Zombie Apocalypse: Survival Kit & Crew

If you're here to Celebrate the Small Things, you can find that post HERE.

In celebration of the return of The Walking Dead, a triad of lovely ladies are hosting the Zombie Apocalypse: Survival Kit & Crew Blog Hop.  Let's thank Jackie @ Bouquet of Books, Dani @ Entertaining Interests, and Mina @ Some Dark Romantic for making this possible.

To help build your zombie apocalypse dream team and survival kit, you'll need to pick ONE person and/or ONE item for each of the topics listed in the below categories.

(Items you already have on your person: undergarments, shirt, bottoms, socks, tennis shoes & a backpack. If you want special shoes and/or boots, jackets, belt, etc., those are extra and will need to be listed for one of your items below.)

And since this bloghop is all about having fun, if you have kiddos and/or pets, we can assume they are safely tucked away in a safe haven while we’re out in the world fighting off zombies, so do not worry.

With the characters below, please include the book, movie, & TV show they stem from.

The Walking Dead character (crew member #1) is the only one that needs to be from a zombie themed entertainment outlet, but please feel free to choose characters from your other favorite books/movies/tv. They may or may not be zombie related. It's all up to you. Just let your imagination flow!

Now we know the basic rules.  Here is my zombie survival kit and crew!  It may not be perfect, but it will at least be interesting!

Crew:
1 TWD Character-
     Daryl Dixon.  He's badass and you gotta have those crossbow skills.
1 Book Character-
     Hermione Granger (from Harry Potter in case anyone didn't know).  She's smart, she's well-prepared, and she's good with logic and planning.  You need at least one person in any group who's good at that sort of thing.  She can also do magic, so she's essential to our team.
1 Movie Character-
    Captain Jack Sparrow (from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies).  He's unpredictable and frequently lands himself in sticky situations, but he always finds crazy, unconventional ways to get himself back out again.  That could be useful.
1 TV Character-
     Lyta Alexander (from Babylon 5).  She has wickedly powerful psychic skills.  You definitely don't want her working against you.  Plus, she's a redhead.  Don't get on her bad side!
1 loved one-
     My husband Jamon.  The kids, by some stroke of luck, hidden away somewhere safe.  He'll be good to have around for company, and he's well-versed on all things zombie related.
1 friend-
     Josh.  He's a friend of Jamon's from high school, and he is also well-versed in all things zombified.  I've seen him kill zombies in video games enough times to know that he would be useful.  You should see how many zombies he can wipe out with an auger.
1 freebie-
     Susan Ivanova (also from Babylon 5).  She's tough, smart, and she doesn't take no for an answer.

Backpack:
1 comfort item-
     Notebook.  If you can count a notebook and pencil as one item, then I claim the pencil too.  However, if I can't, I'll use blood or mud or something.  Gross, maybe, but I can't give up writing altogether.  Just not happening.
1 weapon-
     Sword.  I always wanted an excuse to learn to use one.  It's quiet, and it has better reach than a knife.  The second I have to get too close to a walker to kill it, something bad is going to happen to me.  I just know it.
1 luxury item-
     Coffee.  Can't give that up.  It may not be easy to brew coffee while on the run from walkers, but I'll figure it out.
1 food item-
     Chocolate covered raisins.  If I'm going to be facing death every day, I have to be stocked up on this one.  I have a weakness for them.  Don't know why, but I do.
1 medicine/first aid item-
     Medical masks.  The illness that has been causing zombification seems to be airborne, so this seems like a practical way of dealing with it.  Zombie bites will become infected and kill you, but a sneeze in the face will also do it.
1 hygiene item-
     Toothpaste.  Sure, I don't want to reek, but having my teeth rot out during the zombie apocalypse seems like a bad move on my part.  It would complicate eating far too much for my taste.
1 freebie-
     Duct tape.  They say it can be used for anything, right?

Background:
Outpost-
     We've been using a castle as our homebase.  Castello di Amorosa in California, to be specific.  It's a good location with solid stone walls, and there's a lot of wine here.  That makes our evenings more tolerable, for sure.

Image courtesy of Jim G./
Flickr

Outbreak-
     We're not sure how widespread the outbreak is, but we haven't seen any signs of civilization for awhile.  We heard rumors that it's been contained to the western half of the United States so far through a strict quarantine, but we have no way of being sure at this point.
Cause of it-
     An unknown illness seems to be the cause.  The initial symptoms are odd.  The infected person's skin first turns an odd greenish hue, and profuse vomiting soon follows.  Clinical death is closely followed by an insatiable hunger for human flesh.
     Interestingly, zombies seem to be going for the neck of their victims first.  This has complicated dating, as we're now wary of letting anyone's mouths near o
Cure (if applicable)-
     There is no cure for the illness itself, though I hope someone truly is out there searching for one.  As for the zombification part of it, the only sure cure for that is an axe to the neck.
1 item you NEED to find-
     A new chess board.  The one we have here has 3 missing pieces.  Hey, you may think that doesn't count as a need, but without adequate entertainment, people start messing with each other.  And nothing is more irritating than a game with missing pieces.
1 item you WANT to find-
     I want a gallon of chocolate ice cream.  Sure, it may not be necessary for survival in any way, but lack of refrigeration has left me deprived of yumminess for far too long.
Method of travel-
     When we need to go for supplies, we sometimes go by car, though we also have some horses for reversing rough terrain.   Hermione uses her broom and a borrowed invisibility cloak for covert trips when needed.