The team was called after reports surfaced of severely mangled bodies found at several sites around the area.  Accounts of strangely mutilated people attacking homeowners in a downtown apartment complex began trickling in. The six men, dressed from head to toe in black and festooned with weapons, cleared each hallway of the building  like a well-trained SWAT team. Suddenly, the undead lumbered out of doorways and through gaping windows broken by frantic, fleeing residents. The operators opened fire in all directions.

Precise three- and four-round bursts of fire spat from the team's suppressed  Colt 9mm submachine guns. Over the slapping of the weapons could be heard the moans of zombies, the cycling of actions, and the ringing of empty brass hitting the tile floors. The team leader came face to face with a sneering postal worker ghoul.  He released the zombie from its torment with a controlled burst that blew out the back of the thing’s head.

“Get this thing off me!” came a frantic call from one of the operators, now on his back fighting off a half-dressed undead woman.  The creature was trying to gnaw its way through his Hellstorm Kevlar-gloved right hand.  Agent Tim Davis ended the struggle by sticking his long-slide Glock 34 into the dead woman’s ear and pulling the trigger.

As quickly as it began, the battle was over.

Ever since the pivotal documentary Night of the Living dead was released in 1968, people have become aware of the dangers associated by the occasion of living dead outbreaks. As these instances of cannibalistic savagery have been beaten back each time, veterans of the zombie wars have amassed a vast storehouse of information on how to fight the de-animated.  Government sponsored Deanimated Assault Teams, or DATS, have been stationed all over the United States and are prepared to deploy on reports of attacks by the living dead. They have been successful in stopping the outbreaks and covering them up to avert a mass panic among the citizenry. This writer recently interviewed a DAT operative.  The operative offered tips for those martialists who find themselves in the midst of an undead horde or a less widespread outbreak.

The veteran of several campaigns, including one which took place in the Flatbush section of New York City on September 11, 2001. the operative claims to have personally terminated over 500 flesh eaters in his decade as a DAT team member. An affable man with short-cropped hair and a goatee, “A.J.” (as we will call him in this article) appeared seemingly out of nowhere for our interview in a hotel room just outside Huntington, West Virginia. A.J. appeared at the door carrying a large black soft-sided case containing a Colt 9mm submachine gun topped with an Aimpoint sight and a Surefire tactical weapon light. He carried two Glock handguns – one strapped to his belt, strong side, and a smaller Glock in a crossdraw holster.

A.J. carried a regular cell phone and a satellite phone, as well as two different beepers, which he said kept him in contact with DAT command (located in an undisclosed East Coast city). “We don’t see flare-ups that often, maybe 3-4 times a year, but when we do, it is imperative for us to be on scene within a couple of hours,” he told me. “I have four operators in my cell. We carry enough arms and the gear needed to put down an outbreak. Most of the time we can handle it on our own.” He added that very seldom do the teams call in reinforcements. "The key is not to make a big noise when we work. Exactly the opposite is true. We want to get in, exterminate the bogies, police them up, and get them out for disposal.”

The fact that these teams have been able to contain the undead problem without unnecessary attention doesn’t mean it has been easy. Far from it. “We almost lost control of the Flatbush outbreak,” the agent admitted. “If we hadn’t caught it really quick, it could have broken loose across the entire city within a week or so. We were lucky. The NYPD spotted a group of the dead in an abandoned warehouse. We barricaded the doors, tossed in some white phosphorus grenades, and burned the building to the ground. Spotters said there were between 50 and 100 zombies in the warehouse at the time.”

A.J. emphasized to this reporter the importance of being prepared if an outbreak happens in your community. He said any number of weapons were useful in battling de-animated threats. “These poor bastards aren’t fast and they aren’t smart. You don’t have to be a trained soldier to beat a group of them; you just need a little common sense. That, and a few basic weapons.” He stressed that while having so-called “assault weapons” on hand for zombie defense was nice; it was not at all essential.

“In order to win, defenders have to re-think everything they have ever imagined about stopping power and powerful guns of all sorts,” he said. “It’s nice to have an AR-15 and a bag full of loaded magazines, but you really do not need it. The average gunfight with living, breathing humans ends when the victor riddles his enemy with bullets. Well, that doesn’t work with the zombie. You can empty a 30-round magazine into one of these bastards and they will just keep coming. You must make a head shot on them, right in the brain, or your buddies will find you dead – or undead – with an empty gun.”

He said a well-motivated and trained small game hunter with a 22-caliber hunting rifle and full metal jacket ammunition can do a fine job. “I saw a sniper on a roof in Cleveland shooting a Ruger 10-22 with a Gemtech silencer.  He dropped dead guys like beer cans. He understood where to shoot and what ammo to use. Now, you know, every other house in the country has a .22 rifle like that. They're used to hunt rabbits and squirrels and to shoot at paper targets in the summer. If you have enough ammo, you're well prepared to kill zombies with such a rifle."

Author's night rig:  A Glock, a bowie, and plenty of ammo.

Don’t worry about the latest hollow point ammunition, the agent told this reporter.  It doesn’t matter when shooting the undead. "As a matter of fact," A.J. told me, "full-metal jacketed ball ammo is better for splitting skulls."

According to the agent, any handgun round in an accurate sidearm is adequate for the task. He did note that it would be a good idea to carry more than one handgun if you suspect the undead are near. “Just think about Clint Eastwood in The Outlaw Josey Wales," he said. "His character carried multiple revolvers. Instead of wasting time reloading his empty pistols, he just drew another gun and continued the fight. When the zombies come, they tend to come in groups of three or more, sort of like a wolf pack. You cannot waste time doing tactical reloads in these situations. Keep shooting until all the bastards are down or you can get away.”

Assemble your tools prior to fighting the undead.  Be prepared!

Don’t discount the common hunting shotgun in 12 or 20 gauge. Shorten the barrel to the legal minimum of 18 inches and instantly you have a devastating close-quarters battle weapon. A.J. told me he prefers rifled slugs or buckshot rounds for maximum devastation, but he quipped, “Anything that splits a melon will split a head.”

All the guns in the world will do a zombie hunter no good if he doesn’t carry the necessary survival gear. A powerful tactical flashlight is one of these essential pieces of kit. “In the dark, you have to see who, or what, you are shooting,” A.J. stressed. "Terminate a denizen of the walking dead, you are a hero. Pop the milkman in the head with a Hydra Shock and you end up in jail. It makes sense to know your target.”

Lighting up a Zombie with a SureFire tactical light prior to the "kill."

The agent said anyone who combats the de-animated needs to wear the proper protection. “I would suggest good Kevlar-lined gloves, goggles or tactical shooting glasses that cover the eyes, and good strong coveralls that are bite resistant. A medical kit that contains sterile wipes for cleaning off blood and foreign matter spraying from terminated zombies is also essential.”

As A.J. finished our interview, he left me with a few words of advice.

“People need to know what to do if an infestation takes place in their area. So far, our teams, with the help of many law enforcement agencies, have kept a lid on nearly 1,000 outbreaks over the past twenty years.