I have lived this life over and over, months that have seemed like years. I have avoided the ongoing wars yet still seen my fair share of death, I’m more like Siddiq but not alone. I have lost but still survive. There is one thing Mankind is sure to repeat time and time again no matter how long civilisation lasts and that is the path to civilisation itself. Something Rick and Alexandria wishes could occur a lot faster.
It could be said that civility was afforded the people of most European countries for several hundred years under ‘Royalty’ such as that of King Ezekiel but who were more in the vein of Badass Negan when it comes to being power hungry control freaks. Depending on your view point, he could be a misguided sensitive man who cares for everyone.
In what was to become the United Kingdom, clans and tribes had long gone to war over resources and power grabs but also in a bid for better defences against invaders from foreign lands. Enemies are very important in the creation of a nation state, for without them one probably would not be required. This is the reason why I have a real liking for the affairs of the mini communities that are far enough away to dwell upon but not to be dragged into.
I admire the residents of the Oceanside retreat, the fortitude of the Kingdom, the zealous Sanctuary hierarchy, and Hilltop and Alexandria are very much one of the same. All brought together not by an affinity or love for each other but an essential need to combat the undead Walkers and other resource grabbing menaces. Even the ‘Take not Bother’ Scavengers have been deemed a threat despite their underlying faith being that of an emotionless (even if Tamiel wanted to bed Rick) community and much diluted lexicon. I find her sexy but I have my Wives otherwise I’d take her for myself.
Devising A Bug Out Bag From What’s Available
It’s advisable to make notes while you read through this Bug Out Bag guide unless of course you’re a bit of a Eugene and a know it all. So get out a pen, time to cut your Son’s arm off… Hey I’m breaking your balls! Didn’t your Father teach you that? If you do run into a Negan in these parts you could probably do with most of the elements of my Walking Dead Bug Out Bag. For without one you’ll find gaining new and additional resources in a zombie world of Walkers and Rapey Daveys a much harder task.
I am part of a community that won’t be found by others, at least for now. We are kept apprised of the goings on of the Saviours by embedded men and women in communities local to us and in various outposts. It is possible not to gain reports from them for months. Each have a bug out bag buried should they be discovered as a plant / spy. I have never involved myself in cheap rigid frame rucsacs. The type that have shiny metal that can reflect sunlight and could get me shot by a sniper from a mile away. I wouldn’t wish to be seen by Sasha, uh oh no way.
A Bug Out Bag should be easily reached and easily hidden. It should be small enough to still see you make manoeuvres, dodging walker herds and able to scramble through woodland, across water and over fences. I suggest a 35L rucsac with comfortable straps, not cheap School bag cords that cut into your skin during a 50 mile hike. Dark but not military. Be wise! If you are seen as a threat from afar, if you are thought to have military training you will be shot on sight. Existing communities keep threats at bay even if they end up killing innocents. Better the Negan you know.
– Use a comfortable rucsac, small but spacious with plenty of pockets.
– Pockets provide quick access to knives, guns, energy bar, cord, water, lighter, grenade or a poisonous concoction from Sanctuary Chief Engineer and Dr Eugene Porter’s cleaning cabinet.
– Stay lightweight, you could opt for a chest belt to even the load and do stay dry. The cold and wet will kill you, consider kayak dry bags or simply large bin bags. A change of clothing is paramount.
Essentials For A 3 Day Bug Out Bag
Unless you enjoy going commando like Tamiel while you fashion up your latest Walking Dead artwork, clothes will be an important factor on any of your journeys. Quite the Walkers aren’t bothered what I’m wearing when I stick an eight inch blade in their skull but first impressions still count. Perhaps they will reanimate and there will be a second date and I might need to get to third base quicker than Gregory can change sides.
Talking of bases, as you’ll note from my neighbours they trek a lot between communities. It’s all well and good to have access to vehicles but you’ll not be reaching for the glove box when a Negan approaches or hoard of Walkers is heading your way. They don’t all go around the North Circular at 10.38am every morning. If you need saving the Saviours most certainly won’t be aiding in your cause and you can only save yourself. Let’s focus on what will.
Socks. What? Yes socks. I cannot embellish enough the amount of times a pair of socks has saved my life. While I think I’d have had heavy enough balls to put a pool ball in one and smack it around the side of Negan’s head while he’s playing in the street at Alexandria, they work marvels when your feet are wet and tired. A quick change and you’ll be capable of doing another ten miles. Underwear too, don’t tell me you don’t get rashes in awkward places and everything starts to rub after twenty miles, that’s what talcum powder was invented for. Find it, trade for it, use it.
