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Maybe they build them with fewer entrances and exits these days, but my middle school and high school had far too many access points to make them ideal in my mind. They also had lots of ground level windows, which wouldn't seem to be a good idea either.

Ayah it depends on the school Gorgon. As noted previously, newish schools (post 1980) in much of Texas have gone Bunkerized with minimal exterior windows, which are often reinforced. My school high school and GC's elemtnary had inner courtyards where all the windows were facing (but still reinforced). Its really smart actually.

Ironically, the old Indian school near here is also a fortress like building. I think that was for a reason, though.

BaronIveagh wrote:Ironically, the old Indian school near here is also a fortress like building. I think that was for a reason, though.

Can risk any of the prisoners escaping, after all! They might go home and start speaking Seneca again!

besring wrote:Well I would grab all the metal poles and heavy tublar things in my garage and head to my local tesco. Clear it of zombies and block the doors. Then wait to be saved by the army

then wait to be saved by army

army saved

more like napalm bombed or killed or left to rot or sent to work camps to decreace risk of trasmission

Frazzled wrote:I wish.

Monster Rain wrote:

Frazzled wrote:I wish.

He meant it to be the response to "Your coworkers might have gotten eaten by zombies", not your plan.

Sorry, yea. Slarg's correct.

Oh, okay. I couldn't tell what you were getting at.

Right on!

Monster Rain wrote: Oh, okay. I couldn't tell what you were getting at.

Right on!

neither can I most of the time.

Monster Rain wrote:I'd take the wife and kids up into the mountains. There shouldn't be too many Zombies out there, and it wouldn't be hard to find a spot where you could see them coming from all directions. Plenty of water and food if you know how to hunt and fish, and I know some spots where we could hole up for the winter, if I split enough firewood. I think once winter set in we'd be okay, since I'm pretty sure zombies would freeze solid.

Oh, and guns. Lots and lots of guns. Which I have.

*Sigh* now you see reading this, probably If I wasn't with anyone I'd probably stick with some random family and 'try' to keep them as safe as I possibly can. I'd give me a reason to go on living. I'd probably feel more at peace knowing that I'm keeping someone safe rather than being a self serving bastard(Not harshing on anyone that would fight for themself) But If I found that 1 special person(I'd be damned lucky if that happend) in the apocalypse then I'd probably leave the family for her.

My problem is that I believe in fighting for two causes: My personal wealth, and survival.

And causing as much mayhem as possible.


A zombie apocalypse isn't real big on the wealth, but god, the havoc I could unleash on those poor, unsuspecting zombies...

Commissar NIkev wrote:

Monster Rain wrote:I'd take the wife and kids up into the mountains. There shouldn't be too many Zombies out there, and it wouldn't be hard to find a spot where you could see them coming from all directions. Plenty of water and food if you know how to hunt and fish, and I know some spots where we could hole up for the winter, if I split enough firewood. I think once winter set in we'd be okay, since I'm pretty sure zombies would freeze solid.

Oh, and guns. Lots and lots of guns. Which I have.

*Sigh* now you see reading this, probably If I wasn't with anyone I'd probably stick with some random family and 'try' to keep them as safe as I possibly can. I'd give me a reason to go on living. I'd probably feel more at peace knowing that I'm keeping someone safe rather than being a self serving bastard(Not harshing on anyone that would fight for themself) But If I found that 1 special person(I'd be damned lucky if that happend) in the apocalypse then I'd probably leave the family for her.

Hell, I could use a few good men. How's your aim? Any good at carpentry?

I was wondering,what exactly would peoples "load out" be?
By that I mean what gear would you consider must have for survival in the first week?

My basic "load out" would consist of.

4 wheel drive,camper covered pick up.
x3 cases MREs
x3 cases bottled water
BDUs
first aid kit
Mini-14 x 6 20 round magazines (250 rounds ammo)
Colt 1911 x 4 magazines (100 rounds ammo)
Rossi .357 (50 rounds ammo)
Mosberg 500 ( 50 shells)
zippo
K-bar
tools for auto repair.(though I would most likely take another car if need be)
machette
flight jacket
carton of cigarettes.

