I’ve received some messages asking for an article about Urban Warfare during ZOMBIEGEDDON. In response to these messages, I’ve decided to do the article you’ve asked for.
Urban Warfare during Zombiegeddon would be a must, however incredibly difficult to undertake. These aren’t just ordinary enemies that you can shoot or bomb and they stay down. These are grotesque, smelly, rotten corpses that you have to hit just right in the brain to drop. This isn’t the showdown at the OK Coral, where you just walk in there guns a blazing and hope that you don’t become some meat sacks appetizer. It requires strategy, preparedness, skill, surprise and testicular fortitude.
Most people would go with their instincts and run trying to stay one step ahead of walkers in order to survive, not taking any more risks than what’s necessary and staying as close to camp as possible. This is what separates the survivors from the dinner menu. The key thing you have to remember is to stay focus and calm. The moment you begin to freak out, is just the moment the undead need to make you apart of their horde and their nourishment.
The one thing about zombies you need to remember to give you the advantage is that they’re dead. What is one thing that all dead things do? Think about it, if you’re in a room that a person has passed away in, and you’re waiting for the paramedics to get there to take the body away, what’s the one thing that stands out? The smell. When a person dies, they release anything and everything they may have consumed within a few hours before death. Zombies are gonna smell like death covered in sewage. Think about it, you’re heading into a zombie infested area but you don’t see them just yet. Follow your nose, when the air starts to reek, you’re getting close. If you’re by yourself or with a small group of people, trying to scavenge for supplies and food but you have to know where the walkers are at all times so they can’t sneak up on you, rely on your sense of smell. Dead bodies smell anyway, it’s a fact, combined that with flesh and muscle tissue that’s been cooking and rotting out in the sun, that’s been rained on, and has fecal matter and urine in their pants that’s also been cooking and rubbing against that filthy body, you’re going to be able to know they’re coming long before they know where you are. When you multiply that stench by dozens, hundreds or even thousands it’s going to be easy to stay one step ahead of them. However, the thing about your sense of smell is that it can become increasingly overwhelmed and will make you high if not knock you out.
When going into a zombie infested zone to play offense, there’s certain things you’ll want to take with you. 1) something to saturate the smell that’s going to go into your nostrils. This could be vicks vapo rub applied directly in your nostrils, however this will also deplete your sense of smell so you won’t be able to know they’re coming until they’re right behind you. So you can also use a handkerchief to cover your mouth and nose with. 2) You’ll need guns which are only to be used if you get swarmed. Never waste your bullets on a single walker. 3) Bladed weapons are essential. Sure you can only use them at close range, but they’re silent and won’t attract other walkers, plus you can use them as often as you need. 4) Wear LEATHER. The best protection you can utilize to protect yourself from zombie bites is leather. As I mentioned in my first article, leather is extremely difficult to bite or scratch through. It’s easy to clean and can keep you warm and dry. 5) You need a plan. First an entry plan and then an escape plan. Make sure everyone in your group knows the plans for entry and escape. Make sure someone’s covering your back at all times.
If you plan on setting up camp in an urban area, make sure you set up a nest. A NEST is a lookout point, that’s high enough off the ground to be able to see in every direction and keeps the person looking out safe. A nest is also essential to make sure your back is covered at all times. While you’re on the ground fighting off walkers, someone can be in the nest picking off the horde around you to lower their ranks.
You’ll need to know every aspect of your surroundings. Know where the unlocked doors are, the fire escapes, the fenced in areas that can give you time to catch your breath, the semis you can climb on top of, anything and everything that can give you an advantage and an escape. When running from walkers, never jump into an abandoned car to escape zombies, They’ll swarm the vehicle and break through the windows just to get to your flesh, you’ll be a sitting duck. Also, crawling underneath a vehicle may seem like a good idea at the time when you’re running from walkers, but they can smell you they’ll swarm any vehicle that has the sent of the living, where will you go when you’re flooded on every side by arms reaching for you and smaller zombies able to crawl under there with you.
Make sure your socks are dry. Wet feet can cause them to cramp up and not move as quickly and become easily injured making you the main course. Always keep an extra pair of socks on you at all times, just in case. Socks are far more important than almost anything else as any drill sergeant or commanding officer will tell you when you’re out on the battle field. Clean socks can protect your feet, tie off blood flow from wounds, be used as wash cloths, and given enough of them can help make a make shift gurney for wounded friends or family.
The most important thing you can have in the field is trust, Respect and Loyalty. Pick your battles with others in your community, because you rely on each other. If you’re back at camp/ base and trying to rest or sleep while you can, if there’s anyone in your community that you’ve screwed over, you might wanna sleep with one eye open because they could easily kill you in your sleep or leave you for dead on the battle field.
It always helps to have a well armed well protected vehicle that can hold everyone in your group. Vehicles such as busses or semis can easily be modified to act as Urban Assault vehicles. The roof is high enough to have a nest placed on the roof, and they’re long enough to fit everyone in your group safely in. Modifications that can be made to these types of vehicles are as follows: weld bars or chain link fencing around all the windows, cut a long slide gap the length of the vehicle to be able to run a chainsaw through any swarming zombies as seen in “Dawn of the Dead”, weld plates around the wheels so that your tires are protected, cut a hole in the roof with a hatch and a hole with a hatch in the floor for escape if need be, put flood lights on the vehicle so that you can see and it will draw the attention of the zombies, weld spikes onto a snow plow or train scoop and attach it to the front of the vehicle, weld or attach blades to the wheel covers so that you can cut through any zombies that are close. Be on the lookout for fuel tankers. You can weld a plate onto the front of both sides of your vehicle so that if you come across a fuel tanker, someone can move between vehicles and drive the tanker away without the risk of being a Zombie Sacrifice. You can make other modifications that you may feel would benefit your war on zombies.
Keep a spare weapon on you at all times. You never know when the time may come where you’re surrounded by zombies and you run out of bullets or you break you blade, you don’t want to be left to defend yourself with only your fists, because you aren’t going to last very long. Make sure your spare weapon is easily accessible so that you can grab it as you’re dropping the other one.
In a Zombiegeddon war zone, you not only have to watch out for walkers but also other humans who may try to kill you just to take your supplies or wound you to make you bait so they can escape. It’s situations like this that make it imperative that you always have someone in a nest covering you and that you have the loyalty of your group to help you if that time comes. Always be leery of strangers in a situation like this, you never know when or if they might turn on you for their own benefit.
In a situation in which a zombie like epidemic were to arise be prepared to not survive. The US government has plans for defense against such epidemics. If a city were to become infected by an uncontrollable epidemic, the military and CDC would be immediately deployed to make certain the threat didn’t spread, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”. First, military and CDC would be mobilized to contain the threat. Second, the military would receive orders to eradicate anything and everything within the quarantined area. Third, if the military fails in their mission the area would be cleansed by nuclear force. These are the measures out government must take to ensure the safety of the rest of the nation and to maintain order throughout the country.
I’m sorry, but unless you have a nuclear fallout shelter and enough supplies and food to last for years upon years, you will be a victim of Zombiegeddon. However, if the epidemic spreads worldwide before any safeguards can be taken, you may stand a chance.