News:

Welcome to our site!

Main Menu

What would you do in the zombie apocalypse?

Started by Hydra009, May 02, 2019, 01:28:53 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Hydra009

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?

Unbeliever

#1
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!
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Hydra009

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.

Baruch

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.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

aitm

A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust

Hydra009

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.

Unbeliever

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!
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Hydra009

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

PopeyesPappy

Just finished my latest zombie slayer this morning. 11.5" mid gassed suppressed sbr.

Save a life. Adopt a Greyhound.

Unbeliever

God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Mr.Obvious

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?
"If we have to go down, we go down together!"
- Your mum, last night, requesting 69.

Atheist Mantis does not pray.

PopeyesPappy

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.

Save a life. Adopt a Greyhound.

Shiranu

"A little science distances you from God, but a lot of science brings you nearer to Him." - Louis Pasteur

Hydra009

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.

Baruch

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? ;-)
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.