PREPARING FOR THE ‘INVASION’ Identify the types of emergencies that are possible in your area. Besides a zombie apocalypse, this may include floods, fires, blizzards, tornadoes, hurricanes, terrorist attacks or earthquakes. If you are unsure contact your local Red Cross chapter or other emergency services for more information. Pick a meeting place for your family to regroup in case you're separated at the time of the disaster, i.e., zombies invade your home or your town evacuates because of a hurricane. Pick one place right outside your home for sudden emergencies and one place outside of your neighborhood in case you are unable to return home right away. Identify your emergency contacts. Make a list of local contacts like the police, fire department and your local zombie response team. Put these in your cell phone contact list. Also identify an out-of-state contact that you can call during an emergency to let the rest of your family know you are OK. Plan your evacuation route. When zombies are hungry they won't stop until they get food (i.e., brains). If you've time to evacuate, go; don't hang around, which means you need to get out of town fast! During the hurricane season a few years back as Houston was evacuating some of the city, the interstate became a parking lot as cars ran out of gas. Plan where you would go and multiple routes you would take ahead of time so that the flesh eaters don't have a chance! This also is helpful when natural disasters strike and you have to take shelter fast. The earlier you start the better the chance of beating the zombie rush hour and avoiding the traffic that's sure to jam up the roads as time runs out. -- Bill Morrow