HvZ 2011: Day 5

FRIDAY (Links to the rest here):

Well, today was the final day of Humans vs. Zombies for the semester. It was a bittersweet morning. I put my zombie makeup on, I braided my pigtails, and I put on my fingerless gloves. I tied my bandanna around my head for the last time. Finally, I was ready for school.

My zombie-related day didn't really begin until after my first class ended. Josh and I walked over to the primary zombie hunting ground and got some breakfast (out-of-game breakfast, that is, not any delicious brains). As we were eating and working on homework, I see a guy with a Nerf gun walking around. It was a little suspicious to me that he wasn't looking behind his back paranoidly (is that even a word? Oh well, it is now), but the gun was all the evidence I needed. I successfully executed a sneak attack, and then I realized that he didn't have an armband on, nor a headband. The guy then tells me that not only is he not playing, he's just trying to sell his gun to the highest bidding human. I was a little miffed, because he could get us in trouble if the cops saw him, but I couldn't really do anything about it. Disappointed, I went to my next class.

After the class that lasted 25 years longer than it should have, I went back outside and joined up with a miniature horde. We gave chase to a couple of humans, but they both made it inside before any of us could get them. Then there was one human who hunted us. He managed to pick us all off before we could turn him, and then his reinforcements arrived. We talked about the final mission, and we agreed that in this instance, so long as we didn't try and chase them, we could be unstunned as soon as they were out of sight. It seemed reasonable, so we agreed.

Finally, we saw one human above us on the walkway between the SLC and Tate. He drew both of his weapons and challenged us, as if it was his final stand. It seemed like he wanted to die. We decided to oblige him. Most of the zombies went up to fight him, but I stayed downstairs, just in case he survived and decided to run for it. Turns out my foresight was wasted. I walked up the stairs to see a freshly turned zombie putting away his guns. We all remained up there, keeping a lookout for humans, but they remained elusive. Finally, I had to go to class again (the downside of going to school :p).

After the longest class in the history of ever, I decided to solo to Boyfriend's office. I didn't see any humans along the way. Nor did I find my boyfriend. I waited around for a while, but after a lack of response, I headed back up campus to the primary hunting ground. As I walked, I ran into 8 humans who were armed to the teeth with Nerf and other various forms of weaponry. I was a lone zombie armed with only my hands. I decided to play smart. I pulled my bandanna into the stunned position (getting shot with 50 different darts in about 5 seconds didn't sound like much fun) in order to call a temporary truce. We taunted each other about the final mission that night, but we all survived without a single shot being fired.

I arrived to the middle of campus to find nobody around. Not even a civilian. By that point, Boyfriend finally got in contact with me, and I decided to wait until the final mission at his place. I walked all the way back to where I just was. I saw a lot of darts, but no humans. Finally, I met up with Boyfriend at around 5, and we went back to his place and watched some Doctor Who.

7 o'clock refused to arrive for the longest time. Finally, the time arrived. I drove back to my normal parking lot (the final mission took place at the edge of campus, so my parking spot was useful for once). I arrived at the top of the parking deck, only to see about 20 humans all doing target practice with very big guns. Fortunately, there was a ceasefire enacted so everyone could meet up without fear of being turned (though we did tag a bunch of humans anyway, just to watch them freak out before they remembered about the ceasefire. It was lulzy). Then we waited for the mission to begin.

We ended up waiting there for over an hour. We passed the time getting to know our enemies and compatriots. At one point, one of the humans (who was duel-wielding two identical guns) and I reenacted the killing scene from The Boondock Saints on another zombie. He was less than pleased to be shot in the back of the head by two close-range darts. Finally, it was mission time.

The humans' objective was to collect two out of three pieces of DNA (red blinking flashlights) from the woods and bring them back to the "lab" (the top of the parking deck). Our objective, naturally, was BRRAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIINS. The zombies were given spawn points. These points were two people, and the timer for respawn was set by the first person who arrived at the spawn point. Anybody who joined the spawn point after that was part of that spawn group, and got to go back as soon as the timer ran out for the first person (much better than the 15 minute wait time that the rest of the week had).

