"One day it was on the news; the next day, the RA was being mauled by a girl in the Pastry Program."
Arizona had been a normal nobody, growing up in the suburbs of Omaha, taking the easy route after high school. The Culinary Institute of Omaha didn't require any science, history, or English credits - just a basic understanding of how to read and some elementary math skills. She liked watched Chef Gordon Ramsay tear people new assholes on television, it looked like a stable enough career, and it would get her parents off her back about her Ominous Future. She'd get 15 months of school and then find some restaurant in another state. It wasn't until her second class, nine weeks into the program, Garde Manger, that she discovered a real talent for cooking and presentation. The class after that, Butchery, taught her to break down everything from cows to rabbits, and any furry thing in between.
Ari was a week into her Introduction to Catering and Business Management class when the Outbreak went viral.
"Don't be stupid - there's no such thing as zombies!"
You'd think a school full of food, liquor, stainless steel everything, and about 30 knives per student would stand up better. And admittedly, it had at first. The kids that were in the dorms were a little more screwed, but the ones like Ari who'd been in class when the first wave of Infected swept the city - they did alright. By that point in America, almost all schools had locks on all the doors. Each student had an ID that only let her into the class he or she was taking at the time. Each teacher had, of course, a master card that let them into any class. Ari's class had been able to hole up in the Contemporary Cuisine Kitchen and classroom, which was connected by a dish pit to the Principles of European Cuisine Kitchen and classroom. Altogether, it was a group of about 41 people. Eventually, they ran out of food. Breaking off into groups of 10, they'd gone to explore the now-quiet campus. Within twenty minutes, the screaming started. Ari and two others got separated from their group and made their way to the roof, hoping for a fire escape.
"Mom? Mom... Oh God, Mom..."
Once the small group had made it out of the campus, each was weighed down by a twenty pound knife bag full of possible weapons and a few provisions. Things like spatulas, slotted spoons, piping bags had been chucked a long time ago.
Their first stop was at an apartment building closer to the metropolitan area than Ari liked where one of the group, a girl named Melissa, lived with her husband. The apartment was empty, but the building itself was crawling with Infected.