Things People Don't Think About Enough During A Zombie Apocalypse
Reddit user bettercallme_ asked: 'What’s something people don’t really think about during a zombie apocalypse?'
As zombies and zombie apocalypses have become increasingly popular entertainment concepts, people have entertained the idea of what they would do if a zombie apocalypse would occur.
The truth of the matter is that nowhere near as many people who imagine themselves as being one of the leaders in the aftermath would even survive.
But there are countless other details most of us have never pondered if this were to become our reality.
Redditor bettercallme_ asked:
"What's something people don't really think about during a zombie apocalypse?"
All About Perspective
"Their credit score probably doesn't seem important any more."
- Guangtou22
Those Darn Telemarketers
"Your work will still ask if you're available to come in. Tom just got bit yesterday and we don't have anyone to cover his shift."
- Haydeos
"The banks still want their quarterly fees."
- TheInfamousMrKane
"Your gym will be calling you within the week."
- freedfg
"I want to see a movie with a zombie trying to knock on the door, and when nobody answers, he puts a business card in the crack of the door."
"The card says, 'I've been trying to get ahold of you about your car's extended warranty.'"
- series_hybrid
What Kind of Zombie?
"Most of us will be zombies and if they are slow zombies, it is very likely most survivors will be killed by fighting other survivors for supplies/resources."
- AlexRyang
"Zombie humans don't even worry me. Humans are completely useless without their brains. If it wasn't just humans and we had Zombie bears or Zombie dogs, then it gets real and I am concerned."
- Ok_Zoo_4059
Technological Withdrawals
"There won't be an easy access weather app/website."
"Any weather beyond a day away will be unpredictable. Rain, snowstorms, tornados, hurricanes, cold snaps, heatwaves, your ability to know what's coming will be drastically reduced."
- HandsLikePaper
Risks of Childbirth
"The dangers of any possible childbirth."
"The most I've seen on any show was something like, 'Oh no, she died,' and 'She lived and was up and running to kill zombies soon after,' with very little in-between that I can remember."
- dom618
Zombie Starvation
"If the zombie eats people, the tissue and muscle and organs, then they are leaving behind skeletons, or at best, severely damaged and incomplete corpses. So there couldn’t be many 'new' zombies, just more skeletons. It wouldn’t be that bad, really."
- gingerschnappes
"If zombies move, they need energy. So they can starve. Shouldn't take too long before they've used up all easily accessible sources of food and either starve or eat each other."
- jtinz
Natural Biological Progression
"Move to a hot and humid climate (like Florida, Georgia, or Alabama)."
"The wild animals and especially the maggots will reduce all undead to skeletons in a matter of months."
"Also, buzzards love the smell and taste of rotting flesh."
- TrailerParkBlazer
The Lack of Restroom Etiquette
"Zombies eat so they will eventually defecate. Most portrayals depict mindless automatons that likely wouldn't know to disrobe when going number two, so they would eventually be walking around with poop-stuffed pants and underwear."
- ThroughHuawai
"You'll eventually have to poop."
"There is no comfortable poop ritual here. There are no 'man poops' where you get to hide in the bathroom for a f**king hour."
"There are no snacks and there is no scrolling TikTok."
- marilern1987
The Need for Full Body Scans
"Realistically, people that get bitten and hide it from their group then turn when they are asleep or somesuch thing."
"Incorporate full-body searches after contact."
- Zim91
"100% full strip down and inspection of anyone living showing up at gates, even if just returning from a scouting run."
"That being said, probs not very interesting for tv/movies, and just checking arms and legs, or quarantining, waiting out the turn-timer works okay as a visual substitute."
- HDPbBronzebreak
"The number of times an arm and leg search was done and a bite would get missed would always have me yelling at the TV, haha. Seriously, disarm and strip."
- Zim91
Necessary Community-Building
"If we really go 'every man for himself,' we’ll all f**king die. Not even ancient humans did that s**t."
"We’d have to all come together in our towns and cities in order to make it. I think people in third world countries will probably survive, first world people will lose their s**t and kill each other off one by one."
