Intelligence in a Zombie Apocalypse

Continuing my thoughts from this post, one of the really striking things about zombie apocalypse books (and I suppose movies and TV shows though I don’t watch them so don’t know first hand) is that the characters do not appear ever to have seen a movie or read a book about a zombie apocalypse.

I suppose that, having seen or read fiction about a zombie apocalypse, you might be disinclined to believe it — “that’s just fantasy!” — but once the fact of the situation is very clear, you know what to do. And what not to do!

Consider World War Z, for example.

In this book, the authorities know that they’re dealing zombies, or at least an infectious disease that does a good imitation of producing zombies. They know New York City is highly infected and thus that there are millions of zombies in there. So they send troops out to march down the street and shoot the zombies. Naturally the troops are overwhelmed and wiped out, and just swell the numbers of zombies.

Later in this book, the authorities are kind of getting things under control, but they know the catacombs under Paris are full of zombies. So they send troops in there to go hand-to-hand with zombies. In the dark. In a place where they don’t even have decent maps. Naturally the troops are in deadly danger and, if they don’t get killed and zombified, suffer extreme mental trauma.

How stupid are both these actions?

They know they’re dealing with an enemy that will not stop unless destroyed. An enemy that will not break and run even in the face of massed fire power. And enemy that furthermore is highly contagious.

Why on Earth would anyone who had ever read or seen anything about a zombie apocalypse put troops where the zombies could reach them? Massed fire in a crowd would work to terrify normal people and put them to flight, but it won’t work on zombies. They’ll simply keep coming until you wipe them all out, or they get you. That’s it. And even if they don’t actually get you, there’s a frightening possibility that you’ll be spattered with blood or tissue and then you die anyway.

A later post will be how to deal with zombies.