How The Walking Dead confirmed my worst nightmare
Ok, so, my regular readers (all three of you) know that I pride myself (endlessly) on my Horrordentials. I love “le freak” – the gorier, the better.
But this past week, a brand new series about the shambling hordes — The Walking Dead – actually really and truly freaked me out.
And, yes, I am going to tell you why …..
After the premiere of the show last week I jumped on to AMC’s official site to snoop around and decided – for a hoot – to take The Walking Dead Survival Test to see what character I would be in a survive-the-apocalypse situation. We all know who I think I would be, but I wanted to see if I was right.
I thought about my answers (as much as you can in the 30 seconds they give you).
I answered honestly (as honestly as I could knowing the “real” me).
I came up as:
Glenn, the plucky sidekick.
(Who is, of course, also smart, brave, loyal, forever funny – my additions)
Little did I know at the time, because I have not (gasp) read the graphic novels that inspired the series, that just one week later Glen would face my worst nightmare. Seriously ….
.
[Spoiler alert: the next section will give away part of The Walking Dead second episode.]
For years, thank you George Romero, I have had a recurring nightmare that always scares the bejesus out of me. I wake up sweaty and shaking, and thankful that while I remember the broad plot the details leak away very quickly.
In this nightmare I am (sometimes alone, sometimes in the company of others) attempting to get across a city infested with the walking dead without turning into brunch for said walkers. [Now, of course, in real life I wouldn’t attempt to cross through a city because I have read Max Brook’s Zombie Survival Guide, but this is a nightmare so all bets are off] I am covered in goop from a felled walker – though I don’t know how I got this way – and inching down an alley between two streets filled with shambling, groaning reanimated corpses.
Somehow the dead realize I am not one of them and they begin to close in. I shut my mouth firmly to avoid ingesting any flying parts and take aim with my firearm … but they just keep coming. I run …. As fast as I can, but the dead just keep coming … and then, just as the stinking claws of the dead grab hold of my arms, my eyes pop open and I find myself in bed. Phew …..
Now I’ve always thought of this recurring nightmare as kind of odd and kind of funny …
But seeing it played out, by the very character type I apparently am?
I came away wondering: Could I really do it? Could I face my worst nightmare in real life, and survive?
After I watched the West Coast airing of The Walking Dead, I had a sneaking suspicion of what scene had you all freaked out. And I have to confess…
I did laugh.
But not at your nightmarish predicament. The scene itself had me giggling. Everyone’s reactions to it on screen were hilarious. And while I know my own reactions would quickly turn to disgust (the smell of decay is never pleasant) I couldn’t help but laugh. Especially as the last line of the scene hit: “Give me the ax, we need more guts.”
This show is utterly brilliant. I can’t wait to see where they go with it.