Apocalyptic Empire change of direction!

So I've kept this largely under wraps, because I wasn't sure how I wanted it to play out, but I've decided to let everyone know exactly what has been going on with the Apocalyptic Empire Series.

Over the course of the last few months I have been secretly working on re-branding the series, rewriting the first two books, and completely changing the entire look and feel of the books. I have changed the author name, the character names, and completely changed the style of writing in the books. I feel like this will enhance the story, make the book more readable, and make an overall much more enjoyable experience for everyone.

I have also enlisted the help of a very professional editor, and a new cover designer to create the look and feel that I was sorely missing. I have also enlisted the help of Alika from SHTFReady.com as an advisor. He is helping me create a much more vivid and reader friendly series.

Add to all of that and I also have a new website that I will be rolling out in the coming months.

I will create future updates with my progress as I go through this great transition period, but I didn't want to keep fans of the series in the dark for any longer than necessary.

As it stands, book one is currently about 25% through the rewriting process as I had added about 100 pages of content in just the first quarter of the book. I have added new characters to flush out some of the beginning stories of the Outbreak, and also to add more action and suspense through the beginning days. I've removed a lot of the issues that I had the first time around, and this will greatly help a lot of people thoroughly enjoy the books.

Lastly, I just wanted to leave you guys with the new details of the series.

The series will now be called "The Hatchery Compound" with the titles of each book as follows:

The Extinction Pandemic: A Post-Apocalyptic Novel (The Hatchery Compound)

Eradication is the Solution: A Post-Apocalyptic Novel

 (The Hatchery Compound)

Operation Reclamation: A Post-Apocalyptic Novel

(The Hatchery Compound)

Time for Expansion: A Post-Apocalyptic Novel

 (The Hatchery Compound)

Grayson Hawkins will be the author of this series, which I think readers of the original series will enjoy the new name. I thought it was pretty clever.

As always, I would love any feedback that you can offer, please feel free to email me or leave a comment.

Thanks so much for hanging in there during the transition and I promise the wait will be worth it. For all readers of Apocalyptic Empire, once we are done I will send out free copies of the new series as a gift for coming along for the ride. I really appreciate everything you guys do for me, and I want to do what I can to show my appreciation.

Also I will leave you with the book covers for the first two books. Let me know what you think please!

Stay safe out there,

Chris Blake

A.K.A.

Grayson Hawkins

Tomorrow's Episode of Prepper Chicks!

Tomorrow's episode of Prepper Chicks - After Dark will feature JD from Conflicted, Lori from PrepperChicks, and Alika from SHTF Ready like always! We also have FOUR guests this week.

First up is Julie, Ginger and Joseph from Conflicted: What Would You Do Scenarios. They are a group that takes a page right out of JD's book! Check them out on Facebook for more scenarios that make you think.

Next up, is Sharon from Trailer Park Homesteader. Her family is all about preparing for a real deal SHTF scenario. Not viral apocalypse like we are, but more down to earth stuff like storms, financial disasters, illnesses, etc. Check them out on Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube, or their Podcast as well.

We are excited to have all these new guests on our show to try out our new scenarios. We will be branching out from our normal routine and trying something new by taking only a couple scenarios and digesting them and breaking them down. We will try and come up with potential ways to avoid the scenarios and also how to get out of them or deal with them.

It should be a good show tomorrow evening so tune in and check it out at 11PM ET on Tuesday January 7th over at Prepper Chicks - After Dark!

Stay safe out there,

Chris Blake

Back in action! Checking in!

I finally got a new Macbook and I have started writing book three in the series Reclamation. I have made some changes and switched to a past tense writing style to better fit the mold. I have also made some other tweaks and minor adjustments to get a better handle on everything. If I can keep up a normal writing pace I should be able to get Reclamation out before summer comes along! So keep an eye on the blog and website going forward for more updates.

I have been participating on a weekly basis over at Prepper Chicks - After Dark. We have been gaining a steady listener base and playing Conflicted, making hard decisions and deciding who gets to live and who needs to go. This of course made some waves and has caused us to rethink the whole show. I will be creating some crazy scenarios and then the team will be breaking down those scenarios, coming up with ways to avoid them and tactical solutions. Using this new format I think will be really engaging and get our listeners thinking about what they would do in these scenarios and also prepare them to avoid these scenarios. I am looking forward to the next episode which will be on Tuesday, January 7th.

