On January 16th, the command crew stumbled across an encoded piece of information with sources in the Walking Dead camp. Once we opened the video . . . well, let’s just say we’re thankful the command center is sound-proofed. Wouldn’t want Blue Brigade Commander Reedus to hear our peals of laughter.
While Norman was in Japan doing a promo tour for “The Walking Dead,” the production company for the show decided it’d be the opportune time to prank him. Enter Nick Santonastasso.
The New Jersey native was born with only one arm and no legs due to Hanhart Syndrome. But that hasn’t stopped Nick from making the most out of life. Last year, Nick made a name for himself online when he donned zombie makeup and tattered clothes and filmed himself charging panicked customers in a NJ supermarket.
Shortly after, his friends created an online petition, urging Robert Kirkman—the creator of the Walking Dead comics and executive producer for the show—to bring Nick on as a walker.
The show’s producers did one better and flew Nick to Japan to be the zombie in their hidden-camera prank on Norman. With help from TWD star Andrew Lincoln and co-executive producer/FX makeup artist Greg Nicotero, Nick transformed into a walker fit to terrify the show’s most notorious bad boy.
It’s okay, Norman. We won’t tell too many people that you shrieked like a girl.
Oakland will belong to the stars June 27-29 2014. Evolution Expo is bringing together science fiction television and movie stars, along with notable scientists to the Oakland Marriott City Center for a weekend of workshops, panels, interactive exhibits, and photo ops.
Guest speakers include actors Amanda Tapping (“Stargate: SG-1”, “Sanctuary”, “Supernatural”), Jason Momoa (“The Red Road”, Road to Paloma, “Game of Thrones”), Katee Sackhoff (“Battlestar Galatica”, Riddick, “Longmire”), and Kevin Sorbo (“Hercules, the Legendary Journeys”, “Andromeda”).
Other guest speakers include astronauts Joe Edwards and Wendy Lawrence, planetary scientists Dr. Pascal Lee and Dr. Chris McKay, and many more.
Purchase your tickets now and enjoy a weekend of fun made just for science fiction fans.
Wow, three years down the road and we’re still continuously surprised by the amount of love and support we receive from you, loyal brigadiers. As thanks, we’re taking a cue from the way hobbits handle their birthdays—giving their party guests presents—with a giveaway and a contest. What are the prizes? Oh, just a couple things we’ve had tucked away in our prize closet. The prize closet we forgot about until it came time to inventory our supplies for winter. Whoops? Time flies when we’re training future survivors.
The Giveaway:
To make this part nice and easy for everyone, we’re giving you guys ten days to enter using the form below. Just follow the directions. The prize? An autographed photo from one of your ZSC commanders—Addy Miller, Vincent M. Ward, Lew Temple, or Michael Rooker.
The Contest:
It’s no secret, your ZSC commanders like sweets. Namely, birthday cake. Grab your frosting bags, folks. We’re looking for the most creative ZSC birthday cake (or cupcake). Snap a picture of your sweet creations and email them to command (at) zombiesurvivalcrew (dot) com by 11:59 PM PST on December 29th 2013. Please use the subject line.
ZSC Birthday Cake for your entries.
The most creative cake entry will win a ZSC t-shirt signed by ten cast members from “The Walking Dead,” including: Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Addy Miller, Anthony Guajardo, Jon Bernthal, and more!
The giveaway and contest are open internationally. Please, no pictures of profanity or nudity included with the Birthday Cake entries. By submitting your picture into the Birthday Cake giveaway, you give the ZSC permission to use the image, with your name attached, on our website for purposes of announcing the prize winner. Winners will be notified via email.
Goodness, the mid-season finale for “The Walking Dead” proved to be a difficult episode to watch. No surprise in the nail-biting, worrying, and yelling at the TV—TWD always provides plenty of that for its finales. The surprises came in the bloodshed witnessed by 12.1 million viewers Sunday night. Some of it may have been expected, the writers are known for dropping clues throughout the season before a major event. The rest left fans wailing and venting their frustrations on Twitter and Facebook. We can totally see the fan angst delighting the show’s writers and producers. After all, they live to make viewers suffer—as Robert Kirkman disclosed on “Talking Dead” after the mid-season finale—by making each major loss on the show unbelievably graphic, fitting the amount of violence to a character’s importance in the show. Talk about a harsh way to show you love someone.
