Episode 579: Surrounded

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Dave

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Zombie Cliche Lookout: No Escape

There’s no more classic zombie survival scenario than being stuck inside with a ravenous horde of zombies outside. There’s no way to run, so the only thing left to do is button up and hope you can keep the zombies from getting inside. Easier said than done, of course. Granted, even if you’re able to prevent the zombies from breaking through your barricades, that’s not the end of your troubles. There’s always the issue of supplies, or lack thereof. Without a way to come and go, getting more food, water, and other necessities is impossible.

By way of example, I’d offer two, slightly different takes on this same trope. The first is the classic Night of the Living Dead, where the survivors barricade a small farmhouse, but are unable to get along inside, ensuring that no matter how strong their barricades, they were doomed to fail. My second example is I Am Legend, and I’m speaking of the book, not the Will Smith film from a few years back. In it, a single survivor must barricade himself inside by night, when the vampires try to devour him, but is free to move about by day. It’s quite different from Night of the Living Dead, but, interestingly enough, was the inspiration for the George A Romero film that started zombie subgenre we all know and love.

About this Episode:

I’ve been wanting to do a “siege” storyline since I started the comic, but didn’t want to use the main characters for it so that I could keep them available for more dynamic stories. This B-Team, however, is perfect for attempting to survive a siege.

Discussion Question: Attempting to Escape?

Let’s say you find yourself trapped inside a house, with a huge mass of zombies outside. You’re relatively safe for now, but your supplies won’t last forever. What’s your plan? Do you stay put and hope for rescue, or mount a dangerous escape mission to ensure you don’t starve to death?

12 thoughts on “Episode 579: Surrounded”

  1. OK, that would depend on my supplies. You state that “your supplies won’t last forever”, so I’m going to go with the contents of my present dwelling, which is somewhat well equipped, at least for a few weeks or even months.

    In such a case, I would first try to lay low for a few days and observe.

    I mean, zombies are attracted to noises and movements, so are they really going to stick around if I give off no sign of my presence? In most fictions they are depicted as randomly wandering around in search of “stimulation.” Not a whole lot of that coming from a boarded up house…

    • In other words, I would be hoping that if I didn’t draw any more attention to myself than I apparently did already, then the zombies would get bored and go into wandering mode or be distracted by something else. I live in the outskirts of a town, that last possibility isn’t farfetched.

      • That’s definitely an interesting approach, and one you don’t really see show up in zombie fiction too often. If you can stay quiet and still long enough, do the zeds simply wander off?

        • Actually it was brought up in an ebooks called Autumn. Basically in a world with next to no people the loudest thing could be the zombies themselves. So if enough were to come knocking on your door the noise they’re making would simply keep attracting more zombies.

          Guess it would all depend on how your zombies work.

        • Ahh, right on. I read Autumn several years ago, but didn’t recall it right away. I remember really liking that one; I should dig it out and give it a re-read.

        • Ok, if that turns out to be the case, THEN I can try something stupid. ;D

  2. Typo alert, Zombie Cliche lookout, first sentence: “scenario that a being stuck inside” Remove bolded words, and replace with ‘than’ 😀

    • Fixed!

  3. I have a few questions for Dave:

    1. This “B-Team”, as you call them, were they ever actually intended to survive? I think it might just be possible they can either get rescued by someone passing by, or perhaps the zombie bodies outside will pile up so much the zeds can’t see them and will therefore eventually reach a point where they’ll disperse due to randomly wandering all over the place.

    2. Is the number of zombies outside of this scene potentially infinite, or are there a finite, but overwhelmingly large, number of zombies outside?

    3. Assuming Dave has enough LEGO to represent it, is there going to be an outside scene depicting the number of zombie corpses piling up outside, where they’re killing them? 😀

    4. This situation sounds like some of the group will get thinned out by either dying or turning into zombies themselves, is this group any smarter when it comes to handling zombie problems from within?

    • Well, I can’t really say whether they’re intended to survive. That would give an awful low away. In regards to your other questions:

      2. Finite by many.

      3. I would definitely like to; we’ll see if I’m able to pull it off.

      4. We’ll have to see.

  4. Trapped in a house or trapped in a mall sooner or later you are going to have to get out if for no other reason then to stop cabin fever.

    If you can you should keep the number of zeds down with constant small attacks taking down a few and retreating back. If this isn’t possible due to too many zeds then long range attacks like dropping really big rocks on them.

    If all else fails try distractions like sky rockets or really loud music or lighting the building next door on fire (maybe that is a last option).

    • I really like the idea of periodically clearing out some zeds. That was one of the things I really liked on The Walking Dead.

      Great thoughts!