That is my number one Movie Rule of Thumb. (See the sidebar for a link to all of them.)
We make movies about it. We write books about it. We make TV shows about it. Even the CDC gets involved in it.
But it turns out there is a group of action shooting competitors in North Carolina and Virginia who have been practicing for it. Check out the Zombie Shooters Association of America at http://zombieshootersassociation.com/.
This group runs pistol matches and multi-gun matches against three types of targets: Zombies, Infected (bitten but not undead), and Meals (uninfected). The concept is so perfect that when I described the targets to my 14 year old son, he was able to tell me, pretty close, the rules of the game, never having seen the web site or the videos.
From the website:
1) Zombies are standard targets and need 1 head shot to kill.
2) Infected targets are also standard and need minimum of 3 body hits, at least 2 must be “Good” (“C” or better, or “Down 1″ or better) to score a kill.
3) STILL WALKIN’ (SW) is a failure on Zombie and incurs 5 second penalty.
4) CREATED A WALKER (CAW) is failure on an Infected and incurs 10 second penalty.
5) WRECKED A MEAL (WAM) is hit on living target (white) and incurs a 10 second penalty no matter how many times it is hit, each WAM target can earn penalty if hit.
There are also innovative procedural penalties such as sticking any part of your body through a port (after all, you could get bitten and become Infected yourself).
Check out the website and follow them on Twitter and Facebook. And, if you’re in the northern NC / Southern VA area, take a look. Personally, I would love it if other clubs closer to home would take up the cause.
In any case, as with a real zombie outbreak, it’s probably only a matter of time before it spreads everywhere!