My plan for the mall

[sandrock74]

This is my ultimate plan for the Monroeville Mall had I been in it. This could be done without leaving the mall even!
I would have went to the hardware store and picked up black paint. Paint the glass on the doors black so no one, zombie or raider, would be able to see inside. I would be curious if maybe that would have inspired the zombies to give up and leave after a while. No one outside would even be able to tell if lights were on inside! I would have also gotten chains and pad locks to place on the doors to act as a extra line of defense. Also, as the door opened inwards, I would have used some wood to act as doorjams (may even be able to pick some actual ones up from somewhere) and jammed them under the doors to keep them from being pushed open.
I would have stocked the "penthouse" full of anything usefull like food, water and ammunition (why leave it in the stores?) and locked the gates to the stores everynight without fail! Why leave them unlocked? Who else would be using them? Also, I would have installed deadbolts and doorknob locks on the door leading to the stairwell and the door to the "penthouse". If the mall was going to be raided, it most likely would have been at night under the cover of darkness (which is exactly when it happened!) so if/when that happened, all you would have to do is turn off the power to the mall.
If you were hell-bent on defending the mall, you could have set up shop on the roof by the truck bay and taken pot shots at the raiders as they tried to get in. If they were surrounded by zombies, there was no power and people shooting at them I bet they would have run! Why risk severe casualties just to gain entrance? But, if they were persistant and still forced their way in...
I would be willing to bet that the raiders, finding a mall locked down and powerless, would not hang around too long. Shooting the locks off of gates is not as easy as movies would have us believe (ricochets) and doing that in pitch black would be extremely difficult! They had no hope of turning the power back on as the control room was behind the fake wall. I'm betting the raiders would have left after 10 minutes maximum. These people were not soldiers, I don't see them fighting to the death for anything.
Even if it was deemed that the mall was a loss, just retreat to the "penthouse" and hang around while you ready yourself to move on. There would be no hurry.
What do you all think? Anything you would add?

[Philly_SWAT]

I dont think the black paint would discourage the zombies, they would still know that they "just wanted to be in there". Doorjams - not a bad idea, but my previous idea was totally blockcading the area inside the doors, making it very difficult to gain entry to the mall, even if you get through the doors. I am not an engineer, but I dont think chains and locks on the doors would help much, seeing as they were glass doors.

Of course, it would have made sense to stock the penthouse better. I have said that they also should have moved all the really important goods from the mall into just a couple of stores, and extra barricaded them as well. It does seem like the should have kept all the stores locked all the time unless they were going in there, but humans being as we are, simple laziness would encourage you to leave them open when day after day, week after week, they was no break ins. I would maybe even purposely leave some stores unlocked, stores that I had already removed valuable stuff from, so potential raiders could gain easy access to those stores and take whatever was left. With easy pickins, they might be less likely to try to gain entry into other stores.

Also, they definately should hav barricaded the penthouse itself much better, and that wouldnt have been that hard to do. Also, they should have barricaded the area behind the fake wall much better as well.

[acealive1]

im sure that hardware store had a soldering gun or a welding machine. if so........paint the windows black like u said....weld the doors shut,get some sheet metal or anything that can be welded and get those doors secure. nevermind moving a truck and becoming zombie cuisine, and put 2 cars horizontal across each entrance. they'd never get in. also, using the hardware store again, they could have put a fake wall around the chopper to make it look like part of the roof (AC unit,power supply) and then painted it to match the rest of the stuff top side.

[darth los]

I would have also gotten chains and pad locks to place on the doors to act as a extra line of defense.

Like philly said, being that the doors were made of glass they could have easily been shattered in order for the bikers to gain access.


Also, I would have installed deadbolts and doorknob locks on the door leading to the stairwell and the door to the "penthouse".

That is definitely a good idea. They failed to plan far enough ahead for what if some did actually get through the fake wall.


They had no hope of turning the power back on as the control room was behind the fake wall. I'm betting the raiders would have left after 10 minutes maximum. These people were not soldiers, I don't see them fighting to the death for anything.

