The City Girl‘s Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse.
It’s the end of the world as you knew it. The cities are burning down. The governments and social leaders have all either been annihilated or ran for cover. Nordstrom’s is in shambles, and scavengers are combing the streets. You just barely made it out of your compromised apartment complex, which is being systematically searched and violated room by room. What’s a girl to do? Well first things first, ditch the heels and strappy sandals. They may have helped you climb the corporate ladder, but they will only make you easy prey for what you do not want, which ranges from blisters to predators. A good pair of broken in hiking boots are going to be your best friend. Also a good pair of wool socks with a thin stocking or layering sock underneath will prevent blisters and ensure you are in top shape to travel. Packing a bit of moleskin to apply whenever you feel the first impressions of friction will ensure comfortable journeys.
Bug Out Bag
Dig out your old college camping backpack. You may be able to fit everything plus the kitchen sink in your Coach bag, but lugging it long distances while constantly having to switch shoulders, plus the fact that your entire center of balance is left compromised, will wear on your both your spine and patience. Internal frame or external frame is a personal choice. Generally speaking, internal frame tends to be a better pick for traveling medium distances over uneven terrain, as the packs place your center of gravity at your hips. They also allow for more agility. External frames tend to keep you cooler as they sit an inch or so off your back, and are great for heavier loads over long even distances. Whichever backpack you choose will need to be filled with only essential items you will need for survival., and having it packed and ready for an emergency, as well as field tested with your proposed gear is essential. The moment you need to bug out is NOT the time to find out you packed way too much to carry! Go on a weekend camping trip, or at the very least, a day hike, with your pack full of what you think you will need. Water is very important; just as necessary is a bottle of iodine tablets to cleanse iffy water you find along the way once your supply has run out. All you do is put the amount of tablets into the water recommended on the label, screw the lid back on the bottle, wait the required amount of time, usually around 20 minutes) then unscrew your bottle again to let the water air for 5 minutes-or whatever the label states, then any water is safe to drink. It may taste flat due to the iodine, so to make it more palatable just pour the water back and forth between two sterile containers and it will be easier on the taste buds.
Fire and brimstone
A way to make fire is also a survival necessity. Magnesium sticks are handy and very portable. Hold the stick over dry tinder you have gathered, scrape slivers of the Magnesium into that, then use your knife to spark the attached steel, holding it closely to your proposed fire. It takes a bit of practice, something that should , for all intensive purposes, be perfected before the sh%$ hits the fan.
Kicking Butt
Ok, your parents sent you to Karate classes in first grade. And you take kickboxing classes at the gym every Tuesday. That’s a great start, but what do you do when a crazed and hungry mad man who is foaming at the mouth and after your water, knife and body, suddenly leaps from behind a tree and wrestles you to the ground? You have to have some real life fighting skills ingrained to your second nature. Hesitation equals failure and death in a survival scenario. Enroll in some self defense classes. Police departments usually offer them for free, and if not they can surely point you in the right direction. You want to be able to practice fighting a real human who is out to harm you, and Armageddon aside, this is actually a class every woman should take, read the papers if you need more convincing. I am currently working on a video detailing self defense in real life situations, watch for the post coming soon.
Home Sweet Home
Finding a suitable crash pad each night is essential. You will need to locate a shelter that will keep you away from the elements. In an urban landscape you can find everything from abandoned buildings to trash dumpsters. Be as far as possible from rioting mobs , and the uglier the better. Look though the eyes of the unsavory characters you wish to avoid. If it looks warm and inviting from the outside, it will be coveted by anyone walking by. Graffiti, broken and boarded up windows, lots of trash lolling about, and overgrown greenery are a good indication the location will not be looted for food or life forms. Looters and mobs will be one of your biggest problems. They are hungry, confused, scared, and desperate. They will do anything. You want to be as far away from them as possible, but if you happen to get caught up with them, act as they do and give them what they want. You just may survive if you play your cards right.
If you find yourself in in the wilderness and cannot find a vacant cave, fig a shelter in a tree, or slap together a small lean to using fallen branches, moss, leaves, and whatever else you can find to make it warm, waterproof, and inconspicuous.
