The Walking Dead is a smash hit right now on AMC and as one of its biggest fans and a fan of the zombie genre in general I wanted to do a piece on 5 ways to Survive the Dead Walkers. Robert Kirkmans Walking Dead has been transferred perfectly to the small screen in this new mini series from AMC and features a tight cast, and fantastic visual effects combined with a great soundtrack by Lincoln Park. Walking Dead is without a doubt a hit. So far The Walking Dead TV Show has done a fine job at portraying good methods of surviving the undead and I wanted to take a minute and list 5 of my own Tips to Surviving the Dead that walk!
Blades, not Bullets: The big misconception in a world of the walking dead is that guns are the key to survival. Unfortunately this is completely untrue for two reasons. Guns require bullets and although there will be plenty of them for you to loot and scavenge what happens when you run out or have to reload? Zombies don’t move quickly they shamble but in large numbers regardless of whether you have a .45 or a sub machine gun you will eventually empty your clip and have to reload. Worse yet you will run out of bullets completely and be left with an extremely under rated blunt weapon. Hitting a zombie with a gun even in the head is pretty non productive. The best choice for survival in an undead world is without a doubt a blade. A machete, a sword, frankly anything sharp and over 2 feet in length is extremely effective in destroying the undead. A Fire Axe is also quite effective depending on your strength but overall for me a sharp or even blunt blade is the most effective weapon for a quick escape. A small firearm as a back up for the hairy situations is helpful but your primary choice should always be a medium sized sharp blade.
Ensure It Does the Body Good: One big thing you always overlook is your own personal survival from the elements of hunger. Its one thing to elude the walking undead its quite another to make sure you have a steady supply of nutrition to keep you healthy and rolling along. As somebody who works far to much and likes to hit the gym daily the best choice of survival food is ENSURE or BOOST drinks. They are handy because they are meal replacement drinks, are compact and last forever. You can easily carry 2 weeks worth of meals in your backpack and its lightweight and reliable, not to mention easy to consume. The only thing better would be MRI’s that the US Army uses in the battle field but its not likely you have easy access to these items.
Take the High Ground: Zombies cant run but they also can not climb. So as much as we might want to go hide in a super market or hardware store your much better off hiding on the roof of one of these prime locations. Admittedly it doesn’t provide much protection from the elements but at least if your on the roof of the Hardware Store and not on the floor you do not have even the remotest chance of being eaten alive by the walking dead. Service ladders that mechanics use to service roof drains and mechanical air conditioning equipment also give you a great means of escape should the need ever arise or if you run out of food and supplies.
Small Groups: Travelling in a big group has its advantages but it also has some serious disadvantages. When your travelling in a group of 20 plus people and the undead come walking over for lunch ( which is you ) the last thing you want to have happen is get trapped in a melee of screaming, tripping and stumbling people as the undead attack. Sure Zombies are slow but do you really want to be trapped behind the fat guy or tripping over the dumb guy as you try to make a fast escape? You need others to effectively survive in an undead world but the best group is one of 3 or 4. Your group is small enough you can move quickly and in a crunch you have enough numbers to effectively fight off the undead and in the end you also have at least one potential victim that is not you for the undead to snack on while you make your escape.
Dont Be a Hero: The biggest obstacle outside of actually surviving the flesh eaters and not starving to death is fighting the urge to be a hero. A hero is glamorous but its also counter intuitive to surviving in an undead world. If you were smart enough to bring a blade, not a gun, and have kept to the high ground with your group of 3 or 4 other survivors you need to be sure that when the time comes to scavenge out for new supplies and hiding places you fight the urge to help your downed companion. One of the benefits of being in a small group is the thousands of walking dead have another potential target that is not you. Fight that urge to be a hero and live to fight another day. Heroes typically are not the first ones to die but they can be the second if you are not careful.
