by Roger Ma
The Operators:
To Jimmy Buthorn, USPIS, for the information on CQB and room-clearing tactics.
To Frank Luongo, USN SEAL, for his knowledge of special operations.
To Michael Janich, for his extensive expertise on close-quarters combat.
To Brian Dillon, Suffolk County Police Department, for providing an authentic voice.
The Weapons Men:
To Justin “Sir Justyn” Webbe, for the historical and medieval context.
To Joel Bukiewicz, bladesmith, for demonstrating the process and for the tour of the workshop.
And to all the others who asked to remain anonymous and helped make this work a reality, your assistance was invaluable.
1 The combat reports presented throughout this text are for informational purposes only, and are not meant to be construed as additional instruction. The reports were recorded during the period known as the The Healing Years, after the official conclusion of major undead combat operations on most of the seven continents. As of this writing, outbreaks continue to be reported throughout the world, but major commerce has resumed, consumer travel has been officially reauthorized, and safety nexuses exist throughout North and South America, Europe, Antarctica, and Asia. Contact has not yet been reestablished with Australia and Africa.
2 Author’s note: This name is a pseudonym. Additional details concerning the location of this interview have been removed, per the interviewee’s request.
3 DS: directing staff, instructors.
4 recce: reconnaissance mission.
5 Cantu RC. Head and spine injuries in youth sports. Clinics in Sports Medicine, July 1995.
6 Fat Man and Little Boy: military code names for the weapons of mass destruction detonated over Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, effectively ending Japan’s participation in the war.
7 otaku: term used to describe individuals with obsessive interests, particularly in comic books and video games.
8 hikikomori: a sociological phenomenon describing individuals who have chosen to withdraw from society.
9 CACO: Casualty Assistance Calls Officer.
10 PMC: Private Military Contractor.
11 JSOC: Joint Special Operations Command.
12 EDP: emotionally disturbed person.
13 DG: dead guy; slang commonly used by law enforcement to denote the walking dead.
14 kenshi: swordsman, practitioner of kenjitsu.
15 ganranzhe: Literally translated to mean “infected people”; many villagers throughout the Henan Province contracted the HIV virus as a result of tainted equipment used in blood transfusions.
16 yuèyáchán: monk’s spade.
17 guandao: Chinese polearm, similar to a broad axe.
18 FECDA: Federal Civilian Defense Act, enacted to supply federal funding to private institutions that provide self-defense education to the civilian population.
19 Ahmed Shah Massoud, the famed anti-Taliban Northern Alliance guerrilla leader who was killed by assassins posing as journalists on September 9, 2001.
20 HAHO: high-altitude, high-opening parachute insertion.
21 During the National Voluntary Ordnance Sweeps, all U.S. citizens were asked to volunteer their personal stores of ammunition to the federal government. This act was later made mandatory and amended to include private firearms dealers, distributors, and manufacturers.
22 zulu: nonofficial military terminology for living dead combatants.