I agree that the control room was behind the fake door, but the switch to turn the power off/on was located somewhere else. If you recall it was one of the bikers who switched the power back on. So it couldn't have been in the control room.

[darth los]

Of course, it would have made sense to stock the penthouse better.

I've always thought that as well. they should have put as much food, guns and ammo as they could up there and whatever didn't comfortably fit could have went into the control room. Hell, they could have even kept some of it on the roof in a makeshift shelter.

[jim102016]

Ok, what if you're on top of the roof and you're shooting at the bikers.....what if they say f*ck it and torch the mall out of spite? What if they follow that up by putting a few rounds into the helicopter's engine? Then you're screwed for sure!

I don't think black paint on the doors would do much. You have sky lights, parking lot lights, and lights on in the area that are connected to the power grid.

You hit the nail on the head about making sure the doors up to the "penthouse". I would put a brick wall behind the sh*tty fake wall Stephen and Peter put up, maybe take out half the stairs up to their personal apartment in addition to deadbolts and crossbars. I'd fill the utility room with provisions, put a good amount upstairs too for just in case.

Time for another beer, good post.

[darth los]

im sure that hardware store had a soldering gun or a welding machine. if so........paint the windows black like u said....weld the doors shut,get some sheet metal or anything that can be welded and get those doors secure.

I agree with philly that the black paint wouldn't have done much to discourage the zombies from wanting to be in there. Like the movie said, they just remember that they want to be in there. The only reason i would give the glass a paintjob would be for aesthetic purposes. I wouldn't want to look at those things every time i ventured out into the mall.

[acealive1]

true. i'd rather have it look @ss ugly rather than stroll into the mall one morning yawning and then get my favorite neck bitten off for not locking the place up properly.

[darth los]

Apparently that didn't seem to be an overiding concern for them.

[acealive1]

Apparently that didn't seem to be an overiding concern for them.


not trying to be racist,but im black and so is peter......you'd think black people from the burgh would llock up better. at least we did in l.a.

[darth los]

not trying to be racist,but im black and so is peter......you'd think black people from the burgh would llock up better. at least we did in l.a.


I'm Puerto Rican and from the projects, so we see eye to eye an that one dude. :D

[acealive1]

I'm Puerto Rican and from the projects, so we see eye to eye an that one dude. :D

:lol: that gets a ron simmons "DAMN!"


in something totally non related.....i've been asked if im puerto rican........by people from there.....i think we're closer than we think in terms of nationality. also i can pull off a very legit accent :sneaky:

[darth los]

:lol: that gets a ron simmons "DAMN!"


in something totally non related.....i've been asked if im puerto rican........by people from there.....i think we're closer than we think in terms of nationality. also i can pull off a very legit accent :sneaky:


What's funny and sad at the same time is that most puerto ricans my age from ny don't even speak spanish. Ron simmons is that black wrestler dude right?

[sandrock74]

Darth los said:
I agree that the control room was behind the fake door, but the switch to turn the power off/on was located somewhere else. If you recall it was one of the bikers who switched the power back on. So it couldn't have been in the control room.

I say:
I always thought that Peter ran off to throw the switch for the power? Why would the master switch for the power be anywhere other then in the control room?

[jim102016]

No, I always thought Peter did turn the powr back on. I remember he ran down the hallway to that utility room behind the fake door? He then got up in the duct work to pick off the bikers with his rifle

[acealive1]

What's funny and sad at the same time is that most puerto ricans my age from ny don't even speak spanish. Ron simmons is that black wrestler dude right?


yea that's ron simmons. :D

[MissJacksonCA]

So what exactly is the weather like in dream land?

You have a great idea about painting the doors and windows to the mall black to see if the zombies would stop coming in but you see the fatal flaw of glass doors to a mall is that they aren't unbreakable. They're just hard to break. You can put any number of things to make it hard to open the doors but if you manage to shatter or break the glass it basically makes any lock or whatever look silly.