- ilikebugssometimes
Lack of Medical Provisions
"Glasses, break those you're never getting a new pair, most people are just useless after that."
"Past that, cigarettes, pharmaceutical drugs, and alcohol not being readily available."
- NotAMaster
"How f**ked we're gonna be when we run out of basic medicine, do you know how to make penicillin? No? Enjoy dying from the same s**t medieval peasants died from."
- DiscardedRibs
"People with chronic diseases dying from lack of meds after a few weeks or months. Diabetics, for example, that rely on insulin or metformin. I'm type two, not sure how long I'd last without metformin and a variety of food choices that allow me to eat and keep my blood sugar in control. Months? A couple of years?"
- revtim
An Imbalanced Ecosystem
"Being overrun with rodents. With no predators, the rats and mice will breed uncontrolled in the grocery stores. The produce will all rot and attract insects. Food in boxes or plastic packaging will be chewed open. Within a few weeks, the food that will still be viable will all be canned."
"Then after a few generations of rodents, the cats, coyotes, and higher order predators will begin to breed like crazy, because they now have no controls and an ever-expanding food source."
- Outlander56
Practical Looting
"No one ever thinks to loot a scuba store for shark proof chain mail suits."
- RollOverBeethoven
"Someone needs to remember to bring a can opener."
- GoAwayWhiteDonute
"Drinking water. All lakes and rivers are possibly infected during the apocalypse. How long can humans live without drinking water."
- capiburus
Think About the Children
"My kids can't be quiet for ten seconds. We'd be dead within a week."
- WinstonBucksworth
"My nephew is especially autistic and basically screamed and cried at ear-crackling decibels for the first ten or so years. I once remarked that if there were zombies, or anything hunting us, he'd get us killed immediately."
- Windfade
"My 14-year-old loves the zombie genre. Her one-year-old sister was teething and bawling last week, and she turned around and said, 'I'm sorry Mom, but if a zombie apocalypse happens, I think we have to leave you and my two youngest sisters at home. They're gonna get us killed!'"
"Fair enough, lol."
- Maple3232
More Harm to Nature
"Lots of people are gonna try and go to the woods and start building fires whic will inevitably get out of hand causing wildfires."
- Strange_Stage1311
"Or more likely, they will start to run out of food, a lot of people think that you and some other hundreds (or thousands) can survive in the middle of the forest with no much effort, just picking berries and catching rabbits."
"In a scenario like that, they will quickly find out why farming was the biggest thing happening 10,000 years ago and why our society leveled so many forests for more farmland."
"In fact, the book of 'World War Z' has a chapter about that, a lot of Canadian families drive to the north to hide in the woods, and everything is nice and chill for like two weeks, then, people start to run out of food..."
- EduHi
It's obvious that there's potentially much more to this genre than has been covered in movies, TV shows, and books.
Science fiction and dystopian writers should take notes and start working on the next great zombie novel!
People Share The Household Items That Would Be Extremely Useful In A Zombie Apocalypse
Okay hear me out.
Zombie apocalypse films all get it wrong.
They focus on things like ammo, cool cars and buff people trained in hand-to-hand combat (all of which are cool things) but fail to take into consideration the true hero of the apocalypse is likely to be... secretly freaky suburban moms.
Reddit user DrillSargeee asked:
"What common household item would be priceless in a post-apocalyptic scenario?"
We'll get back to my theory that Britney Spears from the "If You Seek Amy" video might actually be our post-apocalyptic final girl superhero, but first let's talk to Reddit.
Sodium Hypochlorite
"Bleach"
- [Reddit]
"Absolutely. You only need a teeny tiny bit to make a lot of water drinkable."
- ish*tcupcakes
"I was told by one of my patients who survived in Germany during WWII. She asked me multiple times if I kept enough bleach at home. She said it was by far the thing they used most, in order to purify water for drinking."
- Lngtmelrker
"Bleach starts to degrade after six months and gets less effective by 20% every year. And that’s if you store it properly. So make sure to adjust calculations if using older bleach."
