The Zombie Combat Manual (40 page)
Read The Zombie Combat Manual Online
Authors: Roger Ma
ZCM:
So it was a friendly-fire incident?
BD:
Is that what you think?
ZCM:
You don’t believe the air strike was an accident?
BD
: Why did they make four passes? Why did they target our gas stations and food storage facilities? Why did they destroy the airfield? Too many
whys
. Too many questions where we already know or no longer cared about the answers. They made their decision, and now we’ve made ours. As part of the Sovereign States Alliance, we no longer require the services of our federal support system.
These are good people. When our government asked the public to stay in their residences when thousands were clogging the roadways, they stayed put. When they were asked to give up their ammunition reserves, they did so willingly while others waited until the sweeps were made mandatory. And when we didn’t receive a single supply shipment even though there was a perfectly serviceable airstrip, they didn’t complain. We thought the living dead were going to be the worst of our troubles. Turns out it wasn’t even close.
ZCM:
You’ve heard about the passing of the Repatriation Act?
BD:
We have, and we have respectfully declined to participate.
ZCM:
What happens if the government decides to retake Dodge by force?
BD
: We’ll be ready.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Matt Wagner, for believing that more needed to be said.
To my editor, Denise Silvestro, Meredith Giordan, Angela Januzzi, and the rest of the wonderful crew at Berkley who made it happen.
To G.A.R., for the foundation.
To Mr. William Fairbairn, Mr. Eric Sykes, and Col. Rex Applegate, the godfathers of CQC.
The Artists:
To John Fisk, for his design proficiency.
To Y. N. Heller, for the illustrations and his commitment.
The Medical and Conditioning Team:
To Kevin Ching, MD, pediatric emergency medicine, for the information on emergency crisis resource management.
To Dr. Phyllis Ho, for the dental and forensic information.
To Kathy Ma, MD, Orthopedics, for the anatomical research.
To Steven C. Schlozman, MD, child and adolescent psychiatry, for the insight into childhood development.
To David Osorio, for the fitness and conditioning data.
The Operators:
To Jimmy Buthorn, USPIS, for the information on CQB and room-clearing tactics.
To Frank Luongo, USN SEAL, for his knowledge of special operations.
To Michael Janich, for his extensive expertise on close-quarters combat.
To Brian Dillon, Suffolk County Police Department, for providing an authentic voice.
The Weapons Men:
To Justin “Sir Justyn” Webbe, for the historical and medieval context.
To Joel Bukiewicz, bladesmith, for demonstrating the process and for the tour of the workshop.
And to all the others who asked to remain anonymous and helped make this work a reality, your assistance was invaluable.
The combat reports presented throughout this text are for informational purposes only, and are not meant to be construed as additional instruction. The reports were recorded during the period known as the The Healing Years, after the official conclusion of major undead combat operations on most of the seven continents. As of this writing, outbreaks continue to be reported throughout the world, but major commerce has resumed, consumer travel has been officially reauthorized, and safety nexuses exist throughout North and South America, Europe, Antarctica, and Asia. Contact has not yet been reestablished with Australia and Africa.
Author’s note: This name is a pseudonym. Additional details concerning the location of this interview have been removed, per the interviewee’s request.
DS: directing staff, instructors.
recce:
reconnaissance mission.
Cantu RC. Head and spine injuries in youth sports.
Clinics in Sports Medicine
, July 1995.
Fat Man
and
Little Boy
: military code names for the weapons of mass destruction detonated over Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, effectively ending Japan’s participation in the war.
otaku:
term used to describe individuals with obsessive interests, particularly in comic books and video games.
hikikomori:
a sociological phenomenon describing individuals who have chosen to withdraw from society.
CACO: Casualty Assistance Calls Officer.
PMC: Private Military Contractor.
JSOC: Joint Special Operations Command.
EDP: emotionally disturbed person.
DG: dead guy; slang commonly used by law enforcement to denote the walking dead.
kenshi:
swordsman, practitioner of
kenjitsu.
ganranzhe:
Literally translated to mean “infected people”; many villagers throughout the Henan Province contracted the HIV virus as a result of tainted equipment used in blood transfusions.
yuèyáchán:
monk’s spade.
guandao:
Chinese polearm, similar to a broad axe.
FECDA: Federal Civilian Defense Act, enacted to supply federal funding to private institutions that provide self-defense education to the civilian population.
Ahmed Shah Massoud, the famed anti-Taliban Northern Alliance guerrilla leader who was killed by assassins posing as journalists on September 9, 2001.
HAHO: high-altitude, high-opening parachute insertion.
During the National Voluntary Ordnance Sweeps, all U.S. citizens were asked to volunteer their personal stores of ammunition to the federal government. This act was later made mandatory and amended to include private firearms dealers, distributors, and manufacturers.
zulu: nonofficial military terminology for living dead combatants.