The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: There’s always a cost

Between having to deal with hostiles and the dead, anger and hate are easy to come by in a zombie apocalypse. And if there’s one thing this week’s Walking Dead showed us, it’s that giving in to that anger and hate ALWAYS has a cost.

Anger and hate might be two of the easiest emotions to tap into, especially in a zombie apocalypse. With hostiles, zombies, and the myriad deaths those things bring on, it’s easy to hate and/or be angry at them.

It’s equally easy to just give in to those emotions by just stopping resisting them, then, you can let loose all that hate and rage to your hearts desire.

But, don’t trick yourself into thinking you’ll be able to get off scot-free for doing this. Chances are, that, whether you know it or not at the time, giving in to your anger and hate will cost you something.

Let’s start with Maggie. When she sent Negan Dean’s corpse, warning him that she had an additional 38 prisoners, while it was ostensibly to warn The Saviors not to attack, she hoped that it would be seen as a challenge.

Maggie wanted The Saviors to visit Hilltop so that she could avenge Glenn by ensuring his grave was the last thing Negan saw.

Yet, despite knowing that people would die in the attack, Maggie believed she was prepared for that cost, such was her desire for vengeance.

It was only after seeing how many people The Alliance had lost that Maggie realized how selfish this all was. While they may have died in some other hypothetical attack by The Saviors, it doesn’t change the fact that Maggie expedited the process by intentionally provoking them.

Even if you aren’t the one who has to put up the cost of your anger and hate, someone will. The question becomes, are you willing to make someone else, maybe even someone you care about, pay that cost?

Of course, Maggie wasn’t the only person who may have to pay a terrible price for giving in to their anger.

I speak, of course, about Simon. Simon’s been on a roll, lately: After being told, in no uncertain terms, that he was not going to slaughter Hilltop (Which he was very angry about), what does he do? Well, he slaughtered The Scavengers (Contrary to Negan’s orders) in a fit of rage, and then led The Saviors on an assault to kill Hilltop. As bloodthirsty mass-murderers go, he should be quite proud of himself.

However, he might not be so proud should Negan find a way to escape Jadis and come back home. Like I said, Negan told him (Quite explicitly, I might add…) not to kill The Scavengers, and, I reiterate, he told Simon that The Saviors weren’t going to wipe out Hilltop. To find out Simon did the former and tried to do the latter is not going to sit well with him.

Simon told Dwight “It’s better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission”. Somehow, I have the feeling he may not hold that belief should Negan return.

That being said, I’m sure that Simon has an inkling of what’s in store for him should that happen. Sadly, we can sometimes not even realize the cost we may have to pay for our anger and hate until it’s too late.

This brings us to Henry. Quite understandably, Henry wants to eliminate the sack of garbage (*cough* Jared *cough*) who murdered his brother. And, to do that, he decided to enter The Saviors’ pen to try to threaten them to identify the killer.

Unfortunately, Henry didn’t think his actions through very well, and, it may have cost him.

As Henry entered the makeshift corral, one of the other Saviors turned. In the ensuing chaos, Jared jumped Henry, stole his rifle and led a prison break; By the time the situation was over, Henry was missing.

Being angry is going to happen, but, if you plan on acting on it, think about what you’re actually going to do. If you think there’s no chance things will go wrong, stop, because you’re going to walk into a disaster. Otherwise, think about what might happen if your plan goes wrong; If you’re not ready or willing to deal with that possibility, then stop: The cost is too high.

There is plenty to be angry about in a zombie apocalypse, and, we can sometimes be driven to act on that anger. If you want to, that’s your choice, but, understand this: Whether you realize it or not, either you, or someone you care about, will pay for doing so. There is always a cost…always.

Next: The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Good help is hard to find

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!