How would you survive a Zombie Apocalypse.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

Yeah, you can pick up water bottles, but have you look at them? They have expirations dates?

For one, there are dozens of wells, including hand-pumped ones, within a few miles of the city in the Hudderite settlements.

You plan on depending on them for that long? What happens when you drink all the water in the city? Cheetoes and Corn chips do not a balanced diet make.

You are aware that there is agriculture going on right now? In addition to canned fruits and vegetables, frozen fruits and vegetables, and of course, vitamin pills.

Someone suggested on eating only 1500-2000 calories a day. Do you know how hard that is in a first world nation, where food flows freely? I'd tear through the MREs in a forth of the time they should last me out of boredom.

I eat less than that each day. Besides, hiding out in a bomb shelter or mountain won't be the most strenuous and active living. Sloth will prevent my metabolism from getting too hungry.

Unless your from a family of farmers or live in an area where you scratch a living from nothing, there is no hope. Especially with the 20 mile travel limit.

How do you figure? There are massive - and I mean massive- stockpiles of food in every urban centre, and in most small towns, for that matter.

The majority of people live on the east or west coast near major urban centers. 20 miles from home still keeps you in one of these urban centers.

Well, too bad for them. Unfortunately for your point, many of us don't live on the East coast, and some of us have empty farmland 5 miles from their homes.

[Feil]

I live in rural Maine. I pick a nice place for a shack 20 miles from my house in the woods near a source of fresh water. I build the shack. I buy lots of fun amenities for the shack. I wait for seven months, lament the end of indoor plumbing, two-ply toilet paper, and better-living-through-chemistry, and get on with my life.

What's the survival time for the virus outside of a living human? And will iodine tablets kill it?

Is this 90% of every single population sample, or are we talking whole villages, bar one or two people, not being zombiefied?

[Feil]

To expand, if zombiefication is a random process, we're going to get large population clusters that are entirely or almost entirely zombie free. It's like rolling a D-10 six billion times - there are going to be huge streaks of straight 9s. And though that won't help people who live in cities, since the streaks won't be /that/ huge, it's statistically inevitable that there will be numerous small villages left untouched, and many others that were able to contain what was, for them, a minor outbreak, and go on living.

[Chardok]

Okay, with ninety percent of the population, winter claims the human race faster. Okay, maybe not the entirety of the human race, but most first world nations. The scary thing about zombie apocalypse scenarios is that 1st world nations are too soft and pampered to actually survive them.

I will grant that we first worlders may be pampered, but as I said MANY times in the army, humans can get used to just about anything. When necessity or survival is in the driver's seat, even the fattest, slothful piece of shit is a formidable survivor, the human passion to continue breathing is an impressive feature of intelligence, I've always thought even if it's roots lie in "Must live longer so I can fuck again". Never underestimate the power of instinct, too. Even a retard can conjure "Cold nullified by fire, Fire come from spark." Hell, one episode of Survivorman or Man Vs. Wild, is chock full of neat little tips, if you can believe it (And are paying attention beyond just what is show on the pretty glowing box). I learned alot of what they teach before I saw it on the show, and alot of what they show is just common sense, but even seeing it on TV arms you with useful information that may well keep you alive that one extra day so the search party can locate you and not your remains.

We rely heavily on power sent to our houses, water pumped through pipelines and gasoline. Without these amenities, we die fast.

Well, that's just silly. If that were true, why isn't half the population of New Orleans rotting in the streets? Or Miami for that matter c.1992?

Take a look at our current generation of youngster. How many think they could actually survive six months without things being handed to them?

That's the beauty of being a social creature, though, we will have others to rely on for the most part. I personally do not plan on sitting this one out by myself. The social network is a powerful tool, even at it's most basic. The fat, Xbox-playing 14 year old next door you just wrote off may well be an eagle scout.

How about five years? Yeah, you can pick up water bottles, but have you look at them? They have expirations dates?

Bah, expiration dates on sealed bottles or water? Listen, I had a full canteen for fully four months that I never cracked and when I did, I chug-alugged to my heart's content and I'm still here. Anyway, if one is alive for five years, then that person's going to be smart enough not to drink anything he's not personally prepared himself.

You plan on depending on them for that long? What happens when you drink all the water in the city? Cheetoes and Corn chips do not a balanced diet make.

Diet ain't gotta be balanced to survive for six months. Hell, tons of people sit on their asses constantly and do nothing but eat corn chips and drink pepsi for YEARS. yeah, they're fair worthless physically, but a few weeks of good, hard physical labor whips people into shape quick. I should know. I personally went from 230 pounds to 180 in only six months and my diest was mainly Ice cream, beer, a sandwich here and there, and lots of soda. It was hard work at a friggin hot-ass aluminum milling plant at nighttime what chiseled my features then. (I'm sure it helped that I was a mere 22 years old, as well.)

