[smegmar]

I've just finished reading Max Brooks acclaimed "Zombie Survival Guide" and although there were some very good hits and tips I thought over all it was a let down. I considered doing my own but then realizes I'm a helpless procrastinator. So I'd never finish. What about if everyone here at boards does a piece and we mash it together to make our own book*.


penning some ideas

Chapter 1) Know thine enemy (description of zombie types, behavior etc etc)

Chapter 2) What to expect on Z day (self explaining, rioting, abandoned buildings etc )

Chapter 3) Be Alert, we need more lerts!" (what to do before Zday in prep)

Chapter 4) Ground Z....ero (immediate action to be taken at first signal of out break)

Chapter 5) Who goes where? (organizing survivor groups to the best tactical advantage)

Chapter 6) Like lambs to the slaughter (Things to avoid / how others have perished)

Chapter 7) Fight, Flight or Fortify (The endless debate of run or fight. I chose fight)

Chapter 8) In this for the long haul (Procedures for surviving a long term siege. Psychology of survivors, hygiene etc )

Chapter 9) Shopping list (Where to go for supplies, and a completre breakdown of what resources can be found where)

Chapter 10) "It's a hammer gun!" ( A complete improvised weapons encyclopedia and how to make guide)

Chapter 11) Mr.Useful (more -'what to do with survivors' and who's useful, who's Zombie feed)

Chapter 12) Other (anything else I left out / you want to add)

What say you wilde brethern of Boards

I claim 50% sales profits*

[Drunkmonkey79]

sounds like a great idea for a book, there's always room for another perspective on Z Day and all that will follow in its wake but what your asking brings one saying to mind, 'too many cooks. . . . ' I couldn't see people being able to agree on what goes in and if everyone done one chapter each there would just be conflicting info in it!?! Nice idea but i'd work on it alone or collaborate with one or two people at most.

I will be one of the above mentioned for the other 50% of sales.

[SmileyPaul]

when I have more time I'll write a chapter of ti
wont be perfect but its well worth a shot
I will also claim 50% oh....I hate you guys...

[smegmar]

Originally Posted by Drunkmonkey79

sounds like a great idea for a book, there's always room for another perspective on Z Day and all that will follow in its wake but what your asking brings one saying to mind, 'too many cooks. . . . ' I couldn't see people being able to agree on what goes in and if everyone done one chapter each there would just be conflicting info in it!?! Nice idea but i'd work on it alone or collaborate with one or two people at most.

I will be one of the above mentioned for the other 50% of sales.

O.K I know people will conflict on some issues but I'll be the editor and and sort the ****e from the good, I think it's best we get many peoples views on what to do because remember the book has to be balanced, some people want to run some want to hide etc etc

[MayoForSam]

You should also include (maybe in the appendices), a comprehensive list of training videos (all the zombie movies ever released), virtual training modules (all zombie games ever released) and online training courses (Left4Dead). I guess Max Brooks has the training literature side covered - I would see this publication as the new and improved version of the Zombie Survival Guide.

[smegmar]

What to do when Zombies attack!

Foreword

Firstly Thank you for buying this book, you have expressed concern for your safety during the rising on zombified personages, and this book will a guide
throught everything you need to know in order not only to survive but also to save humanity. This book aims to be an exaustive source of knowledge on the
living dead, survival techniques, do's and don't, leadership in anti zombie resistance and rebuilding civilisation.
In this book we deal with not only personal survival of yourself but of your group/city/nation and eventualy leading humanity back from the brink of extinction. You may be encouraged to take calculated risks for high priorty cases (e.g pregnant women, children) but in the end everything is up to your judgement and that's something we can't teach in a book.
This work is a collection and amalgamation of knowledge held by those contributors at www.boards.ie, and as such has a pool of insight regarding zombie survival. If you would like to add your personal ideas or learn more please go to boards.ie and under the Rec catagory look for Zombie Survival.
There are many contributing writers and your ideas could add you to their ranks,
The writing will not stop with this edition many more will come if thoughts and ideas expressed on the site.

Please enjoy but most of all survive

[please comment with any chapter you want to do yourself or your ideas or corrections]

[smegmar]

Chapter 1: Know thine Enemy

First and foremost this is a war, unlike any war ever to be held before, but a war none the less. You may have read Sun Tzu's 'Art of War', The first rule is "Know thine enemy. We must discuss the biology, psycology, motivation, intelligents and reasoning abilities of your adversary, the Zombie, A challanging foe by any standards.