Warning: There’s spoilers a plenty below. Do not venture further until you’ve watched the mid-season finale.
It is no secret that Phillip—a.k.a. The Governor, a.k.a. Brian—is a master manipulator. In the scene before the main credits, he manages to simultaneously scare the pee out of the people in his new camp and turn them into a ragtag militia team willing to do whatever necessary in order to take over the prison. When he arrived, when the camp was still working under Martinez, the group were timid, barely keeping one step ahead of the walkers. It took Phillip no time at all to corrupt them. He knew exactly what to say, what buttons to push and lies to feed them. Well, the lies weren’t so much lies as exaggerations of the truth. Yes, Rick’s people murder and steal, but only when backed into a corner and forced to. Yes, Michonne mutilated Phillip and killed Penny, his daughter . . . in self-defense. He uses the truth to frighten his new army. Only Lilly sees through the manipulation. She calls Phillip out, asking if he’s one of the bad people he’s rallying the others to kill. Unfortunately, Lilly doesn’t have the backbone to stop him, to stop any of them before they charge into the prison with Hershel and Michonne as prisoners. If she did, the episode would’ve had a much kinder ending.
Hershel always finds a way to make peace. It’s the way he’s lived since day one on the show, back when he couldn’t bring himself to kill the walkers because he saw them as sick humans who just need to stick it out until someone finds a miracle cure. Hershel’s faith taught him to find the kinder, gentler path. He’s no push-over, stand up for what he thinks is right no matter what. But Hershel is a man of words, not action. He tries so hard to talk sense into Rick throughout his time with the group, and uses the same tactics with Phillip when taken prisoner.
“You say you want to take this prison as peacefully as possible, that means you’d be willing to hurt people to get it. My daughters would be there. That’s who you’d be hurtin’. If you understand what it’s like to have a daughter, then how can you threaten to kill someone else’s?”
“Because they aren’t mine.”
Phillip makes it clear that Hershel’s attempt to find the humanity buried deep in his mind won’t work. He killed that portion of himself and buried it alongside Penny after the Woodbury attack. It gives Hershel nothing to work with. He’s left to rely on the good he’s found in Rick since the first prison attack to safe his bacon. It doesn’t work.
The prison attack echoes the first attempt made by the Governor to capture the coveted safe haven, with one large exception: this time Phillip rolls in with a tank. He also has a serious advantage in the number of soldiers at his disposal. After the walker attack inside cellblock D and the flu which wiped out a good number of the prison population, there’s a handful of people able to fire a gun without falling over from the recoil. Glenn and Sasha are barely mobile, therefore virtually useless in a fight. It came down to the council, plus a couple spare people, in order to hold the line against a tank and well-armed, motivated insurgents. The prison group was doomed from the start. And further doomed by the emotional blow dealt by Phillip moments before he called on his army to charge the fences.
Hershel’s death is a brilliant tactic for Phillip’s campaign. He knew Hershel was the steel rod holding the prison group upright. All it took was one conversation with the man to figure it out. Rick’s eagerness to agree with Hershel during the ultimately ill-fated parlay before the shooting begins sealed the deal. Take out the peacemaker and the morale of the group falls to ruin. Phillip makes no effort to hide his true self in that moment. He has no more time for games to manipulate his people into action. The price of his ego is the death of a beloved character. We’ll truly miss Scott Wilson’s portrayal of Hershel Greene. He went out in style, with a smile on his face.
Too bad for Phillip, Hershel’s death didn’t automatically translate to Phillip’s victory.
