I know that this
whole thing is some twisted perversion of life imitating art. You cannot stop
and look around and be reminded of all the different zombie movies that you
used to watch as a kid or the video games that we have played. But the rules
that they establish in those properties can actually save your life because you
are dealing with a similar threat to what we have seen in those films.
I could not come up
with a conceivable reason for Wes and Kyndall to not stay with our group. Food,
shelter, human interaction, security, safety. Why would you walk away from
that? But Wes told me something that made me understand his choice. So let me
paint a picture for you.
If I tell you to
imagine a zombie movie, you can imagine a small group of people on the run,
being pursued by a ravenous horde of meat bags. Inevitably, the group holes up
in an abandoned house where they barricade the doors and the windows. The
zombies reach the house and they all start banging on the windows and doors.
Our zombies are not
fleet of foot. They don’t run. So staying on the move presents any survivor
with a distinct advantage. And yet, that is your impulse. You want to seek
shelter to put barriers between you and the chomping jaws of death that can
turn you into one of them. But by doing so, we make it to where we cannot run.
We cannot utilize our speed. We are negating our advantage while the crawling
and clamoring undead army piles relentlessly against our doors.
This is the scenario
that Wes wanted to avoid.
Now, in our defense,
our walls are tall. This is not some wooden home. This is a thick concrete
building. Our doors are secured. And this is not just metal hinges and flimsy
locks keeping our doors closed. Thanks to the store fork lift, we have several
thousand pounds of pig iron propped against the grocery back door.
I think that we have
physics on our side. Much like when the Hot Gates of Thermopyle nullified the
numbers of the Persians against the brave 300 Spartans, I don’t think an army
of zombies could press in close enough against a single door that we have
barricaded closed. There are only so many hands that can press against the door
and there will not be enough surface area for them to generate enough force to
cave the door in.
And at this point, we
have hunkered down and gone “quick quiet.” When we do that, the zoms do lose
interest and move on eventually. But Wes’ words have given me pause. Is it
possible for a large enough horde to force their way in?