Not knowing how well equipped the hardware store is i'd say if they had enough cement I would actually try to create a cement barrier between any openings to the exterior and the interior. Because they had lumber with which to create a false wall I'm going to presume they also had concrete.

Additionally its a terrific idea to stock pile everything from the gun store in the penthouse in order to pick off zombies or any possible intruders from the safety of the roof top.

Something that people dont seem to take into consideration is that during riots and raids whoever does the dirty work is likely to burn down and fully destroy any place once they are done taking what they want. This is a behavior that is not only evident in history (look at the la riots) but also is evident in the movies... they bashed in the counters... shot through stuff... virtually destroyed everything they didn't steal.

Now because they had access to a car (a crappy one though it may be) they would have been well advised to stock it up while it was in the mall and then park it outisde before fortifying the mall... once it was parked outside they should've filled gas tanks from the hardware store (with gas from the semi trucks), and built some kind of trailer to tow behind it if possible or a cargo rack on top perhaps to give them an alternative to taking the whirlybird. Thats a necessity because hey... what if the helicopter stopped working? People who fly the helicopter aren't always as adept at fixing 'em. Same thing goes for cars. You can man it but who said you know how to fix it?

With sufficient ammo and slow moving zombies it wouldn't be too hard to take a small car like the one they had in the mall to a place of safety. Their biggest obstacle isn't the zombies so much as anyone who had more manpower and better weapons who may want to rob and shoot you pirate style.

Just my $1.10

[darth los]

Now because they had access to a car (a crappy one though it may be) they would have been well advised to stock it up while it was in the mall and then park it outisde before fortifying the mall... once it was parked outside they should've filled gas tanks from the hardware store (with gas from the semi trucks), and built some kind of trailer to tow behind it if possible or a cargo rack on top perhaps to give them an alternative to taking the whirlybird. Thats a necessity because hey... what if the helicopter stopped working? People who fly the helicopter aren't always as adept at fixing 'em. Same thing goes for cars. You can man it but who said you know how to fix it?


That's a good idea. I've had a similar one,n but it involved having one of the trucks on standby all stocked and fueled. I think that would work better because you could stock the truck with a whole bunch of things and it would be better in terms of running over and through a few hundred ghouls that were in your way. They also could even stock extra fuel in the back of the truck also.

[acealive1]

So what exactly is the weather like in dream land?

You have a great idea about painting the doors and windows to the mall black to see if the zombies would stop coming in but you see the fatal flaw of glass doors to a mall is that they aren't unbreakable. They're just hard to break. You can put any number of things to make it hard to open the doors but if you manage to shatter or break the glass it basically makes any lock or whatever look silly.

Not knowing how well equipped the hardware store is i'd say if they had enough cement I would actually try to create a cement barrier between any openings to the exterior and the interior. Because they had lumber with which to create a false wall I'm going to presume they also had concrete.

Additionally its a terrific idea to stock pile everything from the gun store in the penthouse in order to pick off zombies or any possible intruders from the safety of the roof top.

Something that people dont seem to take into consideration is that during riots and raids whoever does the dirty work is likely to burn down and fully destroy any place once they are done taking what they want. This is a behavior that is not only evident in history (look at the la riots) but also is evident in the movies... they bashed in the counters... shot through stuff... virtually destroyed everything they didn't steal.

Now because they had access to a car (a crappy one though it may be) they would have been well advised to stock it up while it was in the mall and then park it outisde before fortifying the mall... once it was parked outside they should've filled gas tanks from the hardware store (with gas from the semi trucks), and built some kind of trailer to tow behind it if possible or a cargo rack on top perhaps to give them an alternative to taking the whirlybird. Thats a necessity because hey... what if the helicopter stopped working? People who fly the helicopter aren't always as adept at fixing 'em. Same thing goes for cars. You can man it but who said you know how to fix it?

With sufficient ammo and slow moving zombies it wouldn't be too hard to take a small car like the one they had in the mall to a place of safety. Their biggest obstacle isn't the zombies so much as anyone who had more manpower and better weapons who may want to rob and shoot you pirate style.

