(Living Room)

Sal- We are all sitting in the living room.

Joe- I look between Casey and Brian curiously.

Bessy- "Where did you pull the white boards from?"

Casey- "My office, now then..."

Brian- "Welcome class to what Professor Jost and I would like to call; Zombie 101."

Sal, James, Joe, Bessy and Joey- (Laughs)

Casey- (Smirks) "Professor Quinn and I will be teaching you Zombie Lore, Zombie Anatomy, Zombie Strengths and Weakness's."

Brian- "Also in this class we will be covering Weaponry 101 and Safety, Group or Solo Hunting and Safety, Survival 101, Basic Medical and How To; Killing a Zombie." (Smirks)

Casey- I clap my hands together. "Let's get started!"

(Three Hours Later)

3rd Person P.O.V- The group sat at the living room table with notebooks, various diagrams and other books scattered around; studying everything they need to know to keep each other and possible survivors alive.

Bessy- After awhile I call for a break, getting our kids fed.

Joe- After getting everyone fed, we set the little ones up with toys in a corner not far from our sight.

James- We look at the mess before us, with food in hand that both Joe and Bessy cooked.

Sal- "Shall we do an overview of what we got so far?"

Joey- We all look at our professors expectantly.

Brian- Setting my food aside, I stand up with a notebook.
"Let's start with Zombi Lore;

Haitian Tradition
Zombies are featured widely in Haitian rural folklore as dead persons physically revived by the act of necromancy of a bokor, a sorcerer or witch. The bokor is opposed by the houngan or priest and the mambo or priestess of the formal voodoo religion. A zombie remains under the control of the bokor as a personal slave, having no will of its own. The Haitian tradition also includes an incorporeal type of zombie, the 'Zombie Astral' which is part of the human soul. A bokor can capture a zombie astral to enhance his spiritual power. A zombie astral can also be sealed inside a specially decorated bottle by a bokor and sold to a client to bring luck, healing or business success. It is believed that God eventually will reclaim the zombie's soul, so the zombie is a temporary spiritual entity.

African Related Legends
A Central or West African origin for the Haitian Zombie has been postulated based on two etymologies in the Kongo language, nzambi (God) and zumbi (Fetish). This root helps form the names of several deities, including the Kongo creator deity Nzambi a Mpungu and the Louisiana serpent deity Li Grand Zombi (a local version of the Haitian Damballa), but it is in fact a generic word for a divine spirit. The common African conception of beings under these names is more similar to the incorporeal 'Zombie Astral' as in the Kongo Nkisi spirits. A related, but also often incorporeal undead being is the jumbee of the English-speaking Caribbean, considered to be of the same etymology; in the French West Indies also, local zombies are recognized, but these are of a more general spirit nature.

Origins of Zombie Beliefs;
Chemical Hypothesis
Several decades after Hurston's work, Wade Davis (a Harvard ethnobotanist) presented a pharmacological case for zombies in a 1983 paper in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology and later in two popular books. The Serpent and the Rainbow (1985) and Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie (1988). Davis traveled to Haiti in 1982 and as a result of his investigations, claimed that a living person can be turned into a zombie by two special powders being introduced into the blood stream (usually via a wound). The first, coup de poudre (French: powder strike) includes tetrodotoxin (TTX), a powerful and frequently fatal neurotoxin found in the flesh of the pufferfish (order Tetraodontidae). The second powder consists of deliriant drugs such as datura. Together, these powders were said to induce a deathlike state in which the will of the victim would be entirely subjected to that of the bokor. Davis also popularized the story of Clairvius Narcisse, who was claimed to have succumbed to this practice. The most ethically questioned and least scientifically explored ingredient of the powders, is part of a recently buried child's brain. The process described by Davis was an initial state of deathlike suspended animation, followed by re-awakening — typically after being buried — into a psychotic state.

The psychosis induced by the drug and psychological trauma was hypothesized by Davis to reinforce culturally learned beliefs and to cause the individual to reconstruct their identity as that of a zombie, since they "knew" they were dead and had no other role to play in the Haitian society. Societal reinforcement of the belief was hypothesized by Davis to confirm for the zombie individual the zombie state and such individuals were known to hang around in graveyards, exhibiting attitudes of low affect.
Davis's claim has been criticized, particularly the suggestion that Haitian witch doctors can keep "zombies" in a state of pharmacologically induced trance for many years. Symptoms of TTX poisoning range from numbness and nausea to paralysis — particularly of the muscles of the diaphragm — unconsciousness, and death, but do not include a stiffened gait or a deathlike trance. According to psychologist Terence Hines, the scientific community dismisses tetrodotoxin as the cause of this state and Davis' assessment of the nature of the reports of Haitian zombies is viewed as overly credulous." Setting the notebook aside, I pick up the dictionary.

