Fear The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Your crimes will haunt you

As we learned in the Fear The Walking Dead midseason finale, just because there’s no law in a zombie apocalypse doesn’t mean crimes go unpunished.

I often try to encourage people to be more human and civilized in a zombie apocalypse. Conversely, I often decry people acting selfish, duplicitous, and violent. Would you like to know why?

Well, it isn’t because I have some naive idea that people should act all nice and neglect doing the harsher things necessary to survive.

No. I do that because, despite what I imagine some believe, being selfish, duplicitous, and violent will come back to haunt you. One way or another.

This half season of Fear The Walking Dead provides us with many examples of just how bad such things can haunt you. Let’s use Strand for example, shall we?

If you recall, we learned in Season Two that, before the apocalypse, Strand had made himself wealthy through the real estate market. We also learned he wasn’t the most scrupulous person, as he stole a drunk Thomas Abigail’s credit cards to recoup his losses from Hurricane Katrina.

Fast forward to this season, and it seems Strand’s chickens came home to roost. First, after being forced out of the Rosarito (Just in the nick of time), he reached the Gonzalez Dam, run by his old friend, Dante Esquivel.

Of course, Mr. Dante wasn’t as friendly as Strand was expecting. You see, as had been hinted in the previous seasons, Strand’s land deals weren’t entirely…on the up and up. Apparently, Strand had screwed many a person in Mexico out of their land, something which Dante had long resented. Worse still, Dante was a good friend of Thomas, and, like Luis, had not been so forgiving of Strand’s thievery as Thomas was. Dante reminded Strand of his transgressions before revealing his intent to throw Strand off of the dam, like a pirate being made to walk the plank.

Oh, but Strand’s problems don’t end there…

While awaiting his execution, Strand discovers Daniel is Dante’s latest recruit at the dam. Having been separated for so long, Daniel questioned Strand about Ofelia’s status.

At first Strand tells the truth, revealing that he, Madison, and Alicia fled with Ofelia as the hacienda burnt down.

However, this is when Strand shot himself in the foot.

Rather than tell Daniel that Ofelia stole Thomas’s truck and left the hotel (And was, therefore, still alive to the best of his knowledge), Strand chose to lie.

Initially, Daniel was skeptical, as Strand made the lie rather saccharine, claiming that Ofelia was waiting for him; He knew Ofelia was still too angry with him for Strand’s rosy outlook to be true, nevertheless, after freeing Strand, Daniel chose to let him lead the way to Ofelia.

This eventually led them to the Rosarito hotel, now very obviously overrun by infected.

Seeing the state of the place, Daniel abandoned Strand for his lie, with the infected.

Strand’s lie was a terrible idea, one he of all people should have been smart enough to realize. Regardless, between his shady business practices and his penchant for deception, Strand had found himself at the mercy of men who had little to give. The only thing that kept Strand alive…was luck.

But, Strand wasn’t the only person whose actions came back to haunt him. I speak, of course, of Jeremiah Otto.

We learned rather quickly this season that Jeremiah (Along with the other “Founding Fathers” of Broke Jaw Ranch) had a long-standing feud with the local Indian Tribe, the Black Hat Reservation.

Initially, it just seemed to be a land dispute. However, during a drunken conversation with Nick, Jeremiah revealed there may have been more to the feud than just land.

As he began rambling about the history of the house, Jeremiah told Nick “There’s blood…in the earth”, before shooting holes in the floor.

At first, Nick took it for just that, drunken rambling. Yet, as the feud with Qaletaqa Walker became known, Nick began to dig deeper, literally, eventually finding a human skull.

It would turn out that skull was the source of the Broke Jaw-Black Hat feud, as it was the skull of Qaletaqa’s long-dead father.

Jeremiah killed Qaletaqa’s father not because he threatened Jeremiah, his family, or his home, but simply for asking the whereabouts of his missing (In fact, dead) brother. Jeremiah then eluded justice by burying him beneath his floor. It’s as close to literally “Sweeping him under the rug” as one could get.

Yet, Walker always suspected Jeremiah was guilty, and wouldn’t settle for anything short of justice for his father’s murder. Realizing this, Madison attempted to convince Jeremiah to do the right thing for his sons and the community and commit suicide, to assure peace with Walker. Jeremiah refused.

In fact, not only did Jeremiah refuse, but was happy to condemn his community, even his own sons, to a brutal death, rather than face the music.

When Nick, unable to accept letting Jeremiah’s crimes slide, arrived, Jeremiah taunted him, confident that Nick wouldn’t do anything.

He was wrong. Nick shot him in the face, ensuring that someone made him pay for what he’d done to Walker’s father.

What’s the point of all of this? Your crimes will come back to haunt you. Someway, somehow.

People think that, because governments and laws will crumble in the zombie apocalypse, that, they can do whatever they want, to anyone, with total impunity. Nothing could be further from the truth.

You see, that lawlessness, which the unsavory might think is their shield, is, in actuality, their greatest weakness. This is because, now, there is nothing to stop some would-be vigilante from being judge, jury, and executioner whenever they damn well please.

Once rule of law erodes, any egregious past or future misdeeds will make their perpetrators huge targets, as those they wronged come back for bloody revenge. Every lie, every shady deal, every unwarranted act of malice or violence will be one more reason for someone to kill whoever did them. Selfishness, duplicity, ruthlessness, and malice do not become virtues in the zombie apocalypse…they become liabilities. Every enemy you make, makes you that much more vulnerable.

Remember, if nothing else, it pays not to be around duplicitous or malicious people (To say nothing of being one yourself). This isn’t necessarily because of what they may do to you, but rather, because you don’t want to be near them when their comeuppance is due.

This is how you survive. This is why you follow…The Rules.

Next: Fear The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: You are what you eat

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!