The Walking Dead Fan Club

So with the premier of TWD right around the corner we are all super excited right now, in recognition of such a huge event TWDFC in collaboration with the wonderful Charlie Adlard, we are going to be giving away a ultimate comics variant # 75 with a signed sketch by Charlie Adlard on the cover! To win this bad boy all you have to do is let us know what you would do in case the dead started to rise in your neck of the woods how would you survive? how would you fortify yourself? So Let us know what you would do and whoever has the best survival plan will have sherrif Rick Grimes come and save them!

Please post your submissions here!

Well first of all I would look for the easiest place to fortify and get a central location to live safely then I would map out by from memory the locations of thing I know would be needed and locations that would be useful and map out the safest route to get back and forth to these locations. I would also secure as many weapons and ammo that I could get my hands on. Once all this was done I would see how many people could safely be housed and protected in my location and start looking for other non zombies to help. Safe modes of transportation would be a consideration as well we all know that walking out in the open is not the smartest move. 

It would depend on alot.  What time of year is it?  How many are there?  What are the people around me doing?  Is the power, water, heat, etc still on?  Depending on these I would do one of several things.  For example:  If everyone around me packed up and left for the cities in hopes of government aide I would most likely loot the neighborhood houses for supplies and materials, fortify my house, burn down the houses around mine to help with line of site and to have less of an area for anything to hide.  Maybe make a barrier around my house of cars, build a crude crow's nest on my roof, and dig in for a while.

If the crap really hit the fan, and it was mass chaos and destruction, and I was sure it would not work in civilization, I would pack up the 4wd with my guns, ammo, easy to carry long shelf life food, water cans, and the family.  I am only about 5 hours from canada.  I would head for the hills, find me a nice unused hunting cabin away from everyone and hunker down for a while.

If we got hit unexpected and my family fell victim to zombie attack I would most likely pull a lone hunter move and kill zombies until I was dead or there were none left.

Of course, depending on various factors, the plan may vary.

Assuming I was awake during the first reports of the zombie virus, I would immediately start gathering canned food, bottled water, first aid supplies, various tools, stick matches, my zippo, and lighter fluid, two flashlights with extra batteries, a few days' worth of clothes, and a weapon. All of this would be put in a duffel bag and a backpack and left in my basement. For the first few days, I would stay in the back room of the basement with the windows covered with blankets so no light gets out. At this point, I would still be eating and drinking fresh food and whatever beverages were in the house so as not to waste my survival supplies. I assume the power would still be working at this point, so I would keep a radio on at all times for news updates since the television is near the windows and more likely to draw attention.

At this point, I would call friends and what-not to see what the situation is in other areas since most of them are away at college in different places.

I would only consider the basement safe for about 3 or 4 days before I felt it best to move on. If, at this point, the zombie plague is still going on, I would leave through the door with my survival supplies and make my way through the woods at the back of my house. I would wear dull clothes and keep low so as to blend in better with the woods as I made my way towards the highway outside of my neighborhood. Luckily, all of the roads in my town are bordered by wooded areas, so staying out of sight would be rather easy. After making it out of my neighborhood, I would begin heading south since going North would take me to Atlanta and that's not a place I want to be for obvious reasons. 

I'm guessing we're talking about a long-term thing, so I would ultimately head to Canada or Alaska, however, that would probably take months if not a year or two since I would only travel for a few hours a day, mostly walking, and I would have to head southwest, then North as well as making sure to avoid cities or previously populated areas. Hopefully, as I traveled, I would end up with other people so we would be able to travel for longer since we would be able to watch each others' backs, and make it easier to fortify places when we stopped for the night.

On the topic of fortification, I feel that the best place to go would be a two-story house (staying with the scenario of constantly traveling) and blockading all 1st story entrances. Then, we could make use of a rope or a ladder from a 2nd story window in case we need to make an escape, However, if all goes well, we can simply leave via the front or back door and continue on our way.

In the case that we were in a single-story building and it became compromised, the basic plan would remain the same what with the doors and windows being blocked off, but we would distract the zombies to the front of the house while someone else silently moved the things in front of back door or window. That person would then put our gear outside through the window then, when they tell us that it's okay to go, we can make a quick escape and find somewhere to hide out while the zombie group went by. 

The Ultimate Goal here, would be to get to a sparsely populated area and set up a new community, hopefully with walls or fences around it. Once a possible-community is set up, there would be teams of people that would go out and slowly kill all the zombies in the area so that we can expand and hopefully contact other survivor groups.

