7 of 29

Write now Article Tools

Page 2 of 2

solutions. It may be possible to forage for food initially, considering that the zombies don't eat canned food, and they've reduced the competition. But eventually you're going to want to think about growing your own. That means isolation. The best chances for wilderness survival are in heavily wooded areas. The United States has many such forested parks, and some have ready road access. Elevation is also important, since everything, including zombies tend to move downward toward more populated areas. The first thing you need to plant in any regular fashion is grain crops. Wheat is very durable, especially the more efficient strains of quadratriticale. Maze is good, also. You may, though, have to settle for potatoes, which are very durable.

Getting off the ground is crucial. If you can find a ranger's station, it would make a very good base of operations with only slight modifications. The majority of your work, though, should be preparing against fire dangers. Zombies may not start forest fires, but lightning does. Don't let the dry brush pile up, and it would be wise to prepare for the eventuality of a forest fire. Do not, by any means, neglect sanitation. A good latrine is more important to your survival than a Sherman tank. Keep it well away from the water source and make sure people are strict in its care and use.

There are a number of security techniques one can take to warn of incipient attack, or of a large scale invasion of the undead. And one should not discount the problems of defending against human marauders. Setting up fences, even if they are flimsy or easily climbed over, is a good idea, especially if you can rig them up with noise makers, alarms or even non-incendiary explosives. Stockpiling automatic weapons and ammunition is probably a good idea at this point because you may have to fight off marauders. If your surviving group is large enough at this point, you will need to set up regular guards and even outriders to protect your territory from encroachment.

Eng Game. Think Conquest.
No one ever wins a war against an enemy by playing defense. At some point, you and your surviving companions need to re-take the world. Now, if the plague dies out because of the lack of prey, your job will be fairly easy. Seek and destroy zombies that are holding out somehow in small pockets. Develop communication with other survivors who are also going to be reclaiming civilization. Enlarge your group and begin delegating a wider range of occupations. Only a small number may be needed to work the agriculture needed to keep a large group functioning. Other people can now be set to the tasks of getting power, pumping water, repacking ammunition, and of course, killing zombies. The war will eventually be won by the humans, because the zombies food source, human brains, will run out before all the humans van be caught.

At this stage of the apocalypse, the greatest dangers will come from disease, vermin, malnutrition and social unrest. Tribes function best as social units, and democracies worst, in terms of the survival of small groups. The numbers necessary to re-populate are arguably at the minimum, several thousand. Perhaps twenty thousand breeding pairs will be able to, if managed carefully, re-populate the earth reasonably without too much problem of interbreeding. Given the probability that travel will be limited for several generations at least, and the unlikelihood of such numbers being able to survive a world-wide zombie plague, the chances are rather gloomy. But, that is a matter for the future, should one exist, for the survivors of an apocalyptic zombie plague.

Learn more about this author, John Devera.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

• << previous page
• 1
• 2

Add your voice

Know something about How to survive a zombie Apocalypse?
We want to hear your view. Write now!