Survival of the Fittest
Make yourself as inconspicuous as possible. You definitely do not wish to noticed in this scenario! Trust your instincts! I cannot stress that enough. We are each ingrained with that inner voice. It usually ends up being right. One practice to be avoided are: making a cooking fire in daylight. You are salivating for a hot meal and you just managed to catch/scavenge lunch. Ask yourself this, is it a suitable last meal? Anyone within many miles will be able to see the plume of smoke you have created, and they are undoubtedly just as hungry as you. Avoid walking in the open during daylight. You never know where stalking eyes hide. Always be a quiet as possible.
Knowledge is Power
The best piece of advice I can give you is to be prepared. Read the papers, local and world. Stay in touch with current events. Read survival blogs and books. Visit your local military surplus and look around, ask questions. They are a plethora of survival information. Look at it this way, this is the ultimate Life insurance. Granted, you may never need it, but if you have it you will be eternally grateful you invested!
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Haven had written 28 articles for How to Survive The Apocalypse
18 Responses to "The City Girl‘s Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse."
Timely article my sister realizes the need to be prepared, I’m going to e-mail this article to her. May I offer some insights into firearms? Most gun snobs think anything under .40 caliber is not a firearm. Most women (As well as some men) cannot deal with the recoil of a .357 a .45 recoil would be easier if the weapon was fairly heavy but a heavy weapon has it own drawbacks.
I would suggest for any woman who is thinking about a firearm look at a 9mm or a .38 caliber. The downside of a 9mm is most if not all are semi autos, learning semi autos take practice and can be complicated.
Most if not all .38 caliber pistols are revolvers, revolvers are simple easy to maintain and compared to semi autos are fairly affordable. The downside is .38 carried five to six rounds all 9mm semi autos carry at least twice that.
It’s common gun wisdom that .38 and 9mm do not have the stopping power of larger calibers over the last few years it’s become more about the ammo and less about the weapon. 9mm or .38 Jacketed Hollow Point Ammo or Jacketed soft point ammo will have the same effect on any miscreant than a larger caliber.
In any SHTF situation 9mm will be easier to find than .38 caliber rounds 9mm is used by many gun owners, police and military. It’s rare to find .38 caliber revolvers out side a few old cops, and a few diehards.
Finding a firearm is a deeply personal choice it’s something you may just need to lob a few rounds at the range or save your rear end in any SHTF situation. I would strongly urge any woman to at least research getting a firearm or take a NRA pistol course. If you do get one spend some time getting to know it if times get bad it could be your best friend.
I have been reading your articles and have really taken to heart the wealth of information. You are going to save my life someday and I can't thank you enough.
Tonight I'm going to a zombie apocalypse interactive haunted house.We get to shoot the zombies with paint balls… and I will do so in your honor. =]
Very good text and blog
Keep up with it
Sick Puppy brought up some good points on firearms. If you are willing to put forth the effort, though, anything can be learned. I love the feel of the .357, and being all of 5 foot 2 and just over a buck weight-wise, I can assure you it was a learned skill! But a 9mm fits discreetly and virtually weighlessly within the tiny purse;)
Jessica, thank you dearheart! And Kick some zombie ASS!!!
Much love, Regs! Thank you!
If your looking for weapons, .223 caliber is the most common rifle round. 9mm is the most common pistol round. Keep that in mind. Both calibers are light weight but pack a punch. 12 gauge is the most common shotgun round. Figure about 20 rounds per pound for all 3 types of rounds. All 3 are also dual purpose rounds: Hunting and self-defense.
Shotgun rounds come in many diff types, but #7 has enough stopping power to kill a person and keep enough meat on a typical bird, cat or dog.
3 other dual purpose weapons: a hand axe, knife or a spear. You can make all three from easily found materials in a matter of minutes.
Water should never be gotten from anywhere downstream of bodies or waste, human or otherwise.
If you can't find iodine tablets, get a gallon of Clorox bleach. It should be easy to find.
