History Main / SafeZoneHopeSpot

* ''Film/JasonX'': The spaceship spends several scenes heading for the Solaris station, where sixty soldiers are on standby to restrain Jason. [[spoiler:Jason kills the pilot once they arrive, causing the ship to blow through several key areas of Solaris. The ship survives. The space city doesn't.

* Subverted in the [[AfterTheEnd post-nuclear]] film ''Film/DamnationAlley''. The main characters receive a radio signal from Albany, New York, the only major American city to survive Doomsday. When they reach their destination, it appears that the people of Albany have been doing just fine. This Trope is discussed early on with Tanner fearing that, after they have sacrificed so much to arrive to Albany, they end up finding that the radio station is some kind of automated system that managed to survive the apocalypse while everything else in the city did not.

Usually when there's a ZombieApocalypse, AlienInvasion, or some type of pandemic thanks to TheVirus or ThePlague, there will eventually be rumors that start to spread amongst survivors and refugees about a "safe zone" or an "outpost" or something to that effect. It may be a fortified structure or a location that offers natural protection from threats, such as a remote island.

Of course the characters eventually reach said destination only for them to find out [[AwfulTruth the hope- and soul-crushing truth]]. Truth being that the outpost/Safe Zone has been either overrun, abandoned, and desolate (and probably has been for hours, days, weeks, or months), or maybe even they have been LuredIntoATrap. Or worse, there ''never'' was an outpost or safe zone to begin with, likely due to misinformation (or false hope). Could result in a ShootTheShaggyDog moment, and or DownerEnding.

Of course the characters eventually reach said destination only for them to find out [[AwfulTruth the hope- and soul-crushing truth]]. Truth being that the outpost/Safe Zone has been either overrun, abandoned, and desolate (and probably has been for hours, days, weeks, or months), or maybe even a LuredIntoATrap. Or worse, there ''never'' was an outpost or safe zone to begin with, likely due to misinformation (or false hope). Could result in a ShootTheShaggyDog moment, and or DownerEnding.

Usually when there's a ZombieApocalypse, AlienInvasion, or some type of pandemic thanks to TheVirus or ThePlague, there will eventually be rumors that start to spread amongst survivors and refugees about a "safe zone" or an "outpost" or something to that effect. After hearing this news of a possible refuge, the desperate characters go on an arduous and harrowing pilgrimage to said place where there's hopefully food, shelter, and uninfected (and sane) humans.

Of course the characters eventually reach said destination only for them to find out [[AwfulTruth the hope- and soul-crushing truth]]. Truth being that the outpost/Safe Zone has been either overrun, abandoned, and desolate (and probably has been for hours, days, weeks, or months), or maybe even a trap. Or worse, there ''never'' was an outpost or safe zone to begin with, likely due to misinformation (or false hope). Could result in a ShootTheShaggyDog moment, and or DownerEnding.

** In ''Film/LandOfTheDead'' Pittsburgh was one of the last remaining cities in the world (perhaps the last) to survive the zombie horde but the events of the movie soon changes that.

** The first film ends with Martin and Belle reaching New Eden, a fabled safe-zone which the vampires can't access due to the cold temperatures, but which some people claim is inhabited by cannibals. According to the sequel, the cannibalism stories weren't true, but the vampires make it into New Eden after all several years later [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment through unclear means.]]

* ''Literature/DownToASunlessSea'': After a nuclear war wipes out nearly every airport in the world (along with nearly every country) the narrators plane spends a while attempting to make it to Funchal Airport in Santa Cruz, the only surviving airport they're aware of that can take planes their size. The HeroOfAnotherStory air traffic controller they contact tells them that, based on where everyone else who called him asking for help is, he has room for them (and a few more passenger planes) to land, but a little while later he calls back to report that the runway is blocked due to a collision between a private plane that tried to sneak in behind a landing passenger plane. This forces the dismayed main characters to try to find another place to land (although the place they do find proves safer from fallout in the long-term).

