• Rifle, 500 rounds
• Shotgun, twelve-gauge, 250 shells
• Pistol,.45 caliber, 250 rounds
• Silencer (rifle)
• Silencer (pistol)
• Heavy crossbow (in lieu of silencers), 150 bolts
• Telescopic sight (rifle)
• Night-vision scope (rifle)
• Laser sight (rifle)
• Laser sight (pistol)
• Katana sword
• Wakizashi or other short-bladed sword
• Two knives with smooth, six- to eight-inch blades
• Hand hatchet
(NOTE: This list applies to a single individual. Numbers should be adjusted depending on the number of people in the group.)
B. Equipment
Now that all weapons have been chosen, consider what equipment is necessary for your maintenance and perhaps even survival. In the short run, standard disaster-survival kits will suffice. Any longer, and the material below will be necessary. Common household items such as clothing, toilet paper, etc., are assumed to be kept on hand in reasonable quantities.
• Water, three quarts per day, for cooking and washing
• Hand-pumped water filter
• Four replacement filters
• Cistern for collecting rainwater
• Iodine and/or purification tablets
• Canned food, three cans per day (preferable to dried goods in that they contain some water)
• Two portable electric stoves
• Advanced medical kit (must include field-surgery implements and antibiotics)
• Bicycle-powered electric generator
• Gasoline generator (to be used only in emergencies)
• Twenty gallons of gasoline
• Rechargeable, battery-powered shortwave radio
• Two battery-powered flashlights
• Two rechargeable, battery-powered electric lamps
• Two rechargeable, battery-powered and/or solar-powered radios
• Appropriate reinforcement materials, including lumber, bricks, mortar, etc.
• Extensive tool kit, including sledgehammer, ax, handsaw, etc.
• Lime and/or bleaching powder in sufficient supply to maintain latrine
• One high-powered telescope (80X-100X), with spare lenses and cleaning equipment
• Fifteen emergency flares
• Thirty-five chemical light sticks
• Five fire extinguishers
• Two sets of earplugs
• Spare parts for all aforementioned machinery and user’s manuals
• Extensive library of manuals, including a general disaster manual
(NOTE: As with weapons, personal items such as food, water, and medicine must be multiplied for the number of people in your group.)
3. SURVIVING AN ATTACK
The siege has commenced. Zombies swarm around your home, incessantly attacking but unable to enter. At this point, your worries are far from over. Waiting out a siege does not mean sitting idle. Many tasks will have to be accomplished and repeated for survival in a confined space.
A. Designate one corner of your backyard to serve as a latrine. Most survival manuals will explain the finer points of construction and disposal.
B. If soil and rain permits, dig a vegetable garden. This ready source of food should be consumed first, saving the canned food for an emergency. Keep it as far away from the latrines as possible, to avoid infection not by waste but by the residual effects that lime or bleach will have on the soil.
C. For electricity, always resort to the manual (bicycle-powered) generator. Not only is the gasoline model loud and potentially dangerous-its fuel is finite. Use it only in extreme circumstances, such as a night attack, when manual power is unfeasible or impossible to generate.
D. Patrol the wall constantly. If you’re in a group, run patrols on a twenty-four-hour basis. Always be vigilant for an unlikely but possible infiltration. If you are alone, limit your patrols to daylight hours. At night, make sure all doors are secure (windows should already be barred). Sleep with a flashlight and weapon nearby. Sleep lightly.
E. Maintain a low profile. If you have a basement, do your cooking there, along with power generation and any equipment maintenance. When you monitor the radio, something that should be done every day, use headphones. Keep blackout curtains on all windows, especially at night.
F. Dispose of all bodies. Be it zombie or human, a corpse is still a corpse. The bacteria in rotting flesh can be a serious health hazard. All bodies within your perimeter should be burned or buried. All bodies outside of your wall should be burned. To do this, simply stand on a ladder on your side of the wall, pour gasoline on the freshly slain ghoul, light a match and let it fall. Although this may attract more undead to your dwelling, it is a necessary risk to remove an already-present hazard.
G. Exercise daily. Use of the stationary bicycle, along with basic calisthenics and dynamic tension, will keep your body fit and strong enough for any combat situation. Again, make sure your regimen is quiet. If a basement is not available, use a room in the center of the house. Basic soundproofing such as mattresses and blankets against the walls will help to muffle any sounds.
H. Remain entertained. Despite the need for vigilance, recreation is a must. Make sure a large cache of books, games, and other forms of amusement are available (electronic games are too noisy and energy-inefficient to be considered). In a long and seemingly interminable siege, boredom can lead to paranoia, delusion, and hopelessness. It is as important to keep your mind in good shape as it is your body.
I. Keep your earplugs handy, and use them often. The constant, collective moan of the undead, a sound that will persist at all hours for as long as the siege continues, can be a deadly form of psychological warfare. People with well-protected, well-supplied homes have been known to either kill one another or go insane simply from the incessant moan.
J. Make sure your escape route is planned and your gear ready to go. In the uncertainty of battle, it may be necessary to abandon your home. Perhaps the wall has been breached, perhaps a fire has started, perhaps rescue has arrived but is not close enough. For whatever reason, it’s time to go. Keep your survival pack and weapon in a readily accessible area, packed, loaded, and ready for action.
4. IMMEDIATE DEFENSE
The dead have risen. You smell the smoke, hear the sirens. Screams and shots fill the air. You have been unable or unwilling to properly prepare your home-what now? Although the situation looks grim, it by no means signals your demise. If you take the right actions at the right time, you can save yourself and your family from joining the ranks of the undead.
A. Strategies for Two-Story Homes
1. Lock all your doors and windows. Although a pane of glass may not stop a zombie, the sound of its shattering will be the best warning you can get.
2. Run upstairs and turn on the bathtub. Although this sounds foolish, there is no way of knowing when the water will be cut. After a few days, thirst will become your greatest enemy.
3. Find the best weapons possible. (See previous chapter.) They should be light and, if possible, attachable to your body so you will have the full use of your hands. Those will be busy for the next hour.
4. Begin stockpiling the second story. Use the list on pages 71-72 as your guide. Most households have at least 50 percent of the items listed. Do a quick inventory to see what you have. Don’t take everything, just the bare essentials: one or two weapons, some food (you already have a bathtub full of water), a flashlight, and a battery-powered radio. And since most families keep their medical chests upstairs, you won’t need anything more. Remember: Time could be short, so don’t spend it all gathering supplies when the most important job is still ahead.