I like the collar on those jackets
Speaking of protection as we were; I wouldn’t bother with armour, too heavy. Motorcycle gear might be a good bet though; easily lootable, breaths, durable.
How’s this for an idea; use the Roman scotum (lootable from a museum) as a form of protection. With a stabbing sword it would even better. Smash the assaulting undead in the face with full force using the boss should kill it outright leaving you relatively protected, and even if the blow isn’t lethal zombies aren’t immune to the laws of physics, the blow should see them on the floor, where you can finish them off with a sharp downward blow using the edge of the shield (preferably sharpened). Against multiple attackers you could hold off the z’s with the shield and stab them in the face with a sword.
See? Mocking from Bangkok, no less…
Just you wait! Thai Krabi Krabong zombies all around you and you’ll wish you had my Corolla!
That maybe help against one or two zombies but it also may give you a sense of overconfidence thinking you could take on more. When you’re surrounded by Zacks that short sword won’t do much for you.
I’ve given this some thought. I don’t see myself as surviving on my own in the wilderness, so my best strategy is to hole up somewhere safe and wait for help to be organized. Fortunately, near my home is a Costco.
Costco stores were apparently designed to withstand a zombie attack. There are no windows. All the main doors have roll-down metal doors. Yet there are emergency doors all around the building so that sorties can easily be made wherever there are gaps in the zombies. I don’t think the emergency doors even have handles on the outside.
Inside there is plenty of fresh meat and produce to last until the power goes out, and plenty of canned stuff for after that. There’s bedding, furniture, toiletries, and don’t forget, a pharmacy. There’s even a gas station. The only thing lacking is weapons and ammunition.
In case someone hasn’t started their zombie plans, or just aren’t fully equipped, you can help jump start your survival with the Smith & Wesson Model 500ES - Emergency Survival Kit
You get a firestarter, a stylish case, a whistle to draw zombies attention if you’re the bait, emergency space blankets (for those times when you find yourself trapped in orbit outside the earth’s atmosphere and are struggling to keep warm), a signal mirror, some sort of saw, and Smith & Wesson Extreme Ops Liner Lock Folding Knife with Black Sheath. But the centerpiece is the S&W mdl 500 revolver. Get the zombies to line up and you can shoot through dozens at a time!
I for one welcome our new zombie friends… And what’s with all the zombie hate. It’s not like were doing such a great job, global warming, over crowding, wars, food shortages. A little culling will help both populations achieve a harmonious balance. I believe a negotiated peace can be reached.
In addition I have many new and interesting ideas to offer in exchange of course for immunity from consumption and a dozen or so females of my selection.
I could arrange for fabricators to create steal helmets to protect against those pesky head shots.
Zombie friendly transportation perhaps Segways to run down those troublesome nibble humans and assist in securing the zombie zone.
Low cost, shamble through embalming parlors for the busy work a day zombie who wants that just risen from the dead look.
Once we have a cease fire / cease biting in place and the zombies can feel secure in their above ground freedom it’s time to think about a sustainable food source. After all if your population out grows your food stocks then your no better than human. I would fence in large rural areas, stock them with humans.
Try Jim’s “All natural free range human” TM
After all you have enough problems with rotting flesh. No need to add to it by consuming high fat, chemically laden urban humans.
Speaking of defence kits…
Our premier zombie defence adviser Max Brooks also advises against armour because it makes you overconfident and turns you into sealed human in a can. However, against a couple of zeds I think my Roman plan is fundamentally sound, note the use of a stabbing sword (rather than gladius short sword, which I agree wouldn’t be tremendous help) so you can get it in the eye sockets and destroy the brain, and with a shield boss you have dual defensive and offensive capabilities.
I just finished re-reading World War Z,
Ah Mr. Brooks, where would we be without him.
I’m with Ice Cream! How about it? Y’all have room for me and my mom and dad? My dad’s a real good shot by the way. And I make up for my very average marksmanship with lots of manic anti-zombie enthusiasm and Monk-like housekeeping skills. And my mom could annoy simply any zombie to death just by talking to him . 
Zombie symp! Zombie symp!
I hate to be a killjoy here (I’m as big a fan of Costco as anyone), but what if when you get to the Costco it’s already gone into lock down mode? What if you can’t get inside? You hate to damage one of the doors to get in, and then how are you going to repair it? Just sayin’…
Yeah, if it weren’t for the fact that Jimson Jim had the funniest post so far in this thread, I’d be gunnin’ for him!
Link to previous thread with zombie survival quiz and another general discussion.
The Dopers will be prepared come Z-day.
Most buildings can be scaled from the outside and then you can dislodge a vent in the roof or high in the sidewall.
The bigger potential obstacle would be the people that arrived before you did. They may be disinclined to share supplies.
