Running head: ZOMBIES ATTACK CASS HIGH SCHOOL By: Kaitlen Smith, Brianna Summers, Ashlynn Russell
On Monday, December 16, 2013, there was panic in the halls of Cass High School. Teachers abandoned emergency protocol and students ran rampant as zombies prowled through the classrooms. Power lines were severed along with the access to help from authorities. The sky was dark and temperatures had dropped below freezing, causing icy turmoil on the roads and sidewalks surrounding the school. The chaos that ensued was unlike anything Georgia had seen before. Scientists later learned that poisoned pizza from Cass High’s cafeteria had caused the zombie virus to infect students, leaving them with decaying bodies and the craving for human flesh. However, the virus only had a short lifespan of 24 hours, and the infected students had fallen when authorities arrived at the scene. On the following day of the attack, December 17, a delirious survivor was found at the local truck stop just miles from the destroyed school. The young man, Matt Moore, told local investigators of his own encounter with the feral students he once called friends. He managed to escape through the school’s courtyard and into his car parked in an ice covered lot, only coming into direct contact with one zombie. Unfortunately, the details of the encounter were lost through post dramatic stress. Investigators were called to the scene to determine exactly how Matt managed to escape with his life. Upon analysis of the blood spatter found around the zombie’s corpse, investigators found several interesting aspects of the scene. There were numerous individual blood drops, including round and tailed, as well as large blood smears and transfer stains. The individual blood drops, on average, were no large than four millimeters in diameter, indicated a medium velocity encounter. Upon tracing the drops back to their areas of convergence, specialists determined multiple wounds to the victim. The varying heights and distances of the drops also led to several hits to the zombie. With the detailed examination of the blood spatter, the investigators were able to piece together a scenario of Matt’s personal encounter with the zombie student. Once in the parking lot, where the corpse was found, the infected student slipped on the icy pavement. Specialists concluded this from the distinctly affected blood spatter. According to Eckert and James, “Surfaces such as wood or concrete will be distorted to a much greater extent, sometimes producing satellite (secondary) blood spatter droplets and stains.” Once the zombie fell, back to the asphalt, Matt had time to take action. The relatively medium velocity blood spatter patterns indicate the weapon of choice was a blunt object, such as his tennis racket supposed to be used for practice later in the day. Due to the numerous points of origin, the zombie was hit several times before rendered immobile. There were also several transfer stain patterns where the weapon impacted the concrete more than once. Ultimately, Matt Moore escaped with his life due to his determination in attacking the zombie. He inflicted numerous wounds, resulting in a massive blood spatter which was vital in recreating the scene.
ZOMBIES ATTACK
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