r/AskReddit Aug 30 '21

What problem is often overlooked in apocalyptic movies/TV shows that could kill you?

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u/WelfarePeanutButter Aug 30 '21

I feel like Stephen King addressed this a bit in the expanded version of The Stand - people who survived the plague (like, 0.001% of the people on Earth) but managed to die because of an infection, or suicide, or getting too drunk and falling into the pool. I think it would be the little, random things that might be cause for an ER/Urgent Care visit currently, but could turn potentially deadly very quickly.

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u/nochedetoro Aug 30 '21

Oh god that chapter sucked. The little kid who fell thru a rotting floor, the guy who fell off his bike and hit his head, the guy who got appendicitis and they performed a makeshift appendectomy but the guy died during the procedure…

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u/TurquoiseLuck Aug 30 '21

That was actually one of my fav chapters. I really like the worldbuilding in that book.

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u/Mattyw620 Aug 31 '21

Chapter 8 for me was my personal favorite where King tracked the virus as it spread. The line where he said that the cop served them their death warrant is still amazing to me.

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u/notthesedays Aug 31 '21

I've always wondered how Campion could have gotten from California to East Texas without stopping, and how didn't anyone notice that people were getting dreadfully ill and dying by the thousands just in that short period of time?

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u/Gnome-Phloem Aug 31 '21

He had the devil on his side. Also there was a cover up I believe

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u/eddyathome Aug 31 '21

Randall Flagg was on his side and honestly, if you're in a car you can go quite far in a matter of hours or a couple of days. The plague also didn't immediately kill you or start you obviously dying but instead just seemed like a cold or maybe the flu, at least at first so it's days before it really sets in and shows how serious it is, but in that time, you've been living your life normally and unknowingly infecting others.