Food
Some communities inherited political correctness but let’s be fair some survivalists are big boned and if they have a part to play in a community their needs should be met. That said Olivia rightly or wrongly was torn a new one by Negan – well two at the last shot. Some people really ought to learn that water is a miraculous substance that staves off hunger. Between you and I two glasses of water will supplement any medium sized meal and aid in you eating less and you need to know this before your fat mama arse is run down by a much skinnier walker. After all, Skinny Joey can’t be called skinny now Fat Joey has gone and that’s a real shame.
– A rifle will be the biggest and best food provider. Shooting deer like Michonne – even if by accident, foxes, bear and rabbit but shots can be heard. That trapping and tracking survival course you attended will put you in good stead when hunting in enemy territory. Rick (God) help you if you enter mine!
– There’s a lot of tinned food in communities West of here, however the type of grub you will need facilitating is those army ration packs that Rick and Michonne had sex all over and had quite a fill of the other weekend. There is nothing more substantial than a pot noodle or cup a soup after walking eight miles or after having a sex marathon with a Brigade of zombie US Army walkers roaming just ten feet away.
– Army Ration packs are an amazing source of protein and quick to open and use, calorific protein / chocolate bars are also fantastic on long journeys to keep your speed of walking up. The average should be 5/6 miles an hour, if not your name must be Olivia.
– Water. If you know the lay of the land and where water is drinkable and not polluted by dead bodies then you need not carry much. If investigating a new area while taking resources use a collapsible drinking container and if out overnight use a rain catcher or catch condensation from your own body heat.
Fuel
There are many different types of fuel. The petrol you’ll need to suck out of other vehicles or the local petrol station that uncannily has enough fuel for many a year. You’ll need a sufficient length of tube for this practice. Then there’s the end of state managed electricity power grids, thankfully several years before the undead walker supplanted humans solar power was force fed to the world from China. But it’s not portable and would have no real use anyway if it was.
Like Daryl I managed to grab a Handheld Transceiver from the Saviours after raiding an outpost one night. These need batteries, many old items need batteries even with Eugene on hand those silly people didn’t use him to their advantage, seen as useless he was practically King at the Sanctuary. The most elemental result of fuel is fire. Rubbing two sticks together does work, as will flint and kindling. Thankful for the delights of the 21st Century if you can find steel wool one spark will provide for instant fire and even better if can use a steel scraper. As Eugene will advise, Ferrocerium and Magnesium is hotter than hoping Maggie is going to get her kit off.
Warmth
Matches (dipped in nail varnish to make waterproof) and lighters will certainly be just as useful in starting a fire but warmth can be achieved in many other ways without attracting walkers or another community to the base for the night. In this area the cold climate can be as quick to develop as a searing hot sun or a deluge of rain. None of us live in the stone age despite being thrown back towards one. There’s solar power, three storey housing, running water but when on the move or evacuating those modern creature comforts vanish very quickly.
Even Negan wouldn’t swap Security over comfort otherwise he’d have adopted Rick’s family and moved into Alexandria. I used a tunnel once to get out of Hilltop after trading with that diminutive character Gregory. All it took was a case of Tequila. I was on the move for weeks. In my bug out bag I had a bandana – has multiple uses as well as protecting your head from the sun, can act as a sling, keep you cool after being made damp and be used as an aid to purifying water or if you’re anything like Greg, making a quick white flag to surrender your not so very bad ass.
Clothes, it doesn’t matter where the Zombie apocalypse occurs top end sports clothing shops can be found. If you can make it from Atlanta then anything is possible. Many fabrics today are multi purpose, they can retain heat while being waterproof and wind proof and still be lightweight. Absolutely the best way to contain heat is with multiple layers but not if you look like some of these fat bitch walkers that have been popping up as of late, did Starbucks start serving up Triple Chin Lattes in the last days?
Fingerless gloves can be a help and enable you to complete most tasks while keeping most of your extremities warm. There’s also aluminium foil. Not only can you enjoy baked bananas – because they’re frequently available these days – but used around a fire it will reflect heat and you can build a slow oven. If trekking you can also use the foil to wrap embers from a fire and carry between camps, with the aid of juniper or cedar and a little air blowing through.
The most obvious things that someone running from walkers endlessly may forget is that you should always wear something on your head. A hat, not necessarily that silly item one eyed wonder Carl wears but a covering that ensure 80% of your body heat doesn’t go out through your chimney. Do you need the toilet? While it’s not a good idea to split and go for a pee up a tree with Walkers and Rapey Daveys all around, urine likes to be cold and takes your body heat with it, dump it as often as possible.
