Boffins plan for zombie plague

Tips to outlast living dead horde

HINCKLEY is on the brink of annihilation - what should you do? Head to the beach apparently, according to academic research.

But first make sure you stop at Sainsbury’s to stock up on tinned food before swerving to Hinckley Golf Club to grab a golf buggy.

Essentials from all these places could be vital to surviving a post-apocalyptic world where life as we know it is wiped out.

Although if the borough were to be beset by a zombie scourge then your days could be so numbered it might not be worth the hassle.

Thanks to a mathematical model devised by students from the University of Leicester, we now know zombies would eradicate humanity in less than six months.

A complex formula calculates that 100 days into an outbreak of the undead scourge, just over 100 survivors would be left uninfected and within six months these stragglers would also die or become zombies themselves - and that’s not just Hinckley and Bosworth - it’s the whole world.

Among the flesh eating and bone crunching there remains a glimmer of hope.

The paper, released as part of publicity for The Big Bang Fair, a major scientific and engineering exhibition at the NEC in March, doesn’t take into account citizens fighting back.

If folks went all Walking Dead style then homo sapiens might just survive as long as they head to the beach, supermarket and golf course to help restart society.

These suggestions come from Professor Lewis Dartnell, who has previously taught survival science to attendees of The Big Bang Fair.

He says people should be prepared with a ‘grab and go’ list consisting of basic items such as a fire-starting kit, water bottle, small knife, rope and food.

To begin rebuilding civilisation Prof Dartnell says glass is crucial - so a beach is the best place to be as it offers sand and other raw materials such as chalk and seaweed.

The Lincolnshire coast looks like the best bet for Bosworthians, at around 70 miles away. Basic tools like a lathe can be made from sand and old drinks cans and it’s also estimated the average supermarket has enough food to keep someone alive for 55 years. As for the golf buggies, Prof Dartnell says the rechargeable batteries in the carts could store generated electricity.

His solutions are in stark contrast to items people highlighted as essentials in a survey run to mark World Zombie Day in October last year.

Nearly half of people, 47%, said they would grab their mobile phone in the face of disaster, only 22% said they’d take matches while only 10% said they would take a bottle

There was sensible acknowledgement that food, 61%, and medical supplies, 53%, were also essential.