The best condensed advice i can really offer goes as follows:
Smash a locker -> make crowbar with a rock and pipe
Find a couple houses on the outskirts of town with minimal zombies, use houses to LOS
Use the crowbar to get in, you will need to find these things:
Volume (enough to carry the following at the very least)
Clean water bottles x2 (3 would be better)
a pot or frying pan (look in the oven/cupboards)
Then run your ass out into the woods, away from swamps. ‘e’ bushes for survival skill.
Wait for fires to go yellow before you cook.
Sleep indoors when possible.
Train your skills, play around. I like archery but there are plenty of other ways to play.
The next best tip i could tell you is to not carry a huge amount of food if you have survival to butcher things.
Don’t carry things you can easily/quickly replace when you need them.
Get a vehicle later on.
Most of my characters follow this sort of plan, and the only time I die is if I do something stupid, like not prepare for things, or do something i know is a bad idea.
Sometimes the learning experience will outweigh the death though… sometimes.
