It is Valentine’s Day. Stow the groaning, folks. Trust me, when this assignment came across my desk I did the same thing. The hearts and candy routine really isn’t my thing. However, I found some disturbing Valentine’s coming into my mail box this week and felt you should be aware of the hidden dangers behind this holiday.
See, even zombies get lonely. They have a hard time holding on to significant others (once they gnaw their arms off…). Because of this lack of companionship, come Valentine’s Day zombies are pretty dang lonely. And hungry. Never forget how hungry a zombie can be.
So take our advice; grab your go bag. Valentine’s Day won’t be all stuffed animals and roses this year. The number of zombie sightings has increased tenfold this year. If you hear someone talking about candy hearts, they may actually be talking about candied hearts. Which are an undead delicacy.
Be safe. Be smart. And for goodness sake, if someone tries to give you a bunny don’t take it!
Rest assured, your commanders have heard the cries of anguish from our crew and we are in full agreement; the Vatos need to return to The Walking Dead.
Our undercover agents have located targets for a campaign launch in order to make sure they are aware of the overwhelming love the Zombie Survival Crew has for the Vatos.
We will begin sending #BringBackTheVatos tweets to the targets at 12:00 PM on Friday February 11th. The retreat will be called at 12:00 PM the following day, Saturday February 12th. Times are local to whatever time zone you live in.
Now I know we all feel strongly that our Vatos deserve more screen time, but please keep this civil. -R.C. twirls a sword and gives a stern look-
Sample tweets:
@GunnerGale We at the #zombiesurvivalcrew would LOVE for The Walking Dead to #BringBackTheVatos! Please pass the word along.
@RobertKirkman Who loves Vatos? The #zombiesurvivalcrew! We’d like The Walking Dead to #BringBackTheVatos. Please pass the word along.
@valhallapics The #zombiesurvivalcrew really wants #TheWalkingDead to #BringBackTheVatos.
Get the point? Good. Now go forth and tell the world at large to #BringBackTheVatos!
When one hears the word Necromancer you tend to envision a guy in his mid 40’s sporting a cape and tux combo that would make Dracula drool in his coffin. We’re talking someone like Doctor Orpheus from The Venture Brothers, here. The stereotype of a necromancer is outlandish, so ridiculous that we have a hard time believing anyone would call themselves one at any point in history. Which is probably a good idea. Playing with the dead isn’t the smartest thing to do. Something always goes wrong.
Necromancy is a form of magic. Dark magic steeped in rituals used to call upon the dead. These rituals are long, exhausting, and involve sacrifices of blood. The amount of blood varies on the magic being conducted. Early necromancers believed that more was better. Accounts tell of practitioners standing before blood-drenched altars to work their magic. Some necromancers use the spirits of the dead to predict the future. Others recover the corpse and “push” their magic into it, creating an animated corpse to control and communicate with.
During the early Middle Ages, necromancy was both fodder of myths and reality. The Norse told tales of heroes contacting spirits of dead relatives and asking the dead to cast spells against their enemies. Another Norse saga depicted Skuld, a princess so skilled in magic and communicating with the dead that in the midst of battle she could force dead warriors to rise and continue their attacks. Skuld wielded and army of the undead, the likes of which we consider a big sign that the Zombiepocalypse is upon us. This undead army made her nearly invincible on the battlefield. A feat most men would be envious of and all feared.
Medieval necromancers believed that in order to raise the dead the Christian god had to be invoked during rituals. Because of this the vast majority of medieval necromancers were highly educated clergy members. There were few seminaries at the time and made knowledge of Holy Scripture rare unless one was taught under an apprenticeship. The common man would not have access to the Bible. Nor would he be able to read the Latin it was written in. This was long before the printing press and the idea that every household should have a copy of the Bible in order to be closer to God.
At this time necromancers began to believe that they were not calling forth the souls of the dead to reanimate bodies, but demons instead. The Roman Catholic Church forbade members from practicing the dark magic for this reason. However enforcing the ruling was near impossible given the amount of time it took to deliver missives to other countries.
Despite the Church’s declaration, necromancy was still widely practiced. Through time, necromancers used the stigma towards magic by Christian faithful to fuel their rituals. Necromancers were hunted as witches, driven further underground to conduct their rituals and raise their dead. They twisted Holy Scripture, uttered names of demons never meant to be spoken by good, God-fearing people.
