What would you do if Zombies stormed the building right now, or maybe an alert went out on the radio? Where will you go and what will you do when you’ve only got a pocket knife and a pack of gum? Who will you help and who will you leave behind?
Introducing the Zombease Hypothetical. These situational survival setups are designed to help you hone your survival and anti-Zombie skills and preparedness. Each week we’ll release a hypothetical Zombie survival situation, detailing the time, place, supplies, and backup that you’ll have at your disposal. And then it’s up to you to make it out alive.
Location: Fifth floor apartment in any major city in northern US/Canada
Time of day: Mid-day, Fall.
Supplies: A weeks worth of food, a few bottles of water, 20ft of rope, large kitchen knife, generic tools and civilian electronics. (As well as normal apartment furniture, etc. NO firearms, NO large tools/potential weapons like shovels, NO survival/backpacking gear).
Additional Personnel: None.
Situation: The outbreak began a few days ago and most of the city is in chaos. There is still some semblance of civilization, including armed forces (National Guard) fighting on the streets and attempting rescue. You have holed up in a 5th floor apartment and barricaded the only door, hoping for an eventual rescue. With utilities still operational in the immediate area you’ve been able to eat, bathe and entertain yourself for the past few days, but you woke up today with no power, which means no running water, no light, no heat, the food in the fridge will spoil, and there is no way to cook it.
The apartment has a fire escape that goes up to the roof (one floor up – 6 stories total), but not to the ground… and it’s a long way down. Gunshots sound outside, echoing through the city streets, but rather than the patter of automatic fire, it’s more sporadic, semi-automatic shots, which could be coming from civilians or armed forces. You reach for the phone, hoping to find an update about the situation, but cell service is down and you’re on the last bar of your battery anyhow. The evenings are cold, wet, and windy. The streets are riddled with bodies, soldiers, and the infected…this truly is a harsh environment for survival.
What do you do? Will you try to escape the building? Do you head for high-ground or will you head for the streets? Will you survive? Choose your own adventure and let us know how you will or wont make it out alive.
The Rules:
- You only have the supplies and personnel listed above.
- Keep it real, keep it clean, and do your best to survive.
First off knowing it was getting bad, the Tub would have been filled with water, So I should be good to go with water for a few days. Next looking for protection for my hands and arms, since I will be in close contact with walkers. Take my knife and any tools and bust some table legs off and fashion some clubs with shape points. Wait it out as long as possible going from room to room scavaging food and supplies. Never trying to do to much to possibly get over run.
Try and lock the doors to the floor for starters and clear the floor. Now I have run of the 5th floor and most likely some supplies.
Now I work my way down on flight at a time, clearing and scavaging.
On the roof fashion some sort of sign for rescuers to see.
Once I have gone through all the floors and secured what I can, hopefully I will have some supplies to last. Also try and make any makeshift weapons I can on the way.
I should be able to last a little while and hopefully someone will see that someone is in the building for a rescue or once things run out make a run for it.
Great answer Jay!
I would wait till Jay had the whole building locked down, then I’d probably stab him with one of those sharp pointed clubs, and take advantage of all his hard work. That is, after all, the Democratic thing to do.
Fortunately for folks like Jay, this scenario specifically states that there are no other persons in the immediate area. That makes your survival choices impossible…it’s likely that you’ll be eaten by Zombies.
Well written answer Jay, Chad thats hilarious and its something that will happen all too often.
As for mine…
I agree with Jay about water in tub and clearing the floor. I probably wouldn’t take too much time scavenging.
I would rig a pack using a sofa cushion cover and single shoulder strap to carry food and supplies. Making makeshift weapons is definitely on my list as well.
I would wait until a full moon and once the sun sets, I would move out of the apartment heading toward the nearest edge of the city. I would stay off main roads and stick to smaller roads where I can get off the street in a hurry.
I would be looking to avoid all interaction with anyone or anything. Hunker down at dawn under a step or deck, or in a sewer grate if they are easily reached/accessed.
Keeping moving only at night (with the full moon I have a good 3 or 4 nights or alot of light. I have great night vision so I’ll hopefully see others before they see me.
While I’m moving, I will try to scavenge other weapons as well. Hopefully by the time I hit the outskirts of the city, I’ll be armed and have more supplies.
Another fantastic answer!
Reblogged this on and commented:
Woah! Big kudos to Zombease (one of THE INFORMED) for this great, fun idea! Take a shot at getting out of the building alive — and do check out the rest of the site for daily tips on surviving the “inevitable zombie uprising”!
Thanks much for the kind words and support!
Yes, indeed! I really dig your site and what you do here!
