Survivors of the world, unite, you have nothing to lose but your brains, I mean chains! Plant the seed of a free world, fertilized by the decomposing corpse of the old regime! (Just, you know, make sure it's actually dead first...)
But seriously, comrades, I'm seeing a real failure of imagination here. These zombie stories go on and on about how the undead apocalypse is a such a horrible thing because there's no running water, the TV doesn't work, you had to split your sister's rotting skull in half with a crowbar, blah blah blah...come on, lighten up. As apocalypses go, you could do a hell of lot worse than zombies. Would you prefer a nuclear war or a planet-shattering meteor? Some of you are probably thinking "yeah, at least it would be painless." Like I said: failure of imagination. You may lose modern conveniences, but you gain a chance for freedom and independence from the cruel shackles of the authoritarian capitalist system that has kept us all down!
Let's take a step back and imagine what This is Not a Test could have been if every single character wasn't an overly-emotional idiot, and had realized the golden opportunity in front of their faces. It shouldn't have been hard for them to see this. After all, when you really think about it, who would be more likely to break from society than a group of alienated teenagers? A drug dealer, a socially-awkward loner, a suicidal abuse victim...they should have seen the apocalypse as a blessing. Here's my theory of what could have gone down if they'd had greater vision:
Day 1:
The six survivors hole up inside Cortege High. After barricading the doors and windows, Cary calls for a meeting and asks everyone to list any skills they have which might come in handy. Few of them do, but the emotions are running high, and the survivors gain a better understanding of their allies' personalities.
The decisions is made to use the buddy system so that everyone is constantly accounted for. Realizing that Sloane may have suicidal tendencies, Cary and Rhys quietly agree to pair her with Harrison, thinking that she will be less likely to kill herself if someone weak is depending on her. Trace and Grace are allowed to be partners, since everyone understands that preventing Trace from protecting his sister would cause irreparable damage to the group's cohesion. Appeasing Trace also keeps him from challenging the Cary+Rhys leadership that is beginning to emerge.
Day 2:
After setting up a schedule of watch shifts, the group begins to take stock of their resources. Food and medical supplies are gathered in the most secure location. The water tower provides running water, but since there is no way of knowing how long that will last, Trace and Grace are sent up to the roof to investigate. They report that the water will last several weeks. Rhys suggests that they find a way to gather rainwater to replenish their supply. The group agrees with this, and begins constructing a funnel out of tarps and scrap material that will channel water through a hole that they have punched in the top of the water tower.
With water taken care of, there is the matter of food. Sloane and Harrison use seeds from the biology classrooms to start a rooftop garden, while Rhys and Cary devise a trap that can be hung from the walls to lure non-infected animals close enough to kill and eat. All the activity on the roof draws the attention of some infected, but the barricades hold tight.
Day 3:
Trace finds the whiskey and suggests that they all get drunk at the same time. Everyone else informs him that this is literally the stupidest idea that has ever been thought of by anyone, ever, and he puts it away.
Day 4:
The gas station explodes, drawing away the infected like a signal Grace has an idea: make their own signal, using the radio equipment in the office. Gathering some technical manuals from the library, the group begins working on a way to build a transmitter and amplify its signal.
Day 5:
Trace and Grace believe that they see their father outside the walls. Harrison, whose confidence has been growing now that the group has a solid plan, volunteers to investigate. Sloane accompanies him, but not before they both dress in layers of salvaged winter coats that they reinforce with scrap material, to protect against bites. Sloane contemplates suicide but knows Harrison wouldn't make it back without her. The man turns out to be a stranger, but Trace and Grace have newfound respect for Sloane and Harrison.
Day 6:
The transmitter is completed. Grace, whose experience as student body president makes her a confident public speaker, records a message telling all survivors to go to Cortege High. Meanwhile, the rooftop garden begins to show a few bean sprouts, and the trap has successfully caught a young deer.
