What Would You Do If … Dilemmas In A Zombie Apocalypse: No. 30 – The Astronaut’s Dilemma

It’s the middle of a crew change-over and you’re the only astronaut on the international space station, circling some 220 miles above the Earth. You’ve just received a consignment of food and other supplies which will last for the next six months, and you’re waiting for word of when the next new will arrive. Suddenly, your radio crackles into life. It’s ground control and at first what they’re saying isn’t making any sense. There’s a lot of noise in the background, which sounds like people running around in a panic, but you definitely heard the word disease. You also thought you heard another word, but you can’t have. Did ground control really just say something about zombies? You ask for clarification, and they repeat that they said: there’s a new disease which is turning everyone into zombies, and that it’s spreading fast. Before you can get much more information, ground control stops transmitting. You try every other channel, but there’s nothing on any of them. It might just be a technical glitch, but it seems there’s no one left broadcasting anywhere on Earth. You look out the window, and you can see what looks like New York burning in a massive fire. A few minutes later over China, you see what looks like a nuclear explosion in Shanghai. There’s clearly something very wrong going on down there, but without any communications, you don’t know exactly what. You assess the situation: you have plenty of food, water and air, at least for the time being, but you also have an escape capsule which could take you safely back to Earth. What do you do?

As always, this dilemma is just here to make you think, so there’s no right or wrong answer. Vote in the poll to let others know what you do if you were in this situation, and if you want to give a more detailed answer, leave a comment on this posting.

This dilemma was posed to me by my girlfriend after we’d been to see the film Gravity. If you haven’t seen this film yet, I’d strongly recommend you go and see it on as big a screen as possible, and in 3D. There’s no zombies in it, but still a great disaster movie…

*****************************************************************************
From the author of For Those In Peril On The Sea, a tale of post-apocalyptic survival in a world where zombie-like infected rule the land and all the last few human survivors can do is stay on their boats and try to survive. Now available in print and as a Kindle ebook. Click here or visit www.forthoseinperil.net to find out more. To download a preview of the first three chapters, click here.

To read the Foreword Clarion Review of For Those In Peril On The Sea (where it scored five stars out of five) click here.

What Would You Do If … Dilemmas In A Zombie Apocalypse: No. 29 – The Rendezvous Point Dilemma

You are the leader of a small group of survivors clinging on as zombies take over the world. Last night, your compound was over-run and in the scramble to escape, most of your group got separated from each others. Luckily, being a sensible leader, you’d had a plan in place in case of such an eventuality, and you’d previously told everyone that if this ever happened, they should aim to meet up at a crossroads five miles east of your base. You also told them that they would need to be there by sunset of the following day at the latest as being over-run would mean the local area was no longer safe and you would need to move on in search of somewhere safer as quickly as possible.

The sun is now going down all but two of your group have made it to the rendezvous point. The two missing people are your teenage daughter and your second in command. The best thing for the group as a whole is to get going as quickly as possible because the local area is now crawling with zombies, and there’s a good chance that if they haven’t made it by now, they’re dead – or worse. Yet, there’s a slim chance they’re still alive and that, for some reason, it’s just taking them longer than expected to get to the meeting place. In fact, they could arrive at the any moment, and you know your daughter would be devastated if she got there and found you’d left her behind. You could send the rest on ahead while you waited, but without your second in command, there’s be no one to take charge, so either you all go or you all stay, and that includes you wife and your other children. The longer you stay, the greater the chances that the zombies which over-ran your compound will catch up with you. What do you do?

As always, this dilemma is just here to make you think, so there’s no right or wrong answer. Vote in the poll to let others know what you do if you were in this situation, and if you want to give a more detailed answer, leave a comment on this posting.

If you want to read more about the importance of having rendezvous points in a zombie apocalypse, you can read the article posted here.


*****************************************************************************
From the author of For Those In Peril On The Sea, a tale of post-apocalyptic survival in a world where zombie-like infected rule the land and all the last few human survivors can do is stay on their boats and try to survive. Now available in print and as a Kindle ebook. Click here or visit www.forthoseinperil.net to find out more. To download a preview of the first three chapters, click here.

To read the Foreword Clarion Review of For Those In Peril On The Sea (where it scored five stars out of five) click here.