Protection
I used to think an axe and knife would be all I would need to survive but hearing the stories of Morgan’s efforts I’m quite liking the idea of a sturdy pole. What a fantastic weapon that has turned out to be. Stabbing walkers left right and in the centre of the head has worked marvels. While we’re not so stupid to keep our entire cache of guns on site like Rick and the others, it has to be said that in one and one combat Morgan and Carol have certainly shown the way forward.
It’s this body armour I cannot quite get my head around, if you can get your hands on some kevlar that’s some pretty good kit to have with you. I wish I had some. You don’t need to consider weapons as the only form of defence. Communication is one of the best forms of staying safe, across hilly region you can use reflective foil to signal. Wind up walkie talkies, even fully operational transceivers.
I heard how Morgan left a trail to the Kingdom but the same can also be done to leave a fake trail. If that Saviour escaping from the Outpost had left a different blood trail he may not have led King Ezekiel and Carol straight to it. Broken a few alternative branches, retraced his steps back. Of course not entirely plausible as he was dying… I won’t knock Maggie up for getting preggers but talking of protection, condoms have a great use to stop babies from occurring in times of war and also enable you to hide things up your bum or start a fire when filled with water and acting as a magnifying glass.
Additions For The Walking Dead Bug Out Bag
I’m sure I would love to take a Tiger with me on my journeys, let’s look in the back of the wardrobe and see if Aslan is available, what about Pingu? Fact of the matter is while it’s an endearing story and could well happen in your area of the new world, I am not traipsing around with a large cat. But good for you Ezekiel. I’m leaning towards that roll of aluminium foil again. You can build a solar oven, signal, use as fish bait and even make a pot to cook and drink with. Please don’t purposely buy a 28” ceramic pan for the end of the world.
In the armies of the world from Russia to America there’s an E-tool, everything and entrenching that acts as a tool to dig and to fight with. If you are going to invest in anything specially made for this new situation, make it an E-tool. Bury people, bury faeces, stab Walkers in the head. I’m sure I would love to have Daryl’s crossbow, or the Saviours machine gun but when it comes to hiding where you’ve been and one to one combat they work wonders.
Another popular tool in the armed services is a poncho and not just the Mexican army la la la la la. They’re wind proof, water proof, camouflaged mostly and can act as a cover for a bivvy or shield you from the weather when worn. If you have two, it can also collect water saving you from drinking the polluted water unless you like walker water with all that putrefied flesh floating around – well it ain’t marshmallow is it!
Avoiding The War Against The Saviours – They’re Not Saving Me!
Back when computers were a thing, you know, before Armageddon turned us all into these groups of unwashed, unshaven psychopaths. I used to play a game called Civilisation. I could read all the books in the world but everything is summed up in this one little game. I don’t wish my community to be separated from all other humans for all time but if it’s not a few centuries new diseases won’t be a problem when meeting them once again.
Hilltop is safe for now, The Kingdom hasn’t been attacked – what’s left of the population, the Sanctuary is under heavy attack and I have a feeling that the Scavengers are going to see some real retribution shortly. I have avoided this war simply by not getting above my station. I stay hidden. What I do know is this, there are many Alexandria and Sanctuaries. There are mini worlds of mindless Saviours and democratic cravers such as Rick and deluded folk like Gregory and these wars are probably developing NESW from my position across the globe.
You cannot avoid war all of the time, the only thing that is possible is to avoid it most of the time. I have my part to play in this and one day I will have to choose sides. While there are still Doctors and brilliant minds such as Eugene it may be possible that the dead will stop being the undead one day. Until then understand that you can stay away from it all if you’re clever but eventually aligning yourself will lead to upsetting someone else.
The last civilisation expanded across the world and if 90% of the world’s population are made of living dead walkers, that’s an absolutely huge amount of metal, wood, canned food and ready made items and a fountain of knowledge in libraries across the land. What I would term prepper’s paradise. Stock up on new world currencies such as weapons and antibiotics, I don’t know what you’re thinking but your bitcoin wallet is absolutely useless as is cash.
Your Bug Out bag Prepping Is Invaluable Experience
You can watch the war develop but I’d advise you remain like me for the time being. It’s much better they all kill each other off and restart civilisation on your behalf, unless of course you feel more aligned to the Saviours then eat your heart out. It’s a favourite phrase of the Walkers.
Digest the info above and jot it down, ensure your bug out bags are well hidden but local and remember you don’t need all your kit to fit inside, you can wear it on belts and please do walk in those boots, you’ll be dead before sun down if they’ve never been worn. I may not be able to talk to you again, I must stress that you write this information down and forward it on to your nearest and dearest. If you see Tamiel please say hello, remember you packed condoms, it’s the end of the world not the end of you!