* ''Series/VanHelsing2016'' repeatedly mentions in-universe rumors that Denver is of a high-enough elevation that it allows the sun to still be visible through the ash cloud from Yellowstone, thus making it safe from the vampires who have overrun the rest of the country. When the heroes finally arrive in Season 3, they find that it ''is'' a secure area, with the military further fortifying it against nighttime attacks. Unfortunately, by this point a new breed of {{Daywalking Vampire}}s (who also have even more powerful {{Healing Factor}}s than normal vampires) has emerged, and when they reach Denver they [[CurbStompBattle quickly overrun]] the defenders.

** Season 1: All the main character convene at Hershel's farm but are kicked out when Walkers breach the farm and kill his son. After hooking up with some more characters, they hole up at an abandoned motel for a few months, with a brief hope spot when invited to a farm, which turns out to be run by cannibals. Though eventually forced to flee the Motel when bandits and Walkers make it no longer safe. After some travels, they come across Crawford which ''tried'' to be one of these, but was revealed that the citizens had killed the children, elderly and the sick to ration their supplies which failed miserably. The characters had hoped to use a boat to make their way to a secluded island. But things go south fast before they could even attempt it with only three of the cast ultimately surviving to the end of the story.

** Season 3: If you chose to stay at the community, you find out it got overrun by scavengers. The new heroes of the story come across a junkyard that you can decide to stay in. But of course more scavengers, who were staying there first, soon arrive to make things complicated. After being separated, the main character is taken to a community that converted an air strip into a safe zone. However, in the next episode, said place is destroyed by vengeful scavengers and Walkers. After some traveling, they reach a new safe zone, but it's led by the leader of said scavengers who happens to be the older brother of the protagonist. Thankfully, though, it's subverted a bit as the brother is (somewhat) reasonable and just part of a larger pack guarding the safe zone. Until you find out that one of the leaders is ''intentionally'' destroying other safe zones to provide more supplies for their own, and the woman is utterly unreasonable to boot. After a standoff, a wall of the community gets breached during a scuffle and lets in the Walkers. Surprisingly, though, in a bit of a subversion, the residents manage to clear out the Walkers, the wall is repaired and the former leader is either killed by the protagonist or just manages to escape in the chaos (likely due to the fact that her megalomania was exposed and ''no one'' would be willing to keep her around after that), leading to the protagonist taking over as the new leader of the community. Since the next season is the final one and focuses back on Clem who leaves to go find AJ, this is probably the first time a community actually manages to keep standing by the end of the story.

* In the game ''[[VideoGame/TheLastStand The Last Stand: Union City]]'', a [[ApocalypticLog post it note]] left behind by a survivor warns a friend he wasn't optimistic about finding a "safe haven" up north for him and his kids. Especially after seeing so many be [[ZombieApocalypse over run by the dead]] while traveling.

'''WARNING: LIKELY SPOILERS BELOW'''

* ''Film/ResidentEvil'':

* ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad''. Furiosa is taking the Five Wives to "the green place", an oasis where she was born and raised before being abducted by Immortan Joe. [[spoiler:She eventually learns that since her abduction, the green place turned toxic and dried up, forcing her tribemates to scavenge like everyone else. It's Max who realises there is a 'green place' -- the Citadel they all fled from is fed by artesian wells, and if they can just blast their way through Immortan Joe's pursuing forces...]]

* In the game ''[[VideoGame/TheLastStand Union City]]'', a [[ApocalypticLog post it note]] left behind by a survivor warns a friend he wasn't optimistic about finding a "safe haven" up north for him and his kids. Especially after seeing so many be [[ZombieApocalypse over run by the dead]] while traveling.

* In the game ''[[VideoGame/TheLastStand UnionCity]]'', a [[ApocalypticLog post it note]] left behind by a survivor warns a friend he wasn't optimistic about finding a "safe haven" up north for him and his kids. Especially after seeing so many be [[ZombieApocalypse over run by the dead]] while traveling.

* In the game ''VideoGame/TheLastStandUnionCity'', a [[ApocalypticLog post it note]] left behind by a survivor warns a friend he wasn't optimistic about finding a "safe haven" up north for him and his kids. Especially after seeing so many be [[ZombieApocalypse over run by the dead]] while traveling.

* In the game ''VideoGame/TheLastStandUnionCity'', a [[ApocalypticLog post it note]] left by a survivor warning a friend he wasn't optimistic about finding a safe haven up up north for him and his kids. Especially after seeing so many be [[ZombieApocalypse over run by the dead]].

