Would it be possible to survive a zombie apocalypse?

One of the most common threats humanity faces in modern movies is zombies. Whatever type of virus is causing it or the slight variations of how they behave don’t matter, as the bottom line threat is that of a virus that re-animates the dead. The chances of this happening are close to impossible, as there are no parasites or viruses on earth that have the ability to reanimate and control a human, but that’s not to say it won’t be impossible in the future.

Assuming zombies will be caused by some kind of virus, which is the most common form of control in fiction, the chances of survival would depend on how it’s transmitted. If the virus was air or waterborne then we’d all be dead as soon as we had to drink infected water or breathe contaminated air. If the virus could only be transmitted through bodily fluids, such as through a bite, then the human race might actually stand a chance.

How long would humans last for?

A study done by Physics students at Leicester University concluded that the human race would be completely wiped out within one year, with the majority of the population not lasting longer than 3 months. I personally disagree with this estimate as there are many places in the world that zombies wouldn’t be able to reach.

The chances of dying within the first week would depend on where you lived and where the initial outbreak was. It would be safe to assume that the higher the population, the higher the chances of someone infected making their way there. Assuming re-animation happened within a few minutes, if you lived within or close to a major city then your chances of staying alive would plummet.

The problems with avoiding zombies

There is a very high chance that someone who’s infected wouldn’t want to tell anyone for fear of their own safety, so infected people could travel long distances before they die and reanimate. It’s likely the initial outbreak of zombies will happen in major population centers. This will not only greatly increase the amount of zombies but also trap people during the initial panic.

When people realize how serious the threat is and that it can’t be contained, they will panic and try to escape the area. The problem with this is that someone will try something stupid and cause an accident. Road workers, recovery vehicles, and anyone responsible for clearing blocked roads will all be panicking and trying to get back to their families, leaving all roads blocked from the first accident onwards.

If you live in the center of your country, then you won’t be able to avoid going through, or close to another city before reaching the coast, or a possible safe place. Off-road vehicles won’t help much either as you won’t get far in most places before coming across a tree-filled hedge or a large wall. Public transport will shut down and trains will stop running, leaving everyone to flee on foot in a direction that could be worse than where they just left.

(A concept design for a zombie survival base, an excellent place to get surrounded or starve to death)

How would it be possible to survive a zombie apocalypse?

Where you go and the chances of safely getting there would depend on where you started. For a general idea of what to do, hopefully, the following will help you avoid becoming a dead person’s next meal.

Stay away from people

More people not only means more zombies but also the chance of someone stealing from you or causing you harm. It won’t take long for people to realize that the police and military are too busy to respond to calls, and that’s if they are even still taking them. With legal consequences for their action, desperate or violent people will take whatever they want by force, and there’s always someone stronger and nastier than you out there.

Avoid Government “Help”

The people in charge will try and control the situation the best way they can, which won’t even be close to being enough. They will announce the setting up of evacuation camps and checkpoints, all of which should be avoided. People fleeing on-mass from zombies and trying to get into a makeshift government camp will only end badly. Someone will turn up who’s infected and this will go back to the first point. The more people in one area, the greater the risk of a panic-infused outbreak.

Don’t stop anywhere you could be trapped

Anything as small as a house or regular building could quickly be surrounded, and anything more than about 20 zombies could see every exit blocked off. Being in a building that touches the shoreline of a lake, river or coast is a good idea, allowing you to escape by boat from an area the zombies won’t be able to easily get to. Long rows of connected houses can be safe if you have some way of getting from one building into the next one, or however many until you find some clear ground space.

Don’t fight them unless you are forced to

Assuming the virus is caused by fluid transmission, it would be very risky to try and fight them with anything other than a ranged weapon. To kill a zombie, you have to destroy the brain, or at the very least sever the nerve column at the base of the brain by chopping off the head. Both of these things will require a large amount of force from a weapon and would likely send “bits” flying all over the place. A single drop of blood landing in the wrong place, like your eyes or mouth could cause you to become infected, and so could the tiniest scratch. Guns would be ideal as they could be engaged at range, but the sound would cause every zombie within a few hundred meters to come towards you.

