Day Z Tales

[maximusboomus]

Day Z is a game that almost needs journals in it, I know I'd use mine... For now lets use this thread to retell tales of Day z, fictional or actual. Please only leave stories in here, for comments feel free to start a sister thread... So sit back, enjoy.

[maximusboomus]

Wandering through Stary Sobor I found this Hello Kitty journal. Texan had used it to document his experience.

I never kept a journal before so I don't know where to begin, I am not a writer or a poet, I am not even much good at telling a joke truth be told.
But I want to record my existence. I don't know if civilization will return and I doubt we few survivors could even find our humanity again if we tried (and we are not trying).



To busy just trying to stay alive I suppose.



I am getting ahead of my self.



In the event this is ever found and my penmanship is still legible and by some miracle from on high you don't know what happened here in chenarus let me tell you.

It was war man! I mean WAR! America had of course inserted her self into every conflict that had occurred any where on this globe for decades, so it was no sunrise to my unit when we were up for deployment.
The theater: chenarus. It was supposed to be a peace keeping mission, That is what the brass had lead us to believe. It wasn't long before it was clear that we were in a full scale war & war is hell.
Horrors and atrocities were commited by both sides that no god would ever forgive. Maybe we should have expected it, maybe we should have known that as a species we were failing even refusing to evovle into something more, something closer to human...either way god, mother nature, science whatever had had enough.

guys on the front lines were coming back to base camp telling stories of enemies being shot and then standing back up, that soldiers and battle buddies who were not even wounded just died in their fox holes and came back to life
crazed and violent.

for the first hour we laughed. shell shock, ptsd, guys just trying to get that section 8 so they could go home we thought.

Three hours later and no one was laughing.

It started at the medical tents, I was leaving after having some stitches removed from where a piece of shrapnel had made it's home in my arm some weeks earlier. A scream erupted from behind me, not the kind that a soldier in pain
lets out, no...just no. rather it was the high pitch scream of fear and pain the kind that 1980's silver screen, scream queens would unleash from shower stalls before the scene would go black.
I spun on my heels in time to see 5 soldiers erupt from the tent charging straight for me. Covered in blood and bellowing in a sound that could only be described as inhuman.
I upholstered my glock 17 standard military issue 9mm and barked out 5 rounds in rapid succession. Each of the soldiers took one to the chest, center mass just like I was taught, just like the good little soldier I was. I did my part but
they didn't do theirs. They were supposed to die, that is how this works, I go bang bang and you take a dirt nap. I guess they weren't sleepy because they came right on coming.

I ran.

Like a school girl from a spider.

I ran.

Panic had erupted in our base, small arms fire echoed out as panicked soldiers fought for their lives. ten minutes later and the steady thump of light machine gun fire drowned out every other sound. The m249 gunners were sending sheets
of hot lead chest high through out the camp cutting every one and everything indiscriminately in half. that's why they call them saw's I heard my range instructor's voice from basic in my head, an echo from a time I wish I could go back to.

I grabbed my patrol pack, my m16a2 with the acog scope, my m4a1 cco sd was already tethered to the pack and I bolted for the wall. Initially I just wanted to get out of the killbox that was the center of camp. I had hoped to run into
others from my squad & regroup, assess and deal with the threat. At that point I really thought if I could get with the rest of echo company no matter what we faced, no matter the odds my boys and i could handle it.

I never saw a one of them again. even through the hail of bullets that swarmed around me like an angry nest of yellow jackets, I made it to the wall. Mp's were firing on anything that moved, when my eyes locked
with one of the lt's by the exit gate I knew I was a dead man, but instead he hesitated, I called out to him "LT! LT! It's me Texan" (a nick name from boot camp) he waved me over with a frenzied hand motion.
"son get out of here! the world has gone to shit and we haven't got a pot to piss in, Command has written us off for dead. Commandant Hobbes has ordered a broken arrow strike on our position..." he didn't get to finish I was high steeping it
out of there, making trails,leaving skid marks, full on stink defense shitting my pants and humping it out of there.