** In the wake of Theta's evacuation, the survivors made their way to Omicron in the hopes of finding safe haven. Unfortunately, Omicron is locked down and nobody's responding to the hails; with nowhere else to go, the survivors run out of oxygen and expire one by one. When Simon lifts the quarantine, he finds that [[spoiler: the WAU has killed everyone by overloading their black boxes.]]

** The first film shows three towns holding out against the vampires and their [[ApocalypseCult Brotherhood]] followers. The first two towns featured are entirely safe (albeit low on supplies), but the main characters are only interested in passing through them. The third town, Strivington, is doing much better and almost inspires them to stay. Then the Brotherhood drops vampires into the town square with helicopters. Strivington and most of its people survive the ensuing battle, but the casualties they do take are grimly emphasized, and the main characters decide not to leave.

* ''Anime/{{Shinzo}}'': The whole plot is about a girl named Yakumo, after waking up from hibernation centuries AfterTheEnd, trying to reach the last human stronghold somewhere out west. Only at the end of the season does she learn that Shinzo was already destroyed by the Dark King of the Enterrans at the end of the war and she's really the LastOfHerKind.

%% Please see thread to discuss a new image.

Of course the characters eventually reach said destination only for them to find out [[AwfulTruth the hope- and soul-crushing truth]]. Truth being that the outpost/Safe Zone has been either overrun, abandoned and desolate (and probably has been for hours, days, weeks, or months), or maybe even a trap. Or worse, there ''never'' was a outpost or safe zone to begin with, likely due to misinformation (or false hope). Could result in a ShootTheShaggyDog moment, and or DownerEnding.

** ''Film/ResidentEvilExtinction'': Thes plot is partially driven by Alice finding an old notebook that indicates that the virus that killed off the planet itself is unable to travel north to Alaska. Claire Redfield takes the remaining survivors in a helicopter in that direction at the end of the film, but it isn't shown whether or not it was true.

* Sanctuary in ''Film/LogansRun''. Note that this is only true in the movie; in the book it's quite real.
* ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'' has one specifically named safe zone (Pacific Playland) and two more vague locations. Each one contradicts the others and all of the characters except one are aware that the zones are just rumors and gossip fueled by desperation and ignorance; Tallahassee explains that people on the West coast say it is safe on the East coast, and people on the East coast say it is safe on the West coast. Wichita is deliberately lying about Pacific Playland to her little sister in order to give her hope and something to look forward to. [[spoiler:Cut out from the film was Wichita's plan to kill Little Rock and herself after they reached Playland, because she knew there was no real hope to surviving.]]
* A self-inflicted version in ''Film/ZombielandDoubleTap'': the Babylon compound is a nice safe place to live, lots of food and people, yay! Except that they are all pacifists in [[SuicidalPacifism the worst possible way to be]] in the middle of a ZombieApocalypse, having melted all of their weapons to make Peace-symbol necklaces, living next door to [[SuperPersistentPredator the worst]] [[MadeOfIron kind of]] zombie sub-species that exists, and making a lot of noise with their constant partying. The climax happens because the zombies finally catch on the fact that they have been living close to a smorgasbord of human flesh all of these years and attack.

* In ''Film/ChildrenOfMen'', the final destination of the MacGuffinEscortMission is to bring Kee in contact with a mysterious, non-governmental group called the "Human Project", supposedly based in the Azores. This group is sought to be humanity last hope for curing infertility. The movie ends right before Kee is being picked up by the group and we never learn if they manage to live up to their expectation.

** With ''Film/DayOfTheDead1985'' you could say the bunker was one before the events of the movie but at the end the survivors don't seem to be having any problems on their tropical island, perhaps the happiest Romero ending.

