It rained on that Saturday, which almost seemed to add a queer and appropriate ambience to the day. The perfect backdrop for the dead to walk among the living, or at least for a few demented Halloween fanatics to gather at a “secret” location before setting out into the city as crazed, flesh-eating corpses. I’ll admit I had no idea what to expect. A bunch of adults decked out the week before Halloween to wreak havoc and revel in a day which was meant to celebrate zombies everywhere. Yes, Zombie Con 2009 had arrived, the 5th annual Zombie Con in fact, and I was covering it with my partner in crime for the next few hours, Jack Randall. When I met up with a frazzled Jack around 12:45 he quickly updated me on the events of his morning. From what I could gather it had consisted of engaging in verbal fisticuffs with the MTA police regarding platform alcohol consumption, then somehow MacGyvering a train ticket from thin air…needless to say a tiny voice inside my head was chuckling and thinking that this was only the beginning and we had yet to even come in contact with our fellow stiffs. 

When we finally neared our first stop (The Carriage House on 59th and 3rd for a “Bloody Mary” brunch) it was evident that we were in for one hell of a gruesome, blood-splattered day. These folks were no amateurs and it became abundantly clear that if we were going to walk and talk among the throngs of bloody brides, rotting Lady Gaga’s and the decaying “Balloon Boy”, we were going to have to blend in. So with a drink and a steady hand, our team tore into the $6.99 Walgreen’s make-up kit I had purchased on my way uptown and immediately dived into the sea of cherry flavored blood capsules, grease paint and gory fake wounds (as the only female I was instantaneously dubbed the as make-up artist of the group and so I set to work in transforming our crew into pale, corroded carcasses). Oddly enough, I came to notice that the more intoxicated people became, the gorier the make-up tended to be and by the end of the day I was surprised there was still a tube of artificial blood left on the entire island of Manhattan.

After we departed from the bar our next stop was a parade-like march through Bloomingdales where, as one might imagine, mayhem ensued. I’m sure it was the last thing high-class socialites and oversea tourists had expected to see at 2:00 pm on a Saturday afternoon in one of New York City’s finest department stores. It was here where I was momentarily separated from my group and let me tell you there are a few drawbacks to being alone in NYC dressed head to toe as the living dead…you risk looking like a total freak and if you’re situation is anything like mine, you end up have a homeless man follow you around until you are thankfully able to locate and rejoin your party.

The next stop on our bar crawl was an Irish pub which rapidly filled up with causing all “living individuals” in the bar to stare frozen like gaping fishes in disbelief as our motley crew enveloped the bar and sent the restaurant staff into a frenzy. Pressing on shortly after and with bellies full of liquor, we were a force to be reckoned with as our entire group poured and slithered into Grand Central Station where we performed a rickety if not hysterical version of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. There were definitely a few small children traumatized to be sure but after all, this is New York City and if it hadn’t been us it might have been the flasher in Central Park or the mugger in the subway.

It was at this point or perhaps a tad later that the idea of pressing on seemed like an unattainable goal. Maybe it was the fact that the rain had worsened, or that we hadn’t eaten a morsel all day and even the idea of a re-heated frozen McDonald’s burger patty seemed like five star cuisine. So we did what any exhausted zombies would do after a long day of inflicting chaos on the mortal souls of NYC. We went to a bar, in full make-up. We had a few drinks, a few wings, a few laughs and then we called it a day. Yeah…it was just a really great day.

In an e-mail sent out a few days after from our “Zombie Queen”, this year was the biggest Zombie Con yet! Just goes to show a little rain and the revolted stares of onlookers can’t stop real New Yorkers from dressing up and having a good time. Man, I can’t wait for next year!