The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Trojan horses

As we can see in The Walking Dead, dealing with hostiles in a zombie apocalypse won’t be easy, especially when they look like they’re offering friendship.

Do you know what a “Trojan Horse” is? A Trojan Horse is something which, while presented as a gift, or offering of friendship, turns out to be an attack in disguise. It comes from the ancient Greek poem, The Illiad, when the Greeks gave their rivals, the Trojans, a massive wooden horse as a peace offering to end the two peoples’ decade-long war, only to reveal the Greeks hiding inside, who decimated the city, and won the war.

What the Hell does this have to do with anything? Well, I see Negan kneeling before Alpha at the end of the latest episode of The Walking Dead, and that’s what I see: A Trojan Horse.

Suffice it to say…I don’t think Negan is going to end up helping the Whisperers terribly much.

Yeah, he might have a grudge with the communities, and he definitely knows a good bit about them, but, I’m with Beta on this one: I wouldn’t trust Negan if I were Alpha.

His offer of intel and devotion just seems…a little too good, you know?

I think Negan’s gonna wait til he gets in real good with the Whisperers, and then, when they least expect him too, I think he’s going to turn around and scramble Alpha’s brains with Lucille II.

That’s how a Trojan Horse works: You put on a nice face, trick your enemy into letting their guard down, and then…WHAM! They’re down and out.

Unfortunately, while this tactic is thousands of years old, people still fall for it because it’s effective. Look at Eugene.

Now, we don’t know (Nor have any reason to suspect, really) that whoever it is Eugene made contact with over the radio is hostile. She certainly seemed nice, if nothing else, but, as even she herself warned Eugene, he doesn’t know whether or not she’s a threat just as much as she doesn’t know if he’s one.

That’s a problem you’re going to need to learn, and, hopefully, not the hard way, in a zombie apocalypse: Just because someone seems nice, doesn’t mean they’re not a threat.

Scumbags have been relying on good looks, a nice voice, and sweet words to trick people into giving them their money, their power, even their lives for probably as long as there have been people on Earth.

And, yet, there was Eugene, giving out his name and seemingly ready to give out where he was and maybe half a dozen other crucial bits of intel to a total stranger!

HEED MY WORDS: Even if someone seems really nice, even if you think they’re not a threat, unless you know that they aren’t, NEVER let someone know you or your group’s vital information.

Now, let’s flip this around for a second. If you’re dealing with hostiles, maybe you are the one who wants to do something like a Trojan Horse to your enemies, to get them out of your life.

This is fine, but, you better damn sure know how to do something like that before you hatch any sort of devious plan.

The first step? Learn to be sneaky.

Honestly, if you have some sort of clever plan to launch, it’s not going to happen if everyone within a hundred-mile radius of you knows what you’re doing. You need to learn who to do things quietly, how to do them without being seen and without leaving a trace. Just one person seeing you hanging around somewhere where they don’t really expect (Never mind want) you to be can mean your plan, and whatever’s riding on it, is sunk.

Furthermore, if your plan to deal with hostiles is something that can impact your group, you either better get really good at being sneaky and not getting caught, or, you better let someone in your group in on your little scheme who might just be able to help you salvage it should you screw up and get caught, because, having secrets is fine, until you get caught with them and they wind up biting you in the ass.

Survival is tough in a zombie apocalypse, mostly because you can’t tell who or what to trust.

I can’t weed out the trustworthy people from the untrustworthy ones for you, but, I can give you this bit of advice: If an enemy comes to you with offerings and a smile, don’t trust them. Don’t fall for the lies.

Don’t fall for the Trojan Horse, because, you’ll get a nasty surprise once it’s inside.

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!