* Played bleakly straight with ''World Of The Dead: The Zombie Diaries 2''. A group of British soldiers was told to go to a military outpost where survivors would be evacuated by boats, cause the British military was gonna bomb Britain's cities. Whats left of the military unit finally arrives as the bombing sirens sound only to find that the base was over run during a firefight and that every one was dead presumably the zombie attackers as well. The group decides to hold up there anyway. Turns out this was a bad idea as there were SEVERAL dozen zombies hidden in the bunker. The unit attempts a LastStand only to be overrun themselves. [[FinalGirl The final guy]] survives the SafeZoneHopeSpot just due to the fact he had a HeroicBSOD and decided to go to the beach and look for the boats anyway while the rest stayed behind in the outpost. He makes it to the beach only to realize that the boats left (or maybe they never arrived). Later on the beach he meets a couple who say they're ''coming from'' the area the survivor was trying to get to. Telling him they heard that it was safer where he was, because Britain was an island. The survivor just gives a subtle disturbed [[ThousandYardStare horrified glare]] to the oblivious couple, [[FridgeHorror while the woman caressed her pregnant belly]].
* Subverted in the [[AfterTheEnd post-nuclear]] film ''Film/DamnationAlley''. The main characters receive a radio signal from Albany, New York, the only major American city to survive Doomsday. When they reach their destination, it appears that the people of Albany have been doing just fine. This Trope is discussed early on with Tanner fearing that, after they have sacrificed so much to arrive to Albany, they end up finding that the radio station is some kind of automated system that managed to survive the apocalypse while everything else on the city did not.

* This happens in ''Film/{{Pandorum}}''. They find a survivor in a secure room who seems to be relatively sane and healthy, and are confused as to how he's getting enough to eat. Then he drugs them and tries to eat them.

* In ''Film/WorldWarZ'', a city in Israel is one of only places not overrun by zombies due to a giant wall, so many people head there. However, [[TooDumbToLive many of them feel the need to celebrate their safety to the point that it attracts enough zombies that]] [[BreachingTheWall they form a tall pile and are able to get over the wall]].
* In ''Film/IAmLegend'', Anna and Ethan are traveling north to a supposed outpost filled with other people who were immune to the virus that wiped out mankind. They heard Robert's radio transmissions and travel to New York along the way. At the end of the film, [[spoiler:it is shown that a well defended walled settlement did exist, and Anna & Ethan made it there safely]].

* Not strictly this trope but in the same vein -- ''Brotherhood of the Rose'' by David Morrell has safehouses kept by international agreement among the world's intelligence agencies where no one is allowed to be harmed, including three luxurious 'retirement homes'. When the main characters finally arrive at a retirement home, it's revealed they've actually got a massive suicide rate, as their formerly-ambitious residents can't cope with being cooped up in a GildedCage from which YouCanNeverLeave.

* ''Literature/TheDayOfTheTriffids'' has at least three of these, depending how you look at it. Only the fourth safe zone turns out to be really and truly safe.

* ''Literature/DownToASunlessSea'': After a nuclear war wipes out nearly every airport in the world (along with nearly every country) the narrators plane spends a while attempting to make it to Funchal Airport in Santa Cruz, the only surviving airport they're aware of that can take planes their size. The HeroOfAnotherStory air traffic controller they contact tells them that, based on where everyone else whose called him asking for help is, he has room for them (and a few more passenger planes) to land, but a little while later he calls back to report that the runway is blocked due to a collision between a private plane that tried to sneak in behind a landing passenger plane. This forces the dismayed main characters to try to find another place to land (although the place they do find proves safer from fallout in the long-term).

*** Pilot episode "Saga of a Star World". The Colonial refugees reach the planet Carillon and find it to be a paradise, with plentiful food, fuel and gambling. It turns out that the native aliens capture humans as food for their larvae.

** On Noveria, the surviving researches and staff of the Peak 15 labs are holed up in a secured part of the complex, guarded by the lab's security staff. [[spoiler:If you deal with the Rachni before visiting this part of the station, the security staff (secretly under Benezia's employ) attack you, and it is implied that they killed the researches and staff themselves.]]

** And of course, once again, The Citadel, [[spoiler:which not only gets invaded by Cerberus, but later is attacked and seized by the Reapers during the Endgame.]]