IF you don't know, broken arrow is the call for every allied aircraft in the area to drop its entire load on a particular target, doesn't matter if it is munitions, building supplies, mail, ammo crates, food, whatever it is your hauling
that can fall is to be dropped on the area. Usually this is done as a last resort, your position is about to be over run and no other hope remains, usually it is very close with in a 100 meters and usually it is to buy you time for a retreat

there was nothing usual about to day, and this time the target wasn't a 100 meter out we were the target.

And then there I was alone in the dark, my radio calls were going through but no one was responding. a single soldier in a hostile land, a hostile world where if you want some one dead you have to kill them twice.

It wasn't long before we realized that civilization here in chenarus had collapsed, initially people banded together scavenged for food and supplies but it seemed that no matter where went the dead weren't far behind. the cities and towns
in the early days were totally out of the question.What with massive hordes of the dead wandering through the buildings and streets. they never get tired, never sleep and only stop when you put enough lead into the body that it is no longer structurally sound. that or they loose track of you which is thankfully easy to do in the woods.


Stress does funny things to people and what with the hard times, the dead rising up to hunt humans and scarcity of food? well it was more then some could bare.
we had a lot of suicides in the beginning, it didn't take long for humanity to completely disappear from those in the small band I had joined. Saw a woman (Claire) get shot by a man for the can of beans she had just found. saw a few other guys
get gunned down when they went to make a trade of goods with another pocket of people who had banded together like we had. No one trusts any one else out side of their group and life in a group is almost as lethal as running into raiders
or snipers from another group. I have seen men I served with recognize me and raise their weapon to fire on me.

The old ways are gone, the old loyalties are dead it is now eat or be eaten, kill or be killed.

SO last night when I was in the town of stary sobor and all seemed quite. I decided that I could find a fairly safe place to bed down. sure the zombies were milling about but spec op training coupled with having lived this long meant I was prepared and able to avoid most of them. besides a well palced round from the silenced cco sd would mean one less zed to worry about. I gathered some supplies from the store and found a large rusted out red building
by some military tents, How many times have I wished that I had remembered to grab my bag with the nvg's, I made a mental note I would wake early and check out the tents maybe I would get lucky.

I climbed to the second story of the building just as an all to common thunderstorm came rolling in, I found a dry spot in one of the corners and set up some bear traps at the top of the ladder and the stair case down the back side that I hadnt seen previously.
Yeah I said bear traps LOL I would have preferred claymores or some c4 hell even a grenade with some fishing line would have worked but what I had was bear traps. I had found them in the garage of some hunters house.
They would do fine as a security system for the night.

I pulled out this journal and laughed to my self I had found it in a store weeks back, it had a cat's face with a bow on it...hello kitty, how many times had I joked to other about writing in their hello kitty journals and now here I am.

Irony at least still exists in the world.

I slipped it back into my pack rechecked the traps and was quickly lulled to sleep by the pitter patter of rain on the tin roof.

I awoke the next morning!

when you go to sleep you never know if you will wake up so i was surprised.
I wiped the crust from my eyes and chose to drink the water I had boiled up the night before instead of drinking the coke. Zombies are apex predators, they know their environments well, the sound a coke can opening is not a common sound
and if they hear it they will investigate it. turns out I made the right call, I went dead silent when I heard voices out side the barn. I quietly and painfully slow collected my things and stowed my gear Cursing my situation I belly crawled to where i had heard the voices. I peered out one of the walls where the tin siding had fallen away and spied 4 no 5 men maybe as many as 6 in the tents pulling gear out and going through the assorted items.

"shit I am so fucked" I climbed down the ladder completely forgetting the stairs on the back side of the building that would have given me a quicker and covered retreat. I low crawled to the bushes not 15 feet from the men in the tents,
One at least had on a gillie suit, others were in military camo and a few in civies. Fuck I whispered again my only chance was to low crawl past them and try to put the hill behind the tents between them and me and then run for the tree line. an easy 400 meter jog.

I nearly leapt out of my skin when i heard a voice say "where are you? why are you fucked" I realized I had instinctively keyed up my throat mic and sent out a broad cast that some one else close by had picked up.

" dude were friendly we can help"
"I go by ace got a guy here with me we call tractor were rendezvousing with cleric here in a bit where are you" They have a cleric? I thought to myself well if they still have a cleric they may still have some humanity left...