The Governor’s demise was written perfectly. He didn’t go down easily. It took three people, three of the people hurt the most by his actions throughout his time on the show, to bring about his final death. Rick laid into him in the fist fight fans have been waiting for since the original prison attack against the Woodbury militia. There was ample amounts of cheering in the ZSC command center when the first punches were thrown. Rick nearly didn’t survive the encounter. In the end, Michonne dealt the blow to seal Phillip’s fate. Her sword—the same sword used to decapitate Hershel—cut through Phillip’s chest like butter and saves Rick’s bacon. But Lilly is the one to make sure Phillip didn’t come back as a walker to further destroy lives. As is fitting since his behavior cost her the focus she needed to keep her daughter, Meghan, alive. Phillip was never going to die at the hands of just one person. The horrors he wrought on the prison population needed to be avenged somehow. An eye for an eye, so to speak. As much as we loathed Phillip as a character, we’ll miss the brilliance of David Morrissey’s performance. He brought a depth to the character few actors could’ve achieved. There’s a fine line to walk with a character as reprehensible as The Governor. It’s far too easy to make him a mustache-twirling bad guy. Morrissey didn’t. He made Phillip into a character with so many layers, sometimes it was hard to hate the guy. It takes talent to make fans feel sympathy for the villain.
We lost two main characters in the season four mid-season finale, with the fates of many others hanging in the balance. The prison population is scattered to the winds, with little to no supplies, without shelter. They’ve lost their home, their loved ones, and the support of the community they’d built inside the prison. How long can any of them hope to survive? We’ll find out on Sunday, February 9th, 2014 at 9:00 PM.
Have some theories about what lies ahead for the survivors of the prison attack? Let us hear them in the comments below.
Review of “The Walking Dead” 407 – “Dead Weight” By RC Murphy
Having a double helping of something good isn’t always a pleasure. After five episodes without the Governor, watching two episodes focused solely on him chokes the pacing of “The Walking Dead” halfway through season four. The energy viewers get from characters like Daryl and Michonne is impossible to duplicate for the parallel story line following Phillip as he finds himself again after setting Woodbury ablaze. Unfortunately, what seemed like something viewers would enjoy, isn’t paying out as expected. While there are some stand-up-and-yell-at-the-TV moments, they’re too few and far between to keep the momentum rolling into the mid-season climax on December 1st.
Don’t go into the light! It’s the vast brightness of the many spoilers lurking below.
A couple times during the episode, it became painfully apparent that Phillip had forgotten who, exactly, he’s dealing with as his “family.” The way he looks at Meghan is a look reserved for someone who’s watched a child learn and grow since the day they were born. He’s only known the Chamblers for a couple of weeks, a month maximum. There’s no way his connection to Meghan is that rock solid. Toward the middle of the episode, Phillip tells Lilly that he can’t lose them again. Only, he’s never lost them. He lost his wife and Penny—the walker he kept captive in hopes of finding a way to fix her short of putting a bullet in her head. Phillip’s attachment to the Chamblers, namely Lilly and Meghan, is disturbing. He’s out of sync with reality, leaning on two people he hardly knows to keep his humanity in check. It didn’t work.
Martinez’s days were numbered. There’s no use lying to ourselves. Once he made it crystal clear that he was in charge of the camp, things were already set in motion. When he asked Phillip to help him, work for him, there was only ever going to be one outcome. The Governor fully returned to power. He’s so desperate to keep Lilly and Meghan safe, he’ll jump back into the darkness he used to keep Woodbury going during the last weeks of its existence. Even though he repeatedly says, “I don’t want it.” Doesn’t want what, the responsibility of leadership or the blood on his hands from securing his place at the top of the food chain? Does it cost Phillip anything to kill anymore? Anytime we see Rick pull the trigger, you see a piece of his soul wither. With Phillip, who knows? He’s a hard read, a violent man with sociopathic tendencies. However, he makes this impossible connection with a woman and her child that goes against everything known about sociopathic behavior. Is it an act? But to whose benefit? Surely he can’t be trying to fool himself after all this time.
