Whack-a-zombie

Some times it just helps to let loose a little steam. Or sometimes you want some target practise on a 3D object. Now you have a miniature zombie to do so. A tiny, (about 5" tall) zombie-punching bag called, Whack-a-Zombie: You Can't Keep a Good Zombie Down.

I mentioned target practise, now this can only be done to a certain extent unless you want to buy a new $7 for each bullet. But it does provide a good stepping stone for those new to firearms. An airsoft gun and one of these make for great practise on aiming and proper weapon handling.

Also with the little guy comes an equally tiny book called, Whack-a-Zombie: The Book. It begins with a lovely little introductions giving equal praise to zombies as real research and zombies as an entertaining pass time. The book continues on to tell the basics of zombie lore and where it comes from, even including a basic list of zombie films to start introducing oneself to the world of undead lore. A very well put together list of books is also included. The little book even goes so far as to provide the very basics of zombie survival. Over all I would say this book is ideal for those just beginning their training and getting ready to prepare for the fall of society as we know it. Is it complete or full of information? No. But the best way to begin such a large task is with a small but sure step. And I would say this book is that step. If you get a chance, pay the $7 just for the book, the bop-zombie is just a bonus. Even if the book has no use to you it will make an excellent gift to any friends or loved ones who are just beginning or you are trying to drop hints at. Often it is the ones close to us who deny and reprimand the preparation the most.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Military tactics

A couple of days ago I put out a post with a link to two zombie survival guides. One of these is "How to Survive Zombies" by Dave Johnson. The book starts out with a brief explaination of one possible cause for zombies and goes into a little detail on theories. Most of the book seems to treat zombies as if they react like normal humans -more on this later- but this stems from the explaination of zombies given in the book where by the infection causes a coma, the person either dies during this time or awaken from the coma as a zombie. The flaws with this theory are evident, zombies are dead. The "coma" state is in fact death, and re-animation is 100% if the body has been infected.

Now survivors, I believe you will be smart enough to see through this but I will state it just on principle. While organizations like FEMA, CDC and WHO may try different tactics such as Zombie Feeding stations to keep the zombies controlled; these will not work. Zombies feed on the closest fresh meat. The amount of fresh (read "live" food) to keep even a small number of zombies in one location would be vast. Although this could be used as a strategy to coral the zombies and lock them away until the time and resources exsist to eliminate them.

Looking past the fluff there are a couple of good survival tips in here. Make friends with the socially awkward guy who believes every apocolypse story and has a stock pile ready to go in an instant. This person can probably teach you a few things about preparedness and if they end up turning during the fall you can always take advantage of their preparedness.

Knowing the location of the nearest hardware store is also very important. While you may be able to buy/put together everything you need, eventually you will need to resupply or things will come up that you didn't think of and you will need more wood for barricades, quick cement for windows or walls, and tools.

What is not good advice is trying to make it to the nearest Costco or Wal-Mart. Why? Because every would-be-survivor will be grabbing his pawnshop katana, army surplus combats and heading for the nearest Wal-Mart or Costco. In addition to the people who will already be there. In addition to the people who will be desperately rushing there to get last minute supplies. All-in-all, stay away from these places until things have calmed down a bit.

Run or Hide. Good tip for the begining. Only fight the undead you have to. Trying to be a hero during the first couple of days will only get you killed or in a jail cell. Neither of these are ideal.

There are a few other good bits of information in here. One of which I constantly push, invest in a real leather jacket. If you can't bite through it, neither can a zombie.

But all of that is just the basics, some general survival tips every survivor can tell you. The meat and potatos of this book actually has nothing to do with zombies. It's copied from the US Marines handbook, Battle Drill handbook and US Army Field Manual, how to move, on your own or in formations. Very basics of hunting and fishing. How to use hand signals and even how to opperate a military radio. If this useful information? Absolutely! But not for the reasons Dave writes. Zombie do not opperate like humans but humans do. Eventually you will come across hostile humans, raiders, bandits, looters, other survivors or even military units. It is against these humans the knowledge presented will prove of use to you. While not vital to your survival, every advantage you can get over an opposing force is an advantage worth taking.