Use the following ratio of bleach to water:
Ratio of Clorox Bleach to Water for Purification
2 drops of Regular Clorox Bleach per quart of water
8 drops of Regular Clorox Bleach per gallon of water
1/2 teaspoon Regular Clorox Bleach per five gallons of water
If water is cloudy, double the recommended dosages of Clorox Bleach.
Only Regular Bleach. No scented stuff.
Use only clean, dry wood for fires. The wetter it is, the more smoke is generated.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head for now.
About the handguns, I would just like to point out that getting a 357 is actually smarter, even if it is bigger. This is because the 357 is chambered to fit 38. so you have options in terms of ammo availability. Just getting a 38. is silly because it limits what you can do. It should also be noted that 357's are intimidating for most people, because they are BFG's. But 9mm is a pretty good option as well, due to the already stated popularity of that ammo. Great article.
CONTENTS: GIRL vs. SEXUAL PREDATORS
I did find the post to cover a lot of useful information, but being that the article is called "The City Girls Guide.." i thought it would have much more on defense against "predators"… The number one threat to a post-apocalyptic female is defense against lawless mobs and drifters, which will be in great numbers and almost completely composed of men. i feel that the best defense against these threats has to be avoiding them at all costs,which was covered pretty well in the article, trusting no one, yes even that really nice guy that has lived in the apartment next to you for years, and hiding in plain site. first thing.. you don't want/need make-up seriously, next shaving your head is best or at least cut your hair down A LOT, lastly you will want to hide your feminine "features" as much as possible, large coats and pants that sort of thing, keeping your face hidden is just as important if you have prominent feminine facial features. Even if you're accompanied by men, like your father, brother, boyfriend, husband, which is your best case scenario, it would still benefit you and your party to follow some if not all of these suggestions. the more you look like the men around you the less attention you will bring to yourself. If you all just look like a pack of male drifters, with nothing of value, you could just be passed by, ignored, but if your group passes by others and you avoid disguising yourself, the really pretty girl(you) might stand out in your crowd resulting in an attack or night stalkers. I know that coming to realizations such as these might be hard to handle, but there are worse things than death. I would love to see some posts by readers with the best defense against these predators.
I deffinately agree, as painful as it may be to our deeply ingrained vanity (I have butt length hair, and I would hate to lose it, but its NOT worth dying or being raped for) its one of those things every single ‘blurred out face ex criminal’ in any self deffense special has pointed out, they look for a ponytail or bun or anything else they can grab to control her… its a nessasary sacrifice to take that away from them.
But the thing is, in a world with plenty of prey, the girl with short hair might be passed over for an easier target, but any girl will be a target if things go really bad, so looking ugly and masculine is the best bet… and looking like a little boy isnt good enough… you want to look like a tough man… because little boys are targets too…
Something else they said is they avoided any girl with an umbrella that could be used as a keep away stick or weapon, but again, that wont matter post shtf so much, but having a maschetti or something visibly nasty cant hurt.
But disaster scenarios aside, 1 in 3 (or more, since many dont report anything) women will be sexualy attacked in their lives… its only responsable to take measures now to learn self deffense, just for daily life.
Thanks for that answer!
Hmmm…. All great info, important things to be thinking about. One more thing on my mind: Kids. A lot of us 'girls' are going to be towing babies with us. My kids have their own disaster packs stowed in the trunks of our cars, the garage, and in our RV. We have a basic family plan for what to do if SHTF while they're at school, but i always wonder how much is preparing them, and how much is scaring them. Thankfully mine are out of diapers and fairly well trained to be quiet and do what they're told, but i know advice to young women having to bug out with small children or babies would probably be welcome.
to the first post if this woman can't learn to use a semi-auto handgun for Gods sake don't give her any firearm,someone with that few brain cells needs to be picked off.They used to call it natural selection,now all the bleeding heart fucks think every worthless,fat piece of shit deserves to live,guess again.
yeah .223 is not even close to the most popular rifle round in fact i wouldnt trust one to kill anything bigger than a groundhog,that dosn't mean it won't kill a man a .22 lr will do that but i would never trust my life to a .223.Oh yeah the nato 7.62 is by far the most available round,what like almost every country uses it as there main infantry personal weapon round.Im glad U.S. troops use that pussy round,they need to go the fuck home.Oh and my nephew is there right now,but hes been dead since the day he signed his life away to the U.S. government.I live in america and wouldnt piiss on it to put out a fire that the fat worthless wellfare recieving niggers started when there crack fell out the pipe.Dont get me wrong i love what america used to be.I hate the american slobs and oh God im fucking surrounded!!!!