Someone suggested on eating only 1500-2000 calories a day. Do you know how hard that is in a first world nation, where food flows freely?

This I will grant you, but not for your reasons. 1500-2000 calories a day is fine to SURVIVE, but not much else. If you're doing labor in the heat of the day (Presumably building your camp, keeping it up, building fire, digging latrines, fetching water and all that jazz) then You'll burn through 2k calories before the afternoon is out, -depending-. I would say that 2600-3600 calories in a situation like this is what you need to get by and stay healthy.

I'd tear through the MREs in a forth of the time they should last me out of boredom. Unless your from a family of farmers or live in an area where you scratch a living from nothing, there is no hope.

Listen, in a high-stress situation like a zombie apocalypse, there is no such thing as boredom. Your brain is going a mile a minute, and you'll be thinking of ways to survive, shit you can build up, make stronger, how to signal for help. You're not, not even in a bomb shelter, going to just sit there and eat. Unless you're an idiot. and I know YOU are not.

Especially with the 20 mile travel limit. The majority of people live on the east or west coast near major urban centers. 20 miles from home still keeps you in one of these urban centers.

You would be surprised how much a landscape, even an urban one, can change in 20 short miles. 20 miles from the center of San Antonio in any one particular direction, and you can find yourself on a mesa, in a cavern, on a small mountain, in the middle of a field of tall grass, or a rocky desert filled with knee-high cactus and rattlesnakes.


There are loads of ways even your average non-military-trained normally sedentery, semi-intelligent knuckle dragger can make it out of a zombie apocalypse. In fact, I've not seen one zombie movie yet where the survivors got it right. Think about that. Just knowing what you know about zombie movies arms you with more information than you ever thought of. For instance, Malls=good. As long as the zombies do not know you're there. Rooftops=good. Sniper rifles=good, Shotguns=good, Melee weapons of any kind=baaaaad. Lawnmowers=God mode.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

To expand, if zombiefication is a random process, we're going to get large population clusters that are entirely or almost entirely zombie free. It's like rolling a D-10 six billion times - there are going to be huge streaks of straight 9s. And though that won't help people who live in cities, since the streaks won't be /that/ huge, it's statistically inevitable that there will be numerous small villages left untouched, and many others that were able to contain what was, for them, a minor outbreak, and go on living.

Hopefully that would be correct. As long as any of these 'untouched' villages remained in perfect isolation from the outside world, the chances of any zombie hordes descending upon them would be minimal.

[Feil]

Hopefully that would be correct. As long as any of these 'untouched' villages remained in perfect isolation from the outside world, the chances of any zombie hordes descending upon them would be minimal.

You can bet the death of civilization is going to hit the news. People are going to figure out fast that "human population becoming zombies" and "we are not zombies yet" means "engage isolation mode". They'll probably conclude that they are God's Chosen People or some similar bullshit, lacking any understanding of statistics, but they'll survive well enough.

How long does the incubation period last for our zombie virus? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? A week?

[weemadando]

In my local area - see previous plan, but I find a half constructed block of flats (with the concrete slabs etc in place and it structurally sound but not fitted out) take up residence on an upper floor there and pitch a large tent. I destroy any staircases and get rope ladders if I need one.

[DrMckay]

the anchor. Bring plenty of extra gas and food. Primary weapons will an M14 rifle, set to semi-auto so no ammo is wasted and an M21 rifle with an infrared nightvision scope, to allow for ammo sharing between rifles.

Ah, buddy, the M-21 rifle is simply the sniperised version of the M-14. It's the same weapon.

[Dargos]

With 30 days to prepare, you would have to be a complete idiot or have incredibly bad luck NOT to survive past the 6 month safe mark.

Maxing out your credit and taking large loans out (its not like bill collectors are going to be coming after you in 30 days) will give you the capital needed to acquire and provision an easily defensible and secure bolt hole.

The real task will be surviving AFTER the zombies all rot away and all easily obtainable supplies have been exhausted (on the other hand, with 90%+ of the human population gone and depending on how long it takes for critical supplies (fuel, meds food) to go bad, it could be years before you really need to worry).

[DrMckay]

Fun fantasy, I'll bite;


As for me, I live in a city. I would either hole up in a gun shop with plenty of food, medicine, books, etc or a grocery store with plenty of weaopns and ammo. If I need to go on the run, I would take a 1903 springfield sniper's rifle, (30.06) a Beretta Cx4 Storm Carbine (9mm) and a Colt M1911 (.45)

three of the most common and available types of rounds, and they can be found almost anywhere.