The final section of the book is more entertainment then survival guide but is worth reading and taking in with a grain of salt. The one thing I will argue about this section is the note about shotguns. Everyone tends to think of shotguns as a close range weapon because of video games and movies. If you have no weapons training, take a shotgun over an assualt rifle. With a shotgun you just have to aim around the head to get a hit (or the chest if you can't hold the recoil.) With an assualt rifle you have to get a head shot, perfect aim on a moving target, every time. With no training and the target moving in to EAT you, most people will not be able to do this. Most shotguns are accurate out to about one hundred meters (330 feet), a range at which anyone not trained will have a very hard time getting a head shot. Once the target closes to thirty meters (33 feet) I suggest switching to your sidearm. This will give better control, aim and speed. Three things that will be vitally important once the infected get that close.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

The choice is yours

It's been a long time since I've seen a choose your own adventure book but I still go to websites where you can do them. So you can imagine my joy when I found a choose your own adventure zombie book, "Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse?"

Can't say everything in the book plays out logically. Some stories are ultra realistic and others border on teenage wet dreams. The zombies however are always consistant and clear in their presentation.

The choices aren't what I would call the best. Some choices are down right stupid and the reader can see other options but only has two or three choices to go for. Usually the only time you are called on to even make a choice is when picking which weapon to use or which location to go to. The book does however display how good choices early on can make all the difference as some situations have no happy endings. Even most of the good endings in the book sit uneasy, they are not so much endings as temporary safety or escape, an end to that part of the story yes but I, for one, was left rather empty by many of the endings in which I wondered... so what happens now?

The brutality and pain of death is captured extremely well. As well as the simple math and unstoppable power of the undead forces. Watching one become two, become four, become eight. All a zombie has to do is get one bite in before someone kills it and the cycle continues.

Now I would like to go through some of the endings in more detail so you know, stay away if your scared of spoilers, I will try to avoid as much as I can but I am talking about the endings so...

So your first choice is made on page seven (7), cab (204), subway (205) or walk (22).
Now from that point on there are many more choice to make but the results are somewhat limited. Basically you can end up dead, escaping, in a safe house or at one of three strange endings. Now the death endings are pretty obvious and the most plentiful, some paths also lead to choices which only result in death. The escape endings are definately the weakest of the bunch as they end more or less like many zombie movies, with the hero or heroes sailing away on a boat or flying away on a helicopter. There is no real closure, nothing is fixed or established just temporary safety, which in most cases is all one can ask for I suppose. Then there are safe houses, these are my favorite endings. Where the hero has established a place where he can live out the rest of his days surviving the apocalypse. In most of these cases the safe house is somewhat reliable and would stand the test of time, other cases the safe house is dodgy at best but might keep the hero/heroes alive for some period of time. Finally are the three "other" endings. Two of these I feel are cop outs by the writter, forcing the reader to choose a more rash and "heroic" option, which in real life will often lead to death. These two endings basically result in the writter questioning the reader's manlihood and insulting his choice to take the safer option. While somewhat humorous, it does destroy the idea there being a safer choice. Finally we are left with "The End" as the writter calls it. The hero discovers the cause for the zombies but even then is left with a strange sort of open ending because he does not try to stop it, to either succeed or die trying as everything else in the book seems to focus on. The source of the zombies? Why it's George A. Romero of course! No wonder he backed out of Calgary Comic Con with this book diffulging his neffarious plans! Broken arm, a likely story!

I did keep track of all the endings and how to get to each but I thought putting that up would be to easy and take away the fun of the book for you. It is a book that can pass a lot of time. And provide much entertainment so long as you can stomache some of the more gruesome endings and put up with the unrealistic heroism or battles in others.

