If There Was a Zombie-Apocalypse...

Oleena · January 25, 2012, 4:47pm

[quote]byukid wrote:
http://www.survivalblog.com/2012/01/how_the_average_american_can_p.html

Survivalblog is one of the best online resources- tons of user submitted content. My wife and I just did an inventory of what we’ve got, the only big things left we need are water purifiers, more water, and more food saved up.

Once we move and I get a job and we get a house, we’ll install a chicken coop for eggs, and then find a co-op hopefully for veggies and milk and some meats. I’m not as big of a fan of having your own garden- if a SHTF situation happens I want as few people as possible to know how survival savvy I am.

Oh and guns. Lots of guns.[/quote]

Here’s the thing about crazy-end-of-the-world-survival planning: what does it really hurt? If anything, you learn a bunch of great money-saving tactics and reduce reliability that could mildly shoot you in the ass (power outages, drought, sky-rocketing food prices).

Oleena · January 25, 2012, 4:59pm

[quote]limburg wrote:
I wouldn’t say lots of guns. 3 tops. You want lots of ammo. lets now poise the question. What is your 3 weapons of choice?[/quote]

If there were real zombies, I wouldn’t want mind more than three guns as long as I could recruit people who knew how to shoot. For myself, I would want explosives and one gun that packs a huge punch with a fast reload (I know nothing about guns…) with tons of ammo.

Also, I would take to high places and maybe organize a tree-top system of transport, depending on the intelligence and resourcefulness of the zombies. I would pick an area that was hard to get to with a bottle-neck at one point in the trail leading there, set up some of the explosives, have people posted on outlooks, and wait it out.

There would need to be at least three bottle-necks leading to the area and another way of getting out, possibly across water (once again, depending on the intelligence and abilities of the zombies).

flyhalfnightmare · January 25, 2012, 5:01pm

[quote]limburg wrote:
I wouldn’t say lots of guns. 3 tops. You want lots of ammo. lets now poise the question. What is your 3 weapons of choice?[/quote]

Ruger 10/22
Remington 870
Springfield XDM 9mm

A decent mix of utility between home defense and hunting in the most common cartridges.

Oleena · January 25, 2012, 5:08pm

[quote]Captnoblivious wrote:

[quote]Oleena wrote:
I ran into a guy last night who thinks the US will be taken over in 10 years and there will be a full scale war resulting in food shortages, money being worthless, and anarchy for a while. He’s seriously stock-piling large amounts of guns, food, and silver in preparation for this. While I’m pretty sure it would never go down to the extreme he’s planning for, he brought up one good point- there are only two days worth of food on the grocery store shelves at any point in time. If there was a country-wide disaster of any sort, we would starve.

Naturally, this brought me to the zombie apocalypse.

Who would last the longest?

I’m pretty sure the power-lifters would outlast the bodybuilders (their low bodyfat percentage would prove problematic in the face of a food shortage).
[/quote]

farmers ranchers, and hippies in that order.

people in cities would be done for.

Your buddy sounds a little nutty.

I think PLers lack of cardio would do them in when running from zombies.
[/quote]

He is a little nutty, but I’m not sure how much it actually hurts to have a ton of food, guns, and survival skills on hand. If anything, it saves money by reducing reliability on society (he hunts all of his own meat, buys long-lasting products in bulk, doesn’t spend any money on furniture, and deals in cash, which actually helps the economy by accurately reflecting supply and demand). He also has a good net-work of people set up and they help each other out, which further reduces dependence on the rest of society. If a drought, several week power outage, or rising food prices were to strike in my area, I would be thankful for this guy. That he happens to be excessive about it isn’t really my concern. I know people who are excessive about their shoe and make-up collection.

I think you’re right about the powerlifters running. They would need to set themselves up so they didn’t have to move anywhere in order to maximize survival chances.

borrek · January 25, 2012, 6:01pm

[quote]flyhalfnightmare wrote:

[quote]limburg wrote:
I wouldn’t say lots of guns. 3 tops. You want lots of ammo. lets now poise the question. What is your 3 weapons of choice?[/quote]

Ruger 10/22
Remington 870
Springfield XDM 9mm

A decent mix of utility between home defense and hunting in the most common cartridges.[/quote]

Right now I’ve got an M4, a Remington 1100 autoloader, a Colt 357 so I can get my Rick on, and I’m picking up an XDM in 40S&W in about 3 weeks (or getting some nice optics on the M4 - jury is still out) Add the sword in my avi pic and I’m all set for Zombies.

My main worry (aside from the living dead, because that is just a question of “when”) is some sort of event in Detroit, be it rioting or mass evacuation where I have floods of people heading through my neighborhood. With two young kids I plan on hitting the road for an evacuation, but possibly staying in place for a riot or civil disturbance. With a riot, just having someone in the house may be enough to have people move on down the line. Not sure I want to risk it with kids though

borrek · January 25, 2012, 6:18pm

[quote]usaffirefighter wrote:

[quote]borrek wrote:

[quote]pushharder wrote:
I’ve read this book. Very plausible plot.

http://www.onesecondafter.com/[/quote]

I checked it out after you mentioned it in another thread, and it was definitely an interesting read. I’m not sure I totally buy the whole wave of die-offs scenario. It makes for interesting reading, but I think the scale was more about drama than reality. If anything, I think something happening on that scale would bring out the same community attitude that WWII did, and Americans would be surviving with a vengeance. [/quote]

