I am reverting back to an old map so
you guys can gain a better understanding of how we operate in and out of the
store and the reason why we stayed alive when everything was crumbling all
around us. (Note the map that I have attached with this entry.)
The
Yellow Squares: These
were the areas that we were most worried about because the doors are made of
glass and we feared a horde smashing though. But now, with cars parked outside
the doors and product forming barricades in between the double doors, I feel we
have done a good job there.
The
Blue Squares: These
are the emergency exits for the store. These are solid steel doors that only
open from the inside. They are flush with the doorjambs and have no exterior
handles or hardware. Translation? You are not getting through these steel doors
unless you have an armored tank. So there is zero chance that zoms get in
through these doors.
If you note the NE corner and the exit
inside the Bakery, there are metal steps that lead down to “ground level.” We
have rewired a small handful of security camera to cover all of these exits so
that we can look outside without opening the doors first. We wanted to test a theory so this past
weekend we did a test. We had Ashlynn and Becca on the roof doing sniper
detail. We had Alex and Kelsey running messages back and forth from the roof to
the emergency exit in the northeast corner near the Ice Cream freezers. When
they gave the “all clear,” Jenny and Hunter stepped outside. They were
volunteered to be bait because 1) Hunter is a master baiter and 2) since they
are both gingers, they don’t have souls so it doesn’t matter if they die.
So they stepped outside and with some
metal pipes and such, they started banging on the metal railing for the stairs.
Sure enough, after a time, some zoms came shuffling. They were never in any
real danger. As soon as the zoms got close, the got back inside and closed the
door. Well, the zoms climbed all the way up the stairs and started banging
against the door. Snipers took ‘em out, easy peasie, lemon squeezy.
I tell you this to prove that zombies
cannot climb hand over hand but they can climb up stairs so just be mindful.
The
Red Circles: Okay, two of these three doors you could be legitimately
concerned about. The one on the far right, down from the Ice Cream Freezer is
the main dock where semi-trailers would back up to drop their loads. That semi
is still in place and the bottom of the dock is a good four and half feet off
the cement. I couldn’t see zombies breaking through even if the semi wasn’t
there.
As I have mentioned in the past, we
block off the roll up door to the Grocery Back Room with the forklift. And we
have barricaded the surrounding concrete dock with the registers from the front
of the store and chaining wheeling ice cream racks together. It pretty much
guarantees that the zoms cannot make direct contact with the door itself.
We have done the same thing in the
produce with dog food pallets and the Walker Stacker. We’ve pretty much
guaranteed that we have two tons of pig iron up against both doors but we can
make the barricades mobile so that we can get in and out.
I hope this map helps you understand
how we have protected ourselves. If you are out on the move and need to hole up
somewhere, use these techniques. They might save your life…
