Analysis: Projected U.S. Deaths by Living Dead

A report was recently released by a U.S. research group analyzing the percentage of deaths throughout regions of the United States by various natural hazards, including lightning, heat, flood and earthquake.  While quite comprehensive and insightful, the report fails to include one particular hazard: death by the living dead.  This lack of inclusion is logical, as the group’s analysis is limited to that of “natural” hazards, and the contagion that causes the dead to rise and devour the living has yet to be determined to be natural, manufactured, or intergalactic in nature.

Researchers at IUCS have looked to fill this gap, cross referencing the information in the report with quantitative data collected by the undead bio-research policy institute to forecast the probability U.S. regions would fare in an outbreak of the walking dead.  The following is their projection map:

While the full report accompanying this analysis was limited to internal distribution and not publicly released, the following data points were provided to the ZCC:

1) Since the variables of a zombie outbreak are too numerous to accurately project widespread infection, a significant portion of this report is speculative.  The analysis is based on an equal distribution of simultaneous undead outbreaks across the continental U.S., rather than a small-scale epidemic, or “slow burn,” affecting a particular area and spreading throughout bordering regions.

2) Due to their population density and presence as international travel hubs, both East and West coasts would be severely impacted, regardless of the outbreak type.  Major metropolitan cities within these coasts would fare the worst.

3) States which share natural resources such as the Rocky Mountain ridge lines and the Grand Canyon would fare more favorably, both due to obstructive nature of these elements and the lower population density present within these regions.

4) There would most likely be no comprehensive “safe zones” that transcend whole regions of the U.S. Rather, there would be areas of each state that would function as a security-cleared safety nexus.  The size and scope of these nexuses would depend of the speed of mobilization by local government, as well as the proximity of undead outbreak.  Long-term sustainability of each nexus would depend upon the size and severity of the outbreak, as well as the quality of the security forces manning the zone.

5) Northern regions would have the benefit of winter weather limiting the scope of a potential outbreak, depending on the season, but inclement winter weather would cause as many, if not more fatalities as the living dead.

6) With less means of evacuation, limited access to defensive training, and lack of disposable income to secure adequate weapons, poorer regions of the country would suffer greatly during an undead outbreak, as would regions with the oldest per capita populations.

Additional information will be distributed by the ZCC as it is released.

HQ

New Briefing Released: Battle-Ready Fitness Traits

A new briefing has been released, describing the importance combat fitness plays during a hostile engagement with a walking corpse.

Review this briefing in the Conditioning section at this link.

HQ

Battle-Ready Fitness Traits

The difference between having a base foundation of fitness and having a battle-ready physique is like that of day and night.  As mentioned previously, without a sufficient level of strength and stamina, defending yourself against the living dead will drain your body’s reserves as fast as a horde of ghouls can strip the flesh from a victim’s bones.

This is not a question of health, youthfulness or vanity.  You will not measure yourself against bodyfat calipers, body-tape measurements, or nonsensical Body Mass Index (BMI) ratios.  Being combat fit in an undead world means that you are prepared for any situation that involves dealing with the living dead.

With a combat-ready build, you enhance several traits in your physique that will be essential when battling a walking corpse:

Strength - without adequate strength, you will lack the ability to defend yourself from an innumerable quantity of undead attackers, especially if you need to do so without the use of a firearm. It takes a considerable amount of power to deliver a finishing blow to the skull of a zombie.  Imagine having to do it dozens, even hundreds of times a day. Strength will be a key factor in your level of survivability.

Endurance - surviving an undead attack is a marathon, not a sprint. The objective is not about destroying the largest number of combatants in the shortest time possible. The objective should always be to eliminate those that pose a clear and imminent threat to your existence.

There have been many incidents recorded where an eager combatant attempted to muscle his way through a horde of ghouls, only to exhaust himself halfway though his attack, losing the ability to both eradicate the threat and escape with his life intact. During an undead outbreak, you may also be required to travel long distances to a potential safe zone, most likely on foot with the undead at your heels. Your endurance level will be critical in such situations.

Accuracy - when engaging in combat with the living dead, the goal is to work smarter, not harder. It may require you five blows to destroy a single zombie, or it may require one. The difference depends not simply on your strength, but moreso on the accuracy of your strikes.  Thus, it is often not the strongest who survive in an world of the undead, but the most well-prepared.

As you develop your skill and precision, you will expend less time and energy in every undead combat encounter; time and energy that can be used for other purposes to ensure your survival and that of others in your keep.