What Would You Do If … Dilemmas In A Zombie Apocalypse: No. 28 – The Rope Bridge Dilemma

You’re running through the trees, trying your best to stay on your feet while dodging the low-hanging branches. Around you are a crowd of people who are all running too and for the same reason: there’s a horde of zombies chasing you. Ahead, you see the trees thin out and you know you’re almost at the ravine at the edge of town. You speed up, making it to the bridge before anyone else; its old, and is little more that a series of wooden slats held up by ropes strung to posts hammered into the ground at either end. You feel the bridge shudder beneath your feet as you race across it. Once you reach the other side, you turn, machete in hand and consider your options. If you cut through the ropes, there will be no way for the zombies to get across and you’ll finally be safe, yet there are still others streaming across the bridge. You glance at the ropes, not knowing how much time it will take to cut through them. If you start trying to cut them too soon, you’ll be sending many other survivors plunging needlessly to their deaths in the river far below. If you start cutting the ropes too late, the zombies will have time to make it across before you can finish severing them and then you’ll be doomed. What do you do?

As always, this dilemma is just here to make you think, so there’s no right or wrong answer. Vote in the poll to let others know what you do if you were in this situation, and if you want to give a more detailed answer, leave a comment on this posting.

*****************************************************************************
From the author of For Those In Peril On The Sea, a tale of post-apocalyptic survival in a world where zombie-like infected rule the land and all the last few human survivors can do is stay on their boats and try to survive. Now available in print and as a Kindle ebook. Click here or visit www.forthoseinperil.net to find out more. To download a preview of the first three chapters, click here.

To read the Foreword Clarion Review of For Those In Peril On The Sea (where it scored five stars out of five) click here.

What Would You Do If … Dilemmas In A Zombie Apocalypse: No. 27 – The Air Strike Dilemma

You are the leader of an army unit sent in to contain a zombie outbreak in a nearby city. At first, it looked like you manage to get it under control but now you realise its spread too far, and the only option left is to call in an air strike. The airforce will then drop a series of powerful fuel-air bombs which will obliterate everything within the affected area. The outbreak is spreading fast, and the sooner you call in the air strike, the smaller the area they’ll have to bomb to stop it in its track. This means fewer innocent civilians incinerated along with the zombies. If you call in the air strike right away, the death toll will only be a few thousand people, but you will definitely be one of them. If you delay calling in the air strike for half an hour, you’ll be able to get far enough away that there’ll be a 50% chance of you surviving the blast, but it’ll also give the outbreak time to spread and a much larger area will have to be bombed to stop it. As a result, tens of thousands of people will die. If you wait an hour, you’ll be able to get far enough that you’ll definitely survive, but by then the whole city will have to be levelled to stop the outbreak spreading to the rest of the country, and that will mean the death of half a million people. What do you do?

As always, this dilemma is just here to make you think, so there’s no right or wrong answer. Vote in the poll to let others know what you do if you were in this situation, and if you want to give a more detailed answer, leave a comment on this posting.

*****************************************************************************
From the author of For Those In Peril On The Sea, a tale of post-apocalyptic survival in a world where zombie-like infected rule the land and all the last few human survivors can do is stay on their boats and try to survive. Now available in print and as a Kindle ebook. Click here or visit www.forthoseinperil.net to find out more. To download a preview of the first three chapters, click here.

To read the Foreword Clarion Review of For Those In Peril On The Sea (where it scored five stars out of five) click here.

What Would You Do If … Dilemmas In A Zombie Apocalypse: No. 26 – The Last Bullet Dilemma

You’re running for your life, just as you have been for the last six hours. There were eight people in your group to begin with, but now there’s just two of you left, the rest having been caught and killed by the zombies which are chasing you. The only good thing is that since some of the undead stopped to feed on those they’ve killed, their numbers have dwindled and now there’s only one left tracking your every move. You see an alley leading off to the left and run into it, realising too late that half way along its blocked by a chain link fence. You quickly assess the situation. If you try to climb the fence, the zombie will be able to grab you before you get over it so that option is out. You check your gun and find to your dismay that there’s only one bullet left and there’s no other possible weapons within reach. You know your aim’s not very good and there’s only a 50% chance of hitting the fast-approaching zombie if you try to shoot it. If you kill it, you’ll both be able to get away but if you fire and miss you’ll have nothing left and you’ll both be killed. There is, however, another option. This is to shoot your companion in the leg. At point-blank range, you’re guaranteed to hit him and you’d be able to climb over the fence while the zombie attacks him as he lies injured on the ground. What do you do?

As always, this dilemma is just here to make you think, so there’s no right or wrong answer. Vote in the poll to let others know what you do if you were in this situation, and if you want to give a more detailed answer, leave a comment on this posting.

