As much fun as it is to think up your own scenarios for each zombie type, it's MUCH more fun to shoot holes in other people's plans! I really do like the 18-wheeler plan. However, I don't think it would work in the slightest.
Yay for the 18-wheeler plan, it's cool and impractical together! The perfect zombie plan. My friend, you can make the perfect zombie b-movie! In the face of all of these fuel-intensive plans and the ridiculous "gas is more abundant than bullets" statement, allow me to restate (as someone else did earlier) that gasoline has a short shelf life, and that everyone snaps up the available gas during a crisis. Also, most 18-wheelers run on diesel, which luckily for you has a much longer shelf life than gas, but which unfortunately will be just as scarce. And an 18-wheeler isn't a tank, so if you are facing the usual cliche hundreds of abandoned and/or zombie-filled cars blocking the road, it will be just as useless as any other non-offroad automobile.
Oh yes, and once again, gas isn't more abundant than bullets in terms of killing power. One bullet will effectually destroy a brain; I doubt a gallon of gas will put one out of commission.
So instead of running out of bullets, you run out of flammibles?
Exactly.
Repetitive statement #2:
Spears
Don't
Kill
Zombies.
Spears poke holes. For bleeding and organ damage. Spears get stuck and break in bones. Spears require little force to poke holes, tremendous force to slash and bash. They simply aren't effective for anything but poking holes in things (not like skulls and ribcages, unless you have plenty of time and a good foothold to jerk them out), and like any edged weapon they will also become dull with repetitive use. Not that you'd get a second chance to use them vs a zombie horde; you'd be stuck with your spear in a zombie who probably wouldn't even be stopped, and even if they were on the other side of a fence you will wear yourself out just dispatching a single one with a spear. You probably won't be able to get your spear back, either. Can't you think of 1000 better ways to send a helpless rotting shambler on the other side of an indestructible, perforable barrier to hell?
As cool as burning zombies is in a video game sense, I don't want to be anywhere within 10 miles of a burning human corpse. Do you know how badly that would stink?
I'm not sure of this, but I don't think a rotter-type zombie would burn as well as a living or freshly dead human being. As bodies rot, bacteria and other organisms decompose them. This is what rotting is. So if we are dealing with rotting zombies, they will have less chemical energy to burn. Unless somehow mummified, they will be just as wet inside as anyone else. Taking these two facts together I think you'll find that rotten corpses burn less well than living or freshly dead humans. If they are mummified/dried, then yes they might burn better. If they aren't rotters then they won't burn any differently than any other living human. In case the first disclaimer wasn't enough, let me repeat that this was just conjecture and unlike the spear/.22 comments it is not based in research. If anyone actually has practical knowledge of this, feel free to correct.
It would be by far the most disgusting and uncomfortable way to deal with zombies, but in terms of infection control a fire might be your best bet. Just make sure they can't reach you before they turn charcoal-ish. And bring gas masks and wet blankets to insulate any openings in your shelter.
I hope people will read carefully before repetitively bringing up the same points: we were talking about a .22's ability to pierce a human skull and cause brain trauma. Obviously if brain trauma doesn't work on zombies it won't be an effective weapon against them. It's a weapon for killing the classical shambler, and the strategy is good for nothing else.
Also, you won't have to repeatedly bash someone in the head with a mace to crack their skull. You'll crush them in one lightly powered swing. Ever wonder why people with steel helms got their skulls crushed by iron maces? It's simply kinetics. Not to say that a steel helm might not save your life, but it didn't always stop a direct blow.
Did you miss the part where I said you're already in a compound? Fire is for clearing zombies while saving bullets.
And if zombies are so magical, why would they need brains at all? Shouldn't they just work like the hand in Evil Dead? So you'd have to completely destroy them, which bullets just can't do.
I agree that fuel has many better uses than "clearing zombies". If there are more zombies than you can shoot, then you're done for anyway. If we are up against the magical zombies that keep killing down the last severed finger, we're doubly screwed. Find an attractive person of the opposite sex, spend a waking day or two with them, then blow your brains out before you can be killed in your sleep? You'll be one of
them soon enough anyway.
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Topic: Zombie preparedness (Read 133959 times)