Zombie Invasion! What would you do?

[The Falling Reverend]

Lets just say the dead start coming back to life and eating the living. How would you defend yourself against the undead?

First thing I would grab my hammer,crowbar,bat, and that piece of metal pipe I found in the yard. Next I would head over to the apartment next door(they have guns) and join forces with them.

Now its time to get moving. The dry storage building for the resturant I used to work at would be the perfect fortress to ride out the uprising. Steel security doors, plenty of food and water, access to the maintnence room(tools, more weapons, ect.) and the best part is the liquor storage room. After securing the building its time to cut a hole in the roof for some fresh air, set up some lawn chairs and watch the zombies do their thing.

If I can't get to the resturant then its time for a tent house on my roof. It's nice and flat and out of zombie reach. But that would be rather unpleasant seeing as the only food currently in my house is garlic ,a box of hamburger helper, and a can of artichoke hearts.

Are you ready for the Zombies?

oh yeah, I'm using the original slow moving Romero zombies, not these newfangled running ones.

[Bobotheoptimist]

You think I'm going to tell everyone my zombie plan? Forget it!

Everyone should have a plan though, it's good to see people thinking about this.

[VarlosZ]

I'm in New York, so I don't think staying put and riding out the storm is going to be an option. Too many zombies, and too many survivors trying to survive on a relatively small amount of stored food. I'd probably try to walk across the George Washington Bridge and get bitten in the process as all the fleeing infected begin re-animating in the middle of the crowd.

So I guess I don't have a very good plan.

[alphaboi867]

...Now its time to get moving. The dry storage building for the resturant I used to work at would be the perfect fortress to ride out the uprising. Steel security doors, plenty of food and water, access to the maintnence room(tools, more weapons, ect.) and the best part is the liquor storage room. After securing the building its time to cut a hole in the roof for some fresh air, set up some lawn chairs and watch the zombies do their thing...

How long do you plan on staying. The power will eventually fail (even if it's nuclear ;), you'll run out of fuel for the generator, and use up your supply of water. Meanwhile the zombies will still be outside trying to get in. They can't starve, get dehydrated, or tire. You'd need to be far enough north that they'd freeze solid. Zombies appear to decay much slower than a real corpse.

[Larry Borgia]

I follow trends, so I'd probably just become a zombie.

[SuntanTigerTamer]

I would just be happy that I can finally wander around outside in dirty old boxers, moaning and pawing at ladies without being judged for it.

I'm already practicing my "BRAAAAAAAAIIIIINNNNNNNSSSSSS......"

[nikonikosuru]

I'm currently using Left 4 Dead as my guide. It's an excellent training tool. Now all I need to complete my party is a senior citizen war veteran, a spunky white collar African-American, and a biker guy. Apply within. :D

[Baldwin]

I'd make sure I knew where my crowbar, 6-pound sledge, machete, battle-axe and swords are. But the best wasy to deal with zombies is to stay away from them. I wonder if I could make it to Dobbins AFB?

Note: if it's a George Romero zombie scenario, then everybody who dies for any reason not involving massive brain trauma -- heart attack, stabbing, cancer, choking on hot dog -- will rise as the undead. So if you notice somebody getting a slight case of the deads, make sure to destroy his brain. It's common courtesy.

[WormTheRed]

I've been thinking about this. Am reading WWZ again and yet again finding out that my beautiful island is going to become a major white zone (but why can't he write more about Iceland?).

I think my best bet would be to head for a glacier, trying to take whatever goods I can with me. At least I'll freeze to death before I become a Zombie :(

[Terrifel]

Funny, I had a dream about just this subject last night. (Although now that I think about it, I suspect that if I went back and studied my dream journal closely I'd discover that probably 5-12% of all my dreams involve the zombie apocalypse. So maybe it's not that big a coincidence after all.)

Anyway, in the dream, my family all gathered together at my parents' house and fortified it into a zombie-proof stronghold. We planned to wait out the siege from there, but alas a few of the zombies had retained human-like intelligence and managed to force an entrance using tools and weapons. We then had no choice but to psychically evolve ourselves into a superhuman species that was both immune to zombie infection and invulnerable to gunfire, and could then easily dispatch zombies hand-to-hand.

Why didn't we do that to begin with, instead of wasting all that time barricading the house? Obviously, this was only a dream. In real life I'd definitely choose to evolve superhuman powers at the first sign of crisis.

