I have made it to the garage... killed a crazy monk near the garage. I did find a survivor named Anna not too far away, an illegal maybe?, who I had to give 3 cans of spray paint... but then she kept following me (I didn't know how to get rid of her, and she died in the monk battle... how can I tell these people to leave me alone? or what do I do with them?) then made it to a place with a biker gang, and killed their leader. Then my dude got bit, and they told me to go to the morgue.
I haven't found/picked up EVERYTHING in the immediate area, and I feel like I should explore more before I push the story forward.
So far I am glad when I save people and they say "Thanks, but I will go it alone" and then they run off. I HATE having to escort people.
To save them take them back to a safe house and turn them in at the bulletin board.
Do side missions and main missions in the order they come up. I had no problems doing every mission and still having time to collect collectibles. You probably won't collect them all without going back unless you are playing coop
Also, don't always have to escort them. Just make a mad dash to the safe house and 'turn them in'. They don't have to be next to you. They just have to be 'not dead'
Also it will come down from the top and say safe zone cleared. I don't like having those people either but honestly it seems like they don't lose a lot of health and if you just b-line for a place they rubberband to you pretty well (I still turned them off in the bulletin board).
I am going through it for the second time to get all of the plans and stuff. Got the jazz hands near the end of the first play through and damn those things rock.
Noware I need to join your game and drop you a few weapons. They will be saved to your locker when you pick them up. Doesn't get much better than getting a 700 kill combo with the Death Reaper.