The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: NOT Amongst Friends

The Walking Dead – What’s Been Lost

If you are in a larger group and they turn on you, you are in enemy territory.

Most of this week’s episode of The Walking Dead centered around Carol and Daryl trying to stay one step ahead of the Commonwealth troopers. Pamela Milton’s plainclothes snatch-and-grab teams were out to abduct anyone from the Virginia communities living in the Commonwealth and whisk them away to God knows where. In fact, at the very beginning of the episode, Carol and Ezekiel are casually talking inside Carol’s bakery when they’re suddenly set upon by such a team while another team attempts to grab Daryl.

While joining a larger community in a zombie apocalypse can be an improvement, there are also some drawbacks, the biggest being that your safety, freedom, and happiness are directly tied to your relationship with the government of that community. Be neutral or on its good side, and you’re not likely to have much to complain about. Get on its bad side, however, and you suddenly realize how tremendously vulnerable you are. If you’re in a very large community like the Commonwealth, which, naturally, has a large security force, it becomes like a prison. You don’t get to decide where you can go and when, they do. You don’t get to decide when, where, and how you interact with that security forces, they do. And, if they don’t want you getting out, they can prove quite effective at ensuring you don’t.

When joining with a larger group, firstly, try to stay on their good side, but, since that may not be possible, you should instead sit down with your group and plan out an exit strategy so that, if things go awry, you all know what you’re going to do to get out before your would-be jailers descend upon you.