World War Z_ An Oral History of the Zombie War ( PDFDrive )

[Choi maneuvers us above them. They reach up for our searchlights, eyes wide
and jaws slack. I can see the dim red beam of the laser as it settles on the first
target. A second later, a small dart is fired into its chest.]
And one…
[He centers his beam on a second subject.]
And two…
[He moves down the swarm, tagging each one with a nonlethal shot.]
Kills me not to kill them. I mean, I know the whole point is to study their movements, set up an
early warning network. I know that if we had the resources to clear them all we would. Still…
[He darts a sixth target. Like all the others, this one is oblivious to the small hole
in its sternum.]
How do they do it? How are they still around? Nothing in the world corrodes like saltwater.
These Gs should have gone way before the ones on land. Their clothes sure did, anything organic
like cloth or leather.
[The figures below us are practically naked.]
So why not the rest of them? Is it the temperature at these depths, is it the pressure? And why
do they have such a resistance to pressure anyway? At this depth the human nervous system
should be completely Jell-O-ized. They shouldn’t even be able to stand, let alone walk and “think”
or whatever their version of thinking is. How do they do it? I’m sure someone real high up has all
the answers and I’m sure the only reason they don’t tell me is…
[He is suddenly distracted by a flashing light on his instrument panel.]