As zombies and zombie apocalypses have become increasingly popular entertainment concepts, people have entertained the idea of what they would do if a zombie apocalypse would occur.
The truth of the matter is that nowhere near as many people who imagine themselves as being one of the leaders in the aftermath would even survive.
But there are countless other details most of us have never pondered if this were to become our reality.
Redditor bettercallme_ asked:
"What's something people don't really think about during a zombie apocalypse?"
All About Perspective
"Their credit score probably doesn't seem important any more."
- Guangtou22
Those Darn Telemarketers
"Your work will still ask if you're available to come in. Tom just got bit yesterday and we don't have anyone to cover his shift."
- Haydeos
"The banks still want their quarterly fees."
- TheInfamousMrKane
"Your gym will be calling you within the week."
- freedfg
"I want to see a movie with a zombie trying to knock on the door, and when nobody answers, he puts a business card in the crack of the door."
"The card says, 'I've been trying to get ahold of you about your car's extended warranty.'"
- series_hybrid
What Kind of Zombie?
"Most of us will be zombies and if they are slow zombies, it is very likely most survivors will be killed by fighting other survivors for supplies/resources."
- AlexRyang
"Zombie humans don't even worry me. Humans are completely useless without their brains. If it wasn't just humans and we had Zombie bears or Zombie dogs, then it gets real and I am concerned."
- Ok_Zoo_4059
Technological Withdrawals
"There won't be an easy access weather app/website."
"Any weather beyond a day away will be unpredictable. Rain, snowstorms, tornados, hurricanes, cold snaps, heatwaves, your ability to know what's coming will be drastically reduced."
- HandsLikePaper
Risks of Childbirth
"The dangers of any possible childbirth."
"The most I've seen on any show was something like, 'Oh no, she died,' and 'She lived and was up and running to kill zombies soon after,' with very little in-between that I can remember."
- dom618
Zombie Starvation
"If the zombie eats people, the tissue and muscle and organs, then they are leaving behind skeletons, or at best, severely damaged and incomplete corpses. So there couldn’t be many 'new' zombies, just more skeletons. It wouldn’t be that bad, really."
- gingerschnappes
"If zombies move, they need energy. So they can starve. Shouldn't take too long before they've used up all easily accessible sources of food and either starve or eat each other."
- jtinz
Natural Biological Progression
"Move to a hot and humid climate (like Florida, Georgia, or Alabama)."
"The wild animals and especially the maggots will reduce all undead to skeletons in a matter of months."
"Also, buzzards love the smell and taste of rotting flesh."
- TrailerParkBlazer
The Lack of Restroom Etiquette
"Zombies eat so they will eventually defecate. Most portrayals depict mindless automatons that likely wouldn't know to disrobe when going number two, so they would eventually be walking around with poop-stuffed pants and underwear."
- ThroughHuawai
"You'll eventually have to poop."
"There is no comfortable poop ritual here. There are no 'man poops' where you get to hide in the bathroom for a f**king hour."
"There are no snacks and there is no scrolling TikTok."
- marilern1987
The Need for Full Body Scans
"Realistically, people that get bitten and hide it from their group then turn when they are asleep or somesuch thing."
"Incorporate full-body searches after contact."
- Zim91
"100% full strip down and inspection of anyone living showing up at gates, even if just returning from a scouting run."
"That being said, probs not very interesting for tv/movies, and just checking arms and legs, or quarantining, waiting out the turn-timer works okay as a visual substitute."
- HDPbBronzebreak
"The number of times an arm and leg search was done and a bite would get missed would always have me yelling at the TV, haha. Seriously, disarm and strip."
- Zim91
Necessary Community-Building
"If we really go 'every man for himself,' we’ll all f**king die. Not even ancient humans did that s**t."
"We’d have to all come together in our towns and cities in order to make it. I think people in third world countries will probably survive, first world people will lose their s**t and kill each other off one by one."
- ilikebugssometimes
Lack of Medical Provisions
"Glasses, break those you're never getting a new pair, most people are just useless after that."
"Past that, cigarettes, pharmaceutical drugs, and alcohol not being readily available."
- NotAMaster
"How f**ked we're gonna be when we run out of basic medicine, do you know how to make penicillin? No? Enjoy dying from the same s**t medieval peasants died from."
- DiscardedRibs
"People with chronic diseases dying from lack of meds after a few weeks or months. Diabetics, for example, that rely on insulin or metformin. I'm type two, not sure how long I'd last without metformin and a variety of food choices that allow me to eat and keep my blood sugar in control. Months? A couple of years?"
- revtim
An Imbalanced Ecosystem
"Being overrun with rodents. With no predators, the rats and mice will breed uncontrolled in the grocery stores. The produce will all rot and attract insects. Food in boxes or plastic packaging will be chewed open. Within a few weeks, the food that will still be viable will all be canned."
"Then after a few generations of rodents, the cats, coyotes, and higher order predators will begin to breed like crazy, because they now have no controls and an ever-expanding food source."
- Outlander56
Practical Looting
"No one ever thinks to loot a scuba store for shark proof chain mail suits."
- RollOverBeethoven
"Someone needs to remember to bring a can opener."
- GoAwayWhiteDonute
"Drinking water. All lakes and rivers are possibly infected during the apocalypse. How long can humans live without drinking water."
- capiburus
Think About the Children
"My kids can't be quiet for ten seconds. We'd be dead within a week."
- WinstonBucksworth
"My nephew is especially autistic and basically screamed and cried at ear-crackling decibels for the first ten or so years. I once remarked that if there were zombies, or anything hunting us, he'd get us killed immediately."
- Windfade
"My 14-year-old loves the zombie genre. Her one-year-old sister was teething and bawling last week, and she turned around and said, 'I'm sorry Mom, but if a zombie apocalypse happens, I think we have to leave you and my two youngest sisters at home. They're gonna get us killed!'"
"Fair enough, lol."
- Maple3232
More Harm to Nature
"Lots of people are gonna try and go to the woods and start building fires whic will inevitably get out of hand causing wildfires."
- Strange_Stage1311
"Or more likely, they will start to run out of food, a lot of people think that you and some other hundreds (or thousands) can survive in the middle of the forest with no much effort, just picking berries and catching rabbits."
"In a scenario like that, they will quickly find out why farming was the biggest thing happening 10,000 years ago and why our society leveled so many forests for more farmland."
"In fact, the book of 'World War Z' has a chapter about that, a lot of Canadian families drive to the north to hide in the woods, and everything is nice and chill for like two weeks, then, people start to run out of food..."
- EduHi
It's obvious that there's potentially much more to this genre than has been covered in movies, TV shows, and books.
Science fiction and dystopian writers should take notes and start working on the next great zombie novel!
