8 Tips to Survive in a Zombie Apocalypse
Social distancing. Sheltering in place. Quarantine. Who thought all those things would become a regular part of our vocabulary? Well, there’s probably at least one person who has all of these arts down pat… Jane McKeene, from Justina Ireland’s Dread Nation series.
For those who aren’t in the know, Dread Nation, and the sequel Deathless Divide, are set in the United States in the 1800s, one both frighteningly familiar and dangerous different. You see, Jane’s dealing with a pandemic of her own: a zombie apocalypse in the wake of the Civil War, and she and her fellow black girls are forced out on the frontlines so that the white aristocrats who hire them as Attendants are kept safe from the shamblin’ dead. If only they’d listen.
For that reason and many others, we’re taking some cues from Miss Preston’s School of Combat about how to survive. Sure, most of these are very specific to people who find themselves living in a world threatened by zombies, but, with the way 2020 is going, don’t you want to be prepared for anything?
Tip #1: Listen to the Experts
And who knows more about fighting zombies than Justina Ireland after writing two Dread Nation books? If you want to hear more about her alternate history, and her writing process, check out her Why Not YA? episode below. You might learn more than you ever expected.
Tip #2: Stay Quiet
Zombies, or shamblers as they’re called in Dread Nation, are attracted to noise, because it helps them find their prey. If you’re looking to avoid dancing with one, it’s best to stay quiet. Of course, traveling by carriage means being drawn by a loud, mechanical “pony” since the horses were the first casualty of the apocalypse, so good luck with that…
Tip #3: Don’t Travel On Foot At Night
That’s if you have to travel at night at all, mind you, which you should avoid doing. But Jane McKeene definitely recommends that you save your walks for the broad daylight, because at least then you’ll be able to see the danger coming before it’s too late.
Tip #4: The Best Defense is a Good Offense
Every Miss Preston’s girl gets their own weapons locker, and train with a range of things from scythes to rifles, but you probably don’t need to go that far. Just making sure you’re prepared for an emergency should be enough. That’s more than most people Jane meets can say.
Tip #5: Don’t Wear Corsets
Katherine Deveraux ignored this rule early in Dread Nation, and her inability to breathe nearly did her in during an ensuing zombie battle. Corsets went out of fashion years ago for us, but if you’re going to be fighting zombies, make sure you wear something you can actually fight in.
Tip #6: Make Sure Your Vision is Clear
It’s the norm to cut down trees by the roads so that travelers can see the shamblers coming from miles around, but, again, you don’t need to go as far as deforestation. Just make sure there’s nothing blocking your vision so you have your best chance to get ahead. Speaking of which…
Tip #7: Always Go For The Head
The best way to keep a body from rising again is to cut off its heads. This surgical how-to kept many students in medical school alive after the dead began to walk in Dread Nation, and it might just help you, too, if you’re ever faced with a zombie. It can’t eat a brain if it doesn’t have a head!
Tip #8: Never Poke a Sleeping Shambler
One of Jane’s childhood friends was devoured by a shambler that was caught in a fence, which the children thought made it “safe” to play with. Surely it wouldn’t get out, right? Wrong. Make sure you’re not messing with danger or taking unnecessary risks during the zombie apocalypse. Jane learned that the hard way.
How would you survive the zombie apocalypse?