Modern necromancy has returned to the idea that they are communicating with the souls of the dead. While some of the demonic still exists, it is more as a warning. Great care is taken to “protect” the area of ritual, usually with a circle of some sort, to keep “evil spirits” (demonic forces) at bay. Necromancers nowadays typically aren’t attempting to raise an army of undead from their graves. But you should never disregard the idea.
Armies of undead under the control of a necromancer will move together. Unlike a typical hoard of zombies, these won’t fight with each other while reaching for their goal. Think of them as decaying marionettes. The necromancer will use their power over the dead to manipulate zombies to do their will. It could be anything from petty theft to a string of murders. Because necromancy is a type of magic, there are repercussions to using the power. Sustaining the undead will drain them, leave them vulnerable to attack. If you can break the tie between zombie and necromancer, the zombie will return to the grave or attack the person that disturbed their rest. We suggest trying salt or salt water. If that fails, use fire. Zombie flambé, anyone?
The Zombie Survival Crew members are awesome. Your responsiveness to building the communication chain has been much appreciated and we, the Fearless Leaders, salute you. *Crossbows raised* *whispers* Don’t worry, we won’t let Juliette get carried away and start shooting you. On January 29th, we announced the start of the Brigade Buddy system, and you, the faithful crew members have been hard at work attempting to establish communications with your assigned buddy and requesting orders when communications have not been established. Here is the plan:
Attempt to establish communication with your assigned brigade buddy. Please give your assigned buddy until 2/5/11 to respond. With the weather conditions, your buddy could be holed up in the midst of an ice storm without any electricity or means to communicate at the present time.
If you have not received a response from your buddy by 2/5/11, then please report back to the command by commenting on this post.
Your report should contain your twitter ID and that you have been unable to establish contact with your buddy and are looking for reassignment.
Do Not mention the current assigned buddy ID as this information needs to be kept secure.
If you have established contact with your buddy, but no one has contacted you, then please report back to the command by commenting on this post.
Your report should contain your twitter ID and that you have not been contacted.
Thank you once again for being Zombie Survival Crew Loyalists – we will establish a strong chain. Remember – report back on 2/5/11if you have not been contacted, or have been unable to contact your Brigade Buddy. Thank YOU!!
Call to Action: Zombie Survival Crew First LieutenantNeil Brown Jr. – Guillermo from the Vatos episode of The Walking Dead – talks survival and what he learned during Battle: Los Angeles.
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Sometimes the fiction I portray helps me to understand real-life truths. Working on Battle: Los Angeles gave me some insights I thought wise to share with my Zombie Survival Crew brigades ahead of the film’s 3-11-11 release.
Battle: Los Angeles asks the broader questions about survival during a cataclysmic global event as major U.S. cities are attacked and marines are sent into Los Angeles to evacuate civilians before the government launches a massive counter-offensive. Sure, we’re battling aliens, not zombies, but many of the same rules apply.
Lesson 1: Stealth Tactics
Filming took us through some real Marine training and as much as I’d like to say the weapons work was the most valuable, the truth is how many of us are going to encounter military-grade weapons right off the bat during a zombie infestation? (Unless you have them already…)
No. The most valuable lessons were in learning how to really take cover during a firefight and how to conceal your presence. Tactics like the following:
– Don’t leave evidence of your presence. Pick up empty shell casings, cigarette butts, etc, etc.
– People do what you see in movies when a firefight breaks out. Big mistake.
– Process: Get low. Find solid cover. Identify source of fire or danger. Examine your environment.
– A car door will not protect you from bullets. The only safe places to take cover around a vehicle are behind the engine block or axles.
– In a house dry wall will not protect you. Get into the residence and take cover behind additional items such as a bookcase or table.
Lesson 2: Teamwork
As a cataclysmic event unfolds it is time to put aside differences and work together. This is about humanity, about survival. Everyone has something to offer.
If we are to survive, we have to band together as I learned filming both The Walking Dead and Battle: Los Angeles. Understand the enemy – how they operate; what they want; the best ways to defeat them. It cannot be done alone.
Lesson 3: Strategic Choices
Every person has something to offer towards common survival in the case of a cataclysmic global event but having a good command team in place is essential. From my Battle: Los Angeles cast mates I’d offer up the following as top recruits.
Cory Hardrict – He’s the type of guy who will receive the phone call, look at the bottom line, come up with a plan and execute it. No questions. No doubts. But he’s also a team player.
