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Hello...

I was reading a topic on this forum called Zombies are here...what do you grab? and while I read it, I was very interested it, and enjoyed reading it by the way. Then there was another book I was reading at the local Barnes & Noble called The Fire Smart Home Handbook. Discussing the notion of protecting yourself, your home, and your property from wildfires, it had a chapter about evacuation, which detailed evacuation preparations for time limits ranging from five minutes to one hour and all the way to six or more hours, as evacuation orders can be either "mandatory," "voluntary," or otherwise.

Evacuations like these got me thinking about the Wave and the people holed up in their homes protecting themselves from looters, rioters, and the plague that caused them. What if during the panic some people were planning to leave at a moment's notice (Noting that they weren't preparing for zombies at first, but they were watching the news and would plan to leave if they came knocking at their door...), and had prepared for it. Such people would be engaging in preparations spanning minutes and likely hours, so they could leave with most of their preps at a moment's notice.

Okay, here's the challenge: You are quite the Preemptive Paranoid Prepper and have been preparing to evacuate your home if necessary during the Wave. Preparations involve both lists of items and lists of actual tasks to carry out. During your planning, you prepared for three scenarios - six-hour preps, one-hour preps, and five-minute preps. Feel free to refer to the book at the library for ideas, and remember that five-minute preps, for example, are carried out first at the minimum, and if time and fate allowed you would move on to one-hour preps, then to six-hour preps if you were lucky. But remember that a lot of preps for civil disorder can be used against zombies like the old-fashioned boomstick for example. After this is said and done, feel free to post your ideas, and if preferred you can remain anonymous, since you are Preemptive Paranoid Preppers. Please take care; thanks a bunch, and have a good day!

Well this is a query of many possible variations.
The first being 'Bug out, or dig in'. The difference being clear. Does one run for it or dig in where you've more resources at your disposal? This can change based on the threat faced, where you are and the time of year.

For example, in the summer where I live, it's easy to bug out and survive. The temps are not extreme and if needed, I could sleep on the ground. How ever, there's 3 feet of standing snow just now, so bugging out might not be the best option just now. Even if I have a vehicle (Which I do) The lack of snow plows running will rapidly make travel next to impossible where I am. Roads are icy at best and due to the way they're plowed you can't get around wrecks if they happen. And they're GOING to happen. They happen when zombies aren't trying to kill everyone, so they're really going to happen when they are. So digging in would likely be more of a viable option for me. The cold weather and deep snow would also hinder zombies, as they'd freeze in place. I could venture out and wack um in the head as they're frozen with minimal risk to myself untill spring.

But assuming you just mean a general bug out, that's different. Being a bit of a prepper myself I do have plans for this sort of thing.

I have a family of 5 now, and we have prepacked bug out bags for myself, my wife and our boys. Each of us has a bag that's sized for us in case of need. They're hanging on hooks inside the basement stairwell, out of sight and covered with tarps. (You do this, because... the gear in bug out bags tend to be expensive, and you dont' want them sitting in the open, so any guy breaking into your house can just grab um and shoulder them and walk out with many $100s in gear.) We just had a baby so this complicates things, but I -do- have an extra diaper bag, fully loaded at all times. I've actually got 2 back ups.

So depending on situation my 5 minute bug out would likely be me calling for everyone to get packed. I go to the gunsafe and unlock it. I put my pistol on my belt, and grab the AR15 and extra magazines. I then go to the garage and get the van and pull it into the yard. While I'm doing this, the wife would be getting the bags down. Passing each of the boys their bags. She would then tell our 14 year old to get the baby, as she went to the kitchen. In the kitchen she would get the non perishable food into garbage bags. Passing them to the 12 year old to run out and put in the back of the van. She would then do the same with the bottled water and such we have in the basement. The 14 year old would pack up the baby and grab all (We actually have 3) baby bags and all the extra formula and transfer it to the van. Returning to the house I would grab my bag and venture back to the gunsafe. Emptying it out and distributing the firearms to the family.