Day 7:
The pair assigned to patrol duty immediately notices movement and detects Mr. Baxter. Following him quietly, they wait until he is asleep and then his gun. When he wakes, they treat him respectfully and provide him with food and medical attention, but they also quarantine him in the nurse's office.
Day 8:
Baxter says he will only reveal his point of entry if they give him the gun. Cary secretly removes the bullets and replaces them with bits of scrap metal so that the gun will weigh the same, and gives it back to him. Baxter tells them about the window, which they then seal up, before taking the gun back and reloading it. He is angry at their deception, but realizes that his status as a teacher no longer matters.
Day 9:
Another group of survivors appears at the rear doors, having followed the broadcast. It consists of a family of four, and although none of them have any specific survival skills, the two adults immediately attempt to take charge. Cary rebuffs them, and a leadership struggle emerges. The newcomers want to head for the Rayford, but the original group has no intention of leaving their stronghold. Trace faces a dilemma: side with the parents who he disagrees with, or side with Cary who he has not yet forgiven. He proposes a third option: set up a leaderless system where decisions are made by organized consensus and direct democracy. This is agreed upon, and the decision is made to stay. The newcomers are paired off into the buddy system and assigned duties, and although they are free to leave, their kids want to stay where there is water and food.
Day 10:
Baxter shows no signs of infection and is allowed to leave quarantine. They ask him about the outside world but he has no relevant news.
Day 11:
More survivors arrive, one of them a former sheriff’s deputy with a bag full of shotguns. He attempts to hijack the group by force, resulting in an armed standoff, until Sloane hits him over the back of the head with a table leg. He is disarmed and locked outside the building to be eaten by the infected. A harsh punishment, but it sets an example and deters anyone else from trying to stage a coup. Most of the original group now carries firearms wherever they go.
Day 13:
Rain. The water-catcher is a success, refilling the water tower. Long showers are allowed. It is wasteful, but tensions are high after the deputy's banishment and they all agree that it will be good for morale. Group meetings are now held regularly, in which an elected official keeps the discussion on track. A new official is chosen for each meeting to keep him or her from becoming a "leader."
Day 17:
Survivors continue to show up, some of them armed. Individuals are allowed to keep their weapons as long as they abide by the rules of the group, and show no signs of infection or bite marks. Grace updates her broadcast, giving news of the stable new society growing in Cortege High.
Day 25:
The population of Cortege High now numbers forty-five. Tasks are assigned on a rotating basis, ensuring that everyone knows how to repair the barricades and care for the rooftop garden. Self-defense classes are now taught in the gym, covering basic hand-to-hand combat and weapons maintenance. Live shooting drills are impossible since the noise would attract infected and waste ammo, but the expertise of some veteran survivors ensures that everyone knows the basics of operating a gun. Grace is sure to add this to her next broadcast, which has become a sort of "news channel" for the devastated town.
Day 32:
The population is now almost sixty. Reports are coming in of US military scouts sighted at the city limits to the east, as well as rumors of a heavily-stocked gun shop in the town center. The group is divided over whether to attempt contact with the military. Most of the original group advocates staying here, but many newcomers do not yet see the school as "home." The vote is postponed, but they agree to at least investigate the gun shop.
Day 35:
A group of survivors, including Sloane and Harrison, sneaks out of the school while the others distract the infected with random gunfire on the other side of the building. They find a working car and drive off into the town.
Day 36:
The car returns. Three survivors are dead and the mission was a failure. Although the gun shop was real, Sloane informs the group that the military scouts were too. Her report tells a harrowing tale of encountering a National Guard humvee that approached as they were leaving the car to investigate the gun shop, and opened fire with its machine gun while announcing from the loudspeaker that looters would be shot on sight.
An emergency meeting is held. While some are still in favor of finding the military, they are outvoted by those who feel that the trigger-happy soldiers are too dangerous. The husband of one of the dead gives an emotional speech about how the society in Cortege High is more civilized than than the US, if this is how the treat survivors. He is met with applause. Trace proposes fortifying the school against this new threat, and the proposal is passed.