Of course I won't be the only one on the show. My good friend, and biggest fan Alika will be on there as well. He runs shtfready.com a survival/prepper forum. They have some great information about survival and how to prepare yourself for a crazy scenario that could actually happen. I'm not saying that the Apocalyptic Empire won't reign, I'm just saying the odds are it will be a tsunami or something...

Also on the show is the host Lori from PrepperChicks. She is a crazy lady that keeps us all semi-inline and keeps the show going. She's super funny and always keeps the fun going. PrepperChicks on the other hand is all business. They are exactly like the title says, promoting prepping to chicks. Their goal is to spread the word of preparedness to women and getting the knowledge out there. She can tell you 101 ways to use a tampon, or maxipad, or something, just ask her...

Lastly, but not least is JD from Conflicted. He is the creator of Conflicted The Game. It's a deck of cards that contains some serious situations that make you and your friends/family really stop and think. If someone in your family answers each question with "just kill them all," you may want to rethink having them in your party when the shit hits the fan. JD is a funny guy originally from Brazil, and he's an awesome guy. He and I have partnered up on raffles and cross promote each others gear all the time. If you haven't checked out Conflicted, now's the time.

Tune in to Prepper Chicks After Dark at 11PM EST on 01/07/14 to check us all out!

On a personal note, I hope you all had a good Holiday season. New Years is right around the corner and I am super excited for 2014. I have two new books planned for 2014, and I plan on getting them both finished. I also plan on having many raffles and giveaways in between. On a way personal note, I have a new baby coming in March and we are so happy for that. So as we look forward to a new year, I wish you all a good one, and please check back with me later for more updates about the Apocalyptic Empire, and all that I have going on in the AE Universe!

Stay safe out there,

Chris Blake

Survival radio show

Ok first things first, my Macbook died so it has seriously hindered my ability to post stuff! Hence the lack of blog posts! Now I am on my iPad so I will keep it short!

This week I was able to be a part of a new survival radio show hosted by PrepperChicks and Survivalogics. The show will be aired every Tuesday night at 11PM ET, 8PM PT. Since I failed to get the word out in time feel free to listen to this weeks recorded show. The link is for the Conflicted Card Game. He summarizes it much better than I can!

Listen Now!

And the winners are....!

The raffle is over and here are the winners! I will be sending everyone an email to collect addresses for your prizes, make sure you respond in a timely manner to collect your prizes! The rafflecopter system doesn't assign winners to prizes so I am giving them away first come first serve. Respond to the emails I sent off with a list of a few things you would like and I will send them off or let you know!

Thanks everyone for participating, I'm really glad I got to do this! I will do another on next month, so check back for more raffle goodness!

Stay safe out there,

Chris Blake

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Apocalyptic Empire Series FREE This Weekend Only! Plus The Raffle Is Ending!

There's a ton of stuff going on this weekend so you better not miss out!

First, the raffle is ending this weekend! If you want a chance to win survival gear, signed print copies of the series, or a Conflicted card game deck, you better enter to win below!

Next, I am giving away FREE copies of Apocalyptic Empire: Eradication and The Hatchery Compound. This deal is only on Smashwords though so you have to head over there. The cool thing about Smashwords is that you can download your copy in whatever format you need to read it on your devices. Just add the books to your cart and apply the coupon codes. Both books will be FREE all weekend, but the coupon expires Monday, so grab them while you can!

Apocalyptic Empire: Eradication - Use coupon code GZ24E when checking out!

Apocalyptic Empire: The Hatchery Compound - Use coupon code JJ79P when checking out!

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Guns, guns, and more guns.

It's been awhile since I've talked about weaponry on the blog. Life has been an endless whirlwind for me, and I've forgotten my bloggy routes. When I originally started this blog I said I would be informative! Then I switched jobs again, finished Eradication, and got on the marketing bandwagon.

So on to the guns right...

Lately, if you live in a cave, you may have missed that there is a lot of talk going around about an "assault weapons ban." Now, before you start lighting me up with political shenanigans, I am going to just be honest....ENOUGH shenanigans. We're here to talk about no, not "assault rifles," I prefer to call them semi-automatic-bringers-of-love.

Moving on!

The funny thing about this blog post is that I do not own a single rifle, so this isn't me spouting off about all my fancy toys, and how intelligent I am about them. It's just me checking out some bad ass guns. I am going to drop some links to BudsGunShop, because well, they are pretty cool.

