More than 500 people valiantly fought through the living dead at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center Friday night. The event, Outlast the Outbreak, mocked a zombie apocalypse in which the Rec was the last refuge.

“This is my third late-night event, and in my opinion, the biggest one we have seen in a while,” said Ellie Kohl, a student event specialist at the Rec.

Once the clock struck 10, the infection spread and participants had to run from station-to-station while avoiding flag-swiping zombies.

Two flags were clipped around each contestant’s waste. When both flags were removed, the participant became infected. If the flags were intact, he or she had successfully survived the apocalypse.

The event required contestants to complete various tasks at each station.

The stations consisted of accuracy, courage, luck, intelligence, safety, strength, speed, willpower and trust.

At the station for willpower, participants were required to find their determination and digest assorted hot sauces.

“The hot sauce was so hot,” said Ryan Lamb, sophomore electronic media major. “The burn kept me going throughout the night.”

The station of courage entailed digging for marbles through 1,000 live worms. Whoever collected the most marbles in one minute received a share of points added to his or her scorecard.

At the end of the event, scorecards were tallied and prizes were drawn for both survivors and those infected. The prizes consisted of Beats headphones, Blu-ray players and Apple iPads.

“I thought the event was awesome,” said Jacob Plocica, sophomore criminology major. “I won a Blu-ray player just for coming and playing games – it was pretty cool.”

The event was a huge success. Abby Millsaps, marketing coordinator for the department of recreational services, said the amount of students was definitely on par with what the Rec expected. The event was exploding on social media, so they knew it was going to be huge.

“We do a number of events throughout the year,” Millsaps said. “The idea is we provide alternative, safe, late night programming for students.”

“This was the most awesome, fun, entertaining thing the Rec could have put on,” said Lilli Scott, a junior fashion merchandising major. “Sure the lines were long, and my pants got ripped by a zombie, but everything was great. Obstacles were challenging and fun, food was amazing and the shirts look great. I couldn’t have had a better night.”

Contact Chase Bonhotel at [email protected].