Undead experience has prepped human leader for new role

Gen. Jon Kuhl has twice experienced life as a zombie. The veteran tactician believe those experiences have helped him prepare for the most recent outbreak.  

What began as a scouting mission Tuesday night ended in a bloody massacre for human troops under Gen. Jon Kuhl’s command.

“In the chaos of last night, I lost count," of the casualties, Kuhl said on Wednesday. “I have no idea as far as numbers go.”

In his eighth tour of duty — and his first as a general in the human army — Kuhl has become accustomed to losing friends in the seemingly endless war on zombies.

“You have to put emotion aside,” Kuhl said. “They’re zombies. Their single goal is to devour your flesh.”

For Kuhl, friends have become enemies and roommates have become targets. However, Kuhl doesn’t let the emotional strain of the war slow him down.

“Once you lose a friend, they’re not your friend anymore.” Kuhl said. “You just have to cope and move on.”

Kuhl’s extensive experience with the war has facilitated his rise to power, becoming one of the chief generals of the human army. Since the war on zombies began in 2010, Kuhl has studied the layout of USU’s campus, as well as the tactics of former leaders.

“From the very first semester, I learned the campus pretty well. I found all the ins and outs, all the unlocked doors, the back routes that the zombies still have not found,” Kuhl said. “In the first couple semesters, I learned from some of the best that are no longer with us, so I definitely attribute it to them.”

Kuhl has succumbed to the zombie virus twice in the past, but has since recovered. His experiences as a zombie have been advantageous in his leadership position in the human army.

“I don’t remember much, other than the need for flesh,” Kuhl said. “It’s quite horrible. But now I more fully understand the horde mentality.”

Leslie Bredthauer, who was among the human troops caught in Tuesday night’s skirmish, attributes her survival to Kuhl’s leadership.

“He gave me good advice on how to survive at the night mission, so I survived, luckily,” Bredthauer said.

Humans aren’t the only ones who are aware of the advantage that Kuhl is to the human army. Kuhl has received several email threats from the Original Zombie, Dylan Jones.

“May your fear and paranoia grow by the minute,” Jones wrote in an email to Kuhl. “Know that around every corner, in every alleyway, we will be waiting and we will be hungry.”

Jones’ email concluded: “Hail Omega, King of the Dead. The way is shut. It was made by those that are dead. And the dead shall keep it.”

Due to extensive doses of antidotes made available to him by the League of Supernatural Nations, Kuhl currently has immunity, meaning he can’t become a zombie. He understands, though, that his immunity will likely wear off in a few days.

Still, Kuhl remains hopeful.

“If my immunity wears off, I’ll have to start bringing more and more ammunition, rallying the troops, having humans mass in groups,” Kuhl said. “For every human, we can take out three zombies. So if we have a group of three, we can take out a decent-sized horde. A group of five, almost unstoppable.”

UnDeadline reporters Bradley Bair, Marley McClune, Morgan Jacobsen, Eliza Welsh and Jeff Dahdah contributed to this report.

Utah State professor predicts future of zombie apocalypse

Mathematical biologist James Powell is advising students to wait out the zombie war — with water and ramen. 

Zombies will starve before infecting all of the humans at Utah State University.

Probably. 

That's the prognostication of Utah State professor James Powell, who has been studying the current zombie infestation in northern Utah.

While fellow researchers at the university have been hard at work on a vaccine, Powell — an expert on mathematical biology — has been focused on predicting the future. His research estimates the outbreak will reach its zenith soon.

“Late Thursday or early Friday is when I would expect the peak apocalypse to be,” Powell said. 

In the past Powell has conducted mathematical zombie experiments, but in a controlled setting. The recent outbreak has given him an opportunity to put his theories to the test. 

Powell said many factors contribute to the data he has analyzed. He likened the outbreak to a sneeze in a room.

“I can’t infect everybody in that room," Powell said. “It takes a while. There are natural limitations at how rapidly the infestation can progress.”

