Important skills to have for the coming zombie-pocalypse (Page 3)

mkarr0110 - 2010-09-22 3:38 PM First and foremost as some have said is the initial escape plan. Are you prepared for where you are heading. Initially i wouldnt go anywhere, can you imagine the infestation rampage on the highways as people try to evacuate (living in the suburbs to avoid large populations: check). So you must have supplies at home to last at least a week meaning you need to be able to secure your home and have a full proof plan against not only zombies but other people who werent prepared. For this you should remove all trees close to your home for better vision and prevent people from entering your home. 2nd if any room has alot of windows or is easily accessible block off said room rather than trying to protect it.

I think a big skill here no 1 has mentioned is archery (yes i have a bow and practice regularly). Yes in a tight situation nothing beats a gun, but as others have said ammo is rare and arrows are alot easier to make than bullets and are also retrievable. Archery also makes for better sport when roof sniping as well as getting that much needed kill without any noise (I know you've seen at least one of the rambos).

Tripolar - 2010-09-22 1:20 PM Those of you anticipating a peaceful life on an island somewhere, or a barge, are overlooking one crucial fact.  Zombititis is a virus.  Sure, it's restricted to humans... currently.  But just give viruses enough time, and enough hosts in which to work, and whoila, they can mutate to infect other species.  With huge numbers of zombified humans everywhere, it's only a matter of time before the virus mutates into something that can infect birds.  Oh, let's just call it ZARS.  Once it's infected bird populations, ZARS will spread all over the globe, since birds migrate. 

You may have a few years of peace on your Barge of Eden.  But keep an eye on those skies...

Renee - 2010-09-22 5:52 PM

I think you are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overestimating the ability of a virus to jump species. Way.

TriRSquared - 2010-09-22 2:14 PM

As someone who has been out in the middle (OK not middle but far enough out) of the Atlantic on a sailboat several times I can tell you it is ANYTHING but peaceful.  Near shore, yeah peaceful.  Out in the ocean... it'll put the fear of God into you real quick.

Me, I'd be heading north, far north to an Arctic research station (lots of dehydrated food, generators, computer equipment etc..) where they freeze in their tracks during the winter.  Then it's easy to pick them all off prairie dog hunting style.

(Oh and Renee, according to World War Z zombies do not need oxygen...)

Tripolar - 2010-09-22 9:06 PM


"Ohhh, look at the pretty bird on the fence!"

*chirp chirp*

"Oh, it's flying towards me, how sweet!"

*chirp chirp*  *flutter flutter*

"Wait a minute, why are its eyes red and feathers falling off?!"

*CHIRP CHIRP*

*CHIRP CHIRPPPPBRRAAAAIINNNZZZZ*

mkarr0110 - 2010-09-22 3:38 PM First and foremost as some have said is the initial escape plan. Are you prepared for where you are heading. Initially i wouldnt go anywhere, can you imagine the infestation rampage on the highways as people try to evacuate (living in the suburbs to avoid large populations: check). So you must have supplies at home to last at least a week meaning you need to be able to secure your home and have a full proof plan against not only zombies but other people who werent prepared.

Renee - 2010-09-22 9:16 PM

Ebola couldn't jump from chimps to humans. Zombie virus isn't going to jump species.

But, to indulge your far-fetched scheme, the further out in the ocean you are, the fewers birds you will see. I believe birds prefer to roost ON LAND. Low hanging fruit and all. All the more reason to enjoy life on a boat.

Johners - 2010-09-22 9:34 PM Yes, but Sams has 52 inch  plasma screens!

Johners - 2010-09-22 9:34 PM Yes, but Sams has 52 inch  plasma screens!

Renee - 2010-09-22 9:28 PM

Unless you live within 1 mile of not 1 but 2 marinas. I have no intention of hitting the highway. My escape is within a mile's run. I can be there in 10 minutes with a 10lb pack on my back. Or, 30 mins after first hitting the nearby Sams Club for water, Gatorade, nuts, Clif bars (or other bars), and dried fruit. And baby wipes.

trinnas - 2010-09-22 8:37 PM

Yeah but you can only watch carppy movies so many times before you want to stab out your own eyes, and there wont be any TV or cable programming and NO FOOTBALL.

TriRSquared - 2010-09-22 10:28 PM I think you are both seriously underestimating how hard it is to live at sea for extended periods of time.  So fine, Z-day hits and you are off on your boat.  You have what, maybe 2 weeks worth of food and a week of water on a good sized sailboat.

Now what.  How do you get your barge-garden going?  You need to go back ashore to get it and pilot it out to sea.  You'll need to go get more food until the plants grow.  Ever had to fish to eat?  It sounds easy.  It's not.

The ocean (not a marina) is not a hospitable place.  It's angry.  It's not the lovely peaceful life you make it out to be.

And the "flotsam" zombie could wash up while you sleep.  Next thing you know you've got a hankering for BRAAAAIIIINNNNSSSS!