Apart from *that incident* in northern Spain, there has not been a well documented
outbreak of zombies, (for obvious reasons we don't talk about *that incident*and it won't be refered to again) so much of the planning and understanding is theorized but we do know enough to be prepared even if the goulds are slightly modified from our ideas.

The definitions of zombie are quite loose but the basics are generally

1) A person, or animal, who has been considered legally dead.
2) The reainmation of that corpse.
3) Attempts by the corpse to bring death or destruction to other livings beings.

In reference there are 3 distingushed typed of Zombie based on form of controling influance: Virus Type, Mind Control Type and Other (Satan/Voodoo/A wizard did it)
[Referred to as The Virus, The Controller, and The Source in that order for simplicity.]

Virus Type: This is very close to the stylised Hollywood type that has seen countless blockbuster apperences. This has been refered to by many names Solanum/ T Virus/ Rage etc etc. The typical process of this is a virus , possibley horrible experiment or alien origin, infiltrates the blood stream of the victim and acts quickly to kill the hosts brain, replacing cognitive thought with itself and usurping control of motor functions. Then singlemindedly attacking other living things in an attempt to prolong it's life inside the host and spread the virus through mixing of bodily fluids. They may try scratching, biting, spiting, vomiting and bleeding on a victim to attain there one goal.
General attributes of this type of infection in a person are: Pale clammy skin, fatigue, dizziness, headache, outbreak of sores, loss of hair, seizures, unconsciousness, vomiting and diarrhea as the human immune system attempts to fight the threat (the zombie virus is apt at overpowering the human immune system and it is believed beyond the ability of modern medicine to develope a cure). All or some of these symtoms will be followed by death when the virus shuts down the medulla oblongata, ceasing the breathing.
After some time anywhere from a few minutes up to 3 days the corpse will start to move under the instruction of the viral infection.Factors effecting this are age, gender, intelligence(this is the part virus likes to chew on), mental health and drug use(narcotics decrease intelligence and mental health, but also slow the viruses progress). The areas of the brain that process higher functions (like complex communication, appreacing fine art, problem solving and mathamatics) have been consumed by the virus, and it is believed this is where it derives nutrition, but lower areas of the brain have been left viable allowing zombies to form basics grunts and moans, identify targets, attack with flailing motions and bite*. It has been proposed by some that the Virus improves the bite strenght of the human jaw, though this is yet to be verified*.
Once infected the corpse may go up to 11 months with out food before succoming to starvation depending on the hosts body type. Obviously the Zombified body has cut down on many of the energy consuming functions none moreso then the brain. This may cause a risk of secondary outbreaks long after the zombies are thought to be dealt with. However if a zombie does feed on a human victim it can expand this exponentially to years.
These Zombies are simply trying to spread the infection in their blood, so you should be aware of bleeding, vomiting, open wounds, any fluid that may be contaminated including dried blood, and take appropiate safety action. If you do come about a contaiminant you should avoid it or burn it completely. Burning should only be done on out of body infected material or immobile zombies. Be aware the only thing worse then a zombie is a zombie on fire, now they can burn your skin allowing the virus in or destroy your safehouse. If or when they mutate to freaky mutant things they are considered "Other type" see below.