[drastic_quench]

Evaluate your situation: flee or hunker down. Fighting during the outbreak would likely get you killed or turned.

I'd hunker down first. Seems to me, if you flee during the outbreak you've not only got to contend with zombies, but you've got to deal with humanity at its worst. Waiting until most folks are eaten or undead simplifies your survival tactics, I think. For all the chaos they bring, zombies play by some rules. Once you've figured out what tricks them, what they're drawn to, and how to kill them - you've got them pegged. You just never know what to expect from people.

I live in on the second floor of a house. So, for the short term, I'd try to barricade the first floor entry to my stairwell. Then I'd rip out the entire stairwell (just wood and nails, piece of cake). Then I'd fill all my storage Rubber Maid tubs with tap water. It might go stagnant, but I could boil it over a controlled wood fire camping stove and filter it with coffee filters. I've got a regular stocked pantry that would last for maybe a couple months or more (at ration levels).

One thing rarely considered and addressed in zombie situations is the threat of fire. With the local FD likely chowing down on brains (along with most other emergency responders) a simple fire could spread unchecked and threaten entire towns and cities. The topography of my place makes fire risk low, but other people could do everything right and still be killed in their homes by fire. Sucks.

So I'd stay at home with my immediate family and live in near-silence for a couple months while planning our flight. By auto, we'd have to siphon lots of gas. If some horses survived in nearby farms, horseback would be a very cool and practical mode of transport. Heading up into the great Canadian wilderness and seeking out an unused cabin hundreds of miles down logging roads sounds damn tempting.

The old island solution would be great as well. With enough survivors, I've always though cleaning out Mackinac Island on Lake Huron would be badass. We could gorge on fudge, stay in a great hotel, and ride horses all day.

[Lumpy]

Is this an "all dead reanimate" zombie apocalypse, that means that there are suddenly hundreds if not thousands of zombies in my immediate location? Or a World War Z type pandemic, where the plague takes days weeks or months to build up?

Whichever, let's say that after minimal warning zombies start being a major problem. First thing is to acquire weapons. I'd get my gun, my crowbar and maybe my ax (I have a sledgehammer but I don't think I'm strong enough to wield it effectively). Get over to the gun store if I still can to obtain spare guns and as much ammo as I can. If the gun store is looted/ destroyed/ shooting everyone who approaches, many stores with a sporting goods department carry at least shotguns and shells. Swing by the hardware store for a machete and miscellaneous supplies.

If anyone is organizing a resistance or defense zone I try to join up. If I'm on my own, a lot depends on the situation: am I having to fight off the occasional undead mugger, or are mobs of hundreds of zombies roaming about? Is the government still functioning in a state of emergecy? Are soliders trying to enforce too little-too late quarantine measures? Has all organization broken down? Is the city on fire? Being bombed by the Air Force?

I doubt I'd try to leave the city, unless it was absolutely unsurvivable. Where would I go? I have no survival skills and would be completely dependent on what tools and supplies I could scavenge. And anyway, the roads would be clogged with refugees, all trying to get somewhere safe (like where?). My survival plan would be try to find a safe place to hole up, and scrounge for food, supplies and equipment where I could.

Chances of survival: iffy to poor. But hey, I tried my best and if I kill even two zombies I helped the zombie problem more than I added to it.

[Bobotheoptimist]

I recommend you don't plan to escape to Alaska, for although zombies have no body heat and will freeze into corpse-sicles, for most of us we'll never make it - The major freeways will be choked with stalled cars of people trying to flee population centers.

[Terrifel]

Dream journal update: Tonight, I learned that if you can transform yourself into a dragon, the children are going to demand dragon rides. It matters not one whit if you happen to be the incarnation of Crown Prince Carl Gustavus, who fought a giant during his last incarnation cycle and is destined to battle Nazis in the next; just make with the dragon rides, pal.


Admittedly tonight's lesson has no direct application to zombies, and I therefore apologize for the slight hijack. However, those who properly value such oneiromantic insight will forgive me when they are wisely choosing to psychically evolve superhuman invulnerability during the zombie apocalypse. Also, if you happen to have the ability to transform yourself into a dragon instead, I see no reason to doubt that this would make an excellent anti-zombie tactic as well. Spiritual heirs of his Royal Highness Carl Gustavus the Draconthropic, take heed.

