Oh what the heck, I'm bored...

There's no reason to leave anyone behind. Four of the six in your group are healthy. You should have no problem avoiding slow moving zombies, but you will have trouble gaining much distance on them.

You need a distraction. If it were me, I would probably send myself and one of the healthy members of the group out to slowly draw the zombies off into another direction while the rest escape. Once we get a couple of miles away, we break out into a run, leave the zombies well behind, then once well out of sight, we turn back towards main group and rejoin. At the very least, it gains us some distance so that the injuries can be treated, and at best, it loses the zombies altogether.

I will give it a Go.
Starting the corn on fire is a thought however in the smoke we would get disoriented and possibly suffocate. Plus any wooden structures nearby which could potentially be a means of survival one more night would burn. Would not kill the zombie's so fire is not an option. Though I would hate to use the guns ammo being needed for emergencies using sword and bat would prove difficult with the corn stalks. So putting the sniper rifle over one of my shoulders . Give the two shot guns to the women. Taking the one nine for myself. steven can assist the bad breathing Farmer Geoge. He could be having a heartattack then again he could just be tired after a long run. The dog is on his own. Josh can take the extra water and packs as needful he is a mule. Samantha with her hurt leg sucks but until she says its to bad to walk on we move on.. be line for the closest structure. Hopefully a barn where we could climb to the top section. From there we could make sure george was fine as well as give everyone a rest.
No need to leave anyone behind and the dog if he is quiet and makes it to the barn can be helped up. Now we are stuck with need of a new plan. So provided our farmer survives the night, Our nurse helping him as needful. The men and I can take watches throughout the night though i do not think the zombie will get up the ladder. Next day provided all can make it up and out me and football star will clear the route and we will take off again looking for something more suitable. As far as the potatoes they could be use to grow more by cutting growing sprout of off a single spud...
Still to many loose ends.. Hard to base anything on this route. Not enough imformation. Is there a city near? How far are the nearest hills? Does George survive the night? Was George expendable Yes.. But his death would have brought us nothing. Football star taking a flying run at zombies with samarai sword would have been better sacrifice if needful. He would have a 65% chance of living through it and returning to us. While the rest made a get away if George laters dies and we also loose the footbal star. Shame but sending a half dead man as a diversion or even as food would gain us little time and gain me little trust.
Why not me? Self preservation for one. Plus If I command their trust then they will be looking to me to make these decisions Chances are most would have been dead without me up to this point. If I run off chances with me or not they would have little chance without me so my death would come to naught in terms of their future survival.
That aside while knowing electricity or engineering or karate.. Has plenty of uses. The only person of the group I would not sacrifice would be the nurse. She may not know enough to figure out a remedy for the zombieism.. But she would be the only one who could keep us alive when our only dmg is a arm cut by a nail.. You see what I mean while zombie's are bad enough A man can still break a leg or have staf infection and die from that..

Shoot them all in the legs, watch the fun from a nearby distance. Since this is world wide and i'm more than likely going to die anyways may as well get some entertainment out of it. Then try and keep as far ahead of the zombies as I can. If it looks like they will get me and there is no other hope for survival then i'd just shoot myself and be done with it.

first of all, you cannot say that these people will stick together. One or two of them may just take off on their own. Or you cannot say how they will react in this kind of stress, For example - joshua and steven may decide that if only the two of them work together, they'd be better off. And before they leave, they might threaten the others at gun point and ask for their things, guns, food etc.

now, whoever is remaining, I think it would be the injured nurse, samantha and the farmer, george, at least. And of course george's dog isn't going to desert him.
To these people and whoever is remaining and willing to listen
5 minutes to drink some water and eat something (from what they're carrying). The dog gets something to eat too. During this time, the nurse has an additional job of seeing whether she can reduce george's breathing problem
then, we move, our objective is to get out of the area as quickly as possible. We work together, we move swiftly, and we assist george and the nurse, if necessary, lending them a shoulder
we are looking for a vehicle. To drive off-road since you said the roads are clogged.
once we get the vehicle, my objective is drop these people off to
a) their respective family members or friends
b) a pocket of unaffected people who are working together and are looking after each other
basically the objective is to get these people to safety where I know for a fact that they'll be taken care off.

once I've dropped off everyone, I'm on my own and can do as I please.