"Dear Calgary Expo Fans,

Sorry I can't be there with you this weekend. As luck would have it, I banged up my arm the other day and can't autograph. I was looking forward to seeing Calgary and meeting all of you. I hope you all have a great weekend, and I look forward to getting there next year. Thank you for your loyalty and understanding!"

Stay Scared!

George A. Romero"

Stay vigilant, may you make the right choices, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so mistaken, Mike D.

Free stuff!

Hello survivors, while I gather information for a series of reports on different locations across Canada (and two special locations outside of Canada) I have been tardy in my daily posting. I would like to share with you however, thanks to my favorite zombie forum two link to books you may enjoy.

The_Zombie_Survival_Guide_Download_Instructions.txt

How_To_Survive_Zombies_Download_Instructions.txt

I will be providing in depth studies of the survival advice and tactics provided in both of these books. So you may want to read them to have reference to what I'm saying or you may want to read my notes first before cementing any ideas in your mind. The advice in Max Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide will get many potential survivors killed. However some of the advice and information presented is quite useful.

Now and then I also like to play games. I believe they are a fundamental part of surviving in the world before or after the fall in order to keep sanity. To that end it is important to have a deck of cards or some dice in your survival kit and know a few games to play with them. Either on your own or if you run into others.

Here are a few online games I enjoy:

Zombie Lane
It's fun and easy and takes a long time. The routine of re-establishing one's house and family is an important one as is the regular upkeep of barricades, farming and slaying of zombies. All of these things the game instills while being light hearted and simple.

Zombie Slayer
A game a kin to Mafia Wars or any of those. Simply building a group of friends and killing zombies and zombie bosses around the world by clicking them to death.

Pandemic
Not necessarily a zombie game but this game does a surprisingly good job of depicting how a virus might spread. Through water and airports, infecting the entire world in a matter of days. Often wiping out entire countries before they have a chance to even start work on a cure.

Infectonator
This is a fun strategy game of sorts where you infect and destroy the world one city at a time. While the "game" aspects of it make everything more game-like and less real, some interesting parallels to real life can be made. Watching how the zombies naturally group together where there are more people. The people who hold up in a corner seem to last the longest but if they stay there too long they get over whelmed. The faster police and military are on the scene and recognize the threat the better chance of keeping the outbreak contained. The patterns of both the humans and zombies in this game can be watched and obvious mistakes leading to death or smart tactics leading to a single person surviving the horde can be observed.


Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

ZOMG! Holy Zombies!

In wake of Easter I would like to put out my first Holiday themed post.


What should be noted right out of the gate is Jesus is not a zombie. Other sources have argued this point as well. Zombies are not supernatural beings who have defeated death, they are an infection, a curse, a disease, a plague, many things but they are not the same person they had been simply returned to life. There are many accounts in the Bible of this happening, Jesus raises Lazarus (John 11:23-44), Elisha rises a young boy (2 Kings 8:4-6), and others (Psalm 30, 1 Samuel 2, 2 Kings 13). In all of these instances the person who was brought back to life is the same person they were when they died.


These are holy victories over death and are shown again and again to prove a point (1 Corinthians 15:55). No one considers the rapture to be the creation of zombies, simply God taking all of His faithful to be with him. Much like Elijah's assent to Heaven (2 Kings 2:11), it is a supernatural event, a reward, not a punishment. All through the Bible we find people being raised from the dead and (most importantly) being brought back to life. Not a mockery of life or a violent destructive life but truly living again. And some of these events happened before Jesus, so he could not have been the first zombie even if these were zombies being raised. Not too mention the records of zombies are older then the time of Christ.


