I grew up during the civil war. I remember being a little kid and being warned of snipers by my mother. I once saw an abandoned toy outside in the middle of the road. I really wanted that toy. When I ran to grab it my mom threw a garbage can at my feet, tripping me just when a sniper shoot at me. You can bet I ran crying to my mother who slapped me soundly telling me to listen to adults when they give advice. That’s just the kind of place Beirut was in the 1980s. That and car bombs . . .
Could you provide a summary in your own words of the differences and conflicts between the Christians and Muslims?
Everyone has a beef with everyone, don’t forget that Lebanon was under Ottoman dominance for a few hundred years and every empire played a community against the other, so technically it’s a war of religion and civilization first and foremost. Add to it that it’s also a matter of political power, the haves and have nots, those who have power want to keep it and those who don’t have power want it. So you will see intra-sectarian as well as inter-sectarian violence.
How did the Zombie War affect the country as a whole?
Well, it did shake the boat a bit [Laughs sardonically.]
The Lebanese Army was overrun at the borders by the zombie hordes, and fragmented along sectarian lines, each soldier going back to his village and town to be with his own people. So political parties went back to being militias, each community picked up arms to ensure its survival and protection from external as well as from internal threats. There was some internal cleansing as people remembered and acted upon old grudges -intra community violence between Christian groups as well as with Muslims resurfaced.
Since everyone had at least a hunting rifle (most had AKs and handguns and many had light machine guns and explosives) we sometimes make the joke that the zombies were the least of our problems! [Laughs.] No, in seriousness a lot of people were killed. Fighting for resources resulted in lots of deaths. And it is still going on. Everywhere you go you’re stepping in to a potential war zone, whether from rivalry based on religion, or just because no one has a national common vision much about the zombie problem. [Laughs.] as usual, no national consensus.
For example, the Shiite Amal movement was almost wiped out by Hezbollah in the mid-1980s and became their bitch, subservient to it politically and militarily, and were finally wiped out for good in the Zombie War when Hezbollah unified the Shiite community under the yellow banner.
Christian political parties like the Lebanese Forces (LF) and the Free Patriotic Movements (the Aounists, FPM) and the Kataeb fought for dominance, the Kataeb was a joke so it was annihilated. the LF and FPM were the main ones prior to the War, both having been enemies during the civil war at the end and their rivalry resulted in the Christians being defeated. They were allies prior to the War but there was a lot of bad blood between em … it didn’t play out well, especially when then-president Michel Aoun's convoy was pinned down and he ordered an artillery strike on his position to avoid being eaten alive. The FPM and the LF eventually merged into a new group called the Christian Coalition (CC), who proceeded to purged Christian areas from any leftist parties (whose cadre was mostly made up of Christians, no one liked those parties for their betrayal of Christians and of being Syrian and Muslim allies during the war) and consolidated their power in the Metn and Keserwan regions.
In the North, Tripoli, originally a Sunni stronghold city in northern Lebanon, at Syria’s border, was quite conservative even before the war in Syria and the rise and fall of the Islamic State there. Now, it is called the Northern Islamic Emirate when remnants of the Islamic State, led by Abu Jenin el Beiruti, took it over and barricaded it from the zombies. They use high explosive IEDs and booby-traps to prevent anyone in and out from their areas.
Southern Lebanon was mostly Shiite and is the home of Hezbollah. When northern Israel was overrun by the zombies, the party of Allah declared that this was the end times promised by the Twelver sect of Shiism they eschew and that the Mahdi would surely awaken. Hezbollah then totally isolated cities in the South by upgrading their existing tunnel networks and built a wall enclosing their territory, manning it with snipers hardened by the Syrian civil war. No one goes in or out and they have enough resources and water and weapons (offensive and defensive courtesy of Iran and Russia) to outlast the War as well as any incursions.
Tell us about the doomsday cult called the PLD. What the hell is that?
[Sighs.] We Lebanese are proud innovators and pioneers. We also strive to emulate the West. During the last nine months before the War, we had an outbreak of social justice warrior types here. Nothing serious but they were annoying. The local leftist parties were overjoyed with that and did their best to fund them. When the War started and the leftists were destroyed, some surviving cadre holed up with impressionable idiots and came up with a pseudo-socialist apocalyptic religious cult called the Proletariat of the Living and the Dead (PLD). Those insane idiots want to give equal rights to zombies [scoffs.] and create some bullshit utopia. [Spits on the ground in disgust.] We give em equality via headshots [Whole group erupts in laughter.]
You know, we have wonderful scientists, all foreign educated, the brother of one PLD member worked at CDC and is made an interesting discovery: by diluting and slowly inoculating the zombie virus to a healthy individual over time the test subject becomes "undetectable" by the zombies as a living human and can move amongst the dead unseen. Before turning completely after a few weeks of course. Instead of using this to make effective hunter killer teams to rid the country of zombies, they actually link the living and the dead together and this two-man team has the advantage in urban operations: the zombie is a shield and a close quarters weapon whereas the live PLD guy shoots and does what needs to be done for La Revolucíon. It means that one half of the two man team always has to make the ultimate sacrifice, but if that’s what it takes we’ll do it.
