PUBLIC SPACES

As with private homes, safety can be found in public or nonresidential
buildings. In some cases, their size and layout may afford more protection
than the most secure domiciles. In other cases, the exact o-p -p osite
is true. Because arming and equipping these structures should be
done in the same manner as in private homes, albeit on a grander scale,
this section focuses on the best and worst public sanctuaries.

1. OFFICE BUILDINGS
Many of the same rules regarding apartment houses can be applied to
office buildings. Once the first floorhas been abandoned, the staircases
destroyed, and the elevators shut down, an office building can be a
tower of safety.

2. SCHOOLS
As there is no generic layout, deciding whether a public school is a
good place to hole up can be tricky. Keep in mind the general rules of
defense (see "General Rules," pages 86-87). Unfortunately for our
society but fortunately for a zombie siege, inner-city schools have
taken on a fortress-like atmosphere. Not only are the buildings themselves
built to withstand a riot, but chain-link fences surrounding them
make these halls of education look more like military compounds.
Food and medical supplies should he readily available from the cafeteria,
the nurse's station, or the physical-education office. Often, a
school is your best bet-perhaps not for education but certainly for
protection from an undead attack.

3. HOSPITALS
What would seem to be the safest, most logical place to flee to during
 an outbreak is actually one of the worst. Yes, hospitals may be stocked
with food, medical supplies, and an expert staff. Yes, the structures
 themselves could be secured, as with any office or apartment building.
Yes, they may have security, even a regular police presence. In any
other disaster, a hospital should be first on your list of havens. Not so
I when the dead rise. Even with growing awareness about zombies,
Solanum infections are still misdiagnosed. Humans with bites or
newly murdered corpses are always brought to hospitals. The majority
of first-wave zombies (in some cases 90 percent) consist of medical
staff or those involved with the treatment of cadavers. Chronological
maps of zombie outbreaks show them literally radiating from these
buildings.

4. POLICE STATIONS
Unlike with hospitals, the reason for avoiding police stations has less
to do with zombies than with humans. In all probability, the people living
in your city or town will flock to the local police station, creating
a nexus of chaos, bodies, and eventual blood. Imagine a packed,
writhing crowd of frightened people, too many to control, all trying to
force their way into the building they think best represents safety. One
does not need to he bitten by zombies when beatings, stabbings, accidental
shootings, and even tramplings are just as likely. So when the
dead rise, locate your local police station-and head the other way.

5. RETAIL STORES
For Class 1 uprisings, many types of retail stores will provide adequate
shelter. Those with roll-down gates, solid or otherwise, can stop up to
ten zombies for several days. If the siege lasts any longer or if more
zombies arrive, the situation may change dramatically. Enough romng
fists, enough heaving fonns smashing against the gate will eventually
break it down. Always have an alternate escape route planned, so that
if the barricade is breached, you can quickly move on. If you can't formulate
a solid Plan B, do not consider this place a refuge. Stores without
gates should not be considered. Their display windows will do
nothing more than advertise you to the zombies.

6. SWERMARKETS
Although they have enough food to sustain your group for years,
supermarkets are also dangerous. Their huge glass doors, even when
locked and gated, provide little protection. Reinforcement of these
entrances would be difficult. Basically, the exterior of a supermarket is
agiant display window, meant to show the fresh, delicious food within.
With humans on the inside and zombies on the outside, that is exactly
what it will do.
Not all food stores are deathtraps, however. The smaller, familyowned
markets and bodegas of the inner city can serve quite well as
temporary havens. To protect against theft and, more recently, riot, all
have strong steel gates, some even solid roll-down shutters. As with
stores, these small markets can provide adequate protection for shortterm,
low-intensity attacks. If you find yourself in one, remember to
eat perishables frst and be ready to dispose of the rest if (when) the
electricity is cut.
A practically indefensible structure. Large shopping centers are always
targets for both humans and zombies. It is always the case with social
disturbance: At the first sign of trouble, these concentrations of wealth
s w m with private security, police, even overzealous shop owners. If
the crisis occurs suddenly, a large number of shoppers may become
trapped within the mall, creating problems of overcrowding, trampling,
and suffocation, as well as attracting the dead. In an outbreak of
any class, heading for a shopping mall would mean heading for a center
of chaos.

8. CHURCHES
Forgive the expression, but places of worship are a mixed blessing. The
main advantage of most churches, synagogues, mosques, and other
houses of worship is that they are built to withstand forced entry. Most
have heavy wood or metal doors. Windows tend to be high off the
ground. A majority possess wrought-iron fences that, despite their aesthetic
intent, can serve as added protection. When compared to many
secular structures of equal size, your typical place of worship is sur82
prisingly secure. However, the protection they offer during an outbreak
will never he enough against the horde of zombies that are sure to
come. The inevitable onslaught has, of course, nothing to do with the
supernatural. Satan's soldiers are not out to invade God's house.
Ultimate evil is not doing battle with ultimate good. The walking dead
attack churches for one good reason: It's where the food is. Despite
their education, technical sawy, and professed disinterest in the spiritual
world, urban Americans run, screaming to their gods, at the first
sight of zombies. These places of worship, crammed with people
loudly praying for their souls, have always served as beacons for the
undead. Aerial photographs have shown zombies migrating, slowly,
steadily, and with increasing numbers, toward their future slaughterhouse:
the nearest church.