Those limitations include zombies getting in each other’s way and running out of human bodies, causing the zombies to run out of energy, Powell said. 

As such, he encouraged Logan residents to hide and wait. 

“I think the thing to do is to grab a bucket of water, a couple packets of ramen, lock your doors and wait it out," Powell said. "Let the zombies starve and work on a vaccine for next time.” 

Currently, there is no known vaccination for the zombie infestation.

Jacob Scholes, another human left uninfected, said he received an email notification this morning that mentioned a vaccine in progress. However, there still hasn’t been an official announcement of a complete vaccination.

“I’m just going to stick as close as I can to the captains and the other humans,” said Brittney McDonald, one of the humans still uninfected.

Powell, though, has little hope for a vaccine.

“If they were to have a vaccine for this time, they would have had it,” he said.

UnDeadline reporters Sarah Winder, Mandi West, Lindsey Snyder, Taylor Condie, and Ron Matheson contributed to this report.

Humans and zombies set aside differences during short truce

Green Wolf and human Sean Schilling wait for the zombie walk to begin. 

The living and undead joined together outside Luke’s Cafe on the Quad today at Utah State University. The humans were dressed as zombies — giving them a temporary respite from the threat of contracting the zombie virus until 1 p.m. 

Predators and prey walked alongside one another, interacting without dispute for a short time following two days of intense violence.

Human Sean Schilling said four zombies attempted to attack him while he was walking to a safe zone earlier in the morning. 

Such attacks represent the typical human-zombie interaction. Schilling, who is visually impaired, said it was a relief to be able to get closer to the zombies without risking his mortal life. 

“I usually don’t get to talk to people that much because I can’t see very well, so this is great because I get to meet all humans and zombies in a safe-zone,” Schilling said. 

Zombie Sam Hellewell, though, was hesitant to be part of the gathering of enemies. 

“I am a little bit skeptical about these humans who just want to act like zombies," he said. "They don’t know how it really feels to be a zombie."

Todd Hicken, a zombie death captain, said the walk was a great way for the opposing sides to have fun together.

Nonetheless, Hicken said, appetites must be satiated. 

“At 1 p.m., war is back on," he said. "The humans had a feel for zombie life. They will have to return to being a human and fighting for their life.”

While some critics said the walk normalized zombie killers, League of Supernatural Nations President Tori Winslow said the event was a great way to show the public how powerful the zombies are and what they are capable of doing.

“This walk is the key to raising awareness to the plague that is spreading," Winslow said. "We need to get the word out to the people who might not be fighting it actively. Everybody needs to know about this because it does threaten everybody.”

For their part, some humans used the temporary respite from attacks to investigate routes between zombie-free safe zones.

It is nice to be aware of where the zombies are and what they are doing," said human Bryce Walker.

Zombies, meanwhile, relished their freedom from such concerns.  

“The cool thing about being a zombie is being able to go around where ever you want without being paranoid,” Hellewell said. 

UnDeadline reporters Scott Hall, Caroline Peterson, Itzel Leon, Kris Hyde, Madison Maners, Stacey Worster contributed to this report

Zombies and humans walk together during truce, but promise greater battles to come

Zombie students walked alongside
humans on Wednesday at Utah
State University during a short
truce between the two sides in
the zombie war.   

Zombies and humans converged outside Luke’s Café on the Utah State University campus today. 

With the zombie horde temporarily neutralized, both humans and zombies walked together to bring the zombie apocalypse to the attention of the campus' student body.

“Our goal is to raise awareness of zombies and general alertness,” said Steven Collins, a human general.

As both humans and zombies amassed, human survivors were allowed a brief moment to reunite with former comrades who had succumb to the zombie plague.

“We were a team, we were a threesome, and then she got turned,” said Ivie Van Lent, a human survivor. “It’s very upsetting. We were a team and now she’s attacking me. It’s heartbreaking, and now we have to kill her.”

Human Dallin Tinkham used the zombies' neutralized state to his advantage.

