The Zombie Apocalypse Thread

[Keab42]

Post your survival plans, tips and advice here.

[Bebop Man]

Shoot 'em in the head.

[The Jester]

Billhoooks and running, mostly. And hoping that it's a slow, biological kind of zombie apocalypse. Fast/transformative zombies, or supernatural zombies would make things much more difficult to deal with.

[Duckay]

Firstly I believe we need to establish a few things. How quickly has this come on, where are we when it happens, and do we have a reasonable expectation that emergency services can clear out the place if we can survive the first few days or even weeks?

[Lyinginbedmon]

Secure the immediate perimeter
Stock up on supplies
Assess the ongoing situation
Expand the perimeter as such becomes tenable without straining resources
Long-term, re-establish sustainable farming methods and rebuild technology and medical capabilities.

[Duckay]

Say it happens while I am at or near home, and I have a reasonable expectation of the police/military handling it if I can survive the first period. I hole up in my apartment, securing the front door of my unit, and don't let anyone in under any circumstances. I prepare what household goods I have as an impromptu weapon if something breaks through.

If I'm at work, I barricade the property and safeguard the clients in case of emergency. This is still assuming that there is a reasonable expectation of rescue.

If I am out somewhere or there is not an expectation of rescue, I wait indoors somewhere safe until the first wave dies down, so I'm not stuck in traffic. Then I pack as many goods I can into my vehicle and go bush. Find another group of survivors and work to rebuild a livable environment.

[Ptangmatik]

I spend so much time running in training for exactly this reason (among a few others)

I'm also fairly handy with an axe, hatchet, knives and blade sharpener.

Also, I have a good wool overcoat that would be serious trouble to bite through. I've got good gardening gloves, excellent running trainers and decent walking boots.

Finally, I have an excellent supply of duct tape, worcester sauce, cereal and whisky.

[My pseudonym is Ix]

First step, resources. Something like this is only going to escalate and stocking up now is gonna be a lot easier than doing it later. Priorities are tinned food, tools, porridge oats, potatoes and water. All will last and provide good service.

Second step, hole up. The outside is dangerous. Get all the food and water I or my little group can muster, barricade ourselves into somewhere with thick walls and as few windows as physically possible and wait for as long as possible in the hope the first wave dies down or rescue becomes an option. Depending on the zombies' observed reading ability, write a sign or message of some form to indicate to any potential rescuers or fellow survivors our presence. If zombies can read, do it in binary or another simple code.

Third step; when resources begin to run low, make tentative exploratory missions. If it is practical to loot nearby locations, this would seem a first priority. Hopefully acquire a radio system and a map in an effort to make contact with other survivors and find a better, more permanent location for the long term. If possible, try to acquire bicycles too; they require no fuel, allow you to move fast with little energy expenditure and can go just about anywhere.

From there, it's a bit trickier to predict what's going to happen

[Ptangmatik]

Oh, also lx, make sure you have a good way of collecting, keeping and sanitising rainwater. Silverware does wonders here, it's a natural germ killer, keep a few pieces in the water butt and be sure to stir it occasionally.

If zombies can read, do it in binary or another simple code.

(The code you were thinking of was Morse)

[viscomica]

Honestly, I would just hide in the mountains, in a chilly near the top spot (provided I had food supply and lots of winter equipement). I mean, zombies are scary and all, but when it comes down to, they are rotten corpses... I don't think the "rotting" thing would just stop because of the zombie thing going on. I'd just wait 'til the outbreak is over. I give them a year at best!

[Lyinginbedmon]

The Walking Dead had an interesting point where winter arrived and zombies froze in place, only to resume their activity once they thawed out. If any got wind of you in the mountains, so to speak, you could be looking at your own personal shambling invasion long before necrosis fully destroys the invaders.

[viscomica]

It's not much a plan, just an idea it needs more thought! But the point is, the zombie invasion can't go on forever!

[Master Gunner]

Just head further north, then. Let permafrost handle them.

[MinniChi]

But if the zombies are frozen in place, or at least severely restricted in their movements and super slow, then destroying them before she is overrun would be possible. Also, a nice cave on a cliff face would be a fairly safe place to make home.

[viscomica]

Yeah! What MinniChi said I'd have a "home sweet home" welcome mat and all

[empath]

Heck, why limit that to just 'incipient zombie apocalypse'?

Get me a decent internet hookup and I'd go for a hermit's cave in a flash.

It's my plan if I ever win the lottery; essentially create a small, self-sustaining 'vault'; the biggest expense would probably be getting an ISP to make (and maintain) a broadband connection from my retreat to their network...

[Drecon]

My plan would be as follows±

1: Scream like a little girl
2: Pray the internet doesn't go out on me

[Metcarfre]

Assuming non-supernatural zombies, hole up for a bit. Any (non-narrative) simulation of non-supernatural zombies has it burning out pretty quick. Predators that take on prey that can easily dispatch them don't last long.

[viscomica]

My plan would be as follows±

1: Scream like a little girl
2: Pray the internet doesn't go out on me

No, not the internet!

(commits seppuku)

[viscomica]

Shoot 'em in the head.

How did I miss this? Nom nom, badass Leon is sooo badass

[NebulosDisconcertion]

This town is kinda redneck, big trucks are widely available.
Brainsuckas go squish now!

Like this, but replace brown with red.
Also there's an army base across town.

[Kapol]

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[Jamfalcon]

Honestly, I think my best bet would be to stay put. I live in a remote area, with probably about 100 people living within a mile. It's a heavily wooded area, but my house is in a clearing, so it's pretty much impossible to approach unseen if someone keeps watch.

As for supplies, there's a well with a hand pump, so even without power, water isn't an issue. There's a good stock of food, a vegetable garden, and chickens, so that's likely enough to feed me and my family. We do have a gun, and while I don't think it's ever been fired, it'd probably see more use as looter deterrent than zombie killing anyway, since we're far enough away from the cities that there likely wouldn't be more than one or two in the area (assuming bite based infection, not airborne). We have lots of reference books on various nature and farm related subjects, so if the problems are longterm, we could easily enough expand our growing to be fully sustainable, assuming we could scavenge seeds and plants from neighbours.

So yeah, assuming it's not a worldwide, airborne, supernatural zombie apocalypse, it's probably a good place to be.

If you're interested, all this zombie talk reminded me of an excellent series Shamus Young wrote earlier this year. Might be some good ideas here.

[Hepheastus]

I grew up in the country and have been shooting shotguns since I was 13. I'm a pretty good shot with a rifle as well, I was in the cadets and have trained on a Lee Enfield 303.
My plan would be to get on a boat and get to Africa. Africa has a low population density, on average only 27 people per square km but more importantly meat putrefies very quickly in hot conditions, a zombie will only exist for a few days, at most in Africa and you won't have to contend with possible months of darkness that you would get in the Arctic

[Ptangmatik]

Are you mad? Africa would be under the control of militias pretty quickly in the event of a global destabilisation that a zombie apocalypse would cause (Not saying that most of the rest of the world would fare any better), you'd be sold into slavery to end your days down a mine if you were lucky. Best to stick to your own country, since air travel would be fairly risky anyway.