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[Total Members Voted:]

Weapons

21 (42%)

Transportation

8 (16%)

Shelter

10 (20%)

Water

5 (10%)

Food

2 (4%)

Electricity

2 (4%)

Other (specify)

2 (4%)

Total Members Voted: 50

[David "Stubb" Oswald]

How much protection would escaping into the mountains, without shelter offer?  Within a day I could travel to a remote and rugged location 25 miles from any road.  Surely the zombies are going to be congregating near cities.  I could easily carry enough supplies to last a week, set a small camp, and journey back to town for supplies when needed.

[Ratiocination]

Weapons. You need to stop the problem before it gets too big.

[Benx6444]

How many shells does this magic shotgun of yours hold? Most I've seen hold two.

Magic? No, I assure you, the Remington 870 is very much a real weapon. It has a couple of variants, but all of them hold 8 shells. Same goes for the Ithaca. Gun stores have tons of them, you can find them standard in Cop cars and Police Armories, and you can probably even find them at walmart. They're ubiquitous. *sigh* You know, sometimes, I wish there was  a Zombie apocalypse so that all of this useless knowledge I have would serve some purpose.

I'm not saying I wouldn't use a shotgun if I had one. And I'm not saying I would ever use an axe (too sloppy IMHO). I'm mostly saying the point is to avoid getting yourself into a situation where there are that many zombies within reach of you. Don't go out looking for zombie hordes, and use stealth, speed, and distance as your main weapons.

I totally agree, but I'm pointing out to Hanes that if you ever DID need to defend yourself from Zombies, an axe or any other melee weapon would not be the best choice - to put it mildly. One of the many reasons I thought "World War Z" was ridiculous.

[Benx6444]

Weapons. You need to stop the problem before it gets too big.

No amount of weapons will help you if you're trapped in a bad situation without the means of exit. Good transportation is the #1 key. Fight your way out, link up with the Military and go back in real force with LAVs, Tanks and Attack Helicopters backing you. "Civilian" weaponry (the stuff you're probably going to find when the virus really starts picking up) should only be seen as the tools that are going to allow you to safely get out of your front door and into your vehicle. If you try and stay and fight without any help you'll be putting yourself in a situation where the Zombies probably have the upper hand.

[Hubbub]

Weapons. You need to stop the problem before it gets too big.

From what I understand of the population modeling done on the subject, this seems like a fool's errand.  The "critical mass" for containment is quite small, to the point that if the problem reaches you, then it's too late.  The best meta-strategy seems to be to separate as large of a human population from the zombies as possible.  Then, with an organized force, methodically purge one town at a time, steadily expanding the "safe zone".

[Sordid]

That doesn't seem feasible. How are you going to prevent zombies from wandering in and the virus re-establishing itself? Plus I'd say it's a needless risk. Just hole up somewhere, fortify your position, and wait it out. Zombies don't breed and they don't seem to posses any survival skills either, so they should all be gone in a relatively short period of time, say a few years.

[Benx6444]

That doesn't seem feasible. How are you going to prevent zombies from wandering in and the virus re-establishing itself? Plus I'd say it's a needless risk. Just hole up somewhere, fortify your position, and wait it out. Zombies don't breed and they don't seem to posses any survival skills either, so they should all be gone in a relatively short period of time, say a few years.

Yeah, and at this point, it all boils down to which zombie "universe" we're talking about. In the "28 days" universe, the virus is a horrifically contagious pathogen that turns it's victims into homicidal "runner" zombies - zombies that are quick. The upside of being a normal human being in this universe is that in this universe the rules are "fair" - zombies need calories to survive and their bodies are prone to breaking down after a period of time. In this universe, you could probably wait out the worst of the crisis. In this situationHowever, I add as a side note that holding up in a city is the last place you want to make your stand. Cities burn. Without any effective fire-fighting system to keep this threat in check, you'll be toasted and all that wonderful food that's stacked neatly in rows for you in countless supermarkets will be burned, crushed and eventually buried by tons and tons of collapsed and burnt out buildings.

On the other hand you have the cheesy-ass "World War Z" universe which, on the one hand portrays zombies as slow moving dolts and other the other hand "cheats" by having them survive scenarios where they would most definitely fail. In the "World War Z" universe, the best thing would be to get to one of the safe zones, become part of the war effort, and take the battle to the zombies.

Then again, in the 2004 "Dawn of the Dead" universe, the Zombies don't seem to be effected by a lack of calories, dehydration and they're "runners." In this situtation, it seems to me that becoming part of the war effort and getting back into the fight in support of major military operations would be key to everyone's survival.

I guess, it all depends on the ground rules.

[Sordid]

Jabber jabber jabber.

Translation: Define zombie.

[Benx6444]

Jabber jabber jabber.

Translation: Define zombie.

+1 to Sordid

-1 to Benx; rambling.

[Chew]

As seen on Neatorama:

http://jalopnik.com/360213/the-ten-best-post+apocalyptic-survival-vehicles

[MikeHz]

I think zombies get a bad rap.

If zombies are dead people who came back to life, then there are many real zombies out there. People who've been declared officially dead, but were then revived. They should form an organization or something. "Zombies of America."

I have myself met a zombie. Nice guy. So far as I could tell, he had no desire to eat brains, or take over the world.

[tcinj]

Using the Class 3 Zombie Outbreak simulator at http://www.class3outbreak.com/zombie-outbreak-simulator/

1) You scoot when the zombies first break out or
2) You hold up in fortifications and wait for the first wave of zombies to pass, then scoot or
3) You hope everyone has guns...  (and hope they can hit the broadside of a barn).

[DJBexbot]

I haven't read through the whole thing but:
"Blades don't need reloading"
Guns are a waste (especially outside of US), running out of ammo is just too much of a possibility and a civilian actually gettin effective head shots is a slim chance at best.
If its the running zombies I'm jumping off the tallest nearest building cos I got a bum knee

[Chew]

I haven't read through the whole thing but:
"Blades don't need reloading"
Guns are a waste (especially outside of US), running out of ammo is just too much of a possibility and a civilian actually gettin effective head shots is a slim chance at best.
If its the running zombies I'm jumping off the tallest nearest building cos I got a bum knee

Can zombism be spread through ingestion of their blood? Whacking a zombie in the head with a blade is bound to cause a little backspatter, as is a gun at close range. Any weapon is better than nothing, but if any zombie blood gets in your eyes, or nose, or mouth, will you catch the disease?

[Will Nitschke]

Usually this nuance is not touched upon in zombie movies. But I seem to vaguely recall a few movies where light contamination was sufficient. I suspect a lot of writers would use HIV as an analogy. Ingestion is a possible pathway, but the virus is more likely to infect if it can get directly into the blood stream.