(Unedited) The improbability of surviving the Zombie Apocalypse

Yes, I've been playing way too much L4D on the weekends.

I had an idea for a survival short story I was going to write this weekend. Thinking on it last night, I came to some interesting conclusions.

Character: A late twenties male investment banker who lives in Boston, and spent his whole life in that general area of the country with exception of business travel, vacations, etc.

Setting: The Zombie Apocalypse

Goal: Surviving and getting to a safe place to rebuild/restart.

How the story has to end: He dies and becomes a Zombie. There is no other option for him.

Why?

The assumption is that this character is generally smart, quick witted, and probably a moderate democrat. This means that he's perfectly capable in the modern world. In fact, he's rather well off as his abilities have propelled him to great heights in the banking profession. And, like a surprisingly large number of Democrats that I know, he's reasonably well versed in some form of Karate.

When the Apocalypse hits it starts as a slow wave marching around the world (think Swine Flu but deadlier :D ). But, as is classical for a zombie story, a bite, a scratch, any form of wound at all is generally infectious and results in the individual becoming a zombie.

Now, luckily for our hero, he manages to avoid becoming undead in the initial outbreak. But the city is in ruins. Nothing is going to work. If you really think about an urban area in this sort of situation, he MUST get out. Municipal water supply will probably be tainted if it works at all. Who knows what sort of debris will be strewn around. No electricity... oh, and a city full of zombies. Take New Orleans after Katrina and add several hundred thousand zombies (that would be a great level for L4D 2).

Now since most transactions are electronic these days, our hero will not have much cash on hand. He won't have stockpiled any food, water, batteries, medical supplies, anything really. The last time he got gas was probably a week ago. Luckily he has close to a full tank since he normally would take the T into work. No weapons either. The only gun he's ever seen were in the movies and the one time he visited a brother who is in the army. Generally speaking he's pretty neutral on the gun issue. Knows nothing about them, can't see why you need them, but is okay with others having them (remember he's a moderate Dem).

So step one is he gets out of Boston. This is okay, he has gas and can get pretty far out of the city. Easy enough (assuming he doesn't get bitten by zombies on the way to his car and the roads aren't blocked.

Now he's probably going to try and city hop until he finds a safe location. He's an urbanite. Cities are "safe". Now, since he's quick witted and knows he's in a survival scenario, he does his best to bring what he has lying around with him. Some bottles of water (that he normally used when bike riding), some oil for his car (it was leaking last month), a couple of batteries and a flashlight (everyone has those). Etc.

The drive out of the city is going to be a pretty harrowing journey. Zombies are everywhere. Tunnels are blocked. He barely gets everything into his car and gets it started. Makes it out of the city okay but the roads have debris (cars, trucks, etc.) all over them. Slow going.

Now assume he passes out of MA into NY state (he's going generally west). He comes across a food store that seems generally untouched. Does he go in? Okay if he does, he grabs what food and water he can find. Smart. What about alcohol or chocolate? These are vices that probably don't cross his mind. He almost certainly will not consider them for their value in what has probably become a survivors bartering economy. And he has limited space. He does have the foresite to grab some empty gas cans that the store luckily had for sale. Even though without power anywhere and no money, he doesn't know how he's going to fill them.

Luck! He finds a gun store! Being luke warm about them he's still decided that long range protection is better than the risky hand to hand zombie fighting that is his only weapon right now. The store offers pistols, rifles, shotguns (a bunch of dead zombies and a shop keep who looks like he committed suicide rather than become one of them). Ammo. Magazines. Knives. Woohoo!

Now what's the best to take? How does it work? What ammo does it take (all those hundreds of boxes in different colors with strange numbers on them do not help him). How much can he carry. Can he find spare magazines for the correct weapon? Rifles? Does he realize that he might be able to barter with the ammo too?

He moves on. Fifty miles later he runs out of gas. Now he has to keep moving, and ditch everything save some water, food, and he decides to hold onto a pistol and a rifle.

Of course the story ends in him shooting as the zombies mob him. Doubtful he found a survivor enclave. It's a sad story. And his entire journey was essentially doomed from the start.

:(