NOTES
1. From “Quotations from Chairman Maozedong,” originally from “The Situation and Our Policy After the Victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan,” August 13, 1945.
2. A prewar automobile manufactured in the People’s Republic.
3. The Institute of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases of the First Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University.
4. Guokia Anquan Bu: The prewar Ministry of State Security.
5. Shetou: A “snake head,” the smuggler of “renshe” or “human snake” of refugees.
6. Liudong renkou: China’s “floating population” of homeless labor.
7. Bao: The debt many refugees incurred during their exodus.
8. Bad Brown: A nickname for the type of opium grown in the Badakhshan Province of Afghanistan.
9. PTSD: Post-traumatic stress disorder.
10. It has been alleged that, before the war, the sexual organs of Sudanese men convicted of adultery were severed and sold on the world black market.
11. Children of Yassin: A youth-based terrorist organization named for the late Sheikh Yassin. Under strict recruitment codes, all martyrs could be no older than eighteen.
12. “Sure the vilest of beasts in Allah’s sight are those who disbelieve, then they would not believe.” From the Holy Koran, part 8, Section 55.
13. By this point, the Israeli government had completed operation “Moses II,” which transported the last of the Ethiopian “Falasha” into Israel.
14. At the time, it was unsure whether the virus could survive in solid waste outside of the human body.
15. Unlike most country’s main battle tanks, the Israeli “Merkava” contains rear hatches for troop deployment.
16. The CIA, originally the OSS, was not created until June 1942, six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
17. Before the war, an online “shooter game” known as “America’s Army” was made available, free of charge, by the U.S. government to the general public, some have alleged, to entice new recruits.
18. Myth; although red M&Ms were removed from 1976 to 1985, they did not use Red Dye No. 2.
19. The BMP is an armored personnel carrier invented and used by Soviet, and now Russian, military forces.
20. Semnadstat was a Russian magazine aimed at teenage girls. It’s title, 17, was illegally copied from an American publication of the same name.
21. Although this is an exaggeration, prewar records have shown Yonkers to have the largest press-to-military ratio than any other battlefield in history.
22. The standard, prewar 40-mm canister cartridge held 115 flechettes.
23. SAW: A light machine gun, short for Squad Automatic Weapon.
24. JSF: Joint Strike Fighters.
25. JSOW: Joint Standoff Weapon.
26. Germany’s version of the Redeker Plan.
27. BRO: The Border Roads Organization.
28. “The Bear” was the Gulf War I nickname for the commandant of the NST program.
29. Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonsson Quisling: The Nazi-installed president of Norway during World War II.
30. California’s Inland Empire was one of the last zones to be declared secure.
31. Malcolm Van Ryzin: One of the most successful cinematographers in Hollywood.
32. DP: Director of Photography.
33. Joint Standoff Weapons were used in concert with a variety of other air-launched ordnance at Yonkers.
34. A slight exaggeration. The amount of combat aircraft “grounded” during World War Z does not equal those lost during World War II.
35. AMARC: Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center outside of Tucson, Arizona.
36. Meg: The pilot’s nickname for their standard issue .22 automatic pistol. It is suspected that the appearance of the weapon, its extended suppressor, folding stock, and telescopic sight, give it the appearance of the old Hasbro Transformers toy “Megatron.” This fact has yet to be confirmed.
37. At this point in the war, the new battle dress uniforms (BDUs) were not in mass production.
38. “Baby-Ls”: Officially a pain reliever but used by many military personnel as a sleep aid.
39. Although Machu Picchu was quiet throughout the war, the survivors at Vilcabamba did see a minor, internal outbreak.
40. The main British line of defense was fixed along the site of the old Roman Antonine Wall.
41. Ubunye: a word of Zulu origin for Unity.
42. Although opinion is divided on the subject, many prewar scientific studies have proven that the high oxygenation retention of the Ganges has been the source of its long-revered “miracle” cures.
