The story of Yahya Bey, a Turkish immigrant to the United
Kingdom, describes an attack on his home village of Oltu.
According to Bey, a swarm of zombies descended from the surrounding
hills in the dead of night. Those who were not devoured
fled either to their homes, the town mosque, or the local police station.
Several were crushed in the panic to enter this last location
while an accidental fire killed everyone inside. Many people, lacking
the time and materials to barricade all their doors and windows,
were overrun by the undead. Many, suffering from bites, sought
shelter in the home of the town doctor. As he attempted to treat his
patients, they expired, then reanimated. Bey, a six-year-old boy,
managed to climb onto the roof of his house, remained there for
most of the night, then took off at first light, jumping from roof to
roof until he reached open ground. Although no one in the nearby
villages believed his story, a search party was sent to look for human
marauders. This group found Oltu in shambles, all buildings burned,
smashed, or otherwise destroyed. Half-eaten corpses littered the
deserted streets. Dragging footprints, enough to suggest a sizable
group, followed a track of fewer, faster tracks into the mountains.
Neither group was ever discovered.
What is the perfect protection from the undead? Truthfully, there isn't
one. Defense isn't as simple as physical safety. Supposing you manage
to find, build, or modify a structure to keep the external threats at baythen
what? Zombies will not just go away, and there's no telling how
long it will take for rescue. How will you survive? Hunger, thirst, disease,
and many other factors have claimed as many lives as the walking
dead. Siege warfare, the type our ancestors faced when their castles
or villages were surrounded by enemies, is what you will he facing
when the dead walk again. Physical safety is only one part of the equation.
To be fully prepared, you must have a working knowledge of stationary
survival. In an interdependent world, this art has long since been
forgotten. Look around your home. How many items have been manufactured
within ten, fifty, even a hundred miles of it? Our way of life,
particularly as members of the richest industrialized nation on earth,
requires a delicate network of transportation and communication to
exist. Remove that network, and we are reduced to a standard of living
reminiscent of medieval Europe. Those who comprehend this and plan
for such an existence stand a much greater chance of survival. This section
shows both how to create a stmnghold and how to live within its
boundaries.
