Last week, there were a lot of head bands present on campus. You might wonder; is this some sort of gang? Is there a religious significance? The answer is no. The bandanas were simply there to determine who was alive or dead, silly.

The entire last week was dedicated to staying alive. One by one, zombies attacked the living. But how do you know who is a zombie? No, there isn’t any green flesh or worm-and-dirt covered hair. There is one simple clue- the bandana.

If the person has a bandana or cloth wrapped around their arm, they’re still fighting the battle as a human. However, if they have a bandana or cloth wrapped around their head, they’ve crossed over to the dark, dead side.

However, as much fear as being chased by a zombie might add, the game also added a little bit of spice to the monotonous campus life. “The best part is that it doesn’t really take anything out of your day, rather adds an element to your life,” said Jake Regan, a first year who played the role of a zombie.

The game all started with first-year Zachary Shay. “It is true that I did start it here at Loras, but I cannot take credit for starting it as a whole. It is played at a lot of college campuses around the country. I heard about it from a friend who played it last week at his college (University of Minnesota Morris).  He said that he was having a blast. I wanted to play so I thought that I would give it a shot and see if I could get it organized here.”

First-year Zachary Shay, who brought the Humans vs. Zombie game to Loras, poses for a photo along with other participants in the game. (Photo submitted by Robert Ward)

To start, they needed a zombie. As the Original Zombie (OZ), Andrew White had the power to start infecting. “For how I was chosen, apparently they just rolled a dice or something, it was completely random. It happened in a really funny way though! I was on my way back to campus and I got a phone call from Zachary (the kid who started the whole thing) and I answered it really happily, albeit confused as to why he was calling me at 12:01 a.m. on a Sunday night,” said White. “So I answered it and the first thing he said was, ‘I’m afraid I have some grave news.’ So I got really worried, thinking he had hurt himself somehow or something. I inquired what the news was and he told me my blood tests came back positive. Still confused I asked what blood tests and when he told me I was the OZ (Original Zombie) I got REALLY excited!”

Throughout the week, as White infected people and the new zombies infected more people, more and more headbands could be seen around campus. Some zombies even donned jackets with holes and fake blood (or the blood of the humans that they infected).

One final face-off decided who would win- Zombies or Humans. “The extraction was at 9:45 p.m. in Faber-Clark Field. The remaining humans had to get into the field and remain alive until 10 p.m. and then they would win the game.  It was supposed to simulate the end of the game when they were air-lifted out of the zombie infested area. Since the zombies knew when and where they were going to be, there was a showdown,” explained Shay. “The humans were very organized and were able to last until all of the zombies had been fended off. So they won!”

The group has big plans for next year. “For next year we are going to see if we can make it a student group which would allow us to use some of the campuses facilities to help us organize this game on a larger scale, and maybe even some events to go along with it, like I was thinking about doing a zombie movie marathon the night before it starts as a kick-off!” concluded Zach Shay.

The Original Zombie, Andrew White, wrapped up his thoughts saying “I have been very proud of my fellow zombies, we’ve been through a lot, but remain strong!”

Congratulations, Humans. You are the victors.