We see them have backpacks or bags but rarely do we see what’s inside. They definitely don’t have clothes since they don’t change into anything. Maybe food,water,ammo but they should have more. Or sometimes there packs are too light like they don’t have anything
I don’t think I’ve seen any hard apocalypse content in the same way there is hard science fiction. Even in most zombie content the zombies are secondary to the human antagonists.
I think Cormac McCarthy’s The Road may fit the bill a little bit as far as “hard post-apocalyptic”. I can’t say for sure, as I didn’t finish the book. I found it to be too depressing at the time. Which, duh, but it goes to show that the author is uninterested in the power fantasy that often accompanies the genre.
I don’t get why anyone would carry around a gun in the Apocalypse, you have limited ammo and no way of getting more. IMO a good backpack should have MREs, some arrows, a crossbow, medical supplies, and a water purifier.
If you have a gun and at least some ammo and you also think you’re likely to need to defend yourself with weapons then I think the gun’s going to be better for so long as you can keep it operational, than a crossbow. Both need skill to use but I’d wager myself having a little more luck with the gun and it’s probably going to be a lot more deadly and if you miss you have a little more opportunity to try again than you might with a crossbow. that’s going to be awkward to try and reload in the heat of the moment, by yourself.
Crossbow bolts and modern arrows are not something you could produce more of in an apocalyptic scenario. A trad bow can use wooden arrows, but producing arrows capable of taking down large game is quite a challenge, and not something you can just go out and do in a pinch with a pocket knife and some sticks.
Arrows are reusable, but as someone who bow hunts, 100 bullets would probably last longer for me than a dozen arrows. If you miss your target, you can easily lose an arrow, or break it on a rock, break it on bone, break it by hitting your own arrow. Damaged arrows are really dangerous to try to use.
Feminine products and Imodium. One of my biggest fears is being kidnapped and not having those things. They let you keep your backpack when you’re kidnapped, right? Chapstick would also be nice.
A towel.
A towel, [The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
Usually they carry some baby that they had during the apocalypse. For some reason people can’t be bothered to raid the abandoned pharmacies for free condoms or birth control pills.
Hey, did you hear — the zombies are attracted to loud sounds. Better bring some kids into this hellscape so they can scream their heads off and get us all killed!
