by Roger Ma
Modified Selection was made up of two exercises. The first was called the Dead Drag, a variation on the final stamina course we all run through during Selection; you’re given a map and compass and required to reach a set number of checkpoints in a certain period of time. This version was different from the original course—shorter routes and less kit to carry. There was also another modification. Zombies were seeded throughout the Beacons, tagged and tracked to monitor their movement and proximity to every man on the course. Varying in age, weight, and decomposition level, the dead outnumbered the living five to one. The plan was that throughout the Drag, every soldier would encounter at least that many attackers by the end of the course. A lot of us joked that this was going to be easy-peasy. We were wrong.
The Dead Drag was the first sign that some of the best of us were not ready for this type of conflict. Keith, one of my mates and in the Regiment for years, was originally from the area around Hereford. Growing up around SAS headquarters, as a kid he dreamed of being a part of the squadrons. On his turn through the course, he ran up behind a ghoul and staked it through the back of the head with his dagger. Turns out it was his cousin from Glasbury. Like a good trooper, he didn’t quit. He ended up completing the Drag, but he pulled himself out of the process after that. I couldn’t believe the bloody coincidence. That story still circulates among the squadrons. If I hadn’t known him, I’d have thought it was one of those Selection myths. Part of me wonders if it was intentional on the part of the DS,3 that they wanted to see what he’d do. I wonder how many other dead relatives were part of the process. The second exercise was the Haunted House. This was also a modification of a typical Selection exercise, where teams would run through a Kill House—a building designed to simulate close-quarters room clearing. The difference here was, just like on the Drag, the house was scattered with the dead. We also weren’t allowed to use firearms, which was to be expected. We were already trained to double-tap targets with rounds to the noggin. What we had to learn was how to deal with those things in close. And the smell. That blasted smell. After all the squadrons were finished, a select group of us were picked for Grey Troop. It was only after graduation that I learned the facts.
ZCM: The facts?
BT: Jimmy, one of the DS officers, told us this story at a pub in Swainshill after the Grey Troop graduation. At first I thought he was just lagered, but when I realized he was serious, I was gobsmacked. Turns out he was a member of Task Force 68, a joint special-operations team operating along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. Unit 68 evolved out of the other TF teams whose missions were to conduct snatch-and-grab operations on high-value targets in the Afghan. They received intel that several HVTs were meeting at a training camp in Waziristan for a three-day planning session. Their mission was to drop in, tab to the location with specialized cargo, release the cargo, and rendezvous back at the LZ.
ZCM: Why not just use military air strikes on the site?
BT: I wasn’t there giving orders, but it’s pretty evident why not. We’re not talking about a questionable border clash along the Khyber Pass. Air power may have been used previously on targets like this, right up until the time when one of your armed drones mistakenly destroyed that schoolhouse in Chitral. After that, as Jimmy put it, “Foreigners had officially overstayed their welcome in Pakistan.” The targets were in an area where we definitely were not supposed to be full stop, much less carrying out offensive operations. Not to mention that the Fourteenth Infantry Division of the Paki army was already stationed in the region. As far as black operations were concerned, Jimmy’s op sounded like it was ten shades past midnight.
A six-man team was assembled for what was called “Operation Appleseed”—two Americans, a couple of Fritz’s from KSK, Jimmy and his mate from the Regiment. All were equally qualified, but it sounded like the multinational aspect was less about capability than culpability. A coalition of willing hands needed to be soiled on this job. As usual, the team did not get the official go-ahead until about six hours before execution, so there wasn’t much time to prep and rehearse. Jimmy said that it was supposed to be a piece of cake. No direct action, no engagement, “one step above a recce,”4 he was told. The only missing element was the cargo they were supposed to deliver. He figured it might be some new type of ordnance or perhaps a tracking device they would activate after extraction, but when the team was led to the containment room, Jimmy said his jaw hit the floor at the same time his goolies tucked themselves back up inside him.
Inside the room, he said, were six cargo “specimens” dressed in ragtag Pakistan infantry dress, their hands zip-tied and mouths secured with ball gags. The creatures became agitated when they entered the room, struggling against their bindings and gnashing their jaws. Although their skin was gray and their hair dyed a laughable shoe-polish black, it was obvious to Jimmy that these things never called South Asia their home. Once they were in country, the team was to meet up with their cargo, which was to be air-dropped in a separate container tank. Each man was to control one specimen and tab twenty kilometers to the training camp. Once in position, they were to release all six cargo into various locations in the camp—two into the sleeping quarters, two into the underground tunnel entrances, and the final duo into the area where the HVTs were supposed to be convening. Once all hell broke loose, they were to withdraw to the RV for immediate extraction.