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now if you say i cannot even drive off-road, maybe i'll reply again later, if i find the time

Well, as we are on farmland, which, has a cornfield, I'd make a beeline for the farmers motorized COMBINE, which, IS an off road vehicle. I'd get my squad assembled, we'd pack onto the combine and go harvesting zombies!

Once we've wiped the immediate area clear of all visible "deads", we then park @ the farmhouse and go inside for triage and good old shephards pie.

No ammo wasted, no diversions needed, no persons sacrificed, as you've said, they are all assets.

What kind of zombies? Dawn of the Dead or 28 Days/Weeks Later? I could write out a plan for each, but I don't have the time for two. One thing for sure is save the 17 year old. We might need to repopulate the Earth. Part of saving the 17 year old is a survival of the fittest thing, you know like selective design? Breed with the fitter female, probably have a child that wants to be fit. The nurse is fat so that could run in her family. I don't care if Josh ends up being fitter than me, I want to survive and would probably kill him after I stop using him as a mule.

Originally posted by orangeprojectiles
What kind of zombies? Dawn of the Dead or 28 Days/Weeks Later? I could write out a plan for each, but I don't have the time for two. One thing for sure is save the 17 year old. We might need to repopulate the Earth. Part of saving the 17 year old is a survival of the fittest thing, you know like selective design? Breed with the fitter female, probably have a child that wants to be fit. The nurse is fat so that could run in her family. I don't care if Josh ends up being fitter than me, I want to survive and would probably kill him after I stop using him as a mule.

I said the slow, lumbering type in the OP.

Well, I see you've corrected several for taking a vehicle through the cornfield but I'd like to point out you stated the roads are clogged- not the cornfield. So take a vehicle through the cornfield until you're out of it and can travel no further by vehicle.

The reason you do NOT want to go through a cornfield on foot is due to the fact zombies do not use vision as their main sense. A cornfield would obscure your main sense- vision- but not their main sense- smell.

The best bet is to go through the cornfield in a vehicle if the cornfield is your only viable exit route.

If you get ambushed on foot in a cornfield, you're screwed. You have to watch out for crawlers, too.

So really it's best to go through in a vehicle and none of the sprained ankles or breathing problems would be an immediate issue to get away from the horde.

First off, I would review the situation. Sprained ankle on the medic and possible heart attack on the farmer, who hones a dog. If we leave the farmer behind, the dog might stay with him. The dog could be a problem in the longterm, as well as a key asset if it could still sniff out zombies. The medic, we need. I would have Josh carry Samantha along to a safe spot and Steven and I carry the farmer. I would have George send Scout out ahead of us to find a spot and send Sarah to follow him, using her speed. She should be safe considering Scout is able to sniff out zombies. I would feel safe after about 5 to 10 minutes running or after finding a building with 2 floors, with windows at the top and a dead bolt. The window to have someone be a lookout while we recover. If George dies, we send him as a distraction or we use him to set up a trap. For the trap I would dig a shallow 2 to 3 feet deep trench around our house and have Josh and Steven set up a trap using Stevens torch system he has. I would take shop in a window with Sarah's dad's hunting rifle. I would hone my skills from playing paintball and only take sure shots at the zombies who seemed the most dangerous. I would have Sarah and Samantha be look outs in other windows. I would have the most willing person go to sleep or stay awake pending on time of day to keep look out over night, we would of course rotate. During the day, we would send Sarah and Steven, the two most capable runners to look for other survivors. If we are boxed in by the zombies, well, then we're done. If we aren't boxed in, then we would scavenge the house for a map of the area and go to the closest body of water, look for a canoe and head to a city where we could get a plow truck or two and head to Utah or Nevada.

[edit on 9-3-2010 by orangeprojectiles]

Primary Objective: To escape the "large midwestern town" with "your life, and the lives of your [six] groupmates".