Seeing that I live on the coast there is a good way to survive. I would join with my family and meet up with my friend who has a boat. We would take the boat far down the coast to Fort Morgan, Alabama. There it is a narrow strip of land with water on both sides. We have a beach house that is up on stilts with just two sets of stairs connecting to it. We would gather as much water and food as possible and tools and weapons as well. We would anchor the boat off shore and have a smaller boat to transport to and from the beach to the boat. We would get everyone in the house and destroy both staircases making the only access to the house ladders that would be lowered down. We would rig a pully system to help get goods into the house. There are two porches with which to keep a lookout and we have visisbility for miles around us. We would use the boat to fish giving us a good supply of food and would always keep at least two guards on the boat at all times. If the situation got too bad we could use the boat as an escape and head for an oil drilling platform just off the coast which is visible from the beach house. There are several and we could use them as safe points. We would set up vegatable gardens in planting pots to help grow further food and there is a fresh water river not too far from the beach house where we could stock up on water. We would of course filter it. That is my plan.

I would get a small group together of no more than six or seven people. Each one of us would have a dirt bike because they use little fuel, are fast, can go off road, are very easy to hide, and they are very light so they can easily be pushed if we run out of gas. I would also have a jacket and a pair of jeans that are wrapped in duct tape to serve as extr protection from zombie bites. I would try to make my way to sparsely populated states in the mid west like the Dakotas or Montana. For food we would hunt and scavange. I would stick mostly with mele weappons so I wont draw attention to myself, and I would only kill a zombie or person if I was in imediate danger. Im trying to survive, not be a hero.

I have no zombie apocalypse "survival" plan.

There are many reasons for this. Largely it’s because I am one of those least likely to survive.

I am not exceptionally strong or fit. I don’t run very fast. My knowledge of firearms is limited to what I’ve seen on TV. I don’t know how to drive. And though I assume I could figure it out in an emergency on account of having watched other people drive, I’d be a crap driver, wouldn’t i?

Basically, without civilization I’m a goner.

But I’ve also decided not to bother with a plan because I have learned from my copious consumption of zombie books and movies that there is no surviving the zombie apocalypse. All you can do is stave off the inevitable.

Eventually the shopping centre is invaded by a biker gang, the fences fall, the island safe haven is already infested, the experimental zombie subjects in your underground bunker get loose or a one armed, one eye'd, Daniel Day Lewis look-a-like with a spoon up his arse points a tank right at me!

And if none of the above happen... some bastard will tie me up and give me a rather unpleasent bumming!

So my crap plan is to keep the fridge stocked with really good booze and champagne, have lots of water and piles of my favorite food. I'd also grab as many cigarettes as i could find, get myself a massive pile of weed (already done!)  and grab a bunch of porno mags... preferably nasty ones with grannies and shit (not actual shit... i'm not into that) as i'm sure in a zombie apocalypse, i'd be quite decensorsized to almost everything that was once normal.

I'd hope that my lovely wife was with me before it all kicked off, if not... i'd get over her quick enough (what do you want me to do... ride a horse to the nearest big city with the slim hope i'd actually find her!?) Yeah, like that's ever happened!!

And that's basically it... i'd be dead in a week, long before my supplies ran out or the zombies got hold of me, but what a way to go... beats getting bit in the cock by a zombie!

First thing I would do is grab my mossberg mariner shotty and start packing a few sets of clothes, then grab my food supply (I have about 3 months worth of freezed dry food in my basement) After that I would try and locate 2 or 3 of my friends and try and get them to join me, then take them to my friends house out by the lake. My friends house is far from anyone or anything (I believe his closest neighbor is atleast 5 miles away). When we arrive, we would start planning what to do for the long run in terms of food and ammo. If it's the spring time, I would try and start planting food to grow and also start fishing if the water and/or fish are okay to use/eat. Since my local lake (Red Lake, MN) has a commercial walleye fishery. That would be my plans, try and wait it out as long as we can by the lake. My friend has a decent size boat also, so if things got too hot around his area we could jump on the boat. I would try to plan ahead and find a extra car and landing point if it came to fleeing on the boat. So we would have a landing point and a car would be right there when we arrived for transport. My next plans if the house by the lake was compromised, would to be go check out a few other lakes in the area (Gotta love MN, land of a thousand lakes!). I know of three that have little islands in the middle of them and one of them has a house, but if all else fails I would get a big boat and start heading south on the Mississippi and see how long we could last. If the shit hits the fan and I'm surrounded by them, I'd make sure there's one last bullet for me. I'd rather take myself out then have some zombies bite me and rip me apart.

