Some Americans are making preparations for World War Z.

Discovery Channel has ordered the documentary special Zombie Apocalypse, which examines whether a walking dead-style invasion is actually possible and introduces a quartet of people from various backgrounds who are readying themselves, just in case.

Discovery points to the popularity of AMC’s drama The Walking Dead and a recent string of headlines about cannibalistic flesh-eating attacks from intoxicated perpetrators as having infected the zeitgeist with a certain degree of zombie paranoia.

The special interviews four Americans with varying beliefs about the likelihood of a zombie outbreak, including a mother teaching her children to fight zombies who’s fortifying her home to thwart an attack, and the founder of the Kansas “Anti-Zombie Militia” who has a secret location stockpiled with all the supplies necessary to keep him alive during the apocalypse.

Moreover, the special claims a zombie-like pandemic is possible, though obviously without actually making the dead rise from their graves. “The most likely ideology for a zombie pandemic would be a viral outbreak, a mutated contagion most likely a virus,” says Dr. Steven Scholzman of Harvard Medical School. “Viruses are fascinating organisms and would be very effective at changing us into something approaching the zombies … They use our DNA they rely on us to spread themselves, so it fits right into the model of zombie pandemic.”

Zombie Apocalypse airs Tuesday, Dec. 18 on Discovery.