How would you survive Z-Day? (With Handicaps)

Worst people to run into on Z-Day?

Police	6.2%	[ 2 ]
Military	3.1%	[ 1 ]
People who are freaking out, crying, and begging for help	6.2%	[ 2 ]
Rich People	6.2%	[ 2 ]
People who have gone crazy and are raping everything that moves	31.2%	[ 10 ]
Gun Nuts	0.0%	[ 0 ]
The Governor	6.2%	[ 2 ]
That crazy General from The Postman	3.1%	[ 1 ]
Literally anyone at all	9.4%	[ 3 ]
The author of this topic	28.1%	[ 9 ]
Total Votes:			[ 32 ]

[toasega]

Ok, so normally when someone asks the question "How would you survive the zombie apocalypse?", most people tend to respond with "I'D GRAB ALL MAH GUNZ AND RAID DA MALL".

This is because restrictions are rarely, if ever, placed on the question of survival, leaving people to assume an unrealistic position of unlimited resources.

However, my challenge this time is a bit different.

Let's begin:

It is Day One, and society is still mostly unaware of the impending Zombie Hordes that are beginning to grow, and have only heard snippets of news stories about people being attacked and bitten. The media attributes it to an epidemic of Bath Salts and the fools immediately believe it and give the issue no more thought.

You, however (in this scenario), are not so easily fooled, and know you have precious little time to prepare and have little to no resources at your disposal. You live in a semi-rural area, nestled between the major city and the beginnings of wooded areas, where wildlife is plentiful year round. While you've had fun watching Zombie flicks and discussing Z-Day on online forums, you never actually believed it could happen. And now you have no time. You quickly gather your items that you believe will help you survive Z-Day, at least for now.

In this mental exercise, you are only allowed to bring:

1 melee weapon (you have no guns, nor do you have the knowledge of where to access them).

2 lightweight tools that serve many functions.

2 medical items (this could be 1.pills and 2.bandages or any other two items you deem worthy).

2 food items.

1 full canteen of water.

1 change of clothes.

1 Tarp or small, one person tent.

1 compass.

1 book (you have no Kindles or electronic devices)

1 small backpack.

You quickly rush through the house, gathering all of the items into your pack just before you hear screaming outside. The Zombies are out, and worse, they're fast zombies. You see a few people with guns try to fight off the ever increasing hordes, but the sounds of their weapons brings hundreds more directly to them and they are quickly overwhelmed. Knowing that if it doesn't know you're there, it can't hunt you, you stick to the shadows, and by sheer luck manage to make it out of the worst part of the danger zone.

From here on, how you survive will be up to you.

So, how would you do it?

[This Is NoMercy]

honestly I'd just hide out in whatever safe place I could find, and try not to join any groups.
If I've learned anything, the more amount of people in a group, the more likely your changes of dying go up.
You'll have to deal with the possibility of someone either going mentally unstable, wanting to betray the group and steal all the food, or have to deal with someone who has a fatal zombie bite. Or all three.
I've been playing the Walking Dead game, and even though its fictional, 80% of the time whenever someone in the game dies, it's always at the hands of someone who was too incompetent or unstable to help them properly. It was almost never directly the zombies fault.

I just seems like a huge risk to me. Staying alone seems a lot safer in the long run.

[Cassidy Peterson]

I'm a mall employee, and I gotta say, most mall stores are pretty secure, assuming the zombies are just walking into the doors and not making any sort of effort to get through them. With few exceptions, the smaller stores have metal gates to keep the doorways closed, and no windows. There are also back hallways and doors with peepholes that can be used for quick dashes from store to store. And the majority of the aforementioned gates can be opened only partially, making them easier to close. They can also be rattled - or screamed through - to attract zombie attention, drawing them away from a gate that somebody is sitting quietly behind.

