Last night all living zombie apocalypse survivors were quarantined at Diesel Filling Station in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood of Atlanta for the season two finale of The Walking Dead television show. In true survivor hideout style, a big plastic sign painted in blood red hung from the roof let people know that there were other survivors – “ALIVE INSIDE.” As the television show has gained increasing popularity, so has its apocalyptically dramatic plot. Basically, the world is starting to get real ugly, real quick, and people’s inhumanity towards other people is festering at the surface gash of a dead society.

The Diesel viewing party started at 7 p.m. and continued until the restaurant closed. The patio was draped around in plastic anti-contaminate sheets with bloody prints oozing down. Being quarantined and hiding from the undead meant that there was limited generator-based power in the bar, so the viewing televisions provided the only light throughout the place. Food items were grilled based on whatever the quarantined leaders scavenged up. Luckily, they had “T-Dog” aka Theodore Douglas (IronE Singleton) representing The Walking Dead survivor cast – so all survivors knew they were in capable hands to live through the season two finale that night!

The place was overrun with the living and straggler survivors were made to wait outside before a determination could be made as to whether they were friend, foe, or infected. Eventually, everyone was considered a friend, much to the chagrin of the grumpy doorman. They even let an honorary zombie in – Rodney Hall from season one of The Walking Dead! Horror fiends and zombie apocalypse lovers were glued to the tv’s and screamed out in horror or applause based on what happened in the show. During commercial breaks, Diesel’s owner, Justin, took to the mic and raffled off zombie prizes. Survivors bought shots of Fireball Whiskey or Jagermeister, donated canned goods, or bought raffle tickets to be included in the drawing. There were tables set up next to the mc stand where Diesel was auctioning off undead merchandise and art to benefit a member of the Society of Zombie Assassins (an Atlanta-based group of elite zombie killing mercenaries, also strong supporters of Diesel and The Walking Dead viewing parties) who hit some very hard times with health and medical bills recently. Attendees were dressed up as zombies, zombie assassins, or survivors for the final show of season two. The Backstage Beat even had a large representation there – including Publisher Ange Alex, Editor Amber Amick, Photographer Geoff Millwood, and myself (Assistant Editor), plus our awesome TBB supporters – Rodney Hall, Melany Sebastian, and Jason Elder. A good, bloody time was had by all last night at Diesel Filling Station!