Since things have been going downhill I too would have filled the tub with water and started eating the frozen foods first working my way through the fridge, going from the stuff that needs kitchen prep to things that can be eaten unprepared. I’d pack my computer bag with some of the water and food and make sling pack out of a blanket to carry the rest, using power cables to tie the ends. I’d also have to breakdown some furniture to make a decent club or two. I’d give it a day or two to quiet down and head for the roof to get a better picture of my immediate surroundings. I’d look for a path that hopefully leads into an open area without visible movement. I’d also be looking for unlocked bicycles locations of supplies I could grab quickly on the run (weapons, food, water, proper pack/LBE). I’d try to limit my movement to dusk and dawn, hunkering down in the middle of the night and day. My goal, if I was in my local area, would be the closest out of town rally point and supply cache for my survival group. Fortunately we have plans in place for this kind of thing.
And for the record there is no way I wouldn’t have a Pummel Pipe handy
Bar the door and immediately search for weapons. The shower curtain rod makes a dandy spear if you attach a knife from the kitchen as do broom handles. The rods from the towel racks in the bathroom can be fashioned into clubs by using electric cords from the lamps to attach something heavy to them.
Surviving in place, I take stock of the food. Since the power is off ill eat the stuff in the drug first. The frozen stuff will last three or four days if you keep the door closed. The can goods and dry goods I plan to save for last. No can opener? No problem. Turn the can upside down on concrete and rub it back and forth vigurously to cut through the rim. The lid will pop right off. Although I always keep a P38 military can opener on my key chain.
Water may be an issue. Take a pitcher and remove the water from toilet tank. Also dran the water from the water heater. Put as much water as possible in portable containers so you can take it with you if you have to run.
I would stay as quiet as possible although I don’t expect any walkers to come up five floors. I would stay in place as ling as possible. Once things quiet down or you get desparat I would vture over to the next apartment to do a little shopping. I would use their furniture to make barriers at the stairway exits. May not stop anyone but could slow them down enough to be easity dispatched or allow you to get away.
Rescue is important and I would spell out SOS on the roof using whatever I can find from my neighbors homes. I don’t think they will be needing it. I also search for tools, weapons or knives that may have been left behind. Their water tanks keep me in water and their can goods keep me fed. I am going to stay here as long as I can.
Eventually all things come to an end. I have to get out and find other survivors. Using an emergency exit, I clear the building. I have a BOB and as much as I can carry with me. Load up the car and haul ass to safety.
Great attention to details Mickey! Thanks for sharing your escape plan!
Using clothes to fashion the best pack I can, hopefully there are wire hangers to fashion a large gauge needle (just bend back and forth until it breaks), and I would harvest cord from the mini-blinds that are pervasive in apartments to stitch together the pack. pack the non perishables. I will be consuming the perishables while I do recon and various preparations. a dvd will make an excellent signaling mirror. if there is any glassware that has a convex bottom it can be broken to use as a magnifying glass to light a signaling or a distraction fire using dryer lint or sofa stuffing soaked in isopropyl alcohol from the bathroom. after recon from the roof and fashioning a bludgeon from a table leg, I would begin tying remaining clothes together, I would find a suitable anchor to attach one end and climb to the ground under the cover of darkness taking the rope with me (there’s a plan). primary searches are downed national guardsmen for weapons, a proper back pack, MREs, canteens, and medical supplies. look for unlocked cars, pop the trunk and grab a tire iron, use the rope to secure the spare tire to my back (in a quick release fashion in case I need to run) and road flares. return to the apartment before sun up, using the rope to assist pulling items up balcony to balcony. with any luck I will have procured at least a sidearm, a road flare, tire iron, spare tire, and extra water container. now it’s safe to enter the hallway with a means of breaching other apartments effectively. open the door and prison-style use the dvd as a mirror to look down the corridor, but at floor level. secure the exits and begin my sweep door to door looking for anything useful (all the miniblind cord and more clothes to stay warm at night, a battery powered radio etc.). make my way to the roof and if any rescuers are in the area, use the road flare to light up the tire, it burn creating copious amounts of smoke. if not continue the method of descending in darkness to scavenge returning before sun up. heading to the roof daily to scan the horizon for rescuers and to get better reception from the radio I hopefully found. If there is a broadcast regarding a safe location it will be time to plan my route to the destination………
Very nice!
found the site yesterday, I have a feeling I’ll be here quite a lot!
Good to hear Chris! How’d you find us?
there was a recommended post on fb (the pummel pipe) and I was hooked
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We’ll we’re glad to have you here! Let us know if you ever have any questions or suggestions. Zombease@gmail.com
will do!
what I would do is scavenge the building for supileies and wepons I then would go around the zombies or kill them as I get down to the first floor then call my team\friends\family and then head to country side scavenging supplis until we find a safe place and you know the rest.
