We carry on about how we'll blow zombies' brains out or burn them to a crisp, all in the name of survival. But the fact is that post-mortem zombification is something that can happen to any of us. How would you feel if YOU were the zombie? Who's the bad guy then? All you want is a bite to eat, and KABLOOEY!! No more head.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't resort to drastic measures to defend yourself in the event of a zombie attack, but before you pull the trigger on that flame thrower, just put yourself in the zombie's shoes for a moment. Then blast its rotting flesh until it's too crispy to bite.
Last Halloween, I actually posted a thread here to help people determine if they've been zombified. It tanked. But with renewed interest in the fight for survival against a zombie attack, perhaps we should consider fighting this problem from a more introspective approach. If we can get zombies to realize the extent to which they contribute to the problem of volatile relations between the living and the dead, then that may be half the battle. And of course, since every zombie was once a living human, the time to start educating them is while they are still alive and capable of reading pamphlets.
So consider my list of things to check for to see if you're a zombie, and check the list every day when you wake up. And if you discover one morning that you are a zombie, just remember: admitting you have a problem is the first step toward healing. And watch out for shotguns.
Yes, they sure can. They can smell living flesh very well. In the comic, The Living Dead, the survivors experiment with rubbing dead flesh and gore over their own clothes and skin to see if they could mingle with the undead. Of course, the stench was not easy and caused them to lose their breakfast, lunch and dinner. Surprisingly, it worked very well. They walked shoulder to shoulder with zombies without being detected ... then it started to rain ...
Mark, being a zombie isn't so bad. You get to stay up late. You can eat whatever you want and never gain a pound. (Don't blame me if you're a finicky eater.) You can completely let yourself go and not even so much as comb your hair before going out. For some reason, the social atandards are different for zombies. You could even go shopping at a 24-hour WalMart, and no one would even know the difference. And oppressive employment is a thing of the past. You're your own boss! And you get to keep on going until you rot, which is pretty much the same deal as the living get. Sure, there are some things you can't do in death that you can do in life. For instance, your child-bearing days are probably over (I hope), but there's a lot of other new stuff you get to do with a completely new and ever-expanding circle of friends.
"Undead may not be quite as good as "alive", but at least it isn't, well, "dead".
I'd pack some camping gear and durable clothing, and drive my family as far as possible by car to the nearest national park. I'd get one of those "Zombie On Board" signs for the rear window. That should keep most of them away, don't you think? After abandoning the car, we'd walk the rest of the way, machetes always in hand. We'd pack up and move our camp daily and sleep in shifts for about five months -- long enough for the zombies to rot away. After that, we would rejoin the living, looting whatever is left of civlization to survive, or maybe just for fun.