[Renderofveils]

3: Bow / crossbow with plenty of arrows/bolts and the skill to use either effectively. Firearms are loud. Gunpowder gets wet. Firearms must be cleaned regularly. Bows are dependable, accurate from a close and moderate distance, quiet, and easy to maintain. Arrows can be maintained, recovered, and reused. 6: Kevlar. Lighter, quieter, and just as effective against bites. (Plus kevlar gloves give you some protection on the tender finger strips while not incumbering your ability to reliably use them for anything other than pounding a zed over the head. 11: Paintball mask. Preventing blood from splattering into delicate tissues is a must. 12: If you're being realistic, one bullet to put in your own brain pan. Once the power goes out, you're going to have to deal with chlorine gas settling into low lying areas after cooling stations go down(read: around water supplies,) radiation from just about every nuclear reactor in the affected area going into meltdown (unless by some miracle those that know how to operate them KEEP operating them,) huge wildfires from gas leaks hitting pilot lights, etc, etc, etc. Zombies would be the least of your problem.

[Professional]

Ok, if I’m dealing with Zombies, I’m going to make an effort to get as far away from them as possible. After a while, they will run out of food, and actually have the courtesy of dying off, or at least becoming very weak, teeth falling out for sure...

See, then I come back, and live like a King. But, not until they’re all very dead first. Granted, that would make a very lame tv show...

[TalonDJ]

Bows have a low rate of fire and rely on bleeding to kill their targets. Zombies don't bleed. You need the shock tissue damage of bullets.

Gun power does not get wet when it is sealed inside the little things we call ‘cartridges’.

How many arrows can you carry? really? A few dozen? I can store ammo by the thousands in handy water tight cans. A few belt pouches and I have hundreds of rounds on my body and they don't get in the way of firing my weapon.

Also if I get a good field of fire I can drop zombies from hundereds of yards away. Many models of guns need little or no cleaning. An AK can kill zombies all day and all night for years with no cleaning.
Good call o
n the Kevlar. Anti shark or anti-knife gear is what you want. Cut resistant gloves and sleeves at a minimum.

Chlorine from what?

Nuke stations are designed with automatic fail-safes, but active and passive. They will not just randomly melt down if no one is running the place.

[Sloth]

Once the power goes out, you're going to have to deal with chlorine gas settling into low lying areas after cooling stations go down(read: around water supplies,) radiation from just about every nuclear reactor in the affected area going into meltdown (unless by some miracle those that know how to operate them KEEP operating them,)

You seem to have an unrealistic impression of what goes on at public utility plants.

[TheThirdRuffian]

“radiation from just about every nuclear reactor in the affected area going into meltdown”

I believe all (or at least most) reactors in the USA are of the sort that simply cease production if left unattended.