The future tends towards the path of greatest destruction, perhaps, because the system has been set up for such a fall.
It has indeed been rigged to extract wealth from the body politic. The people have been squashed down economically into revolutionary masses, and as the system is cracking apart, and all the corruption is spilling over at the centers, out in the mainland, the people have become easily provoked, yet quick to follow and slow question the reality of what is going on.
One way or another, society is being ‘shocked’ and then goaded into submission by a succession of catastrophes, terror events and dismal news stories. Only a relative few would be prepared to avoid the worst of the crisis, and outlive whatever may spread through fear and desperation.
Unsurprisingly, it seems to be an almost-real possibility that a wave of humanity could be zombified by the creeping malaise of collapse, or an outbreak caused by biological warfare, mishaps in lab research, a mutation in vaccines or some other derivative cause of our own doing…
Apparently, the possibility is real enough that scientists have calculated and modeled the frightening rapidity with which humanity would be culled by such a disaster. And for that matter, you could add an EMP, a massive seismic event, or even a hacking event.
Humans have become very fragile, and vulnerable to devoured by their own kind.
According to the Daily Mail:
Zombies could exterminate humanity in less than six months, according to recent research.
Researchers developed a complex new formula which calculates that 100 days into a zombie outbreak, just over 100 survivors will be left uninfected.
And within six months, these stragglers will also die or become zombies themselves.
Students at Leicester University … developed a mathematical model for disease that predicts how an infection will spread through a population over time. It predicts the rate at which infections spread and die off as humans come into contact with one another.
In their model, for instance, they did not account for humans killing zombies.
Could a global pandemic of epic proportions descend upon humanity? It seems that there are all too many scenarios where this could indeed occur, and there are clearly preparations for it.
The CDC, Homeland Security, FEMA, the Pentagon and other agencies have all used simulated zombie outbreaks to model their emergency responses.
Though the scenarios themselves are fictional, the plans to seize hard power via martial law is no joke:
Military planners assigned to the U.S. Strategic Command … looked for a creative way to devise a planning document to protect citizens in the event of an attack of any kind.The officers used zombies as their muse.
[…]
“Given the rapidity at which zombie outbreaks spread, decisive, overwhelming, and possibly unilateral military force may be required to negate the zombie threat.”
“Given the likelihood of an all out threat to ‘human survival’, it is likely that this plan will be executed with a declaration of martial law with CONUS and U.S. territories. (source)
Though there are a few particulars that are best left to Hollywood, the basics of preparing to survive if/when all of the population becomes a danger is solid enough to go on – and would generally apply to nearly any major crisis.
A UK researcher found that a decent number of people are relatively prepared for basic survival and basic medical responses, but would be inadequately prepared to rebuild society after the crisis has passed – for the few who made it, as the Daily Mail notes:
People were reasonably confident that they could handle basic first aid if disaster were to strike, with 68 per cent rating themselves as average to good, but just over half (53 per cent) thought that they had the skills to grow crops or rear animals.
While food, medical supplies and mobiles phones were top of the list for a survival pack…
Professor Lewis Dartnell, a UK Space Agency research fellow based at the University of Kent, advised that a survival bag should contain: ‘a fire-starting kit, water bottle, small knife, rope and food’… only 22 per cent thought to include matches in their survival kit, while only 10 per cent would take a bottle, which could be used to disinfect water.
‘Clearly we shouldn’t be worrying twenty four seven about a potential apocalypse but it’s interesting to take a snap shot of where we are now and how we’d fare – individually and as a society,’ said Professor Dartnell. “People’s survival instincts are strong but without a greater focus on STEM skills, the speed at which we’d return to ‘society as we know it’ would be seriously impeded.”
For those who manage to survive the apocalypse and wish to start re-building society, the research scientist and author says that ‘electricity, soap, charcoal, a lathe to craft things with, and glass’ are the most important things to make.
Here’s one recommendations for the kind of weapons and equipment you may need. Remember, staying warm and covering the basics is just as important as any fighting force that you may stock up on:
Zombie Apocalypse Survival Kit
“Zombie Preppers” was even turned into a Discovery Channel episode – though it is questionable if it encourages prepping, or seeks to ridicule it once again.
Nonetheless, it’s theme is: “Zombies are real, they’re just not what you think they are.”
In other words, society is poised to unravel during widespread collapse and unrest, so you should be ready if you don’t want to be dragged down with them.
The bottom line is, only a few people are going to survive a disaster this big. Are you one of them?
Read more:
The Prepper’s Blueprint: How To Survive Anything… Even Zombies
The Pentagon’s Counter-Zombie Martial Law Plan: ‘Concentrate Firepower to the Head’
The Walking Dead: 7 Mistakes That Would Get Somebody Killed in a Real Zombie Apocalypse
How to Prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse
What Do You Prep For: The Zombie Apocalypse: “Assume The Just In Time Infrastructure That Supplies Our Society Breaks Down”