All of this is simply pointing out the obvious falsehood of the statement "Jesus was the first zombie" or even the mockery of calling Easter, "zombie day." However there are other events told of in the Bible which are not so glorious. Zechariah 14:12 for example tells of a plague which will make the people rot as if dead while still on their feet and violently attack each other. Sounds similar, and just because the writers of the Bible didn't use the word "zombie" doesn't mean it isn't the same thing. Rotting flesh, plague (meaning it can spread), large-scale panic, grabbing and attacking. The only thing not covered is waking up from being thought dead. Or the seven trumpets from Revelation 8 and 9: the fifth angel who summons creatures from hell that make men seek out death but cannot die themselves. Zombies? How about the sixth angel who summons four horsemen (not THE horsemen) who will kill one third of the earth's population with a plague from their mouths... or those killed by the Beast who will be left to lie in the streets, now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. (Revelation 11:11) Ezekiel 37:1-11 is the story of an entire nation being raised from dry bones, what happens to these bones is not clear. If they become the people of Israel or do they become something closer to our version of the undead? In Numbers 25 a great plague kills twenty-four thousand and is only stopped but killing the man who caused it; an exciting re-telling of a zombie plague only stopped by slaying the plague bearers? Habakkuk 3 prays for the One who brings pestilence and plague wherever He walks to destroy his enemies. Revelation talks about rising the dead who have not accepted Christ to wage war against Him in the final days, this is an event foretold by Daniel as well, the fact the dead do not rest is something consistent through the Bible. (Daniel 12:2)


One final note on the Christians who doubt, "if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen?" (1 Corinthians 15:13)


Is there definately evidence of zombies in the Bible? No, I would not say 100% but consider the stories. Read them for yourself. See if the plagues presented there match the information you have. Consider if you didn't know what a zombie was how you might describe one. Or consider if zombies were a somewhat regular thing? Would they be worth mentioning as more then a plague? The Bible is a wealth of information, knowledge and wisdom even for people who do not consider themselves Christian. And in my mind, enough of it points toward a plague of violence, death, and rot to make me say there could very well be zombies in the Bible, they just aren't named as such.


Stay vigilant, may the plague never be cast on you, and if it does may those close to you have the resolve to do what is nessicary.
Mike D.

Field Guide to Monsters

Darren Zenko has put together a great resource for all monster hunters. This handy little book is called the "Field Guide to Monsters". Of course I am not of the mind monsters are real or need hunting but a book of this nature could not go without a section on our favorite undead. I've copied just this section here as a sample.

Field Guide to Monsters by Darren Zenko:
They advance slowly, in eerie silence punctuated only by the occasional moan and the sound of feet scraping the ground. From a distance, the horde may appear to be a shambling crowd of normal humans. The truth is revealed on closer inspection: ripped and bloody clothes, gaping wounds, rotting flesh and the nauseating stench of the grave. These are the walking corpses, the living dead... zombies.


Where do these mindless horrors come from? There's really no easy answer. First and fremost, though, the zombie was once human - and a human body, even (or perhaps especially) a dead one, is a strong and powerful object. Many methods, technological and magical, take advantage of this potential to bring about zombification. Even a quick sampling of recorded zombie outbreaks reveals zombies brought to life by evil spells; zombies created by meteorites from space; zombies as the result of secret biochemical experiments; zombies created by strange viruses; zombies as the result of ancient curses; and zombies apawned by radiation from atomic weapons tests. In most cases, zombieism is highly contagious and spread by bites or scratches.


Although zombies can be created in many ways, the method of destroying them is more-or-less universal: go for the head. To function, zombies require a certain portion of the brain tissue to remain intact, and catastrophic damage to the head will stop the creature cold. Single bullets or buried hatchets aren't usually enough, however -your attack must be wholly decapitating. High explosives, firebombs and industrial-strength acid also work well. Extremely low temperatures will not destroy zombies, but they can immobilize them.

Note that, although the word "zombie" is derived from the Haitian voodoo word zombi, the true Haitian zombi is not undead. It is a living human, turned into a mindless slave by means of powerful drugs - do not blow its head off! Suspected zombie encounters in the areas of known voodoo activity call for careful inspection for rotted flesh and other indicators of zombification. Remember the zombie hunter's rule of thumb: "Signs of decay? Fire away!"

