Source: wheninmanila.com

By Richard Bunyi

You know what sucks about a real zombie apocalypse? There are no go backs. I mean, it’s all a thrilling sort of chill at first, with you having a bit of exercise and your mouth shooting up multiple strings of “Hell yeah!” as fast as your gun spews out carnage, but then you realize that the developers forgot to set a re-spawn point.

Chelsea Manzano

While engineering an actual pandemic would not be cost-efficient, Outbreak Manila has found a way to emulate the excitement of seeing the world end without the probable drawbacks – the loss of our lives that is. They turned a 5-km fun run into a 5-km fun run for your life. As in zombies really chase you and try to “eat” your face or perhaps a different part of your body, in the case that your face is not ideal for consumption. Unless the said zombie somehow remained charming despite the gore painted on his face, that wouldn’t be very desirable, hence the running.

But as you may have noticed, the word eat was enclosed in quotations – meaning that they won’t really eat any of your body parts. Sure they look undead and menacing, but all they can do to the runners is get one of the several flags—think of it as your ‘health bar’—that are attached to the runners’ belts. This is just one of the rules Outbreak Manila strictly enforces to assure that our zombie movie experience doesn’t cost any more than PHP 800 (that doesn’t include money for transportation, but at least you get to keep your life). Another important rule that prospective runners might want to take note of is that one doesn’t get any prizes for losing all three flags. (You can read up more on the rules here:  http://www.outbreakmanila.com/survival.html)

Some of our fellow CompSAt members have had the chance to participate in this blood-rushing adventure and if you’re the kind of person that finds experience more amazing than embellished words then get ready to be amazed.

Patricia Florendo: “It was fun. I enjoyed it despite the weather.  I realized that running is fun. Maybe I’d join again next time, but as a zombie.” (Survived with 2 flags)

Chelsea Manzano: “It was an experience definitely worth remembering. It was the first fun run I’ve been to and it was an awesome experience! I had fun running around, dodging zombies, and feeling like I was going to die (literally) before the next water stations. I really liked the feeling of getting shocked when a zombie tries to get my flag from the side or behind because those moments made me run even more.” (Survived with 2 flags)

Paul Virrey

Two other CompSAt members were also part of event. Paul Virrey and Ej Magdaluyo were two of the people behind the logistics of Outbreak. They were part of the volunteers who assembled the life belts and gave them out, respectively. And while a real apocalypse wouldn’t really need a logistics team once it starts, I’m sure their participation contributed to the success of Outbreak Manila. If you’re not really concerned about the success or failure of the event though, will the money you get for volunteering win you over?

Or perhaps the mere sight of the end might entice you to join (volunteer or otherwise). Some people just love watching the world burn, and Outbreak is a perfect opportunity for such. Even if you don’t swing that way, perhaps these nice looking harbingers might convince you to support their cause – to destroy everything you hold dear that is (unless zombies are your thing).

Patricia Florendo: Michael Jackson Zombie.

Chelsea Manzano: Zombie Bride. “Just the sight of her made me run faster.”

Ej Magdaluyo: A zombie-like runner wearing a plaster-like face mask with a zipper attached to it.

Paul Virrey: The runner with a zipper-like thing attached to his face (referring to the same guy)

Ej Magdaluyo

Actually, the guy with the zipper on the face employed a rather impressive tactic. He dressed up like a zombie to camouflage himself from the horde. Whether that worked out for him or not is a question that will be tedious to answer. Nonetheless, having a plan of action during the run (and not just going YOLO on those zombies and hoping you’re faster than the pretend-dead) might actually get you the coveted prizes. If you’re too lazy to come up with some of your own, you can always try and buy some ideas, or if you’re even lazier still, you can try out some of the tricks we’ve gathered for you here:

Patricia Florendo: Travel with groups and make them your shields if necessary. Make use of the safe zones (water stations). Keep an eye on the sponsors. You can grab some flags attached to a mini cooper (it’s one of the sponsors I think), but they were limited. Remember that those flags represent your lives.

Chelsea Manzano: Some of the zombies were just standing, so I just dodged them. Run in groups. Leave behind the ones that get targeted. One of the tactics I learned while on the race was to take a picture with/of a zombie if you’re alone because if you ask for a picture with/of them, they’ll just do a random pose and they won’t get your flag.

I also heard (from other sources) that complementing a zombie’s looks serves a similar distraction as the camera trick.

The only actual downside of Outbreak Manila is the fact that you can’t shoot up the zombies like they do in those zombie films. Well… you could actually, but it is not recommended by the event organizers nor by the law (and neither does Wildcard). And neither do they support any form of violence. But then again, this is a relatively new event. These kinds of things evolve over time. Who knows, maybe in the next Outbreak runners come armed with paintball guns? Who knows right?

Maybe in the next Outbreak (if you’re reading this at midnight on October 31^st, there’s an event at Enchanted Kingdom—if you’re interested join the fun!), more CompSAt people would join – possibly as a zombie, a runner, or a volunteer. The time for lazy console-based zombie experiences are over. Now there is Outbreak.