I'm going to start off with, you guessed it, an AR-15. Now, not all ARs are made equal, even a cave man would probably know that. You can spend thousands of dollars on one, or you can spend $700. I prefer the latter. Enter the Bushmaster CAR15. For $700, it's a sweet little package. It has a collapsable butt stock and a red dot sight to make it look even more sweet.

Ok, so nobody said I was sticking to cheap guns, this thing weighs in at $2,800. It's a Bushmaster ACR 223. I think it just looks awesome, and it is definitely ready to rock and roll.

This one isn't even in stock it's so awesome. The H&K MR556 is basically an amped up gorgeous looking M416. It still wears the same gear as your standard AR platform and fires the same rounds.

The FN FS2000 is sold out too! I'm sensing a pattern here... Anyway, this rifle is really cool, it's in a bullpup form factor which means that the receiver is behind the trigger and shortens up the buttstock. The bullpup form factor isn't widely used in the US, but I think it should be.

Just to prove a point that I'm not entirely about new fangled technology, here's a Springfield AA9626 M1A SOCOM. It's a modernized version of the standard military M1A1 from the WW2 era. I'm a sucker for WW2 weapons, and this brings me back there like a 1911, while still adding in the newer technology.

This isn't "technically" a rifle, but most of these were carbines anyway, so neither were they... Anyway, how awesome are Tommy Guns? Or Thompson 45 ACPs officially. It's still the same form factor, caliber, and 50 round drum that the gangsters were using back in the early 1900's. Need I say more?

I'm going to end with this rifle, because nothing says you're a bad ass zombie killing machine quite like the .50BMG. BARR M82A1SYS is a .50 caliber cannon. I don't even think it's fair to call it a rifle. That's like calling the Lamborghini Veneno a car, which clearly it's not, its a batmobile... and if a rifle could be the equivalent of the batmobile, the Barrett .50 is it. You can Google the M82A1 all day long and find videos and pictures of it destroying things, so I don't have to do that for you, I will just leave you with this one... Barrett Pumpking Blasting! This guy's on my Youtube list and he's legit so give him a follow!

Thanks all for today! Until next time!

Stay safe out there,

Chris Blake

Apocalyptic Empire: Eradication Featured on Halloween Horror over at the Reader Depot!

Debra Wattes, a soon to be Apocalyptic Empire Partner featured Eradication on her website Reader Depot. She has a page up over there featuring all sorts of gory, horror based novels and decided Apocalyptic Empire was a good fit.

If you read the very first chapter of Apocalyptic Empire: Eradication, you will probably get the idea. Eradication is a much grittier, intense book. In the very first chapter you see a major transformation in Vintago, and it only goes downhill from there. Things are going to get very interesting indeed...

Check it out on Reader Depot!

Featured on Halloween Horror at the Reader Depot!

Stay safe out there,

Chris Blake

Signed and Personalized Copies of Apocalyptic Empire Series

I got the idea a while back about selling signed printed copies of Apocalyptic Empire: The Hatchery Compound. Now that Apocalyptic Empire: Eradication is out, I would like to extend the offer again!

I can print, sign, and ship a copy of Eradication for $11 and The Hatchery Compound for $10. The extra buck is because Eradication is 50 pages longer so they charge me more...ugh!

Anyway, I will sign your copy, personalize it, gift it, whatever you want. Just shoot me a comment on the blog here, or send me an email to chris@apocalypticempireseries.com and we can discuss!

Thanks for checking in again.

Stay safe out there,

Chris Blake

Rafflecopter Raffle is Now Live! Enter to Win!

The raffle is live! For two whole weeks! Enter to win some pretty nifty gifts!

Check out the Raffle below!

Comment on this post for entries in the raffle!

Stay safe out there,

Chris Blake

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rafflecopter Online Raffle Starts Tomorrow!

I am going to post the link to the raffle once it is live tomorrow afternoon, but I wanted everyone to know it was going on. I plan on giving away 3 copies of Eradication and The Hatchery Compound, a cool 5 in 1 survival tool, 5 military can openers, a 19 in 1 multitool, some water purification tablets, and a magnesium fire starter. I am also planning on teaming up with Survivalogic to give away some of their Conflicted card games, and possibly other gear, more info on that tomorrow.

Anyway, check in tomorrow for the links to the raffle. You can do a bunch of different things to enter the raffle, and one of them is leaving a blog comment on tomorrow's post! So check back tomorrow for more info.

