Took your advice and avoided any serious town raids. After looting a few houses on the outskirts of town I found a gas station in the wilderness and settled down. With a bit of extra equipment you can survive without entering towns at all. I actually found science labs to be relatively risk-free sources of batteries and other miscellaneous goodies.
Died on day ten when I got a bit overconfident and tried to raid a school. Fired a grenade launcher through the front door and killed a half-dozen zombies; by the time I had reloaded another dozen were on top of me.
Schools are pretty hard. You're looking at probably a hundred or so zombie children, plus a dozen or so adult "teacher" zombies. Your best bet is using ranged weapons, staying outside, and summoning the horde with something loud. Explosives are useful, but watch those reload times. Magazine loaded rifles/pistols are better choice, and bows are great if you've found the Fletcher's Friend and Bowyers Buddy.
One tactic for melee is to build a wall of fire out of zombie child corpses. Pick your battlefield, call the horde, and every time one dies in an empty space next to you light the square on fire. Be sure to quickly check the ground under each body, as zombie children carry Malted Milk Balls, Chocolate Bars, and Candies that can help offset the morale penalty of murdering a school full of children.