43. The Chang Doctrine: South Korea’s version of the Redeker Plan.
44. There have been reports of alleged cannibalism during the famine of 1992 and that some of the victims were children.
45. Hitoshi Matsumoto and Masatoshi Hamada were Japan’s most successful prewar improvisational comedians.
46. “Siafu” is the nickname for the African driver ant. The term was first used by Doctor Komatsu Yukio in his address to the Diet.
47. It has been established that Japan suffered the largest percentage of suicides during the Great Panic.
48. Bosozoku: Japanese youth-oriented motorcycle gangs that reached their popular peak in the 1980s and 1990s.
49. Onsen: A natural hot spring often used as a communal bath.
50. Ikupasuy: The technical term for a small, Ainu prayer stick. When later questioned about this discrepancy, Mister Tomonaga answered that the name was given to him by his teacher, Mister Ota. Whether Ota intended to bestow some spiritual connection to this gardening implement or was simply so out of touch with his own culture (as many Ainu of his generation were), we will never know.
51. Chi-tai: Zone.
52. To this day, it is unknown how much the living dead depend on sight.
53. Haya-ji: God of the wind.
54. Oyamatsumi: Ruler of mountains and volcanoes.
55. The exact number of allied and neutral ships that anchored in Cuban ports during the war is still unknown.
56. The station’s reentry “lifeboat.”
57. The ISS ceased using electrolysis to generate oxygen as a way of conserving water.
58. Prewar specs put the ISS water recycling capability at 95 percent.
59. ATV: Automated Transfer Vehicle.
60. A secondary task of the disposable ATV was to use its booster to maintain the station’s orbit.
61. ASTRO: Autonomous Space Transfer and Robotic Orbiter.
62. PSA: Personal Satellite Assistance.
63. To this day, no one knows why the Saudi royal family ordered the ignition of their kingdom’s oil fields.
64. The reservoir of Lesotho’s Katse Dam was confirmed to cause numerous seismic disturbances since its completion in 1995.
65. The International Space Station is equipped with a civilian ham radio, originally, to allow the crew to talk to schoolchildren.
66. Mkunga Lalem: (The Eel and the Sword), the world’s premier antizombie martial art.
67. It has been confirmed at least twenty-five million of this number include reanimated refugees from Latin America who were killed attempting to reach the Canadian north.
68. It has been alleged that several members of the American military establishment openly supported the use of thermonuclear weapons during the Vietnam conflict.
69. Tread jobs: wartime slang for vehicles that traveled on treads.
70. M-trip-Seven: The Cadillac Gauge M1117 Armored Security Vehicle.
71. The chemical composition of the army’s battle dress uniform (BDU) is still classified.
72. BS: Battlefield Sanitization.
73. The assegai: An all-steel, multipurpose implement named after the traditional Zulu short spear.
74. Noob: Short for “newbies,” zombies that have reanimated after the Great Panic.
75. M43 Combat Observation Aid.
76. I-Rations: short for Intelligent Rations, they were designed for maximum nutritional efficiency.
77. KO: short for “Knock Out.”
78. Concertainer: A prefabricated, hollow barrier constructed of Kevlar and filled with earth and/or debris.
79. PT: Physical Training.
80. AIT: Advanced Individual Training.
81. AGN: Army Group North.
82. China Lake weapons research facility.
83. L (Lethal) pill: A term to describe any poison capsule and one of the options available to infected U.S. military combatants during World War Z.
84. John Lethbridge, circa 1715.
85. “The Sturgeon General”: The old civilian nickname for the present commander of the DSCC.
86. Alan Hale, Senior.
87. The highest fatality ratio of all allied forces is still hotly debated.
88. Lion’s Roar, produced by Foreman Films for the BBC.
89. Instrumental cover of “How Soon Is Now,” originally written by Morrissey and Johnny Marr and recorded by the Smiths.
90. Pronounced “flies” mainly because their pouncing attacks gave the illusion of flight.
91. At present, no scientific data exist to substantiate the application of Bergmann’s Rule during the war.
92. LaMOE: pronounced Lay-moh with a silent e.
93. Figures on wartime weather patterns have yet to be officially determined.
94. Major Ted Chandrasekhar.