' I go by Texan I whispered, I am by the military tents in stary I got 6 tangos heavily armed not 20 feet from me they haven't seen me yet I need help" I hoped the desperation hadn't bled through in my voice.

"stay there we will take them out when I tell you start firing, texan shoot to kill on my mark" came the reply

"copy" I managed to squeek out as one of the men came with in 6 feet of me but got distarcted when a group of zombies spotted them. The 6 men killed the zombies with out a single friendly fire incident or death by zombie....."shit these guys are good" i thought to my self as I ran my sweaty palm intho grass and dirt to make sure my trigger finger wouldnt slip.

"Now!" ace barked through the head set. my training kicked in, the world slowed down but i was moving and the speed of light I came to a kneeling position and put two into the head of a guy at the entrance of a tent.

I had expected to hear gun fire form the new guys or return fire from the tangos instead I heard banjo music...."yup I have finally fallen right the fuck off my rocker" I strafed left two bushes over about 30 feet away from my original
firing positing and did my best "I am a bush" impression. Two tangos ran right past my original firing position and kept moving, I glanced quickly and saw no one else so I pursued, " one down, two on foot in civies and a guy in gillie"
I woofed through my mic.

"roger" came the replay

As I turned the corner of the red barn I saw the two men in a dead sprint lined up my shots and fired a volley of 6 stanag sd at the two men before they ducked behind a house and out of view, "shit I missed them" no response.

I ran to the house in time to see one of them hook a u turn and head back towards the red barn. I waited the gillie did not follow him....I am being baited...but at this point i am in go mode and this guy is going to die.

The civilian ran up to the red barn and I unleashed a single round.....he dropped! ..wait... no he fell the wrong way! he threw himself to the ground I realized. I put two more into him and watched as blood lurched out in a gyser from where his spine
used to be.

I wait and wait some more. finally Ace comes over the radio where are you? i give up my position...

Ace: I don't see you, I see the building but not you

Texan: I'm coming out cover me, going to hit the body, move into the red barn and exfil to the north

ACE: copy

Texan: where the fuck where you guys when the shooting started

Tractor: we had one on the other side of the hill I killed him but I was hurt bad had to have a blood transfusion or I wasn't going to make it

Texan: copy

I went for the body but in my haste I ignored the zombie threat, zombies swarmed me as a burst of rounds hit all around me I went prone killed the zombies and was coming to my feet when I didn't hear it, I didn't see it and I couldn't do either of those things.

everything was black, I felt my body hit the earth it was damp,sticky and smelled of gun powder and iron.....it was blood... my blood and the guy dressed as a green chewbacca had shot me with a large caliber rifle.

I don't know how, I don't know why, maybe I did die.

Maybe this is the hell I was sentenced to for all my misdeeds for all those broken hearts and promises, for the sins I knew I had committed or maybe this was all some kind of dream....

I woke up on the coast, by the ocean the tide crashing against the shore and birds singing over head. spied a city off to my left..."OK It was a dream" I thought to myself. I must of blacked out drunk last night, dear god i am going to get raped if
i don't get back to camp before they notice I am awol.

as I made my way towards the city i laughed aloud; what a night mare! the boys are going to get a kick out of this one...

but then I see him a lone figure walking...no plodding towards me, arms limp head cocked to the side at an unatural angel.
I continue forward "this isn't real....it was a dream.....this isn't real!' "NYRAHHHGHH" that scream! that inhuman scream and hes running at me...I don't have a gun ?!?!? a shitty flash light and a band aid....WTF!

..I run...I run...I run.

This is Dayz! This is war! This is hell! and no one is laughing.

[BuddyLee.]

I'd like to see something like the L4D guys did awhile back. Fictional but fun to read.

