The zombies are coming! Head for the hills!

That's where a team of Cornell University researchers suggests we seek refuge if that unlikely scenario comes to pass.

Reading World War Z, an oral history of the first zombie war, and a graduate statistical mechanics class inspired the group to explore how an "actual" zombie outbreak might play out in the U.S.

"A lot of modern research can be off-putting for people because the techniques are complicated and the systems or models studied lack a strong connection to everyday experiences," Alex Alemi, a graduate student at Cornell University, says. "Not that zombies are an everyday occurrence, but most people can wrap their brains around them."

In most films or books, "if there is a zombie outbreak, it is usually assumed to affect all areas at the same time, and some months after the outbreak you're left with small pockets of survivors. But in our attempt to model zombies somewhat realistically, it doesn't seem like this is how it would actually go down.

Alemi says once the zombies invade more sparsely populated areas, the whole outbreak slows down. There are fewer humans to bite, so you start creating zombies at a slower rate," he says. "I'd love to see a fictional account where most of New York City falls in a day, but upstate New York has a month or so to prepare."

The team will present its findings at the American Physical Society March Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, next month.