The question for the day is: Is a mall a good place to hole up in case of a zombie outbreak?

George Romero's Dawn of the Dead and Max Brooks' seminal The Zombie Survival Guide seem to give us contradictory answers. In Romero's film, a group of four survivors find great safety in a shopping mall after securing the structure. All of their needs (aside from social relations) are accounted for and the mall is a large, relatively controllable environment... once it is secure. That is the important thing to emphasize. In Dawn of the Dead only two mall residents survive the process of shutting down outsider access, a sign that the task is extremely dangerous. Of course, one can argue that if early situations had been handled more wisely, the deaths could have been avoided.

Romero's mall is strangely vacant aside from a spattering of zombies. Brooks' however sets a more realistic stage of the possible overcrowding of a mall. In the early stages of an outbreak (and continuing indefinitely), malls will be points of attraction for both zombies and people. THIS MEANS DANGER! Even if you can arrange the initial arrivals into an efficient military, constant influx of outsiders and zombies would present continual problems.

In order for Romero's mall to be as vacant as it was when the heroes arrived, how many regular people would have already died at the location? This certainly doesn't say much for your odds of survival.

Still... Are the potential benefits greater than the dangers? Large parking lots give you a good scope of approaching undead, there is a large quantity variety of inherent supplies and the attraction of people means an ability to establish new trade, society and culture.

If you've got the answer, weigh in at the forums.