[FriarTed]

Have my friends shoot me & leave me for Zombie Chow while they flee for safety.

[The Falling Reverend]

How long do you plan on staying. The power will eventually fail (even if it's nuclear ;), you'll run out of fuel for the generator, and use up your supply of water. Meanwhile the zombies will still be outside trying to get in. They can't starve, get dehydrated, or tire. You'd need to be far enough north that they'd freeze solid. Zombies appear to decay much slower than a real corpse.

Oh this place is stocked. And I mean stocked. There is enough food and bottled water for a few people for at least a couple of months. And if we happen to run out of water, thats what my "hole in the roof" idea is for. And if nothing else, the ocean is only about 50 feet away. At least desalinizing sea water would help pass the time. Also if I can make it to Patrick AFB I'm all set.

[Darkhold]

Zombie Logistics are simply nonsense anyway. There's not enough viable corpses to make a real threat to humanity. Hospitals and morgues would be screwed over yeah but within a day police/army/gun nuts would have shot and killed most of them simple containment of newly dead from then on would keep other outbreaks to a minimum. We're simply too smart too well armed and not enough of us are newly dead (even if we were being attacked) for things to get too out of control IMO.

I guess it depends on what type of outbreak you are talking about. If you're talking about Classic slow zombies where the newly dead attack, and people bitten slowly become zombies. No problem. The newer faster zombies, where people bitten become zombies in pretty short order. Bigger problem more danger but still pretty easy to stay out of the danger zones until it's sorted. Or a new type of zombie for just this thread where the infection is easier to spread and the zombies are somewhat more intelligent, now this could be interesting.

[RandMcnally]

I guess it depends on what type of outbreak you are talking about. If you're talking about Classic slow zombies where the newly dead attack, and people bitten slowly become zombies. No problem. The newer faster zombies, where people bitten become zombies in pretty short order.

I think the type of zombies which would be the closest to eradicating mankind are the virus zombies from Brooks. I say this because being infected is easier to hide and also easier for there to be a government cover up until it reaches a point to where there's a huge explosion. I.E.: The great panic.

[alphaboi867]

I think the type of zombies which would be the closest to eradicating mankind are the virus zombies from Brooks. I say this because being infected is easier to hide and also easier for there to be a government cover up until it reaches a point to where there's a huge explosion. I.E.: The great panic.

At least with Brooks zombies there's a virus to be contained. With Romero zombies one day everthing is normal, the next day everybody who dies reanimates. Everyone, no matter how secure your walled city, no matter how carefully you screen people you can't stop someone from dropping dead or dying in their sleep (who the hell would even want to share a bedroom, let alone a bed in Romero's world).

[Little Nemo]

I'm gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the zombies I see,
I'm gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the zombies I see.
When I kill all the zombies I see, then zombie he won't bother me.

[TWDuke]

Next I would head over to the apartment next door(they have guns) and join forces with them.Of course they'd probably shoot you, thinking you were a zombie (or maybe just because they could - I don't know your neighbors).But that would be rather unpleasant seeing as the only food currently in my house is garlic ,a box of hamburger helper, and a can of artichoke hearts.The garlic could come in handy if they're Matheson-style zombies. (If Romero's ghouls are zombies, so are Matheson's viral vampires.)

[Max Torque]

One subject that doesn't seem to have been treated much: let's say we're talking about real zombies, as in "dead people walking around", rather than "people infected with rage/super-rabies/whatever". So, the type where the body is dead, but the brain keeps it moving somehow, and individual body parts don't have a life of their own.

Being that they're dead, they should decompose, right? So, after maybe a month or so, all the zombies that were created in that first wave should be more or less falling apart, their muscles too ragged to hold their skeletons together, their connective tissues dried out and crumbling. In that case, all we'd have to do is wait it out, a month, maybe two, and the problem resolves itself, right?

[Left Hand of Dorkness]

One subject that doesn't seem to have been treated much: let's say we're talking about real zombies, as in "dead people walking around", rather than "people infected with rage/super-rabies/whatever". So, the type where the body is dead, but the brain keeps it moving somehow, and individual body parts don't have a life of their own.

Being that they're dead, they should decompose, right? So, after maybe a month or so, all the zombies that were created in that first wave should be more or less falling apart, their muscles too ragged to hold their skeletons together, their connective tissues dried out and crumbling. In that case, all we'd have to do is wait it out, a month, maybe two, and the problem resolves itself, right?
It depends: whatever is enabling their bodies to continue moving around may also prevent decay.

