When walking out of a class, there are scenes a student may expect: students with headphones blasting, couples reuniting as if they had been apart for years and professors hurrying off to their next class — but not zombies invading campus.
With Halloween just around the corner, and with zombie-culture in full swing, one has to wonder how BYU campus would handle a zombie apocalypse. The Universe asked BYU students to describe how such an infestation would play out.
Rachel Cutler, a freshman from Yorktown, Va., said she would panic in the case of a zombie apocalypse.
'I'd probably scream a lot,' Cutler said. 'I might cry a little bit and then I think I would find one of those swords that those LARPers (live-action role players) use and start killing zombies. It would be fun and scary.'
Cutler defined the zombie apocalypse as when the dead start rising and eating people and brains, creating more zombies.
'Things just go crazy bad,' Cutler said.
Cutler described the first people the zombies would go after would be tasty people, such as those who looked like the character Randy from the YouTube video, 'JULIAN SMITH - Eat Randy.' When it comes to the readiness of BYU to fight off the zombies, she speculated the Harold B. Lee Library has hidden floors.
'I bet they have a secret agency that is secretly preparing for the zombie apocalypse,' Cutler said. 'You think there are only five levels in the library, but secretly there are like 10, and five of them are preparing for the zombie apocalypse or the Second Coming.'
Jordan Rigby, a junior majoring in business, said he feels confident in his ability to shoot the zombies if they invaded campus.
'I would probably get some guns and go shooting,' Rigby said. 'I do a lot of hunting.'
Rigby said he doubts BYU's ability to handle a zombie apocalypse.
'Mormons just generally aren't really contentious people,' Rigby said. 'We are kind of a peaceful group. I think in that aspect we are not prepared, but spiritually we are prepared.'
In the case of a zombie apocalypse, Jared Holley, 23, studying physiology and developmental biology, said he would climb to the top of the Kimball Tower and wait for a weapon drop or an airlift off. According to Holley, the zombies would attack the inattentive people first.
'It's going to be the affectionate couples that are oblivious to everything that is happening,' Holley said.
Shamae Budd, 21, from Provo, agrees the first people to go would be the people who are distracted.
'Actually, it would probably be me,' Budd said. 'I'm always walking around reading a book; I'm never just walking. That would be dangerous.'
Budd said she would use pepper spray in the case of a zombie apocalypse.
'That might not kill a zombie, but it might ward them off for a moment,' Budd said.
Tayla Salvesen, from Johannesburg, South Africa, majoring in political science, has recently been watching the television show, 'The Walking Dead.' She said this show has given her an idea as to how zombies function while also raising her zombie awareness level.
'We had some visitors over, and one of the ladies has a baby, and it was making zombie noises,' Salvesen said. 'I had never seen a baby in that way, but it was making baby noises and I thought it was a zombie.'
Salvesen said she thinks that a zombie apocalypse is possible but not probable.
'I believe it's possible,' Salvesen said. 'I mean, if you want to go in the spiritual sense then probably not because I don't feel like Heavenly Father would do that. But it's always good to be prepared.'
According to Salvesen, it is also important to make decisions about how one would handle themselves in the case of a zombie apocalypse before it happens.
'You should always make decisions beforehand about how you would or wouldn't keep your humanity,' Salvesen said. 'You often see the memes with, 'You're my good friend, but if we are being chased by zombies, I will trip you.' You have to be prepared for what it is going to do to you emotionally and also civilly.'
Daniel Thurston, 18, from Provo, does not think that the zombie apocalypse is feasible.
'I'm a bit of a skeptic,' Thurston said. 'I mean, it's fun to talk about, but I don't think it's something you have to worry about. It seems pretty unlikely, from my professional opinion as a freshman chemistry major.'