*****************************************************************************
From the author of For Those In Peril On The Sea, a tale of post-apocalyptic survival in a world where zombie-like infected rule the land and all the last few human survivors can do is stay on their boats and try to survive. Now available in print and as a Kindle ebook. Click here or visit www.forthoseinperil.net to find out more. To download a preview of the first three chapters, click here.

To read the Foreword Clarion Review of For Those In Peril On The Sea (where it scored five stars out of five) click here.

What Would You Do If … Dilemmas In A Zombie Apocalypse: No. 25 – The Hotel Guest’s Dilemma

You’re on holiday on your own when there’s a zombie outbreak in your hotel. According to the local news, the authorities have the hotel sealed off but it will take them several weeks to clear out all the undead which now infest it. You’re safely locked in your hotel room so you’re not in immediate danger, but there’s no food or water in it. There are, however, vending machines in the corridor by the lift which are full of snacks and drinks. Through the spy hole in your door, you can see a lone zombie lurking outside your room and stopping you getting to the supplies. Then you hear a noise and realise there’s someone trapped in the room next door. You start talking through the wall and find out they have nothing to eat or drink either, but between the two of you, you come up with a plan: if you both open your doors at the same time, the zombie will be distracted, giving you the precious seconds you need to kill it, meaning both of you can get to the vending machines. However, there’s a risk that one of you might get injured or even killed, but you agree to the plan as it seems like the only possible solution to your predicament.

You’re in position with your hand on the door when a thought occurs to you. The person in the other room can’t see you, you could just not open your door on the agreed signal. They would open their door, with no choice to distract it, the zombie would rush into their room and attack them. You could then shut the zombie in the next door room and get to the vending machines with absolutely no risk to yourself. Then you realise the other person might be thinking exactly the same thing and it could be you that’ll get attacked if you open the door and they don’t. Yet, if neither of your open the door, there’s a good chance you’ll both starve to death before you can be rescued. You hear the person in the next room start the count down: Three, two, one … What do you do?

As always, this dilemma is just here to make you think, so there’s no right or wrong answer. Vote in the poll to let others know what you do if you were in this situation, and if you want to give a more detailed answer, leave a comment on this posting.

This dilemma is based on the prisoner’s dilemma much love by those who study game theory. The basic premise behind it is that the best option for each of you as an individual is to screw over the other person, yet if you both do this, you’ll both lose out. It all comes down to whether you can trust the other person to do what’s in the best interest of the pair of you as a group, or just for themselves.


*****************************************************************************
From the author of For Those In Peril On The Sea, a tale of post-apocalyptic survival in a world where zombie-like infected rule the land and all the last few human survivors can do is stay on their boats and try to survive. Now available in print and as a Kindle ebook. Click here or visit www.forthoseinperil.net to find out more. To download a preview of the first three chapters, click here.

To read the Foreword Clarion Review of For Those In Peril On The Sea (where it scored five stars out of five) click here.

What Would You Do If … Dilemmas In A Zombie Apocalypse: No. 24 – The Safe House Dilemma

The zombie apocalypse has come and in the immediate scramble to survive you find yourself alone and holed up in an old house. Looking round, you make a quick assessment of its suitability as a safe house. You see that if you can get the windows boarded up and the doors barricaded, it will be an okay place to sit tight: it will keep the zombies at bay, but only if there’s just a few of them at any one time. Any more than that and there’s a risk you’ll be over-run. Thinking about how best to maximise your chances of survival, you conclude that there must be better safe houses out there, ones which would keep the zombies out no matter how many there are; however there are also a lot worse places you could be and if you set out to search for another safe house, there’s no guarantee you’ll find somewhere better. Worse, you may find you lose your existing safe house either to other survivors or to the undead. And then there’s the risk of going outside where you’ll be exposed to the marauding zombies. Yet, if you don’t try to find somewhere better now, you might not get the chance later and you’ll be stuck in your existing situation, knowing your safe, but only if you don’t attract to may zombies. What do you do?

As always, this dilemma is just here to make you think, so there’s no right or wrong answer. Vote in the poll to let others know what you do if you were in this situation, and if you want to give a more detailed answer, leave a comment on this posting.

*****************************************************************************
From the author of For Those In Peril On The Sea, a tale of post-apocalyptic survival in a world where zombie-like infected rule the land and all the last few human survivors can do is stay on their boats and try to survive. Now available in print and as a Kindle ebook. Click here or visit www.forthoseinperil.net to find out more. To download a preview of the first three chapters, click here.

To read the Foreword Clarion Review of For Those In Peril On The Sea (where it scored five stars out of five) click here.

