Humans vs. Zombies Descends on USF Campus

University of South Florida students are in the middle of a war.

Zombies invaded the campus Thursday, and students are fighting to survive. Their only weapons: Nerf guns and the ability to run faster than their lumbering, undead counterparts.

Humans vs. Zombies, or HvZ as it is more commonly called, is really just a huge, supervised game of tag that typically takes place each spring and fall at USF. The current game runs through Monday.

HvZ started at a college in Maryland in 2005 and has become a growing contest at college campuses throughout the country. Students on each campus are divided into two groups: (you guessed it) humans and zombies.

“In order to stay alive, zombies must tag and feed on humans every 24 hours, or else they die and are out of the game,” the description on the USF HvZ Facebook page reads. “Zombies are distinguished by having one bandanna on their bodies at all times: around their head Rambo-style. Humans have only one bandanna around their arm or leg and are allowed to defend themselves through use of Nerf guns.”

If a human is infected (also known as tagged) by a zombie, that human becomes a zombie. There are safety zones for humans so they can rest without having to be on constant lookout for zombies.

To keep the zombie horde from growing, humans undertake “missions.” The winner of the game is determined at the final mission.

The main goal is to have fun.

“I just purposefully went looking for some conflicts with zombies and there weren’t any to be found,” taunted freshman Tyler Goss on the Facebook page the first day of play. “Step your game up, zombies. My body is ready.”

Are you a USF student from the Land O' Lakes area taking part in Humans vs. Zombies? Share your "combat" stories and photos here.