It is not the same as what you see in the movies. As though I was actually part of it, I felt rather intimidated and small as I stood there in my black pea coat surrounded by a crowd of zombies on a cold Boston night.
A quick overview of what happens in a zombie walk: as a survivor after an apocalypse, the main mission is to stay alive. The survivors get a head start before the zombies can go after them. Once a survivor is “bitten” by a zombie, he or she becomes a zombie.
With Halloween being right around the corner, this past Friday night, the Boston Zombie Walk was held at City Hall Plaza. The walk started outside the T station at Government Center and concluded at the Wild Rover, where a party was held right after.
When I exited the T station, I immediately saw zombies of all types: from ones with candy-stripped body suits and crazy hair to those who only wore zombie-like makeup to little kids dressed up as the scariest zombies that they could be (while being accompanied by their parents) to a zombie couple.
“Our love is eternal,” claimed Halder Warraich as he looked into the eyes of his love Rabail Baig (no pun intended).
As I continued to survey the scene, it was clear that the event had not officially started; the survivors and the zombies were casually conversing with one another, while the kids were practicing their scaring techniques on one another. There were also many pictures being taken, as a number of the participants had shown up with creative and well-thought-out outfits.
Although this year the crowd was smaller than expected (possibly due to the cold weather, as one zombie participant claimed), there were many newcomers who were eager to participate in this event after hearing about it through social media and word of mouth. Many of them did not know what to expect, but were simply excited.
Stephanie, a first-time zombie walk participant, said the most exciting part about it was applying the makeup. She used white paint to cast a ghostly look on her face and used dark eyeshadows to create circles under and around her eyes. She knew that she wanted to participate in the Boston Zombie Walk after she heard how a kid last year had gotten so into his character that he had climbed all the way up some statue at Government Center. As unreal as these events can be, the fun part is really when participants engage themselves in their roles; their excitement is contagious and makes you feel as though anything is believable.
When the walk began, everyone instantly snapped into their characters. As a bystander, it was surreal seeing the zombies walk their walk and talk their zombie talk, while the survivors moved cautiously with their weapons at hand or go after the zombies. Despite the small number of participants, the spirit of those who did turn up could characterize a huge crowd.
As a zombie who dressed up as a character from the Mario Bros. eagerly said, “I can act crazy and nobody will think about it.”
If the zombie walk wanted to end the world with a bang, I think it surely did.
