Where to go after the zombie apocalypse?

[mlangsdorf]

So in a couple of months, civilization has been overrun by zombies and destroyed. You and a few dozen survivors have scavenged a bus and some fuel. Assuming you start in Chicago, where's the best place to go to attempt to rebuild civilization?

For the purpose of the question, the zombies are slow, brainless, and vulnerable to headshots. 99% of the population has been killed and zombified, but 50-60% of the zombies were killed before civilization was completely overrun.

I'm thinking most major cities are out of the question: there's still too many zombies to be safe. Without reliable power or water, rural areas that require irrigation are out. Since the goal is long-term survival and rebuilding, somewhere with ready access to light industry and raw or semi-finished materials would be preferred.

Any suggestions?

[ed_209a]

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

99% of the population has been killed and zombified, but 50-60% of the zombies were killed before civilization was completely overrun.

So 150 million zombies and 1.5 million survivors, evenly spread across the country.

My advice: Go west young man! Point that bus towards one of the western states, because of the low population density. A bus full of survivors surrounded by 5 zombies per square mile (the dakotas) sounds a lot better than 110 per square mile (Illinois).

In the winter, the town sport could be going into Sioux Falls and hitting frozen zombies with shovels!

As soon as you can, set up a shortwave and start inviting survivors. You might consider inflating your numbers, in case the "survivors" turn out to be raiders.

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

I'm thinking most major cities are out of the question: there's still too many zombies to be safe.

Probably right there.

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

Without reliable power or water, rural areas that require irrigation are out.

I wouldn't be so hasty here. You might only need irrigation if you want the bushels/acre we have now. More modest (and hardy) strains would feed your small town just fine.

[BLloyd607502]

http://www.missilebases.com/adironback

Here.
Then I would dig out a massive fortified wall around the land, with barbed wire, punji sticks and so forth and turn it into a Survivor base.
Maybe see of we can get a missile too...

[dcarson]

I'd head for an island. Local to me Smith Island has a population of 400 and is only reached by boat. Many places have similar possibilities. Unless zombies are smart enough to use boats or are good swimmers you don't have to spend so much effort on defense.

[sjard]

Originally Posted by dcarson

I'd head for an island. Local to me Smith Island has a population of 400 and is only reached by boat. Many places have similar possibilities. Unless zombies are smart enough to use boats or are good swimmers you don't have to spend so much effort on defense.

The question I have is why would zombies need to be good swimmers? If they can't drown they could just crawl along the bottom to get there.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by sjard

The question I have is why would zombies need to be good swimmers? If they can't drown they could just crawl along the bottom to get there.

There's a lot of ocean and human bodies, dead or not, aren't exactly well adapted to moving through it quickly. Not to mention our lack of sensory faculties for navigating the bottom of the sea.

For every zombie that managed to walk through the depths and emerge somewhere, an awful lot would spend a long time indeed wandering around aimlessly in the dark.

Not to mention that all sorts of things eventually happen to dead bodies in the ocean. Crabs, shrimp and larger predators would happily feat upon their flesh, in a nice reversal from how that usually goes.

[MIB.6361]

I agree that moving to a lower population area is a really good choice. Also, somewhere with a view is probably best. Find a nice hill with visible terrain all around. The downside of course is your noise and light will be seen/heard from farther away which will attract more zombies and marauders than a lower level solution.

As for rebuilding/fortifying; I'm assuming the zombies can't read and aren't particularly clever. They typically aren't. So you make use of a simple trap. Such as a pit trap with spikes at the bottom and use a system that requires intelligence to cross. Like monkey bars painted different colors and put a sign up that says "only use the red bars." When a zombie tries and grabs a yellow bar, they breakaway and drop the zombie in the pit.

[Phoenix_Dragon]

Originally Posted by MIB.6361

Like monkey bars painted different colors and put a sign up that says "only use the red bars." When a zombie tries and grabs a yellow bar, they breakaway and drop the zombie in the pit.

I think that might fail on account of them being too stupid! I doubt they'd even figure out how to use monkey bars :>

[MIB.6361]

Originally Posted by Phoenix_Dragon

I think that might fail on account of them being too stupid! I doubt they'd even figure out how to use monkey bars :>

I guess that depends on the level of stupid. I've seen zombies that can figure the bars out. If not, then it's the perfect zombie-proof bridge. But the concept is still usable. Have a trap or mechanism that requires a brain (and not one that drips from your teeth) to bypass.

[Crakkerjakk]

Originally Posted by MIB.6361

If not, then it's the perfect zombie-proof bridge.

Unless there's enough of them to fill in the hole.