What Would You Do?

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This scenario was taken from the movie Chernobyl Diaries.

You are in a deserted city that has a nominal level of nuclear fallout due to a years-old accident with a nuclear reactor. Your best information is that it is safe to be there for a limited amount of time. You plan to be there for only a few hours and go.

You are with seven people: a middle aged ex special forces guy, three young and fully functional women, and three young and fully functional men. None of the latter six have any special training or capabilities.

Your best information is that the area is utterly devoid of human life. However, supposedly dogs and other wild animals come out at night, and you have seen a brown bear during the day.

As you prepare to leave shortly before dusk, you discover that your vehicle has been sabotaged and is not operational. To walk out, you would have to travel 20 km. The ex special forces guy, who is the best informed among you about the area, says that it is unsafe to travel on foot by night.

The risks of staying are that you are in danger of being exposed to significant radiation, and you don't know who sabotaged your vehicle or why. The risks of going are the supposed wild dogs and other animals that are out at night time, as well as the likelihood that there is some other intelligent sinister element out there, as evidenced by the sabotage.

The vehicle you are in is a van. Its doors can be locked, but it has windows all around and is in no way a tactical vehicle. None of your cell phones has service.

After nightfall you hear what sounds like a baby crying somewhere in the distance. You have one firearm among you, a pistol with 30 rounds of ammunition that the ex special forces guy is in possession of. You also have one flashlight.

What do you do?

 

I should add that the special forces dude is in possession of a gieger counter to monitor radiation levels, and his opinion is that it is safer to stay than go. This does not mean that there is no radiation risk, but your best information is that it is unlikely that your skin will start falling off or anything like that, even overnight.

 

1. I ignore the baby. The only human life form we know of is whoever sabotaged the van, so they're probably using the baby to lure us somewhere more dangerous. I'll tell authorities about the possible baby when we get back.

2. We're in danger from the saboteur whether we walk out or stay with the van. That means that the decision comes down to danger from animals or danger from radiation.

3. Despite the special forces guy's opinion, fighting off animals is possible, whereas fighting off radiation is not. Assuming his geiger counter works, what happens if it suddenly spikes and we're 20 km from the exit?

4. A moving target is harder to hit, and the saboteur has already found out van.

I'd leave.

 

I'm going on the assumption the terrain is flat. Seeing that the danger zone is so small (20km is only a few hours walking) and there are so many young and healthy people, have everybody pile into the van and rotate shifts of a few people pushing the van until you're outside the danger zone. If the area is anything like the wilderness surrounding Chernobyl I'd have absolutely no fear of wild animals because nothing goes hungry in that area, place is teeming with life (as human babies don't naturally occur in the wild, and there are some very rare species in and around Chernobyl, would classify the 'baby' as a bird call).

If there was a saboteur, it's most likely within the group. Because everybody would be either in or on the van playing lookout, resting, or pushing the van, person would not have the chance to sabotage the van again (I suppose they could slash a tire, but they'd be seen doing it, then they could be knocked out/tied up and put in the back of the van and somebody could take over their role of pushing). Then we'd all hitch a ride to Kiev, and have a party.

 

I'd absolutely leave.

Having seen the movie, all I can say is that pretty much every horror movie rests on at least one very important premise--that the majority of the characters will do stupid things.

 

It's time to go all MacGyver....

Fashon the tail pipe into a bazooka. Use the Geiger counter to find all the hot spot materials nearby and fashion small fissionable masses that can be fired from the new bazooka -- with the right preparation these will only be lethal to the radiation zombies that have kidnapped the baby from a nearby vault. The people from the vault were unaware the van of our party was actually functional and really just took some parts to fix their water supply. They will, of course, apologize when they realized the error.

After a lot of explosions and dead zombies, the baby will be rescued and the healthy young men will be left to work in vault (they have a shortage of men because they keep sending them out for parts), and the women will fawn all over our intrepid hero realizing he is the "right genetic material" for them.

Baby rescued ... check.
Zombies killed ... check.
Water supplied fixed with a paper clip ... check.
Van fixed ... check.
Escape from the radioactive wasteland ... check.
Special forces dude gets an exclusive in "Soldier Today" ... check.
Babes happy ... check.
End with a big production number.

 

That's one of the interesting things about looking for sensible responses. As carried out by foolish people, they won't always work.

