BY KAYLYN HASLUND
For the UAS Whalesong
With the zombie apocalypse coming to a close, humans and their less alive companions were able to share together a final night in celebration: the HvZ Apocalypse party. Members of our very own Whalesong staff survived to the final mission: managing  editor Daniel Piscoya, senior staff writer Lexi Cherry, and advertising manager Holly Fisher. Congratulations are in order to them for persevering, as well as to everyone who played this year. This penultimate event saw a shared appreciation for both humans and zombies with stories from the week long game.
First and foremost, HvZ players voted for the most outstanding players this year which culminated in electing Jayralph Feliciano as Most Valuable Human and Mason Shearer as Most Valuable Zombie.
Several players then began to recount some of their most memorable experiences to us.
Sylvester Olivares, one of the top zombies in this year’s game, told us about the time he was shot by a human in the eye, which he said really hurt. As he was stunned he began walk away in pain, but forgot to remove his headband to signal other players. This ended up getting him shot again… in the other eye. He gave a joking warning that he would find the player who did that to him.
One of the moderators regaled us with the time he was putting signs up for the games later in the day, and one player, Tony  Johnston, walked out alone in white war paint. Quietly he waited for zombies to notice him, despite the exposed location. Alone, he stood down several zombies, taking out two without using his gun after stunning six with bullets. Not once did he run. True fear was felt that day.
We also had Lexi Cherry give us her tale of traversing the woods with an enthusiastic Nathan Block during the final mission. Her own aversion to the outdoors heightened as she tried to survive. I offered to be a fleshy meat shield for her several times of the week.
Our MVZ Mason Shearer had his own tale on the mission in the Egan Library, where he was nearly taken out by a human. He said Maranda Clark hit him hard, as though he were merely an obstacle in her way and not a zombie that could tag her at any time. She ended up falling into a bookcase. The two proceeded to argue of whether or not she had been tagged, resulting Mason coining the phrase, “You ran into a zombie, I’m pretty sure you’re tagged.”
Finally our dear editor Daniel Piscoya had his own story of his struggles of being stuck in the Mourant building for twenty hours a week. This resulted in him being constantly surrounded by zombies. I personally had to check the campus for zombies before he would attempt to safely traverse back to housing. As he attempted to leave Thursday, he was met with Felix, a zombie, who popped up with a wave and a hello several times outside Mourant and Novatney.  Eventually he was freed from his prison and was able to make a break for Egan, but not without an onslaught of panic.
All stories were met with applause and laughter, showing just how joining this event is for our small campus. Even for those who don’t play the game, we’re able to build a community around ourselves in either celebrating surviving till Friday or watching a fellow student eat it.
We’ll have another game next year, and more tales to share at that time.