"The military have failed. We are doomed."
The guns had fallen silent two hours ago. The multilateral attack force, tasked with destroying the creature, had been torn from the skies and crushed underfoot. Humanity's last stand was over. After ruling the Earth for millennia, we had finally fallen to this invader from the sea.
"Don't be a fool," an old man spoke up against the anguish of the crowd. "Tools and weapons may have been our greatest strength as a species, but our dependence on them is also a weakness. I fought in the army; commanded, even. Trust me on this."
"What do you mean? How are we to fight this monstrosity without guns, tanks, planes? If they have failed, what is there in this bunker that might succeed in their place?"
"Us," the commander replied. "Human beings fought to the top of the food chain long before we had assault rifles or fighter jets, but our growing reliance on these tools means that the average man would not survive long in the wild... even with terrestrial creatures. As we are, we stand no chance against this monster from the depths."
"Do you mean to imply that cavemen would have done?"
"Unarmed, as we are? They would at least be in better shape than us. Our ancestors were used to taking down giant mastodons with nothing but sticks and fire, let us not forget. They had a group hunting instinct, animal in nature, which we have lost. We are a species of individuals."
He was met with blank faces, a silent wall of scepticism. The ceiling shook with footsteps from above. The guns had ceased, but their target still moved.
"Ancient giants, like our visitor above, may be able to survive alone, but smaller creatures thrive as teams. A pack of wolves, a pride of lions: they are greater than the sum of their parts. The greatest killing machinery consists of many moving pieces, each independent and yet fully committed to the whole."
"People work together all the time," countered a woman. "We may not hunt gazelles, but we co-ordinate to build towers, businesses, civilisations."
"That's true: we are more than willing to help each other, if it is in our personal interest. Sacrificing ourself for the group, however, is a much less palatable prospect. We can work as teams of individuals, but we are still individuals. Rather than addressing a threat to protect the group, we would rather hang back and let if a colleague face the risk instead."
"That's not right. I would die to protect another, and so would many here."
"Really?" The commander drew an old hunting knife from his belt, causing many nearby to step back in alarm. "You see? They flee the threat. If I killed you, and then the woman next to you, and then the man next to her, how many do you think I would get through before I was stopped? Those at the far side of the room would wait, hoping that I would meet my match before I reached them, or at least was tired and weakened by the journey."
He put the knife away, to much relief.
"There are hundreds in this bunker; you could easily rush me, overpower me, but you wouldn't. Not if you thought that somebody else would do it first. Not if you thought that somebody on the way would fight me off, even in self-defence. We all expect the group to protect us, but none of us fights to protect the group. It is always only for ourselves."
"There are those who fight for organisations," I said. "The military, for one, or security guards for a business. They will actively engage with threats, putting themselves at risk to protect others."
"To protect their employers. To protect their paychecks. To protect themselves, in the long run. They rarely fight where there is little chance of success, rarely sacrifice themselves to protect another, unless they will survive to benefit from that service."
