When Zombies Attack
For my third report I chose the book World War Z by Max Brooks. It is a book that chronicles the events of the Zombie war through a series of interviews. It shows the different stories of how people survived throughout the war and eventually how zombies began to overrun the human population. The Interviews tell stories of how at first it was denied that there were Zombies, then the Great Panic occurred, and finally the human race started to fight back.
The beginning of the Zombie infection started with a few cases in China. These people traveled to the west to search for a cure and ended up infecting people in that country. This then spread the infection even more. As it spread through Africa it was labeled "African Rabies." A pharmaceutical developer creates a vaccine for the supposed strain of rabies and labels it "Phalanx." During winter Alpha teams are deploted by the US and are used to destroy outbreaks of zombie infections. When spring comes the zombies become more active due to the warm weather and soon begin to overwhelm the country's defenses. Phalanx is discovered to be useless against the infection and the US goes into mass hysteria. The only country that effectively stopped the spread of the virus was Israel who had enacted a voluntary quarantine and built a wall around the entire country.
The Great Panic was a period of mass hysteria throughout humanity due to awareness of the reality facing them. It begins when tthe infection begins to overrun countries in Europe and the Western Hemispher. many in North America migrate north to Canada because of the fact that zombies freeze in an icy enviornment. Most of these people knew nothing about surviving in these temperatures though and they resorted to cannibalism eventually. The height of the Great Panic is in the US at the Battle of Yonkers. Here the US planned an attack that would eliminate the bulk of New York's infestation. They used their most high tach chemical weapons but they all proved ineffective against the zombie's dead bodies. The result was the US army getting slaughtered on live TV. The country's morale fell greatly and two weeks later the army retreats west across the Rockies, all but abandoning the east to their own fate. The US death rate kept climbing though because of ADS, Apocalyptic Despair Syndrome, a condition where people just give up the will to live because the next day will only bring more suffering.
In South Africa Paul Redeker develops the Redeker Plan. Th plan states that due to low resources and danger of infection not everyone can be saved. There are safe zones created by the government that have natural geographic barriers. These are then cleared of all zombies and civilians are placed there under military protection. Other zones however are used as live zombie bait that draw the zombies away from the safe zones and allow the people there time to regroup. In the US the seat of government is moved to Honolulu and the majority of surviving citizens are encamped west of the Rockies. Old army techniques are resurfaced such as firing lines and infantry squares. Other dangers include Ferals, children who were abandoned to the wild when they were young, wild beasts, and mental breakdowns. There were people who had such weak mental stability that they would began to act like zombies themselves. Doctors and psychiatrists were present among the troops to monitor their behavior. One case of a serious mental breakdown was when after cleaning up a suburban area a squad member enters a house and kills himself. It is later discovered that the house used to belong to him. There is also a drastic change in social class. Former laborers become more desirable for the task of rebuilding America and former celebrities are basically useless.
The great cities of the world are finally retaken by the humans. The only areas zombies still exist are in colder areas. Ther are still millions of undead in the water and the other hevily infected area is Iceland due to it's lack of military force. Many species of animals become extinct, namely slow moving animals such as turtles. Whales also become extinct due to their harvesting to support massive groups of floating people. The geological landscape also becomes heavily affected becoming something close to a post apocalyptic cold war scenario. Cuba has become the capitalist pigs they once hated and Russia is once again ruled by a czar. China was last to be cleansed and suffered the worst losses with once a population of billions to now a mere hundred thousands. Politburo had refused to implement the Redecker Plan and it resulted in a mutiny which left China a democracy. Finally, North Korea' whole population disappeared underground never to be seen again. Who knows maybe there are millions of zombies teeming underground or their twisted leader is finally ruling like he wanted to.