I doubt I would be fortunate enough to have herd of elephants or starving tigers tucked away in the closet, so that leaves me to consider the final option.

Human bait. The scenario states, “..four other survivors.” The next sentence is contradictory, “There’s no way out and you need a distraction …” If there is no way out, well……, but I digress.

Four other survivors. Who are they? This is the key.
All my family/loved ones? They can leave, I’ll meet them later.
Two loved ones and a stranger? Yes, I could sleep at night saving those I love. Trickery would not be necessary, nor would I resort to it, and chances are I don’t have the time to devise an intricate web of deceit to fool the bait.
One loved one and two strangers? This really muddles the situation and the teams are now balanced, and they make be thinking the same thing about me. Further complicated by: Are they a couple/loved ones or strangers themselves? Time is ticking on this one…it could get ugly.
Just me and 3 strangers? See above, the variations of loved ones/strangers make it too complex to give a pat answer. Do I enlist aid? Act alone? Form alliances (probably a’la survivor where they only last while convenient)? Or just shoot the slowest one in the leg and run?

I would not be bringing any animal with me, ever until I could base, fortify, and begin building for the long run.

Explosives and gunplay seem to be the answer here. And I’ll probably need all three others to escape.

May have to shoot some people in the leg, but I don’t have to outrun the zombies….just you.

That last part was a joke. Do you have any idea how hard it is to shoot a runner in the leg?

In my camp, an infected would be carefully monitored but allowed to keep working until they turned. Then they’d be put down without hesitation. The difference between murdering a human and offing a monster.

That said, they’d be welcome to grab a bomb and go introduce the ghouls to high explosives.

Jordan’s radio idea is OK but walkie-talkies would be better. Even if the power grid weren’t out, I can’t imagine many stations still transmitting. I just wouldn’t want to rely on distracting shamblers with static.

I’ve had to transport two of them one time, my younger sister raised them for 4-H. They were immediately silenced by darkness, toss a blanket over them and bam its like hitting the mute button. If there in a bag they wont even squirm. But when you toss em like a foot ball they go ape shit and glide for 20yds while cackling like you would believe. When a zombie sets after it they would make even more noise they’d love it.

Throw a sock on em and stick em in your pack and you should be good to go. If you don’t end up using them you can always eat them afterwards.

As for the whole thing about using animals, whos gonna have livestock left after it gets so bad to where you need a distraction?

If you want to plan for needing a distraction buy some extra cheep-o radios and batteries nerf-em with foam and duck-tape. In a pinch just turn one on turn it up and chunk the fucker in the opposite direction.

I’d have somebody grab the dog so that I can suit up properly to protect the family. But the dog would never in any circumstance be used as bait.