For the first time ever, ROC Fest included a game of zombie tag, a game that pits the residents on campus against “zombies” on Wednesday.

From 6 to 8 p.m., people ran from South Quad to North Quad and to the campus pond and back again, all the while avoiding the zombies.

Things began as the survivors gathered in the Stevenson lobby, waiting to be released onto the zombie-infested campus.

Survivors had to plan their gathering in order to avoid being turned into the walking dead themselves.

Survivors and other residents were screaming as they came face to face with the many zombies that were running around.

The survivors were marked with white bandanas whereas the zombies had red bandanas.

The game began with five zombies walking around campus, their goal being to tag the survivors and turn them into zombies.

As the game drew to a close, the zombies quickly grew in numbers until there were no more survivors.

Brian Anzures, a freshmen psychology major, was one of the longest lasting survivors, until he became infected.

“Zombie tag was so much fun,” Anzures said. “It was such a thrill going around campus and feeling the rush of possibly getting caught.”

Anthony Klaus, a freshman engineering major, was one of the original zombies who painted his arms and legs with zombie-like traits.

“It was a lot of fun,” Klaus said. “I’m pretty sure a lot of people are going to remember this; I scared so many people.”

As they tagged survivors, zombies had to take their bandana, give the freshly turned zombies a red bandana and turn in their newly acquired white bandanas.

The more white bandanas a zombie had, the more points they earned for their residence hall.

The survivors had to make their way to the three checkpoints located on campus to check in with the staff.

Checkpoints included the South and North Quad and campus pond.

Each time a survivor checked in, they received a sticker, and the more stickers a survivor gathered, the more points they earned.

As zombie tag came to a close, Kadie Peterson, the Residence Hall Association vice-president, reflected on the success of the event.

“It turned out really well; it was a little slow in the beginning, as it was expected with any new game on campus,” Peterson said. “But we got more people as it went along, and people really started getting into it, which made it a lot of fun.”

She also had some ideas of how to improve zombie tag for next time.

“We definitely want to make the people more visible as it gets darker,” Peterson said. “We might have the zombies wear a white t-shirt or get different color glow sticks.”

The next event in ROC Fest is the campus-wide scavenger hunt, which starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 9 p.m. Thursday.

“Scavenger hunt gets pretty intense,” Peterson said. “At the end of it, you see whole halls come together, because each hall gets a point for each person that comes in.”

“We have more people signing up, and we are getting a lot more people than other ROC Fests,” Peterson said.

Luis Martinez can be reached 581-2812 or lpmartinez@eiu.edu