Day 37:
Grace records a new broadcast, urging survivors to avoid the US military and come to the stronghold of the Cortege Liberation Militia. Sloane and Harrison find some paint from the art room and create a flag for their group. It consists of a fist and two crossed shotguns above the letters CLM, painted in the school colors. They hang it from the rooftop above the front doors.
Meanwhile, desks are broken down and used to erect fortifications on the rooftop, and loose bricks and sandbags are piled underneath windows to protect observers from bullets.
Day 40:
Population is now ninety-seven. New survivors have brought two large vans with half-tanks of gas. Everyone, including the children, is undergoing basic combat training in the gym. Some have begun painting the CLM flag onto scraps of cloth that they pin to their shirts.
Day 45:
A proposal is made to fortify the vans and make another attempt at the gun shop. After some tense deliberation, it passes, and a squad of the ten best fighters is formed to carry out the mission. The vans are reinforced with scrap metal and sandbags.
The parents of one of the squad members protests, attempting to lay down in front of the van to keep it from leaving. Their son authorizes the others to pull them out of the way. The informal disregard for age differences is now an established custom. All are equal and pre-zombie hierarchies are meaningless.
Day 46:
The vans return and report that they made visual contact with National Guard forces from a distance. The Guardsmen appeared to be observing them, but did not initiate combat. From the gun store, the squad recovered eleven AR-15 rifles, three AK-47 rifles, ten Mini-14 ranch rifles, six more 12 gauge shotguns, nineteen 9mm handguns, seven .45 caliber handguns, and two .308 caliber scoped hunting rifles, as well as several thousand rounds of ammunition and five cases of black powder. Combat training now includes calibrating a scope, and quick draws with a handgun.
Day 55:
Leftover gasoline fuels an electric generator to power the transmitter; Grace is now making regular broadcasts at a greater range, and they appear to be paying off. Population is now 109. The rooftop garden and animal trap are providing inadequate food, but more are quickly constructed.
Day 63:
First contact. A National Guard helicopter appears over the school and attempts to land on the roof. Cary, Rhys, Grace, and a security detail prepare to meet them and negotiate. However, the sound of the helicopter draws a horde of infected, and the Militia begins opening fire. A young National Guard private, still under considerable emotional stress from losing his family to the outbreak, mistakenly believes that they are shooting at the helicopter. He engages the door-mounted M240 machine gun and strafes the second floor of the school. Two survivors, ages 16 and 15, are killed. His paranoia becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: Cary orders the security detail to fire on the helicopter, and the soldiers quickly realize that the broadcasts weren't lying: they are heavily outnumbered. The helicopter withdraws and disappears over the horizon.
Another emergency meeting is held. The opinions are largely split along age lines, with the older members urging peace, but the youth win by a slim margin: the Cortege High Militia is now in a state of war with the United States of America.
Day 78:
Population is now 155. The demographics have begun to change. Newcomers are younger, more physically fit, and often armed. Either they are the ones most likely to have survive the pandemic, or they are answering the call of rebellion against the US. It is likely a combination of both.
Whatever secrecy they had tried to maintain has been eliminated by the firefight with the helicopter. Infected now show up daily, and marksmanship classes are held on the roof, using them as practice targets.
Sloane notices that, although the arrival of infected is constant, there doesn't seem to be as many of them as was the case before taking shelter in the school. She brings this up in a meeting and someone suggests that the military may be slowly eliminating the pandemic. The unspoken implication of this is that there will soon be nothing standing between the military and the school. A motion is passed to periodically send out scouts to look for weapons, survivors, and to generally expand the CLM's reach.
Day 84:
Three armored pickup trucks appear at the front door, filled with armed men. They explain that they are a gang of looters driven from their safe house, an old department store, but the military. Their leader requests to join the CLM and the group hesitantly agrees, but many are wary of admitting a gang, which may have a history of violence.
