I forgot how the day of the zombies started. But lets say I survived the realization that large groups of slow walking undead people want to eat live peoples brains and that they cannot be killed. Lets also say that I was coming home from work and I didnt have anything with me besides my car and my wits (god I’m doomed!)
First order of business is to go home and check on family units. That and my handgun is at home with a few hundred rounds. Night time is the worst since they dont go to sleep and I do, so if I cant find my family before dark, I will have to make a quick getaway and comback in the morning. I’ll need gas so I will have to make sure I pick a gas station that doesnt have too many zombies around it and has a self serve credit card pump. I may raid the local Humvee dealership and switch cars.
Next, fighting unrelenting waves of brain hungry zombies isnt done alone. I will watch for any live people to recruit. Strong attractive female type persons and black accountants are prime candidates. I would shoot weasely fat white people myself, use them to slow the zombies. From Los Angeles, Id move out into desert for the night, then go back into LA in the morning.
HIt all hummer car dealerships and gas stations. Get into gunshop and pick up handguns, ammo, automatic shotguns, reloaders and swords. I know a place in corona that has them all. Load them in the himvees and take off. DOnt bother parking, just run into the front entrance dump everything in the truck and take off. need camping stuff and can openers. Dont know when a kerosene fuel bottle might come in handy. need water purifier.
Heres the sweet plan. I roll with this stuff and my new buddies into a membership warehouse store like costco. We park the hummers in the store and lock down. We bolt all the doors and reinforce all doors. We’ll use palettes of heavy stuff to block all entrances and search for all ways in and out of the building including the roof. Then we sit and wait for the zombies to go away. we clear away all stuffs from the center of the warehouse and use that as out base. All nonessential items will be used to barracade the doors. cars will be positioned for a possible quick getaway. then we try to make time with the strong female types…
Fascinating thread. I’d like to jump in, but alas, I don’t know the rules. Has every dead person that ever lived in all of history come back, or only the recently dead? Is it true that they decompose and then ‘die’ again, so I only need to wait around a couple weeks and I am safe, or do the undead live until I, er, kill them?
My initial thought would be to steal a cruising sailboat, and head off shore. A sailboat can be at sea for weeks, even months, with no problems.
Weapons would depend on availability most likely. The ultimate would I think be one of those military shotguns with a cylinder feed. Plenty of phosphorous grenades, a Naginata for decapitation at a distance, and Dai Katana for middle range hand to hand. I wouldn’t want to risk close range, but would go for a wakizashi, unless tazers worked on zombies (since disrupting the cns seems to be the way to kill them, tazers might be very useful.)
For the shotgun HESH rounds sound best high explosive with enhanced insendiary effects.
Cheers, Bippy
Its been a long time since I saw the movie but I believe the premise was that some sort of infection (or radiation) has killed a great majority of people but they dont stay dead. After a perod of time (one night) they rise up with only one single purpose, to eat live peoples brains. Their bite (if it breaks skin) causes a severe infection that causes death in days. They only real way to stop them was to either cut off or blow off their heads. They know who the “live” ones are (sorry Manduck, no faking) Those whose brains are eaten dont come back to life but those who survive an attack but are wounded become zombies.
I thought of the sailboat thing but 2 things stopped me. First, I dont know how to use a sailboat and would probably get myself killed in the open sea. Second, zombies float.
now that I think about it, my response isnt all that smart either because if a few thousand sense us in the Costco store, we’re dead meat …er brains.
Considering where I live, A road trip to Hearst castle may be the best defensible location. Somewhere near the sea to allow fishing for food, with good Medieval walls. Actually I take that back, Hearst castle is probably the most froo-froo castle in existence, if the pictures on the web are anything to go by it wouldn’t keep out a Welsh man armed only with a large leek. Disneyland Magic Kingdom Castle is probably better defensively. The survivors would have to set up in a modern building that can be converted to a decent castle, maybe a big factory or power plant.
My friends in college used to call K-Mart “The Apocalypse Store” for exactly this reason. If the apocalypse comes, in zombie or other form, first thing to do would be to hit the K-Mart where guns, ammo, rations, and propane are available in quantity.
Times have changed though, and I hear K-Mart no longer carries ammo. Perhaps Wal-Mart is “The New Apocalypse Store?”
In any case, I think holing up on the mainland is a poor choice. Bippy, don’t make that drive down the coast! It’ll be your doom!
I’d hit Wal-Mart, save all the females I know with some dashing derring-do (jeez… I better pick up some style points from Bruce Campbell before this happens ) steal a boat, and head for the Farallones. Only a couple hours’ travel, lots of fishing, and… hmmm… I’d have to make sure to stock up on vitamin pills to prevent scurvy. I’ve never heard of zombies who were (1) able to operate a boat, and (2) dedicated enough for hours of journey for just a few human brains.
I was particularly struck by the scene in “Dawn” where they were refueling the helicopter & shooting only the shortest of the advancing hordes. Realizing, of course, that the spinning blade that is the helicopter’s main rotor would take care of beheading anyone above a certain height…
Anyway, rather than the passive “hold up in a K-Mart strategy and wait for them to die” strategy, or the aggressive "hunt them down and blow their heads off: strategy, I’d go for a passive-aggressive hybrid: let the zombies come after you in a way that kills them automatically, while you mostly ignore the situation and carry on enjoying yourself as best possible. [Note to self: be sure area I hole up in includes a Blockbuster.]
