Plot 76: Dying to Live (a zombie plot)

Nearly 2 years ago, a nuclear power plant melted down in [insert a city/town/state of your choice here]. The impact of this disaster was swift and devastating to nearly all residents of the immediate and surrounding region. Toxic waste infiltrated the ground, air and water supply, poisoning animals and humans who ingested it within minutes, causing all plant life to wither to ash. Fortunately, most residents were evacuated to neighboring states before the melt down; all those who foolishly stayed behind paid with their lives. No one could have anticipated that the toxic waste from the decimated power plant would seep into the soil of the neighboring cemetery and cause the dead to reanimate in their graves. Within days, all of the undead in [the town/city/state] clawed their way up from the ground to search for sustenance. Impervious to the poisoned air, these zombies crept beyond the limits of the devastated town/city/state and began to descend upon the unsuspecting people in the bordering regions. There were thousands of human casualties before the government was able to formulate a large-scale military response to eradicate the ‘zombie problem’.

Today, people live in a state of armed preparedness against the undead who still roam in small bands across the country. Most homeowners have equipped themselves with weapons (as permitted by the state) so that every living person may defend themselves against the dwindling, but still very deadly threat of walking corpses. In this town, Muse A is one of the undead, but contrary to what most humans have come to fear and kill indiscriminately, Muse A and their band of zombies don’t feed off of human beings, but rather animals they encounter in the wild. Muse A and their cohorts, being of the recently departed, still have generous quantities of their humanity in-tact and have no desire to harm their living counterparts. Unfortunately for them, the general population perceives all zombies as threats that need to be eliminated before the world can go back to ‘normal’. Muse B is a human who encounters Muse A after getting separated from friends on a camping trip in the woods. Startled and un-armed, Muse B runs away from Muse A but they don’t get far. In their panic, Muse B trips and falls down into a ravine where they injure their leg pretty seriously. Sympathetic to Muse B’s suffering, Muse A comes to a panicked Muse B’s rescue.     

Will Muse B see that Muse A can be trusted and offer to help them and their band survive in this hostile world? Or will fear and easy access to weaponry lead to the annihilation of these humane zombies? Will zombie and human learn to like (or even love each other) or are they destined to be enemies to the bitter end?