STEP FOURTEEN

In this step, you will be going out. So get your bad-ass outfit on, sharpen your knives, reload your guns, and prepare to kick zombie ass. This is perhaps the fourth or fifth day of the dead walking about killing your neighbours. So there will be more of them. There will also be more dim witted, scared shit-less people running around with no plan, making a big kafuffle for no reason.  But over time, the ratio to idiotic survivors to zombies will tip in the favour of zombies. So be on high alert at all times.

For this step, you are going down to the pawn shop. This step only matter if there are any in your area left that haven’t been completely robbed. Even if there are a few that look empty, get out and take a look anyways.

A pawn shop will probably be the best place to hide out for a zombie invasion; be careful when you enter. If you see a lot of blood or bodies by the front doors, do not go in. If the place looks deserted, but with unbroken windows, chances are someone has already claimed the pawn shop. DO NOT go in. The pawn shop has everything from sharp cymbals to fully functional guns. So who ever is inside, is deadly and won’t take kindly to strangers.

If the pawn shop looks like people have broken in, proceed with caution. Go in quietly with your group. Most of it will be taken, yes, but remember to think outside the box. There will probably be old knives, pens, shields, helmets, etc. Remember that anything can be a weapon. So take what you can. Check every inch of the store before leaving.

Hopefully you now have enough weapons and food to survive a little while.  

TIP: BITTEN PEOPLE

In the previous step, I mentioned to know procedures. Before the flesh eating zombies start to overcome the masses of people, you need to lay out a plan if someone becomes bitten.

 There will be no cure, you will like to think so, but there won’t be. Even if the government did invent a cure, it won’t get to you in time. Once a person is bitten/has the virus in their blood system, they will turn. It might take a few days, or a few minutes, but eventually, they will try to kill you. They will no longer be the person you once knew. They may look the same, but there will be nothing left of the person you once loved inside. If you hesitate to kill them, they will kill you. And if they get bit outside, and you bring them inside, once they turn you will have a zombie inside your fort. You NEED to kill it. It doesn’t matter if it’s your mum, lover, roommate, or cat; they will turn and try to kill you.

It is important that everyone in the group understands this. It only takes one stupid person to think their mum is still their mum, and let the creature into the base, brining in several others behind it. You need to have the law in the group stating: “Once a person is bitten, kill them”. It’s blunt, but it is what needs to be done. Kill them before they turn, so they don’t have to go through the pain of slowly dying, and then try to eat you alive.

STEP THIRTEEN

You have turned the outside of your house into a fort. You have boarded up the windows and blocked the doors/windows from the inside. Now you need to make procedures.

You need to get everyone familiar with exit plans. Make sure that everyone knows what to do when zombies break in from one side of the house. You need to chart out how/where you would go if zombies took over your fort. Have a backup plan. Remember, you want to go somewhere close, safe, and familiar. Like Ed from Shawn of the Dead says: “If we hole up, I want to be somewhere Familiar, I wanna know where the exits are and I wanna be allowed to smoke”. Make sure that where you plan to go next is just as safe and reliable as your current place. Have everyone know how you will get there, so if your group splits up, you can try to regroup. Know that the zombies will follow you, so you need to have a route that could potentially loose them. Even try to find a midway point to hide out for a bit, so the zombies continue walking on past you. Only leave the house when you know there is absolutely no way you can fight them off anymore.

Take only weapons and a little bit of water. The zombies won’t care about food; you can come back for food the next day. Remember that you have two exits, so each exit will probably need a different route. The location can be the same, but how you get there will be different.

I can’t stress this enough when I say, “MAKE SURE EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT TO DO/WHERE TO GO WHEN YOUR FORT BECOMES OVERRUN”.  Don’t worry about leaving someone behind. Once the fort is taken, everyone get the hell out. Don’t be a hero and try to help everyone. There will be no need to be a hero for everyone, if everyone can be their own hero.

STEP TWELVE

If the cars you have found are drivable, find out its information. The internet is still running, Google the car and learn about it. Compare it with your current vehicles; consider gas mileage, size, how many seats, amount of storage, engine type, working parts, condition and color. You only need enough space for the people in your total group. It is a waste of gas if you try to maintain all the vehicles. Just use the cars that work and the ones you can rely on. The worst situation to be in is needing to escape a pack a flesh eating zombies when your car craps out. You also don’t want to use a car that sounds like a shot gun going off every time you start the engine. Also make sure the cars you keep have working locks/windows. You also need to make sure the car has a working radio; if the military/government is trying to send messages to civilians, they will be using radios.