I’m not McGyver by any means, but given the brainpower of the zombies, your death trap needn’t be subtle. For example, build an opening into your hideout that involves going through a few yards of narrow, tunnel-like passage. Rip the floor of that passage up to make a drop down to the basement (be sure to fortify any doors leading up from the basement, just in case) and put in a new floor of rebar spanning the width of the passage, spaced around five inches apart. Have the working ends of a half-dozen electric chain saws jutting across the tunnel at assorted heights. At the inner end of the passage install a raised, very strong door held aloft only by an electromagnet powered from the same source as the chainsaws.
Then just sit back and wait. The starving zombies, drawn to your living yumminess like mosquitos to a barbecue, beat themselves against the walls of your fortress until blind chance leads them to the entrance. They stagger in, meet up with the chainsaws, and the sliced and diced remains drop down through the gaps in the rebar to leave the trap open for the next volunteer.
If the trap stops functioning because the electricity goes out, then the inner safety door gets dropped automatically.
Okay, the puree of zombie in the basement might start reeking. Um…add a ventilator fan?
that_darn_cat damn good point about the flaw of a traditional bayonet. I should have been more detailed originally, so here goes…
My friend’s dad has a Gurkha (I think that’s how it’s spelled anyway) fighting knife that he got in Nepal. It’s a wicked implement, about a ten inch blade, with a slight bend about 4 inches from the hilt. The blade is about 2 1/2 inches wide, and fairly thick. Anyhow, I was envisioning that rigged up to the underside of the barrel. Not a stabbing weapon, but a hacking, slashing thing.
Fire is a great idea though. That and acid… Probably not as effective, but pretty effing cool. For the ultimate, go Resident Evil (the game, #2 I think) style and get the grenade launcher where you can rig up fire or acid grenades.
The important thing is to make sure you’re trapped in the right movie. You’re just going to look silly if you think you’re in Night of the Living Dead and shoot everyone in the head when you’re actually in The Last Man on Earth and should be driving stakes through their hearts.
I submit, for the approval of the zombie minded, a book that’s probably out of print, but shouldn’t be impossible to find.
Book of the Dead, edited by Skipp and Spector. A whole slew of short stories on the world after the zombie apocalypse, including the King story mentioned by easy e.
Nifty.
I understand there was a sequel, as well, but I’ve not run across that one.
[sub]There’s also one titled Under the Fang which deals with a vampire apocalypse. Less nifty, but still fun to read.[/sub]
I’d get me one of those military steamrollers with the armored cab. Then, it’s simply drive around and make zombie pate at will.
I would base my zombiemasher[sup]TM[/sup] at a Sam’s as they have tons of food, weapons and big screen TVs. Nothing relaxes you after a hard day of zombie squashing like kicking back with your big screen plasma TV. I would expect network TV to continue unaffected as loss of brain function (via zombies eating them) would not affect programming at all.
I would also round up the appropriate collection of scantily clad women for my base. This is apparently a requirement of zombie hunters.
Heh, interesting thread indeed
Well, for this “I would shoot weasely fat white people myself, use them to slow the zombies.” I’d make sure I stay clear of X-Slayer
Finding weapons is apparently the first priority, so I’d grab the sabre that’s hanging on the wall and make a run for the next police station to stock up on weapons.
After making sure that my family is all right (Well, hopefully they are. If they have already been zombified the decent thing would be to bury them, as hurtful as the thought alone already is.), I’d find some sort of transportation to go overseas.
Just for X-Slayer and to stay true to my psy-profile, I’d go to Canada first and see whether there’s a cam… er, damsell in distress to rescue
Then I’d probably go south and help out X-slayer in LA. Shortly thereafter we’d all would join up with Mr. Excellent’s new state.
You know, come to think about it, a zombie infestation is probably preferrable to world peace (or at least more interesting, if you’re not a zombie.) from all the utopian dream-settings
Everybody’s been concentrating hard on stockpiling food, picking up guns (lots of guns) and other weapons, foritfying a base, and protecting the obligatory eye-candy.
You’re all forgetting something: Clothing.
The well-dressed zombie fighter of the early 21st century wears black leather. Black leather slacks, black mock turtleneck, and black leather trench coat; for ladies, optional black leather bodysuit. (In summer time, the trench coat may be dropped, and the shirt reduced to a tee shirt or shed entirely; ladies may opt for a shirt and leather miniskirt.) Designer shades (preferably mirrored) are strongly recommended. Combat boots are also a good idea. And take a cue from the Evil Overlords: Second chance body armor goes great with any outfit.
So while you’re raiding Foo-Mart, be sure to go through the clothing section. We’ve got to look good while we’re fighting off the Undead Hordes!
) steal a boat, and head for the Farallones. Only a couple hours’ travel, lots of fishing, and… hmmm… I’d have to make sure to stock up on vitamin pills to prevent scurvy. I’ve never heard of zombies who were (1) able to operate a boat, and (2) dedicated enough for hours of journey for just a few human brains.