The initial part of the mission was gravy. The team landed in the target area; uncrated their cargo, each of which had a black bag knotted around its head; and arrived at the encampment, positioning themselves around the release targets. It was then that things started to go pear shaped. As soon as the bags were removed from their heads, the things began to twist and squirm violently. When the gags were unbuckled, their mouths began biting and snapping. Jimmy said that one of the creatures writhed so violently, it knocked off his mate’s nose clips, which were part of the nonstandard equipment the team was issued for the mission. When he took in a gob full of air surrounding the corpse, Jimmy said that he looked as if he’d just been tear-gassed. He fought through it, and both of them managed to force their specimens into the camp’s underground tunnels. The Americans also had difficulty with their cargo. Once released, they shambled around and started heading back toward their keepers, but they managed to get them turned back around and into the sleeping quarters. The Germans unfortunately fared the worst. Everyone heard a bloodcurdling scream and one of the Fritzes broke radio silence, saying his mate had been bitten. Jimmy flicked on his night vision just in time to see the German wrestling with his corpse.
Things really went sideways after that bite. The camp started to light up. Shrieks could be heard from the caverns and the bunks where the cargo began to feed. Jimmy and his mate tried to reach the Germans, but the bitten soldier was already gone. The other Fritz had released his corpse and was being pinned down by small-arms fire. The Americans also arrived, and they all began laying down covering fire to give him time to escape. That’s when Jimmy saw something he said still makes him wake up in cold sweats. The bitten German sat up, saw his teammate returning fire, and sank one of its thumbs into the soldier’s eye socket. It proceeded to twist and pull at his head, eventually wrenching it right off the neck. It then began devouring the tendrils of flesh that hung down from the torn-off cranium.
At that point, Jimmy said that the camp was in complete chaos. Men were running out of tents and clambering out of the tunnels holding bite wounds. There was so much madness going on that they barely noticed the four of them as they called in a helo extract to the alternate RV, much closer to the camp than desired.
As the helo took off, Jimmy said he could see some of those bitten starting to turn. The German had finished with his teammate and was wandering around the camp looking for other targets. One of the last things Jimmy said he saw was the German and the other fresh deadheads being set upon by the terrorists, who bound their mouths and hands with keffiyeh head scarves and carted them off back into the tunnels.
ZCM: What do you think happened to those specimens?
BT: I would tell you to ask Jimmy that question, if I knew where he was. Shortly after that night at the pub, Jimmy went missing. His flat was completely cleared out. I tried looking him up in the database, but his record’s been expunged. Queen and country, eh?
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happened. Look at the timing, what happened afterward in Saudi Arabia and Iran. Just look around you, mate. What do you think happened?
II.
ANATOMY
If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can come out of hundreds of battles without danger.
—SUN TZU
Having clarified some common misconceptions about the living dead, we can move forward with an in-depth examination of your undead opponent’s anatomy. This assessment can provide you with an advantage in combat that may mean the difference between success and reanimation. In order to effectively defeat a zombie in hand-to-hand battle, it is essential that you first have a complete understanding of all its potential attack methods and vulnerabilities. This includes a review of its biological strengths and weaknesses, as obvious as this may seem. It is precisely the lack of a complete understanding of zombie traits and characteristics that has resulted in many unnecessary deaths. Thus, it is recommended that you review this section in its entirety, regardless of how much you believe you already know about the living dead.
STRENGTHS
Every undead specimen has three primary offensive weapons at its disposal: its mouth, its left hand, and its right hand. It also has a number of secondary strengths that can provide a combative advantage and contribute to its lethality. We will address each of these strengths individually, starting with the most common.
Mouth/Teeth
The bite is the primary mode of attack for the living dead. Research has discovered that during the reanimation sequence, the teeth undergo a radical transformation, and are not identical to those of its formerly human self (see Combat Report: Joseph Gartner). It is for this reason that, after years of weathering nature’s elements, a zombie showing considerable decomposition throughout the rest of its physical structure will still have most of its teeth intact. Analysis has shown, however, that the bite strength of the zombie is the same as that of a normal human being—approximately 170 pounds of pressure per square inch. Attempts at developing chemical or biological countermeasures to specifically address the zombie’s primary attack method have thus far been unsuccessful. As such, the mouth of a zombie is clearly its most dangerous threat. Once within an effective attack range, a ghoul will attempt to ingest any human flesh in closest proximity to its open maw. Any wound from a zombie’s bite, regardless of size or severity, will result in infection and eventually transform a human being into a member of the living dead.
Fingers/Grip
Bloodied, corroded, and teeming with infection from tiny cuts and lacerations, the hands and fingers of the undead are nearly as lethal as its teeth, and some believe even more so. Often overlooked, a ghoul’s fingers are a leading cause of human blood contamination, second only to that of a bite. It is for this reason that close combat with the living dead has an extremely high probability of viral transmission, even if the human avoids being bitten entirely. A single scratch that comes in contact with undead fluids will ultimately result in infection, death, and reanimation. It is this characteristic that makes some female zombies potentially more dangerous than males. Long, polished fingernails, like the claws of a feral animal, can tear swiftly through exposed, unprotected flesh.