How difficult is it to form a functioning society when everyday Joes are forced to become murderers? Since day one we’ve seen survivors struggle to regain some semblance of normality by coming together to form little neighborhoods. Places where they should feel safe enough to relax, let their kids play. But they don’t in most of these camps. Everyone ends up on edge, watching the one or two people who enjoy the death and destruction around them a little too much. The apocalypse is the maniac’s playground, guns their toys of choice. And since they’re so willing to kill, inevitably, they’re the ones to gain power, become the person to look up to. It corrupts the people in the camp eventually. Look at Woodbury, at how many of the soldiers willingly followed the Governor into battle against Rick and the prison crew. And it is happening all over again next week. Why? Because Phillip knows how to work people. He told Mitch, “You’ll never have to worry if you’re doing the right thing or the wrong thing. We will do the only thing.” That was exactly what the other man needed to hear. He needed a way to absolve the guilt he felt for first, not securing the supplies for the camp, then killing the injured old man, and lastly not killing Phillip after he murdered his brother, Pete. Fighting for the safety of the camp gives Mitch his Get Out of Jail Free card.
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown . . . covered in the blood of his predecessors. Can Phillip succeed this time? Will this new group of survivors secure the golden egg—the prison? Tell us what you think in the comments.
Review of “The Walking Dead” episode 406 – “Live Bait”
Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
In a jarring turn of direction, the writer’s for “The Walking Dead” took viewers completely out of the prison and the lives of the people inhabiting the safe haven within the failing fences. We spent an hour catching up with the Governor, Phillip, Brian—whatever name he’s going by this week. The man changes his name as often as a woman changes her clothes an hour before a hot date. His identity changes with each new name, as well. We met a new version of the Governor in this week’s episode. But how much of that was for show?
Don’t look now, but there’s spoilers sneaking up behind you. Dangit! I told you not to look.
We picked up with Phillip right were we’d left him at the end of season three—standing over the corpses of the men and women from his personal army he’d slain after the failed attack on the prison. From there, it jumps to the next night, or possibly a week later, or a month. Hard to tell with the way the time line jumped back and forth at the beginning. Anyway, it becomes obvious something in Phillip is broken after the mass slaughter of his people. Disgusted, the two living members of his army pack up and leave him on his own. Over time, Phillip stopped taking care of himself. He grew The Beard. You know, the mangy, dead beast looking thing that seems to signify on the show when a male character has given up. Rick grew an impressive one before Michonne brought him a beard trimmer and not-so-subtly hinted that he looked like hell. What are friends for if not to tell you there’s a problem with the way you’re not taking care of yourself? Only, Phillip has no friends. He’s completely alone. The man doesn’t even have a home in Woodbury to return to. He burned it to the ground.
Miserable to his marrow, Phillip wandered on foot through walker-infested roads and towns. Honestly, that he survived at all with his obvious lack of will to live is amazing. He became a ghost, passing through, but never really affecting anything. Until he finds a family of survivors—Tara, Lilly, David, and Megan Chalmers—who are far, far too kind to him.
He tried to cover up his tracks when he burned Woodbury, like the fire would cleanse his foul deeds from his soul. When it didn’t work, Phillip tried for another method—being a decent human being. Something tells us this version of the man, the one known to this new family as Brian, is as close as we’ll ever get to seeing Phillip before the walkers took over the world. He’s soft-spoken, thankful, respectful, and helps when he can. However, the man still punishes himself for quite some time after being taken in, as though he doesn’t feel he deserves something as simple as a meal cooked by someone who genuinely cares about his health and safety. Kindness is not something he has experienced for a good long time. Even when he ran Woodbury, the nice things done for him always had a dark tinge. A taint stemming from the heavy-handed way he ran the town. It wasn’t a safe haven in Woodbury. Phillip turned into a small army base, with himself as the general.
There’s a moment where “Brian” is playing chess with the youngest member of the family, Megan. Suddenly everything about the previous season makes sense. He saw himself as the king, with Rick as the opposing king on the board. Phillip had his knights, rooks, and bishops as his personal circle of enforcers. The others were all pawns. Megan asked when he taught her how to play chess if you lost the game if a pawn died.
“You can lose a lot of soldiers, but still win the game.”
But he didn’t win. Not by a longshot. In war, there are no real winners. Everyone loses men. Life isn’t a game and it took a little girl and her family for that to start to sink into Phillip’s thick skull.
Time will tell if he’s truly learned how to change from the sociopath we saw at the end of season three. From the looks of the preview for next week, he hasn’t. It’s always hard to tell given the way the teasers are edited, though.
