I shot zombies

For a few years I've had a tradition of taking my little sister on a "Haunted Date" as we like to call it.  This date serves a number of excellent purposes.  First, I get to spend quality time with my sister.  Second, I get to do something scary, which I cannot do with my wife.  (She really tried once.)  Third, and most importantly, I get to prepare for the zombie apocalypse.

That's right, Mellen and I got to SHOOT ZOMBIES!!

It was possibly the greatest thing I've ever done.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  I have to start at the beginning.  We bought the combo pass that includes the Haunted Forest as well as Zombie WarZ.  We did the Haunted Forest first.  I hadn't been there for at least 5 years.  They've definitely upgraded a few things since then, but it was still the same Haunted Forest that I know and love.

Most importantly, they had the little area where you can be tortured.

You can see my diet has really been working.

They also had this creepy statue that totally scared Mellen.

You can see in the picture that it is a person in a costume because their hand is sticking out.  We didn't see that until after it jumped and scared Mellen.  It was pretty fabulous.

I had to share this picture because it was just precious.

After the Haunted Forest it was time to head over to Zombie WarZ.  This was a new attraction this year, so I had never been before.  I think it's owned by the same people as the Haunted Forest, or at least they are partnered together to sell combo tickets.  But, it's located about a mile away.  We had to follow signs to get there.  It's in a field in the middle of nowhere.

After you show them your ticket you get into a big truck with paintball guns mounted all along one side of the open bed.  When we got there, there was no line.  We got straight into the truck and sat down.  There is a big bench sitting in front of the guns, so you just claim your gun and sit in front of it.

It was good practice for the zombie apocalypse.  However, I did have to ask myself, "What if the zombies attack the other side of the truck?"  It was definitely a weak point that should be addressed.  Especially since the guns are mounted so that you can't pull them off and shoot behind you.  (You also can't turn them far enough to shoot the person sitting next to you, which was probably an important design specification.)

The truck drives through a few acres of land.  There are a few spots where animatronic zombies pop out of swamps or out of garbage cans, but for the most part there are actors that actually run at the truck.  I tried to video what I was seeing.  It was too dark to get a good idea of what it was like, but at least you can here how happy I was.

If that video didn't convince you of the joy of zombie killing, perhaps these pictures will.

Look how happy shooting zombies makes me.

Even Mellen was happy to shoot zombies.

The last picture I have to share with you is kind of funny, mostly because of the situation it was taken in.

It looks like I'm yelling something like "Die zombie die!"  But I was actually out of ammo at this point and was ad-libbing a song about the importance of killing zombies. (While still continuing to pull the trigger)  It was very passionate.

If there's one thing I realized on this year's haunted date, it's that I'm really excited for the zombie apocalypse.  As long as the zombies agree that they will not eat me if I get paint on them.