My Zompocalypse preps;
First off, what level of Zack outbreak are you postulating here, a short term outbreak (up to Level Three) that is eventually suppressed by organized quasi-military sweep-and-clears, or a full-blown TEOTWAWKI Level Four outbreak?
I tend to plan for the Level 4, because it also covers any lesser outbreak…
When the inevitable Zombie Uprising occurs (Pleasebeshamblerspleasebeshamblers!) here’s my preps;
Physical Security;
At work, I’m golden, the store has a security fence that would delay the inevitable Zombie intrusion, and has an upper floor accessed by a single staircase, assuming I have my rifle with me, and can get it from the car, I could go upstairs, and snipe some Zacks, when they inevitably breach the plate glass windows and overwhelm the security gate, I can retreat into the back room/warehouse, it has a heavy steel fire door that automatically locks when you close it, you have to use a key to get to the back room from the sales floor, the back room has bathrooms, a microwave, and water cooler, as long as the power holds out, it’s a decent enough stronghold, the drawback is that we’re in the middle of a large town (Portsmouth, NH), and since there are no windows looking onto the sales floor (good from a security standpoint) that makes it difficult to determine when the zombie threat has dropped… plus, when the power does go out, it’s pitch black back there, and we lose the microwave, water cooler, and running water, work would only be used as a temporary shelter until the zombies dispersed enough to safely get to my car and get back home
Home; has the advantage of a rural location, but the disadvantage of too many entrance points (doors and windows), best strategy is to consider the ground floor a total loss and reinforce the second floor.
We have room-darkening drapes on all the windows already, which blocks seeing inside the house, and retains heat/cooling, that should reduce, but not eliminate, our visibility to Zack, once we have moved a decent supply of water and easily prepared canned goods upstairs, we will destroy the staircases, preventing Zack physical access to the second floor, the upstairs attic (“floor 3”) would be an absolute worst-case fallback position
Water; we have a decent supply of water in 5 gallon water bottles on hand, the tub would be filled for use in flushing the toilet, in case of power loss, any waste water from food preps would be added to that “gray water”, if the power remains on, we’ll use water from the taps and only fall back on stored water in the event of an outage, we’d also set up rain buckets to collect rainfall, I have a MSR pump water filter and a UV SteriPen sterilizer for making water safe to drink
Food; decent amount of nonperishable canned goods in the pantry, I also have some indoor hydroponic grow setups for lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cooking herbs, and the like, I’m also building up a supply of seeds to grow hydroponically indoors, and outdoors once the zombie threat is reduced, I should look into some form of power backup for the hydroponics in the event of power loss, being able to grow food indoors is a great benefit
Heating/Cooling; We’re in pretty bad shape on this one, due to the December 11 ice storm and it’s aftermath, six days with no power has depleted our firewood supply to critical levels, we need to get restocked, during the summer, we’d simply grin and bear the heat, but winter, winter is a problem, and the firewood/heating issue must be addressed as soon as possible
Weaponry; I’m well set for firearms, but need to have a better melee option, right now, melee is covered by an old WWII entrenching tool that I’ve sharpened the edges on, I want to put together something like a Shaolin Spade or a Lobo from WWZ
My main battle rifle, depending on ballistics, would either be my Ruger 10/22 with 25 round banana mags (assuming a .22 can penetrate a Zack skull) it has the advantage of light weight, no recoil, quiet report, tack-driving accuracy, and lightweight ammo which allows a large stockpile, problem is, the .22 has no real stopping power, and I would be relying on headshots, I might have to let Zack get a little closer than I’d like
Come springtime, I’ll do a little test, using a coconut as a “skull simulator”, see if a .22 has sufficent energy to breach a zombie skull
If the .22 is out, my next choice is my Mosin-Nagant M44 Carbine, this is less than optimal for a couple reasons…
It only holds 5 rounds and the magazine is integrated into the rifle, shoot 5 shots, then manually feed 5 more into the rifle, very time-consuming as far as reloading goes
It has a very solid recoil and loud report, the recoil would be tiring in extended shooting sessions, and the report would attract Zeds for miles
ammo is bulky, eats up a lot of room
on the upside it has far more than enough energy to penetrate a Z’s skull, line them up in a line and I could probably take down 3+ with one shot before the bullet lost too much energy
It has an integrated, retractable bayonet, 12+ inches of pointy steel, great for scrambling Zack brain matter if they get within reaching distance
Handgun-wise, it comes down to either my Kimber Custom II .45 ACP or CZ-75B 9mm, the 9mm definitely has enough energy to breach zombie skulls, and the CZ has a magazine capacity of 15 rounds, as compared to 8 rounds of .45 ACP, in this situation, the CZ has the advantage
Why yes, I’m a member of Zombiehunters dot org, why do you ask? 