Yet another zombie survival quiz...

[sorrowmonkey]

63%Mingle² - Free Online Dating

Well, kuzu_no_ha, you can rest assured that I will risk zombification to find you. This quiz penalizes me pretty badly for that. This is an excellent example, therefore, of a 90's movie-plot zombie attack.

In the case of real-life zombie outbreak, there's little hope that the cavalry are going to ride in to save you, or that the zombies are going to keel over from exposure to sunlight or water. They are zombies, fer chrissake, you can't bank on that sort of thing.

Therefore, I suggest this zombie-resistance strategy:

• The guns at your house do you little good if you're at work or if you don't have ammo in them. Can you really be sure that zombie outbreaks will only occur while you are conveniently located with your stash? There are many different viable approaches to solving this problem, but the key point is to have a reasonable plan to arm yourself.
• Canned goods are great, but anyone who's been to Pennsic recognizes that all the canned goods in the world aren't going to help you once the water runs out. Let's face it, if you're not sitting on top of a potable well, you're doomed. The lake outside won't be much help when it's full of drowned zombies.
• Fortification against zombies is tricky. There are only a handful of buildings I can think of that I would trust against concerted zombie assault. I can't think of a single residence I've ever been in that would qualify. Evasion and/or extermination of the two-legged vermin is really a better long term plan, in my mind.
• Trust. You have to sleep sometime, and even most fortified buildings have several exterior doors. So, you need a group of people you can trust (i.e. loved ones) not to fall asleep or leave the door open or whatever. Ideally, you need a fairly large group, so that you can have pairs at each entrance point in three or more shifts. To successfully withstand a long term siege of the building I work in (only two ground floor entrances facing each other, plus a fairly secure dock), you'd still need 8-10 competent people.

A lot of people chuckle about the zombie-attack scenarios, and they are silly and fun. However, many important lessons can be learned from these light-hearted horror flick examples which apply to slightly more likely real-life situations: armed invasion, civil unrest, gang violence, terrorism, and such.

Plus, as kuzu_no_ha points out... Zombies are scary.

Comments

Not that I've spent any time thinking about this...

[ferriludant.livejournal.com]

I'd go beyond the potable well observation, and note that:
1) you need a way to get water even when the power fails. My well runs on electricity, as do most. Most wells with non-electric pumps seem to be outdoors, which poses some risks vis-a-vis zombies. So a generator is also key;
2) Potable now isn't necessarily potable once the zombie plague begins. Aquifer purity depends on some assumed filtration and purification being performed by the ground and rocks through which the water moves: what if the zombification agent can move through those? I think some form of purification/distillation system is key also.

In addition, I think it's worthwhile to disambiguate various forms of zombies or evil dead. Normal zombies, shambling mindless things, those aren't terribly scary. They won't, say, wheel up a catapult to assault your position (ala Omega Man), or carry rifles (ala Night of the Comet). If your enemies are the former, your survival prospects are a lot better. Of course, the latter make better preparation for real life.

Re: Not that I've spent any time thinking about this...

[nrawling.livejournal.com]

Excellent points. Definitely the zombie quality is an important issue. Clever undead zombies could pose a very real difficult problem, while the doddering moron zombies are really just a hazardous livestock problem. There are critical questions in any zombie scenario: why are there zombies here, what made them, and how do I avoid turning into a zombie?

My concern with the generator solution, however, is the availability of gasoline/diesel to run it. You are faced with the same need to go outside to stock up. Solar might help, perhaps. I really think the real solution is to neutralize (at least locally) the zombie threat sufficient to establish the freedom of movement necessary to gather such supplies. To paraphrase Jonathan Coulton, you really can't stay locked inside a mall forever: when you run out of food and guns (and water), you're going to need to go find more, and that mean's going outside.

Re: Not that I've spent any time thinking about this...

[ferriludant.livejournal.com]

Agreed about neutralizing the local threat. I should have said that in my comment. Also, of course, agreed about trustworthy allies... but that would tend to put people in the "driving across town" situation. Nice for you West Haven folks that you're right across the street, though that neighborhood seems lacking in fortifications.

Also agreed that generators take fuel, but even if you have (or rig up) a working manual pump, electricity is still just short of a necessity: your lighting at night will either take electricity or flame (more fuel); and your communications take electricity. And you end up needing fuel for other purposes also: cooking, heat, and transportation.

P.S. Jonathon Coulton is a genius.

more good points

[nrawling.livejournal.com]

Yes, the move to West Haven definitely did not include a careful remove of the available zombie-resistent fortifications.

I'm wondering though...

I'm tempted by the IKEA in New Haven, suffers from a long class wall on the entrace side, but offers a large supply of raw material and close highway and ocean access. Also, it's relatively distant and inaccessible to the residential areas where presumably the large zombie populations would be.

After some thought though, I think the Sam's/Lowe's complex on the Boston Post Rd has some advantages. Something to think about.

Of course, it goes without saying that the best place to be, when a zombie outbreak occurs, is to be somewhere else.

Re: more good points

[nrawling.livejournal.com]

Apparently, deleting comments doesn't work anymore. Interesting to note.


"remove" should be "review" in the above.

Re: more good points

[ferriludant.livejournal.com]

Agreed about being somewhere else. But that's sometimes hard to schedule.

Re: Not that I've spent any time thinking about this...

[kuzu-no-ha.livejournal.com]

This is why I thought we needed a underground tunnel between our two houses! Kris agrees...tom does not.

^_^

Nevermind the 250' of solid rock...

[nrawling.livejournal.com]

...actually, a working quantum transporter would make both quick visits and moving the underground rock easier.


Frankly, I think it's much more likely than Tom digging a tunnel with a pickaxe and dynamite.