I have broken one of my own personal cardinal rules which was to never, ever, binge watch any TV shows from Netflix. Note to self: I hate you. But I still love you. You're only human.
The show I'm referring to is "The Walking Dead" which you can currently watch all five seasons on Netflix. In a nutshell, this insane drama portrays life and the lives of survivors following a zombie apocalypse. Not to be confused with a Trump administration if he were to be elected.
I didn't get the hype of the show when it first came out. I watched the first couple episodes with an attitude of "Do we really need another zombie story? Aren't we zombied out?" But then I slowly turned. Why? How was it made possible?
One of the unique and disturbing aspects of the show is its richly drawn characters. All of it is derived from the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman, which I've never read.
Police officer Rick Grimes leads his group of survivors as if on a giant game board of Stratego where everything unseen is a ticking time bomb. But the pressure each day to stay alive sends many in the group to the deepest depths of human cruelty. And that's what makes the show scary as hell. The human cruelty.
It amazes me how many surprised responses of "That's effd up!" I've had. I'm not one of the most stable people on the planet. It's a fact and my neighbors will attest to it. But now the show has me thinking the "What if scenario?" What if suddenly we had a breakout of zombieness. Would my family and I be able to survive? What about our dog, Henri? Do I have what it takes to protect them?
Honestly? No. I do stupid things. Even if I saw a zombie searching though the mail box, I would forget what he was, tell him to get the hell away...get bit...die...and turn. I'd become an overweight Jewish zombie in search of a deli. No different than today, except I can drive.
Which brings me to my next point. Is our house zombie proof?
I think we would do well. For awhile. We have sliding doors and I notice the zombies on the show lack the dexterity to move glass. They are better at pounding on windows, breaking the glass, then sliding them. Our windows are double pane so that helps.
Fortunately our home has an attic, so we would be able to hide there relatively safe. Solar panels will help run our electrical. So we're good there. Our house is two stories so as long as none of them got inside we could be good. We can stare at the undead from the balcony allowing us to monitor their movements.
Henri would probably growl and bark irritating the Walkers so that will prove problematic. Bribing him with kibble always works. He'll be fat but happy and alive.
I estimate we could survive 30 days in our home before we would need to wander out looking for supplies. And then? Who knows? That's certainly not very long considering this type of epidemic could take years to run its course.
I can see I've got some more planning to do. Perhaps the next few episodes will help me.