Day 86:
Suspicions are confirmed. The gang's leader, mistakenly assuming that Trace is "in charge" because he had been chosen to manage the day's meeting, stabs him in his sleep and blames it on Cary. Harrison, however, had gone to the bathroom and saw what really happened as he returned. The gang leader aims for Harrison, but Harrison has been practicing his pistol draw and shoots him twice in the chest.
Grace, horrified at the death of her brother, gives the other gang members a choice: surrender their weapons and join the group, or die. One of them laughs condescendingly. Grace makes good on her promise and shoots him in the head. The rest unanimously decide to surrender.
Day 90:
With the addition of the armored pickup trucks, the CLM can travel farther, bringing back ammunition and siphoned tanks of gasoline. Reports come in of lights to the East, and the possible sound of gunfire, although their origin is unknown. Assuming that the military is approaching, the CLM doubles the rooftop guard.
Day 91:
One of the former gang members gets drunk and reveals a secret: the gang was only one branch of a larger organization based in the ruins of a factory to the North. Upon further questioning, he claims that "like, a hundred" people are living there.
A scouting party is sent out to investigate. Sure enough, they report seeing non-infected figures patrolling the roof of a chemical plant. Although it appears to be heavily fortified with pre-zombie security, the factory lacks reliable electricity, making the cameras and electric fences useless.
Day 92:
With the military on the horizon, the group decides not to risk a two-front war, and votes to eliminate the factory survivors quickly and decisively. Some of the former gang members, eager to pick the winning side, tell all that they know about the layout and security of the factory. They describe a blind spot where a small group could enter the factory grounds undetected.
A special strategic council is formed with the help of three survivors who once served in the military. They devise a plan to make a remote explosive charge from the salvaged black powder and conceal it near one of the factory's chemical tanks, then pull back and deliver an ultimatum to surrender, or have their factory flooded with deadly chemicals.
A thirty-man expeditionary force is assembled and begins training day and night.
Day 94:
The expeditionary force departs, carrying a radio to maintain contact with the school. Grace does not mention the factory in her broadcasts, deciding that the element of surprise was more important than warning other survivors. The others have begun to notice a change in her behavior. She has become cold, calculating, and more manipulative in her broadcasts. Often, she will be found asleep at a desk covered in open library books about wartime propaganda and psychology.
Day 95:
Expeditionary force report indicates that the bomb is in place. They patch Grace in through their field radio and she delivers the ultimatum. For two hours there is no answer. Then, a CLM sniper says that a young woman is attempting to inspect the chemical tank and remove the bomb. Grace gives him permission to fire and he takes the shot. Ten minutes later, the factory issues a formal surrender.
Day 96:
Negotiations are underway between the CLM and its newest acquisition. A team of designated representatives delivers a CLM flag to the factory and orders them to hang it from the roof before any deals can be made, and the factory's leadership reluctantly agrees. Their command structure is quickly dissolved and they are assimilated into the CLM's council. A two-way radio maintains contact between the factory and the school, and the populations of both buildings are encouraged to blend. After a brief meeting session, Grace makes a jubilant broadcast announcing the formation of the new Democratic Republic of Cortege.
Day 130:
Population of the DRC is now 358. All members are trained and armed. To make the political process easier now that there are too many to fit in one meeting space, ballot boxes are set up in the school and factory so that particularly controversial measures can be put to a popular vote.
The infected have dwindled to approximately ten each day, and the yards around the school and factory are now open for use. Under the protection of snipers, kids play in the parking lot while adults dig more gardens outside, and morale is at an all-time high. A band is formed using instruments left over from the school orchestra, and they compose a national anthem. Grace records it and plays it every night at the end of her broadcast.
The road between the school and the factory has been cleared of obstacles, and becomes an established trade route between the two sites. Vehicles carrying personnel and resources drive back and forth regularly. Infected interference is minimal, and easily dispatched.
