My top 3 pointers on surviving are: 1) BOARD WINDOWS! I eventually got enough boards to board up all but 1 window. This is a huge help once Mr X shows up. Avoiding him is easy, but doing so while having to watch out for zombies not so much. I can't stress this enough board up those windows!

2) KILL ALL THE ZOMBIES. At least until Mr X enters the game. I killed every zombie I came across in the beginning. Head shots it and knife (this leads into point number 3) and it made it so much easier again when Mr X entered. I could run from him without the fear of being grabbed.

3) USE THE DAMN COMBAT KNIFE! The knife is effective to stop from getting damage once you get grabbed, but whether it's got a little bit of health left or not doesn't matter. Don't worry about "saving" the knives because you find plenty of them, flash bangs, and grenades throughout the game. A couple of headshots to drop a zombie, then slash away with the knife until you know they're down for good. If they don't respond to the knife slash then they are done for.

These 3 things made my life so much easier in this game