Part 4

The hallway seemed longer than usual. They knew they were going to fight it out...even if it meant they would never get out. Garrett glanced at Ryan over his shoulder, a bittersweet emotion came over him, jokingly they planned against this very thing...who could have predicted such a thing to ever actually happen?
*
The diagrams spread out before them. Fortress' and traps, provisions and sleeping quarters, nothing had had become too outrageous, but even still...reality caved in their imagination.
"Quicksand, would of course be a useful tool, for a limited amount of time." urged Kyle.
"I just don't see how hordes of zombies chilling in quicksand can be a good thing! You would still have to kill them, or you are going to go crazy!" Ryan defended.
"Realistically, survival is key, if you just get away-" demanded Kyle.
"But! Because zombies don't need anything to survive, it would take almost five entire years time for the zombies to fully decompose. Solanum can wait for a long time. If someone, anyone, were to come back to the hideout for whatever reason and forget about the traps...they could get bitten and start a whole new infestation." Ryan argued back.
Garrett interjected, having thought in silence for a few minutes, "What about waste? I mean...we aren't going to want to waste space on the inside of our camps, we have enough shit..." He trailed off as Karl burst into laughter.
"Am I the only one who got that?" he inquired.
^
"Well...she's hot...and super cool...and she likes me, but I could never, ever get with her." Karl thought out loud.
Ryan slammed on the brakes."Dude...that's the exact opposite of what you want to feel!"
Garrett looked at Karl who was in the back seat, blinked at him bewildered. "...So let me get this straight, you like this girl, she likes you, she's hot, she's awesome, but you just can't give yourself something good for you?"
Everyone laughed, and without further hesitation, pulled into the drive-thru.
^
Sitting at the small table meant for a dating couple, Ryan and Garrett looked over the edge of the balcony at some females playing pool, laughing, joking.
"If zombies came right now, where do we go?" asked Ryan.
"Easy. Guns 'n Gadgets. They have everything...almost."
"Exactly." He sipped his Pepsi.
^
He lied awake. Rose out of bed, slid into the chair and began to type. Alone.
*
As Garrett's hand reached for the door handle, he saw it open before him. Karl had arrived. They greeted him with short nods.
*
Emily Evenson hardly had a chance. Courtney had pounced her and bitten her neck with little haste. They left the room shortly after, together, as if nothing had changed.
*
Ashley Todd and John Nelson had left the room in sync, saw Courtney and Emily leave the building across from them...the ran up to them.
"What the hell is going on with Parkside?" Ashley asked.
"I don't know...I think we should stay together though." John stated simply.
*
Mike Benson had grabbed a particularly sharp and large chunk of broken glass and with much effort he slammed it into the zombified form of Victor Bittorf. He let out a roar of what would be human agony... he lunged at Mike in a last attempt to pass on Solanum.
*
Garrett glanced at the wall clock...2 a.m. He had awoken only two hours ago, but aged so much more.
*
Alex St. John had seen the figure of Sam Schwartz leave Molinaro and follow an even larger crowd of four...he raced after them.
*
For reference, Solanum is the virus that infects the living, kills them and reanimates them into zombie form. In this story, Solanum reanimates the dead within minutes, not hours as other versions state. For other notes...Zombies do not need to eat, sleep, feel fatigue or even have emotions. The do contain some human characteristics in this story, especially the fact that they can still talk shortly after reanimation, but not long after.