01 Tools 06 Essentials 09 companions 12 travelling 15 dangers 19 yourself
Tools 02 Torch
Spanner and Screw Driver Rope Firearms
03 Obtaining Firearm
Maintaining Firearm Firearm Accessories Being Realistic
04 Nail gun
Display Items Guns and Cramped Spaces Kevlar Fashion
05 Shoes
Torch A torch would come in very handy when surviving in the world of the walkers. You don’t want to be in the dark when your enemies can find you via means besides light. When venturing into a dark place in search for supplies, you always want to be able to see ahead of yourself. Keep some spare batteries at hand, a flash light isn’t much good to anyone when the batteries run dry, they might even come in handy for other small electronic appliances.
Spanner and Screw Driver Keeping a spanner or screwdriver around with you may prove to be a wise decision, versatile tools used for fixing things, taking them apart, maybe removing the screws to an air vent for a make due exit. You could also use them as weapons, bludgeoning with a spanner head or skewering walker brains with the screwdriver.
Rope Rope comes in handy for a lot of things, one of the most primary tools used throughout human history, and that fact does not change even when the world hits rock bottom, you could use rope to put together many kinds of traps, should you require the capture of some wild life for food, live walker for experiments or rival survivor group members. Using rope, you could make a harness, useful for climbing up places otherwise more difficult to reach. A harness could also come in handy if you have nowhere to sleep for the night and don’t want to remain on the ground where you are vulnerable, there is the option of sleeping up in a tree with the rope holding you down to a branch, preventing the possibility of you falling to certain death in the middle of your slumber.
Firearms If you can get your hands on a gun, it will be your best friend in such a world, keep it by your side even when you’re going to the toilet, feel free to give it a gender specified pronoun and name if you like. Make sure you pay attention to the gun’s safety and the number of bullets that you have in the magazine, this isn’t a game so you do in fact have to reload your gun.
Obtaining Firearm It’s not easy to find firearms in some countries; your best bet is the police station or any military related facilities, if they haven’t already been cleared out that is, then you may want to see if you can find any police / military corpses, perhaps you’ll have some luck scavenging their equipment, but make sure that the corpses stay down before you carelessly feel up their body. POLICE
Maintaining Firearm Make sure you keep your partner well maintained so that it doesn’t let you down in your moment of need, it would be a shame if your gun jammed up while a pack of 20 zombies had you cornered. Reverse engineer your gun a few times, you’ll need to know it inside out and keep everything in working order, make sure you can still fire it after each time.
Firearm Accessories Everyone’s seen enough movies to know what happens when a gun launches a bullet out of its barrel, and you would be wrong to even hope that shot could not be heard by every walker at least a few kilometres around you, so if you do not have a silencer, stick to quiet melee weapons whenever possible. With a gun, every bullet counts, so you want them to hit the right places, a laser sight would be your best bet, can’t be that hard to get a red dot between their eyes, but when you run out of battery, it becomes useless, so your other choices would be typical glass and metal sights.
Being Realistic How likely are you to really find any kind of firearm conveniently lying around? Probably not anywhere you can easily reach. Let’s stick to the more conventional weapons; a kitchen knife would be a good start, a toolbox hammer or a snapped off mop handle perhaps.
Nail Gun Make a quick visit to your closest hardware store, you may find some good stuff there if it hasn’t already been emptied out by looters. Power tools come to mind when we mention hardware retailers, but things like saws and drills are things which you’ll have to get in close to use, leaving yourself open for a bite. Try to find yourself a nail gun, similar to hand guns, heavier, accurate with some practice and less illegal, easier to get your hands on, not to mention you can do some actual DIY with it.
Display Items You would do well to remember that you should not trust display items, as their title says, they’re for display, chances are they won’t function well if at all, so don’t go into a museum or pubs grabbing old rifles and expecting them to keep you alive for very long.
Guns and Cramped Spaces Unless you really don’t have a choice, it is not advised for you to fire a gun at close range in cramped spaces, let’s say for example; when trapped inside of a tank. The sounds of the shot will most definitely hit your eardrums hard and you will undoubtedly find the world around you spinning for the next minute or two, crucial time lost there if you intend to stay alive while surrounded by walkers.
