Start of the infection: Murder or Zombie Slaying?

[flesheating]

Lets say you come across one of the first zombies. No one knows of the outbreak but there are witnesses watching this crazed man chase and attempt to bite people.
Do you kill him and face the fact that you may be brought in for murder and jailed when the outbreak occurs (pretty much guaranteeing your death), or do you walk away and let him bite whomever and letting who knows how many get infected.

[MoonSylver]

Right in the beginning there would probably be LOTS of well intentioned bystanders getting bitten trying to apprehend somebody that they don't realize is already dead. It would probably fall on the first responders in law enforcement to put them down at first, and even then it'd take a little while before word gets out that A) they're zombies & B) Shoot 'em in the head. Scary stuff.

[flesheating]

I think your officers of the law would be the first bitten as they would not use force unless they have to. If they are unarmed then why shoot them?

[AcesandEights]

Which begs the question: how would a taser effect the central nervous system of a standard zombie? Since they're not dependent on pain compliance for results, so much as shutting down a person's muscle control, they might work.

I rather doubt they'd be any real help. After all, once the juice stops flowing you have the same problem as you did before.

[hadrian0117]

Which begs the question: how would a taser effect the central nervous system of a standard zombie? Since they're not dependent on pain compliance for results, so much as shutting down a person's muscle control, they might work.

I rather doubt they'd be any real help. After all, once the juice stops flowing you have the same problem as you did before.

Zombie CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead (http://www.zombiecsu.com/) delves into this. I don't recall if tasers were addressed, but it mentioned that police & medical personell are very familiar with how to deal with deranged subjects trying to attack & bite them. Yeah, there are going to be alot of casulities in those sectors at the start of the outbreak while people are still trying to arrest the undead and give medical treatment. There's also going to be alot of very confused doctors & nurses & family members & jail guards hovering over restrained zombies wearing bite shields.

[dracenstein]

Here in the UK, most of our police are not firearms trained, thus they do not regularly carry a gun. So tasers and CS spray to the rescue!

I think much of our police and medical personel would be casualties very early on.

[Publius]

Zombie CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead (http://www.zombiecsu.com/) delves into this. I don't recall if tasers were addressed, but it mentioned that police & medical personell are very familiar with how to deal with deranged subjects trying to attack & bite them. Yeah, there are going to be alot of casulities in those sectors at the start of the outbreak while people are still trying to arrest the undead and give medical treatment. There's also going to be alot of very confused doctors & nurses & family members & jail guards hovering over restrained zombies wearing bite shields.

Exactly. Many first responders will be bitten, but it will be a long time before they turn. And THEY will be restrained by that point.

[Ghost Of War]

What if everyone catches some sort of cold all at the same time, and while they're all sat at home or in hospital beds, they suddenly become still, and within a matter of seconds they all look like Freddy Krueger and start climbing up walls, driving cars and running along the ceiling....oh...

[MoonSylver]

What if everyone catches some sort of cold all at the same time, and while they're all sat at home or in hospital beds, they suddenly become still, and within a matter of seconds they all look like Freddy Krueger and start climbing up walls, driving cars and running along the ceiling....oh...

http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/blog_mass_destruction/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/blasphemy.bmp

:lol::fin:

[BillyRay]

Moon,

You may have just invented a new meme on this board...

I salute you.

[Ghost Of War]

http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/blog_mass_destruction/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/blasphemy.bmp

:lol::fin:
:D :p

[SRP76]

Nobody answered the question: which would you do?

I'd kill the zombie. Just run off afterward. By the time the cops even could identify you, they'd be dealing with full-blown zombie attacks, so they won't be able to come after and arrest you for your "murder" anyway.

[BillyRay]

I'd kill the zombie. Just run off afterward. By the time the cops even could identify you, they'd be dealing with full-blown zombie attacks, so they won't be able to come after and arrest you for your "murder" anyway.

Of course that'll be the case where it wasn't really the Living Dead.

And the cable news will be all over the story of "Participant in an online zombie forum that took his love of the genre too far..."

[flesheating]

Nobody answered the question: which would you do?

I'd kill the zombie. Just run off afterward. By the time the cops even could identify you, they'd be dealing with full-blown zombie attacks, so they won't be able to come after and arrest you for your "murder" anyway.

I think you've got the right idea, shoot and run. But if this is patient zero you will save humanity, but no one will be able.... or willing... to say "that was a zombie". So you end up a fugitive for life.

[Wyldwraith]

Here's the solution:
What the HELL are you doing taking a shot at a zombie from ANYWHERE NEAR IT when you have the technology to take the shot from a hundred yards away and between/over obstacles? Anyone with a rifle and extensive hunting experience could make that shot given 3-4 tries. Remember the Beltway Sniper? Why did it take like FIFTEEN killings for anyone to even get a GLANCE at his face? Because he never took a shot from less than 150 yards. Someone would have to be looking RIGHT AT YOU as you pulled the trigger to know you did it, and most people will hit the deck at the sound of the gunshot.

Take the shot, just again, be smart.

[AcesandEights]

Here's the solution:
What the HELL are you doing taking a shot at a zombie from ANYWHERE NEAR IT when you have the technology to take the shot from a hundred yards away and between/over obstacles? Anyone with a rifle and extensive hunting experience could make that shot given 3-4 tries. Remember the Beltway Sniper? Why did it take like FIFTEEN killings for anyone to even get a GLANCE at his face? Because he never took a shot from less than 150 yards. Someone would have to be looking RIGHT AT YOU as you pulled the trigger to know you did it, and most people will hit the deck at the sound of the gunshot.