The zombies were led into the woods, shown the location of each piece of DNA, and were told to hide. I was part of a group that was camping the third piece of DNA. We found good hiding places, and we waited. And waited. And waited. We heard no signs of any activity whatsoever. No screams for backup, no screams for brains, nothing. It was disconcerting. Finally we heard the sounds of a walkie talkie. A mod came to us, and said that the police were called to the parking deck and were doing a crime scene sweep, so we weren't allowed to use it anymore. The final destination was moved to a field much closer to the DNA location, and we became DNA number one instead of three. We were the first line of defense. We were screwed.

Finally, after everything was re-set up, the game began. The humans' strategy became apparent right away: they all had LED lights strapped to their heads, and they all moved as one. The bright light blinded us, and they bombarded us with darts. The first DNA didn't stand a chance. Fortunately, we managed to turn a couple of them, and we Zerg rushed them back to the main bridge (did I mention that there was a lake?). The first DNA was lost to the humans. The new strategy was "keep the humans on the bridge and make them run out of ammo". Most of the zombies just rushed the humans, got stunned, ran to the spawn points, ran back, got stunned, etc. There were only a few zombies left to protect the other two DNA pieces.

It was only a matter of time before a human decided to take the water route. One brave human decided to go knee deep into the water and attempt to recover one of the DNAs. Fortunately, we had a zombie willing to go the extra mile as well, and he went underwater trying to sneak attack him. Unfortunately, that zombie was our spawn point zombie. I took up the flashlight in his absence and watched in total amusement as these two constantly played a game of sneak attack, stun, respawn, sneak attack, etc. He finally got the DNA, but he also finally got turned into a zombie as well, so that entire fight was all for naught on the human's part.

After that, I was relieved from Spawn Point duty, and I went back to the Zerg rush team. We were slowly dwindling down their numbers, but it was mostly a standstill. Finally, we were all called back to the final destination. Both humans and zombies were confused about the instruction, but we all headed to the field. It turned out that the ROTC was doing an exercise in the woods, and they kicked us out. So for the second time that night, we had to improvise the mission.

The final mission involved the zombies at one end of the field, and the humans at the other. The humans had to get the DNA piece past the line of zombies to the human behind us. There were probably over 100 humans left, and there were only 20 zombies (most of the zombies left because they thought the mission was over when we got called from the woods). We had no chance. The humans didn't even have to try to get the DNA over to the end point. The humans let out a loud cheer because they saved the human race. We all cried braaaaains because we were now going to starve to death.

The final mission ended at 11:30. The zombies ran around for almost 3 hours, trying to prevent the humans from succeeding. Needless to say, we were all completely exhausted. Most of us were all scratched up, myself included. I found Allie and Wayne after the mission. Turns out, Wayne successfully turned Allie just before the end of the mission. Allie was not happy.

I went back to Boyfriend's completely exhausted and covered in red clay. I took a shower and passed out. It was a great final mission, and I really wish I could play again. I know this is only going to get bigger as time goes on, until it becomes a school tradition (either that, or someone's going to ruin it for everyone). I was really glad to be a part of it for the short time I could.

My horde from Wednesday doing the Thriller with the Scout Trooper.

Thanks for reading these posts! Hopefully the superblog will be up soon! Later!

HvZ 2011: Day 4

THURSDAY (Start from the beginning here):

Today was another slow day, unfortunately. I guess not a lot of people are on campus for Tuesday / Thursday classes. Anyway, the day started exactly the same way the last four did, with the exception that I had a Chinese quiz, so I studied on the bus instead of keeping an eye out for vulnerable, delectable humans. Our teacher showed sympathy for Josh and I, because we were both lost souls to the inevitable hunger for braaaains.

