The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Unintended consequences

Everything we do has consequences, especially in a zombie apocalypse. Sometimes, as in The Walking Dead, they come even if we don’t expect them to.

While I was watching this week’s episode of The Walking Dead, I noticed Carol seeming rather bothered by Ezekiel’s suggestion that the reason The Highwaymen had been able to attempt to extort The Kingdom was that something happened to Jed’s ex-Saviors to allow The Highwaymen to move in.

While things eventually worked out, Carol’s reaction made me realize something: Sometimes, the worst things that can happen to us in a zombie apocalypse are the result of unintended consequences we cause through our own actions.

We don’t often think about the things we do beyond what we intend for them to do, but, that’s just the point: While, most of the time, our actions don’t usually affect the world around us that much, every so often, they ripple without us realizing it, causing a chain of events that eventually boomerang.

In the case of a zombie apocalypse, where every day can be a struggle for life and death, the likelihood of a decision turning around and biting us increases dramatically. Every place we go, every fight we have, anything (And maybe everything) can have consequences we don’t realize until they’re already set in motion.

Probably the most likely thing that will set these off is fighting other survivors. Pick a fight with one person, you may realize months later that that person had a violent cousin, who doesn’t take kindly to his kin getting attacked; Next thing you know, you’ve just made a dangerous enemy.

This is why, if you have to fight with someone, be smart about it: Don’t just jump into the fray, or shoot first and ask questions later, think ahead and find better ways of dealing with them, whether that’s setting traps, making distractions, or just knocking them out and getting out of dodge.

But, then again, sometimes…fighting isn’t even the best option!

You see, just because someone presents themselves as a hostile doesn’t mean they’re hostile. If someone simply wants something you have, depending on what it is, you can negotiate with them, you can make a deal with them, hell, you can see if they want to join you, if you think you can trust them.

When fighting can cause you problems you don’t expect, maybe you should find yourself an alternative.

Of course, fighting isn’t the only thing in a zombie apocalypse that can have unintended consequences, sometimes, something as simple as taking someone in can bring you a load of problems you never imagined!

Think about this: You take in someone who makes their way to your base, then, some time later, you discover that your new recruit is on the run from a large group of hostiles willing to go through anyone to get to them. Congratulations! You have a whole new enemy you didn’t even know existed twenty-four hours ago! And they want to kill you to just because you wanted to be nice and help out a stranger!

As they say: “No good deed goes unpunished.”

Having presented this phenomenon to you, I hope that, whether you’re in a zombie apocalypse or not, you do yourself a favor and, before you do something, think about what you’re doing and how it could turn around and bite you in the ass. I’m not saying to second guess everything, but, just thinking a little bit about what we do every day can save us all a whole hell of a lot of trouble.

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!