Walk softly and carry a big Nerf gun.
The motto resonates with dorm residents participating in LSU Humans vs. Zombies, a Facebook group that organizes participants into two teams — zombies, who wear bandanas on their heads to signify their allegiance, and humans, who wear bandanas on their arms or legs and often carry Nerf guns to fend off the sneaky undead.
“It’s like an extreme game of tag,” said mass communication freshman Marylee Williams.
The game began earlier this semester in Evangeline Hall and gradually took in more players, now boasting 229 members on Facebook.
Zombie players must tag a human player to take their place as a human and turn that person into a zombie, explained mass communication freshman Megan Dunbar. If a zombie fails to tag a human after 48 hours, he or she dies out of the game. Zombies also become inactive for 15 minutes if a human shoots them with a Nerf gun or hits them with a sock.
The game is constantly in play, enabling zombies to sneak up on humans throughout the day. In addition, the zombie team benefits from a non-bandana-wearing alpha zombie, who can sneak up on unknowing prey.
“People get really paranoid,” Williams said. “You don’t know who it is. They can just be walking in.”
The group’s growth caused gameplay to extend across campus.
“In the first game it seemed like it was focused mainly between the Horseshoe and Acadian,” Williams said. “Now some people who live off campus play when they’re on campus a war.”
Lemoine and other players are open to even more growth, which would allow bigger games.
“Anyone can join, if you live on campus,” said Williams. “It’s open to everybody. It would be funny if a professor would