What Would You Do If … Dilemmas In A Zombie Apocalypse: No. 23 – The Who Goes First Dilemma

There’s three of you trapped eleven floors up in a skyscraper. You know your best chance of survival is to get out as quickly as possible, but there’s also zombies everywhere – including in the building itself. However, before you can leave the room you’ve been holed up in for the last few hours, you get into an argument as what order you should move down the narrow corridors and which position (going first, last or in the middle) is safest and which is most dangerous. You decide the only thing to do to solve the argument is to draw lots to choose who goes where. You get lucky and get first choice. What do you do?

As always, this dilemma is just here to make you think, so there’s no right or wrong answer. Vote in the poll to let others know what you do if you were in this situation, and if you want to give a more detailed answer, leave a comment on this posting.

*****************************************************************************
From the author of For Those In Peril On The Sea, a tale of post-apocalyptic survival in a world where zombie-like infected rule the land and all the last few human survivors can do is stay on their boats and try to survive. Now available in print and as a Kindle ebook. Click here or visit www.forthoseinperil.net to find out more. To download a preview of the first three chapters, click here.

To read the Foreword Clarion Review of For Those In Peril On The Sea (where it scored five stars out of five) click here.

What Would You Do If … Dilemmas In A Zombie Apocalypse: No. 22 – The Dog Owner’s Dilemma

It’s been a long, hard winter. You are holed up in a safe house, but you ran out of food the week before and you are close to starvation. A fierce blizzard has been raging outside for the last seven days and it looks like it will continue for at least another week. You could go outside to look for food, but you’d risk freezing to death in the storm; because of the white-out conditions, you’d also have absolutely no chance of seeing or hearing any zombies before it’s too late. Yet, the zombies seem unaffected by the storm, or the freezing temperatures, and you’re pretty sure that, despite the conditions, they’d have no trouble finding you. Your dog is curled up beside you, helping to keep you warm. He’s been with you since before the zombies came and he has saved your life on many occasions, his superior sense of smell giving advanced warning of approaching zombies. As you stroke him, you can feel that he’s skinny but he still has some meat on his bones. You know people in other cultures eat dogs, and that he would provide enough nourishment to last you until the storm is over and it’s safe to go out and forage again, but he the only companion you have left. What do you do?

As always, this dilemma is just here to make you think, so there’s no right or wrong answer. Vote in the poll to let others know what you do if you were in this situation, and if you want to give a more detailed answer, leave a comment on this posting.

If you wish to read a further discussion on how useful dogs might be in a zombie apocalypse, you can find one here.

*****************************************************************************
From the author of For Those In Peril On The Sea, a tale of post-apocalyptic survival in a world where zombie-like infected rule the land and all the last few human survivors can do is stay on their boats and try to survive. Now available in print and as a Kindle ebook. Click here or visit www.forthoseinperil.net to find out more. To download a preview of the first three chapters, click here.

To read the Foreword Clarion Review of For Those In Peril On The Sea (where it scored five stars out of five) click here.

What Would You Do If … Dilemmas In A Zombie Apocalypse: No. 21 – The Altruist’s Dilemma

The five of you have been working your way through the maze of corridors for the last four hours, killing zombies whenever you ran into them. Ahead you finally see the exit and you breathe a sigh of relief because you’re running low on bullets and once you’re outside you can get into you vehicle and drive back to your safe house. You knew almost from the moment you stepped inside the abandoned stadium looking for supplies that it was a bad idea, but it has taken you this long just to get back out safely again. Suddenly three undead shamble round the corner, blocking your path to the exit. You raise your run and fire; the first goes down, but then the gun just clicks: you’re out of ammo and you’ve got no other weapons to hand. You curse your mis-fortune and try desperately to work out what to do next. Then a thought occurs to you: if you attack the zombies bare-handed, it will give the others enough time to escape. Of course, you’ll also die a horrible death as the zombies feast on your still-living flesh. What do you do?

As always, this dilemma is just here to make you think, so there’s no right or wrong answer. Vote in the poll to let others know what you do if you were in this situation, and if you want to give a more detailed answer, leave a comment on this posting.

*****************************************************************************
From the author of For Those In Peril On The Sea, a tale of post-apocalyptic survival in a world where zombie-like infected rule the land and all the last few human survivors can do is stay on their boats and try to survive. Now available in print and as a Kindle ebook. Click here or visit www.forthoseinperil.net to find out more. To download a preview of the first three chapters, click here.

To read the Foreword Clarion Review of For Those In Peril On The Sea (where it scored five stars out of five) click here.