FITZZ, do you own all that hardware or is it more of a wish list?

Since I know exactly where I'm headed I wouldn't need a whole lot of water. If I only had say... 15 minutes to pack up the the car I'd grab all my firearms and ammo, a huge pot to boil water in, my survival knife and the Camping gear(tents, sleeping bags and whatnot.) Shovels, first aid kits, my axes and splitting mauls and I'm realizing that the only AM/FM radio I have is on my daughter's pink Tinkerbell CD player...

Lighters
My Dog(barking at a key moment saves lives)
As many Dry Goods as I can fit around the family in the car.

That, combined with living off the land should allow me to get myself set up in the mountains and ready for winter... If you're out there and hear that there's a compound of Zombie Fighters in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, you better believe it!

Of course, to get in you'll have to swear fealty to the God-King Monster Rain and be ceremonially branded. Standard post-apocalyptic procedure.

Oh, what firearms you ask?

870 12-Gauge
.357 Magnum
H&K 9mm
Ruger .380(for the kids! Aim for the face, baby! You haven't been playing "Link's Crossbow Training for nothing!)
8mm Swede
SKS
AK-47

The wife is Diabetic so insulin is going to be an issue... I'll have to raid pharmacies occasionally after the initial chaos dies down. Otherwise, things will be pretty grim.

@ Monster Rain.

With the exception of the Mini-14 (wich I hope to purchase soon) & the camper covered 4 wheel drive ( I own a Mercury Cougar...bleh),I have everything else on the list,plus a Tuarus 9mm.

And I now feel like a complete tool,as I left my girlfriend and kids off my list.

Meh, isn't it implied that you would do something with them?

Maybe you haven't fantasized about this as much as I have. That's probably a healthy thing!

Double posts are, if you will forgive the colloquialism, the suck. Also...

I havnt checked if its been suggested yet but would the zombies kill eachother???? just a suggestion

Commissar NIkev wrote:

Golden Eyed Scout wrote:The school is a good diea, i don't see why people keep thinking it's not.

Most schools, sadly for the education system but not the apocalypse, are quite fortress like.

My school was built on top of a mountain to prevent kids from ditching classes to go somewhere, as it's to far from anyplace to do that.
It has several large doors designed to take heat levels from explosions (the school board was worried about kids going on rampages using homemade explosives.) for a consatsnt 24 hours,
and has several gates that are sued in malls to close down the shop.

Add to that you can use the woodshop, which most schools have, to build barricades or weapons.

Or just use the desks, tables, computers, tvs, and bookshelves to make defensvie perimeters in a pinch, and you're set for at leats a little while.

And you've got a steady supply of food and drinks if you find and turn on the emergency generators quick enough to power the freezer and home ec rooms back up.
If the school has a rifle team as well, it isn't that hard to open the gun safe and take the weapons and ammo from inside to use.

Sure, they're only .22s, but it's a good enough weapon for a beginner to use, and the ammo is light enough that it cna be carried for a long time with a lot of it.

Obviously there are flaws to the plan, if someoen would point them out I'm sure there'd be a way to work aorund these.

Dude you school sounds amazing(not the fact that its the school but what it contains)

*Problems I saw*

Food - Dude your in a high school, I don't know about you but if people and kids start shuffling to schools they would all die, kids here eat like a squig in a hospital of civilians(Sad I know but its all I could think of), so there will be riots resulting in doom unless you have people with guns or a very Charismatic individual who acts as the leader that everyone will listen to(those are pretty damn hard to find)
But yea, I'm in America so people in other countries probably wouldn't have to worry about food as much considering one of America's problem with youths is obesity


Weapons - this wasn't a problem, I just wanted to add, don't forget about archery teams, though they aren't as good as guns, thats actually(as far as I know) the only weapons my school has. JROTC sucks cause all of our M1's lack a firing pin and have a metal rod welded in the barrel(they really want us to die in an apocalypse)



Well thats what I though would be flaws.