Stay safe out there,

Chris Blake

Apocalyptic Empire: Eradication Live on Amazon and Smashwords

The wait is finally over! You can pickup a copy of Apocalyptic Empire: Eradication now over at Amazon and at Smashwords. The print copy from Createspace is still processing but should be done tomorrow. Smashwords will also get it uploaded to Apple books, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, etc. in the next few days. I am also waiting on Google Play to process as well. So come next week, you can grab a copy wherever you read!

I have been speaking with my guy over at Survival Logics and we are going to jointly host the raffle next week. I have some really cool items planned to give away as well as some signed paperback copies of both books. Check back in this weekend after I have a few seconds to breathe for more info!

Thanks for checking in again.

Stay safe out there,

Chris Blake

Apocalyptic Empire: Eradication Release Date

It's official. I am going to give a release date! Well more of a release guideline! It's going to be this weekend!

It has taken a little bit longer to finish book two, because we wanted to do it right. Apocalyptic Empire: The Hatchery Compound was released way to prematurely on my part. It was riddled with grammar issues and all sorts of goodies. Thankfully I met Abigail my editor and she has helped get me in line.

This time around I made sure we did things right and we have gone over the book page by page multiple times.

Besides the editing, the story itself should be much better and much more exciting. I incorporated a lot of positive and negative feedback when writing Eradication, and I really feel like it will be more enjoyable for everyone.

The final page count will be about 350 pages, so it's adding quite a bit of extra story to the Apocalyptic Empire series. I felt like The Hatchery Compound was a little thin the first time around, so I wanted to make sure I captured all of the story this time.

I am letting everyone know ahead of time because I plan on having it uploaded and out there this weekend. It depends on how quickly Createspace, Smashwords, Google Play, and Amazon does their things though. Either way, I will have it uploaded by the end of the week, and in your hands physically or digitally this weekend.

I plan on having a couple Goodreads Giveaways next week and also a really sweet raffle as well. I will get them all planned out and online this weekend and provide another post for the details. Check back in next week for those.

I hope you all enjoy reading Eradication, and I can't wait to see what happens!

I am working on book three still as well, so plan on that being out sometime in the first part of next year.

Thanks for checking in. I will update as soon as it is online for purchase!

Stay safe out there,

Chris Blake

Midnight Apocalyptic Empire: Eradication Update!

So it's midnight...well it will be by the time this is done.

I just sent off my final revisions to Eradication. I added 18 pages of content and 12K words to the book. It filled in a lot of areas that I felt needed more description or beefed up action sequences, etc. It also makes the book feel more polished and complete I think.

Anyway, I sent them off to Abigail, my editor, and as soon as she gets back to me, I can start uploading to Amazon, Smashwords, Createspace, Google Play, etc. etc. Hopefully I can get it out before I head to California next weekend, but if not I will do it as quickly as I can.

Can't wait to get Eradication into your hands!

Stay safe out there,

Chris Blake

Signed copies of Apocalyptic Empire: The Hatchery Compound? Yes please?

I got the idea of selling signed copies of Apocalyptic Empire from another author in my group. I realized that I can print and ship a copy of my books for $0.80 less than Amazon is currently selling the print edition.

If you would like a signed and personalized print edition of Apocalyptic Empire: The Hatchery Compound please let me know. If you have never read my book or would like to get into the series before Eradication comes out, now's the time. I can also sign it and send it to someone else, so you could essentially gift someone a copy.

Hit me up by email for details!

Also a quick status update on Eradication. I am about halfway finished with my "final" edit. I have gone through and been adding twenty or thirty pages of additional detail to beef up the story and make it even more awesome. I think it really adds to the story and makes it more action packed. Of course my editor Abigail will probably yell at me about having to proofread more content, it's all worth it! It's coming along great though and I plan to have it available in the next couple weeks. I'm going on vacation next week, but that shouldn't hinder it. If it does...you now have my email, feel free to yell at me...

Thanks for checking in, until next time.

Stay safe out there,

Chris Blake

Apocalyptic Empire: Eradication is in the final phases!

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update to the status of Eradication. Abigail and I have gone through line by line and performed our initial edits. Now we have one more read through and we are set for launch. I am anticipating that we will be done within the next week or two and I can have an official release date as I get a little bit closer.

I have had some readers taking a look at Eradication and I have heard many good things about it so far. I can't wait to get it out there and see what all my readers think!

