Zombies are invading Hawaii, and as we all know, the local grinds they crave — are us!

Fortunately, X-Ring Security and Firearms in Waipahu has what you need: Zombie Max ammunition that’s "intended only to be used on zombies, also known as the living dead, undead, etc.," the ammo’s maker, Hornady, says on its website.

The "certified zombie ammunition" comes in a box with "zombie" emblazoned on the front in green comic-book letters, topped by a few walking-dead stick figures and a pair of evil-looking eyes peering back.

"Be prepared," the ammo maker says lightheartedly. "Supply yourself for the zombie apocalypse with Zombie Max ammunition from Hornady."

The folks at X-Ring Security also have a 12-gauge shotgun mated with a chain saw on the front for added zombie protection.

"12 gauge to the head. Quickest way to kill a zombie," recommends store sales manager Brian Takaba.

The advice is in jest but the ammunition, in a variety of calibers, is real — and selling briskly. The shotgun-chain saw combination is real, too.

Lest you are unconvinced of the zombie threat, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers information on both the "zombie pandemic" and "zombie apocalypse" on its website.

"So what do you need to do before zombies … or hurricanes or pandemics for example, actually happen?" the CDC asks before recommending an emergency kit with water, food and other supplies.

Zombies (for most people) are not real, but there’s no questioning their pandemiclike presence in video games ("Resident Evil"), movies ("Night of the Living Dead"), TV shows ("The Walking Dead"), books ("The Zombie Survival Guide") — and even in the news tied to some recent gruesome real-life attacks.

There are zombie walks, zombie runs and — coming to Honolulu — a zombie play: "Jane Austen’s Zombie Apocalypse."

Survivalists are starting to stock up for a disaster that they believe will bring about a breakdown of society and result in chaos they call "WROL" — Without Rule of Law — whether it be zombie-flavored or otherwise.

Suddenly, zombies are everywhere, spawning real products including firearms, ammunition, knives and survival kits to deal with the slow-moving, human-eating dead.

In the process, the line between fantasy and reality is getting blurred a bit with the Zombie Max ammo and the CDC tapping into the zombie craze jokingly, yet convincingly, to sell a disaster preparedness message.

For the record, CDC spokesman Llelwyn F. Grant said its campaign was a "tongue-in-cheek, fictional attempt to engage the public. We are confident the public recognizes the difference between tongue-in-cheek and reality."

The campaign went viral like a zombie bite to the neck, and it reached millions, Grant said, with "an enormous increase in Web page visits and public interest in wanting to know how to prepare for disasters."

Nick Gibson, who teaches sociology at the University of Hawaii, has a few theories about the zombie mania, but one in particular is that it’s the economic crash and worry that comes with it that has become a bogeyman represented by all those ghoulish, overwhelming and unrelenting zombies.

"My initial reaction is that we’ve always had something in popular media that’s driving us to look for the next big disaster," Gibson said.

For example, in the 1960s and 1970s we worried about the Cold War, he said. Now, it’s the economy.

Gibson postulates that we’re trying "to cope with the fact that our true situation economically is pretty dire, so we’re facing a lot of difficult situations socially, economically and politically."

"People are supposed to be able to have a job, have their own home, have a car or two, have a family, and be able to sustain that, and we’re seeing that more and more people are losing the ability to do so," he said. "So we’re also, at the exact same time, seeing this increase in this very odd yet fun visual stimulation, and it’s the story line of the zombie that the few folks that survive the apocalypse learn how to re-create humanity."

A favorite theme of Western mythology is identification as the "hero," and "the zombie apocalyptic story line always has heroes," Gibson said.

That was the case in 2007’s "I Am Legend" as actor Will Smith battled zombielike humans transformed by a virus.

Zombies may represent America’s fears of bioterrorism, Patrick Hamilton, an English professor at Misericordia University in Dallas, Pa., who studies how comic-book narratives are perceived, recently told the Associated Press.

According to the CDC, the word "zombie" comes from Haitian and New Orleans voodoo.

"The rise of zombies in pop culture has given credence to the idea that a zombie apocalypse could happen," the government agency said.

The CDC said Harvard psychiatrist Steven Schlozman wrote a fictional medical paper on the zombies in the movie "Night of the Living Dead," blaming their condition on Ataxic Neurodegenerative Satiety Deficiency Syndrome caused by an infectious agent.

The video game "Resident Evil" has as the genesis of its zombies a secret bio-weapons project and something called a "t-virus" that runs amok among humans.

Whatever the cause of their condition, zombies are an easy target, so to speak. Vampires in movies such as "Twilight" and the TV series "True Blood" retain some of their humanity, and definitely some sexuality.

"I think the shift toward zombies as our collective enemy is easier," Gibson said. "They are not as humanized. They are purely the mirror of the darkest parts of our human self."

"Zombie apocalypse" recently was one of Google’s most-searched terms after a man in Florida was dubbed a zombie when he bizarrely chewed off part of another man’s face May 26. A separate case of cannibalism added fuel to the fire.

"Generationally, (zombies are) particularly interesting and kind of spreading among people of my generation," said Brenden Burk, a 23-year-old UH student from Maui.

The recent cases of cannibalism make zombies seem a little more real, he said.

"It’s kind of an interest that’s always been there," Burk said, "but I guess the fact that people are seeing it as not so much as fantasy anymore, because there’s actually some type of real-world incident and application of the movies, of the games and things like that, and that’s why there’s renewed discussion about it."

The craze for all things zombie has Hornady’s Zombie Max ammunition flying off gun shop shelves.

X-Ring Security’s Takaba said he’s been going through 15 cases with 500 rounds in a case every couple of months. The ammunition — pistol and rifle rounds with a green tip and shotgun shells emblazoned with "Zombie Max" — is quality stuff, but it’s the graphics that grab people’s attention.

"(Buyers) just say it’s cool and they want one for the box. Just for the novelty of it," Takaba said.

The 12-gauge shotgun-and-chain saw combination was created to draw attention at gun shows, he said. Takaba said he’s got some zombie targets coming in.

There’s a lot of worry working on people, Takaba observed.

"You’ve got the guys that think the world is coming to an end in December — that’s the doomsday preppers. You’ve got the zombie fanatics, and then you’ve got the guys worried about guns being banned," he said.

What does Takaba think about zombie mania?

"I think it’s great for business. That’s what I think," he said.