Geron Kees

Thank you.

Thanks. I don't know why, but I am reminded of the little guy in the old TV series, Fantasy Island, and him calling, "Da plane! Da plane!"

I guess survival is a potent teacher. Hard for us, sitting in our living rooms, reading, to get a feel for what it might be like to have to rethink everything in order make it through each day. I just kind of touched the edges of that. I have a feeling the reality would be a little more stark, and a little harder on the nerves.

I live in a very quiet area of the Adirondacks, where I can step outside and see no one, yet still hear people things. Lawnmowers in the distance, planes in the sky, even the distant, echoey diesel sounds of semis over on Route 8. Those sounds all come some distance to reach my ears, yet they do make it, and they do make me aware that, even where we live, we are not alone. Yet I can also step outside at moments when none of those sounds are present, and it is just the rustle of leaves in the breeze, the sounds of birds calling, and...nothing else. I am instantly aware of the difference, and even with the breeze in the trees and the birds, my first thought is how quiet it is. I do have neighbors, off in the woods; but unless they are outside doing something, they cannot be heard at all. Nighttime is more like this in general, but nighttimes everywhere are expected to be quieter. For a day to feel peopleless does not seem normal. For a world to feel that way would be frightening, I think.

Yes, to all. Shhh!

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.

You have gruesome ideas inappropriate to a medium-grade zombie story with young people inside. I like it!

Chapter Seven The barn was over three hundred feet from the old silo, a football field or more in distance. On many of the area farms, the silo sat right next to the barn; but the Kincannon silo had been an afterthought, added long after the barn had been built, at a time when land around the barn had been adapted for other things like animal corrals and machine storage. It was all moot now, fifty years after either structure had been used for their original purposes; but Richie was gl

Ohhhh! I get you. I'll bet less people would catch that mistake, than not. Good going!

I would never call you as lesser person,. What exactly does that mean?

Stop that! No! Stop that!

If it was shelved with the art mags then less people would read it. Story of the human race!

The sunlight thing was speculation. Again, they just don't know. I did say earlier that this was not a regular zombie story. It's not.

Oil and water don't mix, it's true. That happens for two reasons. One, they have different densities. Water molecules are packed very densely in comparison to oil. Place oil and water together, and the water will always sink to the bottom, the oil rise to the top. The also have different polar charges. Water is considered a polar molecule, which means it's charged positively at one end, and negatively at the other. Water molecules therefore stick together extra strongly because they align opposite ends and attract. Polar molecules also only dissolve in polar solvents, and water already is just about the ultimate polar solvent. Oil is a non-polar molecule, because it has a shell of negatively-charged electrons all around it. The molecules stick together, but not due to opposing charges. Because water molecules adhere extra tightly due to charge and are able to pack more densely, equal parts of water and oil placed together results in there actually being more water than oil. Water molecules bond too tightly to allow the oil molecules to get between them, so that's why oil turns into a film atop water. This is a simplification, but I just wanted to point out that the saying 'oil and water don't mix', when applied to people, is actually a very potent analogy, because if takes into account so many of things that can be different in humans, which lead to the separation of personalities. Viewpoints differ, and histories are different. What attracts one may be different from what attracts another. How the two interact may look the same, but in reality stem from two completely different systems of thought and action. What one needs to survive, the other may not need, or may need in a different fashion altogether. People, fortunately, are not really oil and water. People can have different charges, and it's not true at all that opposites always attract. Place two people in the same container, and they can mix totally, partially, or not at all. The most important thing to remember about oil and water is, if you place them both in the same container, they share that space, they find a way to coexist. Oil always is buoyed up by water, and water is always safely beneath the protection of oil. Like people, they find a way to be together. As you have shown so well here.

That presents an interesting image!

You two been hangin' out behind my back? Um...ask him if he loans, okay?

Thank you! I have to admit to being more afraid of zombies than of spiders. I don't want either in the house, but spiders I can just grab and dispose of, while with zombies it tends to be the other way around. Zombies are a frame of mind, and that's what Richie has realized and is trying to get across to the others. Naming a fear one thing when it is actually something else entirely makes it hard to get rid of. Amazing that one glimpse of the zombie's enraged face when it attacked the truck could so impact Richie as to change his thinking entirely on what is going on behind that rage, and so make the next step to considering what is going on with these creatures in general. These sudden about faces in thinking happen to us all, but they can be critical in troubleshooting reality when the way we have been going suddenly seems to be a dead end. The group is now considering that what they have been thinking about zombies might be wrong. It's a step in the right direction.

Thought the zombies might have gotten you!

I hope it was just the story that grabbed you by the throat! Seen any purple and blue guys lurking about your place?

That's a lot of trees. I have white oaks in my neck of the woods, and I would miss 200 of them. Zombies can get horny, I would think. They used to be people. But I certainly wouldn't want one to get hold of me if it was horny! Gives new meaning to the term 'raging hard on'!

New friends are always nice. Potential for growth in both parties. :) Always nice to see your guys getting an opportunity just to be kids and enjoy things a little. After what they have been through, they certainly deserve it. Zombies? Someone told! :)

You are quite right. It was never specifically stated that zombies eat people, it was just assumed by the guys, even though Jack had told them he had never actually seen that happen. Richie had reached a point in his thinking where he was trying to figure a way to review the zombie outside of their preconceived notions, after realizing that they really didn't know squat about the things. Fire may not necessarily be lethal for a zombie, but Jack was well aware that they could feel pain, and being burned hurts. So as a dissuader to entry, it seemed like a pretty good bet it would work. You would make a great anarchist. I don't know if you are trained in the things you know, or if it's just a hobby. But I want you on my side in the next war, okay?

I think when the guys said 'burn' the zombie, it was a generality. "Burn' covers everything from a kitchen match to a 40 megaton nuke, in this case. But the actual solution will be somewhere in between, methinks.

And you won't get any. All ideas will be baked to a nice, golden brown from now on.

That's your cookie recipe. But that doesn't mean it won't work!