Kevlar Kevlar suits would be the best kind of armour around, it’s material isn’t something that any walkers can bite through and it does not hinder the joints in the arms and legs, though it does get a little stiff from time to time and even if you cannot be bitten, do not relax your guard, you’re still in some trouble if a crowd of walkers pile on top of you.
Fashion There’s always someone who bites the dust because the monsters manage to grab something on them hanging loosely, begging to be used as a leash. Fashion is not so important when death is 2 steps behind you, you’re trying to stay alive so be smart about what you wear and keep your hair length within an inch if you’re not too stubborn about it, don’t give the walkers anything to snag onto.
Shoes In the world of the undead, you can bet there will be a lot of running, so make sure you equip yourself with appropriate footwear, make a quick visit to the shoe shop when you can and once again, hope it hasn’t already been emptied out by looters who realise that laws hardly matter now. When it comes to shoes, there should be 2 main categories, the first one being heavy duty shoes, steel toe caps, leather all around, high durability and waterproof, something that will last for a long time to come, won’t let you down easily after a lot of rough travelling on foot and maybe good for stomping walker heads. Manual work shoes made for builders and such, which you can find in hardware stores, heavy rocker fashion boots with thick soles, most likely to be found in visual culture fashion stores or hiking shoes found in outdoor shops. The second category being trainers, light weight, made for running, good for those who intend to do more fleeing than fighting, confident in their legs. They probably won’t last extremely long, maybe about a year or so with the given conditions, likely less. Trainers will give you comfort and good grip but they could prove to be less than versatile when you have no choice but to go off road, chances are that they will leave your socks soaked in water if that is the kind wet terrain you are travelling on, and the grip which was intended for asphalt will fail you on mushy muddy paths.
ESSENTIALS 07 Clean Water
Bodily Hygiene Rations First Aid Kit
08 Warm Clothing
Shelter Base Fortification
Clean Water If you cannot examine the water source, then suspect contamination. Bring along water purification tablets if you can get your hands on any, they don’t take up much space and each tablet purifies up to 5 gallons / 25 litres of water, the stronger tablets can treat up to 15 gallons / 70 litres. Aside from drinking, clean water is also needed for brushing your teeth and preparing food, sometimes even cleaning small wounds, do not waste any of it.
Bodily Hygiene If you’re washing yourself, then it doesn’t matter if the water is contaminated or not, as long as it looks clean and you don’t ingest any of it or let it get into your eyes, although water is now really quite precious so it wouldn’t be wise to bathe or shower, not that you would have easy access to hot water anyway, but it would be better for you to simply wipe down with wet towels instead.
Rations Canned food, packed with preservatives and sealed up with little to no oxygen inside, remains edible for a good few years and still safe to eat a few months after the best before date, ideal for stocking up on rations. Remember that even tins of cat/dog food are edible, and you’ll probably be less tempted. You won’t be needing can openers to open cans when you know the trick to how they’re packed. Simply place the top of the can against a flat surface with good friction, for example a rock, and scrape the can back and forth until you can see a gap in the rim, after that you can simply squeeze the can’s body to pop off the lid or lever it off using a knife. Tin cans will also come in handy afterwards for various uses, most of which I’m sure anyone can think of with a bit of imagination, examples being make shift cups, cooking pans, and if strung together, a security alarm to set up a perimeter. Dried out food with high salt content will most definitely last a long time, so things like meat jerky will most definitely be one of the top choices when it comes to back up provisions.
First Aid Kit In a first aid kit, you will want to have the most basic items, such as bandages, safety pins, alcohol free cleansing wipes, waterproof plasters, painkillers, paracetamols and asprin. As important as first aid is, you don’t want to be lugging around anything too big unless you’re the medic of the group, so the basics will do just fine.
Warm Clothing In a world without functional radiators, it’s not like you can just start up a fire to warm up whenever and where ever you like, so dress warm, although this does come at a price of hindering your agility. A big coat would be a good choice but just in case a zombie manages to snag onto it, make sure you can get out of the coat at a moment’s notice, maybe attaching a bigger zipper.
Shelter When it comes to shelter, any building will do fine as long as it’s not riddled in holes or look like it’s about to topple over at any moment, although it wouldn’t hurt to pick a more advantageous place, somewhere that will offer certain perks. For starters, a police station will probably have leftover firearms, ammunition, perhaps some kind of protective wear or riot shields and so on. If there is a cage in there, you could use it to lock away parts of your team that need a time out to cool their heads or lock yourself in to keep the zombies away. In a prison, you will most definitely find cells, a place for you to sleep with a sense of security, knowing that nobody can get in without the keys, that is if you can find the keys before you lock yourself in there. Guns and food may also be available if you’re lucky. In a hospital, you will most definitely be able to scavenge medical supplies, raising the chances of your survival and others if you’re not travelling alone. There should also be a cafeteria, food stocked up for feeding an entire hospital full of patients will definitely last a while.
Base Fortification Regardless of where you decide to make your temporary / permanent base, you will definitely have to do some modifications around the place, fortifying the building and making it defendable. It is suggested for you to board up the windows and use curtains, this way, nothing can get in as easily and the light that you use indoors during the night won’t attract any unwanted attention from the outside. Fix on a few more hinges and locks to the door, nail boards onto the door itself so surprise guests don’t burst right through the middle, there should only be one way in and one way out of the base, this way you won’t have predators coming in through the back to flank you while you’re dealing with the ones coming from the front.
POLICE
Companions 10 Use a radio
flare signal people you want no rambos remain mobile No Large groups
11 Canine
Use Imagination eye in the sky Human alarms
Use A Radio If you can find a radio of some sort in a police car / station or on a officer’s corpse, use it, you can scan over a larger area on a specific radio frequency and you may get a reply from another person / group with the same idea or a police officer still alive.
Flare Signal If you ever get your hands on flare shots, use them after sun down to maximise the effects, maybe use it at the top of a building so it can be seen from a longer distance. Other survivors can see this distress signal but at the same time it can also be seen by walkers, so make a run for it and stay hidden after you make the shot.
Kinds of People You Want When choosing companions, you want the ones that are a few levels below you in terms of I.Q. people who you can easily befriend, manipulate and use as live bait / decoys when you’re in a real tight spot. No, this is a guide for surviving, look somewhere else if your aim is to be ‘nice’.
No Rambos You have no need for companions who don’t stick to the plan; one loose cog in the clock and none of it works properly. Prune away the dead branches before they ruin the whole tree, or in laymen’s terms, kill them, in secret of course.
Remain Mobile The group shouldn’t be allowed to become too big if you intend to move from place to place, you have to remain mobile. A smaller group will much more manageable.
No Large Groups It is not hard to guess that predators will flock to where large quantities of ‘food’ gather, so keep that in mind when your group is getting a bit too big. There may be a sense of security to believing in strength in numbers, but you need to keep in mind that more people also makes more room for human error, small mistakes by anyone could prove to be costly.
Canine Trust can be a real issue amongst people, nothing new, that is the world we’ve always lived in, but when it comes to animals such as dogs, loyalty can prove to be much more dependable, if want a companion which will not betray you and is helpful when sniffing out nearby zombies, a dog would be perfect for you.
Use imagination If you want nothing to do with other living beings, another option would be to start naming inanimate objects such as your weapons and talk to them, though they won’t talk back. This will probably cost you some sanity over time so it’s not advised, but it does mean you are less likely to be backstabbed.
Eye in The Sky When you find yourself running around a city infested with walkers, you never know if the next turn you take will land you right in front of a walker mob, so if you want to take the clearest path with as few obstacles as possible, it would be very helpful to have an eye in the sky, your companion situated at the top of a building with a walkie talkie.
Human Alarms A large group of companions besides you also serve as a security alarm, for example, everyone was relaxing on another regular day, a zombie wanders into the area, bites someone and they scream. Having heard the screams, your will raise your guard as well as chances of survival.
Travelling 13 Horses or donkeys
Family Cars Trucks Recreational Vehicles Motor cycles
14 Bikes
Skateboards Roller skates
Horses or Donkeys If you can find yourself a horse or donkey, provided that it’s tame, it would be more favourable than a car in it’s own ways, for example, no engine noises, no petrol problems, just more vegetables, if your horse dies, more food for you, if you’re in a pinch, live bait and off road terrain potent.
Family Cars Travelling will happen in your quest to survive this world, so if you have a choice from abandoned vehicles then choose your transport wisely, but don’t spend too long on it, chances are you will be leaving your ride behind quite often because getting too attached to anything will lower your survival chances. Remember to always check the back seat for surprise guests and don’t neglect the seat belt just because nobody’s around to arrest you, you will be kicking yourself when the reason you die is because of a car accident. Sedans / family cars will be good for a small group of people or just you and a single partner, trunk space should be enough to carry all the essentials but it’s advised for you to keep your bags with yourself at arm’s length in case you need to make a quick exit. Sedans are probably the easiest type of vehicle to appropriate.
Trucks A truck or lorry would both be good for groups on the move, plenty of space in the back for whatever and whoever needs moving from one place to another, but there may be slight difficulty in securing them in place so they might slide about during transit.
Recreational Vehicles A recreational vehicle (A.K.A. an RV) could also prove to be a good choice if you still intend to live a life with luxuries such as being able to sleep on a bed, having access to a toilet on the go and retaining a slight feeling of homeliness, remember to keep the doors and windows locked though.
Motor Cycles The motor cycle has a loud engine but it doesn’t really matter considering how quickly you can get around on it. The bike’s body is smaller than a car so you can squeeze into smaller spots and you’re open to dish out attacks and fire guns while riding around without having to fumble with windows.
Bikes If you never took driving lessons or don’t have what it takes to hotwire a motor vehicle, bikes would be one of your options. Go with mountain bikes, they may weigh a bit more than road biked but the chances are you won’t be riding on smooth tarmac all the way to where ever you’re heading.
Skateboards Skateboards leave both your hands free for if you want to handle some kind of weapon while on the move. Your feet are not bound or obstructed in any way so if you need to, it is possible for you to simply jump off and maybe do some climbing or running straight away. A skateboard may also come in handy for you to lie down on if you need to get into low down tight spaces.
Roller Skates Roller skates / blades are good for tight turns and quick movement but if the ground isn’t flat and smooth then you’ll find yourself in a bit of trouble. You should have both hands free for whatever you wish to use them for while on the move, you could handle a gun but beware the recoil as your feet are not solidly planted in the ground.
Dangers 16 walker's weak point
using walkers physical capabilities scent behaviour patterns
17 source of infection symptoms treatment
18 illness
small wounds
Walker’s Weak Point The only real way to kill a walker for sure is to put a foreign object in its brain, a bullet, a knife or a mop handle, anything will do as long as you reach it’s grey matter.
Using Walkers Alternatives to just killing walkers, they can also be put to use. If you cut off their arms then they become incapable of grabbing or scratching you, break their jaws, remove their teeth and they lose the urge to eat you, now you can collar and leash them, you can use them to carry your backpacks or use them as part of your disguise, walking amongst the undead.
Physical Capabilities The living can feel pain and places limits on their bodies in order to prevent themselves from over straining muscles or causing damage to themselves, but walkers cannot feel pain, nor do they have the limits which we do, this means that they are likely to be stronger than us, but that being so, they are still unable to travel very fast on their feet or climb very well.
Scent Walkers also have the ability to distinguish the scent of a living being from a dead one, which is why they will not attack their own.
Behaviour Patterns Walkers tend to be distinguishable from us living beings via behaviour patterns as they cannot walk in a manner as smooth as our own, they will limp and stumble, maybe drag their feet with great exaggeration. Unable to speak due to lack of intelligence, walkers can only make moans and groans so keep your ears open.
Source of Infection The virus that will cause you to turn into one of the walkers is already inside of you, so it doesn’t matter how you die, as long as your brain is intact, you’re reanimating within the next 8 hours, so if you want out, make sure the bullet goes through your grey matter. Alternatively, the other way to turn into a walker is to get bitten, so between getting wounded by walker teeth and changing into one of them, it’s probably preferred by most to take the suicidal way out with a bullet to the temple.
Symptoms Once you have been bitten, you will feel the following symptoms over the following few hours. Dizziness, weakness, fatigue, chills, nausea / vomiting, pale skin, dilated pupils, soreness and then the fever will burn out your brain, shutting you down completely, after which you will be reanimated within the next 8 hours as a walker.
