Pick up furniture to carry as a battering ram instead of throwing it (uses up Fitness, but it takes a while for zombies to break through it and your followers can more easily clean up downed zombies which take double damage). If you're any good at combat (not prone to walking into zombies like I am), control him yourself as the main fighter (he's got high Strength/Fitness, so he'll probably be better than most of your starters anyway). In addition to getting extra Vitality from toilet genie and other sources, you could try: