Strongest Survivors

Corporate Retreat

Season 2 - Episode 11

I followed Murphy, shielding my mouth from the dust with my jacket as we neared the edge of it. From the small hill we were on, we could see a large building. "It looks like a hotel!" Warren shouted to the group, so we set off.
"I thought we killed all these Zs last week." Doc complained.
"Maybe the Grand Canyon filled up." Addy responded, I let out a low growl.
"Not funny." Murphy snapped.
"I wasn't kidding." Addy told us.
"Heads up. Let's check it out." Warren spoke up again as we all coughed our way there.

Warren knocked on the door, "anybody in there?!" She called.
"Do you think it's deserted?" Doc asked, Warren took his crowbar. Zombies were coming up behind us.
"Anytime now you two!" Addy screamed at us.
"All right, all right. I'll give it a shot." Murphy gave in, Addy looked at me.
"Why should I? So you can kill more of them? No." I snapped, watching Murphy turn them away.
"Why don't we just break the glass." Doc suggested, taking back his crowbar.
"No, cuz then the Zs will be able to get in." Warren replied as we heard a bash on the other side.
"There's somebody in there." Doc said leaning closer, Warren drew her gun.
"Open up or you'll be sorry!" She threatened. The door opened, revealing a man, "thank you." Warren huffed as we all continued coughing. We went to enter when we heard guns cocking, "welcome." The man at the front called out, there were too many to fight.

Warren pushed forwards, holding her gun to the previous man's head. "Lower your weapons!" Vasquez ordered, we all entered the building.
"Turn around and go back the way you came." Another man ordered.
"Look! We don't want to hurt you. But we cannot turn around. There are way too many Zs out there." Warren spoke up.
"Not much oxygen either." Doc added, shutting the door.
"Who's in charge?" Warren asked. The guy holding the small log spoke up.
"My name is Gideon Gould. I'm the facilitator here. But we don't really have a leader. Cuz everyone here participates in our decision making."
"Great. We just need some shelter until the smoke clears and some of those zombies move on." Warren informed, putting away her gun.
"Okay. Well I think in order for us to put together a mutually beneficial agreement, we're gonna have to create a little framework of trust here." Gideon said.

It was only then that I realised Murphy had his arm in front of me the whole time. "Buddy, I'd have a lot more trust if you all pointed your weapons some place else, or at least away from my daughter." He pointed out.
"Sure. Gotta look out for your kids, it's okay everybody." The rest of the group holstered their weapons, and Gideon turned back around. "What you got in mind, Mr Gould?" Warren asked.
"Popcorn circle process?" A woman spoke up from the second floor.
"You know what? That's exactly what I had in mind. That's a great idea. Yes ma'am. Come on down here." Gideon waved her over.
"What the hell is it? Movie night?" Murphy muttered to me and Addy, we shrugged.
"May I?" The woman asked reaching for the stick.
"Yes ma'am."
"Thank you."

With that, she turned towards us. "Don't worry. It's not a weapon. It's a tool. We call it the talking stick. We use it to facilitate dialogue. When we make decisions we pass it around the circle like a bowl of popcorn. Only the person who is holding the stick is allowed to speak. It makes it so much easier to be heard." She explained to us.
"Speak softly? Carry a big..log." Doc said, coughing between.
"Except for this stick is used for peaceful conflict resolution and communication. Doctor Gould.."
"Gideon, please, I know it's funny. We don't really get many visitors here." He cut her off.
"Gideon was a, I'm sorry, is, a world renowned expert in corporate communication and conflict resolution. We were all at his seminar in the hotel when the outbreak happened. We would all be dead if we didn't have a way to communicate." She jumped as a zombie ran into the door, and I couldn't help but laugh at it, turning as to not get caught. "It's a way to build trust." She passed the log back to Gideon.
"Thank you. Hopefully we can all build enough trust here that we'll all lower our weapons, okay? We're gonna play a little quick game here. It's called honesty inventory. I give you my first impressions of all of you without filtering anything. So let's see..."