When I ride the bus, sometimes I like to pretend I’m Sherlock Holmes.

I examine the people around me, looking for the little details that matter most. I do it all quickly, like we’ve just met and I need to deduce whether or not they stole the Prime Minister’s pocket watch.

What I’ve deduced is that there’s a regularly scheduled zombie apocalypse every weekday morning from 6-9am, and the buggers ride the metro. Blank-faced, plain-clothed, and un-living, they move in mindless herds, and I am among them.

I don’t want to attract the attention of the horde with any outlandish behavior, so I just lay low, and survive the daily apocalypse by pretending to already be a part of it.

Then I wonder how many of the herd are like me, blending in and moving in-step to avoid attention. So, this has become my new game: Spot the Faker. Can I, through the powers of observation, detect the bus passengers who are genuinely fun-loving people, but disguise themselves as the living dead long enough to survive their morning commute?

Oh, the games we play to amuse ourselves.

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