What did you do before the War?
Before the Zombie War, I had compiled a lot of martial skillsets both old school and new, combined it with firearms and shank work, called it Salvos Modum and started teaching people how to protect themselves. I made a few changes when the zombies came to ensure people survived against both the living and the dead.
How did you come to be a CC leader in the Beirut suburbs?
[Laughs.] I am no leader, I just had a few unconventional methods to deal with the PLD and the CC came to me after an entire battalion of theirs got wiped out by five PLD pairs.
I taught them firearm safety, close quarters knife work, unarmed skills, combat shooting, and how to outmanoeuvre and outthink the zombies (both the living and the dead).
Do you have anything to say to others?
Yes. The world has changed. If you are not packing steel and honing your skills, you will be dead. Or a zombie. To the PLD, I say: We will wipe you out.
THE MURDEROUS RAGE OF A FILM MAKER
Interviewer: Mick Franklin
INTERVIEW 13:
Tim Henson has declined to meet me three times. In each instance he has written that he “does not feel worthy” to be interviewed and does not “want to waste anyone’s time” and “no one would be interested in what I have to say.” I have finally managed, after months of persistence, to secure an interview with him over a radio connection.
Hello, friend, can you hear me? Hello, are you there?
[Long pause.] Yeah . . .
How are you today?
Okay . . .
Just okay?
[Long silence.] Yeah . . .
My friend, am I going to need to get my dental kit out and start digging for answers from you? I’m joking with that, but seriously this is an interview. I’m going to need you to provide me with a little more than just one word responses, alright?
[Silence for about ten seconds.] Yes . . .
Can you tell me why you are struggling to talk with me?
It’s just . . . difficult.
No kidding! I’m beginning to feel like this interview is all about me. So the last
thing you said was that it’s difficult for you to talk to me. Why is that?
[Silence.]
Would you like me to offer some suggestions?
Yes, please
Are you worried about what might be said during this interview, I mean, are you filtering and over thinking your responses to me?
No.
Because I’m here to get all the ideas out in the open. I’m not here to judge, just to get to the truth. Just remember, there are no feelings that can hurt you while you are talking with me. Are you censoring yourself around me?
Kind of, yes.
Alright. Why do you feel you need to do that?
I just feel so . . . anxious. Frightened. Angry.
Anger. Okay, that’s good. We can work with that. What has made you so angry?
[Silence.]
Are you still there? Hang on, I’ll just check the connection … it says you are still here, Tim, can you hear me?
I’m here . . . I’m trying . . . I just want to be rid of this thing, you know what I’m saying?
Tim, do you mind if I speak for a moment and say how I feel?
Sure, go ahead.
Well, I’m a guy who suffered with anxiety as well for a lot of years, as well as being on the autistic spectrum, and that was something else that made me struggle socially. Most people understand social situations instinctively, whereas I had to try and work them out using logic. Ordinary life used to terrify me, you know, just normal stuff like meeting people or even having to go to the shops and buy food.
Before I went into any situation I would always analyse what might happen. I would try to predict every single possible thing that people could say to me, and then I would imagine having the right response to it and spend ages trying to rehearse it beforehand so when the time came I would get it right. Of course, that was impossible in real life. People can surprise you, I was always being caught out because people would say something unexpected that I hadn’t accounted for. I was always so terrified that people would shout at me or shun me for being stupid and you know what? It kind of became a self-fulfilling prophecy. I was so scared of people being angry with me or ridiculing me that my very own behaviour was the exact thing that was causing people to behave that way towards me.
You see, by constantly analysing and worrying over what might happen I was never really present in the moment. Do you know what I’m saying? Conversations are a live thing, they are about people connecting. They’re not something that can be scripted beforehand and then just read aloud mechanically later on. Does that make sense? Can you relate to any of those things that I have mentioned?
Yes . . . it’s like you know . . . exactly what I’m going through . . . I used to plan what I would do if he threw punches . . . yeah, it’s hard for me to trust.
Well, you can say whatever you like to me. I am recording this conversation, of course, but I will leave out anything you don’t want me to put in the book. Fair?
Yes.
Okay, we’re getting somewhere then. You mentioned someone had been throwing punches at you?
I used to hide in a tree. [Sighs.]
Tim, you clearly have a lot of trouble expressing yourself. Is that fair to say?
Yes, it’s true what you say. I have a lot of trouble getting the words out . . . I don’t want to be like this. I’ve . . . I don’t know how long I’ve been like this. It’s like maybe my whole life I’ve been shutting myself away from people.
Alright. When you were a child did people enjoy having you around?
Physically, yes. But not mentally.
What does that mean?
I did have some friends who came over and I would play with them, but we never communicated much. I didn’t tell anyone about that . . . about the other thing.
