15. NEVER GO OFF ALONE!: There may be times when it seems wasteful to send an entire team to do one person’s job. Wouldn’t five individuals cover more ground than a group all bunched together? In terms of time and efficiency, yes. For safety, the priority of any zombie sweep, staying together is mandatory. A separated individual could easily be surrounded and consumed. Even worse, hunters have come up against walking dead who only hours before were members of their own party!
WEAPONS AND GEAR
Arming and equipping a civilian, antizombie team should follow the same pattern as a military unit. Each person should have a standard “kit” in addition to certain items required for the whole team.
Every member should carry:
• Primary firearm (rifle or semiautomatic carbine)
• Fifty rounds of ammunition
• Cleaning kit
• Secondary weapon (preferably a pistol)
• Twenty-five rounds of ammunition
• Hand-to-hand weapon (large or small)
• Knife
• Flashlight
• Two emergency flares
• Signaling mirror
• Two-way radio
• Two ways of making fire (matches, lighter, etc.)
• Full quart canteen
• Daily rations
• Personal mess kit
• Hiking or combat boots
• Two pairs of socks
• Bedroll or pad
Each group (ten people or fewer) should have:
• Two silent weapons (could be carried as secondary weapons)
• Three explosive devices
• Two grappling hooks
• 500 feet of rope (nylon construction,7 /16" diameter, tensile strength 6,500 lbs., load absorption 1,450 ft./lb.)
• Two pairs of binoculars (minimum 50mm lenses/10X power)
• Two crowbars (could be carried as hand-to-hand weapons)
• Two bolt cutters
• Tool kit (must include: hammer-claw and ball-peen 4 oz., diagonal 4" pliers with spring, 4-6" longnose pliers with cutter, Phillips screwdrivers [3", 4", and stubby], slot screwdriver [4-5"], jeweler’s screwdrivers set, 12" Ч1 /2" hacksaw, 3M electrical tape, adjustable wrench, hand drill with 2-5mm bit set)
• Ax or hand hatchet (could be carried as hand-to-hand weapon)
• Medical kit (must include: bandages, cotton rolls/balls, two arm slings, scissors, medical tape, Merthiolate vials, antiseptic swab sticks, antiseptic and cleaning towelettes, bacterial soap, sterile gauze/eye pads, petrolatum, sterile lancets)
• Three gallons extra potable water
• Two maps (immediate zone/surrounding area)
• Two compasses
• Extra batteries for all electronic devices
• Ten extra emergency flares
• Four compact entrenching tools (could be carried as hand-to-hand weapons)
Unlike the scenario described in “On the Run,” the goal of this section is to help you not escape an area but sweep it. The undead are not to be avoided but attracted. Also, unlike the previous chapter, you will not be alone, and the support area should make fueling and servicing a vehicle much easier. With this in mind, using the noise from a car’s engine will act like a lure. (See “Strategies.”) In this instance, removing the rubber from a bicycle’s tires can accomplish the same result. Do not become too dependent on your vehicles. Unless applied to a specific strategy (see below), use them more as a means of getting to and from a battle site. Once in the target area, dismount and search on foot. This will allow for greater flexibility, particularly in urban areas.
TERRAIN TYPES
At first, this section might seem redundant. However, unlike “On the Run,” which teaches how to use terrain to escape, this will teach you how to use it to hunt. This time you are not simply passing through your environment as quickly, quietly, and easily as possible. As a hunter, you are here to reclaim this land-hold it, sweep it, cleanse it until every trace of the undead is gone. This section includes only information necessary to do just that.
When hunting, watch for freshly eaten carcasses. Try to determine if the predator was an animal or a zombie. Also, use the trees to extend your visibility: Each one can serve as a lookout post or sniper platform. Set fires only as a last-ditch effort.
Vast, open areas provide great visibility, allowing full use of long-range sharpshooting weapons. One team of five with adequately sighted rifles and plenty of ammunition can clear several square miles in the course of a single day. Of course, great visibility allows the undead to see you as readily as you see them. Hunter groups operating on plains or prairie have reported being sighted and stalked by ghouls from as far as ten miles away. Another slight but still potential danger is posed by the odd zombie who may be lying in the tall grass. Undead who have lost their legs or had their spinal columns severed can remain undetected until it is too late. If your team is traveling through tall grass, travel slowly, watch the ground, and listen for any rustling or moans.
Unsuspecting hunters have chased zombies through a field only to be grabbed by another one lurking inches away! Unless you are ordered to protect the harvest, or the food itself is of vital importance, this is one case in which fire should be used first. Although almost every other word in this book stresses the control of incendiary warfare, common sense dictates that no human life is worth an acre or two of maize.
One potential danger, not experienced in other environments, is that of a multigenerational outbreak. Because of cold weather’s preservative ability, zombies may remain frozen for decades. When thawed, they will join the ranks of the recently reanimated and, in some cases, can re-infect an entire area. Frozen tundra, more than any other environment, requires not only a tireless search but a heightened alert status during the next year’s spring thaw.
Rolling terrain can be as treacherous and pose as great a threat from zombies as it can from any human enemy. If possible, always take the high ground and hold it. This allows greater visibility for you. As crazy as this sounds, remember that ghouls have limited dexterity. Apply this fact to their climbing skills, and what you have is a mass of zombies struggling unsuccessfully to get up the slope while you pick them off one by one.
The problems discussed in “On the Run” are doubled when operating in a desert. Unlike the escapee, your team of hunters will be out during the brightest, hottest, most excruciating part of the day. Make sure each hunter is well supplied with water and anti-sunstroke accessories. Combat, unlike travel, will require more energy and therefore increase the risk of dehydration. Do not ignore the signs. One incapacitated member can cripple an entire team, allowing the undead to quickly turn the tables on you. Losing touch with your supply base, becoming isolated even for a day, takes on a whole new meaning in this life-threatening environment.