Title of Sketch: The Midnight Train

INTRODUCTION (Brief background of the story/Brief intro of how story begins)

This story begins with a poor soldier travelling in a train. The soldier shares his
compartment together with four other people. Close to eleven at night, the lights suddenly
went out.
BODY
A) Levels of Communication
I Intrapersonal Communication: After getting up, the soldier went to the next
compartment and started talking to himself.
A. Supporting Idea: He was thinking about why the lights had suddenly gone out. He
also wanted to investigate the cause of the blackout.
II Interpersonal Communication: While the soldier was still in deep thought, a farmer
patted him on the shoulder and started talking to him.
A. Supporting Idea: The farmer asked the soldier whether or not they should go to the
engine room to investigate the cause of the blackout. The soldier agreed and they began
to move forward. Along the way, they tell each other their respective backgrounds.
III Group Communication: After the first attack by the zombies, the soldier and the
farmer meet up with the other people in their compartment, a maid, an artist and a countess.
Together, they discuss how to escape the zombies.
A. Supporting Idea: After listening to the maid, all five of them decided to start the
train at full speed to escape the zombies. They also choose the farmer to control the train
while the soldier was to shoot down any attacking zombies.
IV Public Speaking/Public Communication: Shortly before 12 midnight, the soldier
gathered all the other passengers and told them to remain calm.
A. Supporting Idea: The soldier urged the other passengers to keep calm and remain in
their seats. He also told the male passengers to help fight off the zombies.
B) Stages of Systematic Problem Solving Process
I Identifying and Defining the problem: They think of how to flee the zombies but they
had time constraints.
A. Supporting Idea: They try to delay the zombies for awhile and look for someone
capable of dealing with the situation.
II Analysing the problem: The group analysed the situation in order to get an acceptable
solution.
A. Supporting Idea: The group first locked all doors and windows to prevent any more
attacks by zombies. Besides, they also discuss how to escape from the zombies.
III Determining solution criteria: The group came out with criteria that their solution
must pass.
A. Supporting Idea: The criteria set are, escape from the zombies before midnight and
save all passengers.
IV Identifying possible solutions: They came out with four possible solutions that fit the
criteria they have set earlier.
A. Supporting Idea: They suggested that they let the train go at full speed, or wait for
help to come in the morning, or defeat all the zombies there and then, or wake all the
other passengers and escape separately.

V Evaluating solution: The group evaluated their possible solutions by considering the
advantages and disadvantages of each solution.
A. Supporting Idea: If they let the train go at full speed, no zombies can catch them,
but there is no one who knows how to operate the train. If they wait for help, pros are
many people can come to help them, but the cons are the zombies will have destroyed
them all before help can come. If they choose to defeat all the zombies, they can escape
and clear the region of zombies forever, but the drawback is they do not have weapons
to fight the zombies. For the solution of waking all the other passengers and escape
separately, the advantage is that the zombies cannot catch them all. Unfortunately, the
disadvantage is they will get lost, or the zombies will catch some of them.
VI Deciding: They finally come to a unanimous decision after much discussion.
A. Supporting Idea: Their decision was to start the train at full speed to escape.
CONCLUSION (How story ends)
After some thinking by the farmer, their decision paid off in the nick of time when they
successfully got the train going even as the zombies were approaching. They managed to
escape to a town, and everyone on board was saved.