A&E

Heroes and undead hordes collide at Adventure Combat Ops

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Brothers Jake (left) and Randy Newton head into the Apocalypse, a 70,000-square-foot fantasyland of lurking threats.
Photo: Steve Marcus

The only thing moving in the blackness is the laser sight on my assault rifle. My team is crouched by an abandoned car, waiting for me to charge a building we’re pretty sure holds unspeakable evil. The door goes with one kick, and the undead lurch. I rain down ammo, almost forgetting that 30 minutes ago I didn’t know how to load this gun.

Zombies and Adventure Combat Ops

This is the Apocalypse, part hero fantasy (my badassery might save the world!), part nightmare (zombies might eat my face!) and the main attraction of Adventure Combat Ops, which opened July 2 in a massive warehouse near the Strip. The two-hour immersion begins with a briefing led by real special ops veterans with serious combat experience and the decorations to match. But inside this 70,000-square-foot production, they get in character as leaders of the world’s last hope against depraved bioterrorism. The part where different military branches jovially mock each other? That’s real, too, says Ragnarr, a Green Beret who yells to his SEAL counterpart Neptune: “Hey, my little mermaid, you ready?”

They split us into teams, suit us up with safety gear and Airsoft weapons and teach us to clear areas and take down hostiles. Ragnarr explains there will be multiple objectives. Aside from keeping the zombies from nibbling, we're tasked with finding intel and valuables left behind. Mid-sentence, his voice is lost in an alarm that rattles the walls. And we follow his lead into the dark.

Without spoiling the Apocalypse’s sensory surprises, creators liken it to Call of Duty in a “gauntlet of chaos.” Sets range from ghoulishly lit corridors to ransacked row houses to a ruined motorhome that must be searched top to bottom. As I fling open drawers and appliances and look under cushions with the rest of the Silver Team, 20-something brothers Randy, Nick and Jake Newton, my eyes keep darting to the curtain over the sleeping loft. One of the brothers has the guts to look, and nothing is there. I go through many cycles of dread and relief as the game goes on, holding my breath for the jump-out-of-your-skin scares. That psychological tease is key to losing yourself in the moment here, aided by plenty of fake blood (and the occasional severed foot), well-timed shrieks and pounding on walls, dynamic video projections, a scent machine, 30,000 watts of audio and the intensity coming from the elite operatives.

Neptune, a former Navy SEAL, helps a participant adjust her gear for the adventure ahead.

“There’s this huge craze and huge hype about zombies right now, so we’re playing the zombie part into it. But that’s simply a prop to us. ... This is about real special operations heroes that are taking people and immersing them into a video game brought to life,” says Adventure Combat Ops owner and Delta Force veteran Travis Krauss, adding that his other business is a classified defense contracting firm that trains special ops units. That's where the authenticity comes from, especially on the Academy side of ACO, where programming ranges from Urban Combat Fitness to simulation scenario training for first responders. The Apocalypse isn’t a training session—it’s a performance, Krauss says. And “you are the show.”

Ragnarr does his part, hilariously invoking his Viking heritage, giving pointers and praise on the fly and keeping the mood perfectly tense from the first alarm to the victory song. For me, he made the experience.

“It’s like trying to explain what it’s like to skydive in the middle of a rock concert,” Krauss says of the cinematic thrill. “You just can’t comprehend it until you do it.”

And after we saved the world? The zombies shambled out for fist bumps.

Adventure Combat Ops The Apocalypse attraction available Thursday-Sunday, noon-2 p.m.; 3-5 p.m.; 6-8 p.m.; 9-11 p.m., $199-$289. 4375 S. Valley View Blvd. #G, 844-363-6327.

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