Guest Post by James Oliveria. Scroll to the end of this story for his amazing infographic on zombie-proofing the home.
When talking about apocalypse, zombie outbreak scenarios have been gaining traction. For good reason. At first what may seem an outlandish idea is given more credibility when the CDC starts handing out advice on zombie preparations.
By now most of us realize that it’s a matter of when, not if.
A fact that is misrepresented in the movies is the time it would take the plague to spread. In the movies, a couple of weeks after the first bite the world is up in smoke. (Possibly slightly exaggerated, but the sentiment is true).
In the real world, once the plague has started to spread many areas would likely have weeks and even months in some cases. Just dreading what is to come. Wondering what to do. How to prepare. Is everyone just screwed?
Ultimately, it appears so as a whole. But that doesn’t mean we all have to die. If you can get to a remote enough location and be prepared to last at least a year on your own you just might be able to outlast the virus.
Your best chance of survival is to have a solid plan in place before the first bite. Luckily, we’ve put together a few ideas for you here and have an infographic you can use down the line as a cheat sheet when you need a refresher.
Is your life zombie-ready? Find out here. Share on XPreparation Is The Key To Survival
Your absolute priority should be supplies.
The most precious of these is undoubtedly water. You’ll need to have a storage somewhere to get through the first couple of months. On average, you should store a gallon a day per person.
But that’s common knowledge to most of us following PostApocalypticMedia.
The part that a lot of people overlook is that you can’t store enough water to last the rest of your life. (At least, hopefully!) Bottled water has a shelf life. Eventually you are going to have to learn to source and filter your own water. If you learn that skill before the outbreak you’ll be a step ahead.
For food, you should store items that have a long shelf life (obviously!), but also make sure you really enjoy eating whatever you store. There is nothing worse than fighting off your undead neighbors…finally get to sit back and take a long overdue breath…
As you look around you see you are surrounded by 8 months worth of food you hate! You might end up wishing the zombies had gotten you!
Once you are sure you and your family have enough to drink and eat you should turn your eye towards defenses. Ideally, you should be somewhere on an upper floor with access removed. (Get rid of the stairs!) Be sure to keep a ladder and rope up there with you though, so you have a way down if required.
Fortify your windows and doors at a minimum.
You can use plywood, 2×4’s, ripped-out furniture. Whatever you have that covers the width of the windows and doors. Be sure to use plenty of nails. If you have enough time, best practice is to fortify the outside and the inside.
Outside may be better if you are short on time because it is easier for zombies to push through than to pull with their decaying muscles.
Once you’ve set up your defense you can start thinking about offense.
Basically you are just going to look around your property and collect whatever you can find that looks like it has lethal potential. Something that doesn’t require fuel and doesn’t have to be reloaded is ideal.
The best weapons are large, heavy, blunt items. A big table leg or sledge hammer, for example. They’re a bit cumbersome to wield, but will offer sustained re-killing power with just a single blow. They’ll stay dead after a skull crushing for sure.
When you’ve finished the preparations crucial to your survival, you may want to consider stocking up on things to occupy your time post apocalypse too. Checking out some helpful books or accessing Wikipedia off the grid are a few suggestions to get you started.
The knowledge above combined with some common sense should be enough to get you through the outbreak.
One other thing you may want to consider is your location. If it’s at all possible, it would be wise to move to a sparsely populated area. Cities and densely populated areas are going to greatly reduce your chance of survival.
Following the advice laid out above will give you an unfair advantage. It’s pretty much impossible not to survive! If you’d like the cheat sheet, check out the infographic below. There’s more info in the full DIY Basics To Zombie Proofing Your Home at http://dripsndrops.net/diy-zombie-proofing-basics. (Unfortunately, the webpage no longer exists.)
Check out this amazing infographic for zombie-proofing your home! Share on X