You mean your parents?
They just . . . I can’t remember my childhood very well. I know my mother was never a happy person, not on the inside, at least. She could always pretend really well when people were around that she was happy. But I just wanted to clarify . . . my parents didn’t really have any interest in getting to know me . . . they never liked the script.
What’s that? Do you mean the script of their lives, is that what you’re saying?
Yes.
Okay, so if I understand correctly, they had a narrative of how they wanted their family life to be, and for whatever reason, reality just wasn’t like that. Have I got that right?
Yes. You got it.
You mentioned that your physical presence was accepted by people. Was there something else about you that people didn’t accept?
My ideas . . . no one ever listened to me. I don’t have much experience with anyone bothering to listen to my thoughts and feelings. Unless it was like, I was totally agreeing with them. My parents just wanted an agreeable child. You know, I started learning Japanese. And it struck me when I was learning the rules of this new language that I barely know a thing about English, except for practicing it in my own head. I’m like a person who has hardly spoken any English at all in my life, because no one ever wanted to hear what I have to say.
Okay, good. Not good that your parents thought that way about you, but it is good that we’re starting to see why you are having these troubles expressing yourself.
I’m so sorry that you had parents who just weren’t interested in you that way.
[Sobs.]
It’s such an important thing to have people listen to you, to make yourself heard. And we all have so much to say, every one of us. That’s the entire reason I’m writing this book. If there was one overriding reason why we’re winning the War it’s because of our ability and our willingness to connect. Actions by themselves are pointless, they can be kind of out of context with the rest of the group, but when you understand people, when you reach out to them, that’s when we can serve each other and look after one another.
I know you haven’t said much but I can sense from your words that you are a good person. You’re a person that I would definitely like to talk to.
Thank you.
I can see why you would be angry with your parents. They suppressed your ability to express yourself and who you really are.
They didn’t want me to talk. Not at all. I don’t know if it’s important but they drugged me and made me drink alcohol . . . it made me much easier to manage as a child.
They behaved towards you in kind of the opposite way that parents should treat their children.
Yeah. [Sobs.]
So apart from being able to communicate verbally then how did you express yourself?
I always loved movies. The structure . . . how they got things right. For me the movies were more real than real life. Every day stuff was so challenging for me, it still is, I know I can’t complain, there’s people who don’t have homes . . . I used to keep a kind of journal and write things down about how I would like a movie to be . . .
Were any of those ideas made into movies, before the war, I mean?
Yeah, that was my job. I could write movie scripts and send them in, and they would be made in to films. I get choked up in face-to-face conversation, or even on the radio like this, but behind closed doors I’m a different person. That’s when I kind of come to life, and get very emotional, and some things hit me really hard. I just wanted you to realise that.
I get it. When you’re in a safe space you feel that you can be yourself. So, you were just working at a computer all day, and you didn’t have to interact much with people?
Yeah, I need people, so badly, but it’s just so difficult.
Hey, writing movies sounds like a nice profession. Don’t you think so?
I do . . . yeah. And you’re right, it’s my way of expressing myself, of making other people listen to me. It's a way I connect with people, and for once feel really confident. It’s how I say that I’m here too.
I read your script for your new movie set in Los Angeles, The Last Stand, I really enjoyed that by the way. Your movie Soldiers and Streetfighters was
set in New York, three months after the Zombie War began. After six weeks of it being played in cinemas it actually caused the gangs to unite and work with the soldiers, didn’t it?
Yeah . . . I heard that. That’s what I was hoping it would do.
A lot of veterans from World War II said that seeing movies about the Allies winning wars was more important for morale than actual real life news of victories from the front was. That 1949 movie Twelve O’clock High was required viewing at military academies for decades. Films are also important for documenting history.
The film Starship Troopers certainly had some interesting views. The novel was required reading for officers at West Point for many years. The movie To Hell And Back was about the World War II hero Audie Murphy, who remains one of the most decorated soldiers of all time, and in the film, he actually played himself.
Your movies remain an inspiration to millions of survivors. Hell, I saw War in Suburbia fifteen times. Do you know how many people you have inspired to keep on fighting, to continue with this war, to never give up hope?
. . . I don’t know.
I would say that number is countless. It’s literally impossible to calculate the amount of people that have benefitted from your movies. You reach people and show them real human courage, real people conquering their darkest hours and making it to the light.
. . . Thanks.
Tim, I don’t want to leave you like this. Do you have someone you can talk to? I don’t know . . . a counsellor or one of the zombie survivor support groups or something?
The war commission gave me a counsellor I see twice a week. I don’t feel it’s enough.
Twice a week, huh? It’s the least they can do for someone like you and after the good you’ve done. Are you working on any new projects now?
Yeah . . . another film about survivors defeating zombies and taking back a city.
I’m sure it will be a success. All your other films are. What about your personal life? How many friends would you say you have?
Zombie War: Interviews From The Frontline Page 10
