The Colony – Week 8: Defense

Day 44 of The Colony kicks off with The Call from VOPA (Viral Outbreak Protection Agency). Becka and Reno learn from a payphone that the Agency will be on it’s way in 24 hours.

In a personal flashback to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I sat amazed at the amazingly childlike Pollyanna mindset of the survivors. “Oh, the agency will come and get us out of here.” Post Katrina, I saw more instances than I care to recall where people believed a hero was coming to save them, only to have their hopes dashed. It was there that I crafted the question that would alter the direction of my life.

When you can’t call on anybody else, can you call on yourself?

Needless to say, after last night, the Survivors must now realize that VOPA is not their friend.

As the helicopter arrives overhead, you first detect a large cargo box tethered beneath it. Oddly enough, the chopper circles numerous times above the compound as if to locate a place to land. Then, inexplicably, the cargo box is dropped from hundreds of feet in the air and smashes back to earth. Most, if not all of its contents are destroyed. The unsuccessful drop of goods is offset by the tremendously successful spectacle the chopper made in the sky above the compound. They could not have done a better job at attracting surrounding attention with a set of Hollywood type searchlights circling a nighttime sky. Before the survivors could scavenge any useful contents, the outsiders attack.

Each week seems to set itself up with a major theme. Water, Food, relationships and so on. This Week was all about security, a laughable term really when it comes to these colonists.

Tick announced early on that the colonists “never built security” into their plans. With all the hard work and time they’ve invested in making the area livable, security has always been a second thought. With Tick in the picture, this is about to change.

Early on in the show, Jim was chastised as being too aggressive and quick to throw down against the intruders. Fellow colonists remanded him to an upstairs lookout post so as not to have his “confrontational style” get them “into trouble.” Fascinatingly, they kept him in-check, like a guard chained in the back yard. Tick announces there will be “no more squashing Jim.” It’s nice to see Jim finally reengaging.

Reno Ministrelli, 29, a foreman for a a wireless communications construction company from Royal Oak, MI.

As soon as the colonists begin to search the remains of the botched airlift now painting and littering the ground, the outsiders move in. Instantly Tick takes charge. Like a quarterback directing his lineman as he drops back into the pocket, Tick sends Jim and Reno to head off the first two intruders as he tackles a third himself. The raid is thwarted.

The colonists, seeing Tick in action, decide he will head up security and he sets out to diagram securing the living area.

Amber readies the small boat, testing it for leaks.

Sally and Reno share their growing feelings for each other.

Michel distills alcohol and helps George craft riot shields.

Jim builds a water canon to fight off intruders.

Becka, in classic form, bemoans Tick as a “know-it-all” complaining to the camera.

One of the remnants in the cargo drop is an old ammunition box. Reno opens it only to find an Ipod/Iphone contained with videos shot by the family members for the colonists. They all reminisce and cry watching the videos of their loved ones.

The second attack begins. One male, one female enter the compound. The alarm sounds. You watch, knowing they are simply testing both the mental resolve and physical perimeter of the colonists. You can feel a larger attack is imminent.

In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, oxygen, food, water, sleep fill the first tier. Immediately following on the second stage is security.

Without security, you have no survival plan!

Brian Brawdy is a former New York Police Officer turned survival expert/political analyst. He is a frequent contributor to Off The Grid News, the co-Host of Off The Grid News Radio and the editor of BrianBrawdy.com