Commuters passing through Toronto’s Union Station this week might be in for a nastily awesome surprise.

AMC’s The Walking Dead and Toronto agency Leo Burnett have launched a different kind of countdown clock to show’s mid-season return date.

Each day, counting down to the Feb. 10 premiere, a finger is lopped off a decaying eight-foot tall hands.

“This is a show that has a great loyal fan base and they’re all counting it down,” says Dom Caruso, president and COO of Leo Burnett. “We really looked at that as our inspiration to say, ‘What would be a cool way to do a countdown?'”

The campaign officially kicks off today and runs through until Feb. 10, targeting a broad audience, says Caruso.

“We’re hoping that through the talk-value we can generate, we can continue to expand the audience for the show,” he adds.

Commuters are encouraged to snap a photo with the hands and tweet it to #TWDFeb10 for a chance to win one of the lopped-off fingers. “Somebody who is a Walking Dead fan would love one of these fingers,” Caruso says. “They’re awesome [and] gross.”

And those in the station between 2 and 7 p.m. on Wednesday can also interact with a hoard of “walkers,” who will be chained up to the countdown clock.

“We’re going to have Walking Dead t-shirts, which will be almost within arms reach of our zombies. The chain – fortunately – is tethered to the right length so [people] should be able to grab a shirt without getting bitten.”

The series, distributed by eOne, returns from its third season hiatus to AMC this Sunday at 10 p.m.

From Media in Canada