Zombies scare me. I mean they seriously scare me (I’m zombiephobic) and the worst part is I know exactly why: it’s the fact they do not die (short of losing their heads) and just keep on coming … millions of them, a walking army that cannot die, a swarm that will rip humans to shreds purely because of some primal, animal hunger. And what do I have to blame for this? Not Shaun of the Dead, not 28 Days/Weeks Later, not Resident Evil and not even Dawn of the Dead.

World War Z.

I found the book while I was in San Diego, randomly browsing their local franchise of Barnes and Noble, looking for something to read on the plane home and the cover attracted me. I was vaguely aware of it’s precursor, The Zombie Survival Guide, and the idea of an oral history intrigued me. So I handed over a $20 bill and tucked the book into my hand luggage for the trip back.

I have never been so scared by a book in my life!

Basically the storytline goes like this: it’s some undisclosed date in the future and a few years previously the world had celebrated the end of World War Z, the tide of the undead had dwindled and man was starting to reclaim the planet. The author plays the role of an official charged with collecting stories from people all around the world who lived through the devastating Great Panic and the war itself. As he does so, we also learn how the various nations have changed post-WWZ. For example, Russia is now a theocracy and there is the suggestion that the entire population of North Korea has been zombified and waits to break free from underground tunnels where the people hid at the behest of their leader. Scary stuff.

The outbreak itself started in China after a young boy was bitten by …. something and turned feral and vicious, attacking others and soon turning others. The disease started to spread, soon labeled as ‘African Rabies’ and it wasn’t long until countries like Israel began to shut themselves off to protect their people. As infectees smuggled themselves on planes, the infection went worldwide causing chaos later known as the ‘Great Panic’. 

Once goverments start realising that this is a zombie plague – albeit one with viral origins – they star acting like idiots and this is where the above movie concept art by Daniel LuVisis comes from, via io9.com. The Battle of Yonkers is one of the most important parts of the book, a devastating loss caused solely by the American government’s desire to make it look like they have a chance in hell. Inspired by a truly chilling zombie-eye view sketch that was included in the book, it presents a horrible image of how the US can get things so very wrong. In the book it is a show battle with more media than soldiers.

Rather than thinking about how to destroy the on-coming horde, the US bigwigs decide it’s better to make it look like they have it under control by literally throwing everything they’ve got. Rather than issuing weapons suited for the job, they bring in tanks and give the soldiers biohazard suits (but not the media), despite the contragion being transmitted by bite or bodily fluids. They use thermobaric bombs which barely scratch most of the zombies and the front-liners are left with not enough bullets and the prospect of a grisly death before joining this ever growing army.

The movie is something I am dying to see – especially if it were to be filmed in documentary style and be 1/1oth as good as the book. Yet if this concept are is anything to go by, part of me doesn’t. I’m going to have nightmares again and yet I will still go and see it, I just wish they would hurry up and get moving on it!

In the meantime, check out Daniel LuVisis’ Deviant Art page here, I’m gong to triple check the locks …