"Zom·Bie
[ˈzämbē]
NOUN
Zombies (plural noun)
A corpse said to be revived by witchcraft, especially in certain African and Caribbean religions. (In popular fiction) a person or reanimated corpse that has been turned into a creature capable of movement but not of rational thought, which feeds on human flesh.
'A world overrun by zombies'
'A horde of mindless zombies craving brains'
Informal
A person who is or appears lifeless, apathetic, or completely unresponsive to their surroundings.
Philosophy
A hypothetical being that responds to stimulus as a person would but that does not experience consciousness." I set the book back down.

Casey- I've long since finished my food and Bessy cleared all the dishes away. So standing up, I grab a diagram. "Zombie Anatomy, is basically Human Anatomy." I place the diagram up on the white board. "The only difference is that, blood isn't pumping through their veins and they may or may not be missing vital organs."

Sal- We make sure to take notes.

Casey- "Any questions?"

Joey, Bessy, Joe, Sal and James- We all shake our heads.

Casey- "Good, moving right along then."

Brian- Picking up a black marker I write out three lists. "Zombies have strengths and weakness but it all depends their size, weight and their human mentality that they lost."

James- I raise my hand.

Casey- "Yes Murray?"

James- "What's their human mentality?"

Brian- "Human mentality is exactly what it means. Their humanity. What and who they were before becoming undead."

Sal- I raise my hand.

Brian- "Yes, Vulcano?"

Sal- "From what you are saying, they still have a thought process?"

Casey- "Yes, which makes them unpredictable and even more dangerous. Those that still have the ability to think and control what they do become leaders to larger groups and when they travel in groups it will put survivors at more of a risk. It's those who have no humanity but a killer mentality that are very dangerous, more dangerous than those that are loners really."

Bessy- "What happens if we are bitten or scratched?"

Brian- "I hate to say it, but we'd quarantine you away from the others until we had the balls to kill you."

Joe- I glare at Q as I tighten my arms around my wife in a possessive manor.

Joey- "Get the stick out of your ass man she asked a very legit question. A question she had the balls that none of us had to ask!"

Joe- (Growls) "Fuck off Fatone!"

Joey- I flip him off.

Sal- "Guys, this isn't the time."

Joe and Joey- "STAY OUT OF IT VULCANO!"

Sal- (Flinches)

Casey- I walk over and give them both a slap across the face. "Enough, this isn't the time to be fighting like children; the kids have better decorum then the two of you!"

Brian- Once Casey settled the spit-spat. "Moving on..."

3rd Person P.O.V- The next few days are spent with Brian Quinn and Casey Jost teaching the group; Weaponry 101 and Safety, Group or Solo Hunting and Safety, Survival 101 and Basic Medical.

Casey- It's been a very long week, but everything we've been studying is for our survival.

Brian- The last thing everyone now needed to learn was pretty basic; To Kill.

Casey- Once again we are gathered in the living room in front of the white boards. "We are now at the end of our lessons and it's the most important one. How to; Killing a Zombie"

Brian- (Smirks) "It's pretty basic actually, easy to keep in mind. Because as soon as we go to move on and walk out that front door we will be put into a fight or flight/ life or death/ survival mode and this should always be at the forefront of your mind when facing an undead." I point to the diagram still up on the board. "You do not hesitate to kill. You aim for the head; weather by gun, sword, dagger, knife, axe, arrow or whatever."

Casey- I pick up where Q leaves off. "Your aim is to kill, after you kill remove the head immediately and do not think twice about setting the body on fire."

James- I make a face.

Sal- I felt a bit nauseous.

Joey- (Shivers Involuntarily) I know that these people, these things weren't human, but it still felt wrong to just kill them.

Joe- Protecting my family is all that mattered, I knew Bessy was on the same page as me.

Bessy- I entwine my fingers with Joe's. (Smiles)

Brian- This is my family and even if it's my fault that Casey became paranoid over the last few years, I'm glad for it because now we are more than prepared for war.