The Zombie Apocalypse: Call from Reality

Zombies: First off, I have to point out that we'll be talking about "Solanum Zombies" the kind of zombies that evolve out of a deadly virus, and can infect others to become like them. We'll not dabble into black magic or voodoo or spiritual sects... or we might just do that, but at a later point, when we run low on interesting subtopics for this glorious overall topic.
First of we'll discuss the zombies. I'd love to hear people's opinions about the urban myths about zombies, and possible ways the zombies might work. Here's a pair of teaser quistion/urban myths to get you in the mood for a major zombie discussion.

1: Zombies rely on their sense of smell and hearing, to locate targets. Their eyesight is poor, and only works on low ranges and dim lighting.

1.1: By smearing a rotting carcass over yourself, you can hide your smell, and move undetected among the living dead.

2: Zombies are semi-social beings, thus they can gather in groups known as "Hordes" if they think one of them have found a target.

3: A zombie isn't necesarily killed by a blow to the head.

4: Zombies are "Scared/repelled" by fire.


Take those into consideration, you can of course add your favorite tactics, should you encounter zombies, and maybe your weapon of choice!

Check you have a round properly seated in the chamber too and carry something that doesn't need bullets, fuel or power to kill zombies. Just in case.

Grenades are horrible weapons for zombie's. Sure they're dead, but now you have high speed zombie flesh flying in 360. All of it potential zombification.

Oh and armoured military vehicles. They lock from the inside for just this reason, to keep people (or zombies) out of them.

Don't go Rambo: Try not to wastefully blow holes into zombies; make every shot count! Use a semi-auto weapon to avoid the temptation.

Exactly the thing about ammunition is a good one. You don't want to have some rare weapon either. You'd want something that uses standard bullets. 9MM and hunting rifle slugs. It's a good idea to keep to those basic weapons.

But a melee weapon? Seriously?

Unless it's a 1 vs 1 fight, melee is a certain death. Too many times have I heard "Take a sword" melee weapons require a lot of energy to use, and are somewhat ineffective if there is a zombie horde coming in your general direction.

Grenades... In my case, there's a bigger chance of blowing my own ass to pieces, rather than the zombies xD

And in Europe (Don't know if this counts for the US too...) we got locks inside all of our cars. But military vehicles might pack a certain punch when you want to mow down a zombie... :)

But of course, it all depends on what kind of zombie you're up against. Intelligent or dumb. Fast or slow. Best ide might just be to flee out inn the countryside. Cities just aren't safe. Out there, you might only encounter a small pair of zombies. and less zombies equals greater chances of surviving :)

My zombies < Your zombies.

Any single weapon against a horde of zombies is a waste of energy unless it's a nuke, in which case it's technically literally a waste of energy. In small numbers blunted melee weapons, axes, crowbars, baseball bats and so forth, are much better than swords at beating down zombies. A blunt weapon will blunt itself and never use it's usefulness; a sword dulls and can no longer cut at a point. Sure you can sharpen the sword, but be willing to do it every night, oil the blade, clean it from blood after every so many kills and so forth just to maintain it. Not to mention blunted tools like crowbars and axes make entering locked doors or opening locked cases much easier.

The reason cities are a prime place to survive is because the food supply is likely greater and more far spread. In small communities there may only be one of two grocery stores and the chances of them not being raided is small. Atop that though zombies may not be your main fear, other people can still kill you out of blatant fear.

Patcharoo: Your zombies < my zombies

NarrowEye wrote:But a melee weapon? Seriously?

Seriously. You have to think of all the angles, not just the zombie killing ones. Yes, it's generally a horrible idea to get into melee with zombies, but what if you have to? What if your gun runs dry? What about getting through that locked door or through that window? What about firewood, hammering nails for a barricade, cutting the clothes off a wounded comrade? A crowbar, good hatchet or a solid knife is a boon in a lot of scenarios, and all of those can double as a zombie killer in a dire circumstance. Guns are solid pieces of kit, but if you have to rely on it as your primary means of defence, I wouldn't be swinging it around for some mundane task that can be accomplished by a dedicated tool.

Round here, I'd stick to a .223 (5.56x45mm) just because of the proximity of the army base. The largest piles of ammo I'm likely to find are military ones and as the US and Canadian army make use of the round, might as well carry a gun to fire it. Sure gun stores carry .22LR but what do you think are the first places to get looted when all hell breaks loose?