Food is a problem, but many stores also carry small amounts of food, even if it's not all healthy. And my store in particular is a candy store, and - again, while not healthy - a lot of it's got a decent shelf life. The individual restaurants in the food court have varying security, depending on how well the zombies are able to climb over a counter and whether the doors between the front and back close properly. However, they may be able to secure a modest supply of "real" food before relocating to a more protected location.

Frankly, the only real hole in my plan is getting to the mall, and then my particular store, without attracting attention. I'm fairly confident that the zombies wouldn't be able to breach my car, but getting from car to store would be difficult.

Long-term, however, I'd be concerned about running out of my pills. It only takes about five days without 'em to reduce me to screaming until I puke.

[Suicidesoldier#1]

1 melee weapon- Herm... what about bows and arrows?

[Suicidesoldier#1]

This Is NoMercy

honestly I'd just hide out in whatever safe place I could find, and try not to join any groups.
If I've learned anything, the more amount of people in a group, the more likely your changes of dying go up.
You'll have to deal with the possibility of someone either going mentally unstable, wanting to betray the group and steal all the food, or have to deal with someone who has a fatal zombie bite. Or all three.
I've been playing the Walking Dead game, and even though its fictional, 80% of the time whenever someone in the game dies, it's always at the hands of someone who was too incompetent or unstable to help them properly. It was almost never directly the zombies fault.

I just seems like a huge risk to me. Staying alone seems a lot safer in the long run.

Usually though people don't just go crazy; people, in the long run, are the only hope of rebuilding society and for long term survival. From farming to construction to security, you can't really do it all yourself, particularly given that you have to sleep; and when people can focus on a single task, they tend to specialize and do really well.

But you do have to pick them carefully, and doing so after a zombie apocalypse would be difficult. xp

[Exoth XIII]

toasega

1 melee weapon (you have no guns, nor do you have the knowledge of where to access them).

2 lightweight tools that serve many functions.

2 medical items (this could be 1.pills and 2.bandages or any other two items you deem worthy).

2 food items.

1 full canteen of water.

1 change of clothes.

1 Tarp or small, one person tent.

1 compass.

1 book (you have no Kindles or electronic devices)

1 small backpack.

You quickly rush through the house, gathering all of the items into your pack just before you hear screaming outside. The Zombies are out, and worse, they're fast zombies. You see a few people with guns try to fight off the ever increasing hordes, but the sounds of their weapons brings hundreds more directly to them and they are quickly overwhelmed. Knowing that if it doesn't know you're there, it can't hunt you, you stick to the shadows, and by sheer luck manage to make it out of the worst part of the danger zone.

Why'd I leave my house? That was INSANELY dangerous.

Well, now that I'm in the middle of the woods, owing to my sudden lapse in judgement, I have to figure out how to get back home, where I've got food, shelter, AND relative invisibility to zombies.
I certainly can't live off the land; when the zombies invade, plenty of people will be trying to escape to the woods to do the same, people who are more skilled and better equipped to go hunting than I am.

Fast zombies rack up muscle wear and injuries faster than slow ones, so there's a MUCH greater advantage to just hiding.

[Jaaten Syric]

Like Exoth said, I'd want to know why I'm running out of my home in the first place. I'd wait the first wave out, walk the ten feet to my car, and drive to where I work: A warehouse packed with food located about ten miles outside the city limits, behind multiple gates and where all points of ground-level access can be easily barricaded and where a bug-out trailer can be hitched and ready to go at a moment's notice. Why on earth would I make a run for the woods?

[Keltoi Samurai]

The rest of it I have no idea on at the moment, but I'd say if only allowed one melee weapon, I'd take my Cold Steel Man At Arms halberd.

It's about as close to a Monk's Spade of any real quality as I can reasonably get.

Barring that, a brush axe, or possibly one of those new Lobo tools they came out with recently, the Crovel II, or possibly a Trucker's friend or a FUBAR III.

Well, after a little research unveiled that the Crovel II seems to be discontinued, and after weighing my options carefully, I think I'd probably go with the FUBAR III for the extra reach.

