Scenario

bushball

its been 3 weeks after zday (walking dead styled z's). You, a 30-40 year old man, your wife of the same age, your 15 year old son and 1 year old daughter have been holed up in a 2nd floor apartment building in the centre of sligo. you have maybe 2 days rations left. The last outside communication you had was a week ago on the emergency frequincy that has went down since thn. The last news was that the milatary has set up quarintines in dublin, cork and mayo. They also mentioned some survivors had holed up in the garda station in sligo. Your car- a 4 door ford with 1/2 tank of gas- was parked outside the last time you checked but that was nearly 3 weeks ago, the only weapons you have are a baseball bat, hurley, and some flimsy kitchen knives. What would you do?

Renegade Mechanic

Stick the key out the window and press it (assuming it has a working plip). Its going to be quiet so If the car is there, the signal might reach it and if it does you will hear it. Half a tank in a car like that wont make it to Dublin Id wager. Roads between Sligo and Cork are much better but again the hugely reduced average speed (and by extension, reduced fuel efficiency) brought on by making your way around stopped cars, obstacles etc will likely mean you dont make it there either. Hopping next door to Mayo would be the only option Id be looking into. It would be close enough that I wouldnt even bother risking the car by bringing it to the garda station looking for supplies.

salacious crumb

I'd head for the Garda station first, you could get some better weapons/ammo and might be able to siphon some more petrol from a garda car or "borrow" a maria which would be more impenitrable than your Ford. Also hooking up with some other survivors might not be a bad idea... that is of course if your car is still there :pac:

Kromdar

the whole "military has set up refuges in cities" thing is cliché. we all know they were overrun days ago.

I would:
risk the trip to the garda station.
low revs, about 20-30km/h the whole way. means: no running over potentially puncturing debris, plenty of time to spot signals of survivors or potential loot.

on arrival, if its clear, see if any sign of movement from windows, see if any barricades. bonus points for dead z's outside and a closed door. would risk knocking, or going around back [assume it has some sort of vehicle yard]

if no initial answer, write down where you are, what time you called at. and that you'll be back the next day.
on the way back to the apt look for food for another few days, generally take stock of whats going down in the city. if z's approach car, up the pace a bit, and take a slightly winding route back to teh appt.

give it 2 days, check on the garda station again. if no activity, head out into the countryside, maybe for donegal, or one of the old border stations if they're still there. keep an eye out for survivors.

on running out of fuel, and the inability to siphon fuel, park up at a farmhouse and try to clear it with whatever i have handy.

ultimately, i would be heading to Finner Camp, north of sligo, a remote military base with an airstrip located on the outwash from the river erne. it may have surviving soldiers, failing that, weapons or vehicles of some sort, and the last time i was there there was plenty of rabbits / hares on the camp. good eatin!

Tzar Chasm

Kromdar wrote: »

the whole "military has set up refuges in cities" thing is cliché. we all know they were overrun days ago.

I would:
risk the trip to the garda station.
low revs, about 20-30km/h the whole way. means: no running over potentially puncturing debris, plenty of time to spot signals of survivors or potential loot.

on arrival, if its clear, see if any sign of movement from windows, see if any barricades. bonus points for dead z's outside and a closed door. would risk knocking, or going around back [assume it has some sort of vehicle yard]

if no initial answer, write down where you are, what time you called at. and that you'll be back the next day.
on the way back to the apt look for food for another few days, generally take stock of whats going down in the city. if z's approach car, up the pace a bit, and take a slightly winding route back to teh appt.

give it 2 days, check on the garda station again. if no activity, head out into the countryside, maybe for donegal, or one of the old border stations if they're still there. keep an eye out for survivors.

on running out of fuel, and the inability to siphon fuel, park up at a farmhouse and try to clear it with whatever i have handy.

ultimately, i would be heading to Finner Camp, north of sligo, a remote military base with an airstrip located on the outwash from the river erne. it may have surviving soldiers, failing that, weapons or vehicles of some sort, and the last time i was there there was plenty of rabbits / hares on the camp. good eatin!

waiting 2 days for a response from the garda station is madness, you should be able to tell within the first 30 seconds whether or not there are survivors there.finner camp does sound like a decent bet, I would not go back to my apartment tho, once you leave you should have a plan to go somewhere else.