Our last class of the day, we discovered that the other player in our class was still a human. She looked petrified when she realized that she was the lone survivor in the classroom. The best part was that she sits beside me in that class. I taunted her a good bit, telling her how there was no way she could escape the both of us. She kept saying she was going to call for backup, and there was no way that either of us were going to turn her. In the end, she left class 20 minutes early (missing vital information in regards to our homework assignment for the weekend, I might add). I was a little saddened by her taking the coward's way out, but it is all about survival, so I guess I can't blame her.

Josh and I decided to go get some food (real life food, not just humans) at the campus center. We didn't see any players along the way, and pretty much just wrote the day off as unsuccessful. We sat for a while, just talking and joking around, when Josh suddenly became alert. He said one word: "human". We both bolted from the table, and took different exits so we could surround him. Josh pulled a flawless sneak attack, and got his first kill of the semester. We decided to call it a day after that.

Tomorrow is the final day. We learn whether the human race survives, or if the zombies take over the campus, and then the world! Last semester the zombies won hands down. I'll let you know tomorrow night what went down. Till tomorrow!

HvZ 2011: Day 3

WEDNESDAY (Previous entry here):

Today, fortunately, was a great day for hunting humans. The sun was bright, the sky was clear, and humans and zombies alike were seen hunting and being hunted. But before I go on about today, let me give you a bit of background info...

Last night, I received a call from my friend (Brandon), saying that there were two possibilities for me to turn human again. One of them was finding a random stormtrooper and asking him the question "What does one snowman say to the other?", and the other was to find one of ten random bottles hidden all over campus (in case you didn't know, my campus is pretty big. So big, in fact, that you can't walk end to end of it in under an hour...OK, 45 minutes). Brandon mentioned that if I turned human again, he was going to loan me his good gun, because he couldn't play this semester due to time constraints.

Me with the scout trooper (not the most flattering pic of me,
but better than nothing. Pics, so it did happen :D)

I got up extra early this morning so I could get to campus as soon as possible. I looked around the bus stop, and didn't see any sign of a bottle or a stormtrooper (I park at literally the furthest end of campus, which is advantageous for providing the most opportunities for sighting bottles / humans / stormtroopers). I asked people sitting beside me on the bus, and fortunately, they were very understanding, and even pointed out the stormtrooper to me (I wouldn't have seen him otherwise). I got off at the next stop, ran balls to the walls to where the stormtrooper was, and asked him the enigmatic question. He responded with "I don't know, you tell me" and then told me the bad news: he was out of vaccines. I realized at that moment that I knew the person in the helmet. Turns out, my friend Brandon was the stormtrooper (well, scout trooper to be precise. Several jokes were made about how many bikes / scooters he'd crashed in the past week). He was very kind and agreed to help me hunt for my only hope at rebirth: the elusive bottles. Also, he was still in his stormtrooper gear, so he had an amazingly handy secondary role: zombie bait.

Brandon drinking his Sprite through his helmet.

I decided that being human was more important than German Cultural Studies (just this once), and decided to spend the afternoon looking around. We walked all across campus, looking in all the possible hidden places. Our biggest setback was Brandon's costume. We couldn't walk anywhere without several people stopping him and asking to take pictures with him. He was very gracious and took it all in stride. It made me miss Con Season so much. He even got a free drink from the cafe, because he was so awesome.

I think the helmet is the best part about this whole picture.
Epic Home Alone face!

At some point, it had to happen. A human, desperate for a free life, ran up to the stormtrooper to ask the magic question. As he was chatting, I hid, trying to sneak attack him. I was just about to pounce, when another zombie ran up and started trying to attack him. He started shooting at the zombie, and I thought I had my opportunity to still be able to sneak attack, but the other zombie got to him before I could tag him. Oh well, one less meal (not the first time I've skipped one :p). Fortunately, it wasn't too much later before another human tried to get a free life. She didn't even see me until after I'd tagged her (and I wasn't even hiding this time. In fact, I didn't notice her until she was asking about snowmen). She looked to Brandon, confident that she was still safe, because she got the question out before I tagged her. Brandon looked almost apologetic (if trooper masks can look apologetic) as he said "Sorry, I'm out of vaccines. Ummm...Welcome to the horde?". I finally got my first blood for the semester.