I would try to get a hold of some sick samurai swords and go ape shit on some walkers michonne style! I would most likely be a traveler staying away from large groups...we all know what happens to large groups. If i were to shack up somewhere I would try to be somewhere with access to a water supply as well as some food source. Avoiding attack from other survivors I would stay away from big mall/jail-like structures. Maybe I would build a sweet treehouse swiss family robinson style. I would hopefully have some contact with other survivors because i wouldn't be able to handle being completely alone ;). I might attempt to train some walkers to use as protection. Either way I would be killing walkers and living life! BUT if for some reason i fail surviving. i think i wouldn't mind becoming one of them...haha i would be a child dream come true! 

I live in Pittsburgh, so my first thought is get out of the city. I'd grab what supplies I could take with me on a 4 wheeler. Since the roads will likely be clogged, it makes sense to be able to travel off road if need be. I'd also have my room mate's AK and shotgun, assuming he's been infected. Then I'd make my way north to the great lakes, since that's the closest large body of water to me. I'd grab up a boat, there's going to be a ton just chillin' at the docks, although a house boat would be pretty tight too (maybe MacGuyver was actually planning for the zombie apocalypse...hmmm). Then I'd set sail to see if there's anywhere with out zombies in the Great Lakes, after that move out to the ocean and continue until I found a suitible island to live on, which I'd secure with a barbwire perimeter to avoid underwater zombies from appearing at night (like in WWZ).

Assuming zombies can't swim, you'd only need to be in about 10 foot deep waters. You can fish for food, and carry canned goods. You've got nothing but water around you, so you could see someone coming from miles away, so if you got guns you can defend yourself, or make sure you have a decently fast boat, and run away before they're too close. Who knows, maybe you could find a luxury liner or aircraft carrier run a ground. Then you have what amounts to a floating city. Obviously driving either would be out of my league, but it would have supplies and you could clear it out in sections, just like the WD gang did in the prison. So that's my plan A anyway. Get to the water and stay in a large metal boat. Arm it and get some followers to help out, and we're good to go.

Plan B is to hide in the woods and build a tree house. Then as more people show up, it would turn into "New Ewok Village". It's funny, but I would think it secure from zombies and still high enough to spot people coming in. Keep it near water, and in a decent climate, you're set. Plus you could make tons of zombie snares in the woods. Like pungie sticks and stuff.

Plan C is take over a Wal-mart that's out of the way. Board it up nice and tight, but leave turret holes. it's got everything you need. food, guns, ammo, water, clothes. I think you could defend it well with 10 to 20 people. get some people on the roof as look outs, barb wire the perimeter, you could grow food on the roof too.  

Zombies are attacking? ZOMG. *cowers under the bed*

Seriously, I think the first thing I'd do is board up the doors and windows in my house. Assuming my step father is still alive, he'd help me with that as I'm super short and...well, not all that strong. Assuming we all (my parents and me) hadn't already been bitten yet, because none of us are in what you'd say, pique physical condition. 

I would try and get answers off the news and the interwebs (surely the net wouldn't be down RIGHT away!). I'd scavenge weapons from the tools in the basement, such as hammers and I do believe we have a crowbar? I'm not sure. A few saws, but I doubt they'd be much help, butcher knives in the kitchen, and whatever else we can find that could be used for throwing, or at least bludgeoning. We don't own guns, we live in Canada.

But I'd spend a lot of time praying, really. I don't expect any of my family to last more than a week, or at least until the food runs out. We do have a nice stock of food in the basement though, my parents are all into buying bulk. We'd have enough to last at least a month, maybe several if we ration.

HOPEFULLY we'd be able to wait out the crisis inside our boarded up house, but if it went on much longer than a month or two, we'd surely be eaten when we went out to find food. 

A few 30 packs and a sawed off shotgun. Good to go.

I would infect myself at the first possible opportunity.  Id start off by eating my closest family members then start chasing after every last piece of flesh on earth until rigamortis would set in and I wouldn't be able to move so fast. Then I probably would wait for unsuspecting victims not paying any attention slowly sneaking up on and chomping on them  

I'd get bit, then use my new found zombie powers to find and eat Galactus.

I would get canned food, a can opener, and as many cigarettes as possible (will be worth more then anything 2 months into the outbreak).

Then pick up my good ol baseball bat and hit the streets. Of course I wouldn't forget my WD #75 with a Rick sketch by Adlard on it.  Cause that would be my most prize possession!!