This is not the complete section on zombies but you can get a good handle on what the author has to say on them. A couple things to mention as everyone knows already, the infection is always contagius. He also makes a good point about how often a single bullet or blade strike will not destroy enough of the brain. When choosing weapons go for the two extremes, high and low caliber. High can destroy enough of brain normally and low calibers, such as .22 are not powerful enough to exit the skull which will mean the bullet bounces around doing more damage.

The Field Guide to Monsters is full of basic tips for a wide range of monsters. In fact every monster I can think of (and many I've never heard of) can be found within the pages of this great little book. This field guide gives basic guidelines for an encounter with any sort of creature and well worth the time to buy and read, for just the entertainment value alone this book is worth while.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

A is for Awesome

Fellow survivors, long have I searched for the proper way to teach my children the alphabet. I have found it.

The book is called, "Z is for Zombie: An Illustrated Guide to the End of the World" by Adam-Troy Castro and illustrated by Johnny Atomic. This book is filled with the simple facts like, "...everywhere we were, they are." And "Either you hit the ground running or you hit the ground in pieces." It does not go into details on how it happened or why, but simply that it has in fact occurred, the zombie apocalypse.

Every page is chalk full of simple yet sound advice that every survivor must have ingrained in his head to continue that survival. As I reread the book at this very moment I am simply blown away by the simple statements that are so true. This alphabet is like a rulebook, the very basics of survival that no person should be without. Every survivor can be reminded of the principles set forth in this book, one particular reminder for myself is the eyes. Adam-Troy describes the eyes of a zombie as "T for Terrifying" because the eyes are the window to the soul and how much people rely on looking into each others eyes: to discern lies, to engage lovers, to welcome, to communicate. But to look into a zombie's eyes is to see absolute nothing, a void that is as the author describes it "enough to shatter all will to live."

The book takes the reader step-by-step through the apocalypse giving some reassurance that the trials and tribulations are ones that must be faced by every true survivor. It also ends off with a stern warning and a truly chilling idea of what can be expected should you turn. The idea that undeath is a worse fate then simply dying and your body becoming something else. The idea that being a zombie means having to not only watch but actually do the horrible acts entailed; with no choice, no will, no mind, simply an awareness. Still knowing who you were and what you've done and what you are currently doing. Feeling the never ending, ever growing hunger, and all the pain that goes with it but not having a choice or a way to stop any of it. Ideas like this, the unknown aspects of turning, there are reason enough to always make sure you have one extra round.

Don't miss out. Educate yourself and your family, buy this book.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Definitions of "Zombie"

Oxford dictionary:

A soulless body. In the Voodoo cult of Haiti, a zombi is the slave of a magician. The soul may have been removed by magic from a living person, or the body of someone recently deceased may have been brought up out of the grave after the soul had been separated from it by regular rites of death. As the lord of the dead, Ghede has the power to animate corpses as zombis.


Free Online Dictionary:

1. A snake god of voodoo cults in West Africa, Haiti, and the southern United States.

2.

a. A supernatural power or spell that according to voodoo belief can enter into and reanimate a corpse.

b. A corpse revived in this way.

3. One who looks or behaves like an automaton.

4. A tall mixed drink made of various rums, liqueur, and fruit juice.


Another online dictionary:

1. a person who is or appears to be lifeless, apathetic, or totally lacking in independent judgment; automaton

2. (Spirituality, New Age, Astrology & Self-help / Alternative Belief Systems) a supernatural spirit that reanimates a dead body

3. (Spirituality, New Age, Astrology & Self-help / Alternative Belief Systems) a corpse brought to life in this manner

4. (Spirituality, New Age, Astrology & Self-help / Alternative Belief Systems) the snake god of voodoo cults in the West Indies, esp Haiti, and in scattered areas of the southern US

5. (Spirituality, New Age, Astrology & Self-help / Alternative Belief Systems) the python god revered in parts of West Africa

6. (Electronics & Computer Science / Computer Science) a piece of computer code that instructs an infected computer to send a virus on to other computer systems

Urban Dictionary:
1.