Just my $1.10

havent u ever seen aliens? u can weld pieces of metal to something and make a barrier with ease. sheet metal stops all problems. at least a gang of hairy morons on tricycles. fairly easy to do really. BTW, its 75 and sunny

[darth los]

You also have to remember that sealing it up too tight could create a fire hazzard. It might be bad if the only exit was through the apartment.

[acealive1]

its just the doors. they really need to seal all the exits air tight except for one. so if the raiders check 2 exits and then cant get in,maybe they'd go away. for sure totally seal off the big bay entrance.

[MissJacksonCA]

I thought about driving a semi truck to safety too because of the advantage of the storage ability but you have to consider in the equation a few things... while the semi trucks come typically with two tires at each interval it would be great because if one goes flat you have a backup... but the amount of gas they require just to fill the tank let alone to have backup is A LOT... and of course the more weight you pack into the truck the faster the gas supply is used up which would create a dangerous situation... another dangerous situation would be taking the smaller less populated roads would mean they may not clear all the bridges/overpasses/etc.

The tiny car on the other hand would use less gas, be more shifty to move around zombies (running them over all the time could create serious problems for tires, suspension, etc I imagine, and it would be less noticeable because it would make less noise.

Sealing it up would create a fire hazard no doubt but by leaving it open for a possible attack the attackers could easily set it on fire as well. I'd rather take my chances that I may start a fire because the odds are i'd be less likely to set one than the looters.

[darth los]

There are pros and cons to every plan really. I think supplies are important because you don't know how far you would actually have to go to get to the next safe zone.

[jim102016]

its just the doors. they really need to seal all the exits air tight except for one. so if the raiders check 2 exits and then cant get in,maybe they'd go away. for sure totally seal off the big bay entrance.


There's no way in hell a raider would leave a fully-stocked mall because the entrances are blocked. If someone build a cement wall behind the glass doors, who's to say raiders just wouldn't drive one of the trucks through it?

I don't think there's any way to really keep those bastards out, unless you shot them all from the roof top, but you're bound to miss a few that will no doubt be very anxious to get a hold of you.

I'd stock the apartment, put up a fake wall in front of a cement wall to hide its existence. Perhaps arrange a secondary store of supplies in one of the stores upstairs....put a brick wall in front of that, maybe put up one of those "Coming Soon" displays to hide the brick wall, fooling the raiders into thinking nothing was in there.

Stocking, gassing and maintaining one of those 18-wheelers outside would be a real bitch to accomplish

[acealive1]

There's no way in hell a raider would leave a fully-stocked mall because the entrances are blocked. If someone build a cement wall behind the glass doors, who's to say raiders just wouldn't drive one of the trucks through it?

I don't think there's any way to really keep those bastards out, unless you shot them all from the roof top, but you're bound to miss a few that will no doubt be very anxious to get a hold of you.

I'd stock the apartment, put up a fake wall in front of a cement wall to hide its existence. Perhaps arrange a secondary store of supplies in one of the stores upstairs....put a brick wall in front of that, maybe put up one of those "Coming Soon" displays to hide the brick wall, fooling the raiders into thinking nothing was in there.

Stocking, gassing and maintaining one of those 18-wheelers outside would be a real bitch to accomplish

cement wall and welded sheet metal would do the same job. im talking about floor to ceiling welding,not just the doors. the cinder blocks aint a bad idea either. maybe both? very good idea about the coming soon thing. great minds think alike

[MissJacksonCA]

Well if there's a cement wall and they would have to relent to driving a truck through it simply keep watch and shoot out the tires of any oncoming traffic... it would force them into walking their way to the mall through the zombies (which they obviously and ill-fatedly didn't see as a threat) and then they'd be forced on foot to attack the mall... which they'd be hard pressed to do with my mad shooting skills

[jim102016]

Well if there's a cement wall and they would have to relent to driving a truck through it simply keep watch and shoot out the tires of any oncoming traffic... it would force them into walking their way to the mall through the zombies (which they obviously and ill-fatedly didn't see as a threat) and then they'd be forced on foot to attack the mall... which they'd be hard pressed to do with my mad shooting skills

