Survival Guide: To Surviving the Living Dead 101

Rule #8

Don’t Be A Hero

Don’t be a hero. Don’t put yourself in situations that you know you won’t survive and will most likely end in disaster. Rick wasn’t being a hero when he went after Sophia, he was just doing what he would have done for any child. He’s a father who knows what it would feel like if something like that would have happened to Carl. No. He wasn’t trying to be a hero, he was being a father and a good guy. It’s always been in his genes to do good and to do the right thing.

What I’m talking about is don’t put yourself or anyone else in a situation you can’t get out of. Don’t run into a building full of walkers just to try and save a stranger that’s stranded on the fourth floor. Don’t try to run into a herd of walkers to save someone, neither of you will get out. Don’t try and talk some psycho with a gun held to your head or someone else’s head out of it. If you move or say the wrong thing they will shoot. This is a different world we live in now. There are no rules anymore. You can’t just walk up to someone and expect them to be a good person anymore. They might have been before but not anymore. Sure it was like that before too but it’s just gotten worse.

No rules. Now laws to follow. You can do whatever you want. People can just murder someone and get away with it. Being a hero and putting yourself in the line for some stranger isn’t worth it. At least in my opinion. Someone wants to join your group you better hit them with the hard questions. And if your in a situation and they don’t do shit to help and end up getting themselves in trouble just fucking walk away. Your life is more important than theirs.

When I found Rick he was sitting on the hood of a car, head down. I walked over and sat beside him. “It’s not your fault,” I said. He looked over at me but I just stared straight ahead. “I have to tell myself that everyday since you showed up at camp. That it’s not my fault you woke up alone in that hospital. Even if I feel like it is. Shane and I… we um… we went to the hospital to try and get you out but when we were there— people were being lined up and shot. The military just came in and started shooting.

“You were hooked up to all these machines. IV, oxygen, everything. You were still in a coma and we couldn’t wake you. Then the hospital was bombed and the power went out. The machines they stopped— they stopped working. And Shane pressed his ear to your chest and said he couldn’t hear a heartbeat. He tried lifting you but he wouldn’t have been able to carry you. I just trusted him when he said you were gone. I couldn’t even process anything until a few days later. I should have checked for myself. I should have checked for a pulse. If I knew you were still alive, Rick— I would have never left. I would have stayed with you.”

“I don’t blame you or Shane. You did what you had to do. You got Carl and Lori out safe and I’m thankful for that. I'll never be able to pay that back. But Sophia, I don’t know. Maybe I should have found another way. Maybe I shouldn’t have told her to go off on her own. I should have told her to stay there until I came back. But I was afraid if something would have happened to me—” he shook his head. “You did what you had to do, Rick. No one would have done what you did. No one would have just run after her like that. Hell, Carol doesn’t even know how to defend herself. And neither does Lori. I don’t want to start a fight with you but she needs to learn to defend herself because I’m tired of doing it. Everyone needs to properly learn how to use a gun and how to kill a walker up close.”

That night I stayed up on the roof of the RV and kept watch. After a while Daryl joined me. “Hey.” I looked over where the ladder was watching him step up onto the roof. “Hey.” I had my legs hanging over the side of the RV that faced the other side of the highway. Daryl came over and sat beside me. We sat in a comfortable silence. That’s what I liked about Daryl. We could keep each other company without saying anything. “Did ya talk to Rick?” I nodded my head, “yeah. He’s putting all this on himself. He feels guilty because Sophia is out there somewhere alone. Carol is blaming him and I get it. I really do. Her daughter is missing. She’s alone in the woods. No food, no shelter, walkers. But Rick did everything he could and I believe that. We’ll find her. We will.”

The next morning everyone was gathering around to get ready to go out into the woods and search for Sophia as a group. Andrea started bitching because Dale took her gun and she wanted it back. He didn't feel like it was a good idea not after she tried to stay back at the CDC. "I'm not going without my gun." I was standing on the other side of the yellow mustang. I was getting irritated by her bitching. My hands slammed down on the hood of the car making everyone go silent and stare at me.

"Look, Andrea, the only people that are carrying a gun are me, Rick, Shane, and Daryl. We know how to properly use a gun. You do not. We don't need people who don't know how to use a firearm walking around the woods. We don't need someone hearing a fucking twig snap and start shooting. That will only bring walks to us. That herd could hear it and come back. So stop your fucking bitching, grab a weapon that isn't a gun or you can stay back." She just huffed grabbing a weapon. Shane went over the rules and what was going to happen before we headed over the guardrail and into the woods.

Rick and Daryl were up front, I was in between Lori and Carol and Shane brought up the back. Dale and T-Dog stay back at the RV. When we came to a yellow tent in the middle of the woods Rick held up a hand to have everyone stop. Shane moved forwards with Rick and Daryl to check the tent out and I stayed behind the group in case any walkers decided to appear. Rick had Carol call out softly for Sophia just in case she was inside before Daryl unzipped it and stepped inside. Carol kept saying his name until he came back out. She wasn't inside. The only thing inside the tent was a man who decided to opt out. When we heard church bells ringing through the woods everyone took off towards them coming out the other side to see a small little church.

It didn't make any sense though. The church had no steeple but we still checked it out. We found three walkers inside and took them out easily. Glenn ran around the side to find a box. The bells were on a timer. Carol went back inside with the others and just as I was about to step inside behind them I saw Lori and Shane arguing before she walked up the steps past me. We made a decision that Rick and Shane would spend another hour looking around the area and Daryl would lead the rest of us back to the highway. In the end Carl went with Shane and Rick. He wanted to help look for Sophia and to my surprise Lori let him go.