Chapter 88: First Lesson

Angela and Rick were walking down the corridor leading to the armory in the first basement of the building. She had questions about the zombies and its variants that the bestiary wasn’t able to answer properly.

“Hmm… I wouldn’t say the worst.” Rick replied thinking about it. “The most dangerous? Certainly. That thing is really aggressive and would not hesitate to claw its way through other zombies to get to its prey. In my opinion, the Pale Head is the worst because of its regeneration. If you don’t have enough fire power, you’ll just waste ammo and be defenseless while it would still be around.”

She considered his words seriously. “I suppose it makes sense.”

“I’m surprised that was your question. I would have thought you’d be more hung up on the fact zombies are not technically undead and just people.”

A sigh escaped her lips. “I would have learned that during the outbreak, I would have been but…” She searched for her words. “There is no going back for them. The rotten flesh, the loss of intelligence. Alive or not, they’re not really humans anymore. I remember what you told me when my brother turned and I realized I would have probably died if I had stopped to consider who that thing was before.”

Rick nodded in appreciation. “It’s a good mindset. Utterly sad and heartless some would say but good because it will keep you alive. Most of the reason a zombie Outbreak is so dangerous is not because of the zombie themselves, it’s because of the people. Many can’t bring themselves to do what needs to be done and get infected as a result. It’s not really their fault and it's not wrong. Facing a friend or a loved one and having to kill them to survive is a very difficult thing emotionally, mostly because of their look.”

Angela understood that. It had been immensely difficult for her to let go of her brother when he turned into a monstrous G. She couldn’t imagine how deep the heart pain was for people who had to face people whose appearance was still the same.

“Did you ever have to…”

“Thrice. My parents and a teammate.”

She wanted to smack her forehead for her stupidity. Rick was a Racoon City native and survivor. Odds were high he had killed a loved one turned.

“I’m sorry. I—”

“Don’t be. My parents were abusive and I’ve been living on the streets for five years before the outbreak. To me they were like any other zombies. My teammate on the other hand…” Rick let out a sigh. “I didn’t have the time to think about it when I did it. I was busy giving first-aid to my other teammate and we were in the middle of the battlefield after an ambush.”

“I’m still sorry to hear that. How… do people cope afterwards?”

They arrived at their destination and Rick paused, hand on the door of the armory. “Badly, very badly or they simply don’t. As for the details, we’ll see that during your training.”

“We’re trained to cope?”

Angela’s bewilderment made him laugh. “No. Not remotely. But I believe it’s important to know in advance and make choices before you’re confronted with the situation. Stumbling into the dark will affect your mindset and your odds of survival. I’d say it is for you to be prepared but honestly… You’re never really prepared.”

They stepped in the armory and its organization shocked Anegela a bit. She had expected a firing range to the side and a reception desk locked behind thick walls and a fence, giving a view of many different firearms behind it.

What she got was a bit different. There was a firing range to the left with a few people at work but the rest of the space had benches, a watercooler, and a vending machine. On the other side of the room was what looked like small cubicles where pairs were experimenting on weapons on some ballistic gel, behind some plexiglass.

“Hello, John.” Rick greeted the man behind the desk, reading the newspapers. He looked in his forties with a dad bod and a bit of a receding hairline.

John looked up from his article and smiled broadly when he saw Rick. “Rick! Good to see you! Back from your vacation, eh? You sure deserved it! Thanks for the increase in salary.”

Rick shrugged. “That’s the president’s doing.”

“Maybe, but it’s partly thanks to you that the opportunity presented itself.” John looked at Angela and his eyes lit up. “Hi! I’m John Smith and yes, it's my real name.” His joke made her smile. “Since you’re with Rick, I suppose you’re a new recruit and he's your mentor?”

Angela took a step forward to stand next to Rick. “He is and I am, yes. Angela Miller, nice to meet you.”

John shook her hand. “You’re in good hands. He’s the best in the BSAA.”

“I heard.”

Rick intervened then. “John, I need a room for experimentation and a few tools.”

The middle aged man nodded and looked at the computer screen on the side of the desk. “Hmm… Basic experiments, I gather?”

“Yes.”

“Room 9 is free for the morning. What do you need?” The jovial man turned serious.

“A knife kit, one meat cleaver, one tomahawk, my model, and one ballistic bust type one. A 9mm and a .45.”

“A 9 and a 45? Take room 16 then. Give me a moment.”

John stood from his chair and went to the back to fetch everything.

“He sure is enthusiastic.” Angela remarked.

“Yeah. He’s a weapons nutjob. All kinds. There are more than a few in the BSAA. Barry even made a club if you’re interested. They gather every Wednesday after five and every Saturday starting at 8:00 am.”

“Hm. maybe I’ll have a look around.” She changed the subject. “A knife kit? Never heard of that before. What does it entail?”