Mind Control Type: This form of Zombification is slightly different from virus type, both worse and better depending on how you look at it. Many simply aren't given a chance to defend themselves. This can operate on large or small scale, either when a device able to alter the Alpha wave patters in a human brain is operated or when some being with psychic powers decides to make everyone his mind bitch. While this may not kill the victim the personality is gone.
Again this may have origins in horrible experiment, alien or a new kind of warfare. The complexity and spread of the device can determine the responses of those under it's influence. A large powerful controller can give one person seemingly normal movement and speech, or a huge number of people an obviously influenced "sleepwalking" type movement. We consider only the sleepwalking ,poorly coordinated type from now on. As the controller has instantanous effect there is few if no warning signs. We presume you for some reason are immune, because if you aren't it doesn't matter, enjoi being a zombie. [They mocked you for wearing tinfoil hats but now who's the loser!]
One major benifit of this type, to survivors, is the obvious vunerability of the controller. If this is destroyed the zombie hordes either return to normal feeling a bit worse for where or drop dead en mass. We hope for the former but prepare for the latter. Expect serious defenses around the controller.
Sleepwalker type zombies are easy to spot. Blank facial expression, cold staring eyes, monotoneous voice, sudden huge change in political/religious beliefs and activities, talking and acting in sync with others, e.g if a large group of people suddenly stop what they're doing and say "we love the leader, we must go to him" you should suspect something. In fact because this is so similar to brain washing of some so called religious movements, there is good chance the controller will be on their grounds. Keep an keen eye on them. They may seem aggressive in coercing you to wear an artifact or accessory. This is a way to control you, avoid it at all cost. e.g "here have a brainslug, you'll enjoy it".
There physiology should not have changed at all, so taking them down is just like murder but morally right. Just like Murder and killing Virus type the best way is destroy the brain. It is thought in some groups that pain might be able to temporarily paralyse them as the controller tries to over power the natural human reactions. Investigate this but don't count on it. Unlike Virus type these zombies wouldn't, so easily, be able to tell who is and isn't a zombie, you might get away with some good acting but again take precautions.
Again the amount of influance depends on complexity and power of the controller, these zombies may have higher reasoning, be able to open doors, circumnavigate traps and use weapons or firearms. Your best tactic should be stealth, get passed them and destroy the controller or main broadcast tower. This has the advantage of possibley saving many of your friends and family

Other: There are of corse many different types of zombification, some we might not even know about yet. This type is everything else to help you group and understand them. Minions of hell, Poltergeists, Mutant things, possessed people/parts of people/objects, natural anomalies, wizard magic and anything similar, this includes Virus type zombies that have mutated into all sorts of creatures. Because these are so diverse there's not much known and every time will be different. For the most part you can act as if it's Mind Control type, always try kill or seal the source or controlling influence but make changes according to what you have learned about your perticular case. You can still apply most of the teachings in this book, so Enjoi.

[smegmar]

What to expect on Z day

In this chapter we give the warning signs of a Zombie out break in it's early stages and advise on what to do. Here we have a hypothetical senario of someone becoming infected with Virus type at exactly 00:00 midnight in a central location.
For the purposes of the story we assume you are an urbanite on a normal work day in a midsize city (<1M) Please try apply this story to your circumstances and

Virus type

00:00 : First person is infected. This is possibley from outbreak in a lab or intercourse with carrier animals (yeah, that sort of thing does happen, discusting though it may be). It will take a short while for the virus to take effect, in this time the victim goes through all the symtoms discussed in the previous chapter. You mean while are asleep in bed after a long day.
00:12 The first victim, John Doe, becomes unconcious. In the next few minutes an ambluance is called.
00:19 Ambluance arrives and takes John Doe away, during this time you're dreaming of a hot blonde.
00:27 En route to the hospital John Doe becomes braindead. The ambulance will continue to the hospital regardless. The virus is now digesting and replacing the brain. Now you're dreaming of being chased by spoons and a singing swiss flag.
00:31 admitted to the hospital John Doe reanimates to the surprise of the doctors.
He manages to bite a nurse and a doctor before being restrained.
00:40 Nurse becomes unconcious. Doctor feels faint. It is first believed to be rabies or other treatable infection.
00:46 Nurse dies. Medical staff are shocked and distraught. Doctor is put into intensive care, where he now collapses.
00: 50 Nurse reainmates and attacks co workers. Infects 3 nurses and 2 patients. Police forces are called. Using standard practice minimum force approach, policeman becomes infected before managing to restrain Nurse.
01:20 hospital A&E is overrun, more police are sent under the misconception of a drunken fight. They get infected. Doctor re animates but is restrained in his bed already. In the confusion the hospital staff and patients, including Doctor and John Doe are evacuated to a nearby clinic.
01:50 Hospital and surrounding area over run. A&E patients that turn up now are bitten and infected. Police forces mobilise more units. Clinic quickly becomes over run.
02:30 Zombies spreading from hospital into residental areas, taking many in their sleep. The first Zombie is killed with baseball bat related head trauma by man defending his house from presumed burglars.
2:50 Polices forces begin to get overwhemed with calls related to zombie attacks.
You are dreaming of riding a horse over a rainbow into chocolate land.
Zombie numbers now about 60
03:00 Zombies break out of clinic, wander around area. Police deploy Riot squad
04:00 Zombies still inside hospital contained by riot squad. Some escaped into surrounding areas.
05:30 not much human activity, Zombies by clinic and around hospital sway aimlessly. Zombies in hospital tied down and brought to Police Department.
06:00 Zombies mistaken for junkies and crazed hobos by commuters, mostly ignored.
One bus attacked, causes traffic accident killing zombie.
07:00 You wake up, being the motivated go getter that you are. Listen to the news of activities of the night become suspecious.
07:20 This is when you encounter your first lone Zombie. You must first confirm he is a zombie, keeping your distance, let him walk into obvious harm. This is cause for serious alarm. Firstly call the authorities. They may be busy with similar calls. if you can try teather this zombie and procead with zombie plans you have made (see following chapter "Be Alert...").
07:40 Zombies causing many traffic accidents. You should be calling everyone you know to alert them of the danger. Now is the narrow window when you can be moving to your safe house/escape route.
07:50 Zombie numbers expanding rapidly. Emergency services confused by situation and pressured by loss of hospital during the night. General public still unaware of the seriousness of situation.
09:00 Emergency services trying to cope with problem, zombies numbers now 400/1000. Police advising people to stay indoors. Looters taking advantage of problem (you should be one of them). See chapter 9 Shopping List for where to go.