Day 201:
In the middle of the day, a convoy of three humvees and a Stryker armored fighting vehicle emerges from trees. The warning alarm goes off, children are ushered inside the school, and all DRC armed forces mobilize. However, the vehicles stop and display a white flag just in time. A small delegation of National Guard troopers lay down their weapons and request to negotiate.
They are revealed to be deserters who defected from their unit while on patrol, after an incident in which they were ordered to fire on a group of looters that included a family with young children. Altogether, they number twenty-one men and women, and have arrived with heavy weaponry that includes a Mk 19 vehicle-mounted grenade launcher and two javelin anti-tank missiles. The DRC is suspicious of their motives, believing them to be spies, but the defectors agree to temporarily surrender their weapons and submit to interrogation.
During one such questioning session, their ranking officer explains that the military has been bogged down trying to prevent the spread of infection among civilian refugee camps, allocating only a small fraction of its resources to territorial expansion. However, this will soon change now that the pandemic is being brought under control.
Day 210:
After much deliberation and a popular vote, the DRC decides to grant full citizenship to the defectors. Their small arms are returned, although the Stryker and javelins remain communal property, to be set aside in case of emergency. In return, the soldiers agree to assist with combat training. All newly-acquired military vehicles are repainted with he DRC flag.
Day 223:
At long last, the day arrives. It begins with a rumbling sound to the east, then dust clouds above the treeline, and finally the unmistakable sound of helicopter rotors. All DRC personnel are alerted and ordered to action stations. Grace broadcasts a message that invaders will be "shown no mercy." Some object to this, but the first shots are fired before any discussion can take place.
The second battle of Cortege High begins at 7:35 AM.
Two helicopters, three armored personnel carriers, an M1 Abrams tank, and an unknown number of National Guard infantry break through the treeline after their advance scouts are spotted by rooftop snipers. Machine guns lay down suppressing fire while the infantry advances, and four DRC soldiers are killed. The National Guard breaches the perimeter fence but is met with heavy fire from the school windows. Pinned down in a drainage ditch, they call in helicopter support. The two helicopters begin circling the school, strafing the second story to keep DRC marksmen suppressed, but this does not last long. A defector uses a LAW rocket to inflict severe damage on one of them, which quickly withdraws from the combat zone. Not realizing that the DRC possessed anti-air capabilities, the second helicopter pilot pulls back and makes evasive maneuvers, giving the second-floor marksmen time to fire on the advancing infantry. Some of them make it to the doors of the school and break through with a breaching charge. They begin working their way through the school, clearing three classrooms, before being trapped from both ends of the hallway. DRC troops order them to stand down and relinquish their weapons. Sixteen National Guardsmen comply and are taken prisoner.
Outside, the DRC's Stryker opens fire with the grenade launcher, decimating a hostile squad, but the tank quickly dispatches it with armor-piercing shells. However, the grenades have done their job, destroying a humvee and preventing a second wave of infantry from penetrating the perimeter fence.
Frantic reports being coming in on the radio about hostile troops advancing on the factory. The road between the two sites is cut off, trapping Rhys on the other side, who had been sent there several days earlier for trade negotiations. The Republic is split, and although the initial attack was repelled, the DRC troops have sustained significant casualties and lost the Stryker. The probability of surviving a second assault is abysmally low.
Just then, Grace broadcasts on all channels, explaining that their sixteen prisoners will not be harmed if the Guard withdraws. The battle ends at 8:05 AM.
National Guard casualties: 14 dead, 23 wounded, 16 POW, 1 helicopter and 1 humvee destroyed.
DRC casualties: 22 dead, 31 wounded, 0 POW, one Stryker destroyed.
Day 224:
The National Guard is keeping its distance, but they have set up a perimeter around the school just out of the rooftop snipers' effective range. Transportation to the factory is impossible.
Negotiations are underway by radio. Captain Romero, the highest ranking officer of the sixteen prisoners, has been acting as the US military spokesman. An uneasy truce is declared, with the DRC granted temporary autonomy in exchange for the release of all commissioned officer POWs, but everyone involved knows that it will not last.