BL

[maximusboomus]

I was pissed. I mean red blooded male angry. I could punch through a brick wall right now. I stared at my gorgeous girl, as

she explained how the hell she managed to loose the car keys.
“Claire. Are you serious right now?? I have a flight to catch in 1 hour!!” I seethed at her, veins bulging in my temple at the blatant mindlessness.
“They look so different than our usual keys...” She stammered “We’ll find them you’ll be fine” She starts upending the apartment again. “See if the phones are still down, maybe you can call a taxi?” The cell coverage had died last night, mid call to my editor, he had given me a great article to cover, turns out a good old boy in Balota had some really fantastical story which he’d only release to us, I was to fly down into the main airport on - now get this you’ll love it - flight 69. The school boy in me chuckled so hard, and now I was about to be delayed from that wonderful chopper ride. The front door clattered into life, I shook my head and waved a dismissive hand gesture to Claire, I was cooling down now flight 69 was becoming less of an opportunity.
“Hello neighbour!” Vladamirs thick Russian accent and striking full body Addidas jogging suit just completed every Eastern Euro block stereotype I could think of.
“Hey Vlad’ come on in.” He wanders in looking around approvingly “Whats up buddy?”
“Not much, I come to see if phone work”
“Sorry Vlad’ we don’t have a landline, and my cell is dead”
“Mobile?”
“Yeah mobile phone dead too”
“Oh shit me too. I need to go to airport but I don’t know what time cousin arrive”
“Wait, you are heading out to the airport??” I grab his arm a little too quickly Vladamir makes a visible retraction, Claire praire-dogs from behind the couch.
“Yes” He pauses to smooth out his wrinkled tri-striped arm “Cousin coming back from China today, he bring mobile phones”
“Vlad’ I need a ride to the airport, maybe they’ll know what time your cousin lands, Claire lost our keys to the rental” I nod the entire time - just say yes....
“Ok!” His big Russian smile feels like a cartoon character was born “I go bring van around!” He hurries off, I spin around and grab my Camera gear and jacket. Claire smiles
“Am I forgiven?” She sheepishly offers
“Yeah I guess. Grab your coat lets bug out. Lock the door, we’ll figure out how to get in after we get this shoot done.” I pull on my trusty union jack baseball cap - a dichotomy I know but it’s been my lucky hat for so long. “Don’t forget your backpack, it is in the kitchen”
“This thing almost weighs as much as your camera bag, what did you fill it with? Tinned food!” an inside joke, we went hiking when we first met, Claire had never hiked and I told her to bring a few days worth of food, in her complete lack of knowledge and willingness to impress went and bought a backpack and piled in 2 days worth of tinned food and a sleeping bag. Only after 3 hours of hiking did I find out and we ended up camping early and well... you get the gist.

Vladamir drove fast. My last location was Japan, they were pretty conservative drivers really, even the cops had top-speed limiters attached to their cars. He cheerfully chattered as I looked over my notes. Very little was known about this individual. I half expected a crazy Russian scientist, half expected a hoax. I glanced at my watch, it’d be a close ride. Vladamir flashed his cartoon smile and asked “You like music?” without waiting for a response he starts twirling the dial on his radio... Static. He looks confused and musters up his best thick Amercian accent “Those damn Ruskies don’t have radio, Mother Russia says no!” Despite his efforts he still sounds Russian. I laugh, Claire stares out the window, her face unrevealing. Fights often do that to her, she crashes, a sort of shut-down of most systems in her body as she regroups. She hates conflict, almost as much as I revel in it. We are ying and yang personified, we often joked about that, a Brit guy with an African girl always stands out. Some things don’t seem to change unfortunately.
“Where you go?”
“Heading to Balota, not far from here, we’re taking a helicopter”
“Big news man huh!” He takes this moment to friendly punch me in the shoulder “I have story for you too! My Cousin says China is big trouble, big sickness there.”
“How big?”
“Big!” He says his hands thrown off the wheel indicating a very large amount “People dead. Lots people dead”
“No shit!”
“Yes shit!” He looks suddenly sincere, cartoonish features are gone.
“I know... ‘No shit’ is a saying, to say like Oh wow! really?!”
“I serious big problem!”
“I know Vlad-”
“But you say no?”
“My no meant yes...” The language barrier is starting to frustrate Vlad’ I think he just cursed me out in Russian under his breath...
“Ok but I say big problem you say no for yes?” His confused got outweighed by his wanting to learn new phrases I see...
“Yes. You can respond to something thats exciting, or shocking with ‘no shit’ as a -”
“GUYS!” Claire still staring out the window suddenly (thankfully) interrupts this lesson “What the hell is happening over there!!” She gasps.
She’s pointing towards the right side of the car.Smoke billows in the distance.
It’s far off but looks big. I check my cell again, no coverage. I’m torn now. Do I pursue my editors crackpot in Balota or do I detour and cover the fire... Claire looks at me, seeing that longing.
“Don’t even think it. Your editor gave you a task, he’s trusting you to do that story!”
“You’re right, but what if he is looking at that fire going ‘I wish I could get hold of Max to cover that...”
“Do job. Boss happy”
“You guys probably are right...” I wind down the window and pull out my camera with a long lens, snap off a volley of shots. The car ride was fairly quiet for the remaining time as the smoke eventually disappears in the mirror.

