Night of the Zombies

  Photo: Marija Majerle

What do you do with a broken-down bus full of zombies, stranded on the freeway late at night?

With Halloween coming up, this scenario may not be all that far-fetched for event planners who have spooky events on the to-do list.

In this case, the event was the seventh annual Zombie Pub Crawl, which took place last Saturday night in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn. An estimated 7,000 undead were lurching about the streets that evening, covered in blood, gore and entrails, along with spilled beer and other potent beverages, I suspect.

My own 20-something zombie happened to be on one of the city buses that transported the ghastly groups about town, from bar to bar. And his bus happened to be the one that broke down.

As I listened to the gruesome tale the next morning, my first thought was for the bus driver, who, I was told, looked like he had been yanked out of retirement to do this gig.

The poor guy. It’s bad enough to have your bus break down. But at night? On the freeway? With a bunch of zombies screaming "WE WANT BRAINS!"

This driver took it all in stride, I am told, even when his cell phone died when he tried to call for a replacement bus. He simply borrowed a phone from one of the zombies, then went along with the flow, posing for pictures and being an all-around good sport. That’s the kind of guy I want working my events.

Especially with zombies around.