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General Principles for Undead Combat

This guide is intended solely for the purpose of an undead infestation. In no way does this guide or Zombie Watch Network encourage the use of any kind of violence toward any living thing. These tactics do not work toward the living. ZWN does not condone the collecting of a personal armory when a zombie attack is not eminent.

When fighting the undead, the old maxim about the best defense does not apply. Given the single-minded drive of the animate corpse, coupled with its resiliency to conventional attacks and the efficacy of its vector transmission, going on the offensive against them is usually not the wisest course, especially if it involves melee of any kind. Close contact with the undead often leads to a predictable result: the recruitment of the living into the ranks of the enemy via a scratch or bite. Even at range, the risks of contamination are prohibitive: a single shot from a high-powered rifle can draw the flesh-eating bastards from hundreds of yards around, eventually leading to a close-combat scenario despite the best of intentions to avoid one. The best defense is to avoid detection altogether, the best chance for survival is to avoid any close encounters of the undead kind.

Engaging in combat with the walking dead is best left to trained specialists with military-grade weaponry and advanced tactical resources. However, when an outbreak occurs, such special forces may not be available, or may not respond quickly enough to isolate the infestation. Indeed, owing to insufficient response time, a zombie outbreak may grow to such proportions that specialized forces will end up being stretched too thinly to deal with the situation, or may be destroyed or driven off.

Consequently, you may have to provide for your own defense. Help from the military or police may not be coming. Perhaps you will find yourself trapped by a zombie swarm. Perhaps a loved one is threatened and you must act to save them. Then again, you may find yourself taking part in a civilian clean-and-sweep operation to remove an undead infestation. With adequate resources and preparation, engaging in combat with the enemy of all-life is always preferable to surrender.

This article assumes you are a not a specially trained undead hunter, nor that you have access to military-grade hardware, but are rather one of the many normal citizens who will come in close contact with animate corpses in the event of an outbreak. Lacking specialized training and equipment, there are some general principles which you would do well to follow when the time comes to fight the living dead. Incorporating these principles into your planning and activities in a zombie-infested world will vastly enhance the odds of your survival and of those who you gather close to you when the world as we know it has ended. Consider this a layman’s guide to undead combat.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES:

ARM YOURSELF
TRAIN FOR COMBAT
CHOOSE YOUR GROUND
DESTROY THE HEAD
PLAY IT SAFE
NEVER GO IT ALONE

1. ARM YOURSELF

The time is at hand for action – the zombies are quickly beating down the door and you’ve elected yourself to stand rear guard while your friends use an escape route to get away. Or you are out foraging in an area you initially took to be free of infestation, but within seconds a swarm is developing all around you and fighting your way free is the only way out. Perhaps you are searching a room that appeared vacant, but suddenly a zombie has burst in and blocks the only escape route. Are you ready to defend yourself, or will you waste valuable time looking about for an improvised weapon that might not be sufficient to extricate yourself?
Always be prepared for combat. Don’t rely on fate to provide a weapon when teeth are bared. Fighting hand-to-hand or with an improvised weapon against flesh-eating ghouls is a swift route to undeath. Assemble a suitable array of weaponry both for ranged and melee combat. Ensure that your weapons are in working order and well-maintained, and that any required ammunition is plentiful.
The nature of the weaponry you choose to wield will depend on your locale and resources. It is beyond the scope of this article to provide a detailed analysis of the pros and cons of different weapons systems; however, some general suggestions follow. If possible, obtain a rifle with a reliable scope for ranged combat. Good options for the rifle include a night-vision scope and a silencer. For medium to short-range, include a pistol that utilizes 9 mm ammunition or larger, an automatic being preferable to a revolver. Good options for the pistol include large-capacity clips and a silencer. Consider adding a shotgun to your personal arsenal, but only as a backup or assault weapon, for they produce a high volume of noise sure to attract nearby undead. Finally, include at least one melee weapon as a backup for unexpected close encounters or when ammunition runs dry – either a bludgeoning weapon (such as a lead pipe or medieval mace) for crushing an undead skull or a high-quality slashing weapon (such as a katana or machete) for decapitating them.
Have your combat gear ready for use and within easy reach at all times, for the flesh-eaters have the uncanny ability to pop up when you least expect them. This applies even in a secure location when the expectation of an encounter is minimal – having a weapon within reach rather than across the room can make the difference between life and death..

2. TRAIN FOR COMBAT

You have the best gear available, but how do you use it? Do you know how to use that new gun, or will you fail to hit your target? Will you be undead food because you forgot to click off the safety on your pistol in a crucial moment?
Know how to use your weapons. As much as time and circumstances allow, practice with them. Become comfortable with the weight and swing of your mace, sword or other melee weapon. Rehearse reloading your guns over and over until it becomes natural. Know the positions of the safety switches for each of your guns and train yourself to switch the safeties off at the commencement of any combat. Perform some target practice if time and circumstances permit, though by no means do so at the expense of drawing nearby undead to you. If target practice is not permitted, at least rehearse sighting in and dry-firing with your guns to become familiar with the motions.
You should also consider group training so you can function well as a team. Everyone you are with should know his or her place during combat or when it is threatened. During travel, one member of your team might be responsible for rear guard, ensuring the backtrail is safe as an escape route, while another person might be trained to walk point and other members be responsible for watching to left and right. During combat, some team members may be expected to dispatch zombies that get too close with pistols and melee weapons, thus providing cover for others to focus on methodical head shots with rifles, while still others keep watch on escape routes to ensure the group does not get trapped and cut off. The size of your group, its resources and the proficiencies of its members will determine how best to train for encounters.
No matter the quality of your weapons or the size of your group, you will become a banquet for a zombie swarm if you don’t know how to use them.