The airport is busy, people are milling around doing day to day work, my chopper sits on the runway. I feel like a rockstar, shouldering my camera and Claires backpack I stroll to it casually. Vladamir follows, he wants to make sure we are good to go. His Cousins flight was cancelled, he’ll be in tomorrow. The chopper pilot waves at me. I am a little disappointed to hear flight 69 left over an hour ago and I’ll be on flight 71. There goes that great story I figure.
“Vlad’ can I pay you for the ride?” I offer
“No we are friend, no need pay” He paused
“Lets get this bird in the air” Says the pilot tapping his watch “Everyone in”
“Vlad’ thanks again” I shake his hand, trying to make eye contact but he’s lost in the choppers propellers. He wants to come but doesn’t want to ask “Hey here’s a crazy idea, and don’t feel pressured. You want to come along? We are coming back tomorrow...”
“No shit! You are great friend” Vladamir beamed at the chance to use a new phrase and the imminent helicopter travel.

The Huey clattered into life. We all seat-belt up and don our massive earphones. The air pressure changes as we rise into the air, people become ants, trees, cars and buildings look like models or toys. From up in the air you can almost see the smoke stack from the north. Balota lies south of us, theres a main airport near Lapotina that we’ll land at, there a junior assistant will shuttle us to Balota. Claire holds my hand and rests her head on my shoulder. She is a champ. She has seen the inside of so many choppers due to my job and now she’s immune to the magic of human flight, we adapt so quickly I muse. Vladamir makes up for our apathy, his cartoon smile is in over-drive. The flight was fairly brief I took the time to relax and centre myself for the upcoming interview. I hoped the Jr had done his job and laid the groundwork already.