If moving fast, I could grab my personal firearms, pull the van up. Return to the house and clean out the gun safe, grab some personal hand to hand weapons and get that in the van in 5 minutes.
My wife could tell our oldest to put the baby in the baby seat, get her in the van, and get the 3 baby bags and all the formula and get that into the van in 5 minutes.

The youngest son/middle child could ferry out garbage bags of food and cases of water, putting them in the van in 5 minutes.
All our bags, the food, the weapons, and the family in the van in 5 minutes to bug out. We could arrange the food in the bags and what not on the drive. Wife could do that in the back while we're moving. Middle child in the middle, keeping an eye out on the sides and oldest son riding shotgun, helping to keep an eye out in the front and to the sides.

We do have routes already predetermined, based on both winter, and non winter travel. This is important, because the back roads we'd take in spring and summer are 100% impassable in winter. We also have a number of predetermined bug out points set, depending on the severity of the event and how far we'd need to go to get clear of it.

As for gear lists and what not.... I'm not going to 1) Type all that out and 2) Give anyone a shopping list on why/how to rob me. lol
I think "A bug out bag for the entire family, prepacked, and changed/updated every season" is good enough. Where I am our seasons are "BITTER COLD WINTER WITH FEET OF SNOW" and "Not winter"

Im glad I wasnt the only one watching Preppers and thinking Dead Reign.

I would like to stockpile all kinds of canned meats (tuna, salmon, chicken, sardines, etc) since they last a good while. If beans last a long time in a can then them too. Cool as frozen stuff is, can't rely on them since the power might go out. Would want an efficient wood stove that doesn't produce much smoke (I think double-burn or something) to make most efficient use of any wood I gather without attracting attention (would also want hatchet for this). A 10-foot pole would also be good so that you could knock down dead branches that are high up without having to climb the tree and possibly get trapped there is zombies show up. Long poles also good for hitting zombies from 2nd-stories or roofs.

Now wondering if I used a can of tuna as an improvised weapon if that would do full damage instead of the reduced percent that punches too...

Also would an empty can of tuna be usable as a cutting weapon? Do zombies suffer via blood loss rules? More a slicy, not a stabby or chobby, couldn't behead any zombies with this, but perhaps scuff them up a bit and make them more obvious zombies. Jab this on a Pretty Zombie's nose and they'll have a big circular scar until they heal.

Hold in place. Not getting on the road away from all my stuff and more importantly all my friends,family and neighbors who would you be your first choice natural ally's when tshtf.

Wooly wrote:Hold in place. Not getting on the road away from all my stuff and more importantly all my friends,family and neighbors who would you be your first choice natural ally's when tshtf.

"tshtf" Nice... ^^

Some areas you would have to get out or away from. Unless you have a secure border, with unlimited or replenishable food and water (and maybe power), and have plenty of weapons and ammunition; you have no choice.

Zombie-bait in my case. I'm right in the middle of New England...high population density, health insurance capital right next door, law-abiding folksl meaning...obscenely high zombie conversion . I'd need a TANK with incredible gas mileage to break out to anyplace remotely defensible, or already have a bunker under me with a few years' stockpiled provisions to await any possible rescue. Any government with its wits about it and the resources, if reclaiming this region, would be better off carpet-napalming to cremate the zombie reservoirs...

Best case scenario would require me to lose my acrophobia and have had a pilot's license by that time. Small airport just down the hill...steal a small plane(better range than a 'copter), get off the hopefully zombie-free runway, and head for less densely-populated areas.

For health reason I would not be a survivor, most likely.

I would make it, my fragile sanity probably not and other survivors would have to put me down.
After all other humans are just potential zombies and threats should be eliminated....

Hello...

SittingBull wrote:For health reason I would not be a survivor, most likely.