I did manage to stalk a human on my own without the aid of a costumed medic. Brandon needed to use the restroom (and you can imagine how long it takes to take off armor), and so I was just waiting outside, when I see a human pass by. I decided to follow him. I played the casual game, staying pretty far behind. Just as he was about to enter a building, I attacked. I only managed to dodge one dart before he shot a bullseye at me right in the boob. He seemed genuinely surprised when I handed him his ammo after he stunned me. That made me a little sad, and wondered about the people who are playing this game and taking it a bit too seriously...

My last class of the day has a mandatory attendance policy, so I had to take a break from human hunting. I said goodbye to Brandon and thanked him for his noble work. It was then I discovered that my friend Josh had fallen just before class started. 'Twas beauty and noble friendship that brought him down (his girlfriend and their friends were all chatting outside, and he joined them instead of going inside, and he got sneak attacked). We entered the class together, once again fighting on the same side. The class dragged by slower than usual. I couldn't focus very well on the allomorphs and the suppletion and vowel shifts...All I could think about was getting back outside and finding some humans to nom.

Finally, the class ended, and Josh and I made our way to the main exit...only to see a very large group of humans...and a larger group of zombies. They were all waiting for the other to leave first so the game could begin. Josh and I headed outside and waited for a few minutes, hoping to catch a stray human who wasn't part of the group. We then saw a large group of humans taking the passageway to the next building. We took a guess as to which door in the new building they would come out, and then waited by that door. Time passed, and no humans came. I went inside, and nobody had even seen them come through. I got a call from Josh, saying that the humans were back in the original building and the other zombies had them trapped. We met up with the horde. Half were inside, taunting the humans, and the other half were waiting outside (about 8 of us or so). After waiting for a few minutes, we got impatient and decided to find someone else to hunt.

Fortunately for us, a random human just happened to pass by right as we decided this. 6 of us split into groups of two, and we surrounded him. He was duel-wielding two semi-automatic guns, and had them trained on the original decoy. He saw us appear one by one, and you could see the "oh ch**z-*ts" look cross his face when he realized he was surrounded.

We tightened the circle, and one of us ran in for the attack. The game plan was to make him run out of ammo before we were all stunned for 15 minutes. The first zombie was good at dodging the darts, but he was taken out quickly. The next zombie who ran in got a nice head shot. The third zombie was brilliant. He used his jacket as a shield, and then threw it at the human. A lot of shots were wasted, but he was eventually taken out. I decided to go next. By this time he was down to one gun. He wasted a good 5 or 6 shots, but I miscalculated and he stunned me as I was running in to tag him. He ran out of darts on the next girl, and while his attention was focused on her, the final zombie swooped in and made the kill. As soon as he was turned, we all congratulated him on his epic demise, helped him pick up his darts, and invited him to hunt with us. He readily agreed.

Our horde grew steadily in size, and I somehow started being the one giving the orders for reconnaissance. We canvased the entire campus, but we didn't see another human for the rest of the afternoon (we did run into Brandon again, though, and took a picture of our horde with him and we were all doing the Thriller pose). By the time I got to Boyfriend's office, I was sore, tired, and sunburned beyond belief, but I was so happy. It's games like this where you realize how awesome people really are. You get to make new friends, and bond closely with old friends. Plus, it's combating obesity, one panic-attack-based chase scene after another, and getting hit with a dart is good moral fiber. Anyway, that's all I have to report for today. Until tomorrow!

HvZ 2011: Day 2

TUESDAY (Monday here and Intro here):

Unfortunately, this is going to be an incredibly short post today. I did not sight a single human OR zombie the entire time I was out hunting, and there were only 2 humans in one of my classes (one of them is my friend with whom I made a gentleman's agreement), and the other one got away while I was packing my stuff up at the end of class. She did have an awesome weapon though: marshmallows.