Phillip couldn’t look Megan in the eye when he first met the Chalmers. Why do you think he couldn’t? Let us know in the comments below.
In our new ongoing assignment, the Orange Brigade took on the job of scouting possible food sources during the zombiepocalypse within each of the zones laid out for our Tasty Survival series. One thing we’re all guilty of is not looking in our own backyards for ways to survive. Check for local farms you can hit on your escape routes to add to the canned/dried goods that should already be in your go bags. Grab fresh produce while you can. It will not last long once there is no one to tend to the crops. Kill only what livestock you need to feed your party. Don’t waste food others could use.
This is what we discovered for the Purple zone in western United States.
Alaska: A scant 1% of Alaska is used for farming.
Just over half of farms in the state, 54%, house livestock. The main focus is on processing dairy products, followed by cattle and hogs.
The remaining 46% of farms in Alaska grow hay, potatoes, barley, and oats.
The harsh climate makes surviving in Alaska a crapshoot to begin with.
After looking at these numbers, we advise brigadiers to stock up well on canned/dried goods before planning their escape routes.
California: Though top-ranking in crop production, only 27% of California is dedicated to farming.
27% of state farms house livestock. The primary focus is on dairy products, then cattle and eggs.
The majority of farms in California produce a wide range of crops—grapes, almonds, lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes…the list goes on and on.
California ranks #1 in production within the United States for the following products: Almonds, avocados, broccoli, celery, dairy products, grapes, greenhouse plants, hay, lemons, lettuce, onions, peaches, pistachio nuts, plums, strawberries, tomatoes, and walnuts.
If you’re in California, stay there. Set your sights on Central California, where the majority of produce and cattle farms, and chicken farms are located. There’s more than enough variety in food to keep survivors healthy for a long time.
Oregon: Approximately 28% of Oregon is dedicated to farmland.
28% of farms in the state produce livestock—cattle, dairy products, chicken eggs, and chicken.
The remaining 72% primarily grow greenhouse plants, hay, ryegrass, and wheat. However if you know where to look, you may also find onions, potatoes, pears, cherries, blackberries, and grapes.
Oregon ranks #1 in production within the United States for the following: hazelnuts, ryegrass, blackberries, and fescue.
This is another well-rounded state as far as variety of products goes. Plot your escape routes to hit as many farms as possible to stock up.
Washington: 36% of Washington is utilized for farming.
Only 30% of farms in the state house livestock, focusing on processing dairy products, followed by cattle, and aquaculture.
70% of Washington farms produce crops like apples, wheat, potatoes, hay, cherries, and grapes. Washington ranks #1 in production within the United States for the following: apples, asparagus, cherries, hops, Kentucky bluegrass, mint, and pears.
There is plenty of variety in products available in Washington, which is a good thing. Folks from nearby states may need to find their way to Washington in order to find enough food to get by.
Idaho: Only 22% of land in Idaho is used as farmland.
58% of farms in the state house livestock, focusing on processing dairy products, cattle, aquaculture, and sheep.
The remaining farms, 42%, grow crops such as potatoes, wheat, hay, sugar beets, and barley. You can also find onions, dry beans, apples, and sweet corn grown in the state.
Idaho ranks #1 in potato production. They also are the largest producer of rainbow trout—grab your fishing poles, guys.
Montana: Over half of the state, 65%, is dedicated to farming.
57% of farms in the state house livestock, with the vast majority focusing on cattle, followed by dairy products, hogs, and sheep.
43% of Montana farms produce crops like wheat, barley, hay, and sugar beets. If you know where to look, you may also find potatoes, cherries, dried beans, and oats at farms throughout the state.
North Dakota: The majority of North Dakota, approximately 89%, is used for farming.
Only 23% of farms in the state house livestock—primarily cattle, dairy products, and hogs.
77% of North Dakota farms are dedicated to growing crops like wheat, soybeans, grain corn, sugar beets, barley. With some searching you can also find farms growing potatoes. North Dakota ranks #1 in production within the United States for the following: flax seed, canola, dried peas, barley, dried beans, lentils, and oats.
