Recapitulation

In the fall of 2007, Cody Sumter brought Humans vs. Zombies to Truman State University’s campus and, of the 120 registered players, 100 significantly contributed to the game. The Original Zombie, Wendy Morgan, successfully turned some very talented zombies who in turn made many of the Day 1 kills. I remember seeing Carl Schmidt at 9:00 am on that first day, wearing a headband across the quad, and realizing that people had already died. The adrenaline kicked in at that moment and I bolted from Ophelia Parrish to Baldwin. I crossed the bridge to McClain and he continued to follow me around the building outside. I actually had to hide behind couches, indoors, on the first day of this first game. That’s when HvZ really started for me.

We received survival missions such as searching campus for food, protecting radio technicians across campus, and even scrambling to the helipad to escape Kirksville on the night of the eighth day. Automatic guns were legalized along the way and I used this to my advantage, sporting one of the only machine guns that semester. I used the Magstrike, with a 10-dart clip ready to go at any time and three more strapped to my chest. I carried a duffel bag in my backpack to put all my guns, socks and ammo in during classes, and I strapped everything on in between. I was a knight in shining armor – zombies cowered at the thunderous rip of the emptying clip. The stretch between Magruder and Violette was always zombie-free for any travelers while I was on watch.

Morale was another victory during that game. I made a point to greet every fellow survivor when I saw them. These hails were few and far between by the fifth day, but they became more inspiring since it showed that other humans were still alive. Also, zombies were beginning to starve by that point. A particularly large partition of the population withered away by midday of the sixth day, and Truman’s campus became a ghost town Not allowing a sense of security, I stayed hidden despite the missing hoards. I guarantee that this added guard at all times, even when travel seemed safe, is what allowed me to make it onto the helicopter at the end of the game. The eighth day had ended and nine people survived.

The next night was Truman’s first Final Stand, starring Josh Hirner in the Pit. It has since become a staple of any Truman game.

In the spring of 2008, 140 people registered to play, approximately 115-120 of them contributing significantly. This game lasted seven days rather than the obscene eight and it finally introduced a proper story line. Also, two Original Zombies were chosen rather than one. Corey Johnson and Chris Jeffrey quickly added Sean Kamrey to their ranks at 12:30 am and the hoard began the reign of terror.

Missions for the humans included collecting biological samples from specific zombies, recovering genetic research tools, unlocking the military armory by killing the then-undead soldier with the keys, and eventually destroying the escape helicopter by which the mad scientist tried to escape. My head on a swivel, traveling between classes was again my bread-and-butter. I was untouchable on my own. Surviving a five-zombie ambush between Violette and Dobson on the fourth day (Nick Holtgrewe was munched by Sean after we took out the first four), I realized two things. First – the Firefly was the main member of my arsenal from then on. Second – my decisive battlefield leadership was the difference between life and death when it came to skirmishes and full-out battles.

The mission on the fifth day was when I became zombified, and by none other than Sean Kamrey. The humans were huddled between Violette and Magruder, backed against the parking lot with an 8-zombie wall in the cars to prevent a simple retreat. The hoard rounded the far corner of Magruder, marched into a formation, and charged. Magstrike blazing, I took to a flank to spray an entire clip and was gloriously overrun by a group of five zombies. That was the last time I ever touched my first gun, the blue automatic.

I helped my fellow zombies hunt between classes and I was a member of the mob-like rushes during the missions after, but I was new to being a zombie. I didn’t have the tactics down and I couldn’t contribute like the veteran soldiers around me. I was slow, timid, and bad at dodging darts. For the first time since that mad dash from Carl Schmidt, I was a newbie.

The humans destroyed their means of escape because the bad guy got on the helicopter first. Missing that mission – I think I actually had a date that night – I rejoined my flesh-hungry brethren for Truman’s second Final Stand. An admirable group of rag-tag, heat-packing survivors stood on a hill with every weapon in the pantheon of legendary foam dart guns – the Rapid Fire 20, the Tommy 20, the Dual-Wielding Magstrikes, and others. Each one of them bit the dust as the hoard melted over their hilltop position. Yummy brains.