It was a good question in his opinion and her attitude was good. The last person he had trained into the basics had laughed and joked about it. “Multiple types of knives. From the regular knife you use to cut your steak to the tactical knife. It may sound silly to you since you probably have knife training but using a knife against a human and a BOW is different.”

“I figured.” She hummed with a nod.

Soon enough, John came back with a middle size case. It was open and the head of a dummy made of gel topped over it. He put it on the side of the desk and picked up a stack of forms from inside of it. Rick gave Angela a nudge of his head to signal it was up to her to fill them.

She didn’t hesitate and picked the pen John was presenting her. “That’s a lot of forms. I thought it would be just one for everything.” She remarked.

“It’s to make it easier to quickly do an inventory or check things. It's a bit tedious on your end but it really helps a lot to keep track.” John replied. “I put a full mag for each guns.”

Rick gave a curt nod. “That’d be more than enough. You want them out of them once we’re done?”

“Nah, I’ll do it myself.” John dismissed the offer with a wave of the hand.

Once Angela was done, Rick took the case and John told them to have fun after handing her the key labeled ‘16’. The pair went to the experiment side and went through a door. What awaited there was a long corridor with numbered doors. They walked until they reached the correct one.

The room was divided in two parts. In the first one was a small square table where Rick put everything down and began to remove one by one the items inside the box. The bust first, then two black cases, containing the knives and the fire arms, then the awe and the meat cleaver. All was neatly positioned and organized. The last thing he pulled up was a colored schema of the side of the brain.

The second part of the room was a short single firing booth. Beyond it was a support to put a ballistic gel shape to be used as a target.

“Alright. Let’s start with a simple check of what you know about how to kill zombies and how to go about it.”

Angela blinked in confusion. Just as Rick said, it was simple. So simple they shouldn’t even talk about it, yet he did. It made her think there was more to it than just ‘How do you kill zombies? Bullet to the brain.’ She still went with it.

“Destroy the brain?” She was sure it was the correct answer but not if it was the proper answer for Rick.

“Yes. Well resumed.” He chuckled. “Good answer but not perfect. The perfect answer is: By destroying the right parts of the brain.”

Angela knew then, from his answer, that there really was more than just popping the zombie’s grey matter. In consequence she listened with more attention.

Rick pointed with his finger at the paper on the table.

“Most of a zombie brain activity, which means very little, is done by four areas of the brain. The Temporal Lobe, the Occipital lobe, the Cerebellum and the most important the Brainstem.”

He pointed at each of them and Angela noticed they were in the lower part or behind the brain.

“I think I understand. I may put a bullet in the head of a zombie but if I hit one of the two parts you didn’t point at, it might still move?”

“Correct. That’s why sometimes it can take more than one bullet to put one down. If you aim at the forehead be sure to have a big enough caliber. 9mm is sometimes not enough but we’ll see that later. Do keep it in mind.”

She nodded in understanding.

“That brings me to the best way to destroy those four areas. Naturally, a bullet to the side of the head will be more effective. The hic is that, firing a gun is very loud. As you experienced at the airport."

“It attracts them like a moth to a flame. So while a bullet is the most effective it’s not the most efficient.”

“Correct. One Zombie is easy to deal with. Ten? It’s a nightmare. The strength of such a BOW is its ability to increase its number exponentially. You’re quickly overwhelmed. As such, the best way to deal with a zombie is to avoid it if you can. The second best way is to be silent when you take it down. Even gun suppressors make some noise and they take space on you.”

“So we should either use a silent weapon like… a crossbow or use a knife. The latter is more dangerous because we’re increasing the risk of infection.”

Rick gave her another nod. “Exactly. Furthermore, it’s not an easy thing to do. You need to know where to strike, how to strike and be very, very aware of what you can do with the weapon in hand.”

“Well… The skull is hard bone so slashing is out. Stabbing is not impossible but the knife could break so I need to aim at the soft spots like the eyes.”

“Good. The eyes are the most obvious target. However if you aim for them it means you’re in front of the zombie and he sees you. Dangerous. For starters it will attack you, second it might groan loudly and alert some friends in the vicinity.”

“So no attack from the front if we can help it, meaning it’s best if it comes from the back, which is obvious. You can’t react to something you can’t see. The problem is that there is no… soft area at the back of the head?”

“Correct, even the nape has bones.” Rick turned to the dummy and pointed at the ears. “This is a small target but it does the job at 100% if you stab here.”

“But I’ll have to attack from the side to have a good view or the ear, opening myself to be discovered.”

“Yes. Now depending on the knife you use, you may or may not have to. Each type of knife is better to hit a spot than another.”

Rick opened the black case containing the knives and turned it in Angela’s direction so she could have a look. There were a dozen and each was a different type. Fixed knife, balisong, folding, cutlery, kitchen knife… There was a good selection.