- Bay_Med
Nicksplat Bleach GIF by NickRewindGiphyDuct tape
"Duct tape"
"That's uselful for anything"
- GeraltofRiviva
"Much like the Force, it has a dark side and a light side and it binds things together."
- TriscuitCracker
"Every time we go hiking my dad brings duct tape, and every single time we use it. It's pretty impressive stuff"
- a_singular_fish
"I remember seeing one of those prepper shows, and he was talking about legit prepping for a zombie apocalypse."
"This bit always stayed with me cos I thought it was genius, but he was suggesting wrapping duct tape around clothes to create a kinda makeshift leather armour. to protect against bites."
- tatsumakisempukyaku
Multi Use Shovel
"Shovel."
"(based on a roleplaying session with very limited tools. My character was quickly nicknamed 'Shovel' based on the multitude of problems he could solve with the only item he could find)"
- Evan_Underscore
"Digging holes, cracking skulls, digging holes for the cracked skulls"
- Labrat_The_Man
"Ah, that satisfying 'Pang!' from hitting a face *just* right! -Chef's kiss-"
- heroesarestillhuman
"Is it a Tactical Shovel with 1,000,001 uses including eating ice cream?"
- BirbMaster1998
"When my mom took me and my sister to stock ourselves with a bug out bag, one of the first things I grabbed was a collapsible shovel."
"Entrenching, making fire pits, one edge is serrated for cutting wood, and the handle is designed to make it easy to use as a makeshift battle axe. Probably in the top 3 of most important tools I have."
- PokemonMaster619
Iron, Cast Iron
"I have a cast iron skillet that I use so much it feels like part of my hand. Seasoned to a black mirror shine. It's a pan, it's a bowl, it's a melee weapon, what more could you need?"
- DelsMagicFishies
"I had so many answers, then I read this.."
"It's just too useful to leave."
- Iyotanka1985
"Proper iron intake is essential for survival. You get iron simply by cooking in your skillet. You may have the best answer here."
- marypants1977
"Who knew, right?"
- crawshad
Fight Boredom
"Books, because hiding out in a bunker would probably get old quick"
- AgentAwesome2008
"Things like manuals, encyclopedias, atlases and even cookbooks hold a lot of knowledge that would definitely come in handy."
- DrillSargeee
"I have an antique pharmacists' guide from the 1890's that I bet would be useful!"
"It doesn't just list how to make medications. It lists how to make things like lotion and diaper rash cream and toothache powders. All types of daily things."
- Lets-B-Lets-B-Jolly
"Nice one. Cabin fever might be the intro to full-blown mental breakdown."
- sbenzanzenwan
Unibrow Or Not, Useful .
"Tweezers… I know that’s not a kitchen thing… but they come in handy from splinters to unibrows. As for an actual kitchen thing, perhaps a sturdy pot and sharp knife (weapons and food prep)."
- slarock12
"I'm letting my unibrow go if we get to post-apocolypse. (Tweezers are super useful though)"
- TerpeneTiger
"So many medical uses for tweezers! You can perform a minor surgery with tweezers and a sharp knife."
- marypants1977
Multi-Tool
"A Leatherman multi-tool."
- AnusEinstein
"We called them diggits in the navy. I always have one on me and my wife got me an upgraded one last birthday."
- bluishgreyish
"Good to know. I just bought my boyfriend one for his birthday."
- DrunkAtBurgerKing
"Ha ! Was here for saying that. It's a tool with a range of uses beyond imagination."
- OnTheGoodSideofLife
knife tools GIF by Kaho YoshidaGiphyScales
"A scale."
"Weights and measures are often overlooked in dystopian fiction. But they form the very basis of early/emerging economies. Having a reliable scale means you can conduct trade and bartering effectively and consistently."
- AudibleNod
"Especially an analogue scale. Digital scales will eventually need rechargeable batteries and a screen replacement."
