Fear The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Know Your Enemy

1) Observe And Report.

A buddy of mine once told me that his dad had been a security guard in his youth, and described the work as mostly doing two things: Observing and reporting. This line of work and the activities it largely requires are also good skills to have in a zombie apocalypse, because, the first means you have for learning about zombies or hostiles is by observing them.

Think about it: While we can make guesses about what zombies might be like, it’s only from things like TV shows, movies, or video games, not from seeing an actual zombie in the real world. For all we know, there could be things about actual zombies that we might not even think about.

If you have the means to do it, when the zombie outbreak first hits, it would be wise to take some time to watch how zombies actually behave from a safe distance. See how they walk, how they’re drawn to people, how quickly they move when they get close to someone, what can actually stop them.

Also, you should try to figure a few things out that will be vital later, like: Can zombies smell? If so, can you camouflage your smell? Can they run? Can they climb stairs? If you can figure these things out, then, you’ll have an idea of what to do and not do when dealing with zombies.

The same thing goes for hostiles. There are always going to be things about them that you need to figure out, like how big their group is, whether they’re armed or not, who their leader is and what their social hierarchy/command structure is like. Other things to learn are whether they have outposts, whether they’re violent, or (Like The Beginners) have a weird outlook on the world which would indicate whether or not they will be violent in the future. A little bit of snooping on the other groups around you in the apocalypse will let you know if they’re friends or foes.

It’s amazing what a little observation can do for you.