[Duckie]

Three Words-

EGLIN AIRFORCE BASE.

I'm near one of the hugest air force bases on the east coast, chock full of soldiers, a small naval depot, and a shitload of combat material. It's within 10 miles.

As far as defending myself, fuck that, we have no guns and a 1-story house with a shitload of windows. I'm heading for Eglin.

[Duckie]

Three Words-

EGLIN AIRFORCE BASE.

I'm near one of the hugest air force bases on the east coast, chock full of soldiers, a small naval depot, and a shitload of combat material. It's within 10 miles.

As far as defending myself, fuck that, we have no guns and a 1-story house with a shitload of windows. I'm heading for Eglin.

If Eglin is destroyed, mind, I could still hold up in there, but if it's alive that's even better.

Still, that thing must have millions of rounds of ammunition, shitloads of M-16s capable of selective fire, sandbags, gates, improvised barricades, grenades, and a metric ton of MREs. And boats. Put out to sea in a large boat and come back every few days or weeks for supplies. A lot safer than land, as zombies don't swim.

[Darth Tanner]

Well I live 17 miles away from this



So I spend the next 30 days moving the contents of the local Tesco inside Warwick Castle and probably see if I can stock up on some solar power equipment and some means to filter and treat water. Sufficient tools and seeds to start farming veg would be helpful as well.

Probably going to have to admit others inside however for the survival of the species as well as company for 6 months so perhaps lock them in the dungeons until after the arbitrary 90% turn event. (Need a chemical suit to carry the zombie bodies out)

The one problem I see is that it would be practically impossible to get hold of a gun, unless I just hang about the streets of London waiting for 'gangsters' to offer me one. If that fails get hold of a crossbow, much easier to make my own ammunition for it afterwards anyway.

[The Vortex Empire]

How long does the incubation period last for our zombie virus? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? A week?

Incubation Period for this strain is 1 day. If you get infected, you have one day to shoot yourself.

[Alferd Packer]

With 30 days lead time, I buy a brand-new 3/4 ton 4X4 pickup truck, preferably diesel. Since I can't go more than 20 miles, this is going to be my escape vehicle after the zombies have rotted away come next spring. I break it in by doing supply runs; I'll easily put 75 miles per day on it, which will be more than enough to break the motor and drivetrain in. Once I've gathered enough fuel to travel 2000 miles without having to scavenge, I essentially stow it for later.

As for where to hole up, I'd scope out houses in the countryside that have steps leading up to their front door and a detatched garage for storing the truck. If possible, I'd select one that was unoccupied.

Other supplies would include, of course, vitamins, MREs, a variety of hand tools and power tools (battery-operated), fire extinguishers, and a lot of water. I would purchase probably a shotgun, as I believe it's not possible to buy a handgun with only 30 days lead time in NJ (but I'm not sure).

On day 29, a few hours before it happens, it's time to head out. I go out to the house in question and gain entry via the front door. Even if I have to break in, it's no big deal, because I'm going to be barricading it anyway.

I then dismantle the steps leading up to the doors of the house. A random zombie may decide to try to get in, but with the door five feet off the ground, it won't be able to manage very well. Next step is to board up any basement and ground level windows, from without and from within. If I was smart, I would've pre-cut the necessary lumber, so all I have to do is shoot the screws into place.

When the shit hits the fan, the ground level of the house should be impervious to a zombie attack. Since these are Dawn of the Dead Zombies, they're only going to aimlessly mill around anyway, unless they think I'm within arm's reach.

Now, I and my wife sit, and we wait. I fill up every sink and tub in the joint. Hell, I even fill up the washing machine. I fill up every bin, cup, pitcher, flower pot, and container. This will be our washing and bathing water, as well as water in case of a fire. Drinking water will come from bottles, purchased ahead of time. If, for some reason, we run low, we'll still have all that other water to drink in a pinch.

Getting through the winter is going to be difficult. If the zombies do indeed freeze solid, though, then foraging for wood and food won't be a problem. Hell, I could probably find a gas-operated generator to run the house's oil or natural gas burner.

Assuming we remain vigilant, keep clean, and are reasonably lucky, we'll be through the winter, and the zombies will have rotted. Now, it's time leave. After changing all the fluids and the battery, we load up and head south, to live the rest of our days in quiet isolation in the Florida Keys.

[Chardok]

<snip>

You're going to have a rough go of it storing 6 months worth of water in a house. Anyone who doesn't head for a natural source of water is toast if you ask me. You're going to have to venture out for water soon...