[shadowswhiskers13 -]

I'm at college, so I'd probably get a small group of college students together (some of which would be pushed in front of the zombies to be eaten). We'd definitely break into a vending machine (for food). I'd probably be able to use one of their cars to a safer place (like a library or nursing home).

I figure a group has two advantages: numbers and more knowledge (like where weapons are on campus). Plus, I know a lot about zombies, so I'd probably be the leader. Worse-case: I escape with some stuff and leave everyone else to get eaten (sorry, survival mode is best).

[shadowswhiskers13 -]

on a side note, my (melee) weapon would either be my rolling backpack or a baseball bat

[Suicidesoldier#1]

Exoth XIII

toasega

1 melee weapon (you have no guns, nor do you have the knowledge of where to access them).

2 lightweight tools that serve many functions.

2 medical items (this could be 1.pills and 2.bandages or any other two items you deem worthy).

2 food items.

1 full canteen of water.

1 change of clothes.

1 Tarp or small, one person tent.

1 compass.

1 book (you have no Kindles or electronic devices)

1 small backpack.

You quickly rush through the house, gathering all of the items into your pack just before you hear screaming outside. The Zombies are out, and worse, they're fast zombies. You see a few people with guns try to fight off the ever increasing hordes, but the sounds of their weapons brings hundreds more directly to them and they are quickly overwhelmed. Knowing that if it doesn't know you're there, it can't hunt you, you stick to the shadows, and by sheer luck manage to make it out of the worst part of the danger zone.

Why'd I leave my house? That was INSANELY dangerous.

Well, now that I'm in the middle of the woods, owing to my sudden lapse in judgement, I have to figure out how to get back home, where I've got food, shelter, AND relative invisibility to zombies.
I certainly can't live off the land; when the zombies invade, plenty of people will be trying to escape to the woods to do the same, people who are more skilled and better equipped to go hunting than I am.

Fast zombies rack up muscle wear and injuries faster than slow ones, so there's a MUCH greater advantage to just hiding.

Well, presumably, it's because your house is about to be over run, is being over run, or you realize you're going to run out of food, and can fit most of it in your pack anyways.

You've only got a few days worth of food at best, so you go somewhere to try to get more, where everyone else isn't going for some reason or another.


You can't have a gun either in this scenario, so I suppose you're an average city dweller or something.

[from blue to]

Fires up chainsaw.

Cranks up music.

"Goin' dooown in a blaze of glory..."

Dies with a smile when zombies go for the over-the-top distraction while family escapes to relative's house that has an arsenal of guns.

[Cassidy Peterson]

Suicidesoldier#1

You've only got a few days worth of food at best.

I'm assuming the power and water hasn't gone out immediately, so I've got weeks worth of food if I stay home. "Weak" perishables go first, then the longer-lasting ones, then the non-perishables.

Hell, with a little effort I can swallow dry rice, and it may be tedious but I'm not above eating dry pasta a piece at a time.

[Suicidesoldier#1]

Cassidy Peterson

Suicidesoldier#1

You've only got a few days worth of food at best.

I'm assuming the power and water hasn't gone out immediately, so I've got weeks worth of food if I stay home. "Weak" perishables go first, then the longer-lasting ones, then the non-perishables.

Hell, with a little effort I can swallow dry rice, and it may be tedious but I'm not above eating dry pasta a piece at a time.

Well, people have to run the power plants and everything, so as soon as they get turned into or scared away by the zombies they'll shut down pretty quickly; the same is true with water. I imagine that would still only last a few weeks doh, and then you're stuck in the city and surrounded by zombies and crashed cars and all that. Gridlock traffic may just make people abandon their cars on the road, so you may have roads for miles just filled full of cars that you can't drive on.

That is unless you live on a farm or something, then the guys idea is pretty moot. So it would also have to imply you're in a major city. xp

[Fermionic]

I wouldn't bother.

I like to be on the winning team.