Surely there are others in similar shape. But hopefully the odds end up in your favor.

say652 wrote:I would make it, my fragile sanity probably not and other survivors would have to put me down.
After all other humans are just potential zombies and threats should be eliminated....

Agreed. I would hope however that there are mitigators that would help ensure your sanity and survival, without endangering everyone around you. Let's just say that I know people who are on so many medications that they have to make at least two calls to the pharmacy's automated hotline to get them filled, because the machine on the phone can't carry out orders that long. Even so, if I were to roleplay a character with similar "issues," I could say that if that character is a prepper they would have enough medications to survive for a long time, given a sufficient budget. Or if the character loses everything to raiders, I could plan to have supply caches of medications, as well as the know-how to scrounge for any unclaimed medications in nearby pharmacies (Knowing this, I do not advocate it in real-life, but in a zombie apocalypse existing solely in an RPG, I say that the Law is a mute point... ). That is my hope anyway, so please take care; thanks a bunch, and have a good day.

I live right next to the high school. Some of the school buildings are highly defensible, so if I could safely move my family and the equipment from my house (food, weapons, ammo, etc) 300ft to the nearest defensible building, that would be a good short term solution for us.

The school also has lots of useful equipment in it, but it would take some time to secure all the buildings so that we could safely move from building to building via the underground tunnels.

Hello...

flatline wrote:I live right next to the high school. Some of the school buildings are highly defensible, so if I could safely move my family and the equipment from my house (food, weapons, ammo, etc) 300ft to the nearest defensible building, that would be a good short term solution for us.

The school also has lots of useful equipment in it, but it would take some time to secure all the buildings so that we could safely move from building to building via the underground tunnels.

Let's see: Hmm... a clinic, a cafeteria, gymnasiums with shower rooms and exercise areas, laboratories, a substantial library, plenty of tillable land and sports fields, and a host of mundane supplies and equipment. Throw in an ROTC firing range, school stores, some vocational facilities like an auto mechanic's garage, a machine shop, a carpentry shop, some computer labs, and even a Cold War-era fallout shelter, as well as everything else that made it a high school and you got the good ol' days from my teenage years. Still, it's a shame that my high school is no longer around - after all, it was built before the Great Depression, so it definitely had some city miles on it. I would have loved to go to a class reunion......but anyway, times change, and there's no need to cry over spilled milk. Please take care; thanks a bunch, and have a good night.

Hide behind my wife most likely, she is a farm girl after all with hunting experience.

flatline wrote:I live right next to the high school. Some of the school buildings are highly defensible, so if I could safely move my family and the equipment from my house (food, weapons, ammo, etc) 300ft to the nearest defensible building, that would be a good short term solution for us.

The school also has lots of useful equipment in it, but it would take some time to secure all the buildings so that we could safely move from building to building via the underground tunnels.

A high school in the US isn't very defensible (nor in most other countries I've been), due to the number of windows and doors. In fact, a school is about the last place I'd go, next to a church (religious wackos, which is why the four churches in my vicinity would be ashes if I had more than three hours before leaving).
I have a "basic bug-out bag" in each of the two vehicles (as well as the two "big-bug-outs" in the house), the wife's a pretty good shot and good with a knife, and knows how to drive (not just aim a vehicle around like most people do). I have my training, so no worries there. The kids are still young and we've four dogs.
For food items to take, we have canned goods naturally, also freeze dried rice and beans in four two-gallon buckets. Two bows with 18 arrows each, some fire-arms, and blades. A couple of Gerber hatchets, and two Estwing axes. Vehicles are my Ford F-150 king cab 4x4 (with "Cattleman's Friend" on the front), and the Wife's Nissan Pathfinder (she'd drive behind me). I also have some seeds for fruits that will grow most places (apples and the like) where we'd end up, and some vegetables and so forth. Quite a bit of jerkey that I make from deer and elk (I hunt every year).

Other people will be even more dangerous than the Zombies so head north and stay away from populated areas. Hunt and Hide style.