Zombies...

I am a fan of many movies, many stories of fiction and non-fiction. But one genre of particular interest to me, or I should say one that stimulates my imagination in many ways is Zombie movies.

I first remember watching my first zombie movie when I was 7 or 8 years old. And I have watched the same movie then several dozen times, I was fascinated by zombies since then. When I got older I rented and bought any zombie movie I can find, some of the older ones are quite laughable, but worth watching anyway, well for a fan like myself they are. Any video games dealing with zombies I buy, which I thoroughly enjoy.

However one thing people might find interesting, or weird, or a little worrying is the fact that I actually came up with a plan on what to do if a zombie outbreak actually comes true. I actually sat down, and thought about this in serious detail. I have told the plan to my friends who really do not seem interested or alarmed in anyway, maybe because by now they know me to well to be alarmed or worried when I tell them something like this. Yes, my imagination can be quite vivid…pretty much all the time.

My wife thinks it’s cool and actually asked or put forth different scenarios to me and asked me what I would do or planned to do if A or B happened. So as to perfect my contingency plan or to correct it. I think her and I have very active minds, I believe this is healthy, but for the same reason, some people call us weird, creepy, strange different. Not so much know, but when I was younger, yea I got that a lot, and so did she. Anyway I digress…

So I thought I would post an outline of what my plan entails in case of a zombie outbreak. Here goes:

1) Acquire and load all firearms.
I own a small collection of WWII era rifles, M1 Garand, M1A carbine. Lee Enfield, Mauser K98, Moisant Nagant and a .22 semi-auto Marlin. Two of the WWII rifles also have a bayonet, I believe this to be a sufficient defense against zombies. My wife can wield most of these as well, the .22 semi-auto rifle is actually hers.

2) Secure our pick-up truck, warding of any zombies who attempt to approach.

This is self explanatory, you do not want to stay boarded up in your house, and it will only end in your death. Either you die slowly due to starvation or lack of water, or being eaten by zombies. Hopefully you have a reliable vehicle and hopefully it a decently powered one as well.

3) Pick up our friends with the truck.

Our friends live about 500ft down the road, they are a married couple as well, and they own several firearms as well. They own a shotgun, a 9mm Glock and a .38 revolver. So all in all we do have a lot of firepower against zombies. However if your friends or family do not live close by, hopefully someone else who you trust does. If not, this may be a little more difficult for you.

4) Drive to the Nation Guard Armory and acquire the 5ton military truck.
When you encounter hordes of zombies on the road, in urban areas especially, a regular civilian vehicle does not have the necessary horse power and mass to plow through dozens, hundreds of zombies. However a 5ton military truck, with a 250HP diesel engine should suffice in plowing through hundreds of zombies. Also, the National Guard armory happens to be only about 4 miles from my residence. Hopefully your Nation Guard Armory is close as well, if not attempt to secure some other form of vehicle which can get the job done.

5) Proceed to Wal-Mart and claim it as your own.

In the event of a Zombie outbreak, it is every man for him self. The purpose of securing a Wal-Mart is very important if you want to stay alive. There is food, clothes, more guns and more ammo including many other miscellaneous items that will be very useful through your stay there. Here I have to go into more detail however as securing a Wal-Mart and keeping it for your self is no easy task.

a) When you arrive with your friends to a Wal-Mart you will have to be ready to encounter hordes of Zombies and possibly normal people. You will have to take the place by force of course. As you drive up, attempt to take out as many zombies with your newly acquired vehicle as possible by the entrance you will be entering through. Park the truck in a way where it can block the entrance but you can still enter, thus securing your rear from surprise zombie attack. This way one of your teammates (friends) can stand on the bed of the truck (which is quite tall so no zombies will be able to reach that high) and provide rear security.

b) Once inside do not under any circumstances split up, that will end in certain death for all of you. You need to stick together to provide continuous cover for each other while you clear the store isle by isle. However, before you start clearing the store, you must lock it down. Which brings me to the next point.

c) Lock all the doors and secure them first before you attempt to clear the store of any zombies. It would be quite pointless to start killing zombies in the store when other entrances are still open, you’d eventually run out of ammo and die.

d) To secure the doors, don’t just lock them, you will have to make sure the door are not broken into easily, you can reinforce them later. Now just close them lock them and stick a table in front of it, basically any heavy object that can cover the door and temporarily hold it. If it is a glass door, like all Wal-Marts have make sure to stack furniture or other items to block those. Again, you can come back later once the store is clear and reinforce the glass doors or any other doors with a more permanent solution.

e) Once the doors are secure, start clearing the store of any zombies left. No doubt you will encounter many zombies just going around locking the doors. But trust me, there will be more, among the isles, in the warehouse, bathrooms, places you didn’t even think there would be a zombies, there probably is one. Again, stay together, cover each other, and move cautiously and deliberately.

f) Once you are sure the store is secure, go ahead and get some more ammo and guns. If after securing the doors you are running low, head for the section of Wal-Mart with the ammo, and replenish your supply. You can never have enough ammo, always have more than you think is enough.

g) If you followed these directions correctly, you should be safe inside, make sure to retrieve your friend outside on the truck if you haven’t done so already. Post guard (lookout) on the roof to keep an eye on the situation outside. You always want to have good intelligence on your surroundings. You are safe inside from the zombies, but you might not be from other people trying to get in.

h) Do not let anyone else in! If you let anyone else in you just fucked yourself. People act differently under stress or during an end of the world disaster situation like this one. It only takes one idiot to undo your perfectly carried out plan. It may be difficult seeing someone in trouble and you knowing that you can help them, but as I said one of the people you let it will no doubt be an idiot and get you all killed. Plus, more people means you will have to share you limited supplies on top of that you do not know what state of mind people are in. Someone can already be infected and slowly turning into a zombie and an un-needed risk.

i) At this point you can attempt to contact your family or anyone else you care for. Realistically, they are most likely dead or just assume they are. But it does not hurt to try and call them, but do not try rescuing them as much as you will want to, as soon as you go out of your crudely makeshift fortress your chances of being killed are almost certain. If they can get to you, this would be the one exception of letting someone in. However make sure to brief them on the situation immediately. However if one of them are infected (bitten) do not let them in, this will be a hard decision, but know that they are already dead at this point. Letting them in increases your chances of being killed by them when they do turn into a zombie.

j) The only thing left to do now is continue to survive. Do not cling to the hope of a rescue by anyone. Tune into a radio station (if any are on the air) for news and developments on the situation.

Hopefully with this plan I drafted you will be able to keep your self, friends and family alive. Just remember to be ready for any surprises and un-foreseen events. As Publilius Syrus once said “It is a bad plan that cannot be altered”.

So there it is, my plan for the event of a Zombie outbreak. Like I said, I do have an imaginative mind, and my mind is always pre-occupied with some thought or another, sometimes about what if A happened what would I do.

Reading a lot of military history books and serving in the military prepared me for being able to plan properly. I’ve had some planning and organization skills, but the military has improved these skills somewhat along with reading books on war ranging from the Roman era to present day has done the same to some affect.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, I did writing it and I hope a Zombie outbreak never becomes a reality. But in the event it does, I do hope this guide or plan with serve it purpose.