How would you survive an apocalyptic zombie rampage, if one occurred ?

[KL70]

How do you think you'd (seriously or humorously) be able to survive an apocalyptic zombie attack (of zombies from your favorite horror film featuring them), if one occurred in your entire country ?

[Neil]

You could easily lock yourself away such that you were safe. The problem would be food & water... For example, I could in an instant jump into my loft and be 100% safe there, but with no food... Oh dear!

[Danny]

id think id get too cloustraphoic if i locked myself in my house, so id probably try and stay on the move till it all ended, on foot or bike most likely, keeping quiet, maybe staying in certain areas for awhile, like a woodland near a freshwater stream, you could build a small platofrm or treehouse type thing out in the trees to sleep safely without fear of an man mad ebarricades falling down as you slept.

[ProfessorChaos]

since i live in a heavily-populated area, i'd get hell outta dodge, head back to my small hometown and meet up with my family (lots of guns in the house) and we'd most likely hit the road as a group and head up to pacific northwest, canada, etc. as for food, we'd hunt or grow our own. we're a pretty tight-knit group, so i'm sure that we'd persevere.

[Slain]

I'm lucky in that the wilderness practically starts at the edge of town. I would just wait a few miles out in the hills for all the killing and what not to die down; then I would take to scavenging abandoned places for what I needed. I figure most of the zombies will go chasing after people fleeing town on the highways, and leave me a relatively deserted area to get by in.

[AcesandEights]

I live in such a heavily populated area that my initial outlook with regards to survival would be *highly* dependent on how the intial stages of the outbreak worked. Slow? Fast? Mass panic, little hints that maybe keyed me off to a need to get organized? Also, what I would do would also depend on the nature of the outbreak...but getting out and away from where I am (very close to NYC *GULP*), would be a must. Ideally, I'd say making it North to the mountains would be a must, but sooooo many others would have the same idea. I'd have to try and round up willing friends and whatever family they had along and move out from there. Potable water, food and-- given long enough--medicine and antibiotics would all be major concerns. I'd also have the sincere hopes that the risen dead would be slow and not unduly attracted by the scent of burning wood. Anyone know off the top of their heads how far downwind the scent of a burning fire can carry?

[Neil]

The problem is after a little while food is scarce... After a good while, everything you need to keep things going ain't available. Your tyre gets a puncture, all the ones out there are rotten... Your knife goes blunt, all the rest out there are rusty... Etc etc...

[bassman]

If it started off slowly, then I would immediately head for the grocery store and stock up on as many canned foods as possible. Then I would head back to my house(I would have been carrying weapons this whole time), get everything inside, and then knock out my front and back porch stairs. My house is strangely high off of the ground, so if I take the stairs out, i'm fine. Except for the basement, but I could easily knock those out as well. Then I would just sit back and hope it all ends quickly...

[Danny]

^ someones been reading a certian brookes novel huh bassman?

[bassman]

^ someones been reading a certian brookes novel huh bassman? Actually, no. I've never read the zombie survival guide. I just noticed when I moved into my new house that it's perfect because it's a good 15ft off the ground. Does Brooks mention that in the guide or something?

[AcesandEights]

I'd have to look that up, but knocking out stairs is an old standby. A great trick really, because it's simple and likely to be fairly effective.

[bassman]

I'd have to look that up, but knocking out stairs is an old standby. A great trick really, because it's simple and likely to be fairly effective. Yeah....and to think....if everyone in NOTLD went upstairs and did that, they would all be alive. Except for Cooper's girl, anyway...

[SRP76]

Wouldn't work. Eventually, enough deadheads would pile up in your livingroom to form a ramp right up to your landing. Then, it's lunchtime. I don't think there's any such thing as a foolproof way to survive. A lot would depend on how long the deadheads "live". If it's the old "10 to 12 years" thing, you're done. No way in hell you're going to dodge 6 billion of them for a decade. "You can dodge some of the zombies all of the time, and you can dodge all of the zombies some of the time, but you can't dodge all of the zombies all of the time." You'd have better luck trying to grab a space shuttle, and taking your chances with the moon, or something.

[AcesandEights]

Yeah, I think the stairs would work well as a nice stop gap, but if you're in the middle of a suburban sprawl it would be a problem unless things were somewhat controlled fairly quickly by external forces. I think survival prospects on a 10 or 12 year timeline would be horribly bleak, but I believe people could survive...not a ton, but I think some could with a good headstart, near ideal circumstances and a ton...*ton* of luck. Another big question that always comes up in these scenarios is if the undead would freeze (which I hope would be the case). Something like that would have a positive effect on survivability for the living (though it's far from a magic bullet). Hell, just surviving 10 years in a post apocalyptic world without reliable access to food, water and medicine would be a major issue. I can see the sign off of the last living person scraped onto the side of the interior of an old, rusty corn silo that had been converted to a habitat by its eventually lone occupant: "Survived the early exodus from the cities...it was madness. Survived the snapping jaws of roving gangs of the undead. Survived multiple run-ins with raiders and a nasty knife wound. Survived seeing my family die to zombies and an outbreak of Cholera from the water supply when the creek went bad on us. Survived the last stray zombie I saw in this part, some 423 days ago, if my figurin' is right. Dying...it would appear...today, from tetanus...what a bitch..."

[SRP76]

I think "going into a shell" would be the worst thing anyone could possibly do. The natural reaction is to grab your family, and maybe some friends, and try to get by. I feel this is suicide. A big key would be to gather as many warm bodies as you possibly can. "Strength in numbers" is extremely accurate in this circumstance. You need all the eyes, ears, and trigger fingers you can possibly get. No such thing as "too many" in your group. Keep moving. No place is a foolproof haven. It's best to stay mobile, because, no matter where you are, the dead will home in on you. More and more of them, converging on your location. Stay in one place, their numbers will overcome you, eventually. Don't let them pack up and bumrush you. While on the move, be sure to take out every single zombie you possibly can. Like Logan said, they aren't inclined to just drop over; you have to make them do it. Sooner or later, somebody (likely you) will have to face them: all 6 billion. Best to try to hack away as many numbers off that total as you can, a bit at a time, rather than waiting for some Armageddon battle (which you would have zero chance of surviving). Since you're on the move, you should be able to happen upon enough food, water, supplies, etc. to keep yourself in the game indefinitely. I think that's the way to give yourself the best chance of surviving.