I've always found this scenario fascinating because most of us live very comfortable and generally safe lives and the zombie apocalypse immediately flips the script. Creature comforts are out the window, and it's all about survival now - usually with very limited resources and help from other people. It's the dissolution of civilization and a return to the prior state of anarchy and barbarity. Could any of us live in such a world?
So let's assume walking dead rules apply: zombies are fairly slow and dumb (they essentially just walk towards noise or follow other zombies) but decently strong, brain damage is the only way to kill them, zombie bites/scratches will almost certainly cause a fatal fever, any deaths for any reason except brain damage cause the deceased to come back as a zombie within minutes, and there's no cure.
Personally, I think zombies are a underrated adversary - most people scoff at them because all you have to do is knife one in the skull and they're donezo - they're fairly easily dispatched. Sure, one-on-one in broad daylight, prepared and aware, you have a good chance of winning. But it's not always like that. They will come at you in force when you're asleep or tired or wounded or sick or alone. The sheer persistence and resilience of this threat cannot be overstated. Eventually, you will get overwhelmed.
And the worst threat isn't necessarily the zombies - civilization has collapsed, so managing your basic needs is going to be tricky. Food, water, shelter, medicine, etc. Hell, just taking a bath or wearing clean clothes might not even be possible for long stretches of time. And you could probably only scavenge successfully for a couple of years at best - in my neck of the woods, the grocery stores look like warzones when the news calls for a quarter-inch of snow, let alone the walking dead. And yet another threat is the questionable nature of other people, people who may rob you or worse if the situation presents itself.
So let's say you turn on the news and it's Z-day. Where would you go? What people would you link up with? What tools/weapons would you bring? How would you defend yourself? Would your personality change - would you be a different person after experiencing horrors firsthand? Would you maintain your sanity/humanity?
Can zombies swim? If not, I'd move to an island that's big enough to grow food and have enough water, etc., and just give it my best shot, along with whomever else I can manage to bring along.
Or maybe just digging a moat would work, if it's big enough.
If they can swim, then all bets are off!
Quote from: Unbeliever on May 02, 2019, 02:09:58 PMCan zombies swim?
Sort of. They can't drown, so they can keep going, but they can only do so much to fight the current, so they'll get swept away by anything other than stagnant water. So any fast-moving body of water deeper than a few feet is effectively impassible for them.
By luck, a small trickle might find their way to secluded lake-islands, tidal islands (islands with land routes during low tide), and barrier islands (permanent islands adjacent to the mainland)
However, any islands more than a few miles away from the coast are basically safe from zombie invaders.
I would welcome them to move to the US, since they are clearly an immorally oppressed minority ;-)
Most human beings "need brains", therefore are zombies.
Chinese finger trap. ala Picard in STNG
Quote from: Unbeliever on May 02, 2019, 02:09:58 PM
Can zombies swim? If not, I'd move to an island that's big enough to grow food and have enough water, etc., and just give it my best shot, along with whomever else I can manage to bring along.
Here's the thing - most inhabited islands rely pretty heavily on imported food. Also, everyone else already had the "seek refuge on an island" idea and about 40% of the world population lives near the coast, and the USA is certainly no exception.
Basically, small landmasses + large influx of refugees + low carrying capacity. Not ideal. Maybe livable, but certainly fraught with problems. Just problems with other people, not zombies.
Well, are zombies warm-blooded? If not, I'll move as far north as I can, so they'll freeze before they can get to me. That'll teach 'em!
Quote from: Unbeliever on May 02, 2019, 05:11:41 PM
Well, are zombies warm-blooded? If not, I'll move as far north as I can, so they'll freeze before they can get to me. That'll teach 'em!
Only brain damage kills them. They might freeze in place in very cold conditions, but don't assume that to be permanent. Some zombies will get stuck, but not very many of them.
As a generally rule, expect them to keep hunting humans continuously until dispatched by a blow to the brain. Internal fictional logic > science
Just finished my latest zombie slayer this morning. 11.5" mid gassed suppressed sbr.
(https://i.imgur.com/csl7MNl.jpg)
Always remember to double-tap!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmA2WYyw-_A
Realistically, if I survived the initial outbreak, which I probably wouldn't I'd wind up either a lone scavenger or an enforcer to a group. Depending if I fell in with a group I felt I could trust or not. I don't think I'd lead nor head to hard to live places, as I would not be able to sustain myself.
Honestly, I don't see me surviving two years post outbreak. In the best case scenario. So might as wel scavenge.
Will say though: people in the walking dead ran out of canned food ridiculously fast. If the initial outbreak took out 95% or so of all people, how much could have already been et?
Quote from: Mr.Obvious on May 02, 2019, 07:07:59 PM
Will say though: people in the walking dead ran out of canned food ridiculously fast. If the initial outbreak took out 95% or so of all people, how much could have already been et?
Your average US grocery store stocks a 3 day inventory. If you only had 5% of the people left that would be about a 60 day supply. Got to figure a lot of that is perishable, and you probably couldn't eat all that before it went bad so maybe a 30 - 45 day supply.
Me? I'm loading up the guns, going to try to hit Larry's for some extra ammo before everyone else, stopping at the vet's office for antibiotics and pain killers, then going to try to barricade up in a Sam's or Costco. Plenty of food there to last a small group of people for a while.
