Zombie survival tips?

I would definitely make a bee line for a rural area. As Matthew touched on briefly there is bound to be survivors who are not so good natured. When the poop hits the fan even nice people will rob you blind to survive and may even kill you to steal your supplies. If you're in a urban area I would guess that at least near the beginning of the outbreak you run a bigger risk of getting attacked by uninfected people. In rural area it would be much easier to hide out not to mention there would be a smaller population to be infected. Also, eventually food would run out. In that case you would want to be somewhere where you can grow and/or hunt your own food and that aint gonna happen in the city. Also, you can only go a few days without fresh water and you cant carry much water as it typically weighs something like 8lbs per gallon. In a rural area you could much more easily find fresh water. Also, there's the problem of disease. People living in a city with no running water or electricity are going to create and spread diseases rather rapidly much like they did in medieval times when people started moving into large cities again. All in all I think the most rural place you can find is probably going to be youre best option.

Who said anything about running? Oh no, no, no, I wouldn't run until it was absolutely necessary, energy conservation! And why worry about my training and how far I can run, I'm not worried about it, anyone who has tuned Zombie and try's to run away, that's fine, no sweat, it's alright. For the time someone takes off running to the time I squeeze off a round from my Desert Eagle, that monster or person would have to run approx. 55 to 60 yards away from me, to be out of my effective kill zone.

.41 Magnum Desert Eagle! (my personal choice in side arm weapons)


I just love this gun! Loved it in Iraq so much and after some "behind closed doors" talks, I was able to keep my military issue Desert Eagle.

How’s this?

Scenario 1:
You wake up at 5:00AM for work (if you don’t get up that early normally, you do now! ), you’re going through your morning routine when you turn on the news and hear that your state/territory/province has been quarantined due to an infectious disease outbreak that’s turning people into unstoppable killing machines. Your chances of escaping are effectively zero because the military is killing anything and everything that penetrates their designated perimeter. You’ve no clue whether friends/family are aware of the situation. The only information you have is that a zombie outbreak occurred 12 hours ago and anything on the border of your state/territory is being lit up like a cheap cigarette. The types of creatures you will be facing are those from the 28 Days Later universe. (Fake edit: you wake up in a hospital.)

Scenario 2:
The whole world has gone to Hell in a hand basket. The infected are as diverse as the victims in the Resident Evil universe (everything from lethargic scenery creatures to gruesomely mutated predators & “super humans”). Anywhere you go you are likely to encounter some type of infected life form both in the forms of the people AND the local wildlife (if applicable). For example, choosing to remain in the city may mean easy access to supplies at the cost of having to constantly evade slow-moving flesh-eaters, while escaping to the mountains means greater general safety but the off chance of being chased through the woods by a mutated grizzly with a people problem. In short, every decision you make will have substantial risks.

True enough...but physical force allied with communication allowed the human to gain that foothold. Urbanization has largely made humans a specialized species. Look at any "escaped zoo/circus animal runs amok", or "a wild animal walks into a bar (human conurbation)" story- doesn't it usually play out as the animal turning unprepared people into steak tartare while the majority run away and wait for a specialist to turn up with a gun ?
That same mentality that stops the majority of people tackling an armed (and sometimes unarmed) assailant to save themselves would surely come into play. Is there a difference between a horde of zombies and one guy with an assault rifle ? Without training/preperation/reflex I'm pretty certain most peoples initial (and possibly last) thought would be "This can't be happening"

I'd think the biggest factors to take into consideration would be shock and social conditioning, so no, physical or mental strength wouldn't be an overriding requirement - an advantage to be sure, but the ability to react quickly in a high stress fluid situation where problem solving is likely to require physical confrontation. From what I've read, everyone must either be already armed to the teeth or live next to an arsenal- that isn't the case where I live. A lot of households have guns, but most are locked in gun safes, the ammunition is a finite commodity -and usually hidden/locked away from the weapons. Depending on the zombie/survivor ratio and population density, survival might depend on having to act in a limited time,with limited resources on a less than ideal battleground ...I.e. UC&P.

Most definitely. My country -New Zealand- seems famous for it's adventure holidays and rugged terrain. You can usually bank on 2-3 stories a week featuring some underprepared tourist "adventurer" getting lost in forests/ski fields - no mean feat when you consider that the country has no native predators larger than a cat.
Even with every second guy in the country being able to fish, shoot, use a compass, make shelter etc. I doubt that many would survive...and then you look at the city dwellers and the fun of having to account for threat in a vertical plane (above and below) in addition to scoping out whats in front and behind...we-l-l-l...it conjures up film footage of streetfighting in Stalingrad or Berlin in WWII, but without the ideology, equipment or training.
Agreed on the stealth approach- and that was sensibly/realistically portrayed in the British mini-series "Dead Set" (well worth a watch if you haven't already). You probably wouldn't want to test the zombies athletic ability by using yourself as a test subject - weapons have been known to jam, and reloading in extremis isn't going to be an emulation of Rambo.

I wonder why no one mentioned boarding Star Ship Enterprise and scooting off to a Zombie free planet in a nearby galaxy?