I wrote a little song awhile ago to remind myself of my zombie plan:

Inch by inch, hill by hill
We're gonna fight these zombies 'til
There's no more zombies left to kill
And no more cries of "BRAINNNNNS!"

House by house, town by town
We're gonna take these zombies down
Pile them up in a great big mound
And send them up in flames.

Daniel

[Yllaria]

. . . I suspect that if I went back and studied my dream journal closely I'd discover that probably 5-12% of all my dreams involve the zombie apocalypse. . .

:eek:

[MN_Maenad]

My survival plan would be try to find a safe place to hole up, and scrounge for food, supplies and equipment where I could.
Come over to our house - we've got a lot of windows and are on somewhat high ground, so you can easily shoot any zombies that approach. Some of our friends are gun nuts, so there's plenty of weaponry.

Added to that, we've got a lake in the backyard and ceramic water filters from camping, so our water supplies are good. The wine cellar/root cellar has wine and canned food, there's firewood nearby to keep warm, and my mom, the Master Gardener, will be there to help us learn how to grow our own veggies. The difficult part will be in knowing whether or not the zombies are smart enough to destroy peoples' gardens. That's the current hang-up in our plan.

[Lightnin']

I know where my crowbar is.

I'd do my very best to get to the local CostCo. It's very easy to defend (with door shutters and no windows) and is stocked with plenty of food. There's also a nice flat roof with no direct ground access, and lots of space inside to fortify. The only problems are that there aren't any guns and I imagine I wouldn't be the only one trying to get there.

[Terrifel]

Being that they're dead, they should decompose, right? Yeah, well... being that they're dead, they shouldn't be walking around either.

:eek:I know. I can't explain it. For whatever reason, I tend to have extremely low-budget genre dreams.

[CheapBastid]

I'd do my very best to get to the local CostCo. It's very easy to defend (with door shutters and no windows) and is stocked with plenty of food. There's also a nice flat roof with no direct ground access, and lots of space inside to fortify. The only problems are that there aren't any guns and I imagine I wouldn't be the only one trying to get there.Rookie move (http://zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13017)

[Lightnin']

Rookie move (http://zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13017)

I disagree. There really aren't many of us who have thought about, and mentally prepared for, the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse. Most people will insist on barricading themselves in their (poorly stocked and nearly defenseless) homes.

Of course, my plan is only a good one if the store is currently closed. If the undead start walking at night, CostCo would be a fantastic place to go. If the store is open when the hordes of undead are unleashed, it'll be full of poorly-prepared zombiesnacks. A simple drive-by will confirm whether it's filled with edibles for humans or for zombies.

If the store is occupied, I keep heading past the store, into the mountains. Get above the snowline, and for a good portion of the year 'round these parts, all you'll get will be zombiecicles. There's a nice ski resort within easy driving distance, and even biking the distance (~25 miles, relatively easy slope) wouldn't be that hard.

[Terrifel]

If the store is open when the hordes of undead are unleashed, it'll be full of poorly-prepared zombiesnacks. A simple drive-by will confirm whether it's filled with edibles for humans or for zombies."A simple drive-by?" Just going to pop by CostCo in the midst of the zombie apocalypse, are we?

"Well, dag nab it, the dead appear to be rising from the grave to feast on the living. Guess I'd better hop in the Bonneville and swing by the CostCo to see if it's swarming with ravenous undead. Maybe I'll grab a McRib too if the traffic's not too bad."


Man, you are SO dead. You might as well just turn in your flesh right now.

[Little Bird]

We're simply too smart too well armed and not enough of us are newly dead (even if we were being attacked) for things to get too out of control IMO.
Hubris is always Man's fatal flaw in Zombie attacks. ;)

My house is on a hill, and has wooden stairs to the two doors on the main floor. The main floor windows are all at least 6 feet above the ground and the basement windows are all those little horizontal just above the ground things that should be easily fortify able. I think we would be good to live here for some time, we live in a town of 60k, so we don't have the population density to create really huge mobs so the initial wave should be pretty easy to ride out.