Rambo, if a huge wave of bikers were to lead a mass attack on the mall, I'm sure even you're shooting skills wouldn't be enough. Maybe if you dug a thirty foot moat around the mall and surrounded it by fifty yards of landmines, you might be able to keep them out! Bottom line is that you're not going to keep a renegade group that has no regard for your life or theirs out without killing every damned one. And you're not going to do that with three people (one whose immobilized by a pregnancy).They'll find a way, they're scavengers. If they got frustrated enough, they'd probably just burn the mall so you'd get nothing as well!


cement wall and welded sheet metal would do the same job. im talking about floor to ceiling welding,not just the doors. the cinder blocks aint a bad idea either. maybe both? very good idea about the coming soon thing. great minds think alike

I think that's a good idea, it would keep the survivors focused and conscience of the conditions on the outside. Keep their hands and minds busy.

But, I think the effectiveness of any kind of wall would be defeated by whatever the raiders had in their arsenal. Lets say they were able to get into a National Guard arsenal or god knows what else along the way. They'd definately have the materials to get through any defense or obsticle. They'd probably pose even more of a threat to the survivors in that respect. Blowup the helicopter, plant charges in the mall after they raided it, etc.

[acealive1]

this all points back to fly boy being an idiot,frankly. if they had never gave him a gun, they woulda made it though the raiders lil five finger discount sale.

[darth los]

Rambo, if a huge wave of bikers were to lead a mass attack on the mall, I'm sure even you're shooting skills wouldn't be enough. Maybe if you dug a thirty foot moat around the mall and surrounded it by fifty yards of landmines, you might be able to keep them out! Bottom line is that you're not going to keep a renegade group that has no regard for your life or theirs out without killing every damned one. And you're not going to do that with three people (one whose immobilized by a pregnancy).They'll find a way, they're scavengers. If they got frustrated enough, they'd probably just burn the mall so you'd get nothing as well!



I think that's a good idea, it would keep the survivors focused and conscience of the conditions on the outside. Keep their hands and minds busy.

But, I think the effectiveness of any kind of wall would be defeated by whatever the raiders had in their arsenal. Lets say they were able to get into a National Guard arsenal or god knows what else along the way. They'd definately have the materials to get through any defense or obsticle. They'd probably pose even more of a threat to the survivors in that respect. Blowup the helicopter, plant charges in the mall after they raided it, etc.


Well we already know they had grenades. I think that they had no regard for the mall or the people in it. a wall wouldn't be that much of a deterent unless they were interested in keeping the place intact which they obviously weren't.

Fueling up a getaway truck would have been tough, yes, but no more as tough as the mission was to block the entrances. The bottom line is that they didn't have a back up plan for escaping. Fran made a great observation in that someone else besides stephen needed to learn to fly in case something happened to him. They failed to take that logic one step further. What if they chopper broke down? it's very possible and what then?

[sandrock74]

You can't take fuel out of a truck to put into a car...different types of gasoline involved there. It wouldn't have been a bad idea to leave a fully fuled truck pulled into the inside of the truck well with some supplies in it as an emergency, back up, all else has failed kind of plan. I have driven blox trucks before and they suck thru gas like no one's business! If there were only light supplies in it thou, youd be better off due to less gas consumption. They should have locked up the truck place and cleared it of zombies so they could always grab another truck there if need be. A decent fall back position...thanks to Day, we know zombies are confounded by chainlink fences and that place should have been surrounded by one. Think of Ryder Truck places, their trucks are kept locked up in a secure area.
A good fall back position would have been the supermarket in the same parking lot as the mall! Talk about a short trip and plenty of supplies! It was clearly locked up, so it should have been fairly safe to secure for a fall back position. No one has ever mentioned that (that I know of).
About the doors to the mall, I wouldn't have even bothered trying to cement anything! Just grab the most solid wood you have access to and make a barrier at each door way. Park the cars in the mall against them as added weight to the barriers. Save cinder block and cement for behind the fake wall to the penthouse. Even if the mall fell to ****, you can always stay up there for quiet a while!
As for the raiders setting fire to the place, as long as the mall had power, the sprinkler system would have helpled to put it out. At the very least, keep it contained until you could properly deal with it.
Just my two cents...