The good news is nobody thinks of going to the school tho. There is a small National guard base nearby, a hospital, and Piccatinny Aresenal about an hour and a half away, so most people would be trying to
get to these places and not the school.


The good news on the food front, well, let's just say we're not called the "Timberwolves" without good reason. We also have cougars, deer, moose, duck, geese, wild turkey, racoons, beavers,
and a medium sized river perfect for fishing.
animals that can be hunted. Only problem is that the things like turkeys and ravens and such are scavengers so they can't be all that tasty.

As for what you mentioned about people, you need not worry. My entire plan was designed around just myself, so that it could be executed by one person, and then adapted to larger groups.

Provied for if anybody happens to want to try it.

1) Break into the school, and get the keys to the bus depot.
2) Drive buses to form a defensive outer wall.
3) Make defensive inner walls out of desks and tables. (Stairs can't be destroyed tho)
4) Use book cases to block off the space between the buses and the ground, use the left over to make small blocks to shoot from behind
if fighting groups of humans trying to gain access.
5) Take the machinery from a nearby construction site to dig a trench outside the bus line.
6) Use the wood tech departments tools, cut down surronding trees.
7) Turn the trees into stave to fill trench.
8) Begin to become self sufficent, by turning football field into a cornfield.
9) After you have been made self sufficent, retake the world!

The problem is that a school will be centrally located... You'll be pretty busy fighting off the Undead.

kamakazepanda wrote:I havnt checked if its been suggested yet but would the zombies kill eachother???? just a suggestion

Not according to any film or book I've seen/read,zombies attack and eat the living (this is going with Romero,Snyder zombies),their is even a scene in the original Dawn of the Dead,in wich a group of zombies start to attack Stephen,who has turned into a zombie while traped in an elevator,the zombies,upon realizing he is now a zombie stop and walk away. (sorryif that was a spoiler,but hey...the movie is 33 years old).
Also,in any of the "infected but not dead" zombie films (28 days/weeks later,Quarintine etc) the infected don't seem to be aggresive to other infected.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Monster Rain wrote:Meh, isn't it implied that you would do something with them (refering to my Girlfriend and children)]

True,but for a second there I felt like the worlds biggest douche...

" Mommy? why is Daddy driving away so fast?...and why doesn't Mr. Ramirez have an arm?"

Monster Rain wrote:The problem is that a school will be centrally located... You'll be pretty busy fighting off the Undead.

I mentioned it before, my school is located on a mountain top. Not at all centrally located. The closest community is about 45 minutes away, which is why people would be busy trying to get
to the National guard basa, hospital, or even so far as Picatinny Aresenal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picatinny_Arsenal

Golden Eyed Scout wrote:

Monster Rain wrote:The problem is that a school will be centrally located... You'll be pretty busy fighting off the Undead.

I mentioned it before, my school is located on a mountain top. Not at all centrally located. The closest community is about 45 minutes away, which is why people would be busy trying to get
to the National guard basa, hospital, or even so far as Picatinny Aresenal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picatinny_Arsenal

See Scout being in a small town has some advantages,in a small enough town you (and the other living) have a good fighting chance of taking out most of the zombies in town,with enough ammo and a good secure area,it's just a matter of snipeing for a while and then doing sweeps.
Hell,with enough living you could perhaps take the whole town back.

So, my portable loadout(in the instance my house gets discovered out in the boonies)

Water filter. Clean water is majorly important.
Empty soda bottles(tougher than water bottles and wont melt if you put gas in them)
Zippo.
Kukri.
200m of nylon web/strap(2000lb load, the stuff is handy)
spool of fishing line(use with empty cans to make an alarm or to set up trip lines while ya sleep)
E-tool(fixed blade 'spetznaz' type, not a folder)
multiplier tool & crescent wrench
Bolt cutters(makes getting into places for scrounging easier)
LED flashlight with Nimh batteries(can be recharged by modifying a salvaged alternator out of a car).
Binoculars(steiner 12x50)
pistol & rifle- type doesnt matter as much as ammo supply.(to start my .40 glock and mauser 7mm)
Good pair of gloves
roll of plastic sheeting.
Cool hat
cool shades.
lightweight radio(to listen for news, and to use as a zombie distraction device).