But I agree with you on the box stores.  I'm heading out of town to the most desolate place I can find.  Far north in the tundra.  (Which for me is a 3 day drive )

Renee - 2010-09-22 8:45 PM

Which suck huge amounts of electricity and generate a lot of heat.

A luxury which you could ill afford, what with limited electricity.

Which will lead to fights and the inevitable Lord of the Flies power plays when people are deprived of their mental opiates. Whatever will you do within those huge 4 walls with no entertainment being channeled into your tv sets and the thermometer rising?

I'm waiting to repopulate the world!  Sex is obviously fun, but I question the validity of that statement.  Are you a parent?  Children are notoriously a PITA and after two I definitely do not want any more, ever (then again, I wasn't really thrilled about a second either)!  On the other hand, sex with as many different surviving women as possible could be fun as long as you don't have any Daddy responsibilities after.  Although that does require a healthy dose of the male population being negatively affected by the ZA and the female population not so much.

Renee - 2010-09-22 10:56 PM

Just how much food do you eat? I could pack 2 weeks worth of food in my purse. I guess it will be essential that you take along people who do not expect to dine on tenderloin and full-loaded potatoes ...

The smartest foods to pack are the kind that do not require refrigeration. Nuts, dried fruits, Clif bars (and their kind), GU's, Accelerade, etc. You'll want to trick out a very energy efficient and very well insulated cold storage device - think of a potato cellar - to keep your foods. Nuts will go rancid in the heat.

You keep substituting easy where I wrote peaceful - this inaccurate substitution results in a distortion of my position. Nowhere did I say it would be easy.

It's not the EASY life. But it will be PEACEFUL because I won't have to fend off healthy humans who will be desperate for food and a safe place (see guy above evicting people from the Sams Club) and I won't have to fight for my life every 5mins from zombies. Essentially, I will remove myself from the population of low-hanging fruit upon which zombies want to dine. And, I will not be in competition with healthy humans for resources (food, shelter, ammunition, water, sewage). Finally, society will devolve into a Lord of the Flies scenario. A scenario easily avoided by hopping on a sloop.

I also said meteorology and navigation skills would be necessary. To avoid/circumvent the really big storms.

I said the barge was a luxury item. Not necessary. Not essential to life. But if you have the luxury of time and manpower, it would be a good way to grow fruit trees off-shore.

Basically, anything you can move off land is going to be safer simply by virtue of being off land.

Zombies are not going to swim out into the dangerous, violent seas (as you call them) on the extreme chance that they MIGHT sight a boat that is swiftly moving away from them, which they have no hope of catching or even knowing which direction it takes after its out of sight. The odds of one floating into your boat by chance is ridiculously low; the chance of the mast taking a lightning strike is much higher.  If one were extremely paranoid, you'd simply have a window where bedtimes are staggered every 4 hours, so that the boat is always moving.  Easy peasy.

Zombies WILL remain on land to pick off the low-hanging fruit. That's a no-brainer.

A virus is not going to suddenly make the laws of nature fly out the window. Zombies need sustenance. They aren't going to get it by floating along the Gulf Stream. They are going to get it by dropping into the buffet known as Sams Club. Zombies will take the path of least resistance and stay on land. Again, no-brainer.

Renee - 2010-09-22 9:11 PM

I repeat: I didn't say it wouldn't be a lot of work. I said peaceful, as in NON-VIOLENT. As in I don't have to kill others in order to live another 5 minutes.  I'll leave the adults wanting to live out video game fantasies behind to serve as speed bumps for the zombies while I high-tail it onto a nice sailboat or sloop.

And, I'd take the elements over being trapped on land and trying to outrun a zombie anyday. Again, the point is that I get to live out of life, however long or short it may be, on MY terms.

And, fine, zombies don't need oxygen. But they can't overcome the laws of physics and nature, so walking at depth is highly inhospitable for anyone composed of human traits, which means you now have a predator that is gaining on you by mimicking flotsam. Ooooh!!!! I'm skeert now! If only I knew how to sail against the current ...

I think the whole Costco/Sams Club scenario is basically a case of limited survival of the most blood-thirsty. Zombies are decimating the healthy population and now you are putting yourself in a position of attacking said healthy population? You might as well be zombified yourself. And, you have to hunker down and wait for the next wave of not just zombies, but healthy folk wanting to usurp your position. Constant high alert, constant battles in a pinned-down position. When did this become a tactic for success? If you're into that, go for it.

Questions for the Costco squatters:

• How do you intend to power the coolers to keep the food from spoiling and stinking up the place?
• How do you intend to power the air conditioners?
• How do you intend to obtain water when the water utility stops functioning?
• Where will your waste go when the water stops running?
• Generators require gas: finite source, requires you to hunt for more gas. Solar power: zombies and others can easily knock these down and kill your power. From whence does your power source come?

I think the pros/cons of this plan have not been fully considered.

I see it as a question of surviving on land or living on the seas. I choose living.