Seven Deadly Sins of The Zombie Apocalypse: Sloth
By Liam O'Leary
You can never rest in a zombie apocalypse. Not really. You can’t afford not to be ready to move at a moment’s notice. Bad things come to those who wait.
It’s quite simple: In a zombie apocalypse, you always need to be ready to move and you always need to be ready to do whatever it takes to stay alive. Always.
If you choose to slack off in shoring up defenses or put off preparations to escape, when the dead do break through, you will die. Making that choice is what we refer to as…
Sloth
Sloth is, quite simply, abject laziness. It is the act of, well, not acting — Of doing nothing and not wanting to do anything.
You might think resisting this would be simple, as being pursued by zombies sort of forces you to stay a step ahead of them. But, sadly, even under such circumstances, there are those of us who, even if only briefly, become lax…and pay the price.
I believe the best, and most tragic, example of sloth in The Walking Dead comes from Michonne’s boyfriend, Mike, and their friend, Terry.
What we know of Mike and Terry is limited. Most of it comes from a dream/memory of Michonne’s after The Prison fell in “After”.
Her dream seems peppered with memories of the trio’s (Along with Michonne and Mike’s son, Andre) life both before and after the outbreak began.
The “before” portions focus on them talking about art and generally just living the normal lives of young urbanites.
The “after” portions seem to be snippets of their life in a safe zone after things in Atlanta began to fall apart. This is where our lesson begins.
In her dream/memory, Michonne seems to still be in “pre-apocalypse” mode, still talking about art, without a care in the world. Mike and Terry, meanwhile, slowly morph into their apocalypse selves, worrying about how they’re going to survive and their safe zone breaking down.
Sadly, we discover that the pair found themselves ill-equipped to dealing with the apocalypse, feeling useless compared to Michonne, with her mastery of the katana.
Sadder still, we learn from Michonne that, while she was out gathering supplies, rather than try to find ways to be useful, Mike and Terry chose…to get high.
When Michonne returned, she discovered that, in their stupor, Mike and Terry had been bitten, and Andre, Michonne’s young son, was gone. What happened to him, we don’t know, but, the assumption is clear: Andre was devoured by the dead.
Mike and Terry’s tale is something like an extremely downer version of Afroman’s “Because I Got High”, where they lost their lives, and in Mike’s case, his son’s…because he got high. Rather than try to contribute to their group’s survival, they chose instead to goof-off, and, it ultimately cost them everything.
This isn’t an anti-drug PSA per se, just a reminder that, when lives are relying on you, you can’t afford to get wasted, otherwise, you’ll end up…wasted.
“Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and the negligent soul shall suffer hunger.” — Proverbs 19:15
Do you want to learn more of how to survive a zombie apocalypse (That isn’t quite so biblical)? Pick up a copy of my book: The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can get it on Kindle here and on iTunes here!