2.8 Hours Later - Glasgow

2.8 Hours is, in essence, a terrifying orienteering adventure. It’s the zombie apocalypse and you have just under three hours to work your way around a series of locations to reach the safe area. And the zombie disco. At each location is a ‘survivor’ who provides the next co-ordinates and along the way are, of course, the undead. Kitted out in apocalyptic attire they are exceedingly fast, malicious and desperately rabid in their attempt to generate more of their kind. The streets of Glasgow have never felt so fraught with terror (which is saying something) and while a few zombies roam about, the larger, more determined hoards are skulking in car parks, abandoned warehouses, alleyways and kids’ play areas; all of which the participants must frequent.

'Cuddles'

I’ve taken part in similar horror walk-through events which delight and terrify and 2.8 Hours was no different, in fact it was rather more manic. Having grown up in Glasgow, I’m at home there and a large part of the fun was this obliteration of the ‘known’ as streets and buildings were transformed into a horror set. The freedom of walking, running and racing for your life becomes all-too real and within our group, we were each surprised at how determined we became at succeeding in our task.

High points of the evening included our three-storey adventure in the NCP car park behind Union Street, racing up and down flights of stairs trying to reach the zombie cowering with a bag of sweets; we needed one for the next clue. Another was finding ourselves up against five zombies in an enclosed maze-like space set apart with metal fencing whilst our ‘survivor’ yelled at us to hurry up and reach her for the next clue. My heart sank when one of our group became trapped and the zombies descended. Three of us who had made through sped off round the perimeters of the fencing and danced provocatively (and ridiculously) in their direction. I flashed my midriff taunting one interested female zombie, ‘Come and get the flesh!’. Amazingly our efforts paid off and our straggler was able to race to safety. Just. It felt wonderful and I smile now as I write this.

my infection

Six of our group of seven were infected along the way and after the final gauntlet through a slippery and narrow cobbled lane, we were sorted accordingly. Fitted with our brain inhibitors to quench our thirst for human flesh we then embraced our new zombification at the disco.

2.8 Hours is one of those nights you never expect to experience and it’s all the more fun for it. The intensity is a major buzz, though our group agreed we’d have felt more on edge had we bumped into more zombies in the streets, rendering the experience a bit more debilitating and unpredictable. Still in its infancy, the makers of 2.8 are scouting potential cities for further apocalyptic adventure. All I’d say is that if you get the opportunity to go, I’d strongly encourage you to take it.



Rich and I devouring Douglas, our only survivor