Such silly posts! It's natural for ineffective men to wish for the Apocalypse, a "cleansing" of their world of all the people who hold power over them… but it's not healthy to go to the lengths shown on this site. It seems to be populated by people who are "experts" in something they've obviously given too much thought to. In every scenario, the author of said scenario lays out a scene in which he is the Hero, he alone has the knowledge and ability to survive. Every scenario unfolds exactly to his specifications, and nobody dares mess with the Hero, let alone actually get the drop on him and eliminate him, like real-life. Attitudes towards women and minorites also lean far-right-wing here, with numerous posters portraying women as simpering weaklings, and open racism. That the word "zombie" is interchangeable with "enemy" here is very telling. 'Zombies' are the people of authority in your life… boss, government, ex-wife, law enforcement, etc.
My guess is that most who believe what they read here are middle-aged , overweight men, who either labor at lower-echelon jobs, or do not work. Many of you are/were divorced. Many are militia-types, who were either turned down by the military, or tend to overstate what they did while serving. There are no military officers among you, as officers don't usually have the feelings of day-to-day impotence necessary to wistful survivalism.
I must admit, however, that apocalypse-wishers are hilarious in their carryings-on, and provide great entertainment, so keep listening to radio talkshows and "patriotic" TV networks, and vote Palin in 2012. America needs a laugh about now. Carry on.
First, nice article and most are good comments.
Second, the last two posts here are stupid and needless. This is a perfect example of the extremes in our society. One is clearly right leaning and the other clearly left. Each posting as if the average American could care about what they think. The sad thing for these two people and their like-wise thinking friends, is that in the end, apocalypse or no apocalypse these politically motivated comments don't matter. The reason they don't matter is because at least as of today's writing, America is predominately centrist. Not left leaning and not right leaning.
We are all here because of our curiosity towards surviving a possible apocalypse, whatever that may be. And hey if it never happens YAY! for us all. At least we got some entertaining reading material from it. Let's keep it that way.
Well said, E.
Ok, I came here on an unrelated search and enjoyed reading the post and most of the comments. I do have to say that poster "obama" may not be an expert in ballistics. The .223 is a perfectly lethal round, I have had one pass through he block of a 4 cyl engine and keep going. As far as rarity the .223 is going to be the most common rifle round available in the US where I am sure most of the readers here are from. Comparing what I assume he refers to the 7.62×38 (ak-47 round) the .223 is comparable in lethality accuracy and more importantly is fired by the ar-15 and m-16 which are much easier to keep in firing condition. The 7.62×51 or "NATO" round is more powerful than the .223 but it is a machine gun round and although almost exactly the same as the .308 hunting round ( can actually be fired from a .308 rifle) you are much more likely to see .308 because of the sport hunting adoption of the round.
p.s. I like zombies, it is fun to imagine a world take over by skin munching monsters. And to "alpha male" having a survival play and stocked emergency kit is a good idea; for either apocalypse or tornado, its always good to have a "plan b".
The phrase is “for all intents and purposes” not “for all intensive purposes” Sheesh. I always knew survivalists were illiterate. That’s why modern society is so scary for them.
Firearms are all well and fine- if you have the ammo and the training to use them.For those of us that don’t- think something a little more practical- a bow or a crossbow.
Zen archery by WOMEN is a wonder to behold as the tend to hit targets most men miss. Between modern crossbows and compound
bows anyone can make a decent shot quickly and quietly and arrows unlike bullets can be recovered and reused.
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