- aggie_fan
"God damn. You just blew my mind. Never once thought of this, thank you"
- SkyWizarding
"Especially if we go back to precious metal dependence"
- 72MinuetsOfFame
"I have a feeling you're going to be dosing medicinal herbs before you conduct trade."
"Or mixing up saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal."
"But good answer 👍"
- stevolutionary7
Buy Or Harvest , Vitamin C
"Vitamin C"
"Humans cannot produce it but need it. Depending on what SHTF scenario, transportation might be impacted, meaning no fresh foods and no vitamin c until you can grow something. Some cheap vitamin c tabs could prevent issues due to vitamin c deficiency"
- slider728
"Nettles make a wonderful spring tonic due to all of the needed chemicals they contain. People used to make a tea with nettles and peppermint (it's really tasty too) to help recover after a long winter."
- LightOtter
"I don't know where you live but in my area most people have dozens of plants that contain high concentrations of vitamin C right in their yards, and many can be harvested year round"
- BigBoiArmrest684
"Birch bark tea/sap fixes that issue."
- minnymins32
Knife
"Good quality knives."
- bumpy-ride
"Knife sharpener too"
- BridgetheDivide
"This is the only good answer here. People think perishables and medicines will matter. Those things only matter in society because we continue to replace them. In the apocalypse, they are only stop-gaps."
"They buy you time but they solve nothing. You will eventually run out of them and you will be back at square one. Everyone here is also assuming the incredible privilege of sheltering in place. In a true apocalypse, nowhere is safe. You will have to be a nomad or be incredibly lucky to find a tiny oasis of civilization. Even then, there won't be anything remotely resembling modern drug production or agriculture."
"The only people surviving the apocalypse are the people already living like they're in one. (Not me)."
- Xylosoxidans
raul julia GIFGiphyWell, we're certainly going to add some of these items to our bug out bags if Z-day every does come.
Do you have something to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.
The popularity of zombie films, TV shows, comic books and novels have lead a lot of people to imagine their zombie apocalypse survival strategy.
Where would they live?
What about food and transportation?
Perhaps most important for many people are the weapons they plan to wield.
But some weapons that do just fine pre-apocalypse, are less than useless after.
Redditor Mister_DumDum asked:
"What's the worst weapon (but undeniably a weapon) to have in the Zombie Apocalypse?"
Reload!
"I’d imagine a Musket would suck."
"Makes a ton of noise and only get one shot with a long reload period."
All choked up
"One of those assassin choke cables."
- zinglord69
"Garrote wire."
- USS-Missouri
"...piano wire...for...garroting."
- oyM8cunOIbumAciggy
GiphyBeen there, done that...
"A biological weapon that turns people into zombies."
- DavidHewlett
"So, a zombie?"
- Mouler
GiphySpicy
"Pepper spray. You have to be close enough to use it and once you do, they don't give a sh*t because they are dead and can't feel it."
- ghostiesontoasties
GiphySorry, Ash
"Chainsaw, too loud, too much maintenance to be good."
- TimSherrySucks
"I was gonna say chainsaw too."
"Incredibly dangerous to the user, you must get in close to use it, would get jammed up, need sharpening often and fling contaminated blood everywhere."
- polarbearrape
GiphyClean up on aisle...
"I work at a steel mill and one of the services we provide is melting down weapons involved in violent crimes that have been confiscated by police departments."
"So if everything they’ve brought to be melted down qualified as a weapon, my answer would be a Swiffer mop."
- SmartAlec105
"I love that confiscating and melting down that Swiffer was deemed necessary."
- Deracination
GiphyBut, does he die or not?
"Wolverine Claws, you eject them and slice up zombies, now they are covered in infected zombie blood, you retract them into your body, thereby infecting yourself with zombie virus."
- WAXnIT
"If it was wolverine then his healing factor would just make him even more deadly. An unstoppable force even."
- Bandit263
"Or continually self healing undead state."
- Mouler
GiphyRoundhouse or uppercut
"Brass knuckles."
"Imagine you punch a zombie in the face but he bites you in the process."
- Exene9
GiphyThere are definitely some things to consider here.
