# Is it just me, or is everyone approaching zombie invasion completely wrong? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2010, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103 "2010-10-14T07:35:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/21 "2010-10-14T17:09:10Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > Believe it or not (thanks, **EvilTOJ!** ), there’s a whole board dedicated to questions like this - when too stay and how, when to go and how, how to prepare/rebuild. It’s [The Zombie Squad](http://www.zombiehunters.org), and it’s great fun, along with some very practical information preparing for any kind of disaster. I have that site bookmarked, but I refuse to go to it, as I know I will waste way too much time on there. Anywho, getting out of the city is the best idea. You stay in your home, no matter how well stocked or barricaded, sooner or later either someone/thing will break in or you’ll run out of food. And leaving by car is a stupid idea. Traffic will be immediately horrid. Walking would be your best bet, although you’ll want to stay away from the roads, as there will be zombies still trapped in their car. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/22 "2010-10-14T17:10:22Z")
A lot of these points are brought up in the fantastic novel **World War Z.** it mentions that most people who tried to “outlast the zombies” in a fortified place failed, and the key to winning the war was, as **Lust4Life** said, _acting_ against the zombies, going out and killing them _en masse_, rather than just sitting around waiting for them to come to us and hope for the best. It’s a really good book with a nice format (in the style of interviews with several survivors of the war.) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/23 "2010-10-14T17:22:34Z")
I had this idea of setting up camp on top of a water tower, and shooting all the zombies that came by, until the local area was denuded of zombies and there was a huge mound of dead zombies piled around the tower. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/24 "2010-10-14T17:40:43Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > > [@Kolga](#): > > > > Believe it or not (thanks, **EvilTOJ!** ), there’s a whole board dedicated to questions like this - when too stay and how, when to go and how, how to prepare/rebuild. It’s [The Zombie Squad](http://www.zombiehunters.org), and it’s great fun, along with some very practical information preparing for any kind of disaster. > > I have that site bookmarked, but I refuse to go to it, as I know I will waste way too much time on there. > > Anywho, getting out of the city is the best idea. You stay in your home, no matter how well stocked or barricaded, sooner or later either someone/thing will break in or you’ll run out of food. And leaving by car is a stupid idea. Traffic will be immediately horrid. Walking would be your best bet, although you’ll want to stay away from the roads, as there will be zombies still trapped in their car. Would horses be practical? Don’t need to stop for fuel. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/25 "2010-10-14T17:46:25Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > > [@RandMcnally](#): > > > > I have that site bookmarked, but I refuse to go to it, as I know I will waste way too much time on there. > > > > Anywho, getting out of the city is the best idea. You stay in your home, no matter how well stocked or barricaded, sooner or later either someone/thing will break in or you’ll run out of food. And leaving by car is a stupid idea. Traffic will be immediately horrid. Walking would be your best bet, although you’ll want to stay away from the roads, as there will be zombies still trapped in their car. > > Would horses be practical? Don’t need to stop for fuel. Horses gotta eat too, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/26 "2010-10-14T17:51:06Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > > [@bucketybuck](#): > > > > Lets hear it. What would be the best way to get food to Andy? > > > > Assuming that doggie followed by teenager WASNT the best way of course 😉 > > Using an arrow to launch a thin line, used to haul progressively heavier lines (as Uosdwis suggests) is one idea. If the mall has a toy store, there may also be toy rocket kits or remote-controlled model helicopters or planes one might use to get the first thin line passed. If there’s any source of rubber tubing, a catapult could be rigged, using ladders (as from a hardware store) to build a scaffold. And if there’s a hardware store, they may be generators, which they could run on gasoline siphoned from the multiple cars in the parking lot. The key should be to get energy drinks and meal-replacement shakes to Andy and put a generator on the roof rigged to spotlights which will increase the chances of being spotted and light up the parking lot. Then Andy, by all accounts a great shot and presumably sitting on a huge stock of ammo, can spend his nights shooting zombies and sleep during the day to preserve his energy. He should be able to kill five a minute, or maybe 300 an hour, or 1500 a night. Within two weeks, that’s 21,000, which should be enough to make a major dent. > > If Andy can get ammo back to the mallrats, they should spend their days shooting zombies from the rooftop. Everybody takes practice, no exceptions. This will give the entire group at least minimal skill and desensitize them to zombie-slaughter should the need arise. If there are flammable aerosol cans in the mall, see if you can rig up fire-grenades of sorts, launch them into the zombie horde. > > If it was me in that mall, I’d be looking for all kinds of way to maximize efficient zombie-slaughter. How’s that for a slice of fried gold? My first thought when I saw “starving Andy” in the movie was: skis. Every mall has at least one sporting goods store, which should have skis. Skis are flexible and springy enough that they should make a dandy catapult. Fire, though, seems like a bad idea with zombies. Set one on fire, and he’ll either not notice or just flail about, setting more and more stuff on fire, including your stronghold. I reckon it’s better not to chance it. ---
