Which apocalypse would you choose?
Zombie. Alien Invasion. Climate Collapse. Technological. Biological. Asteroid Impact?
I love a good Zombie Apocalypse but in a ‘real life’ scenario we wouldn’t get a choice. So could I survive? I’d love to think so. It would be heroic, challenging, almost fun in an outdoors extreme camping way–but there’d be no training. No instruction manuals. No finding a cache of food and weapons laying around. Just the stark realisation I’d be responsible for my own survival … YIKES!
How would I survive? A bow and arrow looks impressive. Katniss Everdeen made it look easy. But I haven’t practiced for hours on end hunting to feed my family. I’d probably miss the target and have to pretend I really meant to shoot the bushes. A gun is worse … Loud. Unforgiving. And what if I’m a really bad shot? Where would I get more bullets? Nothing screams “useless survivor” like accidentally announcing your location to everything that wants to eat you, including things that didn’t know they were hungry.
But is the apocalypse all fighting and chaos? Good vs Evil? Eat or be Eaten? Fight or die? No …
It’s the humiliating losses … Toothpaste–imagine one day squeezing the tube and there’s nothing and none to be found anywhere. You’ve searched every abandoned shop, every empty warehouse but it’s a thing of the past. What a nightmare! I couldn’t begin to think what my teeth would feel like after a few days–weeks–months … Or worse–toilet paper vanishes. It becomes a myth. People would whisper about it. “I heard someone once had two rolls.” Lies, probably, or propaganda.
It’s the little things. The basics we take for granted that would make a huge difference.
And what happens at the end of the day when darkness settles during the quiet moments? Would I laugh because crying wastes energy? Would I joke because hope is fragile and sarcasm is armour. The new world might be broken, filthy and terrifying, but if I can still laugh at how crazy it is–maybe I’d survive.
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