@G the only way to fight a zombie close up is if you have a knife, the zombie rushes at you and hits you, thats when you use the knife against it, if youre still alive. and if you find a knife. use the knife as a last resort! but be aware of one thing. sometimes the game physics might mess up and disallow you to knife the zombie. so when that occurs, you either run, or use your pistol or whatever.