Physics Proves Tom Correct: To Survive a Zombie Attack, Try the Mall

You wouldn’t think to connect a shopping mall to a zombie attack, but some people have managed to do it. Halloween is around the corner, so for some people, surviving a zomie attack is high on their priority list. Or at least, the documentary Zombieland would go so far as to suggest.

Recent physics research into the “random walk” model describes “the survival probability of immobile targets annihilated by random walkers.” The conclusions suggest that the people trapped in a mall in “Dawn of the Dead” may be better off than the folks stuck in a farmhouse in “Night of the Living Dead.”

It was determined that the likelihood of survival when threatened by predatory random walkers is closely related to how complex the prey’s hideout is. The more twists and turns, the safer you’ll be. In structures that are highly complex and irregular, the chances of the predator coming into contact with its target shrinks down to almost zero.

There you go. Malls are your best chance at survival in zombie season, if there is such a thing.