Take the shot, just again, be smart.

If I come across patient zero or a zombie very early on, I doubt I would have a firearm on me, let alone a long arm, and situations don't always evolve to let us take our time, hike down wind a hundred meters, get the range finder out and plunk a zombie in the head. Just sayin'. :)

Not that trying to optimize the situation isn't a good thing, though. I agree with what you say, in theory.

[Wyldwraith]

Good point,
Ok, better idea. Blitz attack. First you let the zombie scare the bejeesus out of everyone in the immediate area (sorry, this may involve letting someone get chewed on), then you rush em from behind and bludgeon it repeatedly with a heavy blunt object. If you can't find one of those in town/city in a 90 second search, might as well let the zombie eat ya, cuz ur doomed anyways. Once you've bludgeoned the zombie back to death (and if necessary its first victim), you take off like a bat out of hell. Chances are that the bystanders will almost certainly remember the blood, gore, being afraid, and the "crazy man, about 6'', 180lbs, white. Who beat those two poor people to death".

No surprise that the police sketch artist won't be able to come up with anything that doesn't strongly resemble every white guy with even vaguely your build/hair type. It's why the FBI's B.A.U *HATES* Urban Blitz Attackers. Modern history has proven that 90 times out of a hundred you can walk up to a hotdog vendor, a homeless guy, or a couple in the middle of an argument and CUT THEIR FRIGGIN THROAT, with a huge arterial spray, brandish the knife at the closest couple of people, then run off, and almost NO ONE will remember anything but the knife, the blood, and the horrible sounds. The unusually observant will remember your ethnicity, hair color and maybe the dominant color of your clothing.

Serial muggers are equally hard to catch, and even when caught, difficult to prosecute for more than the one mugging they were caught in the act of. (about the only way they get caught). It seems to run counter to common sense, but if you brandish a weapon threateningly, and ESPECIALLY if you cause major physical trauma with a lot of blood to someone, most people's memory will zoom in almost exclusively on the knife/gun/weapon, blood, any sounds the victim makes, and MAYBE the vague broad general details of the attacker. Unless there's an off-duty cop or reporter who HAPPENS to be looking right when you blitz the zombie, you're probably in the clear if you make tracks immediately after attacking, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT, burn your clothing to ashes and fully immerse your shoes in bleach for no less than 2 day (better to destroy them too, but the bleach is a compromise), and scrub yourself spotless ASAP.

Basically, if you keep in mind the methodology investigators use to identify criminals, and the human tendencies when threatened at close quarters, it isn't terribly complicated to come up with a plan of attack on short notice that won't result in half a dozen people being able to pick you out of a lineup. After all, no ID of you, no trouble with the law for you.

Yes, I'm oversimplifying matters, but only to convey the general principles I'm trying to get across. The human skull only takes 12 P.S.I to breach structurally, and perhaps 1-2 pounds more to make sure your blow penetrates the derma, then the gray matter, and finally ends in the white matter with the consistency of a runny egg that will tell you the zombie is neutralized. As Calmet said about vampires in the 1600s "Most anything that a strong man can quickly bring to bear to inflict a wound that would prove instantly fatal to a human being will generally prove sufficient to destroy a demon of the night." He went on to say in his treatise that the removal of the heart and head really have nothing to do with folklore, and are simply common sense. I'm paraphrasing here, but he basically says "If it can survive the removal of both head and heart, thou wert doomed before you began, yet may at least meet your God knowing you strove to your utmost against the horror of darkness that claims your life."

I find Calmet fascinating, because he genuinely believed in vampires, revenants (ghouls/zombies), demons both tangible and incorporeal, and a host of other evil monsters, which wasn't unique for a European Witch-Hunter of his era, but what IS unique is that he seems to ignore/disregard all the supersitious/silly stuff. Ie: Holding off a vampire with a cross, or forcing it to stop and count all the millet grains you scatter at its feet until dawn comes and destroys it. Instead, he sticks exclusively to matter-of-fact methods of Overkill, Overkill, and More Overkill. Complete immolation of the Whatever-the-Monster-Is via naptha (greek fire/napalm) set aflame, decapitation, heart and spine removal, and complete dismemberment in general.

It makes a brutal sort of common sense. If you take the body apart/render it structurally non-functional, it really doesn't matter what the beast was if you burn its dismembered body to ashes... Refreshing pragmatism from a pre-Enlightenment occultist.

[flesheating]

Here's the solution:
What the HELL are you doing taking a shot at a zombie from ANYWHERE NEAR IT when you have the technology to take the shot from a hundred yards away and between/over obstacles? Anyone with a rifle and extensive hunting experience could make that shot given 3-4 tries. Remember the Beltway Sniper? Why did it take like FIFTEEN killings for anyone to even get a GLANCE at his face? Because he never took a shot from less than 150 yards. Someone would have to be looking RIGHT AT YOU as you pulled the trigger to know you did it, and most people will hit the deck at the sound of the gunshot.

Take the shot, just again, be smart.

This is very true. If you can get far away before taking the shot then do so. No reason to put yourself at risk of being seen or being infected.

[Gryphon]

I like Wyldwraith's method ;)