Question: Billy admits that he shot his wife and daughters to save them from a more horrible death at the hands of the vampires. Grieving, he says, "I tried to shoot myself, too, but the fucking gun jammed." But Billy is a deputy sheriff, and any competent law officer can resolve a jammed gun in a matter of seconds. Did Billy actually chicken-out of killing himself after murdering his family?
Phixius
6th Jul 2018
30 Days of Night (2007)
16th Aug 2014
30 Days of Night (2007)
Question: 2 part question, 1. I know he only just turned but surely Eben would have attacked his friends, the man hiding under the building (who Eben kills near the swings) had only just turned yet did not hesitate and attacked Eben instantly, so why didn't Eben do the same? 2. The head vampire tells the others not to turn anyone, why not? Surely they would want as many vampires as possible to make killing the resisting humans easier and to make up the numbers should they lose any, why didn't he want anyone to turn?
Answer: The hiding man had no idea what had happened to him and so was just running on his new animalistic instinct. Eben became a vampire knowingly, willingly, and so he was able to move past that stage immediately. As you can see by the behavior of the lead vampire, a bit of restraint and humanity is not impossible to achieve. The lead vampire did not want anyone turned because that would mean more vampires to share the blood with. He didn't anticipate much in the way of resistance from the humans, they being weaker, slower, creatures.
Also, the man under the building was attacked ~7 days earlier.
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Answer: Perhaps Billy was not a competent law officer. Or maybe you were right he chickened out. Billy could have killed himself in other ways. Other ways more quiet than gunshot.
Alan Keddie
Exactly. How could he go on living after killing his whole family? A minor problem such as a gun jam shouldn't have prevented him from committing suicide. In fact, he couldn't become a law enforcement officer without demonstrating a proficiency with firearms, including the ability to field-service his weapon quickly in an emergency. The simple procedure for fixing a jammed firearm is at the top of the list of required skills.
Charles Austin Miller
Are we ignoring that he was obviously extremely distraught at this time? My take on this has always been that he pulled the trigger, the gun jammed, and he just gave up on everything. He literally didn't care enough about anything at that point to even bother taking his own life anymore. Let the vampires take him; or not. His family is gone, by his hand no less, nothing at all matters anymore. I didn't see it as an inability to clear the jam, I saw it as a psychological breakdown that resulted in complete and total apathy. The jam was nothing more than the straw that broke the camel's back.
Phixius ★
If he gave up on everything, why did he covertly signal Eben with a flashlight? If Billy had truly given up, why not just walk out into the street and be slaughtered by the vampires, rather than continuing to hide?
Charles Austin Miller