The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: A Cold, Cruel World

6) Things With Which To Start A Fire (Lighter, Matches, A File, Etc.)

Of all the skills mankind has mastered over the millions of years it has existed, none is more important than the mastery of fire. It helped us develop the brains necessary for speech; it helped us overcome the dark, it helps us shape the world around us, and, during the Ice Age, it kept our species alive.

In a zombie apocalypse, fire mastery will be called upon again to do most of those same things. If we don’t have lights, we will have to rely on torches to see in the dark. It will help us cook our food and avoid getting sick, and, especially in winter, it will keep us alive.

As I mentioned a few entries back, there won’t be any central heating once the apocalypse hits, and we’ll need to know how to make our own fires if we don’t want to freeze to death.

Of course, there are many ways of going about it and lots of tools to help us do that. Just off the top of my head, I remember watching Eugene Porter start a fire by putting a gum wrapper to a 6-volt battery in The Walking Dead season five episode, “Self Help.” If you have them (And, if not, they’re easy enough to get before the apocalypse hits), matches and lighters are specifically made to start fires.

A more labor-intensive method (Though more reliable in the long term) is to use a file. By scraping a rock, or another bit of metal, against a file, it will create sparks, and if you have twigs or leaves or paper, you can use them to get a fire started with any pieces of wood you can get your hands on. With batteries, matches, and lighters being finite, it’s important that you keep a file with you so that, long after those other supplies run out (Or, perhaps, to save them for when you absolutely need them), you have the means of keeping your food cooked and your body warm through the long, cold nights the zombie apocalypse will inevitably bring.

Sometimes, all it takes to succeed is a spark.

And that’s your Survival Rule Of The Week! Hopefully, you’ve learned what you need once you’ve learned that the zombie outbreak isn’t going to end in a week and that winter is coming. If you like this and want something to help you 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!