If I was holed up, thered be more guns/ammo. More gadgets since I could rig up a windmill or solarpanels for recharging batteries. Food and water storage. Get away/supply collection vehicle.

FITZZ wrote:

Golden Eyed Scout wrote:

Monster Rain wrote:The problem is that a school will be centrally located... You'll be pretty busy fighting off the Undead.

I mentioned it before, my school is located on a mountain top. Not at all centrally located. The closest community is about 45 minutes away, which is why people would be busy trying to get
to the National guard basa, hospital, or even so far as Picatinny Aresenal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picatinny_Arsenal

See Scout being in a small town has some advantages,in a small enough town you (and the other living) have a good fighting chance of taking out most of the zombies in town,with enough ammo and a good secure area,it's just a matter of snipeing for a while and then doing sweeps.
Hell,with enough living you could perhaps take the whole town back.

I would still like to ahve movie theater that i don't have to drive an hour to get too. Or that doesn't have a fight club.

Loadout:

Essentials/Tools

Lighter
Pack (my dad's old army one, or mine own.)
MRE's (once again, my dads army days.)
Water in metal bootles.
Crowbar
Sledgehammer
Claw hammer
Hatchet
Saw
E-Tool(s) (One from my dad, folding, my grandad as well, fixed. Navy for grandad, army for pop)
Books
Flashlight


Weapons
.22 Rifle, 3 Magazines, 10 rounds, 525 rounds total.
KA-BAR
Bayonet
Cleaver
Body

Clothes/Gear

Cover (Boonie hat for you Non military types.)
Boots
Running Shoes
Coat
Winter Gloves
Work Gloves
Sweatpants
Sleeping bag.

If I did my math right, that comes out to about 85-90 lbs. It's a little bit heavy, I won't move as fast or be as agile.
Worse comes to worst, i can just drop my sledge and cleaver, as I have smaller tools that do that. but it pays to be prepared.

Kit:

Heavy leathers*
dry socks*
night vision goggles
canteen*
Collapsible water drum (55 gallon)*
water filters/purifier tablets*
folding solar panel*
petard*
entrenching tool (russian non-fold)*
M-35 Command Vehicle variant with multifuel engine
or
BTR-40PB (BTR would be better if there's an easy fuel supply, but M-35 is easier to work on in the field and can run on heating oil if you have to)
BAR (.30-06 Springfield is everywhere)*
nylon web/camo netting*
my standard survival kit (fishing, snares, flares, colored smoke, tinder, flint and steel, mirror, toothbrush, etc)*
shortwave*
Colt 1911 .45 ACP (.45 is also fairly common, and the 1911 is one of the most durable pistols ever made)*
Machete*
jump boots*
krugarrands*
ace of spades*
clear plastic sheeting*
pop bottles*
as much ammo as possible*
my frock coat*
skinning/filleting knife*
fedora*
laptop*
sat uplink*
det cord*

*denotes things I already have or can easily get

No one has suggested taking maps yet?

Some spray paint and writing materials would be handy too, especially if you want to leave signs of survival for others to follow.

Guns would be pretty tough to get a hold of here in England; most towns and cities have a Gunmaker of some kind but i'm guessing they would be very hard to break into, and also located in the middle of a population centre likely to be teeming with the undead :(

Raiding a school science department would be more productive as there will be plenty of flammable materials and other stuff available (magnesium, gunpowder, thermite mixtures, etc...).

Why on earth would I want to leave a trail for anyone to follow? I'd be up to my ass in useless deadweights in no time.

I picked a shortwave due to it's ability to get world wide broadcasts, and my sat uplink has built in GPS. Plugged into my laptop map software, and I an tell where I am down to about a five foot area.

No one has listed a lock picking set, or OBD-II tool. Both of these are more important than any weapon I can think of.