Zombie Cliche Lookout: Back on Your Own
We talk a lot about having a community of people in order to survive the zombie apocalypse, but survival is also a very personal thing. At the end of the day, no matter how many people you surround yourself with, everything comes down to you. I think that’s one of the reasons so many zombie stories like to break characters off from the group for a while. Not the biggest reason, of course. The biggest reason is that one person on their own is much more vulnerable, and horror thrives on vulnerability, but I digress.
Having a character separated from the group is a way of making them prove themselves. Or not. After all, not every character survives their solo trip. But let’s focus on those that do for the purpose of this write up. People have their strengths and weaknesses, and in most cases we’re able to get along just fine, despite these weaknesses. Once all of the safeguards of civilization are removed, and the new landmines of zombies and hostile survivors are introduced, our weaknesses can become quite deadly indeed. Survival, then, comes down to mitigating them, working with what we have, and a good deal of luck.
About this Episode:
While Tara twice talks to Sam, wishing him safety and luck, Sam is silent. I hope this doesn’t come across as him being rude, or trying to be the silent, tough guy hero. What I was going for here was him steeling himself for what he was about to do. Going back outside was extremely dangerous, and he’s doing it for people he barely knows. That’s a big undertaking.
Discussion Question: Deadly Weaknesses
Building on the zombie cliche lookout above, what weakness do you have that could turn into a giant liability in a zombie survival situation?
Typo alerts:
“zombie stories like the break” the–>to
“not every character survivors their solo trip” survivors–>survives
“these weaknesses.Once” Insert a space after the full stop at the end of the sentence. 😀
“was him stealing himself” stealing–>steeling 😉
Zero on Monday, four on Wednesday, you were doing quite well there, Dave! 😀 These aren’t too bad, and should be easy to find and fix! 😉
Fixed all. An I was on such a roll too.
I have a couple of questions: What do you expect Sam will come back to when he finallybrings back the medications Gramps needs? Will Tara and her grandpa even be there? Will they have turned into zombies or been infected or eaten by them by the time he gets back?
And lastly, but not least: How likely do you think Sam is to find the place again? Do you think he’ll get lost and end up carrying someone else’s medications around for the rest of his life? Or will he be able to recognize the place and get the medications back in a timely fashion?
Hah, I can’t really answer those. Spoilers, and all that.
I will say that Sam does know this city, at least to some extent; this is where he lives and works.
Actually, I had mostly intended the question for other commenters to have some speculation on. I probably didn’t make that clear in my comment. 😀
I’ll say Tara made that list to actually get ride of Sam cause Granpa doesn’t have a good feeling about him. LOL (I’ve never been good with betting…)
I should also mention that the shooting and flow of character actions is very good thus far: Sam takes a step in panel three, and in panel four, he is off on the other leg that’s just landed, and is stepping outside to Dave only knows what awaits him! 😀
Thanks!
Easy, my crappy eyesight.
Im practically blind without my glasses and although I do regularly practice very short range handgun shooting (5-10feet) without them in the event I lose them in a scuffle or get caught without them, my long term survival in a hastily environment would be at least an order of magnitude more difficult without them.
“hostile environment”
Probably my perception is my weak point. I get tunnel vision very easy and just might not notice the zeds milling about.
1) cliches – go to the mall to survive… No thanks!
2) meds – think heart, bi-polar, antibiotics would be high target problems
3) bathrooms
4) stress and sleep
5) poor choice makers and/or leaders, and planning
6) unfamiliar areas
7)large organizations – umbrella corps, military, political
8) communications
This is just a list, you probably already have a better way to organize it.