In the fall of 2008, 305 people registered on the site. This population explosion, unpredicted by the moderators or any of the veteran players, provided a dangerous unforeseen element to the eventual five-day game. Five Original Zombies massacred that population, a majority being inexperienced players. Ivan Lenov had fresh zombies lure humans to him. Drew Clark earned trust, actually escorting humans to their (inconspicuous) locations where he munched them. Steve Bermudez eventually worked with Ivan. Jimmy Wiley kept a particularly low profile for much of the day, hiding his status as an Original Zombie until he could take full advantage of unsuspecting humans. Kevin Sack – I never saw the man in action, but his OZ status was one of the first confirmed. Nate Klessig was not an Original Zombie, but he was the single highest-suspected human that day.

The Original Zombies killed 45 people that day. Nearly 100 people altogether were members of the hoard at the end of the first day. The remaining humans were in a panic. The zombies had high-profile names, but many freshmen who’d never seen the game before also. The comfort of their potential lack of talent was overshadowed by the fear of their raw numbers – 1/3 of the population dead in 24 hours.

The missions trudged dangerously and the humans lost more and more players. I was munched on the third day during the single biggest victory for the zombie side. During that transition hour I walked with the zombies, learning their ways and becoming excited about the prospects of hunting. This time, I realized my position in the hoard. I can’t run fast, I can’t dodge bullets, and I can’t give intimidating roars. But I sure as hell can mobilize and direct a hoard.

My successful conquests included:

1. Surrounding Magruder AND the SUB, simultaneously, with 40 zombies for over 2 hours
2. Surrounding Kirk later that night for 2 hours with about 35 zombies
3. Staging a camp-out outside of Kirk for 4 hours, with the entire zombie hoard, during which time we played games, sang songs, gained friends, and really demonstrated the camaraderie of the hoard. Stories echoing in the halls of legends come from that night, and there is nowhere I’d rather have been than in a circle of Human, Human, OZ on a Saturday night.
4. Leading a third of the hoard to victory on the mission of the fourth day
5. Leading a third of the hoard to victory on the mission of the fifth (and final) day

Of the 20 humans left for the mission on the fifth day, 3 made it into Kirk (from the West Campus Suites, to Ophelia Parrish, to Barnett, and to Kirk without going into ANY other buildings). In the storyline, the humans induced cryostasis upon themselves to out-live the hoard. In real life, 3 humans survived the deadliest game of HvZ to date and themselves became legends.

I look back with mixed feelings, unresolved sentiments, hypothetical answers to countless situations, and restlessness. Let me clarify - I've loved every minute of the game. But one can't give a year and a half to this experience without wondering how things could have gone differently. This is coupled with reasons as to why the upcoming game will be significantly different from any other:

1. Cody Sumter, chief moderator and the game’s originator at Truman, is finally playing.
2. The other moderators have full control over what happens, and veteran players are stepping up to fill Cody’s shoes. The storyline and missions will get crazy.
   
3. This will be the biggest game we've seen, with the 300 people from last semester and the inevitable population swell of spring from fall.
   
4. Spring 2009 will parallel the game during which Goucher’s documentary was filmed, and there is already talk about our own similar attempts.
5. Blogging the game, which started with one man in Fall 2007 and has since become the primary means of portraying the greatest stories of HvZ, will potentially propel the game into mass media. This will affect an exponentially-growing population outside the game and will have real-world ramifications. (I found out last week that Goucher students were reading my Zombie Journals last semester… simply epic)
6. Tactics, strategies, survival seminars, squads, politics, alliances and enemies, potential innovations to the game, and other abstract ideas are falling out of the existence of this game. And 300+ people can make a lot of it happen.

My next post, ideally, will concern my philosophies on psychology and leadership in Humans vs. Zombies. Following that post will be a series of episodic explorations into varies aspects of the game – success and failure precedents for both sides of the game, zombie tactics, human tactics, and even my overall vision for human survival. I may at times cite specific scenarios from previous games, but none of what I plan to contribute is set in stone. My posts are not plans of mine but purely resources, and my reasoning for this will be further explained in my next installment.

So brace yourselves. Things are about to go unexpectedly.

-John