Rick proceeded to explain the pros and cons of each one and demonstrate where to hit and not hit on the dummy. Angela thought it was silly for a moment but she quickly realized things she never thought about before. Important things. For example a folding knife had the strength to break the skull but pulling it out was complicated and may chipped, break or fold back the blade. It was also very ill suited for hitting the eyes or the ear as it wouldn’t go deep enough. To her surprise a simple cutlery knife usually would.

It was a whole new world of understanding for her. Until now, a knife was just a knife. She never asked herself how well it was suited to kill someone or something.

“I’m curious about the cutlery knife? Why is it here in the first place?”

“Excellent question. Many dismiss it. It’s here because outbreak could happen anytime anywhere. Want to know where I was when the Terragrigia Panic happened?”

The answer came instinctively to her, it was a leasing question after all. “I’m guessing there, in a restaurant?”

“Yes. A hunter broke through the window of the little cafe I was in. I put a knife, just like this one” He turned the silver collared knife you could find anywhere in a cafeteria. “into its eyes and pushed so far the hilt was barely visible. I was there on vacation, I didn’t have any weapons on me and I had to improvise. Jill, another Raccoon City survivor, was with me and she didn’t think of using one because well…” He waved the knife and it was enough to make her understand.

“I won’t just train you to fight BOW. I will train you to survive them. To use everything in your vicinity to make weapons and use them.”

“Like the molotovs and grenades you made?” She remembered being stunned by Rick using them at the airport. They had been very useful to stop the flow of incoming zombies.

“Exactly. Now back to the topic at hand. Pun intended.” He put down the knife to pick up the meat cleaver. “Destroying the brain while the zombie is still active is an ordeal. Anything can happen and you find yourself fighting for your life against it. To make this easier for you and safer there are two methods. One, make it fall to the ground, pinned it and then strike. You can hit the back of a knee or to be more effective, sever the spine. It will worm on the ground and crawl but if you pay attention to where you put your feet you can finish it without issue.”

He put his hand on top of the dummy’s head. And raised the meat cleaver.

“Second option which is far better from my opinion and experience. Use a cleaver and sever the cervical area.”

Not wasting time and swung the weapon in his head and hit the back of the neck. It was buried deep enough that Angela could tell the Brainstem would be completely cut in two. There was no way the zombie could move with such a wound.

“Careful though. Everything below the neck is inert but everything above is still moving. The head can still turn and the jaw clench. Do NOT. leave a zombie like this. It will moan very loudly as if it’s unhappy about his new condition. Also, you might unconsciously consider it neutralized.”

“And I’ll forget it can still bite, if I’m distracted I could be infected.” She nodded in understanding.”

“Yes. Zombies when alone in a closed and dark space are the most dangerous on the ground. Because we don’t pay attention to it; too busy looking at any possible threat a few feet away.”

Rick pulled out the cleaver and handed it to Angela. “A cleaver is heavier and sturdier than a knife for more or less taking the same space. It’s particularly useful in slashing and cutting at the joints. Neck, knees and sometimes even ankle. You can also split the head of a zombie a few dozen times before it breaks. While you can’t stab with it, in my opinion it’s the best weapon you could find in an urban area in case of an outbreak. Knives are mostly for self-defense purposes. A cleaver is for offense.”

“I suppose the axe is better?” She put down the cleaver on the table.

Rick picked it up and showed it to her. “This… is the model I created and pushed for being available to every BSAA agent going straight onto the battlefield.” He pointed at the different parts of the weapon. “You have the bladed side which can act like the cleaver. The spike to stab and at the butt…” He showed her the hilt. “A hook to use it as a crowbar. Its weight and balance is good enough for throwing although the hook will mess with the aim a bit. The only issue is—”

“Its size. It’s a one-handed axe but it’s double the size of a cleaver at the very least.”

“I’m thinking of making the shaft deployable to deal with that. Folding is no good of course but benign retractable weakens the handle and diminishes the weight. You got it right, that’s one of the reasons very few use it. Second only to the fact that most agents prefer to deal with zombies at distance and with a gun.”

Angela noticed Rick sounded irritated by that. “You don’t agree.”

“No. Survival is not about your preferences, it’s about efficiency.”

A thought crossed her mind. “Is that why you’re the best expert? Because you see every outbreak as survival and not… a fight to win?”

Rick nodded solemnly. “You put your finger on it. Being hung up on your preferences could get you killed. When you want to survive you do what you have to do, no matter what you feel about it. Getting closer to a zombie to take it down in close quarters seems idiotic and very dangerous but you save a bullet you could use in an emergency and stay undetected.”

“The noise of a shot alone is actually making you in greater peril than the one you’d be by getting close. You just don’t know about it.” Angela realized.

“It’s counter intuitive. You run into danger after all but it’s the best thing to do. You’ll see that surviving is all about assessing risks and going against your common sense most of the time.”

He grabbed the dummy with one arm. “Now, let’s see why a 9mm is good to deal with zombies but a .45 is better.”