 

We have a higher chance of success if we stick together as well as being mobile. Whoever sabotaged the van (I'm assuming this is a sweet van like a volkswagen type 2 btw) probably has some means of tracking either it or us, so I'd argue that by being mobile it'll made thing harder for the saboteur. 20 km isn't that much a distance to walk anyway, we'd be out of the metaphorical woods in a couple of hours. Using my awesome geographical knowledge I'd argue we should head north to reach the abandoned city of Pripyat, make a stop there and salvage whatever we can and continue north towards Belarus, hoping to hit civilization.

Edit: To determine where north is, I'd simply use the sun and a wristwatch, y'know 'cause the sun rises in the east and all that. It may not be an exact science but still "north" is kinda vague anyway. If that fails, I'd use coper wire, the van's battery, water bowl, and a needle-shaped metal thingy to macgyver me a compass. Electromagnetism ftw !

Edit 2: Failing that I'd just hope really hard Dean Stockwell shows up in an ugly suit and tell me I've just leaped in some Ukrainian dude and all will end well soon enough.

How's that for 80s-90s reference ?

 

If anyone's interested in how it actually turned out "in real life," spoilers below:

Spoiler

Everybody died. Here's who and how:

Victim #1: ex special forces guy, aka Uri.

Not long after we heard the baby crying, Uri decided inexplicably to go investigate, armed with his pistol and a the flashlight and a two way radio. Uri did not bother to inform anyone that he had a second radio in the vehicle that they could have used to maintain communication with him. Uri did not explain why he was going to investigate, and left the others with the simple command "stay in the van." Uri was subsequently killed and partially eaten not long after he set out by either wild dogs and/or mutant humans. He fired three rounds from his pistol during his adventures, and in the process removed the pistol, the flashlight, one radio, and himself as usable assets from the group.

Grade: F. I still would rank him as #1 most valuable player though. (See below.)

Victim #2: young American male #1, aka Chris, aka Biebs.

Shortly after Uri set out on his quest for doom, Biebs went after him just as recklessly, consulting no one first and doing Uri not one ounce of good. He was severely injured by either wild dogs and/or mutant humans (though he inexplicably refrained from identifying which) and thus rendered himself an utter liability. He was taken away from the van the following night, presumably by mutant humans, and was never seen again.

Grade: F. Biebs contributed absolutely nothing. He only hindered morale by criticizing people before his injury. He also hurt moral by looking like Biebs (even though he was played by Jessie McCartney). About the only decent thing he did do was acknowledge that he couldn't travel after his injury. #7 most valuable player.

Victim #3: young American female #1, aka Natalie, aka Boobs.

Boobs did almost as little as Biebs, but at least she didn't get herself injured prior to her demise. She was taken away along with Biebs on the second night, after having been left to look after him by the others who were "going for help." They gave her the pistol but she did not fire it during the night time attack on the van, as far as we know. She was later recovered alive and in reasonably good health by the group during their further adventures, only to fall victim to the mutant humans a second time, though they refrained from eating her, as she was also found a second time, dead but mysteriously unsampled.

Grade: F. Boobs contributed only her boobs for viewing, but at least she was helpful to morale. She did not run away well. She supposedly applied a tourniquet to Biebs' leg, but I have my doubts about that, as I'm not sure she could even tie her shoes effectively. #6 most valuable player.

Up later: the fate of the final four!

 

Why have we waited until night fall? Surely we would have returned to the van with plenty of time to spare (I also wonder why we left the van unattended in the first place).

Average walking foot speed of around 5km per hour leaves us with a minimum trek of 4 hours ahead of us. We salvage what is of use from the van, the fuel mixed with some cloth and wood from nearby dead trees would make torches that would keep wild animals at a distance, we could also probably fashion makeshift weapons from other pieces of scrap. I would trust our spec ops guy who brought us out here woefully unprepared to handle anything that would chance us as a large group wielding fire that would be a rare risk.

we should be fine if a little shaken from our trip.

 

I won't read the spoiler - I think I'll watch the movie . Fun thread though.

 

How it actually turned out, part 2 (spoilers below):

Spoiler

The final four:

Victim #4: young Australian male, aka Michael, aka Mate.

Mate (who always called everybody "mate," as all Australians do), was killed on the second night while fleeing from mutant humans somewhere in the buildings of the town. At least I think he was killed, as the remaining three didn't bother to verify after he was overtaken by mutants while trying to close a door to block their pursuit on behalf of the group. They just went "Oh well, mate" and left him on the other side of the door.

Grade: C. Mate was actually pretty cool and reasonably effective, aside from the obvious group deficiencies. He did not lose his cool in a way that hampered the group's progress, and he frequently sought out the input of others and maintained the most sensible outlook on the proceedings, urging the others to do things like not give away their location through loud screaming and stopping ill-advised plans to do stupid things. He also took the pistol away from Not Haim (see below) when Not Haim really started to lose his senses. #2 most valuable player.

