Epic Storytime
It’s freshman year, the first night of the first game of Humans vs. Zombies. Our well-armed friends from Tannex, Josh B, Daniel, and Alex are already dead. My roommate Ryan and I already evaded two assassination attempts, and we had only one thing on our minds as we were going to bed: The O.Z. He or she had to have been close to our friends in order to get them so early. We began to suspect our friend Elizabeth. She knew everyone who died early, and she was also a Tannex-dweller. Earlier in the day, Ryan and I escorted her to the sub shop in Turner. On the way back, I noticed her gun wasn’t loaded. How could anyone overlook that? The facts were all there, so what did we do?
Absolutely nothing. We laughed it off. Elizabeth was too innocent to be a cunning zombie queen. She was too cutesy to order hits on her friends. Ryan and I were too stupid to live.
The next morning, we made plans to go to J.O.’s. I received a text from Elizabeth clearly meant for the other Josh, which read “They’re going to JOs”. That should have sealed it. We should have cancelled our plans. We should have called her out. Ryan and I are really nice. After an awkward brunch with Elizabeth, Ryan and I became the 4th and 5th OZ kills. A product of both our inaction, and our gross underestimation. On the bright side, it was my favorite HvZ experience, and I’ve technically survived a final stand.
- Josh Reynolds
HVZ 2009 – 2012
I’m lying alone in a cold, dark field, waiting. Lying flat on my stomach I watch in silence as others pass by unaware of my presence. It makes me feel like a predator waiting for the right moment to pounce…but in truth I’m the prey. The blood-red bandana around my arm reminds me of this, and it reminds me of the task I have been entrusted with.
Only a few hours ago a wager was made between the Gameplay Coordinator, Tim Schneider and Jason Montanez, the Orignial Zombie. The scenario: a moderator will be holding a tap light in the center of Dyson field until midnight. The Wolfpack must extinguish the light before midnight. If Wolfpack fails…I honestly can’t remember the wagers but it had something to do with a tutu and/or a zombie Wolfpack, but I digress. As soon as Tim and the OZ had shaken hands on the wagers Tim turns around and pulls me aside. “Taylor, I know you’re a sneaky bastard, so here’s what you’re gonna do. Go out to the field at 8 o’clock and wait until about 10. The rest of the Wolfpack will enter the field from the front and keep the horde’s attention while you come from the back and tap the light when they’re not looking.”
It’s nearly 10 o’clock. I’ve already checked my blasters once, but better safe than sorry right? My Powerstrike 48 doesn’t turn on. Luckily I have my Magstrike, which all of the sudden has an air leak…I am left with my single shot CTF Dart Tag pistol and two party poppers stuffed with Nerf darts instead of confetti. I hear shouting and far off I see a zombie motioning for others to hurry. “Wolfpack!” one screams. Zombies begin entering the field, spreading out. One lone zombie decides to stroll right in my direction. He’s not looking at me, heck, I know he can’t see me. I’ve positioned myself in a corner of the field where the street lights are shining in the faces of anyone who turns my way. Yet onward he trudges towards me. Just when he’s about to step on me I jolt into a crouched position, party popper at the ready, “What’s up, Erik?” I ask quietly.
“Woah…” replies Erik upon finally sighting me. He eyes the party popper, then looks to the horde and I fear he’s gonna give me away. I twist the popper releasing a shower of darts and I bolt. Of course Erik dodges all 7 foam streamliners and quickly catches up to my out-of-shape self. I try using my other party popper but in my urgency I’m twisting it the wrong way and before I can correct myself Erik is lunging at my feet. He manages to wrap an arm around my ankle in a dive. It was actually a pretty awesome one-hander tag. But the unholy amount of adrenaline flowing through my body and the lack of firearms has me charging for the tap light. I sandwich the light in between my hands and release a roar of victory, you know, the kind where you nearly black out from the immensity of epicness you let out in such a short amount of time? Yeah, that happened. The zombies turned around with a confused look on their faces. Jason realizes what happened and turns to Tim, “I want a rematch.”
That was my slice of glory during the 2011 game. Thanks always to Tim Schneider, Kevin Deal, and Ryan DowlingSoka for that amazing year!
- Taylor Smith
HVZ 2010
And then there’s the wager missions. The zombies were having a big confusion-issue about the Wolfpack that year (2011). I talked with Tim and Kevin to set up a meeting with any zombies that cared to join in and ask questions to clear things up. The meeting was a success and helped everyone understand how the Wolfpack worked and their overall purpose. Afterwards, Tim, Kevin, Zane, Craig, Shannon, and others were standing and chatting it up for a bit. I kept giving Shannon a bunch of flack for always running around with the bandana around her neck and wanted her to man up and play. She said she was saving her death for Bri. It was then that I asked her how about a wager. She had to make it from Dyson Field all the way up to Bri’s room in the Turner basement with only two Wolfpack members for help. She took off running with Craig and Zane and the rest of them followed behind. There was not a single zombie in sight all the way up to the steps leading to Turner. WHAT THE HECK ZOMBIES.
I finally saw a group over by the gates and said to Tim and Kevin, “Watch this.” I then proceeded to yell “HUMANS!” while pointing up the stairs. I watched about 9 zombies sprint torwards us while Shannon was yelling “—- YOU JASON!” from the stairs. We all booked it up just to keep up with them and made it to Bri’s room safely (unfortunately). Within in about 5 seconds zombies were spilling in from both corners asking if we tagged Shannon. That was the fastest response I’d ever seen in the game and was proud of my minions. We all had so much fun doing it, that we decided to do it again but Shannon wasn’t going to actually die. She was going to have to make it over to Tannex Pool from the basement. Tim and Kevin decided to get in on this and we had swarms of zombies that met us from Turner to Tannex. The small group made it to Tannex where it became a stand off. At that point, I remember humans coming in to help (which if they died, well… died.) I also saw the rest of the Wolfpack enter. We held them off at the entrance to Tannex and were tagging the Wolfpack out once or twice. Eventually they made it in and right as they entered near the pool, TJ Scarpelli jumped out of a trashcan and tagged Shannon.
It was such a random, fun, exciting event. We had so much fun, that we decided that each night after the main missions, the Wolfpack and I would hold wagers depending on the outcome of each night. Pizza parties and Tutus happened. Dedicated players hiding out to win a wager happened. Fun happened. This was also the first time that Kevin and Tim were able to “just play.” As the Coordinators, and it being their last game, they never really had a chance to just dive in and play, since they were always running around making the game more efficient and what not. It was also a way to get more humans out to play since a lot that year chose to hide out compared to the 2010 game. In the end it was awesome fun and taught zombies some how to get kills in certain situations.
As someone who’s played 3 games of SCAD HVZ, and was part of the group who signed in the club to existence, I do wish the best for the game as it progresses along. Good luck to Elie, Macauley, and Kristina on this year’s game in the hopes that it’s as much fun to them and everyone as it was to me when I played. Have fun. Eat Brains. Stay Black.
- Jason Montanez
HVZ 2009 – 2011
-More to come!-