Whew, it’s a blazing hot Sunday afternoon and I’m waiting for it to cool off outside before mowing the lawn. I started thinking about how the world seems to be getting crazier with each passing day.
The saga begins en medias res: while in the midst of tomorrow’s shift at work/lecture at school/other routine activity, there are incoming reports of a seriously disconcerting regional contingency. Use your imagination; let us leave real politics aside and say it’s a zombie outbreak. A serious one
Describe your course of action for bracing for the worst.
Do you wait for your boss/professor to shut down proceedings or do leave the premises on your own accord?
Do you consider yourself SOL, somewhat prepared, or über-prepared?
Do you ‘bug-out’ immediately and retire to your private island? Or do you stay firmly planted to fortify and defend your stake? Do you take an entirely different course of action? Explain your rationale.
If you leave town: which flashlights, weapons, clothing, and tools do you bring? Be realistic. How much can you actually carry, and what kind of confidence do you place in your survival skills and instincts? Do you fortify your home before leaving, stashing useful gear you couldn’t bring for your eventual return? Do you arm your neighbors with your extra flashlights and weapons?
What happens to your collection of flashlights?
I’d make a beeline through the backroads for my parents home. Forget Rt.1/Rt.9; screw 95. We are close enough to Portland that we couldn’t let our guard down or make too much noise (lest we alert the zombified masses to our presence), but we live far enough into the woods and out of plain view. I would have to worry about sentient two-legged scavengers. We have enough fuel and food/crops for at least 2 months (conservative guess), and have a well (less of a risk for contamination?). I’d have to fortify some of their ground-floor windows that would be easy targets for the living and possibly the undead.
If the zombie horde was coming we’d have a good vantage point and defensible position due to extremely thick vegetation. Taking out the bridge spanning the brook removes the only easy access, but would make vehicle exfiltration impossible. Unless I could figure out a way to jury-rig a snorkel onto the old 300D. I kid :bigsmile:
I would go out at night on my trail bike to scavenge or meet up with other survivors. Stick to the snowmobile/four-wheeler trails that crisscross the region and state. That way I’m less liable to be shot by the trigger happy or predatory folk than during daylight hours. A brook runs through the property and canoeing serves as a discreet way of moving people and supplies.
I think the buddy system is a must after Z-Day. My obligatory cohort’s Zombie Medicine is a suppressed 10/22 with folding stock fed by a few 50 round mags when out and about at night. .22LR is a breeze for most people to shoot accurately due to its mild report and non-existent recoil but most importantly it’s exceedingly QUIET, even when unsuppressed. I’d feed it Aguila’s subsonic 60 grain rounds. I maintain that the less shooting you do, the better your chances, but one of us would carry Dr. Slim’s Extra Strength, AKA, .30-30 Marlin 336 Carbine just in case. Pistols fill a small niche out here. ARs and shotguns would be useful for hunting, but if you want to use them to fight off waves of the undead I think you’re doing it wrong LOL. I’d want to draw as little attention to my actions as possible.
Our closest neighbor lives right on Rt.9. We’ve known them for years so we’d probably invite them to set up shop with us until the coast is clear.
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How about you all…what are your Z-Day contingency plans? Share your ideas for surviving and thriving in the zombie apocalypse. Have fun!