The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Better prepared than not

You may not have to deal with some of the things we’ve seen in The Walking Dead, but, you know what? It’s better to be prepared…than not.

I spent a lot of time over the last week or so talking about all the different ways people can turn bad in a zombie apocalypse and the various types of bad people you may run into.

If I’m being honest…there’s nothing that says you’ll definitely run into such people. Who knows? You might only encounter other survivors who just want to stay alive and will gladly join anyone offering to help them do that.

Of course, thinking that is incredibly naive, and, frankly, the sort of thinking that gets you killed. You’d be smarter to prepare, not only for the aforementioned bad people, but for any of the other nasty possibilities you may run into (Including the zombie apocalypse itself), rather than not doing it, and just hoping and praying you survive.

I suppose I should start off with this question: Have you gone through your life and never met a person who was either sketchy, unscrupulous, or a straight-up criminal? If so, you’ve led quite the charmed life.

I say that because, I imagine, unless you live in the middle of nowhere, chances are you’ve come across at least someone who fit the description I provided, and, if you have met such a person…what makes you think you won’t meet such people in a zombie apocalypse? And, even if you haven’t, are you sure you want to bet your life that, in such a desperate and violent situation, that you won’t, eventually?

How would you prepare for hostile encounters? To you I would ask: How do you prepare for any fight? The answer is to train. Learn martial arts or boxing if you can. Learn how to use weapons. Hell, read books on military strategy! Anything that can make you more prepared for a conflict with any number of hostiles is worth doing.

Of course, hostiles aren’t the only problem you might have to worry about. There’s all sorts of other things that can make your fight for survival very short in a zombie apocalypse, like…the weather. Specifically, cold weather.

Now, I know what some of you may be thinking: “What the hell do I have to worry about that for?! It’s not like I live in Canada or some other frozen place like that!”

While that may be true, it may only be true…right now.

You see, just because you start the zombie apocalypse in a warm place doesn’t mean you’re going to be there indefinitely. Frankly, none of us know where the apocalypse may take us. Any number of factors like a herd of zombies, being driven away from our homes by hostiles, or natural disasters may force us to seek refuge not only in new places, but ones that might be very far from home, and we may end up in a place whose climate may be extremely harsh. It doesn’t just need to be cold climates, you could just as easily be forced to go from Minnesota to Texas, you simply don’t know.

For our purposes, though, let’s focus on those cold climates, and how to best prepare for them.

You’d need good heavy clothes, coats, gloves, hats, scarves, earmuffs, and blankets to help ensure you didn’t freeze to death while you slept; Along with that, having lots of firewood or other fuel sources at your disposal is crucial. If you don’t know how to hunt or fish, I’d suggest learning, or bringing a lot of canned food, enough to last you through the worst Winter can throw at you.

Of course, I can’t talk about being prepared, even for something that might not happen, without talking about the zombie apocalypse itself.

Make no mistake: I don’t think a zombie apocalypse is going to happen. That said…I never completely rule out the possibility. In fact, my whole philosophy when writing The Rules sprang from that idea. My purpose was to get people prepared for a zombie apocalypse in case one ever happened. Sure, it probably won’t, but, like with all the other things I mentioned here, I’d rather be prepared for one and have it never happen, than not be prepared…and have one happen.

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 and do. 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 also get it at Amazon here, on iTunes here!