**Author:** ![howye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9adbd/32.png) [@howye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/howye)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/27 "2010-10-14T18:09:10Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > > [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > > > Would horses be practical? Don’t need to stop for fuel. > > Horses gotta eat too, you know. Wilbur, I need braaaaaainsss. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/28 "2010-10-14T18:31:52Z")
> [@howye](#): > > > [@silenus](#): > > > > Horses gotta eat too, you know. > > Wilbur, I need braaaaaainsss. That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Dead. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/29 "2010-10-14T18:36:50Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > > [@howye](#): > > > > Wilbur, I need braaaaaainsss. > > That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Dead. Tsk tsk. Poor guy gets beaten a lot around here. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/30 "2010-10-14T18:44:19Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > \ > > Just once I’d love to see a zombie movie where the protagonists actually do everything right to survive. A small group of people hiding in a fortified building shooting deadheads in the face when need be but otherwise just hanging out [Done](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1077258/). ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/31 "2010-10-14T18:49:32Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > …Fire, though, seems like a bad idea with zombies. Set one on fire, and he’ll either not notice or just flail about, setting more and more stuff on fire, including your stronghold. I reckon it’s better not to chance it. I’ve always wondered about that too. That’s exactly what the Zombie Survival Guide says happen; zombies can’t feel pain and have no self-preservation instinct so they just keep moving around spreading the fire until they’re too burned up to move. > [@silenus](#): > > > [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > > > Would horses be practical? Don’t need to stop for fuel. > > Horses gotta eat too, you know. > [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > …Fuel? Am I not going to be attacked at the abandoned gas station… Most gas stations are used to getting deliveries about twice a week. The early days of the outbreak would likely involve a sudden rush of traffic and a breakdown of supply. And that’s ignoring any kind of government rationing orders. By the time a gas station is abandoned there won’t be any gas left (& there’s the matter of running the pumps w/o power). Even if there’s gasoline left it’ll be useless within a year. Finding food for horses is going to be easier than finding fuel. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/32 "2010-10-14T19:25:25Z")
I’m thinking a bicycle is the most reliable way to go. It’s silent and you can get a nice distance from population centres even after a day. In the army we rode on these: [http://kauppa.supersports.fi/WebRoot/Supersports/Shops/supersports/45DB/07FB/ABA8/FCE3/95F8/C0A8/071D/ABE1/JAAKARI.jpg](http://kauppa.supersports.fi/WebRoot/Supersports/Shops/supersports/45DB/07FB/ABA8/FCE3/95F8/C0A8/071D/ABE1/JAAKARI.jpg) No frills but very reliable. We could easily cover over 60 miles per day with full gear, and that was on the version without gears (even easier to service). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/33 "2010-10-14T19:35:26Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > …Probably because they don’t have many brains. And of course, after the zombies catch them… ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/34 "2010-10-14T20:24:02Z")
Forget nukes. Cities burn. Everyday firefighters have a job to do. No more firefighters; you will eventually die from smoke or flame in your barricaded refuge ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/35 "2010-10-14T21:01:05Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > My first thought when I saw “starving Andy” in the movie was: skis. Every mall has at least one sporting goods store, which should have skis. Skis are flexible and springy enough that they should make a dandy catapult. How about shooting an bow and arrow from the sporting goods store or an Estes model rocket from the toy store attached to a length of fishing line. Then you pull accross a heavier rope or cable. Now you can set up a little rig to ferry ammo and food back and forth. > [@EvilTOJ](#): > > Just once I’d love to see a zombie movie where the protagonists actually do everything right to survive. A small group of people hiding in a fortified building shooting deadheads in the face when need be but otherwise just hanging out Night of the Living Dead - house Dawn of the Dead - mall Day of the Dead - military bunker Land of the Dead - fortified city Diary of the Dead - friend’s mansion Planet Terror - BBQ joint 28 Days Later - appartment complex, later an English manor in the country 28 Weeks Later - military fortified city Zombieland - they pretty much stayed mobile Resident Evil - Mostly mobile The problem with trying to dig in and wait it out is that eventually you are going to run out of food, ammo, medicine or some other critical supply. Or negligence, internal conflict or some dumb plain ole mechanical failure will eventually lead to a breach in security and in come the