Are you prepared?

Approximately 12 hours from now, something catastrophic is going to happen, changing your very existance forever. You don't know what it is. It could be a series of earthquakes powerful enough to level every building on the west coast; it could be a biological or chemical attack by a foreign nation that wipes out most of your country's population; maybe Skynet has taken over and the machines will be picking though the radiative rubble to finish off the survivors.

If this happens, would you be ready? Do you have shelter to protect you from the elements/radiation/crazed survivors? Do you have enough food and water to survive on until it's safe to get more? Do you have weapons to defend yourself? Are you willing to assist repopulation efforts?

Assuming you made it through the initial event, how would you survive with the tools you have available to you right now, with no advance warning?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I have weapons and training to use them that would ensure I could take whatever I needed from other people and places; I'd be all right. If I couldn't go outside, then I might be in trouble.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I've got a couple of large supermarkets, a large pile of restauraunts, and four gas stations within half a mile. Plenty of places to raid food, water, gas, generators, weapons, you name it from. And I've watched a large supply of zombie movies. The general populace has about the same level of intelligence as a zombie horde, so I think I could hold out.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I would probably drown in my own shit and piss.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

We have just about no preparation since we live in an apartment. The only thing we would have ready are about 5 cases of about 24 bottles each since my dad seems to be a bottled water fanatic, "just in case". Maybe some canned goods, but other than that I would really have to depend on the help of other people in such a case.

My weapon of choice would probably be a knife since it would be the only practical thing readily available. Pretty much a quick stab in self-defense too would be the only thing I could muster. I'd be more of a stealth type trying to just survive rather than actively forcing my way from other people that are also trying to survive. First priority would be to stereotypically find a group of (relatively) sane survivors and work from there.

I was speaking idiomatically.

We've plenty of canned food and the frozen things would last out for a while, depending on the climate conditions caused by this catastrophe. We also have lots of cartons of juice, so keeping hydrated would be relatively easy. There are five working cars at our house as well, and the closest supermarket/petrol station is ten minutes walk. As for weapons, I'd take knives from the kitchen and raid the garage. If all my family were dead, I'd raid my brother's room as well and take his kozu. I'd be fucked if there was any fallout; last time I checked, bricks and double glazing isn't much protection from radiation.

EDIT: Hah, odd point but last night at 1am with its epicentre in Yorkshire, the most powerful earthquake England has seen in 25 years took place (that's 5.2 on the Richter Scale).

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'm afraid the only defense I have is living in a pretty secluded area. Unless this catastrophe is really widespread, I probably wouldn't be affected by it. IF, however, some Ruskie scientist falls asleep drunk at his post and accidently launches a missile into my backyard, I wouldn't stand much of a chance. If the event wasn't so sudden, though, I have plenty of gas stations and truck stops within walking distance to supply me with food and other goodies until the nasty business is over.

Zombies, though, that's another thing. Are we talking Resident Evil/Shaun of the Dead slow n' stupid, or Dawn of the Dead/28 Days Later rabid psycho zombies? If it's the slow ones, I'd might manage if I could fence them off or something, or just dig a big ditch and hope none of them were Olympic jumpers in their former lives, but the other ones might be trouble. Even mass-hysterical survivors or mutants might be trouble if they have basic intelligence, but I'd try and work something out. In times of stress I can be surprisingly adaptive. That or join their society. Maybe a higher-up position like "Executive in Charge of Horde Affairs" or something.

Most amazing jew boots

I am so unprepared, I don't think about those kinda things. No shelter, no food stock, no tools, nothing. I do, however, think that I'd survive pretty well if someone else had the food, I'm pretty resourceful.

Nall brings up a good point though. In the case of zombies, if they were the slow, mindless zombies I'd be just fine. If they were the speedy kind, I'd be screwed. I cannot outrun anything, not even if my life depended on it, I'm just very slow. I'm strong and handy with a club or sharp thing to use but in terms of speed I am the first sacrifice.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Assuming it's zombies, I'd be okay as long as I got to my parents' place or my bros pretty quickly, seeing as they own all the guns in the family. Darn my wife and her paranoia of firearms.

If it's a natural disaster? I'm screwed.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Arainach

And I've watched a large supply of zombie movies. The general populace has about the same level of intelligence as a zombie horde, so I think I could hold out.

Haha.

I'd do pretty well, as far as an apocalypse survivor goes, I'm optimistic, fast and don't eat much. I'd prolly start backpacking it for home on Canada though, and live off the land where my parents live. We've got our own well and fruit trees, we did a vegetable garden a couple of years and that went really well so I know the soil is good. There's fishing, hunting (though I've never been hunting for food before, I'd imagine the learning curve wouldn't be insurmountable.)

It's getting there that would be the trick.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I live in Newfoundland, so that automatically qualifies me as prepared.... nothing EVER happens here.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I have some candles and an emergency kit from 1994. I guess if a really huge disaster hit, I'd have to walk over to the library and look at some wilderness survival guides. Hey -- I can use the candles while reading the guides! I don't have any guns, though, so I'd have to become some other survivor's bitch if it came to that. Are we cannibalizing each other? If that's the case, then I'd need to steal a gun somehow and shoot you guys. Sorry.