Well for openers. If that’s the preparation level you’re at after there having been an outbreak for a few days you deserve to become a human Happy Meal. I gree that there should have been at least a bathtub full of water, If not in a water bob then at least in the open tub itself. While that might not currently be real safe to drink having sat for a few days it’s probably FAR more potable than anything you’re likely to encounter. It’s kinda hard to plan without knowing what kind of undead we’re up against. It may be wise to attempt to hold up in the apartment, it may be wise to bug out. One thing to consider, Unless your building is on fire then survival would probably be more difficult outside in the cold wet weather. I’d eat whatever food I could that was in the most recent danger of spoiling. And then make every effort to attempt to preserve hat I could either by cooking, salt curing, canning, drying, packing in lard, etc. The best thing to do for the short term is to stay put and see what happens. There are far more opportunities in your apartment for the short term. Only when the scale tips in the other direction should you venture out. Pretty much once you run out of water or food, or both. A lot of the theory is predicated on the fact that the fire escape may be the only way out. that’s not necesarilly true. You may be able to walk right out the front door. But before I did that I would attempt to scavange what I could from neighboring apartments.
Now when you do finally bug out you want to take as much food/water as you can carry. You can make a makeshift haversack out of a sheet, Be sure to take a blanket or additional sheet with you, spare empty trash bags if you have them, and whatever else you can shove in there as far as tools, cordage, etc. Of course the kitchen knife and rope. If the rope is the normal twisted hemp type it can be unravelled and re-spun into longer yet thinner lengths for making shelter. Head south. Because you probably don’t have suficient cold weather clothing to survive a brutal winter outside. Keep your civilian electronics on you but powered off except for a short window each day, try to power up that cell phone and see if you get signal. hopefully those personal electronics include some kind of radio you can tune into every so often for emergency reports.
If your unprepared ass doesn’t get chomped then try to link up with fellow survivors.. And then pray to whatever god you believe in because you cheated both the grim reaper and Charles Darwin this time.
Love reading these replies! Great ideas I haven’t thought of! My nightmare is caring for my 3 kids in something in event like this.
Glad you enjoy them! Have your kids got Bug Out Bags of their own?
No, not yet. Something I need to work on.
This might help you get a start on things! http://zombease.com/2013/03/13/bug-out-bag-children-ages-4/
The first thing I’d do after hearing that zombies are walking the streets would be to lock the doors and put a piece of wood under the door knob as a way to reinforce it. Then I’d manhandle the couch out the window, breaking the glass and window frame if I need to, and I’d put it on the fire escape blocking anything from below from getting up it. I’d then take the door mat and bathroom mat, and place it on either side of the fire escape and break bottles and glass to put on there as a alarm from anyone trying to climb up. I’d then take the table outside and manhandle it so that it blocks anything from the 6th floor to climb down. I’d then take the bookshelf and put plates against the books standing up. That way if something knocks against the door, the plates fall and break letting me know what’s going on. That would work for security.
Knowing that the world is ending as I knew it, I’d have taken the longest hot water shower I could take. All the hot water would be gone before I got done. Then I’d spend a hour on the toilet getting rid of anything inside me. Once that was done I’d spend a few hours cleaning the sinks, the toilet, the bathtub, and then fill each of it with as much hot water as I could. Once that was done I’d walk to my room and fill a backpack full of my best clothing for the winter and some essentials. I’d take a kitchen knife, a broom stick, my booze and rags, duct tape, and make a spear and some molotov cocktails. I’d then take my other kitchen knifes and wrap them in socks and put them in my backpack. I’d take one of the bigger and sharper kitchen knifes and put it in my pocket for the meantime. Now that I have some weapons I’d go to my room and pick out my summer apocalypse clothes. If it’s the end of the world and I have a notice, I’m going to look good and be functional.
At night time the first night I’d climb over the side of the fire escape and go to the roof. I’d bring my bag filled with the food and water I could carry, my winter clothes tied to the bottom, and the molotov cocktails on either side in the water bottle holders. There’s still some booze in my pack for trading later. I’d also have the spear and rope with me. I’d then go and find the safest route to a good destination while up there as well as look for anything I could use. Finding some old wire from the satellite dish I’d find my location, and stash my stuff there for a quick escape. Going back to my apartment I’d enjoy the life so far, sleep, play games, watch movies, and remember the good times. Once something happened that made me have to leave, I’d grab my knife for self defense, go to my stashed gear, and leave.
I love that you spent your first moments fortifying and setting alarms!