I'd also stick to a 9mm sidearm. Again for ease of acquiring ammunition after law breaks down. Police and military issue.

As a zombie nerd, myself and friends have often discussed what we would do in the inevitable zombie outbreak. It's worth saying that I live in England, just outside of London - therefore we have no guns and ammunition in easily accessible places, so unless we're lucky, we won't have the use of firearms (or significant explosives). Plus, there are a lot of people.

1. Weaponry. A note on firearms before I start: For the most part, I doubt most of the people here have much experience of firearms, and if they have it is likely limited to firing ranges (for those in the US). Couple into this inexperience the stress, fatigue, hunger and thirst that are going to be a constant during such a time or turmoil and you aren't likely to perform well with any firearm. Contrary to what most people say, aiming for the head probably isn't your best bet. If you have a few zombies, then it is suicide to open fire - noise attracts other zombies. So when the time comes to use your gun, it means you are facing a horde. For most people, spraying and praying is going to be the best bet. Sure, you're not going to kill many of them but you might slow them down. Remember: We aren't going for the kill 10,000 zombies achievement, we're just trying to survive. Maiming or just generally slowing the zombies whilst you flee is going to get you further than taking one knee and firing round by round at a shambling, stumbling zombie.

So, given the above, and the fact I'm not likely to find a gun and much ammunition near where I live, I must choose a melee weapon. These would be:

1. A knife - For the reasons mentioned above. It is both a useful tool for survival outside of zombie parameters, and in a tight pinch you might just get it into the zombies eye socket before its teeth rip into your flesh. It's easy to carry, and you don't want to get into a situation and wish you'd taken the effort.

2. A crowbar - A lot of doors are going to be locked and chained when this shit goes down. A crowbar is probably going to be essential for opening blocked passageways - you don't want to flee a horde of zombies and find yourself trapped in an alley, unable to escape because you can't batter down a door with your shoulder.

3. A spear/staff - Most likely this will be fashioned from a broom, tied bamboo or even a tree branch. The main point here is to have a long weapon for keeping zombies out of biting/scratching range. If you have a sharp point on the end (make sure you fire harden it!) then you can aim for the eyes of the zombie and possibly kill it.

For RedRaine: I would go for blunt weapons. Unless you have been trained to use a sharp weapon such as a sword then you run the risk of doing more damage to yourself than a zombie. The accepted way to put a zombie down is to either maim it or get to the brain. For most of us, we aren't going to be able to reliable cut of a head or limb with a sword, and it will likely wear us out fast. Blunt weapons are more durable (to an extent) and there isn't much technical ability required to stove in a zombies head with a hammer. I would have knives as an exception, however.

2. Transport! A bicycle or motorbike is generally considered the most efficient of transport. Most roads are going to be blocked up with cars and debris, and you are unlikely to get anything larger around with ease. You don't want to get stuck in a car, with no way out. The downside to a bike is that you cannot take anywhere near as much gear, and you are exposed to a lucky lunge from a zombie. Bicycles are also very tiring.

Because I cannot use a motorbike (I don't think the zombie apocalypse is a suitable time to get in the practice, either), I'm going to go for the car - but, I'll shove a bicycle in the back. This way I can stash everything I need in the car, I have some form of on-the-go protection and if worst comes to worse, I can bail out on the bicycle.

Moving is probably the worst obstacle in the zombie apocalypse. Staying put is a good idea if you can survive a few weeks at home, with supplies left over for a few days journey. For most of us though, or food isn't going to last us more than a week. In this case, it is better to make a move somewhere safer. Few of us can afford to wait for the zombies to decay to a point of immobility.

3. Where to?! The coast. My aim would be to get myself (and anyone else I find along the way) to the coast. Because England is piss-small, it would only take me about an hour or two driving (in normal circumstances). This means I don't need do find great amounts of food, and I hopefully won't need to find shelter along the way. In the worst scenario, I can cycle there within the day.

Once I reach the coast, I have to take a boat. Because I have very little boating experience, I need to take something very simple. It is essential that the boat has an anchor and can move without fuel. It would be highly useful to have a raft/small boat as well. Once I have chosen a suitable vessel, I will take it off coast by around a mile. Far enough that a zombie isn't going to stagger out and climb up the side, but close enough to avoid too much open water, where rough seas are going to be a problem.

4. So then what? Well, wait it out. I'll anchor up close a a city (using the ports natural sea defences to avoid turbulent water). Whenever I get low on food I will take the smaller boat (hopefully!) to a quiet section of the shore. I'll then have to venture in land to fetch supplies. This will be pretty dangerous. The hope is that being close to a city, food will be abundant. Even if I am only raiding the houses of now dead (cue crowbar) people, I should be able to scavenge enough food on the fringe of the city (thus avoiding too many zombies!) and get back to the boat unscathed.

Hopefully I can horde together enough stuff to make trips ashore infrequent. My plan would be to wait between 3-4 weeks on that boat, and try to find people via short-wave radio. By this time the infection would be slowing. Most people will be dead. New, fresh zombies will be rare. The zombies around, particularly those from Z-Day, will be highly decomposed. This will significantly reduce their mobility, and they might even be completely motionless/dead.

5. Once this time has elapsed, and providing I'm not dead (or undead) it is time to go back ashore. If I have heard any news on the radio, I can make another group of successful survivors my destination (or them me). The final goal will be to head to the countryside, however. Now that the main craze has passed, it should be possible to find a place with hardly any population, and now, next to no zombies. Once there I can set up a secure homestead and set about growing my own food. I can probably live here, alone or not, indefinitely. As time passes more zombies will die, and perhaps order will start to come about. If not, the biggest problem is other survivors - but even those aren't likely to find me if I don't reveal the location on the radio.

There we go. Long-winded, but I hope it helps you guys when this shit goes down. I'll end with a few tips.

1. Double-tap!
2. Be suspicious! One of the most overlooked dangers is other people. Desperate, frightened people are as likely to harm you as a zombie.
3. Stay positive! This isn't going to be easy, I know. The biggest component of survival though, is your mindset. This is known from survival stories even today. If you keep focused, disciplined and keep yourself going no matter what, you can make it.
4. Help others! It's not every man for himself. If you turn your back and let someone die to save your own arse, then you've sacrificed your humanity. You might as well walk out and get torn to shreds, because the zombies have already won.

If any of you have any familiarity with decomposition, you would know that a fresh zombie would be incapacitated after 2 weeks at the very most - the rotting flesh, accompanied by the bugs that would eat that flesh would just destroy the creatures too fast to do much serious damage. I would honestly just ransack the local cafe and pub and barricade myself in my apartment for a month. No need to be a hero, just let nature play its course.

Psyk0ttik wrote:If any of you have any familiarity with decomposition, you would know that a fresh zombie would be incapacitated after 2 weeks at the very most - the rotting flesh, accompanied by the bugs that would eat that flesh would just destroy the creatures too fast to do much serious damage. I would honestly just ransack the local cafe and pub and barricade myself in my apartment for a month. No need to be a hero, just let nature play its course.

Do zombies decompose? I thought they were more or less stable structurally but got torn up from day to day zombie activities but didn't have the capacity to repair damage like a normal organism. I dunno.

You also have the elements. A decent winter would probably grind the whole thing to a halt rather quickly, freezing them in place in a matter of hours or at most a few days. So most of Canada is safe ^^

And assuming a zombie couldn't get a hold of a fresh body for fluids every few hours, I'd imagine they'd dry out pretty handily in the desert.

While most of these "Zombie Squads" I've found are pretty much a paramilitary waiting for the greenlight to simply kill off anyone they suspect as 'infected', I hate to say it that ... adopting the policy of a paramilitary 'Gestapo' and killing off anyone they suspect will be the only way to survive in my neck of the woods. Rest assured, if fiction turns to fact and we get Zeds walking around, there will be groups of roving hit-squads out to stem the infection via any means necessary. Instead of giving you my "fool-proof" plan of how I'll save the day, nail the broad and ride off into the sunset on a zombie-killing T-Rex named Helen Keller while jamming out to some Audioslave, I'm instead going to highlight the realities of any situation remotely like that; using history itself and an interpretation of human and 'undead' nature to provide what many of the other's I've discussed with would believe to be true, very gruesome and very horrifying reality of a zombie/infected cataclysm.