Die. I would die.
Quote from: Shiranu on May 02, 2019, 09:14:28 PM
Die. I would die.
I always figured you as Glenn-type person for whom the apocalypse was a mixed blessing because it wiped out a lot of real-world stressors like debt. Granted, the apocalypse is no picnic, but it's less soul-crushing.
Quote from: Hydra009 on May 02, 2019, 05:20:45 PM
Only brain damage kills them. They might freeze in place in very cold conditions, but don't assume that to be permanent. Some zombies will get stuck, but not very many of them.
As a generally rule, expect them to keep hunting humans continuously until dispatched by a blow to the brain. Internal fictional logic > science
How about "brain freeze" from offering them really cold ice cream? ;-)
Quote from: Hydra009 on May 02, 2019, 09:28:26 PM
I always figured you as Glenn-type person for whom the apocalypse was a mixed blessing because it wiped out a lot of real-world stressors like debt. Granted, the apocalypse is no picnic, but it's less soul-crushing.
I just don't see myself as having the necessary skills to survive long-term in a post-apocalyptic world, especially where I live now. Great farmland, but surrounded by massive cities which would produce insane amounts of zombies. And not much hunting anymore, though a few years of no humans and that might change (assuming the virus doesn't effect animals but just humans).
But in the ensuing chaos of an outbreak... I don't have the resources to escape the area or bunker down for any prolonged time. Best case scenario, realistically, is I have a bunch of weed on hand and just enjoy my last couple of days high as fuck.
Quote from: PopeyesPappy on May 02, 2019, 08:11:49 PM
Your average US grocery store stocks a 3 day inventory. If you only had 5% of the people left that would be about a 60 day supply. Got to figure a lot of that is perishable, and you probably couldn't eat all that before it went bad so maybe a 30 - 45 day supply.
Me? I'm loading up the guns, going to try to hit Larry's for some extra ammo before everyone else, stopping at the vet's office for antibiotics and pain killers, then going to try to barricade up in a Sam's or Costco. Plenty of food there to last a small group of people for a while.
But you don't scavenge shops. Everyone tries to stockpile, then gets killed. Good chance that houses and cars are loaded with canned food.
E: I didn't read your post well.
Still feel like you could go for a long time, breaking into one house after another. We live in adjacent houses here, I would not even have to go out in the street for the first few weeks.
Quote from: Mr.Obvious on May 03, 2019, 12:59:18 AM
But you don't scavenge shops. Everyone tries to stockpile, then gets killed. Good chance that houses and cars are loaded with canned food.
E: I didn't read your post well.
Still feel like you could go for a long time, breaking into one house after another. We live in adjacent houses here, I would not even have to go out in the street for the first few weeks.
Water is going to be a problem for those in town sooner rather than later. Once the power goes out those who don't have a well with a solar powered pump or live on a body of water somewhere are going to get thirsty pretty fast.
There's an old bank on the courthouse square here built on a small bluff above a big artesian spring that was the town's main source of water until about 50 or 60 years ago. I've always thought that might be a good place to hang out after the apocalypse.
(http://pics4.city-data.com/cpicc/cfiles44931.jpg)
Long term wise there is a 50 kw solar array a couple of hundred yards from our place. Might be able to salvage that to produce some power so we wouldn't be stuck in the stone age for a while.
(http://media.al.com/breaking/photo/12517673-large.jpg)
Quote from: Shiranu on May 02, 2019, 09:14:28 PM
Die. I would die.
This. Exactly this. I give myself a few hours the most.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPx2DT49yMg
He says it's OK to imitate zombies, but it was acting like a zombie that got Bill Murray killed in Zombieland!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D79SoADIBj8
so just imagining the sitation happening right now. i'm sat in my room at my pc upstairs. the downstairs lights are off but my bedroom lights on, so if their zombies attached to light, they'd have to break though the glass front door and second inside door, so that would give me time to call police.
However if their spread out and around the area, I don't stand much chance, if their attached to the light at the front, I could get downstairs into the back garden and out the back gate, but then depending on how many their are in the area would depend on how far I get down my street. Due to my right leg often messing up when I sprint on it, if these were anything other then slow walkers I'm screwed, otherwise I might be able to walk a good pace from them up the main road to the town and get into the shopping mall.
Thats when I remember I live in the uk and we don't have gun shops here, and I die.
Hell, for all we know being a zombie might be fun, so we should just let them bite us - don't knock it if you ain't tried it! :-P
Which would be worse, a zombie apocalypse or a surprise invasion by Canada?
In all statistical likelihood, I would be rotting and trying to eat brains.
Quote from: Unbeliever on May 03, 2019, 08:21:34 PM
Which would be worse, a zombie apocalypse or a surprise invasion be Canana?
zombies for sure would be worse.
an invasion of canana looks delicious.
(https://canana.com.br/wp-content/themes/shop-isle/images/canana-loja.png)
I've been working on these for a while now and just finished the last one earlier this week. Three identical consecutive serial # 14.5" pined and welded mids. One for my sweetie, one for my sister, and one for my 80 year old mother. All lefties, BTW. Got them bore sighted tonight getting ready for a family trip to range.
The family that shoots together survives the zombie apocalypse together...
(https://i.imgur.com/Kgs6Xqs.jpg)