The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: The enemy within

3) They keep a lot of secrets.

A person keeping secrets in a zombie apocalypse is not, inherently, a bad thing. Some secrets are worth keeping, if, per se, they aren’t particularly important or relative, or would cause more harm than good (Inspire panic, for example).

But, if it turns out you’ve got a group member (Though, it’d most likely be the group leader, but, I digress…) who is keeping a lot of secrets, what ones you do find out about are probably only the tip of the iceberg.

Now, of course, you may think “Who cares about someone’s secrets? If it isn’t affecting the group, why should I care?”

Well, imagine this: You discover that your group leader was an ex-convict (Maybe you recognize them from news footage of their arrest or something).

They tell you it was for robbery or fraud. Okay. Fair enough.

You dig a little deeper, and discover they were also arrested for assault. Troubling, but, it could have just been for getting in a fight.

Dig a little more, and you discover it wasn’t just for assault…but murder.

Now, would you feel more or less comfortable having this person leading your group?

This is just an example. Not a terribly good one, I know, but, an example nonetheless. My point is, once you realize a member of your group is keeping a lot of secrets, it makes your ability to trust them — Which is kind of crucial to a group — become nonexistent.

This inability to trust them quickly becomes worse if they know that you know their secret. It’s easy for people to manipulate group members who are blindly loyal to them into thinking it is you who are the untrustworthy one, possibly turning your whole group against you, while the villain carries on with their insidious existence.

It’s tough to say how to deal with such a situation. But, I definitely know some things you shouldn’t do.

You definitely shouldn’t ask them if it’s at all clear what the nature of their secret is. If you are absolutely certain the person in question murdered someone prior to the apocalypse, for example, don’t tip them off by asking, especially if they’re the group’s leader.

You also definitely shouldn’t be throwing around accusations unless you have solid proof that their secret is dangerous. If you do, they can easily deny it, and either cast aspersions on you, or, the group will simply think you’re crazy/lying, meaning that if someone is doing something untoward, no one will believe you should you tell them.

Next: Lying Liars And The Lies They Tell