If the cars you have found are not driveable, keep them. You can use them for spare parts for your working cars. Strip the car of its wheels. The rest of the car parts might not be needed, but the wheels are essential. Once you have taken the car’s main parts, you can use the car bodies to block up your house. Obviously you will have to roll the car to where you want it before you take the wheels.

Roll the cars to block off main entrances. It won’t be able to stop a person, but it will be able to stop a zombie. Block off the front door for sure, or a ground floor window. Depending on how many spare cars you have, block off any entrance to the back yard (unless you have a fence). You want to create only two enter/exit points to your house. You need two because if zombies get in the side door of your base, where are you going to go? You need two possible exits; if they come in the side door, you go out the back. If they come in the back door, you go out the side. So roll the cars into a position that blocks zombie’s flow of traffic. You need to seriously plan out where the cars are going; you only have limited cars and probably a lot of ground you need to barricade. Be wise.

STEP ELEVEN

Once you have cleared out the store and packed up the vehicle, have two people quickly do a second check on what you left behind. Make sure there isn’t useful left. Clear out all the water and anything that doesn’t expire. Make sure to grab any small items like scissors/knives/blunt objects. Don’t bother stealing the money/cash register; it will take ages to open without a key. Besides, money has no value anymore.

If the particular store you have broken into happens to have other stores beside it, take a quick look through the windows. Look and see if you can find anything interesting in the stores; stuff you haven’t already found. If there is one particular item you see, such a sword, break the widow, climb in, take it and leave with your group. I know I said not to break in and create noise, but if there is just one thing you need, take it and leave immediately. But if the stores you look into seems like there are many things you could take (like more food) remember the store and come back. There is no point trying to fit more stuff into your vehicles. If you’re vehicle becomes too heavy you will burn gasoline faster, and soon there won’t be much gasoline to spare.

Either way, if you find things or not, the next stop is home.

If you did find more things in the other stores, dump everything and go back. Don’t leave it for another day, someone else might take it.

Once you have finished all your trips, stay in for the night. Sort everything you have found in the past couple of days. Organize the food that will expire and the food that won’t. Sort the weapons. If you found cars at the auto shop, take a look and see if they are drivable. If they aren’t, keep them. There will be a use for them.

STEP TEN

Once you effectively break into the small-time store, slowly and quietly enter. Before stealing anything, check the entire store for zombies and humans. Obviously kill the zombies, and if there are any humans you need to kill them too. Whoever is in the store is also wanting to claim the food and will fight you before they let you take it. Kill them as fast as you can before they get a chance to kill you. DO NOT let them just walk away. They might come back with a bigger group. It might be tough, but you got to do what you got to do.  

Once you’ve made sure the store is empty, someone in the group get in the vehicle and back it up to the store front door. Open the trunk and all the door so loading is fast. Have someone watching outside from INSIDE the store. Don’t wait outside the store because if a group of zombies see you, they will come after you; trapping you in the store. But their brains are too damaged to recognize a backed up car to a store door. As long as someone knows it’s clear to momentarily walk outside and put stuff in the car, you will be safe.
 
Load up everything you can in the car/truck. Talk as little as you can about what to take. Whisper if you must talk but it won’t hurt to take as much as you can.
 
But be quick, people could come at any moment, and the zombie infection is continuing to grow.  

TIP: BREAKING IN

In this quick “TIP” you will learn how to properly break into a building without raising alarm.

If you are reading in continuation from "STEP NINE", you are just about to break into a local, small business. You are there to get supplies: Food, water, appliances, etc. But you don’t want to raise awareness to yourself. You need to break in, without being heard by zombies, or even worse, humans. If you are loud, someone might hear you, watch what you’re doing, and then once you have done all the heavy lifting, they’ll come up to you, point a gun in your face and force you to give them all your findings. You don’t want that. So you need to be SAS and infiltrate stealthily.

If you can pick a lock, great! See if that will work, but chances are it won’t: most businesses that lock up at night and go home, have better security than just a lock. Some places might have a few locks behind the door, as well as on the front.  Picking the front lock might not be enough. You will have to break a window.

Don’t be a dumbass and throw a brick into the window and jump in. That is loud. And people/zombies will come for you.

To break in properly you will need duct tape and a blunt object, like a brick or baseball bat. A brick would be the best.

