By: Amanda Romeiser
On Monday, October 17, 2016, I became a member of the walking dead, or rather the limping dead. My transformation came about during an event known as Humans vs. Zombies (HvZ), which is hosted by Stockton’s Live Action Games, or L.A.G., Club. This 24-hour week long game of tag is one of many HvZ games that is played at different schools, camps, neighborhoods, libraries, and conventions around the world. All players begin as humans, except for one player who is chosen to be the “Original Zombie” (OZ). The identity of the OZ remains a mystery until he or she tags a human for the first time, turning that human into a zombie. When humans are turned into zombies, humans must place the green bands that were originally around their arms around their heads. A human’s only defense against the zombies are socks, marshmallow shooters, or Nerf guns, which stun zombies for 2 minutes, giving the human a chance to run away. Luckily for the humans, there are safe zones around campus, like the buildings and staircases, where they cannot be attacked by zombies.
Stockton’s HvZ game began on the night of Sunday, October 16, following the kick-off meeting. When I originally signed up to play, I had two fully healthy knees. Unfortunately, I sprained my MCL and bruised my bone during a Quidditch tournament on Saturday, October 8. Due to this injury, I knew going into the meeting on Sunday night that I was not going to survive very long. My goal was to make it past Monday night.
In addition to the game play that occurs around campus during the day, the moderators, who are the members of the L.A.G. Club who run the game, created missions each night to bring the humans and the zombies together. These missions began at eight o’clock, and their theme involved a nutty professor and chicken nuggets. It was during Monday night’s mission that I joined the undead. I already had the iconic limping zombie walk mastered, so my transformation was effortless.
As in all games, there are winners and losers of HvZ. The zombies win if all human players are tagged and turned into zombies, while the humans win if the last zombie starves to death, meaning that the zombie did not tag anyone within 48 hours. This was my fate, but overall the zombies won this semester’s HvZ game. I thoroughly enjoyed my first experience playing Humans vs. Zombies, and I look forward to my next, during which I will hopefully be fully capable of running for my life.