The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Have A Code

If there’s one thing last Sunday’s Walking Dead showed us, it’s that you need a code to live by to live with what you do in a zombie apocalypse.

This might sound a bit silly on its face — The idea of “Having a code” — but, it’s surprisingly important. When you think about it, one of the biggest killers in a zombie apocalypse, will actually be ourselves. When survival forces us so far from who we were that we don’t even recognize ourselves anymore, it can become difficult to live with.

Try as we might to ignore the grisly nature of what we have to do, over time, depending on how extreme we must go, guilt can eat away at us. If that guilt (Or simply the memory of the horrors we see/commit) get too much, it can drive people to suicide.

Which brings me to my point: If you want to be able to live with yourself after the dead rise, set yourself rules to live by and don’t break them. If you’ve been following these articles long enough, you know I live for this concept. For me, having a set of rules in a zombie apocalypse helps you keep some level of normalcy in a world that’s far from it. Allow me to demonstrate with a few examples from Sunday’s episode of The Walking Dead.

Rick

Now, I’ll be the first to say that Rick has both made and broken several of his own rules before, but, nevertheless, he serves as our first example.

On Sunday’s episode, Rick and The Group launched an “assault” on Oceanside to lay claim to their guns. Now, on paper, showing up, armed, to steal another communities’ weapons would sound a lot like The Saviors, however, this adventure by The Group was far from it.

Rather than force them to relinquish their guns under penalty of death, like Negan would have, Rick took them with no threat, even essentially offering to return them once the war was concluded. Furthermore, he offered them a chance to join him in the fight against The Saviors.

Even the “assault” was, for lack of a better term, a pyrotechnic display, simply meant to scatter the ladies of Oceanside while The Group made off with the guns. For Rick, he doesn’t want to behave like The Saviors. He’s committed to not behaving the way they do — Using threats of force and violence to extort other people — and instead, has tried, throughout this season, to use diplomacy whenever possible to form his alliance against his enemies.

Gregory

Now, I can imagine what you’re thinking… “Gregory!? THAT GUY!? He was gonna STAB Maggie!!”

…Ah, and that is the point. He “was gonna” stab Maggie, but, he didn’t.

If you’ve ever read any of my “Worst/ISN’T The Worst” articles from previous seasons, you know that I try to look for the good in otherwise awful characters, and this might be Gregory’s.

I’ll be the first to say that, while he is definitely a chickenshit, one thing Gregory is not…is a killer.

As we watched Gregory standing there, shaking off the idea of stabbing an unsuspecting Maggie, he clearly was wondering what the hell he had just been thinking. While Gregory is not adverse to potentially letting The Saviors do the dirty work, he’s not a barbarian who will just stab people in the back.

Granted, this might have been motivated more by fear of repercussions than anything else. However, look at it this way, he’s not so ruthless as to let a desire to kill override his fear and push him to murder. Martin would have done it. Anytime someone doesn’t emulate him, it’s a win in my book.

Negan

Here is where things really get interesting. Of all the people one might think have some sort of moral code in The Walking Dead, Negan would most likely be the last person one would think of.

When we think of Negan, we think of the vulgar extortionist who gleefully bludgeoned Abraham and Glenn to death, or the guy who made a joke out of gutting Spencer.

Yet, as we saw on Sunday, Negan is man of principles, albeit slightly skewed ones.

Upon discovering David was attempting to rape Sasha, Negan immediately informed David, not only of how unacceptable he found the behavior, but also, how he wouldn’t feel right in a place that didn’t share his feelings on the matter.

Ultimately, even Negan is, in his own way, striving to remain human…Negan does not want The Saviors to be savages.

Negan then proceeded to ventilate David’s neck for him and let him drop to the floor in a heap, before apologizing to Sasha for the incident. It’s strange to see this man, for whom murder and torture come so easily, to deem any behavior beyond the pale, yet, here he is, punishing such a violation with swift and merciless violence.

What’s more astonishing, however, is his pitch to Sasha afterwards. Negan, in spite of the fact he knows Sasha, of all people, shouldwant to kill him, offered her a place amongst The Saviors. He reiterated his sympathy for her and asked her to seriously consider his offer, telling her of his desire to work together and assuring her “We’re not monsters”.

Ultimately, even Negan is, in his own way, striving to remain human. His efforts, even if they are through intimidation and extortion, are his way of trying to unify the disparate groups of the Virginia area. Additionally, even though he certainly has the means to get away with it, Negan does not want The Saviors to be savages. He won’t tolerate it.

In a zombie apocalypse, whatever it is you do to survive, you need to be able to live with it. You don’t want to be like Martin or other such “That Guy“s. Neither do you want do something so horrific you can’t look in the mirror. What you need is draw a line for yourself. Have a standard by which you live and never cross it.

This is how you stay human. This is why you follow…The Rules.

Next: The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Learning To Survive

And that’s our survival rule of the week!! Hopefully, it will help you should you ever need it and give you that mental edge that will prove so crucial once the dead start eating everyone.

If you like this and want to find out more rules to survive the zombie apocalypse, why not 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!