I think Mathew's solutions seems more plausible, as it also offers a way of replenishing food stocks (I.e. by growing more of it on the island + fish etc.) but with one caveat, if you run out of ammo, things can get bit complicated.

Whereas, DBZ's solution at least have one advantage, you can cruise away (as long as you have lots of fuel) from any apparent danger. To thwart them from walking their way to the ship, you can always park it somewhere like Mariana trench?

On a more serious note, I am still not sure which weapon I'd like to have to kill approaching zombies, any ideas guys?

And be cooped up with a starship full of trekkies? I'd rather take my chances with the zombies...the zombies that aren't into cosplay that is.

If zombies can walk across the floor of the port, swim up to the keel, and then traverse a reverse angle/sheer side of a welded steel hull, I'm pretty certain nowhere would be safe. The ship idea is that you're a floating island- having zombies flocking to you would seem to be the best outcome- an underwater zombie would likely "wear out" ( fish, crustaceans, tidal action) faster than on land.
I wouldn't bother sailing the ship anywhere. Unless you can navigate the port channel and have somewhere to go, stay in the port. I did a stint on a cruise liner a few years ago- the inwards food stores amounted to ~30 tonnes (smallish ship ~45000 tonnes, 650-1300 passengers) without fresh fruit/vegetables, stock carried over, and freezer storage.

972G armoured bulldozer. No muss, no fuss

Added advantage of being a turbo diesel six. Low maintenance, good fuel economy. A real head turner...or squasher

I am inclining more towards a hybrid vehicle, which have front end of this beast and cabin/turret/105 mm L52 M68 rifled cannon & 1 x .50-caliber (12.7 mm) M2HB heavy machine gun of M1.

Oops I clicked to post it once, but some bug perhaps caused to it to be posted couple of times.

I'd think armour piercing .50cal might be a little overkill, let alone a 105. Of course if they're densely packed the performance/m² goes way up. You could go with the full Jesse Ventura treatment if you're feeling frivolous ( luxury version optional)

Weapon choice might be down to what kind of zombies you're dealing with;
Euro zombies (28 Days later, Dead Set, Dead Snow) Fast. Long endurance, Cunning....Human analog: Boozed up European football hooligans
American zombies (Romero's ___of the Dead) S-L-O-W. Not particularly with it....Human analog: Octagenarian Alzheimer sufferers at the supermarket/ Stoners poring over a KFC menu

One of these (Talon riot control Vehicle) and a plentiful supply of MRE's ,( the meatloaf is particularly tasty) problem solved.

Whoa, looks like I'm not the only nuthead preparing for a zombie apocalypse.
Will post my plan ASAP.

Whoa! Those vehicles look serious. But how much fuel do those things consume? Getting fuel will take some very dangerous work.

I'm with Matt on the choice of weapons. A .22LR would be excellent -- easy to shoot, not much noise, and not too much of a burden in terms of weight and bulk. A Colt Woodsman would be a perfect survival companion. I have no experience with subsonic rounds, though. I've never even seen on of those let alone had the chance to fire a round.

As to surviving in the wilderness, well, part of my plan involves finding Bear Grylls.

Leeky's suggestion sounds good: a small, relatively isolated community out in the countryside. The fortified building sounds good, as well. Maybe a rural bank building? You'd have to clear it, first, of course, and do it room by room. The vault would be my panic room -- the place I go to when everything begins to go wrong and the horde is about to get me. Ugh. I'd probably choose to suffocate in the vault before I let them have me for dinner.

And, yeah, I saw "Dead Set". Good show, that was. A lot of fun, scary moments.

A vehicle that uses diesel is a better bet than conventional gasoline. Gasoline loses volatility as it ages- diesel being less volatile has a longer shelf life. The Cat 972G I posted uses ~25 litres/hour for continuous use as a loader, or ~ 8.5-9 MPG ( ~900 miles/1450km on a tank). Caterpillar 3116 engine is about as bullet proof/maintenance free as it gets. Of course that option depends on whether you're confident of tooling around in it - in the middle of a zombie apocalypse probably isn't the best time for driving lessons. Getting gas is as easy as siphoning via the inspection hatch of a service stations undergound tank (use a battery powered pump). Probably easier to drive to a regional gas distribution outlet and take it direct from tanker trucks if you want volume.

He could come in handy if you need pointers on drinking your own urine. I'd be more inclined to stay with terrain and level of "wilderness" you're already familiar with- would seem like a steep learning curve to have to contend with infected cannibals while educating yourself in a whole new enviroment

Probably depends on how many of you there are...course if you planning on shooting first and asking no questions later then virtually any decent building that you could block entry to would be fine. If you're dealing with American Zombies (wandering around, no good at climbing) then just block the ground floor exits with vehicles (a la the original Dawn of the Dead -1978) and use a ladder to gain entry to a second story- pull up the ladder after you. If there's a lot of people in your group then a fortified building pretty much means putting yourself into prison...not much fun there.

@DBZ
Now that is more appropriate choice for a transport in such doomsday scenario, Marauder armored personnel carrier produced by Paramount Group in SAR.











It can take a hit from rocket launcher and survive, or even C4 can't do much damage to this beast.

A perfect vehicle to run over scores of zombies, and when you get tired of that, there is alway other options available