Though boasting a vast amount of farmland, most of the products available in North Dakota require extra processing to be edible, which won’t help any of us on the run. Grab what you can, but plan to escape to a resource-rich state.
There you have it, the products available from the Purple Zone. The West Coast is full-to-bursting with produce. California alone could feed the entire Zombie Survival Crew for quite some time. Keep these states in mind when plotting your escape routes.
No, the title isn’t a typo. The Asylum pros at the horror mockbuster tackled the chance to pit Abe Lincoln against another form of undead after his stint on the big screen going stovepipe-to-fang with a bunch of vampires.
Starring: Bill Oberst Jr., Kent Igleheart, and Rhianna Van Helton. Rated: R (Bloody zombie violence)
Synopsis: Honest Abe tangoed with the undead as a child. Believing his nightmares were long behind him, he moved on to politics and became the 16th president of the United States of America. Now in the midst of the Civil War, the undead are back. They’ve taken over a fort the Union needs in order to gain an upper hand against the Confederates. Abraham Lincoln leads a small company of loyal men into zombie and Confederate territory on a mission to defeat evil once and for all.
The premise held so much promise, along with leading man Bill Oberst Jr. Unfortunately things didn’t mesh up well to make everything work. The script tried too hard to sound like a period piece, leaving some of the actors stumbling over their clunky lines. Some of the notable historical figures, like Abe’s wife, were a mess. I didn’t realize he was married to this woman until an hour into the film, long after she’d been left behind in Washington while Lincoln went on to slaughter zombies with his wicked-sharp scythe. A well-written script will give actors a chance to build a relationship in a short scene. What they were given sounded more like a conversation between friends, possibly cousins. It was not a husband/wife moment. A few other historical figures were sprinkled into the movie. Some were like chocolate chips in a warm cookie. Others stones in room temperature oatmeal. So much of the film was hit-or-miss.
A lot of the film’s action was delivered in dialogue. The zombie attacks are forgettable. I can’t remember one good kill, or a zombie’s actions that stood out from the others. The makeup was standard grey face with mottling, veins, and black blood—the same makeup you’d see at a mid-level professional haunted house during October. Some of the zombie costumes were questionably historical. The women’s skirts in general ran too short for the time period. And at one point, a group of soldiers walks into a whore house, sees the women (living women) in their corsets and underskirts, and acts like it is normal. If a film is going historical, everything needs to mesh with the time period to give it depth. And one of the lead actresses needs to not have her modern bra showing.
There were far too many TSTL (Too Stupid To Live) characters in the film. At one point, it became obvious they were only there to bring in a few more historical figures to play with. That’s well and good, have fun with history, but don’t dumb the characters down. The viewers want them to die, and in this film there were that many good deaths to justify idiotic characters.
I’m going to give Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies three bloody scythes out of five—purely for the premise and Oberst’s performance as Abe. Somehow he managed to make Abraham Lincoln into a somewhat romantic figure. He never went for the cheap, cheesy action. Oberst’s performance was the truest in the film.
Talk about trying to give ZSC Command a collective heart-attack. This week’s episode of “The Walking Dead” was tense. It’s been no secret since season one of the show that every single character could possibly drop dead without warning. Fans are accustomed to fighting the urge to cling to a specific character, outside of Rick and Daryl, for fear their hearts will be ripped out whenever the writers decide it’s time for that character to go.
You know the drill. There’s spoilers down there, and they bite.
