As English teacher Katy Moore jogs up the hill in the empty neighborhood, Alice the Zombie prepares to attack. The sounds of the zombie approach filters through Mrs. Moore’s ear buds from her iPhone. Zombies, Run is an app that makes Mrs. Moore sprint for her life.
“I’m telling you Alice almost got me. I thought I was gone, but they had sent people with guns to protect me,” said Mrs. Moore.
Users have towns in the app that have been taken over by zombies, and the goal is to survive. The user literally plugs in the head phones, turns on the running play list and waits until the hungry zombies begin the chase. The user becomes part of a story with missions they must complete in order to become the epic hero of the town.
To accomplish such victory, they must pass tests of survival. During the run, the user goes along on their mission and is instructed to get medicine, batteries, and first aid packages. The more power ups the user gets, the bigger the bases get. When the base gets bigger, the user can receive more missions.
Remember, the zombies can reach and eat the user, but it is okay if they have enough medicine and good health. They will come back to life. Whether the user makes their own scary zombie music play list or are just jamming out to a Glee mash-up of “Halo” and “Walking on Sunshine” like Mrs. Moore, the zombies will come out of nowhere.
Senior Quinton Shamlee got the app about three weeks ago. Prior to getting the app, his attempts to go running were unsuccessful. Since the app, he runs just about every other day now. He has reached level 15 out of 22. Unfortunately, zombies have eaten him. Despite the deaths, he is still continuing the missions.
“I was not even close to running this much,” said Shamlee.
Shamlee has five acres where he runs, unlike Mrs. Moore, who goes way out into Tontitown to run. She really gets into it. The reason she got this app was because she wants to get faster. She can do the running but the speed is what she needs.
“I looked terrible, I’m so scared of zombies, and Alice almost got me. I thought I was not going to make it,” said Mrs. Moore.
