Fear The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: You’re Not Alone

Fear the Walking Dead season 7

As this week’s episode of Fear The Walking Dead progressed,  we started getting a better idea of how much John’s investigation into Teddy Maddox’s crimes back in the ’70s had gotten to him. For one thing, it led him down the path of becoming an alcoholic, but more importantly, we learned why it led him down that path.

Once the liquor shelf fell, we discovered that hidden behind it was Teddy’s embalming chamber. This room was the hidden sanctum where Teddy performed his most evil actions. Almost immediately, John started remembering the finer, more gruesome details of the case, as well as seeing flashes of the one victim of Teddy’s whose body he could never recover, Cindy Hawkins.

Before long, it became evident that his failure had haunted John as he kept seeing Cindy as a ghost, begging him to go searching for her corpse.

This became so bad that he started seeing a lone walker as Cindy physically shook him as she demanded he find her, resulting in his radiation suit being torn. Later, he saw a troop of walkers not only as Cindy but also as several other victims of Teddy’s reign of terror, all manifesting his doubts and fears about his ability to do what he needed to do to protect his daughter-in-law.

I often warn about how dangerous trying to survive alone in a zombie apocalypse can be. Still, one thing I tend to overlook is the psychological effects extended solitude can have on you. Especially in a situation like a zombie apocalypse, where you can very easily lose everyone and everything important to you, solitude can easily leave you alone with your doubts, fears, regrets, and all of the things those can lead to. Go it alone like this long enough; you can start having early symptoms of paranoia, or maybe even delusions, as those doubts, fears and regrets manifest themselves as old enemies or even the very people you’ve lost. Some people can exist like this for long stretches of time (Not that that is any good), but others may not be able to put up with that for long at all and may choose to drown out the voices with substances (Which I’ve already discussed the detriments of) or with more final measures.

If you find yourself alone in the apocalypse, always try to keep yourself grounded and keep your mind busy. Never let the dark parts of your mind take over, and convince you that they’re anything more than just your doubts, your fears, or your regrets. The voices aren’t real; they’re your mind trying to fill the void. Never forget that because, if you do, you may find yourself sinking into a black hole of the mind that you can’t pull yourself out of.

And that’s our Walking Dead Survival Rule Of The Week! You are never truly alone in a zombie apocalypse, and that can be both a good thing and a bad thing. If it means you are part of a cohesive, functioning group, that’s a good thing. If it means you’re surrounded by hostiles and the ghosts lurking in your mind, it’s a bad thing. You need to aim for the former, and avoid the latter, whenever possible. If you want to learn the finer points of doing that, 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!