We went through this emotional torment with Amy, Sophia, Shane, T-Dog, Lori, Oscar, Axel, Merle, and Andrea. Despite that, some of us still pick favorite characters. And by golly, the writers keep trying to kill off a much loved survivor here in the Command Center—Glenn. We respect Glenn’s commitment to not only his fiancé, Maggie, but her family and all of the other survivors in the prison. He knew the instant Maggie saw how sick he really was, she’d risk herself and everyone else to breach quarantine and take care of him. They need her in good physical and mental shape. The council is shrinking rapidly, not that any of the others knew until Rick returned without Carol. Nevertheless, with Glenn and Hershel in quarantine, Daryl taking himself and two others, and Rick looking for supplies with Carol, that left Maggie the only council member to organize the healthy prison population. While we have no clue the actual survivor count at this moment, it has to be enough people that they need someone to wrangle them, keep them from accidentally setting off events that’d completely compromise the prison. Getting Maggie to understand that is another struggle. Luckily, she’s had her father’s example to learn from. Hershel is an excellent caretaker—putting others before himself, being patient, kind, willing to look a fool in order to calm someone down. But on the flip side, he won’t coddle someone. He tells them the truth about what’s going on. If he can spare them the heart-breaking details, he will. Only if they do not directly impact someone’s health or safety. With such a good example in their lives, it is no wonder Maggie and Beth are two of the saner, calmer people in the prison.
“A sad soul can kill quicker than a germ.” – Steinbeck
We’ve seen this theme run through “The Walking Dead” since season one, episode one. Very early on in the series there were a few types of people in Rick’s path on the way to reconnect with his family. The survivors who scraped their lives into a bag and ran to safety. The unlucky who weren’t quick enough to escape and became walkers. And, lastly, the people who gave up. Moments before Rick found the horse he rides into Atlanta, GA, he came across an entire family who’d committed suicide in order to escape what they must have considered the end of days. “God Forgive Us” was scrawled on the living room wall where two of the bodies were found. Suicide became the easy answer for those whose hearts could not accept their surroundings. Jacqui and Jenner chose a quick death in the CDC explosion. Andrea tried to do the same, mourning her sister’s death so much she couldn’t function, until Dale smacked some sense into her. In season two, Beth cut her wrists after Hershel’s walker catch-and-release program resulted in the poor girl witnessing her mother die for the second and final time. The suicides didn’t stop this season. In episode 401, crazy as heck Clara killed herself with Rick as a witness in order to be with her decapitated walker-husband.
But suicide isn’t the only way people have been escaping the trying task of simply living day to day. The premiere for season two took the survivors on the road after the CDC explosion. When they hit traffic, they discovered numerous people still in their cars, desiccated and looking like they’d just given up on getting away once the cars stopped moving on the freeway. Caleb, Dr. S., took a similar route—for vastly different reasons—in the newest episode when he refused medical attention from Hershel. Instead, he insisted Hershel treat the others. Caleb gave up on himself, but not on hope. It was his hope that the extra time could save at least one other person suffering from the flu. Would things have ended differently if Hershel treated the doctor? Probably not. The flu is too strong to be denied its victims. Some of the people who died, were going to die anyway. They were too far gone. But the time was what may have saved Sasha and Glenn, not to mention the IVs Caleb put together moments before he succumbed to the final stage of the flu.
In sticking with tradition, the writers snuck in a little tidbit at the end of this episode. Did you blink and miss you-know-who lurking outside the prison fence? The fires of hell are about to open up and swallow our favorite survivors. All bets are off for the next few episodes.
As they stand now, do you think the prison population can survive another attack from humans? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
In our new ongoing assignment, the Orange Brigade took on the job of scouting possible food sources during the zombiepocalypse within each of the zones laid out for our Tasty Survival series. One thing we’re all guilty of is not looking in our own backyards for ways to survive. Check for local farms you can hit on your escape routes to add to the canned/dried goods that should already be in your go bags. Grab fresh produce while you can. It will not last long once there is no one to tend to the crops. Kill only what livestock you need to feed your party. Don’t waste food others could use.
This is what we discovered for the Green zone in the south-eastern United States.
Kentucky:
Just over half of the land in the state, 54%, is dedicated to farming.
66% of farms in Kentucky are used for livestock. Unfortunately, the majority of them raise horses and mules. The second largest product is chicken, followed by cattle.
The remaining 34% of farms in the state grow crops. Again, the top producer, tobacco, doesn’t do us much good. Instead look for the few farms growing apples, peaches, and mushrooms.
Kentucky ranks #1 in horse and mule production. While good for transporting things, they don’t make good eats.
Tennessee:
Approximately 44% of land in Tennessee is utilized for farming.
