30 Days of Undead Summer

June 7 -- #WhichWeaponWednesday

June 7 -- What's my zombie apocalypse weapon.

Okay, I know what you're thinking, "Adam! You missed a day! Everyone knows it goes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday!" but since I'm perpetually behind I decided to cut my losses and just jump forward. If I have the time later I'll go back.

So today I'm supposed to tell you about my zombie apocalypse weapon of choice. I think that the most important thing to recognize when you're contemplating how you would survive a zombie apocalypse is that there will not suddenly be guns and pipe bombs lying around for you like Left 4 Dead. You have to work with what you have so I can list a couple of weapons that I can easily grab in my apartment to defend myself:

1. The drill my father gave me for my birthday.

2. The hammer in my closet. I'm not sure where it came from but it's there.

3. The chef's knife in my kitchen.

Each of these have their pros and cons. The drill has some bad ass attachments and it would be fun as hell to tear open some undead skulls with it but it's too slow to take on a horde and it's battery powered so it won't last long. The hammer is strong and sturdy, it can crush a skull and it's useful as a tool as well, but its reach is limited and it's heavy so that might slow me down. The knife is fast and sharp but it can easily become vacuum sealed in the skull of a zombie if you're not using it right.

That's not very interesting though, is it? So let's take it another step. We're talking about zombie fiction, right? So, let's get creative about it. If you think about the three weapons I mentioned, they actually represent three different categories. Let's talk about those categories a little and what kind of z-fic characters would use them.

1. Flashy and fun, but in the end not useful long term. This category covers everything from nuclear weapons, to flame throwers, to machine guns. To be fair, even little handguns can fall under this category depending on your bullet situation. These weapons can cause a scene, they are fun to write about and imagine, but they are also limited use. Characters who rely very heavily on these kinds of weapons probably don't think things through very well. They are probably impulsive risk takers.

2. Blunt, heavy weapons can be found just about anywhere. Rocks, tools, furniture. All kinds of characters could end up using these kinds of weapons. They don't require any sort of special training and they are abundant. Resourceful characters will see these weapons everywhere, strong characters may prefer them and less physically capable characters may get tired easily from the strength required to wield them. If you're trying to stick to reality as closely as you can, you might find that you write about these weapons a lot because of their sheer availability and versatility.

3. Sharp weapons may require a bit more training than blunt ones. knives, swords, axes, these things are less readily available and they require precision. Also, that thing I mentioned about blades vacuum sealing themselves into skulls? Yeah, that's a real thing that happens and if you don't move your blade properly it can become lodged and you're left unarmed. Characters who use these weapons are probably more adept at killing. Or at least the ones who use them well. You may see characters who are drawn to weapons in category one use blades in the absence of anything grander, but they may not be as finely skilled as the ones who choose blades.

There are, of course, many other kinds of weapons out there but the vast majority fall under these categories. I guess I deviated from the topic of my own dream weapon, but I think this was fun anyway! :)