To start, it should be well accepted that a traditional "zombie" is probably the most unrealistic type of situation to ever occur -- always shambling? Decaying? Rotten? Moaning at the slightest provocation of movement? These are all fictional misunderstandings that will, if utilized, likely get you divvied up among a mob of screaming, hollering and mauling infected personnel. To use the statement, "When it rains, it pours" is my best explanation of just how straight fucked shit will become if/when this crazy shit occurs. These "zombies" won't be the ones from George A. Romero movies, the glorification of those 'Slow, Children at Play' signs you see on the side of the road, these "zombies" won't be the shambling masses of outstretched arms you see in games like Dead Rising; these "zombies" will be nature's manifestation of thousands of years of putting up with our silly shit. While it's a bit of a leap to say that the infected from 28 Days Later will be running around and vomiting on us as well, it's not that much of a leap to suspect that whatever does cause this infection will be a very, very well prepared pathogen, parasite or viral anomaly; the capability to manipulate the human mind and body will be absolutely startling when it manifests. These things will be nature's ultimate nightmare, a monument to all that fucked up shit we've pulled while treading the dirt beneath our feet; over the course of hours, days, months, or even years, the chain of dominance on this planet will shift and we will find ourselves quite a few pegs below where we'd like to be. It just won't be the infected you have to worry about either, it will become your life -- for however short or long it is -- you will exist with the very real thought in your mind that you will become stomach stuffing or a corpse on the side of the road by the end of the night or sooner.

So how exactly will we, the valiant (-ly monstrous) defenders of humanity achieve victory against hordes of undead? Why, we'll use the tried and true method of complete extermination -- as both a warning and a suggestion, the first thing I would ever suggest to anyone in this situation is drop your fucking emotions. In armed conflict, far different from a zombie assault, there's still some semblance of humanity; you stop killing the enemy if they surrender, you acknowledge an order of cease fire from your commander when he declares that your war is over, and you go right back home to that pretty little sweetie making you a nice drink at home.

Yeah, all of that will go right out the window when you've got the hysteria of the zombie apocalypse bearing down on the shoulders of every man, woman and child who knows it will only be a matter of time before they disappear in a flood of grasping hands and gaping maws. Everyone talks about it because it's a fairly fun subject to discuss; who wouldn't like to pick up a baseball bat and start caving heads in -- actually, haha, you'll find out why melee weapons aren't a good idea unless as a last resort later -- who wouldn't like the thrill of running from a horde as they munch their way through a whole city of unprepared refugees? Well what happens when the reality of that hits, and you actually watch a human being devoured alive; it is always easy to just assume that your plan will proceed perfectly and that you'll blow through all your fancy checkpoints and save the game at every one of them, 'Achievement Unlocked; Wal-Mart Secured'.




The Infected; Zombies straight creep me the fuck out, anyone who looks you straight in the face and says otherwise is the one you'll need to watch out for. Watching 'Night of the Living Dead' or many of the other countless classic zombie movies is hardly a valid comparison to hold yourself to in the attempts of being 'ready'. What they do provide, however, is the realistic interpretation that things will go straight to hell in a handbasket; I appreciate the facts that in many movies, it's the people who think they're the best prepared that end up being a Thanksgiving dinner for a whole mob of Shambling Sallies. Rambling statistics, a conflagration could still achieve critical mass (enough infected personnel to facilitate a major collapse of humanity) easily even with the protection of the government, 'zombie-squads' or even well-constructed resistance. These things will be unlike any organism you have ever encountered before, even those of you who think yourselves to be the rugged, toughnecks that camp in undies or shave with a high-intensity laser; one thing you can't get from the zombie movies? The real sight of a man in tattered and stained clothing, a gaping wound in his neck caked with the vicious crimson of his internal 'machinery' visible, why do I use 'machinery'? Quite simply because that is what these things will be; a machine interested in nothing more than wrapping his hands around your neck, sinking his teeth into your throat and ripping away your larynx in between chewing teeth -- and that's just the first one that gets you to the ground, wait until some sonofabitch throws himself on top of you and takes a chunk out of your leg. Your fancy bludgeoning tool didn't work so well against a horde of them, did it? Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones who accidentally becomes infected when they contaminate themselves by closing with one of these monstrosities; a flash of blood as you plunge your weapon through their neck and severe their spine splatters you in the face, or perhaps one of them just let's loose with one of those classic frat-party barfs as he's on top of you.