I could probably jerk off in a cup to help repopulate, but is that really necessary? It's so unsanitary.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Jochie

I could probably jerk off in a cup to help repopulate, but is that really necessary? It's so unsanitary.

What sort of disaster are you imagining that renders the human race incapable of having children through good old fashioned sex? Or is there just not enough of you to go around?

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Arainach

And I've watched a large supply of zombie movies. The general populace has about the same level of intelligence as a zombie horde, so I think I could hold out.

It might be worth noting the general populace has seen quite a few zombie flicks as well

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Quote:

If this happens, would you be ready?

Absolutely not. I don't think anyone can be ready for something like a huge disaster unless they've actually been preparing for an event like it for a long time.

Quote:

Do you have shelter to protect you from the elements/radiation/crazed survivors?

Well, I have my house and we could board up the windows with the leftover lumber from hurricane season we bought as a precaution. That would help against most bad weather we'd get down here minus tornadoes. I'm not sure how well boarded up windows will stop crazed survivors, though. With radiation we're pretty much screwed.

Quote:

Do you have enough food and water to survive on until it's safe to get more?

We have enough of both to last us until we can get out and loot the local grocery store and convenience stores. About a year and a half ago we started having several 5-gallon jugs of water delivered per month. We don't drink them all within a month, which has left us with some leftover water (which is a good thing down here if you plan to ride out a hurricane). Also, there's a house down the road that has several fruit trees (apples, tangerines, and some other stuff). If they don't make I reckon we'd be making several trips to their yard a month. If they do make it, we'd just have to do without or steal from them without getting caught (or shot).

Quote:

Do you have weapons to defend yourself?

This question made me laugh. I'll just say that yes, we have plenty of weapons to defend ourselves with.

Quote:

Are you willing to assist repopulation efforts?

I'm confused. Does this mean am I willing to sacrifice my body to carry a child to help repopulate the Earth after this disaster? If so, then hell no. If the question is asking am I willing to help people move back into my town, then sure, I guess so, as long as I get some sort of pay for it (supplies or something).

Quote:

Assuming you made it through the initial event, how would you survive with the tools you have available to you right now, with no advance warning?

You see, I myself am pretty clueless as to how to survive and probably wouldn't last very long on my own, but my dad's like a real-life MacGuyver. I think we'd do just fine as long as he doesn't die.

FELIPE NO

I watched Shaun of the Dead and I went to public school, which means I'm proficient in close-quarters combat and basic weapon training. I'm more than prepared to massacre zombies like a motherfucker.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I am waiting for this shit to happen. No joke.

I've always tried to educate myself on survival in a "post-apocalyptic" world. If I was faced with radiation from fallout, I'm not too sure how well I would fare, honestly. I don't think a person can really expect to survive for too long if they were close to a nuclear blast point. Maybe up to 100 miles away, I could do alright. If, that is, I could get soil to bare seed.

But apart from nuclear fallout, I think I'm pretty ready. I'd likely take off north if there was a kind of health scare or super flu.

I've always thought about what I'd do in the post-apocalyptic world. I've always wanted to at least survive to document it.

How ya doing, buddy?

My mom bought this for me a couple years ago for probably a discount at our local REI or wherever fine retail items such as these are sold.

So yeah, to answer your question, I'm pretty fucking prepared for anything. I have enough to sustain me for 3 days. 3 DAYS.

HAH!

Except if there's a massive viral outbreak or nuclear fallout though, then I'd be pretty screwed. And then of course, after the 3 days.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I have no desire to continue living in such a drastically changed paradigm, and would probably seek a way to shuffle off the mortal coil painlessly when the aforementioned disaster strikes.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I'm probably asleep when that time comes.

I'm screwed. I need to back-up all of my data!!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by kat

My mom bought this for me a couple years ago for probably a discount at our local REI or wherever fine retail items such as these are sold.

So yeah, to answer your question, I'm pretty fucking prepared for anything. I have enough to sustain me for 3 days. 3 DAYS.

HAH!

Except if there's a massive viral outbreak or nuclear fallout though, then I'd be pretty screwed. And then of course, after the 3 days.

Fuck yeah sluts. I hope that emergency drinking water is some kinda "just add water" stuff.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Looks like repacked Capri Sun to me.



What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by nuttyturnip

What sort of disaster are you imagining that renders the human race incapable of having children through good old fashioned sex? Or is there just not enough of you to go around?

I'm just not an "old fashioned" kind of fucker, if you know what I mean. *wink* *WINKWINK*

*WINK*

As for drinking water, don't forget what Bear Grylls taught us: Take up water sports.

FELIPE NO

If, say, an earthquake happened, I'd probably just kill my roommates dog and smear his blood all over my body and wear his head as a hat.

Eventually I'd begin looking for food and supplies and maybe other survivors to group with.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?