“ETA 10”
“Roger!” Responded Vladamir, he was living the dream. “I’m Rambo!” he laughed, posing all tough. Claire laughed beside me. She was recharged and wasn’t in her post argument funk. She pulled out her phone and shook her head.
“Still down. Vladamir, do you have allot of mobile phone issues out here?”
“No, all good, great signal here”
“Probably storm interference” I point to the gigantic black cloud over our landing zone.
“Comms have been down since this morning, right after the planes were all cancelled” Chimed in the pilot.
“Wait all planes?” I ask suddenly my intrigue was piqued.
“Yeah, all incoming and outgoing are grounded. Last comm with this airfield was over 9 hours ago. Cells were spotty this morning till 07:00 then just stopped.”
“Thats a little weird right?”
“I’ll say. Maybe with that big meeting they’re doing not far from us, maybe they jammed frequencies? This doesn’t feel accidental.”
“What meeting?”
“North of the airport, probably 75 clicks at most. Been flying presidents and world leaders in all day yesterday.”
“Max... That fire” Claire looked worried, she was not immune to my investigatorial whims too, she had them as well.
“I know, I was thinking the same thing, I need to get hold of Carl, he may want to me to cover that after all...” I sighed. We should’ve detoured. I looked out the side and saw the distinct large lines of an airstrip. Nature doesn’t build in straight lines I heard someone say in a film once. Ahead in the distance I can see a large water reservoir. It looks like a large ball on a stick. Strong cables tie it to the ground. As we approach the airfield I spot a group of people standing close to some industrial hangers, there are people lying on the tarmac. I pull out my camera and lean over the edge and photograph the scene. Then I review the shot, hitting display button I use the cameras built in viewer to zoom in on the image and get a better look. Blood. There’s been some kind of industrial accident. The pilot levels out and starts to land in the center of the field. Off the tarmac as we have 0 comms and the last thing we need is a biplane crashing into us. A military grade Humvee rips across the tarmac towards us, the large group of industrial workers is now moving towards us fast. Claire is looking worried, Vladamir too. As we touch down the pilot grins at us as the whine decreases with the shut off engine.
“I have to fuel her up before we move out, all that flying has us on practically empty! We could barely make it to Balota from here!”
“Start it back up I don’t like the look of this!” I yell over the whine of the decreasing propellers.
“Are you crazy! We have no fuel!” He shouted back, and then he saw it. The large group of workers running towards us. He swallowed hard, and frantically restarted the engine, the engine groaning under the stress of starting again. He tapped the fuel and then kissed his fingers and placed them upon the picture. A young man with a dog and a fishing net stands by a lake. I wished I had my short lens on my camera, that would’ve been quite the shot. The Humvee slams on it’s brakes and a soldier hops out and sprints to us, Vlad pulls him in and the chopper lifts, the Humvee is already moving away. The crowd of people pummel the side of the chopper with brute force, pushing the rotors into the remainder of the crowd of people, screams erupt over the bloody swath of bones and flesh being hurled everywhere as the chopper deftly corrects itself, the ground seems to fall away, a few people are clinging on the helicopter still, making our ascent brutally unstable. The soldier pulls his rifle and clips the clingers with cold efficiency. Claire and I sit shocked, covered in blood, sweat and shaking with a monumental dose of adrenaline.
“What the fuck!!” Screams the pilot. “You see them!!??”
“What’s going on!” I yelled back, glaring at the soldier, his blank look suggested he didn’t speak any English. Vlad jumped into translation mode and started talking to him. The Pilot shook his head.
“Fuck. We have 2 minutes of flight we need to land now!” His thick Philly accent was a stark contrast to the heavy Russian speak that I was trying to understand. Vlad was pale, almost sickly looking. Whatever it was I doubt it was anything but bad. Claire grabs the GPS in the back of the chopper, eyeballs the ground and calls out a coordinate for the pilot.
“Pilot heading 050:077. Theres a flat there.” She said coldly, I had seen this look before, back when we were in Iraq, we were covering a unit and one of our writers had gone with a group of soldiers, she had guided him out of a warzone remotely using her topographic knowledge and surveying skills.
“Righto. That Humvee is following us he’s not far out.”
“Vladamir!” I shook him, he was tearing up. “Vlad’ talk to us!”
“Its bad shit. Very bad. People dead and walking. People are all dead. And walking” He was stammering like he was shell shocked.
“Vlad’ did you just say the dead are walking??” I scream back, a new wave of adrenaline was kicking in as Claire dug her nails deep into my arm.
“No shit.” He responded. I dismissed the terrible use of his English and asked the pilot
“Can we fill up and get out of here?”
“Not here.” He pointed to the area. A large field with no fuel in sight. The Humvee was off roading, bee-lining us. The Russian soldier hands Vlad’ his pistol and we start unbuckling as we land. Claire was right this is wide open and perfect for an emergency landing. The pilot wasn’t even waiting for the wind-down, he was already running towards the road, we grab our gear and follow Vlad’. The Humvee pulls up and we all pile in.
“Whats going on!!” I yell at the driver
“Hell broke loose mate.” The driver said shifting into gear. I notice he’s wearing different clothes, more of a spec-ops gear. “My names Scott. I was here on an exfil mission when the event happened here.”
“What event??” I ask leaning forward gripping the back of the front seat, 4 in the backseat of a Humvee is crowded.
“24 hours ago a local HVT was designated for exfil. As we arrived the event had already arrived. A week ago there was the alpha stage, heavy fevers ripped through China, the Chinese government made sure this outbreak was strictly monitored and subdued, but soon the the virus spread, other countries started to contract it. 48 hours ago leaders from across the world were shipped to an undisclosed location not too far from here. There’s a bunker for them to survive. God help us a world repopulated with politicians.” He paused and glanced at his map, then sped up again towards a town not far from us. “So Anyways this virus burns through you real quick and then it, well, zombifies you. Real dawn of the dead shit. The US is completely overrun. Europe and the other countries with mass air travel are overrun. These zombies are not human, they also like to snack on hot things, they hear well, see pretty decent too. Basically we were heading to the airfield to gather supplies and hoping to fly out.” He elbows our pilot. “Am I ever glad you showed up, that chopper is the only way out.. We have to grab the HVT but then we can exfil.”
“No fuel”
“Come again mate?”
“The Chopper has no fuel left.”
“Mate you must have, you shouldn’t take off without fueling thats the rules ain’t it?”
“Yeah well I got distracted.”
“By what!” Scott was glaring at the pilot now.
“I was tired from all the shuttling of the leaders... I ended up crashing at a air-hostesses place.” He said sheepishly “Wasn’t until just before these guys showed up that I realised the crew didn’t do a check over or fuel up”.
“Well thats just perfect.” Scott slammed his hand on the wheel. He thumbed the air backwards motioning for Scott to look in the cargo area “Will those jerry cans work?”
“We’d need a ton of gas, but if we can get 5 of those loaded up we can fly to the airfield. Providing the crew isn’t there still...”
“I feel like I fell into a horror movie. Max tell me we’re not doing this” Claire begged
“Seems we have no choice.” I squeeze her shoulders and kiss her slumped head.
“OVER THERE!” Vladamir shouted excitedly pointing to the West. Smoked poured from a field. I shifted my weight and saw a burning wreck. Familiar rotors twisted into the sky at an awkward angle.
“Damn shame.” Scott said shaking his head “That chopper over there would’ve been a perfect escape chopper. You know it was called Flight 69? Thats a porn-name chopper ain’t it!” Scotts words rolled through my brain like a flood of information, the sky darkened with angry clouds, and here I was in a new world. Hell it was barely lunch time and the world was gone. Outside this rolling tin can laid a world of death, confusion and obliteration. Mankind was reduced to crumbs. And now we faced the true evolutionary gap. If we didn’t learn fast we were extinct.
“Where are we heading?” Claire asks Scott, moving herself to onto my lap, audible breaths of relief from all as our ass-space just got free room.
“Cherno sweetheart” He paused for obvious dramatic effect and turned to look at us “We’re going into the lions den to get the bastard that star-”