The Disorganized; Perhaps an even larger threat than actual infected, the frightened, huddled masses simply wishing to flee from the horrific wave of infected that crash upon the battered defenses of mankind. Many of them, many of you will not be able to seal yourselves within your mind and place your survival at the front of your subconscious; compassion will unfortunately become a risk -- a risk I, as a human, am occasionally willing to take -- and with that reality their compassion will place them in unfortunate situations. The tatters and broken hulk of society will leave the world in a state of shock, a shock many will simply be unable to withstand. These masses will be hysteric, some will be forever broken by the screams of those less fortunate than them, forever scarred by the images of those that have succumb to the Wave. These will be your 'LaMOEs' to quote the well-intending, but misguided Max Brooks -- the Last Men on Earth types; or your valiant, but horribly unprepared resistors to this horrible calamity, the ones who will honorably sacrifice themselves to save a group of dear friends, or perhaps complete strangers. Whatever their situations, whatever their ideology, they will be unprepared and unable to adjust to this new world.


The Organized; Quite literally, the greatest enemy you will have to face, will be those same 'zombie squads', ; with their plans failed and their defenses broken there will be nothing for them to hold to, they failed to stop this horrifying infection. What to do then? They will fight until they die -- but they won't just fight the infected, quite the opposite, outside of their established clique and group, anyone will be a potential deathbringer, anyone a potential thief in the night ready to strike. Unfortunately, I would fall into this category, there are preparations in my town for a sort of 'national emergency' where lines will be drawn and jobs will be raffled off; you will either receive a weapon for combat, or a tool for work, if you are unable to use either? I can only promise a quick death. In the regards of those groups that, for some reason or another, will decide to spend their remaining days trying to pursue a return to normalcy or some semblance of the 'good life', it is these that will be the most volatile and dangerous groups. Unfortunately, I find it all to easy to believe that many people who flock to these groups will meet a rather tragic end; herded outside and stood against the wall after they have been stripped of any necessities by their would-be saviors, and then of course, shot to death, beaten to death, or even worse -- left for dead with the hands of the infected beating at their doors.




So, have I sufficiently creeped you the fuck out? Well, I'll give you a bone and say that all of these scenarios I have contemplated have been the most pessimistic situations I have discussed with people; a nugget of gold, though? Is that your deliberations on the event of this magnitude is not all in vein. The simple fact that you, the user, the reader, or the theorist, has contemplated this situation and devised a plan for it proves that you not only have a chance of surviving, but a chance of thriving. While this event will be a game-changer on the likes of the dinosaur's extinction event, you must remember that you are human; that you, no matter what cloth of society you come from, possess the ability to survive and ascend beyond the problems at hand, for your instincts are the greatest tools of your survival. Remember though, that everyone thought World War I would be a straight walk through the park, just a few weeks of 'killing Germans and stabbing Austrians', but history will serve to tell us that complacency is our greatest enemy.

I'll tell you what - to me, running is better than fighting. And running with a group is much better. If this were ever to happen I plan on waiting it out in the Appalachian mountains, you can find everything you need to live there and could survive for a long amount of time in the woods living off the land. (Yes, you must know what you're doing or you'll probably starve in the winter, but I'm assuming most of my group is well-educated in survival.) Food, water, shelter, and defense are paramount and if the zombie apocalypse has really come upon us I'm focusing on long-term multi-year survival. Yes, killing zombies will be important but if we're in a remote enough area it should be kept to a minimum. I think a lot of people focus on hunting and killing but don't consider how to survive without the luxuries of modern life.

Knowledge is power here. So are matches, advanced water purification systems, hunting tools, axes and other building materials, first aid supplies, as much food as you can bring (rice, wheat, grains in general), native seeds for gardening, the list really goes on.

If you prepare to survive like the Native Americans lived, you will be better prepared than most people (so long as European conquerers don't get to you before the zombies.)

Let me say one thing - I would die damn fast if a real zombie outbreak happened. I wouldn't be able to kill anyone.