Does electricity or water or fire work against zombies?
I guess we'll have to wait and see.
GiphyIf zombies arrived right now, none of us would be shocked.
The way the world has been working, I think most of us would be like... "Sounds about right..."
So maybe we should prepare.
I feel like there is a lot of detail shows like "The Walking Dead" ignore.
When we're not squabbling with the undead... what do we need for the day to day.
RedditorHouseGrasswanted us to get prepared... just in case. They asked people to divulge...
"If a zombie apocalypse were to happen, what is an issue people don’t think about?"
So far my biggest concerns are banks and the liquor store. Tell me more...
Enemies
Gordon Ramsay Bug GIF by National Geographic ChannelGiphy"There are so many flies. Flies."
Acceptable_Floor166
"Flies eat dead flesh - they'll be zombie enemy #1."
JustAnotherFool896
Yuck
"The smell. You ever see them movies where the cops find a corpse and they puke because of the smell... of one dead body? What's the smell going to be like when:"
"A huge percent of the population is decomposing and walking around everywhere. Or if you kill them, lying there not getting buried... just lying there getting more stinky."
"No refrigerators so all existing food in everywhere is going to rot."
"Toilets will eventually stop working so you have that to deal with."
"That and diseases other than being bit by a zombie and lack of medicine to treat them."
_ImNoJedi_
Get Soap
"Hygiene. A lot of people take the fact we have easily accessible soap and don't realize just how easy it is to die from a small infected cut without it."
Wolf-Track
"I've thought about this in every zombie film/show I've seen where two characters have sex. They're sweaty, dirty, sometimes covered in blood and zombie guts. That has absolutely got to give you a serious infection, and you won't even be able to find antibiotics to treat it. Yuck."
lovelyxcastle
Power
"Batteries. I’m one of the few left who is watching fear the walking dead. Just saw someone use a flashlight YEARS after sh*t started. 2 weekends ago when our power went out, our flashlight from last year had dead batteries."
funnylooking09
"Most batteries sold these days advertise a shelf life of 10 years. But a battery sitting in a flashlight is likely to drain faster than one sitting in a box."
industrialScreen
Easy Death
Sick Season 4 GIF by FriendsGiphy"Simple illnesses such as strep throat."
Zkenny13
"Diarrhea will be a potential death sentence again."
Crabtoe
The basics are always the things forgotten in the movies and shows.
The Collapse
Loop Geometry GIF by xponentialdesignGiphy"Uncontrolled release of toxic and hazardous materials as a result of industrial facilities collapsing due to a lack of continued maintenance."
"Dams collapsing and flooding out everything downstream. Power plants overheating or pressurizing and detonating. Toxic chemicals seeping into the water table or aerosolizing in fires. We made a world that we can only survive in if we keep it going."
Stentata
Can you write me something...
"Your prescriptions. I personally don't take any meds daily but i know people who do and would eventually die without them. Even if you broke into a pharmacy or something the meds would only last you so long. If you're lucky the zombies will decompose until they die but it's never safe to assume that will happen."
CitizenOfInnistrad
Bad Ideas
"Sex in the zombie apocalypse is just overall a terrible idea. Becoming pregnant means you need more food and are much less agile, both major detriments. Even if the baby does get born, that new human is now going to be slowing you down, a hassle to take care of, quite loud and zombie-attracting, and cannot work or contribute to the group, but is still another mouth to feed and water."
MaeBeaInTheWoods
How to Fuel...
"Gas expires."
Link22_22
"'The Last Man on Earth’ explores this after two years I think. He pours petrol from a can and it comes out kinda lumpy. One of the other characters points out that he warned everyone that this would happen and they should’ve been setting up solar panels which is what they do next. Obviously it’s not 100% accurate and it’s a comedy series but it reminded me how fossil fuels would become useless after a while."
reecedutoit
$$$
Make It Rain Money GIF by SpongeBob SquarePantsGiphy"It's not gonna be good for the economy."
Flintz08
Well that is a solid list compiled. I'm ready. Just need liquor.
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