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

those refugees from southern China, the ones from Japan who’d never been outside a city, and all
those poor people from India. That was the first Gray Winter, when the filth in the sky started
changing the weather. They say that a part of that filth, I don’t know how much, was ash from
human remains.
[She plants a marker above the pit.]
It took a lot of time, but eventually the sun did come out, the weather began to warm, the snow
finally began to melt. By mid-July, spring was finally here, and so were the living dead.
[One of the other team members calls us over. A zombie is half buried, frozen
from the waist down in the ice. The head, arms, and upper torso are very much
alive, thrashing and moaning, and trying to claw toward us.]
Why do they come back after freezing? All human cells contain water, right? And when that water
freezes, it expands and bursts the cell walls. That’s why you can’t just freeze people in suspended
animation, so then why does it work for the living dead?
[The zombie makes one great lunge in our direction; its frozen lower torso
begins to snap. Jesika raises her weapon, a long iron crowbar, and casually
smashes the creature’s skull.]
UDAIPUR LAKE PALACE, LAKE PICHOLA, RAJASTHAN, INDIA
[Completely covering its foundation of Jagniwas Island, this idyllic, almost
fairy-tale structure was once a maharaja’s residence, then a luxury hotel, then a
haven to several hundred refugees, until an outbreak of cholera killed them all.
Under the direction of Project Manager Sardar Khan, the hotel, like the lake and
surrounding city, is finally beginning to return to life. During his recollections,
Mister Khan sounds less like a battle-hardened, highly educated civilian
engineer, and more like a young, frightened lance corporal who once found
himself on a chaotic mountain road.]