Fire is a tool which human beings have used since ancient times. Fire has been a destructive force that has helped to shape this planet in many ways even before the existence of humans. The destructive power of fire is believed to be one of the reasons for the extinction of the dinosaurs. Farmers today use fire to renew the soil in a technique known as slash-and-burn. The ability to control fire is a skill that has set human beings apart from other animals, but can still vex humans and cause some amount of trouble when mishandled and/or mismanaged.

In order to completely be prepared for any disaster, you need to have your ultimate weapon armed and ready to go. As you have probably guessed, your brain is that ultimate weapon. Unfortunately there is too much for you to memorize to be a super survivor like MacGyver. Sorry, you’re just not cool enough.

(note that Leichefaust literally means “corpse fist” or “corpse smasher”- just me having fun with German.)

The primary means of destroying a zombie require you to damage or destroy the brain. There are hundreds of diverse and gory ways to accomplish this- from a bullet to the frontal lobe to fire to Rube Goldberg-esque chainsaw traps, all must end in brain failure in the target.
Of course, these all have varying degrees of efficiency. We will examine the various methods you could dispatch a Zack in terms of energy expended. Shooting a zombie in the head takes very little effort on the users’ part, but utilizes a violent and somewhat wasteful gunpowder charge in the form of chemical energy. Staving a Zacks’ head in with an axe requires energy expenditure on behalf of the user, but very little otherwise. I have already designed zombie-dispatching weapons (see the MK. II Katyusha for more details), but let’s be honest, it’s an incredibly wasteful concept. On a per-round basis the design is efficient, but the suggested number of individual barrels negates this advantage. We need a weapon that is very energy-efficient, doesn’t require any great preparation or construction beforehand, has theoretically unlimited ammunition, and can kill from considerable range.

In a zombie dystopia, there will be those survivors who will be unable to acquire any great deal of projectile weaponry, which rapidly seem to be the ideal weapon against both the living dead. Therefore, it is vital that there be a weapon that can be made from almost household items that will be effective against both foes. The Trash Kannon, named for its original design involving a normal trash can, is such a weapon.

Zombies are notorious for their persistence, an attitude which, combined with their usual habit of gathering into large groups, can bring down all but the strongest of bastions in time. On the streets, your vulnerability is in its greatest amounts. They are easily attracted to movement, the scent of blood, bright lights, loud noises etc. A light, easy to carry, and resilient armor is required to navigate the streets of any city with any degree of safety. For this purpose, I give you the T-Armor

One of the things us here at the ZPI strive to find/invent/stumble upon is the ideal anti-zombie heavy weapon. Many designs have been suggested, some brilliant, some not so brilliant, and some just bizarre. Most or all of them have common faults- slow reloads that result in breaks in the fighting, an inefficient design that results in wasted munitions, or a reliance on rare or valuable resources. I have cobbled all of these ideas and suggestions together, and, drawing off of historical weapons and plans, I have managed another step towards the ideal weapon- the Katyusha Mark II Projectile Weapon.