Day 225:
Six prisoners are prepared for release, scheduled for the following morning. However, the situation quickly deteriorates. Cary dies of a shrapnel injury sustained during battle, and the details finally emerge of a romantic relationship between him and Grace. Grace's behavior becomes erratic. She withdraws to her broadcast room with a small squad of heavily-armed personal bodyguards and refuses all contact.
Finally, at around midnight, she broadcasts a rambling and borderline-incoherent speech about having nothing to lose, and her willingness to die before surrender. She and her bodyguards go to the holding cells in the school basement and overpower the guards. Grace readies her rifle and prepares to execute the prisoners, but she is stopped at the last minute by Harrison and Sloane. Harrison pulls the rifle from her hands and turns it on her, but she draws her pistol and points it to her head.
Sloane orders Harrison to lower his weapon, and approaches Grace. She finally tells the story of her abusive household, her feelings of betrayal at the hands of her sister, and how Cary and Rhys were correct in believing her to be suicidal when they first met. Appealing to Grace's sense of honor and friendship, Sloane convinces her to put away the gun. Grace breaks down in tears and is led away by security personnel for rehabilitation.
Day 226:
Captain Romero contacts his superiors over the radio and informs them that Harrison and Sloane have saved his life from one of their own. He breaks protocol and urges the National Guard not to violate the ceasefire agreement. After several hours of negotiations, the commanding officer of the Guard agrees to pull his forces back and engage in peace talks. Romero and five other officers are released without incident.
Peace talks begin in a tent set up on the football field, designated "neutral ground." The CO explains that the military is gradually retaking the country, and that the DRC is not the first rebellious survivor colony they have encountered. Many have fought back against re-integration with the US and been violently conquered. However, a small minority have agreed to assist with fighting the infected in return for independence.
Day 231:
The offer of cooperation with the National Guard in exchange for peaceful autonomy is put to popular vote. There is still a great deal of anti-military sentiment among the population, but the offer passes by a slim margin. Most of the defectors leave, fearing punishment for their treason, and head for the border. A few choose to stay behind and face court martial.
Day 232:
Peace is declared. National Guard troops are allowed inside the borders, and trade between the school and factory resumes. The remaining prisoners are released and a large military funeral is held for the dead of both sides. Veterans of DRC patrols help the Guard draw up post-zombie maps of the surrounding terrain and share all information they have gathered about the infected's weaknesses. National Guard troops provide medical supplies and emergency rations to the wounded.
Day 250:
No infected have been sighted for over a week and the area around Cortege is officially declared clean. Refugee camps are opened and families reunite. Sloane receives news that her father and sister were found dead at their house, but finds solace in the fact that Rhys survived the factory. Some DRC members leave to return to their families or join the anti-zombie operations taking place far to the west, but most remain to build the community.
The Federal Government has returned to power in Washington. The status of the Democratic Republic of Cortege is reviewed, along with that of several other survivor colonies seeking independence, including the Detroit Confederation, New Syracuse, and Texas.
Day 275:
Congress votes to make the DRC a semi-autonomous region. The exact legal definition of this term is still being revised as more and more colonies are discovered in the post-zombie wilderness, but they may keep their own political process, and state police have no jurisdiction over the school or factory.
Harrison is elected ambassador to the US, and Sloane announces plans to open up a rehabilitation clinic for traumatized survivors of the pandemic. The two of them, along with Rhys and Grace, attend the ceremony on the school lawn dedicating a memorial to Trace and Cary. They open the bottle of whiskey that Trace had discovered on Day 3 and each take a shot, pouring two onto the ground for their fallen friends. After some hesitation, Sloane pours one for Lily as well.
On that same day, electricity is restored. The lights in Cortege finally turn back on.
THE END
Yeah, this went on a little longer than I'd anticipated, but it was incredibly fun to write and I hope you all enjoyed it. I would also like to add that Courtney Summers is a wonderful person who I'm sure would never dream of suing an admirer for copyright infringement.
