Your Name: Jane
Your "handle" should we look for you on the radio waves or web: Eris
Your location: Brooklyn, NY

Tell us:
Is your plan dependent on zombies in your home town, or anywhere?

Hometown. I can't say how successful I will be in a big city, but one has to have a plan, nevertheless.

Will you be staying in your home or headed somewhere else?

My apartment which is on the second of two floors secured by a 5 foot iron gate on the front sidewalk, an iron wrought outer door and a sturdy wooden inner door (which I will reinforce with solid wood closet doors). The backyard (which can only be accessed from the first floor apartment) has a 6 foot wooden fence...not very secure, but again, there is no access to my floor and there are no places to hide and nothing to climb on. I will also cover the windows with the closet doors and reinforce with wood from bookcases/dressers/entertainment center. I have a skylight in the kitchen that opens to provide roof access if necessary and from the roof I can navigate my way down relatively safely and quickly.

If you're heading out, how do you plan to get there?

If I have to leave, there are plenty of vehicles right outside my door that I can hotwire (thank you Uncle Mike!) or, if my downstairs neighbor is uninfected and I can communicate with him, we can take his van until we can find a safer vehicle.

Got anyone you want to take with you?

Just my roommates and my girlfriend. My roomates are both from North Carolina and have experience with firearms, Boy Scout training (sounds silly, but it is actually quite practical) and are quite fit and very trustworthy. My girlfriend is just as obsessed with zombies and general survival as I am, runs 4 miles a day and knows the map of our neighborhood and the surrounding areas without thinking.

All of our families live in other parts of the country. As for friends...if we run into you and you're uninfected, fine. If not...sorry, I love ya and good luck.

How will you communicate with the outside world, or do you plan to go the hermit route?

I have a battery operated radio and plan on getting a CB radio.

How are you planning to get food and water?

I have enough for a few weeks (perishables first, canned food and other unperishables, bottled water, extra salt and sugar) and there is a deli next door just in case.

If I have to leave immediately and can get to a supermarket unhindered, I would stock up on the previously mentioned goods plus dehydrated milk and dehydrated potatoes, dried beans, granola bars, rice, nuts, candy bars, tea, honey and salt (not only does your body need it, but it is good for curing meat so it doesn't spoil) and more water. Plus lighters/matches/fluid and soap.

Oh and additional medical supplies (gauze and tape, pain relievers, ace bandages, splints, butterfly closures, anitbiotic creams/sprays, and certain pharmaceuticals if I had access to a pharmacy, too) . I would then head out to a more rural area and hunt and raid orchards/farms/houses.



What's your weapon of choice? Do you need to reload that thing? Gotta plan for that?

I don't currently own any firearms, but I know where to procure them nearby (less than a mile) and am capable of using handguns and rifles. I am also a decent archer. In my home I have a crowbar, a hammer, a nailgun, two baseball bats (one wooden and one aluminum), a fire extinguisher, a 15 lb. curl pole (detachable weights can also be used as blunt weapons), a 6-foot pole used to open the skylight, a wooden prop rifle, several large and sharp knives and a few other heavy objects that can be used as close contact head crushing weapons.

If I had to move I would take the crowbar, a knife (not necessarily for defense, but knives can sure come in handy!) and the aluminum bat and would try to get a semi-automatic rifle w/a scope and a couple of couple of handguns and plenty of ammo. And rope.

Oh and I almost forgot the plethora of liquor in my apartment. Molotov cocktails, anyone?

Got a survival philosophy?

Hell yea! I want to see this thing through to the end. Survival is paramount, but I am not immune to guidance from someone else as long as I see that their advice is sound.

Are you willing to hook up with other survivors?

Depends...first impressions are everything in this situation since there isn't much time for anything else. If you give off the impression of being weak, indecisive or adverse to others' opinions/help I can't say for sure that I would take you on or latch onto your group. If the coast is clear for awhile, I am more than willing to help anyone (provided they are not bitten) and will try my best to instill in them a survival attitude (which also means that they would be willing to off me when bitten or abandon me at the first sign of weakness as well to ensure their own survival). I may even be willing to sacrifice myself for the good of someone who had a better chance of survival than me. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Of course, after the worst is over (if ever), I would try to find and help any and all survivors.

Is your plan based on a book/movie/blog/scientist we may have heard of?

I am influenced by many works and from brainstorming with friends (who are also influenced by many works). My ideas comes not only from zombie fiction, but from general survivalist works, living in a hurricane prone area for most of my life (Florida, not NY), growing up during the end of the cold war and from a plain fascination with post-apocalyptic themes in general.