TWD, Survival Rule Of The Week: Just when you thought it was safe

Just when everyone in The Walking Dead thought they were safe from total destruction, The Whisperers stroll into town to remind them safety is just a word.

Well, The Walking Dead is back! And with it, the communities have been formally introduced to The Whisperers, a group of hostiles who stand out from the rest by blending in with the dead via walker skin masks. Just when they thought they were safe…

And, you know what? That’s what I want to be this week’s Survival Rule Of The Week: “Just when you thought you were safe…”

You see, up to this point, after Rick’s “death”, the communities, for the most part, have believed themselves, relatively, safe, as there were no other large hostile groups in their area.

But, in thinking that they were safe from hostiles, they left themselves vulnerable to surprise from, well…hostiles.

Once you’ve found yourself in a zombie apocalypse, “safety” doesn’t really exist. There will always be zombies, and, once civilization collapses, there will always be hostiles. You need to stay on your toes so that you’re ready for those threats when they eventually arrive.

And, they will, eventually, arrive. Even if you defeat a group of hostiles, another will come, even if it takes a while for them to do it. It has been this way since humans first evolved: If you have something that someone else wants, or behave in a manner they don’t like, or can be interpreted as some kind of threat, those people will attack you. So long as you are surviving in a zombie apocalypse, there will always be a threat on the horizon.

Speaking of that threat, if you saw Sunday’s episode of The Walking Dead, you heard Lydia tell Daryl that The Whisperers only comprised ten people, including her. In the words of Joe from The Claimers: “That, right there, is a lie.”

As we saw at the end of the episode, there’s a hell of a lot more than ten people in The Whisperers, and, the underlying message is clear: The threat is always bigger than you think.

You can never let yourself assume that a threat you face in a zombie apocalypse is small, especially when it comes to hostiles. My dad used to be an exterminator at one time, and, he had an observation about cockroaches which applies very well to hostiles: If you see one, chances are, there are a bunch more hanging around that you don’t see.

If you convince yourself that a hostile you encounter is an anomaly, you will be quite unpleasantly surprised when you find yourself under attack by the rest of their group.

Another thing we need to consider in a zombie apocalypse (Especially if we should reach a point where believing ourselves “safe” is a possibility) is what’s going on around us while we travel.

In the apocalypse, it’s not all that tough for hostiles to follow you. Get enough terrain they can hide in, and, if you’re not observant (Likely borne out of believing you’re “safe”), you’ll lead them all the way back to your home!

What safety you may have can easily be shattered when you give those who would do the shattering the road map to where you live.

Before I finish, I want to address one little thing we saw from Sunday’s Walking Dead that both amused me and actually helps to illustrate a point: Upon realizing the search party was being followed by a few walkers, Daryl decided to test if they really were all walkers, by shooting them in the legs, one reacted to the pain, got found out, and subsequently, killed.

The point? No matter how good your disguise (Or hiding place) is, it’s not perfect; You can always get found out.

This means that, even if your base is tucked away somewhere, or camouflaged, or something like that, it can still get found out. Similarly, if your base, while not hidden, has a weakness that you’re trying to mask, your enemies can find that out, too.

You always need to be ready for danger in a zombie apocalypse. Even if it’s been a very long time since a threat presented itself, because you’re in a zombie apocalypse, a new one could easily be just over the horizon. Never let yourself get complacent, never get lazy.

Just when you thought it was safe in the zombie apocalypse, you realized safety…is just a word.

This is why you follow…The Rules.

And that’s our Survival Rule Of The Week! Hopefully, you’ve gained a little insight into all the various things you’ll need to look out for. 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!