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All right, so you couldn't get out of your house at the beginning of the Outbreak. Maybe the police quarantined you and the area you were in, maybe by the time you realized what was going on the streets were too filled with zombies for you to get past them to relative safety. You're home, you have only what is in your house and nothing more, what do you do?
Let's assume you haven't been noticed yet. Somehow you've stuck it out without your scent carrying, or making too much noise to get your house, and therefor you, surrounded by a Horde out for food. Good job so far! You're going to want to keep that up, if possible.
While barricading yourself into the house (you ARE busy barricading at least the doors, and keeping the windows covered so you can't be seen, right?) make sure you keep it relatively quiet. You don't want to alert the Menace to your presence, even after you've fortified your new castle. Every door and every window on the first floor needs to be covered and barricaded at least minimumly. Use furniture for doors, positioned in a way that they have support from other things, like walls, doorways, other furniture. This will not only add weight behind the door, but bracing, which is even more important.
Windows you don't want to do too much with - too much movement near the windows may alert those outside that you're inside, and you don't want then to test your barricades if you can help it. Your entire goal is to remain unseen while in this house, unheard, invisible.
Above all, make sure you have a way out. Preferrably it's a way out from upstairs, but if you don't have an upstairs, make sure it's an out that makes a bad in. If it is an upstairs way out, try to make sure it's going to be relatively clear of zeds - maybe it leads to your backyard which is fenced? Maybe it includes jumping to the next door neighbors roof. Either way, you need a way out, in case they find a way in. Weapons are good, a way out is better.
Take stock. Do you have food? How much? Water? How long with that running water last? Can you even be sure it's safe to drink? You'll have to take a chance. If you're planning on hunkering down for the long haul, you're going to want to start filling things with that nice running water, because eventually it may just stop working. Do you have electricity still? Television, computers, telephones? If so, obviously you're going to want to turn off the ringer, keep the television volume extremely low, even just closed captioned if you can - unheard, remember? If these are still working you have a shot at being rescued, so don't give up. Keep calling numbers - any you can find in a phone book will do. Keep the television on, and try to find stations that might actually still have news on them. The computer, well, you can contact people, you can find information, and you can blog what you're doing, which will be important to the people afterwards, and might help you keep your sanity.
Most importantly, and I can't stress this enough, (so much that I'm making it its own line) keep the lights in the house off! Especially at night. even turn the TV off at night. Light will attract them, especially new lights that weren't there before.
But what if you don't have those things? You're alone in your house, it's dark because there's no power, and the water coming out of the tap looks like mud. The food is gone, you were hungry the first two or three days so you ate it. You pig.
Well, things are a little different now. You're not looking to hole up, you're looking to get out. You have to watch outside, see when, if, the streets clear, chance a wild dash in a car, or motorcycle, or truck. Anything you can get your hands on, really, but running around without a vehicle will almost surely get you killed. Don't know how to hotwire and don't have your own vehicle? Sneak into a neighbor's home, quietly, and pray for two things: 1) They aren't there, waiting to eat your brains, and 2) They left their car keys somewhere you can find them.
Once you're out, you have to find a safehouse. If you've been in hiding this long, you will probably have to make a deal to whole up with someone else, someone that either had a plan or stumbled into safety on instict. Make deals, get yourself safe, get yourself a weapon.
Make your plans, and make plans in case those go wrong. That's the true point. Without a plan, you have to rely on luck, instinct, and time being on your side. We all know how that ends...
I'll catch you on the flip side. I'll be waiting.
Let's assume you haven't been noticed yet. Somehow you've stuck it out without your scent carrying, or making too much noise to get your house, and therefor you, surrounded by a Horde out for food. Good job so far! You're going to want to keep that up, if possible.
While barricading yourself into the house (you ARE busy barricading at least the doors, and keeping the windows covered so you can't be seen, right?) make sure you keep it relatively quiet. You don't want to alert the Menace to your presence, even after you've fortified your new castle. Every door and every window on the first floor needs to be covered and barricaded at least minimumly. Use furniture for doors, positioned in a way that they have support from other things, like walls, doorways, other furniture. This will not only add weight behind the door, but bracing, which is even more important.
Windows you don't want to do too much with - too much movement near the windows may alert those outside that you're inside, and you don't want then to test your barricades if you can help it. Your entire goal is to remain unseen while in this house, unheard, invisible.
Above all, make sure you have a way out. Preferrably it's a way out from upstairs, but if you don't have an upstairs, make sure it's an out that makes a bad in. If it is an upstairs way out, try to make sure it's going to be relatively clear of zeds - maybe it leads to your backyard which is fenced? Maybe it includes jumping to the next door neighbors roof. Either way, you need a way out, in case they find a way in. Weapons are good, a way out is better.
Take stock. Do you have food? How much? Water? How long with that running water last? Can you even be sure it's safe to drink? You'll have to take a chance. If you're planning on hunkering down for the long haul, you're going to want to start filling things with that nice running water, because eventually it may just stop working. Do you have electricity still? Television, computers, telephones? If so, obviously you're going to want to turn off the ringer, keep the television volume extremely low, even just closed captioned if you can - unheard, remember? If these are still working you have a shot at being rescued, so don't give up. Keep calling numbers - any you can find in a phone book will do. Keep the television on, and try to find stations that might actually still have news on them. The computer, well, you can contact people, you can find information, and you can blog what you're doing, which will be important to the people afterwards, and might help you keep your sanity.
Most importantly, and I can't stress this enough, (so much that I'm making it its own line) keep the lights in the house off! Especially at night. even turn the TV off at night. Light will attract them, especially new lights that weren't there before.
But what if you don't have those things? You're alone in your house, it's dark because there's no power, and the water coming out of the tap looks like mud. The food is gone, you were hungry the first two or three days so you ate it. You pig.
Well, things are a little different now. You're not looking to hole up, you're looking to get out. You have to watch outside, see when, if, the streets clear, chance a wild dash in a car, or motorcycle, or truck. Anything you can get your hands on, really, but running around without a vehicle will almost surely get you killed. Don't know how to hotwire and don't have your own vehicle? Sneak into a neighbor's home, quietly, and pray for two things: 1) They aren't there, waiting to eat your brains, and 2) They left their car keys somewhere you can find them.
Once you're out, you have to find a safehouse. If you've been in hiding this long, you will probably have to make a deal to whole up with someone else, someone that either had a plan or stumbled into safety on instict. Make deals, get yourself safe, get yourself a weapon.
Make your plans, and make plans in case those go wrong. That's the true point. Without a plan, you have to rely on luck, instinct, and time being on your side. We all know how that ends...
I'll catch you on the flip side. I'll be waiting.