The Walking Dead. Scientific name Homo Coprophagus Somnambulus.

A deceased human being who has partially returned to life due to indeterminable causes. The brain retains base facilities, namely gross motor function. In its near-mindless state, it grasps no remains of emotion, personality, or sensation of pain. In rare cases, some of the reanimated have reflexively preformed routine activities from their past lives.

The rotting bodies of the undead operate on a fraction of the level at which our bodies normally function. Circulatory, respiratory, and digestive systems are unaffected by reanimation. Labored breathing, choking, and moaning are reflexive but no oxygen is carried through the blood. The nervous system functions primarily within the brain and brain stem. Sensory reception is minimal at best and seemingly unnecessary in the pursuit of prey. The undead are incapable of fatigue and will persist at any cost. They will even crawl when their legs have been removed. Even if the head is removed from the body, it will continue to live. The only way to stop the reanimated is to destroy the brain. To prevent reanimation in the recently departed, decapitate the corpse and burn the body.

The only observable action a zombie takes part in is killing living creatures, especially humans, and eating them. Many theories and speculations surround this disturbing behavior. One theory is based on the thought that reanimation is the result of a contagious infection or virus, and that the primal drive to feed will spread the disease to other host bodies. Research has shown that although the majority of zombie attacks result in fatal wounds, all corpses return to life soon after passing, regardless of cause of death. Another theory is that zombies eat the brains of the living to refuel the "un-life" giving chemical serotonin. Because digestive and circulatory systems are incapable of bringing these elements to the brain, this just cannot be true. The final speculation seems the most obvious, that the dead feed for sustenance to satiate their unnatural metabolism. But because the gut has no function in the undead, this is also false. One documented encounter claims that a zombie was unable to move due to the sheer mass of undigested flesh resting in its distended gut. The creature continued to eat even after it's gut had burst open. Studies regarding the nature of feeding have proven that zombies will try to eat when their stomachs and even jaws have been removed. One explanation offers that the walking dead are the incarnation of death itself, a mockery of life that uses the vessels of the living to carry out their dark intentions, they are the opposite of life and are driven to simply undo it.

"When there's no more room in hell, the dead shall walk the earth."

2.

when a girl is with a guy and gets it in her eyes so she cant see and she walks around with her arms extended looking for a towel to wipe her eyes with looking like a zombie.

3.

A drink consisting of White Rum, Dark Rum, sours, and pineapple juice
Got the name because of its grey green colour (like a zombie skin)

"I'd like a Zombie please.."

4.

A person who accepts the status quo because of fear and/or lack of conviction. They generally only act out of anger and by then it's to late. They live without beliefs other than the following- Go to school, get a job, make money, buy lots of crap, die. Frequently encountered in the American school system and the suburbs.

5.

Slang for marijuana, pot, refer, or herb in Australia.

"Travelling in a fried out Kombie, on a hippie trail head full of zombie."
  

6.

A song by The Cranberries

...With their tanks, and their bombs,
and their bombs, and their guns,
In your head, In your head, They're cryin'... In your head, In your head, Zombie Zombie Zombie-ie-ie-ie...

7.

A synonym to the "n" word used usually by white people in a a "ghetto" area. The term is used out of fear of being stabbed, shot or raped.

8.

An undead soul, possessed and sent out of the grave to thrive upon the flesh of the living.
After a dead body rots underground for a time, it may come to life, first its eyes will reopen, and fingers will begin twitching. The thumping of the heart may return, unless the heart has been removed. This is the rebirth of a human, the birth of a zombie.
Deteriorating, fallen apart and reeking of the foul stench of death, a zombie will raise from the grave by smashing through the coffin and lifting an arm out of the ground, in the normal zombie style. The zombie will proceed to lift itself out of the soil and moan, usually moaning anything like 'Yaaarghhh...' or 'BRAINS!'
If you fall victim to the zombie's feasting of your flesh and brain, you will become a zombie, forever walking, undead.

