The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Dangerous by default

2) Desperate people do desperate things.

I’m going to preface this by acknowledging that, yes, when Shane began turning on Rick, he did have hostile intent, but, as I mentioned way back in one of my “Who ISN’T the worst” lists some time ago, Shane’s actions weren’t driven by simple envy or malice towards Rick, they were driven by something far more likely (And far more dangerous) in a zombie apocalypse: Desperation.

Shane slowly devolved into a violent killer not because he was secretly evil the whole time, but, because Lori and Carl gave him purpose, and Rick’s return deprived him of that purpose, and his only recourse, his only means of giving his life purpose again (In his mind), was to kill Rick.

Why is this important? Because desperation will be in high supply in a zombie apocalypse, and, why wouldn’t it? Civilization will be collapsing, people will be dying by the millions, and, worst of all, most of those who die…will come back.

It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise if someone who’s watched nearly everyone they care about get torn apart by zombies, or worse, become zombies, starts to become hopeless, and in turn, cling as tightly as possible to what little they have left, even if they have to become violent to do so.

When someone has lost so much, suddenly, the idea of losing what’s left becomes a matter of life and death to them, because, in their eyes, whatever or whoever they have left is the only thing keeping them alive, and will do anything to protect them and what represent.

…And, when the entire world becomes infested with zombies, there’s going to be a lot of desperate people.