3. CHOOSE YOUR GROUND

A large swarm of brain-devourers is kicking in the doors and windows of your formerly secure location – do you stand your ground or use an escape route to find a better position? While on foraging patrol, you encounter a small band of zombies near to your base camp. Do you open fire, avoid them completely, or attempt to draw them away from your camp before unloading on them?
Knowing where to fight is just as important as when to fight. In fact, the two go hand-in-hand. The question you should always ask yourself at the beginning of any undead encounter is: should we (a) avoid this fight, (b) fight them here or (c) displace to a new location and fight them there? Whenever possible, choose the ground you fight on to maximize your own survival and minimize the chances of victory for the enemy.
Military units refer to the relocation of troops on the battlefield to attain a strategic advantage as displacements. Be ready at all times, whether on patrol or in a secure location, to displace to a new location. For previously-scouted locales or your home base, have combat zones predetermined that use the terrain to your advantage. Examples of favorable terrain include higher ground, choke points that restrict access, and barricades that prevent a mass charge of zombies into your ranks. Such favorable areas should always have at least one escape route guarded and ready for use in a withdrawal. If on the move and combat is either desirable or inevitable, quickly locate the most advantageous terrain and occupy it, but be ready to displace to a new location should a withdrawel be necessary. Another option is to choose a hit-and-run tactic with constant displacements. This is ideal when attempting to draw off a swarm from the main group of your people, allowing them to escape, or necessary when overwhelmed by a superior force that will not allow for any emplacement.
Don’t let the living dead choose the site of combat. Being trapped and surrounded is a sure prelude to being devoured.

4. AIM FOR THE HEAD

This one is a no-brainer, forgive the pun. The single tried-and-true method of destroying an animate corpse is to destroy the brain through a concentrated assault on the head. The brain must be destroyed, period. This can be accomplished a number of ways, but shooting them in the head or bashing it in with a bludgeoning instrument works best. Decapitation also works, but only to a point: the zombie will be incapacitated, but the head will still be animate and could still conceivably be a threat.
When shooting at the head, bear in mind it is a relatively small and usually a moving target. The most accurate weapon for this purpose is the rifle with scope, and since the rifle also ennables a shot from much longer ranges than the pistol or shotgun, is the weapon of choice against the walking dead. Don’t make the mistake of allowing them to get closer so you can get a better shot – missing at close range might be the last thing you do.

Damaging a zombie’s body provides no benefit save possible incapacitation should, for example, a leg be blown off. Hampering the undead in this fashion is all well and good but of less value than their permanent eradication, so should usually be avoided. However, incapacitating a large group all at once can be valuable during a withdrawal or if you wish to avoid close combat entirely. A well-thrown grenade might serve to blow off some undead legs, for example, or a shotgun blast knock a few off their feet.

5. PLAY IT SAFE

How the hell do you play it safe, you may be wondering, with flesh-eating ghouls all around? Simple – the safe bet is the smart bet. The object is to minimize risk and therefore maximize survivability, and doing so means thinking of the safety of you and your group first before engaging in any actions. Choosing your ground wisely, as discussed previously, is one very crucial example.
There are numerous blunders to be avoided when fighting, or when trying to avoid a fight, with the undead. Most stem from either ignorance, blatant stupidity, overzealousness, shot nerves or a combination thereof. Any single mistake made on the field of battle might prove fatal, so it’s important to play it safe and use common sense. Some good examples follow.
Zombies are attracted to noise, any noise, so the less you make the better. Every time you or anyone traveling with you makes a substantial amount of noise, it is the same as sending up a flare. Unloading on a single zombie with an unsilenced firearm will bring any within hearing converging on your location. You might dispatch one assailant only to have a dozen or more surrounding you within minutes. This is counterproductive to say the least. Use a silenced firearm, a crossbow or melee weapon as opposed to an unsilenced firearm unless advertising your location is of no consequence or you have no other alternative.
Always assume there are more zombies around than you can currently observe. They could literally be lurking anywhere, often enough staying still and quiet. Always factor this into your plans and have an escape route ready should more than you can handle appear. Nothing puts a damper on a successful episode of travel so much as moving through an area you thought relatively clear that suddenly pukes up zombies to surround you. It is this factor that makes passing through urban areas very dangerous.
Finally, don’t be a hero. If you are overwhelmed, don’t make a foolish stand or try to fight them hand-to-hand. You can impress the pretty blonde traveling with you some other way. Get the hell out of there. The least of your worries is a bruised ego when fighting the undead.

6. NEVER GO IT ALONE

Unless you have eyes in the back of your head, never need to sleep and never miss your shot, be sure to have someone around to watch your back at all times. A small group of people, suitably armed and determined, stands a far greater chance of survival than one person on their own. A mistake is probably fatal when fighting the undead alone, yet a group of people can compensate for each other’s mistakes.
An undead hunter with specialized training and exhaustive experience may do well on his own against the living dead. The average citizen will fail miserably. So before you join combat, make certain you have people at your side. If entering a new area or room, have someone with you just in case. Never never never go it alone.

Engaging in combat with the living dead is not about winning, it’s about survival. These general principles, if applied consistently and correctly, will ensure just that.

Long live humanity!