This is the main problem with the game at the moment. "You don't need an axe, if a zombie sees you from 150m away, just exploit the buggy behaviour of zombies! Run through a building, run to the docks or zig zag up a hill!" I don't think this is how the game should function. Without a weapon, you should always die for aggroing a zombie. Thus, you should start with a weapon to avoid such an annoying system. The only reason you don't need a weapon is because you can exploit the bugginess of zombies. You can run into town, aggro heaps of zombies, run into a building, pick up some loot then carry on as if nothing is happening. If any follow, just rinse and repeat. Once you have a hatchet go to the dock and kill them one by one with zero risk to your life. So I guess until zombies can present a real threat in all situation, we don't need a weapon. But, we should need a weapon, because zombies are meant to be threatening.