First: find the smallest section of glass on the building. If you are going through the side window, pick one that is big enough for someone to climb into it. If you are going in the front door, only use the glass on the door, or at least close enough to stick your hand in and unlock the door.

Second: once you find your section of glass, cover it with duct tape. The smaller the glass, the less duct tape you use, and the easier it is to handle. Cover the section in two layers: going vertically and horizontally. Attach it to the window frame and leave a lip on the edge so you can peel it off.

Third: with your blunt object, lightly hit the window until you can hear it crack. Lightly, don’t hit heavy. Once you hear it crack, continue to tap the sides of the window until all the glass seems like it cracked off.

Fourth: slowly peel the tape off the window: the glass should still be stuck on the glass.

And there you go! Now you have opened the window without making any noise! You can now enter the building and loot!

Continue to “STEP TEN”.

STEP NINE

Once you have collected the required items from the auto repair shop, regroup at your base. Unload everything. If your team is up for it, get ready to go back out there. But don’t go back out if it is already dark outside. I don’t care if you are all hyped up or in the mood to kill some zombies; you are not ready yet to fight at night. If your team is not up to it or it is dark, stay in for the night and go back out tomorrow.

Either way, this is the next step.

Leave you newly found cars from the auto shop (if you found one or two) at base. You don’t know the cars well; use the ones you can rely on. Leave who ever knows the most about cars at the base, so if there is anything wrong with them, they might be able to fix it. If they can’t fix the car, make sure they know where the manuals/guidebooks to repair vehicles that you stole from the auto shop are. Internet/power is still working, so they could even Google it.

Get your Bad-Ass outfit on, get your weapons, and go out into zombie-vile. For this run, you are hitting up any small-time convenient stores in your area. This might take a bit of driving around, so keep it local and quick. If you see any with broken windows/a lot of cars in the parking lot, leave it. Don’t risk the fact that there may be people hiding inside with better weapons than you. If there are a lot of scattered cars in the parking lot that means people have tried to go in, and have failed to get out.  Go to a place that not many people know about, or have a really nice owner. You are living in hell now. If you are nice and polite, you will die. You need to be mean to survive. If you know of a store with a nice owner, that is the place to attack. No decent person will break into a small time business with a generous shop keep. No decent person would. But the days of decent people are extinct now. It is time to think for you self. Anyone who gets in the way of your survival must be pushed out of the way.

Once you have found that perfect store, slowly and quietly break in. Don’t know how to break in quietly? Good.

Follow for “Step 10”. That will be what to do once you have broken into the store.

Read “Tip: How to break in quietly” on how to break in to any place, without raising awareness of other people or zombies.

STEP EIGHT: AUTO SHOP

After dropping off what you can from the hardware store, get your BAD ASS outfit on the day is not over. If you don’t have a BAD ASS outfit yet, put that on your “To Do” list.

Now that you’ve geared up and hit the road, drive to a local auto repair shop. There you will find valuable items, such as car parts. It seems like a dumb idea, but eventually, you WILL need them and they won't be around forever. Also, car parts make really good weapons (mostly). You can find spare tires, car batteries, oil, manuals/instructions to fix certain parts, tools, car ordainments, etc. Stereotypically, car mechanics carry around guns: so if you’re lucky, you may just find one! If you’re really lucky, there might even be a working car lying around. Since this is only day two, and your phone still has service/power, you can Google “how to hot wire a car”. Or save yourself some time, and hot wire the tow truck the auto repair shop most likely has, and tow the car along. Now you got two extra vehicles; a car, and a heavy tow truck that will come in great use for running over masses of zombies.

Gather what you can, but be careful of other people with the same intentions.

Once finished, go back to base to drop off your newly found gear. If it’s too late, or maybe you’ve had a lot of encounters with other people and you need a rest, take the night off. If you and your group are up for it, go right to the next step: “Step 8”.

TIP: LOOK BAD-ASS

Now that the zombie apocalypse has FINALLY come, the name of the game is “Bad Ass”. The more badass you look, the less likely people are going to mess with you. If you “walk the walk” right, most people won’t care if you will actually “talk the talk”.

