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    “I saw you get into that car you smiled.”
    Jayne didn’t really remember seeing Sam in town before the outbreak became serious. “I clearly recall the day I spoke with Major Marshal.”
    “It’s getting too dangerous out there, the dead can smell me, they must be running low on food and they seem more riled up than usual.” He changed the subject. “Would you want a child in this world?” asked Sam opening can of tinned of tangerines.
    “Yes,” coughed Jayne.
    “But why?” he took another mouthful of tangerines.
    “Humans have always encountered disasters throughout history, the children keep coming. Anyway we’ve just got comfortable.” she smiled holding a glass of wine in the air. “See, we’re not even on the brink yet.”
    “So we have to survive, as a race,” he put down the can and gently topped up her glass.
    “It’s pre-programmed in to us,” she looked deep into the rippling red wine, “that survival instinct. We’ve just forgotten with our modern comforts. Other countries will be coping and surviving better than us. The Congo, Haiti... Many districts in Europe. Hell even downtown L.A.”
    “It’s that same instinct that’s keeping those things going. Damn land sharks.” spat Sam.
    “It’s possible to live our life out here.” Jayne muttered.
    “Didn’t you hear me? Its feeding time out there and they are really hungry.”
    “We’ll adapt,”
    “O utsmart them.” Sam mused.
    “Build a dead killing machine . Then smash! Our time, the living back on top again,” she enthused, swirling the wine in her glass before finishing it off.
    “Who’ll restock the shops?” questioned Sam picking some crumbs off his jeans.
    She stood up and looked though a gap in the boarded window. He’s right , she thought, would it be sustainable to grow their own food, how long before the water supply was exhausted? Many different thoughts ran though her mind as she gazed at the surrounding fence to the school.
    With her forefinger she checked the cleanliness of the windowsill, “There was a biological agent, colourless, odourless and tasteless, an extremely poisonous gas. That said it does not kill or harm living organisms,” Jayne counted on her fingers, “it was test number seventy-two, essentially a vesicant , a pulmonary agent, an incapacitating agent.”
    “In English, layman terms, please Jayne.” Sam looked at her puzzled.
    “It can be a gas or solid compound it was designed to kill the dead.” The atmosphere of the room turned sombre.
    “So why haven’t the government used it?” questioned Samuel.
    “They did. It failed. But I think they were looking at a genetic instead of practical level.”
    “What do you mean?” he asked.
    “After test 72 failed, the network gave their full attention to me and EMP solution.”
    “EMP?”
    “An electromagnetic pulse,” She paused, long conditioned to secrecy, “A burst of electromagnetic radiation usually from the detonation of a nuclear bomb.”
    “ I knew it came close again when the outbreak first started, but not a nuclear bomb to stop this! We’d all die. They were going to blow us up,” Exclaimed Sam shaking his head.
    “It was seriously considered, but I was developing an alternative.” He looked at her confused. “Okay picture an explosion high above the earth in military terminology it’s called HEMP or high-altitude electromagnetic pulse. The damage caused varies on different factors, the yield, gamma rays and altitude, EMP 1, EMP 2 and three.
    “ Its science fiction stuff?” he gave a look of disbelief.
    “No, not at all, you can find this in unclassified literature. This has been around since 1946 but was pushed forwards leaps and bounds in the sixties.”
    “What has this do with these walking c orpses?”
    “NNEMP, is a non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse. It’s used to block communications usually delivered by cruise missiles the energy yield is lower. Kind of putting foil in a microwave affect,