A few of us from the Daily Dead team ventured to Petco Park last night to see if we could evade hordes of zombies during this year's The Walking Dead Escape. As always, it was another fun year, and they mixed it up with some pretty inventive zombie choke points and an appearance by the foul-mouthed, Lucille-wielding Negan. Check out our photo gallery and impressions from Derek Anderson, who experienced The Walking Dead Escape for the very first time:
[Photo Credit: Jordan Smith / Daily Dead]
Impressions: The Walking Dead Escape
We can’t see them yet, but we know they’re up ahead, just out of sight. A survivor with a megaphone leads the way, instructing us to stay close and be swift as we gather supplies. We see the blood splatter and dismembered bodies just before they come into view. Their eyes latch onto us, their blood-smeared hands reaching out for their next meal. We run deeper into Petco Park. With the living dead right behind me, I’m officially at the point of no return in my first experience with The Walking Dead Escape.
I rest for a moment with the other survivors as walkers bang their palms against the glass doors separating our flesh from their teeth. The doors rattle, then they burst through, and the crowd surges forward, following the voice of our experienced leader. We move quickly up ramps littered with the living dead and their leftovers. A zombie’s hand darts out from behind a wall and skitters across my shoulder, potentially infecting me. With no machete in sight for a quick amputation, I move on, hoping for the best.
We descend stairs now, moving down into the depths of the ballpark, following signs left by a group calling themselves the Saviors, which is bad news to readers of Robert Kirkman’s comic book series. But we have no choice. It’s either move forward or face the living dead at our backs, so we continue on, coming to an abrupt halt as our leader runs into a gun-wielding group led by Negan, a hulking figure with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire that he fondly calls Lucille—the most infamous duo from Kirkman’s comics.
From this point on, the blood flies and allegiances shift. Like the characters from the respective comic book and TV series that The Walking Dead Escape is based on, we're immersed in a world where the walkers aren’t the only threat. In a similar situation as Rick Grimes and his group, we struggle to survive both the dead and the living. But luckily we do. And as I leave Petco Park with my fellow survivors, I only hope that my shoulder’s encounter with the living dead doesn’t turn into a full-blown infection later that evening. But with my blood pumping with adrenaline (and hopefully not the beginning of the living dead disease), I feel great. For now…
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