lead core. It offers deeper penetration than a JHP, and more expansion than a FMJ.
 The Soft Point bullet has a massive amount of lead exposed at the tip, resulting in

more penetration than in a regular JHP and more expansion than a FMJ.

The first bullet we will discuss for rifles is the Full Metal Jacket. Like the

handgun, the Rifle’s FMJ has a small in and small out hole. Minimal brain damage means

this bullet should be avoided.

The FMJ Boat Tail has greater range and higher velocity by decreasing drag. Still

has a small in and small out, so avoid this ammo. However, it is okay support ammo for a

sniper a long distance away.

HPBT (Hollow Point Boat Tail)

High range, high accuracy, hollow point increases energy dispersal. Great long

range support ammunition.

-OZORT Zombie Survival Guide

The Soft Point is capable of blowing huge chunks of a zombie’s brain out, with

the bullet expanding up to twice its normal size before it exits.

Finally we come to shotgun ammo. There are only two choices here: Buckshot,

which we will discuss first, and Slug. Buckshot has the potential to destroy a zombies

head. There are several different shot sizes, but only two of them really matter in the case

of a zombie attack. The two choices are #0 and #1 shots, and anything smaller than that

won’t damage a zombie much, if at all. #0 will easily penetrate a zombie’s skull, but risks

destroying what’s behind the zombie as well. In the case of team fighting, you might

want to stick to a #1 shot so that you don’t risk injuring your team mates.
 Finally, we come to the slug. This bullet has higher range than buckshot, and more

power than a rifle. Shot has a much higher caliber, at .70. Not all types of slug work with

all shotguns, so make sure your ammo is compatible before you load up your gun.

Now, remember. Fighting a zombie is your last option in survival. The best way to

survive a zombie apocalypse is to run, and hide away. Hole up in a country side shack, rig

some traps, stock up on your weapons in case there is a stray zombie or two, and start a

garden for food. And never, EVER eat a zombie’s flesh.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.zombiesurvivalwiki.com/page/Zombie+Survival+Guide+By+OZORT

http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=480

http://www.changesurfer.com/Hlth/FutDeath/FutDeath.pdf

http://2000plus.mpg.de/e/90/article/

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000788.htm

http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=547

http://www.cracked.com/article_15643_5-scientific-reasons-zombie-apocalypse-could-

actually-happen.html

Brooks, Max. The Zombie Survival Guide

Three Rivers Press, 2003