The time has come for students to put their zombie apocalypse survival plans to use.
Beginning its international tour this week, “The Walking Dead: Escape” is a multi-sensory experience. Ordinary folks will be taken from the streets of quiet Baton Rouge and plunged into everybody’s favorite “What If?” scenario. 
David Isaacs, organizer of the event and president of Skybound EXP, specializes in turning the fantastical imagery of twisted imaginations into gruesome reality. 
“We want to take this to the next level,” Isaacs said. “If there was really a zombie evacuation area, The River Center could very well be where you would end up.”
Participants will be thrust into a government lockdown zone — a fail-safe quarantine against the horrors snarling and snapping behind the chain link fences that assuredly won’t hold for very long. 
“The question is ‘How do we get closer to our fans and provide them with a unique experience?’ They read it, they see it, but they’ve never gotten the chance to live it,” Isaacs said. 
But leave your iPhones and Snuggies at the door. This show is of the “no pulled punches” variety, the kind of storytelling that “The Walking Dead” scribe Robert Kirkman revolutionized at Skybound, a vision of creativity now transferred beyond the comic pages. 
Under loving guidance, care and the skilled craftsmanship of many homegrown movie magicians, the downtown River Center will be transformed into a wonderland of Walkers. Isaacs is quick to point out what makes this event unique. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill Zombie Fun Run. 
“There are a lot of zombie runs out there, more of an add-on than anything else. Zombies just thrown in as an extra bit of fun. That’s not what we’re doing here. To us, story is of the utmost importance,” Isaacs said. “There’s no rope obstacles or netting to climb over here. Those things aren’t really present at most evacuations centers. We’re going out of the world of obstacle courses and into the world of ‘The Walking Dead.’”
Survival is the name of the game as participants are forced to determine their own fate each step of the way. 
“We want to take people into this scenario where they have to make decisions on the fly, decisions that could mean life or death,” Isaacs said. “That’s what makes ‘The Walking Dead’ so different. It’s not about the zombies, it’s about the reality of living in a world where you have to slaughter undead humans to survive.” 
As for the experience itself, Isaacs makes it  clear that this journey is not specifically for the most athletically inclined, it’s not a battle of bodies but of minds. 
“Guests will be huffing and puffing for sure,” Isaacs said. “But not because the course is too physically exhausting. We’re testing your mental fitness in a life or death scenario.” 
For those who scoff at the “reality” of the Walkers, Isaacs said he knows from experience that seeing isn’t always believing. 
“Some people think, ‘Oh zombies aren’t real, who cares,’” Isaacs said. “But you just watch when those same people are walking through wrecked cars and those Walkers come lurching out of the mist. In that moment, reality doesn’t matter and all that does is survival.” 
After attempting a similar setup at San Diego Comic Con International 2012, Isaacs and his team have been fine-tuning the concept and execution of this transcending experience.
“We’ve really packed as much as we could in the mile long course,” Isaacs said. “We’ve run the event four times, took all the best aspects and put them together into the type of event that fans will absolutely love.” 
Tickets are still available for the event today. There are two options for participating: be a survivor and run the course for $75 or embody a Walker and stalk your prey for $95, with a special $150 VIP option for those looking for the best of both worlds. “The Walking Dead: Escape” will also be returning to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on May 24.