A loud bang and a sickening crunch and blackness fell upon me.

The Humvees wheels spun and the engine ticked as the car lay upside down in the field. There was no movement.

…....To be continued

[SgtRazor]

Just another day in Chernarus.

It had been a while since I’d run across someone hostile; someone still alive and hostile in any case. The zombies always are, and there is no negotiating with them. The only diplomacy they understand comes from the business end of whatever weapon you have at hand; oddly enough that's the only way to deal with most humans now too.
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Weapon… I still feel a tinge of loss when I remember my M4A1 CCO SD. I loved it. With so few humans left anymore, you tended to feel the void of companionship with a high devotion to your gear. And nothing else saved me as often as that gun had. The silencer was perfect for keeping a hoard from descending upon me when I needed to shoot in a town, and it kept me unheard from any hostile ears as well. It had apparently fallen out of my pack, and no amount of searching revealed it. The day after that incident was not one I recall fondly. I was frustrated beyond belief. My backup silenced M9 was simply no replacement.

A few days back I’d spent the night looting the military airbase in the North West of this tiny God forsaken country. My hope was I’d find another CCO SD. My hope was great, but the endeavor was futile. After searching for a good two hours, I never found one. I was going to give up and head out when I decided to hit the Northern Barracks. I knew I couldn’t spend much more time here; it was a hot zone and hostile humans tended to set-up camps nearby.

When I entered the Barracks I spotted a large camouflaged pack just lying there on the ground! It was a much better pack than the one I was carrying. Despite being devoted to my gear, I knew an upgrade when I saw one and took it. It matched my camo outfit I’d been wearing much better. I’d be much more difficult to see in the vast forests of Chernarus.

