Friday was the first night of Schell’s new Zombie Hunt event. Instead of leading guests through a haunted house, Schell’s staff led teams on a mission to eliminate zombies. Each team was armed with gel blasters and 800 gel bullets. The teams would walk through a series of stages.

The first brave team to enter the zombie zone was a group of young boys from Mankato celebrating two birthdays. It was Brody Willett’s 12th birthday and Bryce Willett’s 10th birthday. The two brothers were born exactly two years apart. Their father Brad Willett saw the zombie hunt advertised and said sounded like the the perfect birthday party. Brad admitted he was excited to try it too.

The Willetts, along with friends Eli Pederson, Daxton Hacker, Blake Born, and Arlo Mullen were the first group through. The team received a detailed briefing from Kyle Marti of Schell’s. He gave the boys a layout of the brewery grounds and instructions for firing the gel blasters.

After the boys entered the grounds led by Schell’s Visitor Center General Manager Curt Van Asten.

L to R: Eli Pederson, Daxton Hacker, Bryce Willett, Blake Born, Arlo Mullen and Brody Willett served as the first wave of zombie hunters during Schell's Zombie Hunt Friday

The team fought off zombies in four stages including: “Loading Dock Bio-Hazard Spill”, “Ted’s Terrace” “Rave Yard” and “World War Z.” The goal was to hit all the zombies before you ran out of ammo.

The birthday party team managed to make it through the zombie nightmare without any losses. After the mission, the boys regroup in the Schell’s tap room to celebrate their exploits over a root beer.

There was some debate over who took out the most zombies. Bryce Willet and Daxton Hacker both claimed the most zombie kills, but in the heat of battle, it was hard to say who won.

Brad Willett was confident the kids would remember this day forever.

It will be a day long remembered by the zombie actors as well. Over a dozen volunteers brought the undead to life by playing zombies. The majority of the zombies on Friday night were played by Martin Luther College students, dressed in tattered clothes and face masks.

A group of MLC students, who volunteered to portray zombies for Schell's, give a toast before scarying starts.

It takes a special person to agree to play a zombie; especially when the role requires getting shot with hundreds of gel bullets.

MLC student Gustav Wenz said he wasn’t sold on playing a zombie right away, but agreed when he realized it was for Schell’s.

Three Cathedral High School students served as zombies in the final section. Keaton Scherr, Isaac Miller and Zach Gieseke all expressed concern about being pelted with gel bullets, but after the first few rounds it stopped phasing them.

“It’s quite fun actually,” Miller said. He was usually the nearest zombie to the shooting teams and was hit many times.

The greatest challenge was knowing when to fall. The volunteers wanted to give guests a great experience. You can’t go down on the first volley.

Eli Pederson is all smiles while repelling the first of may waves of zombies.

Van Asten was excited about the turnout for the first Schell’s Zombie Hunt. The idea for the hunt came from Schell’s staff brainstorming Halloween-themed ideas that could be family-friendly. It decided a zombie hunt was the right level of scary.

“It is like the best day ever,” Van Asten said after leading his second team through the brewery ground.

The Zombie Hunt will continue on Saturday at Schell’s. Most of the slots for zombie hunting teams have sold out, but the brewery grounds will remain open to anyone who wants to observe the zombie mayhem.

Schell's Visitor Center Manager Curt Van Asten leads a team of kids through the Schell's beer garden during a zombie hunt.

Schell's Brewery vice-president, Kyle Marti gives a military style briefing before teams enter the zombie hunt zone.