zombies. Chances are your long-term presence will have attracted a fair number of the walking dead making it extremely unlikely that you will be able to escape. Of course the flip side is that if you are on the road, you have little protection from zombies, bandits, gangs or rouge National Guardsmen if you break down, run out of gas or are caught away from your vehicle. But either way, you are better off being far away from where people are. I think people love zombie/rage plague films because it’s facinating watching a system collapse on itself. Society can be viewed as a complex system where each person is a “node” that performs a specific task. Protecting and serving the public, picking up trash, driving trucks, whatever their job is. A zombie outbreak attacks the nodes of that system, turning them against the system. The system (society) tries to fight back to defend itself, but as it fights back, it is weakened as a) attrition as individuals are turned into zombies, b) resources must be diverted from normal activities to fight/defend against zombies and c) the system turns on itself as conflicts over the last remaining available resources arise (weapons, food, transpo, defendable locations). Eventually an inflection point is reached where the system can no longer function and it collapses. Police and military units lose cohesion. Logistical networks break down. Hospitals no longer function (and indeed often exacerbate the problem as they unwittingly expose staff and uninfected patients to zombie victims). Pockets of resistance may form temporarily, holed up in whatever facility they were able to secure for themselves. But as I stated above, since these refuges are usually not self sustaining or stable, they too will ultimately collapse. And unfortunately there is no equilibrium point that allows humans and zombies to coexist. > [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > I’m thinking a bicycle is the most reliable way to go. It’s silent and you can get a nice distance from population centres even after a day. In the army we rode on these: [http://kauppa.supersports.fi/WebRoot/Supersports/Shops/supersports/45DB/07FB/ABA8/FCE3/95F8/C0A8/071D/ABE1/JAAKARI.jpg](http://kauppa.supersports.fi/WebRoot/Supersports/Shops/supersports/45DB/07FB/ABA8/FCE3/95F8/C0A8/071D/ABE1/JAAKARI.jpg) > No frills but very reliable. We could easily cover over 60 miles per day with full gear, and that was on the version without gears (even easier to service). [I’d rather be riding in one of these](http://www.military-today.com/apc/m2_bradley.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/36 "2010-10-15T03:25:00Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > …rouge National Guardsmen… If “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is struck down for good, this is going to be an even greater problem. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/37 "2010-10-15T05:54:58Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > > [@Kolga](#): > > > > Believe it or not (thanks, **EvilTOJ!** ), there’s a whole board dedicated to questions like this - when too stay and how, when to go and how, how to prepare/rebuild. It’s [The Zombie Squad](http://www.zombiehunters.org), and it’s great fun, along with some very practical information preparing for any kind of disaster. > > I have that site bookmarked, but I refuse to go to it, as I know I will waste way too much time on there. You have no idea. And there’s really, really good fiction in the Art section 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/38 "2010-10-15T11:54:10Z")
Since this is a zombie thread, I feel obligated (why I didn’t feel obligated in my first post I don’t know…) to let everyone know the AMC has adapted the graphic novel/comic series “The Walking Dead” into a TV show that is premiering Halloween night. [Official AMC site.](http://www.amctv.com/originals/The-Walking-Dead/) It looks fan-TAS-tic. And even if you’ve read the series, they aren’t going to be 100% true to it. (Insert everyone bitching and moaning about that here :rolleyes:) The make up and effects are mind blowing…and stomach churning. In one of the “behind the scenes” videos you see how gruesome they get, and one of the directors talking about how they kept pushing the envelope with some things, and AMC never once said “that’s too far.” It looks like every episode will be even more disgusting than that one episode of Breaking Bad…you know the one I mean. [spoiler]Half dissolved drug dealer falling through the ceiling.[./spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/39 "2010-10-15T12:49:00Z")
]QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir;13027100] > [@msmith537](#): > > …rouge National Guardsmen… If “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is struck down for good, this is going to be an even greater problem. [/QUOTE] :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: Nitpick, but it’s not a zombie “invasion”, it’s an “infestation” or “outbreak”. The zombies aren’t an external enemy. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103/40 "2010-10-15T13:50:18Z")
> [@howye](#): > > > [@silenus](#): > > > > Horses gotta eat too, you know. > > Wilbur, I need braaaaaainsss. > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > > [@howye](#): > > > > Wilbur, I need braaaaaainsss. > > That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Dead. > [@robardin](#): > > > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > > > That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Dead. > > Tsk tsk. Poor guy gets beaten a lot around here. _wipes away a tear_ I love you guys, and if I ever become a zombie, I’m eating your brains last. Regards, Shodan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-everyone-approaching-zombie-invasion-completely-wrong/557103.md?page=3)