Fear The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: It pays to help
By Liam O'Leary
On Sunday’s Fear The Walking Dead, Daniel showed us that, in a zombie apocalypse, sometimes, it pays to give a stranger a helping hand.
Trust is almost as precious a commodity as water is in a zombie apocalypse. In such a person-eat-person world, people are just as likely to attack you as they are to help you. Whether they simply fear other people will cut into supplies they need to survive or because they’re just jerks, the fact is: You’re not especially likely to get a helping hand.
However, despite this, there is something to be said for helping the odd stranger once the dead begin to walk. With so few living people around, and so many dead ones, helping people you come across can pay surprising dividends.
Let’s look at Efrain, for example. Efrain, who, if I interpreted his conversation with Daniel correctly, was a drunk prior to the outbreak, had no reason to help Daniel, and, yet, chose to do so.
He took Daniel to his base inside an abandoned shopping arcade, gave him some much needed water, and took him to Lola, who scrapped off Daniel’s gangrenous flesh.
Why did Efrain do all this? He didn’t really say. Despite Daniel saying otherwise, maybe Efrain could see that Daniel was a decent person? Maybe Efrain simply decided that Daniel was in need of help? If the prayers he gave before dispatching infected was any indication, maybe he felt it was a duty to God to help people he’d met? Whatever the case may be, Efrain (And Lola, for that matter) chose to help Daniel when they didn’t have to.
Now, you might be asking: “Well, where the benefit in all of this?”
Don’t worry, I’m getting to that.
As we saw, Efrain and Lola’s generosity and kindness were not forgotten, as Daniel put a stop to their execution at the hands of Dante.
And this is my point: When you help people (Particularly when you don’t need to), it shows them you’re a good person worth having around.
Because, while bad people may help you, it’s likely only to serve their ends. The moment you stop being useful to them, you’re expendable. If your choice is between someone who helps you because they believe it’s right, or someone who helps you because it serves their needs, you take the former, because the latter will likely stab you in the back.
Furthermore, Daniel reminds us of a long-held axiom: You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.
On the surface, Daniel is a ruthless warhorse. His reputation for being a brutal interrogator precedes him. Yet, deep down, he is a man who is trying to atone for the very thing which gave him that reputation.
He falls back to his grim skills because they’re what he knows, but, he’s not a man who enjoys what he does. He’s simply a man trying to do what he has to to survive in a world that reminds him of the cruel war he sought to leave behind.
If you give people, even people who might not seem that savory, a second chance in a zombie apocalypse, you may discover you’ve unlocked a good person trying to get out.
You see, the person-eat-person nature of a zombie apocalypse I mentioned earlier sometimes make people realize just how much they need others to survive. Whether it’s through needing extra hands to fight zombies, or something deeper, the fact remains, seeing people eat each other can make someone see that, more than ever, they can’t afford to be cutthroat.
So, if you find someone who looks in need of help, don’t write them off. I mean, if you get bad vibes, go with your instincts, but, otherwise, give people a chance and give them a hand. You might be pleasantly surprised. After all, we all need help at some point.
This is why you follow…The Rules.
Next: Fear The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Prepare, 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!