I don’t remember exactly how many waves he had in the book, but I think there would be a few different waves. During WWII and other crises there has still been a national distribution set up for food and other supplies. If something like an EMP or another disaster took out a utility of one form or another I think that infrastructure of local food distribution shuts down, or at the least becomes much less efficient. And while humans, Americans specifically, can be extremely resourceful and resilient when they need to be, I think you’re still looking at an entire country full of Katrinas. As much as FEMA may have dropped the ball on that one the people that didn’t bug out in the face of imminent danger still waited around a destroyed urban environment for somebody to come save them. Even if FEMA is still operational after whatever disaster hits, there’s no way they’re bailing out every urban center in America. I think the first couple months would certainly be a horribly chaotic situation resulting in a huge number of deaths from lack of food or water, rampant disease due to the loss of efficient removal of refuse and human waste, and just straight up Wild West every man for himself panic.

So after all that insanity plays out I definitely think that people would band together and find a way through the ordeal. Smaller, more remote towns or concentrations of people would most likely get to this step sooner and more peacefully, so if anything I’d just make sure to get the hell away from any large groups of people. Large groups of people are high strung, easily spooked, and behave very irrationally especially in the face of adversity. Power goes out and it’s Black Friday at every grocery store in the country.

All that said it’d be interesting to see how long the remaining communities are able to effectively manage wild herds of animals once all the livestock are gone and hunting’s the only option for food.[/quote]

Our food distribution network is already as horribly inefficient as it could get simply because of mega-farms shipping food across the country instead of local farmers producing it all. Unless it happens in the winter, crops could be replanted to be more diverse. That 1000 acre soybean field, can feed an awful lot of people if it gets reorganized. Plus, there is an instant need for work because it all needs to be harvested and planted by hand.

Before the Internet and cars, people built nations in their “spare” time. We could do it again, and be smarter about it this time. I don’t buy roving bands of cannibals and thugs or any of that other drama, because people will see that farmer Joe needs hands because his corn is going to wither.

pgtips · January 25, 2012, 9:23pm

[quote]Oleena wrote:
I ran into a guy last night who thinks the US will be taken over in 10 years and there will be a full scale war resulting in food shortages, money being worthless, and anarchy for a while. He’s seriously stock-piling large amounts of guns, food, and silver in preparation for this. While I’m pretty sure it would never go down to the extreme he’s planning for, he brought up one good point- there are only two days worth of food on the grocery store shelves at any point in time. If there was a country-wide disaster of any sort, we would starve.

Naturally, this brought me to the zombie apocalypse.

Who would last the longest?

I’m pretty sure the power-lifters would outlast the bodybuilders (their low bodyfat percentage would prove problematic in the face of a food shortage).
[/quote]

Your friend sounds a bit kooky, in the good way that you’ll always be able to have a decent off-beat conversation.

I don’t think much Dig in/ Fortify the place/ Stockpilers would last the early days where theres still a whole lot of crazy, scared and hungry people still running about looking for shelter and food.

I can see rural people in the US having an advantage, due to the fact they probably know a fair bit about the land and hunting - but in the UK I cant see there being much hope, with guns being illegal and what not.

I just think the most adabtable and resourceful would survive, be they power lifter or bodybuilders or regular people lol, but in my opinion well rounded athletic people would have the greater chance, especially runners (long distance and sprinters) just for the fact they can bug out of areas where zombies are looking for a snack, sprinters can make like Road Runner and hide! and long distance runners can just run and run - thats if theyre resourcefull enough to gather food for energy, be it wild or scavenged from whats left of society.

In a group situation, you’d want to keep it small and quiet - all the time, and stay nomadic. staying in one place is not safe. eEspecially a building cause if found, it wouild become a tomb. Best to be out on the open where you can flee whatever direction is needed.

Weapons. if I had a gun, I’d want something silenced. preffereably a silenced pistol. small and easy to handle inside buildings if I’m scavenging. Easy to carry.

I’d try not to use it as I wouldn’t want any zombies or people to know I was in the area. shot guns and unsilenced rifles are a big NO NO. way too loud, and will be heard for a long dostace in all directions.

then I’d want a decent mele` weapon so I can save ammo or as a back up. something like a make do mace ot a hatchet.

If I were to prepare for this I’d have the previous equiptment stored away ready for when needed. I’d also have a bag made up of essentials. High calorie Ration packs warm clothes, bivvy sheets, map, compass, sleeping bag, wind up torch, wind up radio, first aid kit. water filter and purifying tablets, sewing kit - al this would make for a relatively small bag to lug about.
Also, I forgot things like a hair dryer and an iron…

I would survive on my own, but I’d much rather be in a SMALL group of people I care for.

To be honest I’d act like a Meerkat. Cautious and fast.

To a zombie Heroes would look like a joint of beef or chicken drumstick being handed to them on a plate, wheras my group of Meerkats, well… we’d look like heroes would but alomost over the horizon.

Wow. didn’t mean to type that much.

Derek542 · January 26, 2012, 5:14pm

[quote]thethirdruffian wrote:

[quote]krazykoukides wrote:
Mmm. Bacon.
[/quote]

Feral hogs are generally full of worms and not to be eaten.[/quote]
Lol you are kidding correct?

Derek542 · January 26, 2012, 5:17pm

Unless you plan on taking a reloader with you were ever you go, the best option is choosing a weapon that you can find ammo in plentiful supply. What are the three top selling loads at this time?

Oleena · January 27, 2012, 4:04pm

[quote]pgtips wrote: