SAN FRANCISCO — Quick: In the event of a zombie apocalypse, how would you make it out of New York City alive? 
 
 If you're like most New Yorkers, you probably have no idea. But a small group of folks in the city are gearing up for the next doomsday scenario by prepping survival gear, planning escape routes, and training to get out of New York City — even by inflatable kayak if necessary. 
 
 These urban doomsday preppers look very different from the stereotype of the rural, gun-toting conservative depicted on shows such as "Doomsday Castle," Anna Maria Bounds, a sociologist at Queens College, City University of New York, said on Monday (Aug. 18) here at the 109th annual American Sociological Association meeting. 
 
 Instead of creating a self-sustaining fortress for their families, urban survivalists focus on getting out quickly. [Doomsday: 9 Real Ways Earth Could End] 
 
 "They simply don't have the space to build a bunker," Bounds told Live Science. 
 
 Urban survivalists also worry less about government conspiracies and end-of-days scenarios, and instead plan for threats, such as terrorist attacks or natural disasters, that have already materialized, Bounds said. 
 
 Urban survival 
 
 Bounds first became interested in urban survival after experiencing firsthand the disarray in New York after Sept. 11, and then again during Hurricane Sandy. 
 
 She and her colleagues began studying and attending meetings of the NYC Preppers, a group of people who help train others to survive emergencies ranging from terrorist attacks to hurricanes to a global pandemic. An upcoming meeting, for instance, is focusing on how to deal with a potential Ebola pandemic. 
 
 The researchers soon noticed that these "urban preppers" look very different from the pop-culture depiction of survivalists: The armed, white, male, conservative Christian militia members who fear the government, she said. 
 
 Urban preppers usually don't own guns, their political views are all over the map, and they are often people of color, Bounds said. Many have seen firsthand, in disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, how long it can take for local and federal government agencies to restore order, she said. 
 
 Urban survivalist culture also overlaps with sustainability and homesteading culture. Many preppers are interested in organic and local foods, farmers' markets and the reduction of toxic chemicals. Some meetings, for instance, have focused on such things as how to make deodorant and laundry detergent at home, she said. 
 
 Bug out 
 
 Few New Yorkers are going to cram their fifth-floor walkup with 500 pounds (227 kilograms) of food (one estimate of how much food a person would need to eat for a year). So survivalists focus on getting out of the city fast. 
 
 One simple step is to make sure the car (if you have one) is always filled with gas and that medical prescriptions are always filled. Urbanites should also look around their apartments and figure out what would work in different emergencies, Bounds said. For instance, is the stove gas or electric? What services would a power outage eliminate? 
 
 Another essential for a mass New York exodus is to have a "bug-out" bag ready. This bag is typically a backpack filled with several days' worth of survival gear that weighs between 20 and 25 pounds (9 to 11 kg). Typical items in a bug-out bag include water filtration systems, food and water, face masks and goggles to protect against airborne hazards, compasses and duct tape. Preppers go on long treks during all seasons to make sure they can carry them for extended periods, Bounds said. [See The Items Needed for a Bug Out Pack] 
 
 Urbanites should also plan their escape route, which includes knowing how to evacuate a tall apartment building when the power goes out, and how to get out on foot, Bounds said. 
 
 Manhattan is an island with just nine bridges and four tunnels off the island, and a workday population of more than 3.1 million, which means there could be several chokepoints in the event of a disaster, she said. Some people even have inflatable kayaks on hand just in case. The best escape routes will depend on someone's origin and destination, but preppers often talk about the Catskills or even Upstate New York as potential safe havens, Bounds said. 
 
 Either way, it's important to have a plan and to be self-sufficient — something that may not come naturally to many New Yorkers, Bounds said. 
 
 "What you have to understand about New Yorkers is we're used to convenience and we're used to immediate gratification," Bounds said. "So to get our arms around the idea that we may have to be roughing it? Roughing it, for us, is not having takeout." 
 
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 CLEVELAND-- They call themselves doomsday preppers, but members of a Cleveland family were not prepared when burglars broke into their home early Tuesday morning. 
 
 Teena Brayen and her husband are part of a militia group known at the Three Percenters. They consider it their duty to oppose any effort by the government to intrude on their personal liberties. They are also prepared for Armageddon. 
 
 "Should we be invaded by another country and not able to go get food or should something happen to where our food supply chain or our community would come into any type of harm's way, we have a way to supply for ourselves and the community around us," Teena Brayen said. 
 
 The family, who recently moved from New York to Cleveland, said burglars broke into their home off of St. Clair Avenue early Monday morning while they were asleep. The thieves cleaned out two of their gun cases. They also got away with a bag of machetes, ammunition and food rations. 
 
 "These guys are prepared for war now, they have seven guns, seven," Brayen said. 
 
 The Brayens said they believe when they moved on Oct. 28, the thieves saw them carrying the weapons inside. 
 
 The burglars also took body armor. Now, the Brayens are worried that as a result of their doomsday preparations, others are in danger. 
 
 "Our military personnel, especially, and our police officers because they wear bullet proof vests. We have a gun out there that can pierce them and go through cars. All you have got to do is aim it. They took all of our ammo. With the ammunition that they've got, they're good for a good year with that ammunition." ||||| Thieves stole a high-powered rifle and 5 shotguns from the home of a family of doomsday preppers in Cleveland. https://t.co/GpRehDMFi0 pic.twitter.com/fGbEBFtorb — The Trace (@teamtrace) November 23, 2016 
 
 A brief glance at the robin’s egg blue, two-story home on the east side of Cleveland — complete with a low white fence around the raised porch and a grassy front yard covered by leaves — and you would not think it contained a small arsenal. 
 
 Until, that is, you realized it was inhabited by members of the Three Percenters, a militia group, which named itself for the claim that only 3 percent of the population fought in the American Revolution. On its website, the group referred to itself as a “structured group of United patriots willing to protect our rights against a tyrannical government and foreign invaders.” 
 
 The group seems particularly concerned with “Big Government,” a concept often associated with those identifying as liberal (a group toward which the Three Percenters show particularly animosity). As its website stated: 
 
 The states are losing control, federal judges are overruling the people, liberals and democrats are determined to disarm citizens, and the political climate is aggressive and leaning toward socialism. Our founding fathers warned us about this with their intentional laws written into the constitution and the bill of rights. Three Percenters are ex and current military, police, and trained civilians that will stand up and fight if our rights are infringed in any way. 
 
 To prepare for the explosive event of fighting for their rights, many affiliated with the movement stockpile everything from food and water (to prepare for doomsday) to weapons, ammunition and explosives (to prepare for battle). 
 
 (For context, Jon Ritzheimer, who was a central figure in armed occupation of a wildlife refuge in Oregon, is a Three Percenter.) 
 
 Teena Brayen, who recently moved with her family from New York to that azure home with her husband and two children, counts herself among this group. As such, she stocked up in preparation for anything she might have to do, from feeding a starving family if the supply chain gets cut to fighting off an invading force. 
 
 In her own words, “We’re preppers, we believe in preparing for what could happen. … We were war-ready.” 
 
 As Brayen explained to WJW-TV, “Should we be invaded by another country and not able to go get food or should something happen to where our food supply chain or our community would come into any type of harm’s way, we have a way to supply for ourselves and the community around us.” 
 
 An inherent aspect of this belief system is that such weaponry is best handled by those in the militia, which is why Tuesday’s events have caused concern for Brayen. 
 
 She may have been prepared for an attack by the government, but she was not prepared for a home burglary. 
 
 When she went to sleep on Monday night, she thought the house was secure. But now she thinks one of her two young children had left the side door unlocked. 
 
 That evening, she says she told police, the house was broken into, and the arsenal was raided. 
 
 Police are investigating the burglary, the Associated Press reported, but they have not said much to the news media about it. 
 
 Brayen, though, has been open with a few local TV stations. She said she is worried for her neighbors, as whoever broke into her home is now armed to the teeth with guns, knives and smoke grenades. 
 
 “They have seven guns, seven,” Brayen told WJW. 
 
 Among the stolen items: five shotguns, a high-powered rifle, a pellet gun, at least one bulletproof vest, a bugout bag containing rice and beans, more than $1,000 in ammunition, smoke grenades, and 12 machetes. 
 
 Brayen told the station that one of those guns, which she said “looks like a sniper rifle,” is powerful enough to pierce not just body armor but the exterior of an automobile. 
 
 Brayen was deeply shaken by the experience and was worried about what the weapons might be used for. She said she is particularly worried about “our military personnel, especially, and our police officers because they wear bulletproof vests.” 
 
 “We have a gun out there that can pierce them and go through cars,” she told WJW. “All you have got to do is aim it. They took all of our ammo. With the ammunition that they’ve got, they’re good for a good year with that ammunition.” 
 
 More generally, she simply does not want harm to befall anyone. 
 
 “They’re ready for a war,” Brayen, nearly in tears, told ABC. “I don’t want to see anybody get hurt by what people took out of my home.” 
 
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– New Yorkers are preparing for "doomsday" in a way that doesn't involve guns, bunkers, or earmarked pages in Revelations, LiveScience reports. Survivalists at one group, NYC Preppers, are planning to safely flee the city in case of a natural disaster or terrorist attack. "They simply don't have the space to build a bunker," says sociologist Anna Bounds, who is studying the survivalists. She says they devise escape routes (including by kayak), keep the car filled with gas, and figure out which home appliances are likely to work in different emergencies. They also take long walks to practice carrying a "bug-out" bag, which weighs between 20 and 25 pounds and contains survival gear like water, food, face masks, compasses, duct tape, and water filtration systems. Just who are these people? Their political views vary, but they tend to be people of color who have seen disasters like Hurricane Katrina and know how slowly governments can respond to emergencies. They're often into sustainability and local foods, which Bounds admits is a far cry from survival in nature: "What you have to understand about New Yorkers is we're used to convenience and we're used to immediate gratification," she says. "Roughing it, for us, is not having takeout." By contrast, the FBI says a Doomsday prepper in Florida has admitted to stockpiling weapons and creating boobytraps in preparation for a Biblical apocalypse, the Tampa Bay Times reports. In exchange for turning himself in, Martin Winters received Gatorade, fries, cheeseburgers, and dry shoes, says another Times article.