When the nuclear fire comes, and hope begins to dwindle as only dust remains, there will come a point where your actions will help decide your humanity. To survive, there will be times where you might be faced with tough choices; making those choices will determine whether you live or die, and whether those around you live or die; not only that, but those choices will begin to shape what sort of person you really are, as well as those around you: whether family, friends, or just those that use you, and/or are used by you.
Due to the Hawthorne effect, it is impossible to determine how anyone would react in any given, hypothetical situation, just by observing their answers. But as the following scenarios are presented, try and answer as truthfully as you can, and see how your actions stack up against the actions of others. Will you be the bandit? The leader? The loner? In the end, the radioactive wastes can and will chew you up, regardless of who you are. You will need to rely on your wits, and even your friends, in order to scrape out any sort of meaningful existence, as everything around you turns to shit.
Each release will add five new scenarios, and should enough people be interested at the end, scenario conclusions can be released periodically, for the most popular choices made by commenters. These conclusions will be tailored to my whims, so you will never know what might happen to you. ;)
Disclaimer: This blog is only for a spot of fun. Anyone may choose to answer as seriously or comically as they wish, and feel free to discuss your choices, or even the choices of others. Just please be respectful, as always.
Scenario #1:
You and the group that you are traveling with, hear screams off in the distance. The group, with some protest, decides to investigate the scream, and come across a recently abandoned caravan. There are signs of struggle, and no bodies, but night approaches, and the surrounding woods are too dense to risk anything more than a cursory search.
As members of your party begin combing the immediate area for signs of the caravan's owners, it is discovered that the wagons are filled with food, water, clothes, and medicine. The group is split down the middle on what to do with this discovery, as everything in the wagons are needed by your group, and can determine whether many make it through the next few days.
But should the caravan owners still be alive, taking their supplies might mean condemning them to death. And with many in your group desperate and on the edge, leaving the supplies, any of the supplies, might push them into violence. The choice, and even the soapbox, is now on you. Time to make a decision.
Scenario #2:
As you are traveling down the road, you come across a child and their parents; the mother, dead from dehydration, and the father, who is clearly suffering from an infection in his leg. The child, wary of your presence, but in dire need of water, refuses to leave their parents' side, and is becoming hysterical, which could attract the presence of hostile wildlife or bandits at any moment.
Your water and ammunition are running low, and your stock of medicine is non-existent. The parents' bags are seen to hold food and even ammunition, but the child is clutching at a pistol, and there is no telling what they might do if the situation becomes any more tense.
You can either walk away and hope that the child does not draw any unwanted attention, or you can do something about the sight in front of you, in any way as you see fit.
Scenario #3:
Barely making it out of your now destroyed car, shortly after the bombs dropped and left the city behind you in ruins, you spot a group of bandits already taking advantage of the situation, and are shooting people for their supplies. With no weapons on you, and being by yourself, you are no match for these bandits should they spot you.
The road is littered with now ruined cars, making for good hiding positions, but the land to each of your sides are flat, making you an easy target should you try to escape that way. A short distance off, far away enough to not immediately draw the attention of the bandits, is a prison bus, which holds a number of inmates, with the guards having died from the crash. The guards' weapons are still on them, and the inmates could be freed, in an attempt to overtake the bandits.
Do you rely on your own ingenuity to keep the bandits from killing you, or do you place your faith in a group of prisoners, that could turn on you the moment you free them?
Scenario #4:
A relatively new member of a survivor group a few years after the bombs dropped, you and your sibling are initially welcomed in with open arms. However, the leader of the group, is a brutal man that is willing to do whatever it takes to keep himself and the group safe, and is becoming more ruthless with each passing day.
But as ruthless as the leader is, he keeps everyone in the group safe, and for those that carry their weight in the group, life is good for them, with an established garden, an artisan well, and a perimeter wall to keep out the bandits. After a few months of living like this, a series of break-ins are noted by the survivors, and it is further discovered that one of the local bandit groups, has been sending in one of their own to regularly sneak off with supplies.
Without hesitation, the leader executes the bandit, and declares that anyone caught stealing from the group, will be dealt with in the same way. He begins locking up supplies, including the medicine that your sibling needs, as they are diabetic. The leader refuses to budge on his position, forcing you and your sibling to work even more to gain access to the medicine that they need to survive.
One morning, a member of the group wakes you up, to tell you that your sibling was caught stealing supplies, and that the leader has demanded for you, personally, to immediately execute them in order to secure your position in the group, else you will be executed, as well. You have a pistol, a partial clip, and a few friends that you know will either stand with you, or look the other way should you defy the leader. But the odds are still not in your favour, and even should you escape, with or without your sibling, you know that they will never stop hunting you down.
Do you comply with the leader's wishes, or do you risk everything, living in fear, with no supplies or home?
Scenario #5:
As you are escaping from a pack of feral ghouls, you manage to hide away inside of a nearby two-story house, with no other exit aside from the front door, as the entire house has been boarded up. The ghouls have noticed your entry, however, and are looking for ways to get inside. Peeking through the windows, you see numerous places to hide from the ghouls, among the nearby cars, and an overturned truck, yet all of the other houses are seemingly locked up tight, and you know that they will catch you if they see you again, outside of the house's relative safety.
As you explore the house, you discover that an old couple have made their home, here, and even more, that they are cannibals, as you catch them in the act of eating from an unconscious man in the corner. The couple are frail, and are of no serious threat to you, but with so many objects lying around that could be used as weapons, you know that you cannot turn your back on them.
However, you have noticed that the ghouls have grown silent, after nearly ripping apart the back door, and that any sort of commotion would immediately draw them back to finish the job, and then you. You will either need to escape, silently, without giving the old couple a chance to overpower you, or you will need to find some other way to deal with these two threats.