Treatment Treatment for the virus that dwells inside your body is not going to be an option, however if it is a bite from a walker, you still have hope for survival. If you have been bitten by a walker and the wound is on your arms or legs, you’ll want to amputate that limb as soon as possible, if you’re lucky then you should be able to prolong your life until the next thing that can kill you comes along, provided that you are able to stop yourself from bleeding out from the amputated part of your body. After an amputation, you want to stop the bleeding as soon as possible. There are 2 choices, the first one being the usage of a lot of bandages, disinfectants and antibiotics, wrapping the wound up tightly and hoping for the best in the next 24 hours. The second choice would be to cauterize the wound, but this one is probably going to be a less popular choice based on the fact that people would normally pass out from the pain. To cauterize a wound you will want to raise the wound’s surface temperature to a temperature which can easily cook flesh, perhaps press a burning hot pot / pan onto it.
Illness Remember that the virus is already inside of you, so if you die then you will come back as one of them. Don’t take any chances, a simple cold could prove to be fatal so take it seriously, as soon as you notice the first cough, you will want to get some medicine into your system.
Small Wounds Small cuts could prove fatal if not kept clean; they could get infected, potentially leading to tetanus. Even if you are not hit with tetanus, an infected wound would still slow you down if not treated properly.
Yourself 20 Discard Compassion
Use Earphones Blow Off steam care for own body dental health
21 Rest Properly
Less Trusting beware of bathrooms know your way out use daylight wisely
22 Be patient
discard curiosity
Discard Compassion We’ve seen it happen before, compassion gets people killed. If you see someone being killed and their chances don’t look good, don’t go back for them, one dying is better than two dying. When you see someone in need of help, it’s better to leave them be, they could be trying to rob you when your back is turned, there are many dangers out there with other humans and animals.
Use Earphones For the sake of your sanity, it is advised that you keep your ears plugged up, since you will likely be around walkers most of your time alive in this world, the sound of moaning and groaning will be heard regardless of what time it is, as walkers are not known to sleep.
Blow Off Steam It’s necessary in this world to blow off some steam every once in a while, so break some things, maybe smash up a car with a crow bar or trash an abandoned house. Destruction is a good way to vent, and there’s no guilt in beating up a walking corpse, it’s already dead, not to mention that it’s trying to kill you.
Care For Own Body When the apocalyptic events started, it’s obvious that the couch potatoes went first, so if you want to stay alive then make sure you don’t let yourself get out of shape, train yourself daily and never think it’s alright to just skip one day, because once you skip, it’ll happen again and again, remember, survival of the fittest.
Dental Heath Just because you’re in a world where rules and such mean almost nothing, that isn’t an excuse to ignore your dental health. Be sure to keep brushing your teeth even if you don’t have any tooth paste with you. It will be too late to regret when you have about 20 cavities in your mouth and can’t even sleep with pain shooting through your head all night.
Rest Properly Staying alert is important but sleep is just as important if not more so. You will need to keep yourself in a state where you can function at top gear at all times so never neglect rest.
Less Trusting This is a world where the best survive, so everyone is out to get you, use you and take advantage of you, trust people at your own peril. If you see someone on the side of the road while you drive past in your car, picking them up could land you in a situation with a knife sticking out of your back and all your belongings gone.
Beware of Bathrooms When you are getting rid of water and waste from your body, you are at your most vulnerable, so beware bathrooms. Before you go into any cubicles, check around to see if there are any walkers and carry a weapon with you.
Know Your Way Out When you enter a place, make sure to keep a few exits memorised and open for quick escapes before you venture further into the building. Use a box to keep a fire exit open so you don’t have to fumble around with the lock mechanism when you’re running away, though this does carry the risk of making another opening for waklers to wander in through.
Use Daylight Wisely Walkers tend to be more active during the night, the reason is unknown but there are theories that this is because of the lower temperature since the sun has set. This is one of the reasons why you should do as much as you can while the sun is up and make sure you’re prepared for the night.
Be Patient One of the things that are known to get people killed in the world of undead would be impatience. As much as you need to move fast, it’s stupid to run ahead without a cool head. You need to strategise and plan ahead, for example, when dealing with a large number of walkers, control the flow, don’t let them come at you all at the same time, make them come through a door or somewhere narrow, this way you won’t be facing several walkers, you will be facing one walker several times.
Discard Curiosity Curiosity killed the cat, but this time around, it can also kill you, so don’t get too nosey, especially when you feel the need to explore, before you open a door, be polite and knock, maybe a walker will let you know that the room is occupied by knocking back heavily , you can also open the door using a rope from a distance, gives you some time to load your gun or pose for a swing of your weapon.