You click on the news to reports of an infection sweeping the world. Upon exposure, humans are slowly transformed into hollow versions of what they once were, walking husks that only crave one thing: to feed. Society is collapsing as more and more cities are taken by the dead. No one is coming to save you… what would you do?

     Before we begin in this new, decimated world, a few rules must be established. Seeing as AMC television series “The Walking Dead” is the most prominent piece of zombie media today, having a 12-season run, we can follow the rules set by the show’s writers. 

1. After being bit by an infected, humans will experience roughly two more days of life before dying and reanimating as a zombie.
2. In order to kill a zombie, their brain must be destroyed. 
3. Anyone who dies, regardless of manner of death, will come back as a zombie.

Now that our rules have been set, the time has come to find out what you would do in a zombie apocalypse.

     “I’d probably head home immediately. I need to make sure my dog is okay,” sophomore Natalie Smith said. 

THE BEGINNING

     The Sun Valley area belongs to the dead now. Local schools, grocery stores, and suburbs are crawling with rotting zombies, enveloping the town with the stench of death.  Cell towers are down, as is most electricity. Abandoned cars block the highways, but local roads remain clear.

     “The auditorium would be a good place [to hole up]. Cinderblock walls and no windows would keep out intruders,” sophomore Chan Bryant said. 

     You and your small band of survivors are holed up in a bank, utilizing the safe walls as cover. However, the dead draw nearer. Do you stay in your makeshift sanctuary or move along, searching for something better?

MOVING ON

     Say your group moves on to find shelter in a local distribution center, giving you access to supplies and water. However, your group still lacks weapons to defend yourselves. You settle in for the night, believing you have found solace… until you hear knocks on the door and cries for help outside. 

     “I would accept people into our group. It’s our job to refill the world; we need people for that,” freshman DJ McLaughlin said. 

IMPOSSIBLE DECISIONS

     Upon waking, your group must be prepared to fend off zombies with the help of your newfound friends. With no time to think about logistics, you ready yourself to defend your temporary home. In the skirmish, the dead are cleared but not at the cost of two of your group. One, devoured by the dead, and the other barely clinging to life, begging to be put out of his misery. Do you pull the trigger?

     “I’d like to say I’d be able to keep my humanity alive, but [a zombie apocalypse] is an impossible situation, so I don’t know how I’d handle it,” McLaughlin said. 

YOU AGAINST THEM

     Pressing forward, you begin stealing vehicles and siphoning gas in a ghost town of a world. Finding yourself at the gates of a prison, you have a choice to make: risk going inside to acquire weapons, deal with the infected prisoners and other survivors or: keep moving? 

     “[If I were to run into another group] searching for supplies, I wouldn’t want to fight them. I’d want to split our resources. Power in numbers, right?” Smith said. 

     Maximum safety can be reached at the coast; surrounding yourself with water on one side completely protects you from any breaches made by zombies. However, where does one go from here? How will you live in this new world? Will you try to survive, gathering supplies day-to-day? Or would holing up in a stronghold be smarter? Or will you be doomed to suffer just as much as the dead who have taken your world?

     “I’d hope [my group] would eventually be able to find sanctuary somewhere. Some nice place where we could rebuild society and keep humanity alive,” Bryant said.