Zombies is comin'

Forget what you think you know about the fiction of Zombies, because you're wrong, they are coming. It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, it may not be for years, but they are coming. We don't know if they'll be the fast chasing kind, like from dawn of the dead and 28 days later, the old-school shambling kind or some variation we haven’t yet seen, but they are coming.

Evidence has been piling for years of the Zombie Apocalypse, and you have to ask yourself; are you ready?
Do you have what it takes to survive? Do you have the tools to live in Zombieland? I'd like to think I do and so, as a public service announcement, I want to help you put together a simple pack that will keep you alive.

As the hordes of the undead take to the streets like a student protest in London that got out of hand a lot of the smaller things you take for granted are going to become important. Shelter, warmth, food, light and a thousand other things that even I, as paranoid as I am, haven't come up with yet.

The first thing you need to your hand on, however, is a weapon and you're going to need to learn how to use it. Many of you in America will be thinking 'I've got a gun' or 'I've got access to a gun'. But that won't help you. Sure, a gun is a powerful weapon that will insta-kill a zombie, but it's also loud flashy and once you've run out of ammunition it's more or less a paperweight. You need to get yourself a melee weapon and a bow of some kind.
I personally own a recurve bow with 8 aluminium arrows and three hunting arrows. This weapon is invaluable as it allows you to hunt quietly without fear of alerting a nearby Zombie horde. Alongside my Bow I have an Axe, primarily for chopping wood, but sink the head into the skull of one of the undead and it's as dead as it would be with a bullet.
Long handle axes, like fire axes, are the best choice as they keep the Zombies at arm’s length and you can be certain of a brains destruction, far better than when you use a bat or club.

Now, you've got your weapons ready, make sure to keep plenty of water, there’s no knowing how long it'll be until you can re-fill, or how easily the rivers will become infected by a zombie corpse that fell in just around the next bend.

After water your next priority is shelter. You need somewhere safe and easy to defend. In the beginning you might be able to stay in your home, bar the doors and weight, but eventually the cities are going to become too dangerous. Then the populations turns from majority alive to majority not quite dead you're going to want to get to the countryside.
With fewer people living there, there will be fewer zombies to contend with. Make sure that your pack has a sleeping bag and either a small tent or enough canvas to build a shelter. Your best bet is to sleep in trees so I suggest a canvas and some paracord (make sure it's descent weight paracord and you can use it for a lot of things) over the tent.
Make sure you have plenty of camping supplies, there’s no knowing how long you'll be out in the wilderness before you find somewhere defensible. Waterproof matches, a hunting knife for making tinder, anything you can think of that'll help. I have mess tins and a camping cutlery set.

Now, for rescue; get a multi-channel radio and a handful of batteries and keep it with you. Never lose it.

My current pack includes:
Waterproof Matches,
10m of 550 lbs. Para cord,
A hand axe,
A recurve bow with 11 arrows, 3 with hunting tips,
A LED lenser hand torch,
A sleeping bag,
A knife,
A water bottle,
A folding shovel,
A paracord bracelet with a whistle,
Candles
Alcoholic, flammable hand sanitizer,
and
A military style bag to keep everything in.

I still have a lot to get, but I think it's a good start. The Zombie Apocalypse won’t get me right away.

A dissenting opinion
- James

P.S. During the next month I won’t be blogging very much as I will be focussing on Nanowrimo. I'll try and post the weekly of 52s but if now I'll make it up in December. Check my twitter feed for news.