There is hope for me though. There are apparently vaccines being handed out if you find the right person and say the right password, so there is a possibility that I'll become human again tomorrow...Wish me luck! Until tomorrow (and hopefully I'll have more to report)...

HvZ 2011: Day 1

MONDAY (intro here):

My outfit was all prepared last night: If Lara Croft ever entered the Matrix, and the only weapons were Nerf guns, I imagine her outfit would have looked similar to mine. I was feeling pretty good about this semester's battle. I was duel wielding two semi-automatic Nerf (well, Buzz Bee, but who's keeping track) guns, my sock bombs were prepared, my bandanna was wrapped around my arm and my duct tape was clearly marking that I was a human member of the resistance. I got up extra early so I wouldn't be ganked on the way to class.

I caught the bus and got to my first class without incident. My Chinese teacher took one of my guns and tried to shoot a student with it, but fortunately missed. He seemed very surprised when the dart hit the back wall of the classroom and stuck there (at least 30 feet). He quickly returned my gun. I had to get the wayward ammo myself.

After class, I had a "civilian" friend of mine as an escort so I could get a good heads up on any zombie sightings. We decided to building hop, because the building we were heading to is a zombie hotbed. Along the way, we ran into one of my roommates who was also building hopping, and happened to be heading in the same direction as us (she was a human as well; this is the girl who got attacked on the way to the rendezvous point last semester).

We somehow made it to the SLC (Student Learning Center, our final destination for a while). My civilian friend quickly went home so he could register to play with us, because he had so much fun running escort duty. My roommate (Allie) and I met up with our other roommate (Wayne), who happened to be a zombie (we were fortunately in a safe zone, so he couldn't turn us). As we were waiting for him, a pack (herd?) of zombies walked by, taunting Allie and I. Their threats didn't scare us while we were inside.

 Fortunately, the rest of my afternoon was spent in the same building (I have two classes there, and I typically spend my spare time on Mondays in the building anyway, so I was safe for several hours thanks to my normal schedule). Finally, after an eternity of classes and waiting, it was time to venture out into the dangerous wilds of zombie-horde-land. I gave my civilian-turned-compatriot (Josh) my spare gun, and we decided to run an escort mission for this little Freshman boy who was clearly new to the whole game, but really needed to get to class. We start walking and sneaking around, only to be spotted by a pack of zombies.

We make a run for it into a nearby parking deck. The boys got further ahead of me because I decided to play a sneaking game instead of full-on running. There were only two zombies chasing us at the time, and I managed to stun both of them and temporarily escape. My hunting buddies escaped with their lives, and the stunned zombies called for backup on their walkie talkies. I ran around the corner, only to find 4 more zombies. My back was to the wall. I managed to stun another one, but I was cornered, and was turned before I could stun anymore. I'm proud of my turning though. I managed to save my friend and the noob, and I took out half of the zombie posse surrounding me (all of whom were guys, btw), and went down in a blaze of glory.

I tried to hunt after that, but didn't see any more humans for the rest of the day. I rendezvoused with my friend in a neutral zone, and gave him my other gun (I didn't need it anymore). We have a gentleman's agreement: he won't shoot me with my own guns, and I promise to count to ten and not pay attention to which direction he's going when he runs away from me. Allie managed to survive today, and Wayne and I are plotting (well, Wayne's trying, at any rate)...

So that's all from me today. Sorry if the grammar and coherence of this post aren't the best...I did turn into a zombie today. So, until tomorrow....


BBRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNS!!!

HvZ 2011

So, since I'm having a bit of difficulty trying to get the superblog put together, I figured I'd do something a little different while you're so patiently (heh) waiting.

Tomorrow morning (or I guess later today, technically) begins the second semester of Humans vs. Zombies. I will once again be participating, and I'm going to try and survive as long as possible. I'll be posting at the end of each day my adventures for all of you to enjoy, instead of writing one long synopsis at the end of the week like last time (I seem to be having some trouble with longer posts lately). Anyway, wish me luck! I'll see you tomorrow!

MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY