The best way to avoid becoming a zombie is to avoid seeing one altogether. You’re ready to close the curtains, board up the doors and binge-watch “The Walking Dead.” Or maybe you should throw a costume together — that way you blend in if they find you.

Walking outside, it’s pretty obvious that there’s no avoiding the zombies. You’ll have to take a few out if you hope to survive.

As you head toward the zombies, you start to think about how you’ll avoid becoming one of them.

Christopher Whipps, an associate professor in SUNY-ESF’s biology department, said how quickly diseases spread depends on how they’re transmitted.

Some spread through the air. Some spread through contaminated objects.

Some, like this zombie pathogen, require direct contact with the contaminated person — or zombie. In this case it’s not even just direct contact, but a bite.

And Whipps makes another valid point.

“How well can those zombies actually keep up and keep going?” Whipps asked. “You sort of think about how zombies probably get along all that quickly.”

So you take your time and hide behind the corner of a house, knowing you don’t have to hurry to think up a plan. You’re just about to sneak around a corner to strike when something clamps down on your leg — hard.

It’s your friend-turned-zombie. He rips at the flesh on your leg and the disease begins to take hold. You start frothing at the mouth and your skin begins to peel. Game over. You are one of them now.

By this point you’ve realized you’re going to need more than your own two feet to get away. It’s time to find some wheels.

Now, your first reaction may be to hop in the closest exotic sports car. But resist your temptation for a flashy ride. In this scenario, at least according to Frederick Carranti, associate professor of practice of mechanical and aerospace engineering, speed and acceleration aren’t imperative qualities.

“(Zombies) tend to move slowly and en masse, almost like a flow,” he said. “What you want to do to get away from them is go through them.”

Carranti, who teaches a class on automotive engineering, said pickup trucks and utility vehicles are your best bet. With their extra ground clearance and four-wheel drive, you would be able to drive over the zombies. In a perfect world, you might even find a vehicle with a plow to duplicate the effect of a cowcatcher found on old steam locomotives.

He added that even if you can’t find a rugged ride, tinted windows may be just enough to hide you from the zombies. But in the end, it’s go big or get eaten.

“With a Tacoma kind of truck or a Tundra kind of truck, you can effectively crash through stuff and not disable the vehicle,” Carranti said. “Whereas if you did that with a Prius, you’re probably going to get hurt.”

You make it alive to the closest parking lot and find one of the physical plant’s snow plow-endowed pickup trucks. And somehow, it’s unlocked with the keys in the ignition. You buckle up and set out on a bumpy ride. Congrats, you’ve put that zombie attack in your rear-view mirror.

When it comes to disguising yourself among the undead, Sarah Stark, the wardrobe supervisor for the Syracuse Stage, said less is more.

“What you are trying to hit, is changing the overall tone of the skin,” Stark said. “We can tell the overall health of somebody just by how their skin looks, so if you add some yellowing, just some overall yellow pigment to someone’s skin, it makes them look very ill.”

You can utilize everyday items lying around your dorm, Stark said. Elmer’s glue can become skin, peeling back from your face with lipstick blood in the cracks. K-Y Jelly keeps hair wet and pliable so it can easily be contorted and glued in place.

Stark recommended preparing for a zombie apocalypse by doing research and having photos printed out for makeup inspiration. Overall, making yourself look dead should only take about 15 minutes.

However, makeup, Stark said, is not just about your face. Don’t forget to cover your arms and neck in peeling skin.

If you are going for a very convincing zombie look, Stark suggested ripping up one of your favorite outfits. This way, your deathly disguise is very convincing to the rotting bodies chasing you.

Disguise complete, you are now ready to hide. Join the swarm of zombies or hide under a pile of dead bodies, anything to make the diseased believe you are also infected.

Your disguise was convincing and you have survived for weeks on end. But supplies are low and your friends are starting to look awfully hungry. Your zombie squad turns on each other. Game over.

Lindsey Decker, a professor who teaches a class on the history of American horror film in the College of Arts and Sciences, believes there are several lessons to be learned from zombie attacks in movies.

She said that in film, there are typically two models of reaction to imminent danger: the horror comedy where everyone “throws their hands in the air and runs around” or the defense reaction that involves actually fighting against the zombies.

But whatever reaction occurs, Decker stressed the importance of one thing: keeping up with cardio exercise.

“If the zombies are fast, you need to be able to run long distances,” she said.

She pointed to one of her favorite movies, “28 Days Later,” as the introduction to the concept of “fast zombies.”

She also said the biggest mistake people make in movies is not getting to somewhere secure if they choose to run from danger.

“There’s always a window or some way for the zombies to get in,” she said.

But, if you choose to stay and attempt to fight the zombies, Decker’s advice for immobilizing them comes from the classic film “Dawn of the Dead” — “aim for the head, sever the brainstem.”

The zombies find you in your hiding spot, but they are no match for you and your fighting skills. It’s true, binge watching “The Walking Dead” while in hiding paid off. You strike the undead in the brain stem and survive. Congratulations, you passed ZOM 101.