The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Actions have consequences

In a zombie apocalypse, as we saw in this week’s episode of The Walking Dead, your actions WILL have consequences, and they should NOT be taken lightly.

Actions. Have. Consequences.

This statement is true regardless of your situation, but, in a zombie apocalypse, where death can come at a moment’s notice, it is especially true.

Anything you do could cause you to have to deal with zombies (Any encounter of which could prove fatal). Any excursion could cause you to come to the attention of hostiles you were not aware of. Every noise you make could reach the ears of a random zombie, whose movements could, in turn, draw every other zombie for miles. And even actions taken in good faith or with good intentions can have results you didn’t even think of.

Need some examples? Well, let’s start with what is likely the most obvious: Daryl and Tara’s plan to accelerate The Saviors’ surrender by letting the walkers inside The Sanctuary.

While no one said directly their scheme helped The Saviors escape, Daryl and Tara were certainly thinking it loudly, with Daryl even asking Dwight if it helped them.

Now, all evidence pointed to Eugene, but…I don’t know. We can’t know for sure yet, but, what I do know is that, by causing the walkers to breach The Sanctuary, Tara and Daryl did make the threat more immediate. While leaving the walkers be would have given Eugene more time to work, I can’t help but think that, by causing the breach, it forced Eugene to work faster. Who knows? If Daryl and Tara had left things alone, Eugene may not have figured out a solution before Rick arrived with The Scavengers.

Speaking of Eugene, it’s becoming clearer that his emotional reactions over these last two episodes are stemming from the realization that his success at dispersing the herd around The Sanctuary will doom a lot of good people.

Sadly, it’s something Eugene now has to live with. While his intent was to save everyone at The Sanctuary from a horrible death, by achieving that, he freed The Saviors to bring equally horrible deaths to everyone else.

Maybe, if the herd hadn’t breached The Sanctuary, Eugene might have been able to stall…

Of course, the reason for The Saviors’ harsh retaliation in the first place stems from the nature of The Alliance’s attacks against them. I don’t blame Rick, Maggie, or Ezekiel for the steps they took in fighting The Saviors, but, they had to know that, if The Saviors escaped, their wrath would be terrible.

When you go into conflict with another group in a zombie apocalypse, do not do things in half measures. If you strike your enemy, strike to knock them out. If you trap your enemy make sure they can’t get out or if they can, that there’s another trap waiting for them. Do not assume victory until it’s achieved, and until that happens, be ready for the worst. If you do not knock your enemy out, assume their vengeance will be violent, brutal, and merciless…and prepare for it.

Of course, The Alliance waged the war to liberate themselves from The Saviors’ tyranny. This is a good thing. However, something you must understand in a zombie apocalypse is that, sadly, good deeds do not go unpunished.

Look at Carl. When he met Siddiq, he learned that Siddiq killed walkers to honor his late mother, who believed they deserved to have their souls freed from their rotting corpses.

In trying to aid Siddiq with this task, Carl helped him fight a trio of walkers. During the scuffle, a couple more zombies stumbled upon the scene and joined the fray. As Carl attempted to fight off a walker which had tackled him to the ground, a second walker came up alongside him, biting him in the ribs. Carl became infected, all because he was trying to help a stranger.

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Sadly, it can happen just like that. Everything we do in a zombie apocalypse can potentially expose us to the zombie threat. Even something that might otherwise be routine can become fatal if we’re not careful or not lucky.

So, if you find yourself in a zombie apocalypse, remember to be very careful and try to always be prepared. Anything can bring a threat down upon you. Everything you do will have consequences, whether you see them or not.

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.

Next: The Walking Dead: Five Lessons To Learn

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!