Get supplies early on

You will need enough of everything to last you for at least one month. During this time, the initial “great panic” would have finished and all the evacuation centers and checkpoints would have been overrun. The majority of the population would have turned into zombies and the initial wave of fires would have finished. This will be the single most dangerous time to be out in the open, as you’ll have to deal with the zombies and the thousands of panicking people who realize there’s no such thing as legal consequences anymore.

You will need to find a safe place to hide while the initial panic passes by, and during this time you’ll need enough food and a safe place for at least 30 days.

The stages of a zombie outbreak and what you should do

Stage 1 – The Great Panic

The roads will quickly become blocked and there won’t be anyone to clear them. Everyone working in a power plant, water treatment or pumping station, or operating any form of public transport will be panicking along with everyone else instead of doing their jobs. This will lead to a nationwide blackout and loss of communications, as the people working to keep the lines open will also be trying to avoid getting infected. Everyone will be looting stores and hurting each other to get the things they want and need. Anything the government sets up will be quickly overrun and this will be the single most dangerous time to be outside.

The way to avoid this is to simply hide, but you’ll need supplies in order to do so. This could be as easy as finding a well-stocked and isolated farmhouse, but it could also mean having to go out to find a small shop or somewhere you can find enough food to last until the initial panic and infection wave is over.

Stage 2 – Working with what’s left

After the initial wave of zombies has been created, which will likely be well over 90% of the population, you will be left with a ruined world full of supplies you probably can’t get to. One of the most important things to monitor during this time would be radio signals, as these would be the last form of communication to be cut off. Take note of which organizations or evacuation centers are broadcasting, and monitor when those broadcasts end. This will give you a good impression of where the infection is spreading and where the biggest danger zones are. If there isn’t a single signal coming from one region of the country, but you can detect signals in another area, this is a good sign of where not to go.

You will be forced to go out and scavenge supplies, but how possible this is would depend on where you are in the country and the situation in the area.

Stage 3 – finding a long-term safe house

It doesn’t matter how well-fortified your location is, there’s a very real chance that you’ll be surrounded and trapped, especially if you’re somewhere on the mainland. A good example would be the city of London, which has a population of around 9 million people. Assuming they were all zombies and could only travel at 1 mph, it would take them about 300 hours, or 12.5 days to reach anywhere in England. Being surrounded by 1 million zombies would be impossible to defend against, even with weapons. If you had an assault rifle, it would take 33,333 full magazines of ammunition to kill them all, assuming you didn’t miss a single shot.

Firing a gun from your safehouse would be the same as ringing the dinner bell, so you’ll need somewhere quiet that has an escape route. The best place to go is anywhere with an escape route, such as on the coast or the edge of a large lake. Finding something like a long pier with buildings on where you can remove planks to stop zombies from passing over would be a good choice, and would allow a boat to be moored up at the end to escape just in case. Anything connected to water where you can have a boat ready just in case would be the safest option against hordes and would allow you to come back at a later date when they have passed.

Stage 4 – Staying alive for the long term

The hardest part of all will be staying alive for more than a year. You may be lucky and find a huge stockpile of rice or something that wouldn’t go off, but most people will have to start from scratch. Creating your own sustainable food source in a place that won’t get ruined by zombies walking over your crops will be difficult, and finding the right area is key. The quieter the better, but you will still be forced to travel out along mostly blocked roads to find things to create power and the various other things you’ll need.

The chances of the human race surviving a zombie apocalypse

The probability of a zombie virus wiping out the human race is almost zero, but it would come at a cost so devasting we won’t be able to recover. The only places that wouldn’t be affected would be extremely isolated communities, such as Amazon tribes or Inuit villages where they wouldn’t have the chance to get infected, or zombies traveling there would either get stuck, freeze, or simply decompose from environmental conditions.

After a few years when all the active zombies have decomposed to the point they are no longer a threat, the only survivors will be anyone isolated or super-prepared for the outbreak before it happens. Even in government long-term command bunkers, there’s still the chance of a single problem that could end everyone, like a problem with power, food, water, or air supply, and the longer they have to survive the higher the chances of something bad happening. The human race will likely be reduced to no more than 0.1% of its population within the first 3 years, but that’s according to the various studies that have speculated about this.