Michelle Rodriguez – She’s kind of a nerd but down to fight to the death for anyone on her team. She’s gritty and grindy, and something to watch in a battle.
Will Rothhaar – This kid is young, ready for anything and fast. He’s a team player unafraid of a dangerous assignment.
As you know, we had one of you formulate a rescue plan to extricate Anthony and Juliette from the containment facility where they were being held. Anthony led the charge to rescue our Fearless Leader and fell prey to the unnamed government agency. It wasn’t what we planned, but when Anthony tried to rally the troops in this video, he was captured. The rescue attempt wasn’t an easy job by any means, but we (the crew) did manage to get our captain and co-captain to a certain point using @Wulfie_‘s plan. Unfortunately, some casualties took place during the attempt . . .
We’d sent in crews equipped with small cameras so the other co-captains, first lieutenants and I could keep track of the situation. I retrieved this satellite transmission Zulu 1032 during my shift in the Command Center in the midst of my ZSC tweet-a-thon.
As far as we know, they’re not out yet, and I haven’t found anymore feeds so I’m a little concerned. I’ll keep searching and whatever I find, you’ll be notified. Let’s just hope they’re safe.
As an aside, arm yourselves, just in case. *grabs compound bow and looks at Sean and Donut, the zombie assassin dog* Man, I should have trained Moon for that. *looks at Moon, who just pants with playful puppy look* That’s great.
As mentioned in previous communication, the Zombie Survival Crew captains are developing means for ensuring communications remain open while maintaining security for all crew members. In order to maintain security, it is essential to develop a chain of communication along the cell theory, where no one individual knows the contact information or whereabouts of their fellow brigade members beyond the buddies they have been assigned. This reduces the possibility for capture of an entire brigade and will allow us to set up recovery plans in the event of a communications breach. Stand by as you will be receiving a message from @TheZSC advising you of your brigade buddy.
Your ZSC command expects you to establish contact with your buddy and develop a code word between the two of you, for use to ensure both parties have not been compromised. You have also been assigned to someone, so expect to be contacted. Once you have established contact with your assigned buddy and the code word has been established, please report your success to @TheZSC: a simple Mission Accomplished message will suffice. Safeguard your Brigade Buddy’s identity and make sure you are not the link that breaks the chain.
Here’s How It Works:
In the event of a global cataclysmic event, the command center will not have the time to communicate the message to mobilize to all crew members directly. Each brigade leader will pass the message to the first person in the chain.
The first person in the chain then contacts their assigned brigade buddy.
Before passing on the message, confirm your buddy is who they say they are and not an imposter through the use of the code word agreed upon between you.
Once identity has been confirmed, pass the message.
Your brigade buddy will then contact his/her brigade buddy and repeat the confirmation steps, pass the message, etc.
Once the message has been passed to all brigade members, confirmation can then be given to @TheZSC
We will cover what to do in the event of a communication breach in a separate post
Once all brigade buddies have been assigned and confirmed, drills will be conducted to test our communication chain. Will you be ready to heed the call?
You’re walking down the street on your way to work, same as you do every day. A stranger steps out of a shop and walks towards you. Even though you try to move out of the way, they crash into you. After a few muttered apologies, they leave. Only then do you notice that your forearm is bleeding from a small cut and going numb. Within minutes that entire side of your body loses sensation. A little while later you are unable to control any of your movements.
You’ve been made into a zombie.
How can it be that easy, you ask? If you lived in Haiti, where Voodoo reigns supreme, there would be no question about the existence of zombies. However, unlike other “breeds” of zombie we have explored here at ZSC, zombies created by Voodoo are living, breathing humans.
Victims are dosed with a neurotoxin. There has been extensive debate about which neurotoxin is actually used during the zombie making process. In The Serpent and the Rainbow, victims were given a dose of tetrodotoxin powder. Tetrodotoxin is found in puffer fish and its history of being extremely lethal puts the legitimacy of these claims into question. But for the sake of simplicity, we’ll use it here.
The tetrodotoxin works into the nervous system and shuts it down. The victim’s breathing will become shallow. Their body is unresponsive to stimulation. While they cannot feel, move, or breathe properly, most victims remain fully aware of what is happening to them in this state of living death.
Treatment of tetrodotoxin involves maintaining the body until it processes the chemical. Most villages don’t have the means to put someone on life support, let alone the manpower and supplies to do so when that person may pass away anyway. Tetrodotoxin has no known antidote. Once the physician sees no visible signs of life, they declare the patient deceased. The victim then ends up buried alive.
