Zombie Research Society
The seriousness of the human threat in a zombie outbreak cannot be overstated. We may not know exactly where the undead sickness will start or how it will spread, but one thing is certain: your fellow citizens will be the most dangerous thing you face in the early days of societal collapse.
It seems every week we’re given another reminder of this, and reports coming out of the recent earthquake zone in Chile are no exception. Just yesterday NBC Nightly News had this to say about the situation there:
“The real peril now is that the looting and violence is not confined to empty businesses, but is also widespread in the homes of those who have survived. Basically a nightmarish scenario of neighbor against neighbor is unfolding.”
Because of the breakdown in the distribution chain, people are desperate to secure food, water and supplies for themselves and their loved ones. Even though they know that the world isn’t coming to an end, that everything will soon be back to normal, the drive for survival is too great to not take matters into their own hands.
In a zombie pandemic we will have the same lack of supplies and services, with the added shock and fear that walking corpses bring. The peril faced by survivors of a zombie infestation at the hands of their neighbors will be exponentially greater than that of any more common disaster.
So who will you trust when the time comes? Or better yet, can you really trust anyone?
I would not trust anyone, but I also would not let them know this and would try to gain their trust in turn. Once I had their trust, I would of course not betray them until the best and most convenient time, but once that time came, I would destroy them and take all their supplies. Some of those who may be reading this are probably thinking ‘yeah right, like anyone could be that viciously heartless’ to you I must reply that I am. If my family got infected, I would destroy the head and double tap. Same goes for my friends. If it came down to it, I could be as vicious as a cornered animal. Mind you, I would hold off on destroying my “allies” for as long as possible. After all, without them, who is there to outrun? Or to check the water? Or to send in to a location first? I may sound evil to you people, but if you think about it, which will survive the longest, the good, kind, and self-sacrificing? Or the evil, heartless, and self serving?
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you may find it easy to say those things but in practice they are far more difficult to achieve
More likely people will figure out what kind of person you are long before you have a chance to do anything and kill you, think about Shane in the Walking Dead, he tried this and got killed. If your not honorable don’t expect anyone to treat you with respect or to help you when it counts.
in my plans i will stick to those i know and trust, I have some really close friends that i would trust with my life in the case of an outbreak. I am not a very trusting man when it comes to the rest of the population, for me it is my closest friends and family that i will trust, everyone else is a potential Zed or criminal in my eyes.
I know I plan to keep a friend with me. I figure I need someone to trip if / when I get a Zed chasing me. Cause at the end of the day, you aren’t always in a situation where you gotta outrun the Zeds…you just don’t want to be the slowest target in the group, know what I’m sayin’?
I kid, of course, but that old “I ain’t gotta outrun the bear” analogy does speak to the nature of trust in a Zed-infested world.
First and foremost, I got my immediate family (wife and 2 kids – 12 & 11) to protect. My best friend and neighbor 2 houses down is in the same boat, wife and 2 same-aged critters. We plan to stick together in the event of societal breakdown as long as it is in our best interests to do so. We know in our hearts that, push comes to shove, we’ll protect our own first. But, we do respect each other enough to know that between us, we have vastly more survival skills and defensive strengths to bear for our families if we work together.
At the same time, one must consider how people can come to another aid in times of desperation. Although, these are not the greatest examples, katrina, the tsunami, and the earthquake. Perfect examples of how people will still rally to the cause to help one another.
I’m not saying that neighborhoods are going to be rushing to save you with their gallons of tide, but people can be trusted in extreme circumstances.
I believe it’ll be more black and white though:
There will be ones you can trust even more than before
and
There will be ones that are more likely to eviscerate you for the sheer fact that they can.
I don’t think you can really trust ANYONE in a zombie outbreak… not even your so called “friends!” That doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily attack you, but they may end up making decisions that put your life in as much jeopardy as theirs…
thats why you pick your friends wisely. I know of two people that would most likely never betray me, one of them i know would never, the other im pretty sure, but i would say three is a good number anyway 🙂