The Delayed Reaction Plan

Conventional wisdom in the event of a major outbreak seems to be to make a mad dash around town grabbing everything you might need as quickly as you can. I'm not so sure that is the best plan of action. You would be heading out into mass chaos with as much threat coming from your fellow humans as from the living dead. Moving too quickly could put you in even more danger. My plan would be to wait...

Why? Well, let's take a few things into account. First off, my house has only eight windows that are accessable from the outside, unless you were ten or so feet tall. Or the zombies built some sort of pyramid, cheer leader style. Those eight windows could be easily blocked and the doors secured. Also, there is only one set of stairs up to the second floor, with a landing giving a great view of the ground floor. Block those stairs and the 2nd floor is safe as well. Most people have plenty of food on hand at any time. Some of it may be the random stuff that gets forgotten in the pantry, but in a pinch, it's better than nothing. Rationed out, you could last on whats in your house for quite some time. Eat the frozen/refrigerated stuff first so it's gone before the power goes out. Also, fill every available container with water just in case as well. Then wait.

With all the chaos and activity outside, a nice, quiet, closed up house isn't going to attract that much attention from the roving undead. Undead they may be, but they still have the same senses we do to work with. If they can't see you or hear you, they probably wont have any idea you are there. As for your fellow humans - what reason do they have to come to your house. All of them are going to be fighting it out at the local WalMart.

In a large metro area, the likelyhood that any signifigant number of zombies will be standing around outside your house is low. So when it's time to go, you should be able to get out without too much trouble. Just mop up the few that are around with nice, quiet hand weapons and be on your way.

Waiting also provides you with the time to listen to any reports on the TV radio that might contain valuable information on where to go once you do head out. Any safe zones would be widely broadcast. And if there are none, why go anywhere anyway?

I live in a large subdivison. In the event of the outbreak, most of the people are going to haul ass out of the area as fast as they can. This leaves a hundred or so well stocked houses behind, empty and ready to be looted. Yes, there would be the danger of running into zombies, but that would exist everywhere. I have a tall ladder in my garage that can reach the second floor windows. Put that out the window, go down it, then lay it over on the ground. No need to ever reopen the ground floor doors and windows.

So that's my vote for the stay put plan...what do you think?