The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: The Survivable City Myth

While getting ready to write my Survival Rule Of The Week last week, I noticed this article by one of my fellow Undead Walking writers, listing off the twenty-five best cities for surviving a zombie apocalypse. After reading his list, I decided to take a peek at the studies and surveys that inspired him. Having looked at them…I’m not so convinced.

Why? Well, I’ll get into detail about that in a bit, but for now, I don’t know, maybe I’m not as optimistic as others are, maybe I’m downright defeatist when it comes to society vs. the undead, or maybe, just maybe…I’m very realistic about society’s chances against the undead.

What are the best cities for surviving a zombie apocalypse?

Are some cities better for surviving the walking dead than others? No. I think they all suck. Here’s why.

You see, I’ve concluded that the idea of a city being able to withstand a zombie apocalypse is a myth. I simply don’t think that society is adequately prepared to deal with what a zombie apocalypse will do to cities. This isn’t to say that there won’t be survivors, perhaps even some vestiges of the infrastructure needed to combat the zombie virus. Still, I firmly believe that the idea of a city “withstanding” the outbreak to the sense that anyone outside of it knows that it’s still standing is simply untrue.

This week, I’m going to lay out exactly why I think this is the case, and in the process, give you pointers of what to avoid should you be unfortunate enough to be in any city when the dead decide they want to eat the living.