“I painted myself in zombie blood so they would think I was one of them,” Tinkham said, his clothes reeking with the gut-wrenching stench of the undead. “It’s a great way to get inside their minds and take them down from inside.”

As the walk began, humans stood tall as the zombies shuffled, stumbled and groped their way to the Taggart Student Center. A low hymn-like song was sung before the zombies and humans entered the TSC.

Students stopped and stared as the moans of the zombies filled the halls of the building. As the humans and zombies made their way upstairs, one zombie left rotting fingers behind as he crawled his way to the second floor.

Once on the second floor, the stench of zombie corpse was overwhelming. One zombie tapped at the glass outside the Marketplace Grill, drool rolling down her chin.

Once the zombies and humans made it outside, the humans were dismissed. According to zombie Alex Meadows, the brief uniting of humans and zombies would not stop the epidemic.

“After the walk, it’s going to get even worse,” Meadows said as he stood among the human participants.

But according to Tinkham the walk only empowered humans’ to struggle for survival.

“We are not going down without a fight,” Tinkham said.

 UnDeadline reporters Dominic Bohne, Sierra Copeland, Jamie Keyes, Jaimie Son, and Katie Larsen contributed to this report.

Zombie presence made known on USU campus

A pack of zombies marched through Utah State University's campus on Wednesday — not to find food, but to bring attention to undead rights.  

At noon today, a horde of zombies congregated outside the Agriculture Sciences Building on the Utah State University campus before beginning the Undead Walk, an effort to make the zombie presence known on campus.

Innocent people watched as the pack of about 40 zombies made its way to the Taggart Student Center, entered and silently staggered through the building.

“It was weird,” said Brian Isom, who was among the crowd of humans in the TSC. “I was actually sending snap chats of it to my friends.”

The Undead Walk was intended not to hunt out humans, but to let the humans know that zombies are here to stay, according to Nicolas Pollock, a member of the zombie pack.

Pollock said that humans are currently immune to zombie attacks due to limited rations of newly formulated immunizations. These immunizations are expected to run out at 3 p.m. today, rendering the humans vulnerable to zombie attacks once again.

Pollock was infected with the zombie virus yesterday, and today was his first day as a zombie.

“I was a little distraught when I first got turned into a zombie, but now it’s kind of fun chasing humans,” Pollock said.

Although changing allegiances wasn’t easy for Pollock at first, the zombie virus is helping him forget his human loyalties.

“I still have friends that are humans,” Pollock said. “My girlfriend is a human, so I’m hunting her. I know where she lives. She’d better watch out.”

The Undead Walk concluded at 12:22 p.m., and the zombies dispersed to await the end of the humans’ immunity.

UnDeadline reporters Bradley Bair, Marley McClune, Morgan Jacobsen, Eliza Welsh and Jeff Dahdah contributed to this report.

Tuesday night mission doubles number of zombies

Coltin Grover, Jon Kuhl and Steven Collins prepare for battle.

Thirteen zombies clashed on Friday evening with about 75 humans in a battle that resulted in considerable casualties for resistance fighters from Utah State University.

The fight, over a base camp in a field on the north side of 1100 North, included about a third of the registered combatants in the war. Tori Winslow, president of the League of 

Supernatural Nations, said there were 260 known fighters.

“The missions are the highlight of the [war]," she said. "We hope that people come out and it will be epic."

And to zombie leader Coltin Grover, it was. 

Grover, who has gone by the name "Omega" since his undeath, had predicted victory for his fellow zombies. 

“We’re going to strike them down as they set up a base camp tonight,” he said before the battle.

Grover said there were 40 zombies across Utah State leading into the mission. “I’m hoping to double that number tonight,” he said.

The battle lasted an hour. Afterward, Grover reported the number of zombies had doubled. 

“We thought we were safe, we were wrong,” said Jon Kuhl, a leader in the human resistance. “We lost some scouts, we lost some good men, but the strong will survive.”

Kuhl also said he and his fellow humans had completed all of their mission objectives. 

“We found ammo and we have a full operating base,” Kuhl said.

In addition to infecting more humans, Greta Coldesina helped her fellow zombies complete their objective: taking an antidote from a fellow zombie. The serum resets a zombie’s feed timer — the time during which the undead must eat to avoid perishing — for 48 hours. 

“Apparently it was really big deal,” Coldesina said.

The number of zombies and humans participating in the war is being updated at hvzsource.com/zombieaggies.

UnDeadline reporters Scott Hall, Caroline Peterson, Itzel Leon, Kris Hyde, Madison Maners, Stacey Worster contributed to this report

Human numbers fall in north campus battle

Members of the human resistance army prepare for battle against a zombie horde on Tuesday night. 

After a long day of battling zombies, a beleaguered band of humans assembled Tuesday evening to collect supplies and reinforce fellow combatants. By the end of the night, many of the humans had suffered a ghastly undeath, while others were struggling to trust one another. 

The humans built a barricade near the north side of Utah State University’s campus for their new operating base. Shortly after beginning the project, the zombies attacked. 

The desire for human flesh compelled the zombies as they charged toward the humans' shelter. The humans protected themselves with Nerf projectiles and sock bombs, both of which are known to be toxic to the undead. 

“Make sure you have socks at the ready because guns do jam,” resistance militia commander Gen. Sparkles told the gathered humans as they awaited the attack. 

“Keep it tight,” said human Gen. Jon Kuhl. “We out number them.”

Arms and legs were left strewn across the battlefield as the human defenses — and trust — were compromised. 

  

“It was so intense. The whole time I thought I was going to die and I couldn’t trust the people behind me,” said human Leslie Bredthauer.  

Human commanders reported that moral was high before the battle, but as undeath took hold of many among their ranks, the atmosphere quickly changed. 

“The zombies rushed, and we were all spread out," human Cassandra Collard said. "We were running for our lives.”

“I have seen so many people die in front of me,” said human Jacob Tibbitts.

Paranoia is now the overriding emotion for many of the surviving humans.

“I can’t trust anyone,” said human Dylan Jones, who said one of the greatest challenges of being human was "looking over your shoulder every time."

Zombies are infecting more people than many human combatant leaders had predicted, but there still is hope for the human race, said Eric Van Nieuwenhutzen. 

“Hide first, then run, then fight," Van Nieuwenhutzen said. "If you follow those rules you will make it." 

UnDeadline reporters Dominic Bohne, Sierra Copeland, Jamie Keyes, Jaimie Son, and Katie Larsen contributed to this report.

Zombies attack humans on first mission

An abandoned trailer park, north of the Lundstrom Student Center on the campus of Utah State University, was the site of the first major battle in a war that has overtaken the northern Utah town of Logan.

About 75 humans had fallen back into the seeming refuge of the park on Tuesday evening. A group of zombies ambushed the base five minutes into the mission.

By the end of the night, the number of known zombies on Utah State's campus had increased from 38 to 70.

The humans split into three groups to complete the mission. Their first objective was to find a generator to power the base.

Squads of humans, who were sent out to retrieve supplies for the base, were attacked by the zombies, said Tyler Stewerdson.

Stewerdson, who was a member of one of the squads, said the band of humans was “demolished” by the zombies.

“The zombies probably ambushed the base three or four times,” Stewerdson said.

Before leaving for the base, earlier in the evening, the humans had been briefed by three generals about the goal of the mission. Gen. Sparkles addressed the group about going out into the battle.

“Remember, the key is numbers,” Sparkles said. “Have a couple buddies with you. Don’t leave your buddy.” 

Nathanael Patrick Barney, who was turned into a zombie earlier today, said the zombies attacked ruthlessly.

Barney said the strategy of the zombies was to kill at all costs and target weak humans. 

“We more than doubled our numbers,” said zombie Craig Nielsen. “The mission went very well.”

UnDeadline reporters Hannah Hendricks, Emily Lindley, Stewart Ulrich, Christopher Campbell and Alora Clark contributed to this report.