In the cover of darkness the Bokor, or sorcerer, will venture to the graveyard to dig up the victim. At this time the newly made zombie is given a powerful hallucinogenic. Most believe the substance to be derived from the datura plant. Datura causes violent hallucinations and photophobia (extreme sensitivity to light). One dose will affect the victim for approximately 48 hours.
The heavy influence of the Voodoo religion in the region is the key element to the zombie creation process. If the victim survives exposure to the various chemical compounds at play, they should recover themselves and become normal within days. Believers that go through the process convince themselves, with influence from the Bokor, that they are actually a zombie. These zombies will continue to work under the bokor for years. It is only when family members see them that legitimacy of their “undead” condition comes into question.
Bokors are believed to be able to manipulate the zombi astral, the spirit of a person. What we call the soul. Those that practice dark arts (making zombies, curses, etc…) are said to capture souls inside jars. Some will sell the jars as charms. Others gather them. The more captured souls in their control, the more powerful the bokor. To go against a powerful bokor is begging to be “cursed”. That is why so many of these living zombies strive to believe their conditions and remain in service to the bokor.
If the family recovers their loved one, they won’t find much of that person left. Years of believing yourself dead and exposure to powerful hallucinogenic drugs warps the brain. Zombies without a bokor riding herd on them often end up in asylums. Those who aren’t discovered tend to haunt graveyards, as they feel closer to the dead than the living.
We here at the Zombie Survival Crew consider these zombies to be victims. That is unless they attempt to harm a crewmember. Unfortunately it is difficult to tell them apart from the other breeds. Keep in mind that newly claimed zombies of this type would appear sweaty. Their eye movements will be erratic, and though it will be difficult to tell, they are breathing. If you think they are the victim of a Voodoo spell, report the zombie but do not dispatch them.
Remember the days when the only things standing between the world as we knew it and KAOS controlling the universe were Maxwell Smart and Agent 99? Max would dive into a telephone booth and be transported to the CONTROL command center. CONTROL understood the importance communication and the need to keep it secure. Whether it be the Cone of Silence, the sneaky (and stinky) mobility of the shoe phone, or Agent 13 tucked away in some object (cigarette dispenser or locker anyone?) to help pass communications along. While CONTROL took care of KAOS, we are facing a whole new breed of adversary, and the word chaos doesn’t begin to describe the state of things come the beginning of the Zombiepocalypse.
When the undead walk, will YOU know who you can trust, and how to band together to face down and vanquish the shambling hordes? Together we can fight and will be formidable… apart you’re alone and fresh zombie meat.
Your Zombie Survival Crew Fearless Leaders are here to help. While CONTROL showed us the way, technology has advanced and we need to develop our own methods of secure communications. Each member of the Zombie Survival Crew is assigned a brigade led by one of our fearless leaders. After this past episode where Juliette and Anthony were abducted by the very people we formerly considered our allies, it has been determined we need to band together against not only the zombies, but government interference in our activities. As you know, the brigade membership is kept secure; available to members only. We will use the brigades to develop communication chains so that in the event of zombie sightings, or additional government interference, we can mobilize quickly.
The next message concerning how the communication chain will function will be posted in the Members Only section of the site. If you are commited to defeating the attack of the undead and will stand firm as a member of the ZSC, make sure you have registered for the site by either clicking the Member Registration Link under About the ZSCrew or click here. Don’t know what brigade you’re assigned to? Check out the loyalist map. Not on the map? Follow @TheZSC on Twitter and you will be put on the map and assigned a brigade.
Zombie Survival Crew are you readyto accept the call? Or will the Zombies call you LUNCH!
It has come to our attention that there is a commonality to The Walking Dead cast made up humor, intelligence and just plain chutzpah.
Every time the Zombie Survival Crew reaches out to take on a cast member (think IronE Singleton, think Anthony Guajardo) we seem to get just a little bit more than we bargained for.
Steven Yeun is no exception!
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Steven – from all of us on the #zombiesurvivalcrew – THANK YOU for doing this, for taking the crew’s craziest questions and putting them back with panache! You will forever have an honorary spot on Command’s rapid response team!
It is Valentine’s Day. Stow the groaning, folks. Trust me, when this assignment came across my desk I did the same thing. The hearts and candy routine really isn’t my thing. However, I found some disturbing Valentine’s coming into my mail box this week and felt you should be aware of the hidden dangers behind this holiday.
