The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: The Zombie World

The Walking Dead may not need money, but living people might

This week’s episode of The Walking Dead introduced Judith to something Daryl hadn’t seen in over a decade, something Carl would have only had a mild familiarity with, and something neither she nor R.J. have ever seen: The need for money.

For us, it’s as ubiquitous as breathing, but when a zombie apocalypse hits, money loses its value because the only thing you can exchange for anything of worth is something that helps you survive. Bullets, batteries, food, arrows, shoes, medicine, etc., will become worth more than money because they are all things you need to survive. Try to give someone money for these things in a zombie apocalypse, and they’ll look at you like you grew a second head.

That said, it is possible that there may be isolated pockets of pre-apocalypse civilization lingering around in the world, either maintaining their original monetary system or having devised a new one of their own.

The thing about communities like this is that if they’ve managed to survive this long in the zombie apocalypse, they probably are pretty well armed and supplied, meaning that you would probably do well to trade with them.

Am I saying you should hoard money in the apocalypse, even if you have no use for it? Well, yes and no: Yes, in the sense that keeping some money in the apocalypse wouldn’t actually be that taxing on you, and useful if you ever did need it, and no because I believe there’s something even more useful if you come across a community that maintains the old way of doing things: Gold.

Gold has always held value to humans; even before we had money systems, gold held value, and, if you have met a community that still uses money, chances are, gold is the one thing that any such group will be willing to trade for, even if you don’t have their currency of choice.

Now, I’m not suggesting you trade in jewelry that might have sentimental value to you, but you know whose jewelry won’t have sentimental value to you? The random zombies wandering all over the place, that’s whose! Think about it: For the price of the same level of effort you’d put into defending yourself against a zombie, you could get a ring that might buy you a month’s worth of food from a community that still uses money.