The grip of a zombie is a commonly misunderstood element of its attack. Victims who have survived the clutches of the living dead have described their attacker as having a “viselike hold” of seemingly superhuman strength. Does this mean that a zombie’s strength is far greater than that of a normal human? Studies that have measured the pound-for-pound compressive force of the undead have found that, like its bite, a zombie’s grasp is no stronger than that of its average human counterpart.
There is, however, one difference in undead physiology that may explain this phenomenon. The muscles in our hands and forearms behave like all fast-twitch muscle fibers in the body—they contract powerfully but quickly tire, causing our grip to eventually fail. In the living dead, these same muscle fibers contract, but do not fatigue, and will continue to grip with the same level of intensity and power as when first grasped. Whereas a clench from the hands of a human being, even a powerfully built one, may pinch and aggravate the skin, an ordinary zombie has been known to rend chunks of flesh from soft-tissue areas on the human body with ease. In greater numbers, this grip becomes even more lethal. Anecdotal records show that as few as three specimens can pull a human being limb from limb in a matter of minutes.
Endurance
From a certain perspective, the zombie can be considered the ultimate endurance athlete. It requires no sustenance, no recovery period, and no sleep. It will incessantly carry on whatever activity it deems necessary to achieve its only goal: feeding on the living. Studies have shown that a zombie will cover hundreds of miles without pause in pursuit of prey if it is able to maintain a tracking scent. As such, it should never be taken for granted that our speed is much greater than that of the undead. What the zombie lacks in velocity it more than makes up for in stamina and persistence.
A ghoul’s activity is also not limited to tracking. Whether it is breaking through a locked door, pulling down a steel fence, or forcing open a wooden crate, a zombie will continue unceasingly until one of four things occurs: (1) It is destroyed, (2) it loses the scent, (3) it is distracted by a more accessible target, or (4) it reaches its victim.
Sensory Perception
IUCS research studies and other published works have already established that the senses of the undead are highly developed and more fully utilized than they are in humans. Although a zombie does not possess any elevated or enhanced perception in any of its five senses, it uses all of them to maximum effect for the sole purpose of hunting prey. Therefore, it is nearly impossible to take the undead by surprise. As silent as you believe your movements are, trust that the ghoul is aware of you often before you are of it. A zombie chooses to ignore a human target for two primary reasons: Either (1) it is focused on a more available target or (2) it is feeding.
Durability
As we will examine in more detail later in the section on vulnerabilities, it is fairly common knowledge that the only way to neutralize a walking corpse is to inflict massive trauma to its brain tissue. Some have incorrectly extrapolated that because the brain is a ghoul’s greatest vulnerability, it is then also susceptible to knockout blows to the head from the fists or feet like a normal human being. In fact, the exact opposite is true.
Any strike to a zombie’s skull that does not penetrate into brain matter is largely dismissed by an attacking ghoul. Concussive blows, punches, and kicks that would knock a large human opponent unconscious have proven to be ineffective to even the feeblest specimens of walking dead. In addition, any blows that attack nerve clusters or any technique designed to elicit an involuntary pain reaction are completely useless against the undead. Those who have attempted such maneuvers against a zombie have not only been frustrated by their futility, but have also suffered psychological trauma at the ghoul’s seemingly invulnerable nature. This has contributed to the myth that zombies are an unstoppable, insurmountable force. They are not. The key is to remember that your opponent, despite its humanoid appearance, does not exhibit the same human vulnerabilities once it has reanimated. This being the case, most traditional rules of human combat do not apply.
Odor
The stench of a decaying body is one of the most disagreeable odors a person can experience. Now imagine that offensive scent creeping toward you, persistently following your every step, and you begin to understand the power the living dead possess simply in their physical presence. This particular strength is another element of a zombie’s defenses that is often und
errated by the general public. A ghoul’s stench is nothing less than an all-out assault on the human olfactory system, and may cause nausea, light-headedness, vomiting, and epiphora (excessively watery eyes.) This effect is magnified substantially when encountering the living dead in greater numbers. On a scale of one to ten, one being the equivalent of a riot control device such as CS/ CN tear gas and ten being a Schedule 1 chemical nerve agent such as sarin, a ghoul’s malodor ranks at a five: nonlethal, but with severe incapacitating potential.
A deceased infected human typically begins its reanimation cycle anywhere from several minutes to three hours postmortem, during which time the decaying process is most severe. Analysis has shown that during this period between death and reanimation, decomposition seems to accelerate appreciably beyond the normal human decaying process. Although still scientifically unproven, this accelerated putrification seems to be a direct result of the transformation that turns a human being into a walking cadaver.
Upon reanimation, decomposition appears to slow dramatically, enabling the corpse to avoid complete cellular disintegration for years. Although the subject’s atrophy has decelerated, the affecting odor is still very powerful. The scent of decay is overwhelmingly unpleasant to many, especially in close quarters. The effect on the senses can be so severe as to be completely debilitating and can impede the ability to defend yourself or mount a successful counterattack.
