Fear the Walking Dead: Survival rule of the week, misguidance

Fear the Walking Dead: Make sure your guide knows where they are going

For the bulk of the Fear The Walking Dead midseason finale, Alicia was following the lead of a U.S. senator to the location of the government’s post-apocalypse backup plan. There was only one problem: He was dead.

In her desperate hope to lead her people to a place they could call home, Alicia was willing to entertain the notion that, somewhere deep down, the dead retained a fraction of memory. This led her to hope that the late Senator Elias Vasquez could lead her to PADRE. We learned that PADRE is a haven the government told high-ranking members about in the event of a cataclysm like a zombie apocalypse.

Of course, this was never going to happen. As Morgan explained to Alicia, the dead retain nothing, no memories, emotions, or personality of their prior existence. The reanimated Senator Vasquez was only going to be following what all walkers followed: Light, sound, smell, and movement. He was never going to lead Alicia to PADRE.

While having a guide is useful in an apocalypse, that usefulness may only extend as far as the guide can take you. If your “guide” has no idea of where they’re going, they are a pretty crap guide. At that point, you’d be better off with a map.

Should you meet someone who is offering to guide you somewhere, make sure, they know where they’re going. Don’t allow them to use you as some security blanket because, at that point, they’re more of a liability than a help.