The first rule of the zombie apocalypse

I am not a big fan of zombies. Ok, maybe I am. The possibility of the dead reanimating into a primitive form with only the primal instinct to feed just seems a bit far fetched. You don't see zombies looking for water, even though dehydration sets in far sooner than starvation. But hey that's me.




However, if the dead are able to rise someday, then I believe the first rule about surviving the zombie apocalypse should be that you don't kill the living. [Spoiler alert if you watch The Walking Dead] In the latest episode the survivors are left with another dilemma where Shane wants to kill another human to keep the group alive. Rick, the unofficial leader of their group, isn't sure what he wants to do. Which is the first reason why I belive the living should always be left to live.

A zombie is looking for food, it will kill you to sustain it's own life and for no other reason then that. If we start killing other living humans out of fear that they'll take our resources then we're really no different from the zombies. We would by pass our two large, nicely evolved frontal lobes and be using the same part of the brain the zombie's are using -The survival instinct. Hence making us life sustaining primitive instruments of death. The only difference is we remember and a zombie doesn't.

A zombie will kill you to sustain 

it's own life and you'll kill another 

human to sustain yours, then 

what's the difference?

This dichotomy is seldom seen in zombie stories, if it is please leave a comment of where I can read more about this. At what point do you lose your humanity? Is it when you get bit and become a zombie and will stop at nothing to stay alive? Or is it when (as a human) you are so fearful that you would stop at nothing, even kill other survivors, just to stay alive?

What are your thoughts?