9. WAREHOUSES
Given their lack of windows, easily secured entrances, and generally
spacious layouts, warehouses can be an ideal refuge for an extended
period of time. Many warehouses have a security office, usually
equipped with bathroom facilities and therefore an immediate source
of water. If the merchandise that is stored there is both heavy and kept
in large, durable crates, consider yourself lucky. These boxes can be
used to reinforce doorways, create private rooms, or even, as many of
us did when we were children, be used to build a secondluy line of
defense or "fort" within the main area. There is the possibility, however
unlikely, that whatever goods are stored could be helpful to your
survival. For all these reasons, rank warehouses anlong your most
attractive hideouts. One caveat concerning location: 50 percent of the
time, these buildings are close to shipyards, factories, or other industrial
sites. If this is the case, be cautious, observant, and always ready
to flee. Also, beware of refrigerated warehouses storing perishable
goods. Once electricity is lost, their quick decomposition can become
a severe health hazard.

10. PIERS AND DOCKS
With some modifications, adequate supplies, and the right location,
any dock or pier can be made practically unreachable. Because zombies
can neither swim nor climb, their only access would be from land.
Destroying that one access point would leave you on an Wificial
island.


11. SHIPYARDS
Despite the fact that they frequently are the storage site for industrial
waste and hazardous materials, shipyards do present undeniable possibilities
for refuge. Like warehouses, their containers can be transformed
into baniers or, in some cases, even weapons. The ships themselves
become ready havens once the gangway has been secured. But before
boarding, make sure you check these waterborne fortresses for
infected crew, particularly in smaller, recreational marinas. In the first
stages of an outbreak, citizens will no doubt flock to the shoreline,
hoping to use (or steal) any available cabin cruiser. Because many
marinas are built in relatively shallow water, they are not deep enough
to keep zombies completely submerged. More than once, an unwary,
amateur sailor has climbed aboard his boat to find several ravenous,
waterlogged zombies waiting for him.

12. BANKS
What could he safer than a stronghold already built to house the most
valuable commodity on Earth? Wouldn't a bank he a logical place to
prepare a defense? Wouldn't its security measures be more than enough
to repel a horde of walking dead? Not in the least. Even the most cursory
examination of banks reveals that a majority of their so-called
"security" features require the deployment of police andlor outside
security. With the police and all other special forces otherwise engaged
during an outbreak, silent alarms, surveillance cameras, and waist-high
locked gates will he useless when the dead smash through the plateglass
windows, hungry for human flesh. Of course, there is safety in the
vault. These titanic constructions would stop even zombies armed with
rocket launchers. (No, zombies do not know how to operate rocket
launchers.) However, once inside the vault, what next? Given that there
is no food, no water, and precious little oxygen, seeking refuge in a
vault does little more than give you enough time to place a gun to your
head, make peace with your god, and pull the trigger.

13. CEMETERIES
Ironically, and despite many popular myths, cemeteries are not the
most dangerous place to be when the dead rise. In fact, they can be a
place of temporary rest. As previously stated, infected bodies are more
likely to end up in hospitals or morgues, reanimating long before they
can be taken to cemeteries for conventional burials. And if by some
miracle, a corpse did come to life inside its coffin, would it really "rise
from the grave"? To answer this question, one must ask another: how?
How would a body with normal human strength claw its way out of a
coffin, possibly made of steel, possibly encased in a hermetically
sealed box, six feet underground? If one looks at the preservation
methods involved in standard American burials, the fact is obvious that
any person, undead or otherwise, could not possibly scrape, scratch,
and crawl his or her way to the surface. But what if the casket is not
made of steel? Even a plain pine box would be prison enough to
entomb the most tenacious zombie. What if the wooden casket has rotted?
In that case, the body has been lying buried so long that its brain
has rotted away as well. Remember: Bodies that reanimate have to be
fresh, reasonably intact, and infected with the virus. Does this describe
a long-dead corpse? Although it's seen as an iconic vision of the living
dead, like vampires drinking blood or werewolves howling at the
full moon, the fact remains that zombies have not and never will rise
from the grave.

14. CAPITOLS AND CITY HALLS
Apply the same principles regarding police stations, hospitals, and
houses of worship to state, municipal, and federal government buildings.
Most will be the focus of concentrated human activity, making
them centers of chaos and zombie congregation. Avoid all government
buildings if possible.