Secondary Objective: To escape the "large midwestern town" with "your life".

Total Materials:
01 First Aid Kit
02 Shotguns
180 Shotgun Shells
06 Gallons of Water
03 Small Packages of Power Bars
01 Surgical Kit (from the Nurse)
02 9mm Handgun
06 16-round 9mm Clips
03 8" Commando Knives
01 Portable Acetylene Torch with Fuel
01 Samurai Sword (a Katana, presumably)
01 Engineer's Tool Kit
01 Scoped Hunting Rifle
30 Rounds for Scoped Hunting Rifle
02 Pounds of Trail Mix
01 Aluminum Baseball Bat
01 Electrician's Kit
05 Cans of Food
05 Packages of Vegetable Seeds
02 Pounds of Beef Jerky
04 Pounds of Potatoes
01 Camp Shovel

Total Skills:
Street Smarts
Weapon Capabilities
Leadership
Registered Nurse
Field Medicine
Structural Engineering
Welding
Metalworking
Metallurgy
Tae Kwan Do - Black Belt
Sprinting
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Wiring
Farming
Hunting
Survival
Veterinary First Aid
Zombie Detection (via Scout)
Scavenging

Scenario:
Two of the group are in poor shape. The zombies are advancing in large numbers that cannot be defeated with current combat resources, but are slow and reasonably stupid--though driven by instinct for food. The roads are blocked with wrecked cars, so the only reasonable escape route is through the corn fields that surround the town.

Action:
If they are willing, Joshua and Steven would trade responsibilities for looking after the injured/exasperated members of the group and carrying them if necessary. If Joshua and Steven are not willing, the only recourse those remaining members have is to keep up or fall behind.

Since even a portable acetylene torch isn't a light item, it would be left in the cornfield. The scoped rifle and one round would then be used at maximum range to puncture the tank and spark an explosion, catching the cornfield on fire. Zombies are presumably stupid enough to walk through a burning field in order to obtain food, and therefore they would be slowed down by the (hopefully increasing) pile of scorched zombies.

The beef jerky would spoil sooner than any of the vegetables, so it's probably best to leave those behind. Depending on the specific type of zombies, it may even slow them down as they fight over the meat. That's a reach, though, and the main purpose would be getting rid of the weight--which is why the four pounds of potatoes would also be dropped, as well as the five cans of fruits and vegetables, since they're heavier than it's worth.

The average human walks a mile in about 15 minutes or so, but given the condition of the group, for everyone to keep up, a mile would take probably 25 minutes or so. A zombie presumably walks at about two feet per second, and thus would cover a mile in about 45 minutes. However, to be safe, it should be assumed that the zombies can keep up with our "injured pace".

If I have despotic rights over the entire group and can command what they will and will not do, no one will go back for someone who falls behind. However, human nature being what it is, anyone who chooses to stay behind gets left behind, and--provided I could get a weapon from one of them--I wouldn't hesitate to shoot anyone who got themselves chewed up.

Really the only plan would be to spark the acetylene tank at maximum range, then keep pace ahead of the zombies and do our best to outrun them, assuming they're coming from one to three directions.

There is not enough information provided in the original scenario that could produce a positive plan of action.

However, I will bite.

The first few moments would be spent asking the farmer everything he knows about the surrounding area, and then seeing that we ALL get to a secure location within 10 minutes of where we currently are. The only pre-requisite for this location would have to be a 2nd floor and and an ability to secure a reasonable amount of electronics and machine parts once we get there - Food is a bonus, running water is key.

Once we are properly established into the 2nd floor, we will destroy the steps so that zombies cannot access our entire level. From this point, we conserve ammo and rely on intellect and engineering to destroy the waves of zombies in a manner that is time effective, safe and energy-efficient; As we will be forced to kill a small population of zombies before being able to scour the area further for more materials.

After time, I'm sure that we would be able to begin expanding outward slowly and securing a few acres of land for farming. Ammo should be used sparingly.