Get ready…
Zombies are overrunning the countryside. You’re not a prepper. How screwed are you? Well, that depends. Do you have some basic survival skills? Do you know how to shove rounds in a firearm and make bullets come out the end with the hole? Then you might have a chance, assuming you can get to a gun store and/or a Walmart that hasn’t been cleaned out.
But now you have choices to make. You can only carry so much gear, unlike the guy at the top of the post, who apparently has a cheat code for unlimited carrying capacity. So, what weapons are you going to grab? And no, you don’t have a minigun or grenades or a katana.
To make choosing easier – cuz looters and zombies are about to crash the doors – I’m going to break this down into distance categories: Long, Mid, Short, and Close. And Improvised, since you might have ended up at a Home Depot instead of a Bass Pro Shop.
This is my contribution to the Reanimated Writers Zombie Blog Crawl. Head over to the Facebook group Reanimated Writers to check out all the posts.
Long Range
Winchester designed its 700 series rifles to be out-of-the-box shooters for people who want to take a dear during hunting season but not do much else. If you check out the Survival Blog article I linked above, you’ll see they actually perform pretty well at distance. Best of all, you can get them and their ammo at Walmart or other sporting-goods stores. They’re not the most accurate or the most comfortable weapon around, but you could easily take down a zombie from across the neighborhood.
Mid Range
Contrary to popular belief, not all weapons that look like this are AK-47s. Actually, a true AK-47 is tough to come by. AK variants, however, are plentiful. They’re also just as rugged as the original AK workhorse. You can get them wet or sandy, and they’ll perform well even when they haven’t been oiled or cleaned in ages. Their ammo is common, which is a big plus. In a pinch, you can even use them as long-distance weapons. They’re also one of the simplest rifles to load and shoot. And boy are they fun!
Short Range
Holding a Glock is like grabbing a 2×4. But it’s every bit as rugged as an AK. You can shoot it dirty. You can shoot it after leaving it on the bottom of a river for weeks. You can shoot after it’s been buried. You can shoot it after it’s been dropped off a building. They also have high capacity with their (bulky) double-stack magazine. Now, I have a .45 up here because that’s my favorite caliber. Big and heavy, a .45 has stopping power. But for zombies, a .9mm might be better. It’s got less recoil, has a larger mag capacity, and the ammo is super easy to find.
Close Range
Walmart doesn’t stock katanas, so you’re gonna have to settle for a machete. These weapons are designed for chopping. Heavy, wide blades put a lot of power behind a strike. I like the PBK because it has a dropped tip, making it decent at stabbing too, unlike most other machetes. And the knuckle duster will come in handy, no doubt.
Improvised Weapon
Why not a hammer? you ask. Because a hammer is primarily a blunt-force instrument. A crowbar has that option, and it’s a good option, but you can also shank enemies. If you grab with your little finger toward the curved area and other hand by the straight end, you can punch forward with the short, vertical section. Nobody wants that in the face. Plus, you can pry doors open.
Note: For the cannibals in my book series Unclean Evolution, don’t use a crowbar. If you get their bodily fluids on you, you’re gonna be joining them soon.
What would you choose if you were at your local Walmart or gun store? Comment!
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