RE: MRDOD -

If Eglin is chock full of soldiers, we can assume that 90% of them are zombified. You're going to have a real chore getting near enough to an armory to get at the weapons and whatnot before you have your face liberated by OMFGTEHZOMBIES

[Hotfoot]

A prison would be ideal. Simply lock up everyone in a cell, wait for the change, then shoot everyone that is infected. Lock down the building to keep the ghouls out, and use the food stores that would normally feed a much larger population to feed a much smaller population for a longer period of time. If you're at a prison that has a garden, even better.

The watchtowers of the prison are ideal for picking off zombies from outside at range. The fences and walls designed to keep inmates in will work wonderfully to keep zombies out, and there are usually helipads for rescuers to save you if it comes to that.

[Duckie]

RE: MRDOD -

If Eglin is chock full of soldiers, we can assume that 90% of them are zombified. You're going to have a real chore getting near enough to an armory to get at the weapons and whatnot before you have your face liberated by OMFGTEHZOMBIES

Ah, but once 90% of the soldiers eat 10%, they'll wander off the base and out into the miles of wilderness and bombing range flatlands in search of new prey.

If I wait a bit before fleeing to there by setting up a secondary camp somewhere, it'll be a ghost town. Further, Eglin isn't a fortress, it's far more spread out. Said soldiers won't be any more dense than any other part of the world, I might as well pick the one with the most guns per capita short of Freetown Montana.

[Duckie]

Edit- Are these zombies assumed to kill everything but you they encounter, or can sufficiently organized defense defeat them even if you're an NPC? Because I can't see, bezerker speed or not, crazy dudes with fists defeating guys with guns.

Especially not when said guys with guns have all sorts of fun toys, including helicopter gunships (at least 2, I'm sure there's a lot more). If one of those gets up in the air, it has FLIR and can rain death down on anything to redeadinate it.

[The Vortex Empire]

Edit- Are these zombies assumed to kill everything but you they encounter, or can sufficiently organized defense defeat them even if you're an NPC? Because I can't see, bezerker speed or not, crazy dudes with fists defeating guys with guns.

Especially not when said guys with guns have all sorts of fun toys, including helicopter gunships (at least 2, I'm sure there's a lot more). If one of those gets up in the air, it has FLIR and can rain death down on anything to redeadinate it.

It takes place in the real world. If said soldiers in said military base manage to organize a defense, then sure, they survive, however, plenty of them will be waking up with their zombie bunkmate ripping out their trachea.

[Duckie]

It takes place in the real world. If said soldiers in said military base manage to organize a defense, then sure, they survive, however, plenty of them will be waking up with their zombie bunkmate ripping out their trachea.

Since the Zombie story won't be believed, can we also influence events by informing them of an overheard conversation that seemed rather sinister between two people (one short arab, one tall white male)?

Placing the base on at least a casual level of alert would improve the survival chances of the base.

[The Vortex Empire]

It takes place in the real world. If said soldiers in said military base manage to organize a defense, then sure, they survive, however, plenty of them will be waking up with their zombie bunkmate ripping out their trachea.

Since the Zombie story won't be believed, can we also influence events by informing them of an overheard conversation that seemed rather sinister between two people (one short arab, one tall white male)?

Placing the base on at least a casual level of alert would improve the survival chances of the base.

It could, yes. There's still the possibility of the surviving soldiers being overwhelmed, though. How would you react if suddenly, 90% of the soldiers on base were flesh-eating monsters?

[The Vortex Empire]

MAKESHIFT EDIT: Though it's a stretch to say that the equivelent of unarmed crazy people will overwhelm trained soldiers, even with the numerical advantage.

[Alferd Packer]

<snip>

You're going to have a rough go of it storing 6 months worth of water in a house. Anyone who doesn't head for a natural source of water is toast if you ask me. You're going to have to venture out for water soon...

Well, assume two liters per person per day for drinking water. That's four liters for myself and my wife. For 180 days, that's 720 liters of water. Call it 800 to be safe. You could easily get that in a single trip to a Costco or a BJ's.

The water in the tubs, sinks, washing machine, pots/pans/pitchers, however, would be for all the other uses. Sure, this is silly, but so is being limited to 20 miles away from where I live. If I had my druthers, I'd be chilling down in the Florida Keys on, like, day 2. At least down there, all the houses are on stilts.

[Feil]

There's this nice, natural source of fresh water called the sky that you can access if you have a roof, gutters, and a few buckets, and don't live in a desert or under a haze of smog. Guaranteed 100% virus free, at that.