* ''VisualNovel/TheBottomOfTheWell'' has a comparatively mild version. Alice can learn of a bomb shelter which would provide protection from the impending nuclear attack, and presumably contain supplies, but there are two problems. First, it's under the control of a self-appointed leader and her thugs, who aren't happy to share it. Second, sheltering there leaves Alice trapped by rubble after the bombs hit, with attempts at escape being potentially lethal (one of them involves digging through piles of radioactive ash, for example). Later on in the game (or quicker, if players don't go to the shelter at all), Alice gets word of a government-run evacuation site further towards the edge of town; this time, it turns out to be [[spoiler:exactly as advertised, perhaps surprising more cynical players — although just because Alice gets there, it doesn't mean she hasn't already been exposed to enough radiation for it to be too late]].

** Season 1: All the main character convene at Hershel's farm but are kicked out when Walkers breach the farm and kill his son. After hooking up with some more characters, they hole up at a abandoned motel for a few months, with a brief hope spot when invited to a farm, which turns out to be run by cannibals. Though eventually forced to flee the Motel when bandits and Walkers make it no longer safe. After some travels, they come across Crawford which ''tried'' to be one of these, but was revealed that the citizens had killed the children, elderly and the sick to ration their supplies which failed miserably. The characters had hoped to use a boat to make their way to a secluded island. But things go south fast before they could even attempt it with only three of the cast ultimately surviving to the end of the story.
** Season 2: Clem ends up meeting up with a group of survivors staying in a cabin. It lasts a bit till it's found by a figure the survivors were trying to escape from. They pack up and leave, finding another group in a wind powered abode. But said figure soon finds them and forces the group to come to a makeshift fortress he built himself. While the place is secure, under his tyrannical rule, it's no safer than being with the Walkers. The cast eventually nullify the safety by luring the Walkers to the place, which they use as cover to escape and are forced to travel, where the rest of the game proceeds along. Four of the endings either have you go back to the fortress, now abandoned and yours for the taking, or go to another community that'll just barely allow Clem and a baby born during the events in due to overpopulation and limited supplies.
** Season 3: If you chose to stay at the community, you find out it got overrun by scavengers. The new heroes of the story come across a junkyard that you can decide to stay in. But of course more scavengers, who were staying there first, soon arrive to make things complicated. After being separated, the main character is taken to a community that converted an air strip into a safe zone. However, in the next episode, said place is destroyed by vengeful scavengers and Walkers. After some traveling, they reach a new safezone, but it's led by the leader of said scavengers who happens to be the older brother of the protagonist. Thankfully, though, it's subverted a bit as the brother is (somewhat) reasonable and just part of a larger pack guarding the safezone. Until you find out that one of the leaders is ''intentionally'' destroying other safe zones to provide more supplies for their own, and the woman is utterly unreasonable to boot. After a standoff, a wall of the community gets breached during a scuffle and lets in the Walkers. Surprisingly, though, in a bit of a subversion, the residents manage to clear out the Walkers, the wall is repaired and the former leader is either killed by the protagonist or just manages to escape in the chaos (likely due to the fact that her megalomania was exposed and ''no one'' would be willing to keep her around after that), leading to the protagonist taking over as the new leader of the community. Since the next season is the final one and focuses back on Clem who leaves to go find AJ, this is probably the first time a community actually manages to keep standing by the end of the story.

* In WebAnimation/ClubPenguinShutdown, the Ski Village was touted to be one of these places in which penguin life was mostly normal like life prior to the shutdown, but when Lil_Jeffy actually arrives and we finally get to see it, the place is a little more than a barren, frozen cold wasteland, and while the Ski Lounge held some friendly looking (and not so friendly looking) penguins, they really just used Lil_Jeffy's craving for Pizza as a tool to help get rid of the gang over on the Ski Hill. Sadly, it too is just like the rest of Club Penguin island; a broken husk of its former self that was corrupted by greed and abandonment.

* Parodied in a ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror'' segment based on ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'' ("Don't Have A Cow, Mankind"). The Simpsons have just fled the overrun town and are wandering the woods in search of the "Safe Zone". They encounter a ragged, crazy looking survivor.

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/TheWalkingDead https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_walking_dead_fourth_season_wovoworg_02_6.jpeg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Hmmm...Seems legit.]]

[[caption-width-right:350: Hmmm...Seems legit]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_walking_dead_fourth_season_wovoworg_02_6.jpeg]]