To “walk the walk” you need to “look the look”.... BAD ASS 

First of all, safety first: eye protection (goggles, sunglasses etc.), knee pads, elbow pads and gloves.  To bump it up an extra notch, wear a mask. Nothing too extreme, you need something practical. Something that covers your face, but is light, can breathe, has good eye holes and doesn’t lower your hearing. You don’t need a mask, only if you feel it would work. If you don’t have a mask, a bandana will work.  Don’t wear baggy clothes. Not only does it look unprofessional, baggy clothes are easy for zombies to grab a hold of. Wear darker clothes, it looks professional; just as a business man wouldn’t wear a bright pink suit to a meeting. As far as foot wear, don’t wear any open toe shoes (sorry surfer dudes). Wear anything that would be effective for kicking a zombies head in, i.e. boots or thick sneakers.

Carry two main weapons and two small ones: the more weapons you have, the more dangerous you look. Example: Cary a base ball bat in your hands. Have an axe slung around you; hanging on your back. On your belt hold your gun. If you don’t have a gun, keep a knife or two. Specifically, two of the biggest knives you have. I know I said not to use knives before, but these are just for show. Here is a line from one of my favourite movies, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels which explains my point:
“Also I think knives are a good idea, you know, big fuck-off shiny knives, the ones that look like they could skin a crocodile. Knives are good because they don't make any noise, and the less noise the more we're likely to use them. That'll shit 'em up and make us look like pros”.
Using knives can be a bad idea when dealing with humans, but is okay for zombies. But for now, knives are for show.

Look mean. Look scary. Look bad-ass.

STEP SEVEN

Once you get everything you can gather from the hardware store, go back to base. You should unload everything you have found, even if it’s not much. Whenever you leave your vehicle, make it look like it is empty. These days, anybody will break into your vehicle if they see anything valuable or neat you’ve left on the seat. So go to base and empty all you findings from the vehicle and into the house. If you leave them in your vehicle while checking out another area, the ones in the back of your vehicle might get stolen by other scavengers. Don’t try and put a tarp over your gear to hide them: that just makes other people more suspicious about what is in the back. Look at the picture, when the worlds gone to hell, wouldn't you look what's under the tarp?

Don’t spend too much time at base; you still have stuff to do! You are going back out there, so if you can, upgrade your weapons. If you found anything better than the weapon you took to the hardware store, swap it. Leave the masses of weapons with the people at your base camp, but take the best weapons for yourself if you are one of the people going back out. Grab the most dangerous and scary looking weapon. Anything that makes it looks like you mean business, because you might have some close encounters coming up. You need to look bad-ass, which is the next blogs theme. STAY TUNE FOR THE “How to look Bad-ass” TIP!

STEP SIX ALTERNATIVE

Okay, let’s say the hardware store you go to is already cleared out. All the gardening equipment, water, paint, wood, guns, food, etc are gone. What do you do?

 If it the hardware store looks like no one is in there, park up and go in with caution. Everyone in your search group should have some sort of weapon. Go in and try to scavenge anything you see. But move around the store in case there are a few brain dead zombies sneaking around, or even worse... people.

Some places may have a “Home Renovation” department. There you will find things like, doors, toilets, cabinets, tiles etc. Have a look through there. Especially look for staircase railings. Some places may have the railings cut up into base ball bat like shapes. If you find any tables and chairs, screw off the legs: they could do some pretty nasty damage to a human head. Things like table legs are something you will find because no ever thinks to look at tables or chairs in a zombie apocalypse. Go to the toilet section, and screw off all the toilet seats (not the “U” shape seats with the hole, the one on top that covers it). Those things are pretty heavy and could easily be used to smash a zombie over the head with or could even be turned into a shield. Yeah. A shield. I know it’s not the middle ages, but when zombies are all grouped around you and they want to bite your face off, being able to push them back (without using your hands) with a toilet cover, isn’t such a bad idea.

Remember to think outside the box.

After you clear out what you can, get back in your vehicle and think about any other hardware stores in the area that you think could be safe. Check them out. Don’t travel too far, the last thing you want is an hour’s drive back with your friend in the back seat screaming because he got his arm ripped off in a zombie encounter. So keep your search close to your main base.

STEP SIX: DAY TWO

Congratulations, you have survived your first night of the apocalypse! Or at least most of you have.

Now the infection is growing. There aren’t a lot of zombies walking around, but there a lot of more people bitten and on the path to changing. Keep someone on the lookout from the top floor windows. You need to be aware when it is safe to go outside. Because today is the day you need to do some shopping.

Today you need to make a run for the closest hardware store. Don’t go to one that is in a complex of stores; go to one that stands by its own. The bigger the shopping mall, the bigger the parking lot, and the harder it will be to drive through.