Once the initial wave has passed we have plans to hit the nearby farm supply store for guns/ammo, clothing, food, etc. It should be easily fortify able--so if we want to stay there we can. There is also a warehouse to supply that store a few miles out of town which would also be a good place to supply up. I doubt the majority of the people here know about it, prolly just the employees.

If we are in this for the long haul, I'm gonna take as many supplies as I can and move into my old high school. There is a huge courtyard, as well as the fenced in football field that would be great for growing crops. There will be plenty of rooms for housing survivors in small family units, which would be good for morale.

[Hero From Sector 7G]

I have to agree with the assessment that any place with supplies will be a foolish death trap. People naturally go to the store in the event of ANY potential disaster, it won't be different during the zombie outbreak.

The best case scenario is you get there first. What do you do? You only have a few moments before the crowd arrives, and they will be grabbing everything they can too. Even worse, one of them WILL be infected. It is a matter of time before every store is simply a zombie pit.

In reality, there is no way you will be the first to know. By the time you hear the news, Wal-Mart will be even more Zombie filled than it usually is.

Really, I think the best plan is to just lay low and barricade your own home. I think at any given moment I probably have enough to sustain myself for a week. Sure I'd be eating catsup on dogfood at the end, but I could get through. After a week and everyone is zombified, than the scouting begins. Wait 'till things look clear, raid my neighbors' supplies, and keep house jumping like that.

In a zombie outbreak I think all people, alive and dead, are the enemy. Simply staying quiet and alone is the key to survival.

[Kamino Neko]

Start eating people to blend in.

[mswas]

I'm in New York, so I don't think staying put and riding out the storm is going to be an option. Too many zombies, and too many survivors trying to survive on a relatively small amount of stored food. I'd probably try to walk across the George Washington Bridge and get bitten in the process as all the fleeing infected begin re-animating in the middle of the crowd.

So I guess I don't have a very good plan.

Actually it would be a relatively large amount of stored food if you think that the stores are stocked with feeding millions of people in mind, but there was a sudden die-off of millions.

[Arjuna34]

First I'd dust off my copy of the Zombie Survival Guide (http://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/1400049628/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231988658&sr=8-1).

[Geek Mecha]

I also had a zombie dream the other night. Except these were leaping zombies. I was on the second-floor roof of a mall, looking over into the parking lot, which was being overrun with zombies. One leaped up and started gnawing the neck and shoulder of this guy next to me. I remember thinking, damn, if that guy had laid low, I'd have had a great hiding spot. They'd have needed zombie helicopters to see me up here.

That probably means if a real zombie apocalypse hit, I'd be dead meat. I don't have the survival instincts.

[mswas]

Well since I am in New York city the first order of business would be to fortify a building. My friend's coop has generators of its own but it's way downtown. The trick would be getting downtown. I'd probably want to wait it out uptown until some of the chaos has died down, IE enough zombies have been killed in the panic.

There would be no reason to worry about vehicles because plenty of vehicles would have their keys in them and you could just raid an apartment building or corpses for keys and go to a parking lot until you find the vehicle that matches a set of keys. You'd have vehicles until basically the gas and oil in the engines spoil. This would also be your fuel for your generators.

The initial panic would result in people raiding the local supermarkets, this is true, BUT as the people die off there would be canned goods in every apartment. Remember Zombies don't need eat Campbell's soup or Ramen noodles. So there would be plenty of food to eat for a good long while.

If you can clear one whole building you can create a castle of sorts where you can build a community. Once one is secure, you clear another, and then another, and then another. There will likely be plenty of dead cops and empty police stations. Getting ahold of ammunition shouldn't be too difficult.

The biggest problem would be the initial couple of weeks. You'd have to work to organize groups of people, and you'd have to systematically work to keep zombies at bay. People would have to organize into assault teams and learn to fight together very quickly. You'd also have to make it a point to kill a few zombies every day in the hopes that with enough people doing that you'd eventually rid Manhattan of its zombies.

Your next big challenge will be the Mad Max phase where some people become total nihilists and just prey on each other. They may as well be zombies but they're just basically feral humans. It's imperative to get hydroponic greenhouses in effect. This should not be difficult as you will be sitting on top of the world's greatest library.

Once Manhattan is liberated you can build an autonomous city state from which you can rebuild civilization. It comes complete with a natural moat, so that provides you with good defenses and you can get people from the surrounding countryside to settle there. It also will have the world's greatest stock of salvageable parts to build whatever you need.