I would watch the Michael Jackson Thriller video every day until I could master the zombie dance and then I would blend in with the other zombies so I could go where I pleased without getting attacked.  Once they accepted me as one of their own I would be befriend one of the zombies. I would call him Stinky and we would shamble the countryside together.  He would search for brains to eat while I would sneak and eat canned foods.  We would have such fun together doing all sorts of cool things like walking really slowly and grunting.  Oh I can't wait until the zombie apocalypse.

When does the contest end so we'll know the winner?

The process of preparation has been going on for some time now...

There are five of us, two women and three men (one my aging father) who come time will form the 'Zombie Survival Collective or ZSC.  Each individual has cultivated two specific skill sets.  The first skill is always domestic, such as making unlevened bread from hand-ground amaranth seed.  The other survival.  You can't make bread if zombies shamble up. 

Baking bread and swinging a bat like DiMaggio are inseparable.

For the past two years we've collected over 1000 varieties of heirloom seeds, vacuum sealed in quart canning jars.  You can't live on meat alone, particularly rotting meat, and if we hope to rebuild society it first needs to be sown in the soil.  All great societies start out agrarian... 

From two years of canning seeds and every harvest, all of us have become quite proficient at preserving food. The probiotics from fermented food in particular can stave off many diseases.  Canning was a skill we all chose two proficiency slots in.   With canning it often takes more than one individual.  The jars get hot and hands can become tender.

Six months ago Jonny 'Lawnchair' (the other founding member of the collective) and I took up bow hunting.  Initially starting with used bows from my father-in-law's Girlscout camp, we practiced extensively for 6 weeks, 2 days.   We had a rough go at it intitially, but eventually gained a basic competency with our stringed weapons.  It was at that point both of us decided to sell our Walking Dead #1, First Print NM/M issues and from the profits bought two compound bows with forearm protectors from Cabellas.  Now we can both shoot a squirrel at 3-4 yards and our forearms are no longer red.

One of the women in the collective can make cheese from raw milk.  We have stock piled the salt and yeast particular to the process; however, we haven't figured how to attain the animals to produce the milk necessary.  Though, as I think about it, I am not sure if zombies eat cows or goats. Perhaps there is a preference.

The other woman can sing.  We all agree that could be considered a domestic skill.

Twenty-five miles outside my home in the Columbia Gorge (Oregon) is our bastion of defence AKA 'Shangra-La #2'.  As I noted earlier, my father-in-law runs Girl Scout camps. One of his camps is situated far back in some old growth forest, well hidden from the main road.  There are 7 A frames, 25 huts and a ranger house and garage on site.  There are also two grassy plots with sufficient sun to plant the seeds from our jars and enough chopped firewood for at least two winters.  The camp is protected on one side by the Colombia river, the other by the the shear cliffs of the Gorge.  The only way in is a trecherous walk through the woods (there are bears eagles) or via the main drive.  The main drive has a mechanical arm that blocks the way.  I plan to paint it orange.  I read that Zombies are repelled by the color. 

By the way, when we hunt we will also be wearing orange--well, actually I guess we should wear it all the time...  

Once a month we intend to drive into Portland for supplies and to look for survivors.   Last month I bought  68' VW Bus and have been outfitting it for survival.  It has a sink, a cabinet and can hold ten individuals packed.  If anyone has ever watched Tornado Chasers then they have an idea what it will look like when I'm done-- lots of sheet metal and a dropped undercarraige lowrider style. The only issue I am experiencing (though my father-in-law says it can be done if we're creative) is how to drop 350 big block under the hood. I'm no quitter and am willing to do what's necessary.

Oh, the last thing.  We all have a lot of swords that we bough on Ebay.  I have a Roman Gladius, my father-in-law a Samuri sword, and the girls and Lawnchair have Scottish Claymores (the deal was too good to pass up--3 for $199.

Bullets run out, swords don't.  

I am sure there is more we should consider in our preparations; however, 4 out of five of us work 9-5 jobs.  Time is a luxury.  Perhaps we'll all buy copies of the Zombie Survival Guide to shore up any loose ends in preparation.

This is how I have thus far planned my survival. 

I see that there have been no updates as to who has won so here's my plan. I live in a small town with a gun shop so my plan is very basic, Gun shop then Superstore, full of food excercise equipment beds clothes everything. You may think his is lame he didn't go into detail but we all know that in a zombie apocolypse there is no such thing as a "good" plan because things will never goes as expected. My plan is to have a  very very loose plan and deal with it as it comes.