2.8 Hours Later: Zombie Apocalypse Comes To South London For Halloween

2.8 Hours Later: Zombie Apocalypse Comes To South London
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Zombies are fast. And the more bitey variety are stalking the dark streets of South London, trying to eat our brains.

Dripping with blood and dressed in hospital scrubs, they are quick. More 28 Days Later than Dawn of the Dead.

Having successfully evaded them for hours in gloomy alleyways, in the shadows of Victorian bridges, through a boarded up pub and across the roof of multi-story car park, we are cornered, and tired.

Lulled into a false sense of security by a supposedly helpful fellow survivor, the zombies are closing in.

Our camouflage and military precision tactics, honed from years of watching zombie horror, proving to be ultimately futile.

Only one of us escaped the same fate. And that’s because she was getting snacks from a Tesco Express.

We are taking part in 2.8 Hours Later, a cross-city nighttime zombie chase game from Bristol based Slingshot.

Taking on the role of survivors of the zombie apocalypse, players are handed a map with grid references, clues to find - and told to run.

The aim is to find a safe way to resistance HQ (and a party), via a series of zombie infested streets and spooky set piece locations. The real world drizzle and wailing police sirens of South London council estates only adding to an atmosphere of genuine fear.

Despite being a game, the desire to sprint and scream (in a manly way of course) when a marauding zombie lurches out from behind a parked car is real - a testament to commitment and dark humour of the actors involved.

Slingshot pulled off the event with heat-thumping success and there was not a whiff of disappointment at the post-game party, where players compared war-wounds and swapped stories of how they had outwitted the undead. Well worth the £28 fee.

Following a successful launch in Bristol in May 2011, the game moved to Leeds and then onto London for Halloween.

While Tickets for this weekend’s London game are sold out, Slingshot expects to stage other events in other British cities soon including Oxford, Edinburgh, Manchester and Liverpool.

One tip from someone who so nearly made it, always look behind you and watch out for the zombie from New Zealand – he is particularly persistent.