Personal Survival Plans

The most enjoyable thing about zombie related media is discussing your survival plans with you friends. There is always the guy who tells you he owns a katana and will decapitate his way to safety and then there are people with so many different escape plans, you wonder just how long they've been thinking about this unlikely doomsday. Last weekend, a friend of mine brought up my blog and asked if I was prepared in any way for an outbreak of super rabies.

The way I look at it, for me to get out of New York City alive, I would have to make some immediate moral sacrifices that would not appeal to my readers. I do not own a gun or a car and I do not stockpile food. If I couldn't convince a friend or neighbor with a car to take my husband and me along, I would need immediate alliances with dangerous people. My only plan is to hitch a ride out of the city and convince other survivors to go with me to my Aunt's farm in rural New Jersey. She has guns, cars, crops and cattle. When we arrived, we would immediately secure a perimeter and go on regular runs to collect weapons, ammunition and medicine.

My father's plan differs from mine based on his location in Florida. He would load up his boat and take my mother to a remote island accessible only by water. The plan might work perfectly well, assuming zombies cannot swim or walk the ocean floor. It's a pretty big risk. You would not want to be trapped on an island with flesh-eating zombies. He argues, however, that a swimming zombie would be an anomaly and he could handle the odd adversary.

My mother would prefer to defend their house, boarding up the windows, getting barbed wire on the fence and harvesting crops in their backyard. They already have the large planters. If humans ever raided them and stole all their harvest, she has an edible crop called cranberry hibiscus that looks like a useless hedge. They would be able to survive on it until the rest of their crop came back.

I welcome you to share your personal survival plan. The TV show Walking Dead has introduced us to the concept of long-term cohabitation with zombies. If rescue isn't coming, where do you go? You need to find a way to get out of metropolitan areas, have access to transportation, supply your own food and protect yourself indefinitely.

Survival Tip of the Day:
Don't let your emotions get you killed. I believe there is a place for morality on Z-day, but getting all emotional and keeping a zombie bitten individual in your group is a bad idea. Take a tip from Dr. Millard Rausch from Dawn of the Dead (1978).