My advice? Find an attic, retract the ladder and stay there for a very long time until you have made peace with your god. :c

Inside the title of this thread is the premise Call From Reality. Therefore I will try to guide my statements along it.

Zombies do not drink water. Therefore the zombie contagion will last approximately two weeks, at most, for an individual zombie. I expect the full contagion to pass and then burn out within six months to one year. Certainly, there would be stragglers and perhaps the odd zombie so close to a water source that it might remain hydrated, but on the whole it would not be the threat which most seem to imagine.

Next, zombies require blood to move just like humans. Bladed weapons, then, are the more sensible choice as theory and conjecture has shown that some zombies are immune to pain. I will not debate the effectiveness of a sledge-hammer to a zombie's head. Decapitation is an excellent way to stop a zombie, but not all persons possess an affinity for such a tool along with the strength to carry and wield it for long periods.

Fire-arms, of course, would be the superior choice to a melee weapon. Traps would be even more superior.

Let us use a little math, shall we?

Suppose that a zombie outbreak occurred inside a small rural community of five hundred individuals. Suppose also that ten percent of this population actively carried fire-arms and ammunition. Presume also that these individuals have access to one hundred rounds of ammunition for their fire-arm of choice. In this type of community most of those who carry fire-arms would be familiar with them and capable of downing dear- or man-sized targets with a few shots.

Accounting for fear, agitation, flight, and combat, let us say that these experienced gun enthusiasts could fell a zombie with a twenty-five percent success rate. In other words, for every tube, cylinder, or magazine of ammunition that these gun-wielders would use, a mere and only twenty-five percent of their shots would fell a zombie. Remember, this does not count the shots that hit a zombie, or damage them. These are the shots that end a zombie.

Let us take the minimalist approach. Suppose Joe Hick carries a revolver. The cylinder holds five chambers. He has several speed loaders of ammunition prepared and at least one hundred rounds of ammunition lying about in his truck. Joe Hick then witnesses a zombie. In terror he unconsciously remembers the many hours of personal practice at the shooting range and unloads the entire cylinder at the zombie. With a success rate of twenty-five percent, the first three point five bullets hit or miss. The last one point five, however, eliminate the zombie. Joe Hick then seeks shelter.

With appropriate access to his truck Joe Hick can use his one hundred rounds to eliminate whatever other zombies he encounters...to the limit of his ammunition. That means that twenty-five percent of Joe's expended ammunition will eliminate a number of zombies. ...also keep in mind that this is a small rural community. Joe knows most of these faces by first name. They are fellow farmers, civil workers, shop owners, and friends. Joe grew up playing child-hood games with some of these people, and perhaps one in particular pumped gas with him at the local gas station as a first job.

Twenty-five percent of every cylinder would mean that Joe could successfully eliminate anywhere from twenty-five to thirty zombies. But wait...Joe is not alone. Ten percent of the community are capable of what Joe is because they all carry fire-arms and all have immediate access to one hundred rounds. Assuming minimalism again, they all use revolvers with five chambers. Therefore, out of the total population of five hundred, fifty citizens carry weapons. These fifty can each kill twenty-five to thirty zombies. That means, at minimum, this ten percent of the populace can eliminate twelve hundred and fifty zombies. In other words, they could kill a population of zombies twice as large as the total population of their own little town.

The great wonder of math is that this equation can apply to every city in the world. Not that it will, given cultural differences, but that it can. Major cities with a population of ten percent that carry guns and ammunition could soak, survive, and thrive through a major out-break. Why? Because most fire-arms also come in semi-automatic pistols and semi-automatic rifles with large ammunition capacities. Recalculating twenty-five percent of ten or fifteen rounds changes the one human's elimination capacity to two point five and three point seven five, respectively.

So...taking a Call From Reality...the supposed Zombie Apocalypse is quite survivable. Even for those who flee, hide, and wait out the contagion.

In all honesty, I know that I couldn't be one of those zombie killing badasses in the movies or video games. And I probably wouldn't be lucky enough to be amune to this certain disease (if such a thing was possible). So, my only hope would be to find other people (and possibly that super zombie killing badass).

If I was the last human a live (well at least in any easy to spand distance), I probably would give up hope and kill myself still it would most likely be 1 to 100,000 odds that I can kill all the zombies near me and find other life. So, I pray that if this happens I find some friends, with guns.