In Fear the Walking Dead, a new and effective way to protect against zombie bites was discovered in The Walking Dead universe. In fact, this secret technique developed by the newest addition to the cast appears to be an invaluable one. Strand’s efforts to learn it (and keep others from finding out about it) is what set in motion the story for Fear the Walking Dead season 7, episode 5, titled “Till Death”.
The episode saw Dwight (Austin Amelio) and Sherry (Christina Evangelista) cross paths with a new FTWD character: Mickey. Played by Aisha Tyler, an actress who already had a role in The Walking Dead universe as a director, Mickey was introduced as a member of a wrestling tag team and a highly sought-after target of Victor Strand (Colman Domingo). According to her, what makes her so important to Strand is the fact that she actually managed to escape from his tower, despite it being covered up by zombies. As pointed out by the characters, Mickey pulling this off felt next to impossible, which was essentially the point of having a massive zombie horde outside his base. Strand is concerned about the possibility of a person having the ability to pass through his defenses.
In a conversation with Dwight and Sherry, Mickey revealed the secret of her escape from Strand’s tower. Apparently, she achieved this feat with phone books. By strapping several of them to her body with duct tape, the zombies’ teeth couldn’t penetrate her skin. While it was certainly a gutsy move, it proved to be an efficient method of avoiding zombies. After all, she survived what was said to be thousands of zombies lurking outside Strand’s tower. Mickey making it through without sustaining a single zombie bite speaks volumes about its effectiveness.
Getting through all that in one piece is impressive enough on its own, but is made even more surprising by the notion that Mickey did it with such a simple, household item. Phone books being the Walking Dead universe’s secret trick to surviving zombie hordes is certainly an unexpected development, but it does make some degree of sense when taking into consideration the thickness of phone books. Of course, the technique isn’t foolproof, as evidenced by all the torn and chewed-up books seen on the bar in the place where Dwight and Sherry found Mickey. They can only hold up for so long.
Sherry and Mickey used similar ideas to help Mickey get into the gym to find her husband, and it nearly paid off. Using makeshift armor may not always save a character from infection, but FTWD season 7 has provided more reasons for characters to rely on this tactic more often in the future, as it definitely boosts their chances of not getting bitten. It’s possible that Morgan’s group will learn a thing or two from Mickey if she sticks around in Fear the Walking Dead season 7.