You need to go to the hardware store because you need to gather more deadly weapons than a frying pan and a potato peeler. But it probably will be closed, so be prepared to smash some windows. You need to gather up weapons that will take down a zombie or a person. Gather anything that is either sharp or blunt, and preferably made of light metal. If you are struggling to pick it up on the first go, it’s not worth taking. Go to the “gardening” section for the best weapons: axes, pickaxes, hoes, hand hoes, rakes, hand rakes, chainsaws (and as much fuel for it as you can manage), sheers, edgers, saws, shovels (flat heads and round heads), hammers, hedge clippers, etc. Remember anything can be a weapon.

Some hardware stores may even have a “gun/hunting” section. If it already hasn’t been gutted out, take what you can. While you are there, get some cans of paint (the reason will be explained later). Grab some 4x4s, some hammers and nails (later you will need to board up the house). Also, clear out the vending machines and collect all food/water you see.

SPECIAL TIP: Go to the “home keeping” section and grab the “ironing distilled water”. The water is made to add water to your iron for ironing clothes. BUT it just distilled water, fine for drinking! Not many people will think of it, so it has a good chance of being there!

Make the trip fast. You don’t want to get caught with all the goods when other people show up trying to do the same!

STEP FIVE: Household weapons

Now that you have secured your temporary living arrangement, you need to gather up items throughout the house that could be used as a weapon. It’s not that you’re going to bash anyone who comes to the door over the head (just yet). But if anyone succeeds in breaking into your house, you need to be able to protect yourself. Obviously the best weapons for fighting off humans (or at least persuading them to leave your property) are guns. Right now, if someone breaks down the front door and you point a gun at them, they will be more scared than if you had a frying pan. But not everybody has a gun lying around the house. So the next best weapon is some sort of big blunt object, such as a baseball bat or shovel.

And I know what a lot of you are thinking: “No, obviously a sharp knife or a sword of some sort will be better”. No. With a sharp knife/sword you need to get in close with your enemy, and physically plunge it into their body; killing them. Two things: one, getting in close to your attacker with a knife is dangerous because chances are you aren’t trained with using a knife, but they might be. And two, not many people have it in them to physically shove a knife into a living person’s body. The reason why a baseball bat or a shovel is better is because you don’t have to be too close to hit them, and hitting a person over the head is easier than stabbing their throat. Although big ass knives are intimidating and effective, they are not as practical as a longer range weapon. But don’t give up on knives/swords, they still work.

Don’t be afraid to get creative with these house hold weapons: everything is a weapon.

Baseball bats, shovels, axes, pitchforks, kitchen knives, chair legs, chainsaws, power cords, coat hangers, glass bottles, musical instrument (guitar, drum sticks, mini keyboard, flute etc.), printers, computer monitors, pens, pencils, speakers, foldable stools/chairs, walking sticks, rocks, water jugs, sculptures, deodorant sprays, hard hats, ANYTHING. These weapons don’t have to kill anyone on the first hit (although it helps), but anything that will cause pain and slow them down is required.

Everyone should have two to three weapons each. A big weapon, and one or two small weapons. My preference would be a shovel (with a metal tip), a hatchet, and a small kitchen knife.

Keep calm and protect yourself.

STEP FOUR: FIRST NIGHT

This is still day one. There is no need to place bear traps on the lawn or booby-trap trees to fall down, just yet. The number of people infected is still very low, but for the moment, that’s not your top concern. Right now you need to worry about the living too. There will be swarms of frightened people breaking into houses, trying to steal supplies.

Killing brain dead zombies with a shovel is easy (child’s play really), but do you have it in you to kill an intruding, living person? And unless someone in the group happens to have a gun, you will have to kill them, up close with a household weapon. You will need to be prepared for this moment. It could happen at any time.

To prevent this situation from happening you need to properly barricade the house.

It’s only the first night; you probably won’t have any 4x4s laying around the house to board up the doors. You will have to pick them up from the hardware store another day, but not tonight. For now you need to have better security than just the locks on the doors. All the doors in the house will need to have a big piece of furniture wedged under the handle. NOT a just a simple chair. A person willing to break into a house to steal supplies will be stronger than a chair. You need a couch or a cabinet; something strong enough to stop a living breathing person. Later on when the human population decreases, this tactic will change. But for now, the reinforced doors need to be a tough as possible.