a 1.6diesel focus has a 55L tank and averages 5L/100km
so 1/2 a tank is approx 28L which is an estimated range of 560km allowing for obstacles you could easily cover 400km
for reference the longest distance in ireland, malin to mizzen by road is 550km
sligo to dublin is about 160km
sligo to cork is 100km

but my choice would be to head to somewhere with a large military presence in a city which already has large walls and experience at lockdowns and unruly braindead mobs

sligo - belfast 200km

bushball

If it was me i would head to the garda station 1st, sligo is a decently small town so id probably just walk/run on my own, at most it would take maybe 20 minutes without encountering any z's. i would take a look around and if there was friendly survivors i would go back to the apartment and bring the car (providing it was still there) with my family and work from there

Tzar Chasm

I'd be screwed tho if it was my car
e36 bmw 318is
65L tank
shes tuned for speed so fuel ecnomy is terrible, on a good day i'd get somewhere between 10-15L/100km

say 33L in tank, max range 220km, any kind of obstacle and I'm shagged somewhere near the border

southcentralts

Get your hand on a diesel car and stick to rural area's, farms will be a good source for fuel, as you will have more to worry about than the color of your diesel and the tanks will not need an active pump to get it, unlike petrol stations.

Tractors too will have big tanks and mostly no lock on the tank ( unsure about the really modern one's though), so bring a length of pipe with you.

As mentioned earlier there is no need to travel fast, even at 15-20 Kmph you will outrun any Z's,

Though I would advise something that can carry a lot of supplies and try to get into a Cash and Carry if possible before leaving, for as much of the baby's supplies as possible. The more supplies you have the fewer pitstops you will need, and you can avoid the towns. Avoid food which requires cooking or refrigeration.

Directly engaging any zombies (unless as a last resort) puts your family in danger. Go alone to secure transport and supplies first, then pick up the family when you are ready.

degrassinoel

southcentralts wrote: »

Tractors too will have big tanks and mostly no lock on the tank ( unsure about the really modern one's though), so bring a length of pipe with you.

And some mints or gum

Tzar Chasm

well over half the cars on the road in europe are diesel, factor in trucks, vans,tractors etc and its nearer 70% of all vehicles in the country are diesel .

a diesel vehicle is worth hunting out. in this situation half a tank nof diesel means that you can just raid the kitchens in your apartment for vegetable oil and pour that straight into the tank, meaning you could start off with a full tank

Renegade Mechanic

Diesels are all very well, geltlemen, but we are unfortunately stuck with a "4 door ford with half a tank of gas“:D

salacious crumb

Renegade Mechanic wrote: »

Diesels are all very well, geltlemen, but we are unfortunately stuck with a "4 door ford with half a tank of gas“:D

To start with, but surely you'd find some form of transport somewhere that runs on diesel

Micky Dolenz

If myself and my family had survived 3 weeks we can survive 3 more.

I would have brought my son up to speed on how to defend us and he will probably need it as firstly we would loot our building, I.E other apartments.

Home would remain our HQ. I would scout outside alone. Checking to see the situation in the immediate locality to my HQ. I would not risk my life so all scouting would be silent and under cover. Since I live here I know the area well.

Info learnt from recon would help me form a plan. But looting anything I could would be a priority. I know HQ is safe, I know the area. If I could ride it out here I most certainly would try.

bushball

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

If myself and my family had survived 3 weeks we can survive 3 more.

I would have brought my son up to speed on how to defend us and he will probably need it as firstly we would loot our building, I.E other apartments.

Home would remain our HQ. I would scout outside alone. Checking to see the situation in the immediate locality to my HQ. I would not risk my life so all scouting would be silent and under cover. Since I live here I know the area well.

Info learnt from recon would help me form a plan. But looting anything I could would be a priority. I know HQ is safe, I know the area. If I could ride it out here I most certainly would try.

after 3 weeks a good part of the area would be ransacked though

Micky Dolenz

True but the same could be said for the whole island.

Some things are certain. Why would I risk my family for a whole lot of uncertainty. To be fair I wouldn't have sat on my hands for 21 days watching the food run out anyway.

So lets say, I know the area is dry, not a thing to be found and we had to get out of town.

I'd make sure my car would was there and would start. I know this risks drawing zeds in my location but I'd rather ensure that alone than with a car full of supplies and loved ones. After that I would walk the route I planned to take out of town, quietly, to ensure we can get through. There will be a while lot of cars clogging up road ways out of big urban areas.

Getting fuel shouldn't be a problem as a lot of car owners won't be driving them. The days leading up to the move I would gather as much fuel as possible or maybe even change vehicles. If this wasn't an option and with the fuel I currently have. Mayo would be the only option. And at that I would be extremely uneasy.

If I had enough fuel gathered, I'd be heading to Munster (place of birth) or Donegal. As rural as I could go.