Wednesday, December 01, 2004

The Science of Zombie Fighting

In the past few days, I've written a couple references in the MS about a no-nonsense calulus teacher named Mr. Prentiss. (My own calulus teacher Mr. Stone, was little guy who wore orange shirts and wide ties and said "Balls" if you were lying about why you didn't do your homework.) Last night we finally met him. He's also got a bit of The Shoveller from Mystery Men in him.

Mr. Prentiss, Calculus teacher cum zombie-fighter (or is that the other way 'round?), was among the first to notice the shift in the battle. Suddenly fights that were two to one in the zombies’ favor turned to even odds CONFLICTS. The non-fighting zombies were streaming around the tent to something behind it.

Not through the tent, but around it.

Mathematically, that made no sense.

Prentiss had been at the school when the deputy returned with Pastor Bromfeld. He had heard that the zombies avoided the church, couldn’t even recognize that people were inside it. Did the tent work the same way?

One way to find out. He swung the blade of his snowshovel at the zombie he was fighting, and when the zombie backed off, Prentiss ran for the tent.

(daily word count: 2,556 words; FINAL word count: 74,005 words; body count: at least 2 more zombies, and in a surprise development, Sheriff Brandon Woo)