Worldbuilding: To Zom, or Not To Zom, Be

Zpoc this, end of the world that… why can’t we just have a good old-fashioned Undead Horde arising, terrifying the living because it’s an army that can’t be normally killed, instead of an existential threat to Life As We Know It?

No, seriously, why not?

(Yes, this writer is feeling cranky and contrary.)

I have a lot of gripes with zombie apocalypse stories, especially World War Z – movie or book, take your pick. That one specifically pulled a lot of… people needlessly being idiots and cruel, in order to punch up the horror factor. Did not like.

Oddly enough the Zombie Survival Guide by the same author has a lot more optimistic outlook in its several “recorded outbreaks”, including the memorable zombies-vs-gang-war that ended decisively in the gangs’ favor. Which if you look at it logically makes sense; after all, if humans throughout history hadn’t been able to end those outbreaks before they reached zpoc status, the book couldn’t have been written in the first place!

The problem is that the author doesn’t translate the human factor in the historical bits into a viable human response in the zpoc book. Almost nobody writing a zpoc does. And this is… highly frustrating to me as a writer. I don’t write tragedies. I don’t write grimdark. I write stories where bad things may happen to good people, yes, but said good people use their heads and sheer unalloyed grit to try and find ways to come out alive. Because stories are about people. If the stories are about the zombies and life-threatening despair instead, then your story has already failed.

I grant you, there are some people who find catharsis through drenching themselves in a horror that is Not Real. I am definitely not one of them. (For one thing I know too much biology; and guess what, in real biology zombies exist. Mostly on the insect level, but still.) I do like reading about human responses to disaster, but instead of humans pulling together to survive, almost all zpocs are about horror, gore, and the dying of the light.

…Here I’m going to point to Kingdom (2019) as a known exception to that almost. There’s humans being stupid, there’s humans playing politics, there’s humans who try to use the zombies and unleash disaster, sure. But there are a fair number of people, especially the heroes, who are simply trying to make the best of the bad hands they’ve been dealt. They fear the zombies. They dread them. But they also think.

And if you think, and have a little time to prepare, zombies can be handled.

The advantage zombies have is swarming you as a horde. Control the terrain; make it so they can only come at you one or a few at a time.

Zombies only have the weapons they had in life, and human teeth are really not that effective at tearing into a person. Wear armor. Leather is good, but wear even several layers of cloth, and it might be enough. Don’t let them break the skin.

Zombies don’t feel pain. But they also don’t heal. If you can’t immediately kill them, disable them. Break bones. Break joints. Dump rocks on them, preferably from a high distance. Use a freaking boar spear – it’s designed to keep a thrashing body from punching the spear on through so it can kill you before it dies. Humans are tool-users. Find tools. Use them.

I want to see stories that give readers hope. I want to see canceled zpocs. Think about it. It can be done!