9.

A type of virus which sends numerous amounts of useless packets to a computer or a server and floods it to crash it's connection.

"Wow i just scanned this server for open ports and i found a couple and owned it with some zombies."

10.

A theoretical being that some philosophers use to discuss consciousness. A zombie is identical to a regular person in every way (including his behavior), except that he has no subjective, conscious experience at all. The thought experiment goes something like: "How do you know if someone is a zombie?"
Philosophers like John Searle assert that the theoretical possibility of zombies severely hinders our ability to observe and study the phenomenon of consciousness objectively.
Many materialists, however, assert that if a being was structurally and behaviorally identical to a regular person, then consciousness would result as an emergent property -- zombies cannot exist.

Daniel Dennett doesn't believe in zombies.

11.

1) Crack, or an addict to crack.
2) Unconscious state.
3) To be between life and death, to be braindead. Some of the other definitions do better than this.

12.

Gore-drenched Lucio Fulci film about an Island full of the living dead. Considered to be one of the greatest horror films of all time.

I was really surprised that blockbuster carried zombie, but it had that 'youth restricted' sticker on it.

13.

A slow and/or dull girl that only goes after guys with brains. After the guy has been caught, the guy becomes dumber as a result of her lack of intelligence. Its as if the girl had figuratively eaten his brains.

"My ex was a zombie. She wanted me for my brains, but then sucked away all my intelligence."


Field Guide to Monsters by Darren Zenko:
They advance slowly, in eerie silence punctuated only by the occasional moan and the sound of feet scraping the ground. From a distance, the horde may appear to be a shambling crowd of normal humans. The truth is revealed on closer inspection: ripped and bloody clothes, gaping wounds, rotting flesh and the nauseating stench of the grave. These are the walking corpses, the living dead... zombies.

...The zombie was once human - and a human body, even (or perhaps especially) a dead one, is a strong and powerful object. Many methods, technological and magical, take advantage of this potential to bring about zombification. Even a quick sampling of recorded zombie outbreaks reveals zombies brought to life by evil spells; zombies created by meteorites from space; zombies as the result of secret biochemical experiments; zombies created by strange viruses; zombies as the result of ancient curses; and zombies spawned by radiation from atomic weapons tests. In most cases, zombieism is highly contagious and spread by bites or scratches.

...Note that, although the word "zombie" is derived from the Haitian voodoo word zombi, the true Haitian zombi is not undead. It is a living human, turned into a mindless slave by means of powerful drugs - do not blow its head off! Suspected zombie encounters in the areas of known voodoo activity call for careful inspection for rotted flesh and other indicators of zombification. Remember the zombie hunter's rule of thumb: "Signs of decay? Fire away!"

In summation:
It is important to know what a zombie is. Thus a look at the different ways the term is used in popular culture. The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks goes into great detail about laying out what a zombie is in terms of the powers and abilities they possess as opposed to some of the myths created by movies and stories. Zombies A Record of the Year of Infection Field Notes by Dr. Robert Twombly lays out the infection from a scientific view point. The most clear definition however seems to come from Urban Dictionary: the first one provided by them. Being able to identify what a zombie is gives survivors the advantage once the end comes about. This definition provides the best view on zombies because it not only states what the creatures are but also what they are not. It clearly points out the falsehoods to many of the misconceptions about the undead. Knowing what a zombie is or is not is one of the first steps in being prepared for days of initial contact and not becoming one of the millions to first fall when the final outbreak occurs. I provide the other definition because it is also important to realize what others may misinterpret a statement about zombies to be or how others may be misinformed and what sort of preconceptions you may face when dealing with other people surrounding an outbreak of any size.

Stay prepared, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate,

Mike D.