09:30 Complete panic errupts and socitey breaks down. Laws are ignored in desperate scramble for survival.
Around 40%-90% of the population will be on the move out of town. This will cause hugh traffic jams and chaos. Military services may be setting up a boarder/quarantein zone. There will be a crush at these areas. Many will die, especially if the survivors are pinned between the boarder and a horde of approaching Zombies.

10:00 Sporadic attempts by survivors to fight zombies will result in running street battles in the city. Many will find them selves trapped in dead ends or lost, easy prey for the zombie masses. Expect some really idiotic behavious here.eg reasoning with zombies, self sacrafice, rampant crime/sex before we die etc etc " oh the power of our love will being you back, you wouldn't bite meee-agggghhhh"

11:00 If you did get beyond the quarantein zone expect a very invasive inspection from a military man with a rubber glove, then be prepared if zombies breach the quarantine. Zombies now 70-90% of everyone inside quarantein

11:20 If you have chosen to stay inside the zone in your safe house, you will now be under attack from both Zombies and survivors that want to get to safety. By all means do rescue these survivors but make sure to give them a very invasive inspection with a rubber glove, to make sure they aren't infected. Delegate jobs of construction and lookout as appropiate. Read chapters 5 "Who goes where" and 11 "Mr.Useful" for more advice about other survivors.

12:00 Most survivors are either out of the area, curled up in their own safe houses or trying to count how many shot's they've fired, so they have one left for themselves. Only 12 hours has passed. Most people have skipped breakfast in the panic and now hungry, terrified and the gravity of the situation in settling in. Expect survivor in-fighting. Look out for military helicopters or other reconnaissance works. They may be there to save you, or...kill everything that moves.

14:00 Survivors may now be going into shock. Sweating, paranoia, crying,cold clammy skin, becoming unresponsive, despair etc etc. See chapter 8 "in this for the long haul" for advice on survivor psycology. Watch out for more idiotic behaviour that may compromise the base. If you have an opperating television or radio listen out for emergency broadcasts, you may be guided to safer grounds or rescue.

18:00 If there is no rescue attempts you should dig in and expect to be there for some time. you and your group will now be entering mental exaustion. The day has been long and confusing and many be falling asleep.

20:00 Zombie moans will be the only sound as night falls. Electrity and gas supplies may be cut off. Be prepared for total drakness, it will be terrifing to even the most battle hardened soldiers. There may be fires through out the area, they may have been burning for some time but you will see them now against the darkness. This is the most dangerous time to be outside.

24:00 If you've lasted 24 hours you'll see how quickly the world you last woke up into has completely changed by the Zombie infection, but your ordeal isn't over. It can last for weeks, months or until you find your self trapped and fire off all your bullets but one....

[smegmar]

these are two first chapters, that I did one insomniac night recently. I would love to expand on them and keep going but I feel I need some outside influences. Please do submit whatever you have done; full chapters, notes, corrections, annotations, references, graphs, fictional zombie stories absolutely anything if it's worth it's salt I'll add it in.
In the end we'll give that Max Brooks a run for his money