[darth los]

Rambo, if a huge wave of bikers were to lead a mass attack on the mall, I'm sure even you're shooting skills wouldn't be enough. Maybe if you dug a thirty foot moat around the mall and surrounded it by fifty yards of landmines, you might be able to keep them out! Bottom line is that you're not going to keep a renegade group that has no regard for your life or theirs out without killing every damned one. And you're not going to do that with three people (one whose immobilized by a pregnancy).They'll find a way, they're scavengers. If they got frustrated enough, they'd probably just burn the mall so you'd get nothing as well!

It's true that the bikers had no regard for the mall. They pretty much destroyed anything that they couldn't use. Like peter said they were a professional army. It would have been next to impossible to thwart them anyway. This got me thinking. Is hindsight do you think that they should have made it so that they gave the raiders a whole bunch of stuff so that they could be on their way or do you think the bikers were just hell bent on destruction?

[sandrock74]

Hell bent on destruction. They were taking stuff they not only didn't need like tv's but they wasted valuable time destroying stuff as the zombies closed ranks on them.
"Professional army" my butt!

[darth los]

Hell bent on destruction. They were taking stuff they not only didn't need like tv's but they wasted valuable time destroying stuff as the zombies closed ranks on them.
"Professional army" my butt!


As if the pie fight weren't a major clue. You know they really didn't have to go as far as they did in terms of wrecking the place. And they knew they were screwing everything up for the inhabitants of the mall but didn't care. That's foul yo.

[flyboy]

This is my ultimate plan for the Monroeville Mall had I been in it. This could be done without leaving the mall even!
I would have went to the hardware store and picked up black paint. Paint the glass on the doors black so no one, zombie or raider, would be able to see inside. I would be curious if maybe that would have inspired the zombies to give up and leave after a while. No one outside would even be able to tell if lights were on inside! I would have also gotten chains and pad locks to place on the doors to act as a extra line of defense. Also, as the door opened inwards, I would have used some wood to act as doorjams (may even be able to pick some actual ones up from somewhere) and jammed them under the doors to keep them from being pushed open.
I would have stocked the "penthouse" full of anything usefull like food, water and ammunition (why leave it in the stores?) and locked the gates to the stores everynight without fail! Why leave them unlocked? Who else would be using them? Also, I would have installed deadbolts and doorknob locks on the door leading to the stairwell and the door to the "penthouse". If the mall was going to be raided, it most likely would have been at night under the cover of darkness (which is exactly when it happened!) so if/when that happened, all you would have to do is turn off the power to the mall.
If you were hell-bent on defending the mall, you could have set up shop on the roof by the truck bay and taken pot shots at the raiders as they tried to get in. If they were surrounded by zombies, there was no power and people shooting at them I bet they would have run! Why risk severe casualties just to gain entrance? But, if they were persistant and still forced their way in...
I would be willing to bet that the raiders, finding a mall locked down and powerless, would not hang around too long. Shooting the locks off of gates is not as easy as movies would have us believe (ricochets) and doing that in pitch black would be extremely difficult! They had no hope of turning the power back on as the control room was behind the fake wall. I'm betting the raiders would have left after 10 minutes maximum. These people were not soldiers, I don't see them fighting to the death for anything.
Even if it was deemed that the mall was a loss, just retreat to the "penthouse" and hang around while you ready yourself to move on. There would be no hurry.
What do you all think? Anything you would add?






if i was a raider and came to the mall after you did all this, i would smash my way in knowing of all the ''goodies'' inside! a few raiders are bound to make it in even if someone was shooting at them.;)

[darth los]

The bottom line is that they were hell bent on getting in there. We could speculate all day but nothing short of an army of your own was going to stop them from infiltrating the place.