51% of farms in the state raise livestock—primarily cattle, chicken, and hogs. There is also a decent amount of dairy products processed in the state.
49% of Tennessee farms grow crops ranging from soybeans and cotton to tomatoes, apples, snap beans, and squash.
Mississippi:
Only 37% of land in Mississippi is dedicated to farmland.
Approximately 66% of the farms in the state house livestock, with a huge focus on chicken. They also produce catfish, bass, and cattle.
The remaining 34% of farms grow crops, with a focus on cotton, soybeans, and grain corn. However, if you look for it, you can find rice, sweet potatoes, and watermelon.
Mississippi ranks #1 in aquaculture production—mostly in farm-raised catfish and hybrid breeds of striped bass. Fish are great for survival and very forgiving of cooking over open flame with the right techniques.
Alabama:
Just over a quarter of the state, 27%, is utilized as farmland.
A whopping 82% of farms in Alabama raise livestock, with the majority product being chicken, followed by cattle and chicken eggs.
Only 18% of farms grow crops—primarily cotton, peanuts, grain corn, and soybeans. Some farms can be found growing tomatoes, sweet potatoes, peaches, and cucumbers.
Despite the majority product in the state being chicken, there is enough variety in produce to sustain survivors for quite some time. If you’re in the area, put Alabama in your sights on your escape routes.
Georgia:
Approximately 29% of Georgia is used as farmland.
67% of the farms in the state are dedicated to raising livestock, focusing on chicken, cattle, and chicken eggs.
The remaining 33% of farms in Georgia produce crops ranging from cotton and tobacco to peanuts, onions, sweet corn, and tomatoes.
Georgia is a well-rounded produce state, growing enough to satisfy the demands of a larger number of survivors if they stick to farmland. Do not get stuck in large cities.
Florida:
30% of the land in Florida is utilized as farmland.
Only 22% of farms in the state produce livestock, with the top products being cattle, dairy products, and chicken.
The majority of farms, 78%, grow crops—with oranges and sugarcane topping the list for edible produce. You can also find tomatoes, grapefruit, strawberries, and sweet corn grown in the state. Florida ranks #1 in the United States producing the following: Sugarcane, grapefruit, oranges, squash, tangerines, and watermelon.
It is a good thing Florida is so resource-rich and diversified. Hanging out as it does at the butt-end of the U.S., travel out of state will bottleneck. Hang tight, find a few farms to gather supplies from, and everything should be okay.
There you have it, the resources available thanks to farmers within the Green Zone in the south-eastern United States. There’s plenty to choose from, if you know where to look. Start plotting your escape routes now.
Wow, three years down the road and we’re still continuously surprised by the amount of love and support we receive from you, loyal brigadiers. As thanks, we’re taking a cue from the way hobbits handle their birthdays—giving their party guests presents—with a giveaway and a contest. What are the prizes? Oh, just a couple things we’ve had tucked away in our prize closet. The prize closet we forgot about until it came time to inventory our supplies for winter. Whoops? Time flies when we’re training future survivors.
Goodness, the mid-season finale for “The Walking Dead” proved to be a difficult episode to watch. No surprise in the nail-biting, worrying, and yelling at the TV—TWD always provides plenty of that for its finales. The surprises came in the bloodshed witnessed by 
Martinez’s days were numbered. There’s no use lying to ourselves. Once he made it crystal clear that he was in charge of the camp, things were already set in motion. When he asked Phillip to help him, work for him, there was only ever going to be one outcome. The Governor fully returned to power. He’s so desperate to keep Lilly and Meghan safe, he’ll jump back into the darkness he used to keep Woodbury going during the last weeks of its existence. Even though he repeatedly says, “I don’t want it.” Doesn’t want what, the responsibility of leadership or the blood on his hands from securing his place at the top of the food chain? Does it cost Phillip anything to kill anymore? Anytime we see Rick pull the trigger, you see a piece of his soul wither. With Phillip, who knows? He’s a hard read, a violent man with sociopathic tendencies. However, he makes this impossible connection with a woman and her child that goes against everything known about sociopathic behavior. Is it an act? But to whose benefit? Surely he can’t be trying to fool himself after all this time.
