The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Trust And Lies

The Walking Dead

How can you trust the people you make deals with?

As this week’s episode ended, we watched as Leah, living out in the wilderness, was approached by none other than Lance Hornsby, who offered her a job.

My question is: How, exactly, does Leah think she can trust him? In fact, how you can trust any stranger you make a deal with?

For Leah’s part, she doesn’t have anything to lose. Her family, the Reapers, are all gone, killed by Maggie. She’s living alone in a tent, nothing but guns and walkers to keep her company. The only thing she stands to lose is a chance at revenge, which seems to be the very thing she’s been hired to do.

For the rest of us, if someone like Lance Hornsby came up to us offering some kind of deal, how could we trust him?

When it comes to deals, you need to look at who has the better incentive and ability to backstab the other party. In the case of Leah and Lance, no one in the Commonwealth knows Leah even exists. He could send two dozen soldiers to track her down and kill her (even if they lost more than half in the process). It would be bad for him if Leah arrived at the Commonwealth and made their arrangement public, so Hornsby has better incentive and ability to betray Leah once everything’s said and done.

If you’re meeting someone in the apocalypse that you know nothing about or suspect is part of a larger, better-armed group than yours, you shouldn’t make a deal with them.