Here's a link to my book page for a quick synopsis and the cover for Eradication if you haven't seen it yet! Apocalyptic Empire Series

Conflicted the prepper's card game!

Today I wanted to take some time and tell you guys about the Conflicted card game. It's a game that I stumbled upon that is right up our alley!

The idea of the game is to dream up an apocalyptic scenario. It doesn't have to be zombies. It could be anything! I tried explaining this to my wife last night...it went over better than zombies... After your group decides on an event that would change the world as we know it, the first player picks a card. Each card has a scenario on it that the player must make a decision about.

One card that comes to mind is about a plane ride in which you and your friends are flying a plane that has been stolen. Mid-flight it is determined that the plane is overloaded and will not be able to make it to the destination. The decision is who will be thrown from the plane mid-flight to make the plane light enough to continue. Now if you're sitting around playing this game with your family and friends, this may not be an easy decision! My wife said, well better to lose friends than family, and shoved them out the door!

Once you have made up your mind, you explain to the group what your decision is, and why. The other members of the group then give you an evaluation score between 0 and 3. Five being that they agree with your decision and would likely do the same thing, one being, no way!

The object of the game is to be the one with the most points at the end of the game. The interesting part of the game is that the person that makes the best decisions, or gets the group to agree would typically be your leader or the person that people would follow. The person with the least amount of points is going to be the person with off the wall decisions and probably that person you want to kick out the door of the plane!

The game really challenges your mind, your survival skills, and also the ideology of who you will be bringing when the SHTF. In my novel I bring along my family members and no friends, but after playing this game with them I wonder if it would be wise to bring them along? Sometimes it's the hard decisions that have to be made for the survival of the group or your family.

Can you make those hard decisions or will your own moral compass put your family in harms way.

Find out now by ordering a copy of Conflicted the card game!

You can also follow them on Twitter and Like them on Facebook.

Apocalyptic Empire Update!

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update of the state of affairs inside the Apocalyptic Empire! I have completed my preliminary revisions and am now waiting on the updates from Abigail my editor to get Eradication all wrapped up. I plan on having it out as soon as she is done and I go through it one more time.

I have also started writing book three which I have tentatively named Apocalyptic Empire: Reclamation. I can't go into too much detail about why I picked that title without spoiler alerting Eradication. Not really too far into it yet, still working on the prologue. If I can stick to my semi regular schedule I should have it done by the end of the year. We will see!

On a different note, I have partnered up with a game making company who makes a game called the Conflicted Card Game. I can't really go into too much detail about that because it isn't really on the market yet, but I am sure it is going to be really cool. I will be partnering up with them to make some pretty awesome material going forward. Check back later on for details about that.

Well that's about all I can think of this time around. Hope everyone is having a good summer. Hopefully I can get Eradication out there soon, and look forward to the feedback!

Stay safe out there,

Chris Blake

10 Awesome Survival Edged Weapons

Since I had a pretty decent response on my last "10 items" post, I figured I would try it again. This time I have found some really cool edges weapons. Some of these knives have more uses than just a blade and can go a long way toward saving your butt in a survival situation.

Check out this list of knives:

1. Gerber 22-01400 LMF II This is a survival knife with a few extras. The butt-cap on the grip can be used to pierce glass, and in the sheath is a blade sharpener, so it won't go dull in a survival situation. It's a 10 inch partially serrated blade, and definitely a keeper.
2. Amazon Jungle Survival Knife This blade is especially cool because in the grip there is an assortment of cool survival gear. There are matches, a compass, striking paper and fishing gear. The blade itself is 13 inches long and is straight on one side and serrated on the other.
3. Elite Forces Survival Bowie Knife This blade is 12 inches in overall length, and is straight on one side and saw like on the flip side. Looks like it could make short work of a tree!
4. Big Bohica Kukhri Machete With 19 inches of overall length, this machete is a must if you plan on getting stranded in the jungle somewhere. This thing looks awesome and can cut through some vines!
5. Secret Agent Tactical Ninja Sword OK, the name alone screams badass. How can you NOT want a "Secret Agent Tactical Ninja Sword"! I mean technically you could call it a long knife right? Even at 27 inches in total length, it's just a big knife... OH and it's awesome! It's serrated in the middle, and razor sharp on the pointy end. Make sure the pointy end goes toward the zombies.
6. United Cutlery Tomahawk Throwing Knife Set To go along with your Secret Agent Tactical Ninja Sword, here's a set of three throwing knives. You know, so you can take out a few at range before busting out your sword. I'm pretty sure that's how ninjas would take out zombies...
7. Black Ronin Tomahawk I may be going off the grid a little bit on this one, but come on. Look at this thing. It's almost as cool as a sword. It has multiple zombie puncturing aspects to it, and would go great with the secret ninja sword and throwing knives.
8. Military Warrior Tanto Point Stealth Trench Knife It wouldn't be zombie knives day without a trench knife. This knife is 9 1/4 inches long and features knuckle slots so you can punch the zombie, and then put him down. Wow that sounded really brutal...
9. Dark Assassin Dagger Just incase you don't want to be a secret ninja, and want to be a "Dark Assassin" instead. This thing looks straight out of Assassin's Creed. Whether it would be amazing against zombies, just depends how good you are at hiding to the shadows and striking out in the night. Which...the zombies are probably better at...so you better just stick to your Glock.
10. Longclaw If you don't know what Game of Thrones is, this sword won't have the same meaning to you. If you do know what it is, then you know this sword can mess up some white walkers. Which also are kind of like zombies. Plus it looks amazing, and nothing says "I'm a badass survivalist" like wielding a legitimate sword.

So there you have it, I started with some very practical survival knives with fishing kits, and ended with amazing swords! That's like going from BB guns to Desert Eagles. Sometimes you have to go big or go home, and today we are going big!

If you have any cool ideas for more lists like this one, please shoot me a comment and let me know.

Thanks for checking in.

Stay safe out there,

Chris Blake

10 survival items under $10

This time I have found some pretty cool survival gadgets, gizmos, and gear all priced under $10. For these prices, these items are definitely must haves for any bug out bag. Of course all of these items can be found on the awesome internet retailer Amazon. If you haven't noticed yet, I have a thing for Amazon...

Anyway, on to the list!

1. Essential 5 in 1 Survival Tool ($5.99) - It's a compass, matchbox with waterproof matches, whistle, flint fire starter, and signal mirror. The best part is, it's the size of a keychain, and it only costs $6!
2. Emergency Mylar Blankets ($6.50) - OK so these aren't super cool or anything, but there's ten of them for 6 bucks and they can keep you warm in a pinch. Plus they are super thin when folded up and super lightweight. Definitely a must have for your bag.
3. P-51 Can Opener ($1.80) - These are the old military style P-51 can openers. Small enough to store anywhere, rugged enough for the military, and a must have for any survivor. When you get down to eating canned food, trust me you will want one of these. Just ask a certain Captain in my next book, and he will tell you!
4. Potable Aqua Water Treatment ($6.49) - I know I had these on another post, but they fit the category, and nothing is more important that clean water. These tablets make water drinkable in 30 minutes. There's 50 tablets for under 10 bucks!
5. CKRT Eat'n Tool ($5.95) - This thing is so simplistic it's silly. It's a spork, on a carabiner. Oh and it has three hex wrenches! But seriously, everyone can use a spork...
6. Emergency Tent ($9.99) - Some of you might say, Chris, why not just use one of your emergency blankets as a tent! To which I would reply... Because this is a tent already?
7. Paracord Bracelet ($5.50) - These bracelets are pretty cool for two reasons. The obvious: it's fashionable? The less obvious: it is up to 9 feet of paracord wrapped around your wrist. Paracord holds a ridiculous amount of weight, and even 9 feet of it is enough to get some hardcore jobs done.
8. Snaplight 10 pack ($9.01) - These are industrial grade glow sticks, I'm not going to sugar coat it, but when it's dark and all your batteries are gone because the zombies took them all? You'll be glad you have your glow sticks.
9. Military Style Sewing Kit ($8.24) - OK listen, you might think, who's going to be sewing during the zombie apocalypse! Think about it, you can only fit so much clothing in your bug out bag. It's going to get torn up and ripped, and when you can't run to Walmart and grab a new shirt, you're going to go man...Glad I had that sewing kit.
10. Swiss+Tech 19 in 1 Tool ($8.49) - It's got 19 doodads and fits on your keychain. Need I say more?

In all seriousness, some of these items are a little bit less awesome than others...but I was shopping with ten bucks, cut me some slack! Some of these items are really cool and I own a few of them myself, so if you're into glowsticks like I know I am, check some of these things out, especially the paracord bracelet. You know you want to be one of the cool kids...

Thanks for checking in again! Until next time!

Stay safe out there,

Chris Blake