Zombies feast on human flesh during game

A human walked down Thackeray Avenue yesterday afternoon on the lookout for two zombies he knew… A human walked down Thackeray Avenue yesterday afternoon on the lookout for two zombies he knew would be lurking around the area. Unfortunately, he didn’t take enough precaution.

Freshman Matthew Gargani turned into a zombie after he was double-teamed during Pitt’s semi-annual Humans vs. Zombies game.

The game works like a complicated version of tag: “Zombie” players attempt to turn “human” players into their own kind, and the last human standing wins.

Gargani was philosophical about his early-game infection.

“I see one [zombie] and get ready to stun her, then the other, who was hiding behind a car, runs around behind me,” he said. “I am now a zombie.”

The annual spring game started up again last Sunday at noon., Three of the more than 80 participants randomly received e-mails generated from the Human vs. Zombies website detailing their positions as “original zombies.” Their mission: Devour as many humans as possible.

Senior Jackson Sando, who has been playing the game for four years, was one of the three original zombies. With his hands as his only “weapons,” Sando said he plans to sit in Towers lobby from sun up to sun down — about 8:30 a.m. to 3 a.m. — during the course of the game to tag humans and turn them into his species.

The infected zombies revealed themselves to the University for the spring game by tying their green, purple or orange bandanna around their forehead. Humans wear the same article around their arms.

The incubation period is a playoff of zombie movies such as “Dawn of the Dead,” Sando said. When the epidemic strikes the town, no one knows who is infected until after the symptoms set in. When the incubation period ends, the tell-tale signs of the zombie disease start to show, or — in Pitt’s case — the bandannas come out.

Although humans are alerted that the game has begun, during the incubation neither the humans nor the zombies are identified by their tell-tale headbands. Humans walk around in hyper-awareness, unsure who is a zombie or if they’ll get infected.

Here are the basic rules of the game:

Zombies can tag humans. To defend themselves, humans carry around foam dart guns or bunched up socks — preferably clean socks. If humans see a zombie before they are tagged, they can “stun them” by hitting them with their “weapon.” Struck zombies remain stunned for 15 minutes, allowing the human to escape.

Sando compared the Humans vs. Zombies game to tag.

“It’s kind of like sharks and minnows, but the minnows can strike back,” Sando said.

Gargani recounts a time his friend found himself weaponless, sitting behind two zombies in class.

“Thinking fast, he took off his socks and stunned the zombies with his socks on the way out,” Gargani said.

Classrooms, along with dorm rooms and bathrooms, are considered “safe places,” as are Market Central and a few other high-traffic campus spots.

Humans carry around three identification cards with their ID numbers printed on them. When humans are tagged, they must hand over the three cards to their killer zombie. The zombie then logs on to the Humans vs. Zombies website and plugs in the kill.

“A human’s flesh is supposed to feed three zombies,” Sando said.

The zombie can give the two additional cards he receives from his victim to his zombie friends who are close to starvation. A zombie must capture a human every 48 hours to avoid starving to death.

Humans also use the Humans vs. Zombies website to stay alive. Senior Amanda Aninwene said humans have to log on to a campus computer to restock their resources and supplies. If humans fail to restock supplies every two days, they die and are out of the game.

Aninwene noticed that she was running out of supplies yesterday morning. “I need to tell my friends to go to the computer lab right now,” she said.

Pitt Humans vs. Zombies president Robert Younger said the website allows the officers to check that students are staying on campus and not hiding out in their rooms.

The officers of the informal club play a key role in the game. They set up “missions” for humans and zombies to promote interaction between the two groups.

Childhood board game “Operation” made an appearance in the final mission of the last year’s Humans vs. Zombies game. The officers saw that the humans looked like they were about to come out on top, so they had one human try to complete a game of Operation while his fellow humans defended him from the zombies.

“It didn’t work well,” Younger said. “Little did we know he had nerves of steel and completed it in less than a minute.”

The particular human not only proved successful in his mission, which he received through the Humans vs. Zombies website, but the human population overruled the zombies in the last game. Younger said the officers have not yet decided on the missions for this game, but the first one should run late this week. They typically run a mission every two to three days.

Current participants said the Humans vs. Zombies game revolves around strategy and creates high anxiety for student participants.

Freshman nursing student Jesse Wool said he signed up after hearing his Pathfinder tour guide mention the game. This is his second time playing the game.

“Humans vs. Zombies is not for the faint of heart,” Wool said.

Wool participated in the game last semester and remembers the time his floormate attempted to tag him in his hallway dormitory.

“One of the guys on my floor got tagged by an OZ [original zombie] in the second day,” he said. “I knew this, so when I was on my floor and he started walking toward me, I shot him in the chest with my nerf gun. Another zombie then came sprinting around the circle, hurdled him and tagged me.”

It is common for zombies to travel in pairs. Original zombie Sando said the zombies in the game are often extreme strategists, trading cell phone numbers so they can meet up and prey on unsuspecting humans.

“There are two types of zombies,” Sando said. “Some zombies are intelligent and agile, while others are stupid and slow — the zombie walk. In this game, we want to be the smart ones.”

Humans have to be on the constant lookout for these cunning zombies — Towers Lobby is a definite no-no for humans hoping to stay alive.

“As a human you constantly scan for zombies, and when you are a zombie you search for the armbands,” Wool said. “I could spot orange from 200 meters away in a crowd in the fall.”

Sophomore human Isaac Haddad said he tries to limit his movement to inside and around his dorm and academic buildings — all human safe-havens.

He noted that Market is in fact a safe place, however exiting and entering Market is where problems arise.

“When zombies know humans are in Market, groups will just stand outside of the entrance and wait,” he said.

Younger said that the club alerts the police prior to the event to eliminate potential problems in advance.

The only established rule for the game is “DBAD,” or “Don’t Be a Dick.”

“Basically, you can always dispute about being hit or not,” Sando said. “You have to think — would the situation get better if I gave in? It’s just a game, strictly recreational.”

One side, humans or zombies, are expected to prove victorious by the end of the week. With currently 74 humans and 11 zombies, the humans have high hopes.

“I think humans will win. We have some pretty fierce players this round,” Gargani said.