You know Halloween is approaching when zombies roam the streets of the Audubon Garden district. As Terry and I approached late that night we noticed a few zombies stumbling down Corrine Drive. There was a large crowd of zombies outside Park Avenue CD. We arrived at Stardust Video and Coffee around 11pm. When we opened the door, a loud pulsing rhythm shook us as a band played angrily. Decomposing bodies around us writhed to the beat. Terry clutched my hand as I searched for the right sketching vantage point. Rather than committing to a sketch of the band, I decided to search the other rooms for zombies.
The food and drink order counter had a line of zombies that stretched out the door. Chad Bruce and Dana VanZandt were seated at a small corner table and they waved us over. Chad’s sweatshirt was thickly spattered with blood. Dana was dressed as a huntress. When asked about their outfits, they demonstrated their method of hunting zombies. Dana had a human brain that she dangled from a fishing line off the end of a stick. Her job was to lure a zombie close using the brain as bait. Then Chad would unholster the golf club at his hip and strike the zombie down with swift blows to the head.
A zombie was checking his iPhone as he waited in line. A female zombie held a human brain on a plate. When she turned to me I noticed the bullet hole in the center of her forehead. She said she was one of the models at a Boudoir Bombshells photo shoot I sketched several months ago her name is Tamarie Lang. I tried to recognize her but couldn’t get past the blood and bruising. When the quiet demure woman in the red kimono finally turned around, her face wash ashen and blood was dripping from her lips. It was hard to notice if there was blood on her red kimono. Doug Rhodehamel stopped in front of me, frozen mid-stride in his walk. It took a few seconds for me to notice him and I laughed out loud at his attempt to get in the sketch.
When the sketch was done I considered going in the loud room full of writhing zombies, but Terry was tired so I decided it was a one sketch night . My zombie hunting was complete. The event was supposed to end at midnight anyway so I didn’t have time for another sketch.
