He Walked With the Zombies

I'm currently nearing the end of Max Brooks' mostly fantastic novel World War Z. If you're unfamiliar with the book let me just hit you with the subtitle "An Oral History of the Zombie War." Intrigued? Max's first book was the self-explanatory The Zombie Survival Guide which was so well researched and handy that I can't believe he didn't win the Pulitzer for self help books. If you're still less than interested, I can't help you but trust me, his mad obsession makes for fascinating books and I can't help but believe it is all consuming. Both books seem like works of non-fiction, so much so that I worry for Mr. Brooks' sanity and wonder where he could possibly go next. Moan, Grunt, Moooooan: The Diary of the World's Last Zombie?

So I'm reading this crazy book as it traces the timeline from first infections to near human annihilation by the zombie masses to reorganizing of the armed forces and finally all out warfare where every able bodied citizen participates in some way to the common goal of a zombie holocaust when I came across this gem where Todd, an American military soldier, speaks about the new armed forces:

"...the new faces, they could have been from anywhere: your neighbor, your aunt, that geeky substitute teacher, or that fat, lazy slob at the DMV. From former insurance salesman to a guy who I'm damn sure was Michael Stipe, although I never got him to admit it."

I love this passage. It shows just how desperate things have gotten when Michael Stipe picks up a gun and goes on the warpath for the living dead. Think global, act local, right Michael? This part also makes me think of the great Roky Erickson cover R.E.M. recorded years ago, "I Walked With a Zombie." I remember drifting off the sleep listening to WHFS (r.i.p.) when this came on and shocked me awake. It makes me long for the days when R.E.M. deserved breathless, who-needs-sleep adulation. And if you go walking with a zombie, please remember that simple decapitation is not enough - you really need to crush the brain.