Victim #5: young Norwegian female, aka Zoe, aka Who?

Who? was pretty much a filler character, which made it rather surprising that she lasted as long as she did. She was killed shortly after Mate while being last to climb up a ladder that Not Haim bravely climbed first with a pack of hungry mutants hot on their tails. (Way to go, Not Haim.) They appeared to be eating on her last we saw, probably because they were hungry from catching but not eating Boobs.

Grade: D. She didn't do anything terribly bad, but she didn't really contribute anything either. Her flight skills were average. #4 most valuable player.

Victim #6: young American male #2, aka Paul, aka Not Haim.

Not Haim bore a surprising resemblance to 80s child star Kirk Cameron, who all movie long I was misidentifying as Corey Haim but he wasn't. He was killed by evil soldiers after he and Hair (see below) had at last made it to the checkpoint somehow without traveling anywhere near 20 km. They told him to stop in Russian, but Not Haim, being the only guy besides long-dead Uri to speak Russian, could somehow not understand. It could be that his hearing was not so good at that point, because he was suffering severe radiation exposure due to clumsily trekking through the freaking reactor. They shot him dead as he approached them.

Grade: F. Not Haim was a tool. It was his idea to hire shady Uri to take them to the deserted city in the first place, and he easily lost his cool whenever something bad even hinted at happening. He did presumably kill one mutant human by firing three rounds from the pistol through a door that had already stopped its pursuit, thus wasting at least two precious rounds that could have been used on the many other mutant antagonists on their trail. He could not think clearly. Everything was mostly all his fault. And he wielded a pipe like a sissy. The only reason I rank him #5 most valuable player is because in addition to being Not Haim, he was also not Biebs and not Boobs.

Victim #7: young American female #2, aka Amanda, aka Hair.

Hair was a very attractive young lady whose greatest feature was that her hair looked perfect in even the direst of circumstances. If I had to be chased and killed and eaten by mutant humans, I would at least like to look as good as Hair always did while doing it. She was the sole victim (unless you count halfway victim Not Haim) of The Evil Scientist Conspiracy that was revealed at the end of the film. Unlike Not Haim, she did not advance on the soldiers at the checkpoint, even though she did not speak Russian. Instead, they rescued her and took her to the Evil Scientists, who patiently explained what was going on before throwing her in a room full of mutant humans to be killed and eaten, and to look damn good with perfect hair while doing it.

Grade: C. Hair was actually pretty competent. Like Mate, she didn't rattle easily, and she ran in a straight line without falling down most of the time. She also stepped up big time when the chips were down and recovered Uri's pistol after he foolishly lost it. At the end, as she and Not Haim fled through the reactor, she shouldered all the burden of remaining strong while Not Haim fell to pieces. She also resisted radiation blindness, which Not Haim couldn't pull off. I rate her #3 most valuable player.

~

All in all, I think this gang could have survived if it was just Uri, Mate, and Hair. I suspect that Mate and Hair could have persuaded Uri not to do anything stupid and could have redirected and focused his survival skills toward a more productive end while not being liabilities themselves. That way Hair's hair could have still stayed perfect in the act of living too, but I guess you can't win them all.

THE END

 

You know Gear, you don't really make it look like a good movie by refering the characters by silly nicknames. It implies they're unidimentional and lack the necessary depth to make the audience care about them.

Btw even after knowing the fate of all I'm still gonna stick to my guns and say that logic and common sense is the best course of action of any given situation.

I hate it when in movies the protagonists triumph over whatever obstacle by following "their gut feeling", or just blindly following a really dumb idea 'cause "they have faith", said dumb idea turns out to inexplicably work out I might ad. Where's the movie where dumb people are punished for their idocy and the ones who follow logical course of action triumph ?


Live long and prosper -- why isn't there a vulcan smiley ? -- meh I guess I should be grateful that there's a picard facepalm one, which I am btw.

 

Shockingly, it could be that that's true, particularly given the horror movie tropes that dogsoldier explained above, which might explain why I did it. (Although I did enjoy the movie. The setting was intriguing, the initial scenario was interesting, and it was executed well in general.)

 

Well.. that may also be, because it is one stupid, lame movie

He described the more than stupid characters and story pretty good and besides that it doesn´t even have decent Action/Suspense/Killings.. whatever..
Only thing it has is a somehow atmospheric location.

@topic: i wouldn´t even be there -especially with only one shady guy as leader and an old van...