“You’re thinking about it wrong,” I say, “are these very scary people who are all out to get you? No. These are more like rabid cows: they’ll chase you, and they can break through things to get to you, and absorb plenty of damage before they go down, but they’re stupid, they’re clumsy, and most importantly, they’re slow.”

I hand her the aluminum bat, and take the katana for myself. No sense her discovering that it doesn’t slice right through bones like in the movies, just yet, I figure, she needs something simple that’ll show her just how fragile they really are.

We both look out at the shambling crowd in the street. It isn’t dense enough to prevent us from simply running away, but we could probably deal with this many right here. The sporting goods doorway should make a perfect choke point.

Her breathing is finally slowing down—I think she believes me.

“Why don’t they just eat each other?”
“If you can explain that, you win the prize.”
I tie a rope to the doorknob and push it open.
“Game on.”