The first door a scavenger will try to break into is the back door(s). The back door(s) needs to be the strongest; enough that it feels impossible to break into, influencing them to give up and move on.

All the windows that can be seen into from the street, needs to be covered from the inside with carpets. Basic curtains and/or blinds won’t hide all the light from the inside completely. The top floor doesn’t need to be covered (unless necessary); you’ll still need to be able to look out once in a while. But remember that any room with an uncovered window must be closed off at night (i.e. closing the door to the room) from any inside light source.

DAY ONE TIP: Do NOT attempt to go get food

Do not go out stealing food from the stores just yet. If the zombie apocalypse turns out to be controlled quickly, or even just a hoax, you may get arrested over a stupid theft. Not only that, but on the first day you will always have Nervous Nellys or Hot Head Charlies freaking out at the stores. Those people will bring guns to the supermarket, shooting their way through the panicking stampede. If you went there on the first day you may get killed from the chaos of the crowd, either trampled to death or shot. Even if you managed to get some food to your vehicle, the parking lots will soon be jammed, and there will be no way out. Don't go to convenient/small food stores either; most of the small places may have guns behind the counter. They won't be letting anybody in, and won't be sympathetic to your needs. Also, with a large group of people, there way be an infected amung them who could potentially infect YOU. Avoid food stores for the first two days. After that you can grab remainders, or even find food off people who didn't make it past the parking lot.  

Step Three

If it is not your house you are going to be staying at, you need to pack.

Clothing: Nothing fancy (i.e. suits or dresses) or big and bulky. You need basic clothes: jeans, shorts, shirts, and 2 jackets. Not a lot. Remember you are only leaving temporarily. If it seems to be a permanent stay, or you hit the road, go back and collect some more.

Personal items: This is a temporary move, leave everything. No one is going to break into your house while you're away stealing your photo albums or memorabilia. Leave it all behind, go back at get them when a more permanent move is afoot.

Food: Bring food that will expire. Since this is still day one, there will still be working ovens, refrigerators, electricity etc. but not for long. Take advantage of it. Eat food that can't be eaten without ovens/microwaves. Hide all the food that cannot expire (i.e. junk food, chips, candy bars, Twinkies, canned food etc) in the house so no one can steal them.  Just take the fresh food that needs to be eaten before it expires. Keep the "survival food" for when the electricity goes out.

Step Two

Decide on a stable, reliable, temporary place to hide out for a few days. A house away from a populated area (i.e. mall). Big enough for the required people, but small enough where you can keep an eye on all the doors. As many bathrooms and bedroom as possible, with a fenced off back yard. Apartments will work, but not if you're trying to survive in big groups. Especially once the power goes out and the elevators stop working, there will be a lot of stairs to climb per trip up and down. And if zombies find a way inside the apartment, the only escape route is over the balcony. So if you decide to stay in an apartment, pick a floor that is high enough that zombies can't climb into, but is close enough to the ground that you can survive an emergency jump out of the window. Block off all stairwells from the inside, so that only you can open them. The good thing about apartment buildings is that you can scout through other empty rooms and find supplies other people have left behind. Also, most apartments have security cameras in the front lobby that can be watched on a channel through the television keeping a look out for zombies trying to break in.

Step One

The first thing you do when you know this is the apocalypse is for you to go home. Doesn't matter where you are, school, work, the gym, or at the mall (especially if you're at the mall), you go home ASAP. You need to regroup with your family. Not all of them, just family you live with or live close to you. Once all your family members meet back at home, grab the phone and start making some calls. One person calls family, and another calls friends. The person calling family asks how the outbreak is happening in their area, telling them to stay put and you will all meet up together later. The person calling friends, is only calling close friends. Friends you want in your survival group, people you can trust. People who won't abandon you during a zombie attack. But not many; 2-3 people maximum. The more people, the more different opinions, the more arguments, the more mouths to feed, the more fuel burnt traveling on the road, etc.  BUT you will need several hands to hold down a fort, so don't be completely alone.

DAY ONE

This is it. Day one of the outbreak. The beginning of the end. The dead have risen up from the ground, and are now feeding on the living. But don't worry, this is just day on. There aren't  many zombies walking around the streets, killing the masses of people, and blocking off roads yet. The only ones fighting the zombies are the police or small armed civilians, no military involvement yet. At this time, it doesn't matter how it started; government experiment, voodoo, a virus, a mutation. All you know is that the dead are walking, coming after YOU. So what do you do when you see or hear about the first zombie invasion?