In the tiny bathroom, I spotted a M4A1 HOLO with a couple of magazines. Though not my beloved silenced version, it was still a good gun and fired subsonic rounds that the zombies oddly didn’t react to, but hostile humans could still hear. I still had a few of those SD mags on me, they are a rare thing now and it would have been folly to ditch them when I lost the gun. I felt bad for the poor soul that met his end in the bathroom, and decided to shoot a few of the military zombies loitering around the Barracks through the head. Maybe one of them was the guy whose gun I just snagged; I could think of no better way of giving my thanks.

I discovered nothing else of much use when I checked the few rooms left. At the last room, that changed. Under the rack was sitting a camouflaged M40A3. I couldn’t believe my luck! I’d spent some time, before this plague brought the world to its knees, at the practice range with this gun. It was a solid performer, and as a sniper rifle it wasn’t as cumbersome as one of the bigger ones. With the camouflaged outfit I had on, the camo pack, and now a camo gun, I’d be extremely hard to spot if I didn’t want to be seen. And with this new pack, I could easily accommodate the M40 and the M4A1. I snagged what rounds I could find for the M40 and headed out.

Apparently just in time too. I decided to check out my surroundings before I ran out of the area and I noticed a few zombies high tailing it into a hanger near the Southern end of the Airfield. They only ran like that when they spotted warm flesh to devour. I didn't spend time deciding what to do. The few friendly guys I had run into knew how to reach me on the radio and would have let me know if they were making a night run in the Airfield.

I ran. I zig zagged through the zombies around the Barracks and made straight for the wooded area and fence to the East. I had attracted my own little hoard of flesh-devouring monsters but I doubt the guy could stop to check out his surroundings with zombies on his heels. I figured once I got to the woods I’d lose my followers and make for one of my secluded camps.

Nothing else happened that night. I lost the zombies in the woods and made for the woods East of Grishino.
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The next couple of days I spent some time getting familiar with the M40A3 again. I practiced on whatever wildlife I could find and a few zombies that had claimed a deer stand. I was down to only 15 rounds and felt more comfortable taking on anything at distances up to 600 meters. The max zeroing range for the gun was 800 meters, and seeing anything past that was generally impossible with this post-apocalypse weather.
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I was near Grishino this morning when I met up with a friend of mine, Krom. We were just going to loot a few places for anything interesting when we got a message from another friend of ours who had run into a survivor, he went by Fire, which had the bad fortune of running ashore this hell of a land. He needed some help getting the necessities of life figured out under a post-apocalypse zombie-infested world, and we were willing to help anyone that needed it.

We met up with him and received a call from another friend, Scott, that said he was near the North West Airfield and didn’t see anyone here. What better way to get someone prepared than there? It was a gamble; he could score big, or lose it all. The call was made to risk it. We made our way there. Unfortunately, we didn’t find anything there of real note. Some small stuff sure, but nothing worth the risk. We headed out with Scott in tow, and we discovered some unknown person’s tent that was loaded out with some ammo and a gun or two and passed them out.

We were headed towards Grishino when Nuckle contacted us. Nuckle was a fellow Alabamian, though he did pull for the wrong team. He was also near Grishino and after meeting up, we decided to make for Stary Sobor and see if there was anything left in the store and military tents there.

Stary is almost just as much of a hot-zone as NW Airfield is. But with a group as large as ours, 5 total, we figured we would discourage any bandits through size alone. If only that was true.

We approached from the North through Old Fields. We were alert. We never heard or saw signs of other humans during our approach. We stopped in a large forested hill North of Stary. This hill let you scope out the hills overlooking the town itself, and the large field that lay between us and those fields. I’ve seen many people, bandits and friends alike, that died in that field so caution was advised before moving forward.
I decided to find a nice large tree to buddy up to and provide cover and recon of the North side of “Sniper Hill”, the Northern fields, and as much of the Northwest side of Stary as I could with my Rangefinders and M40A3 while the rest of the group was inside the town itself. With my camo outfit, pack, and gun I’d be difficult to spot from anything less than an intense search.

I never wanted to meaninglessly take another man’s life, not when there was so few of us left, but I’d do what I could to protect my buddies.
I did an initial sweep of the area to familiarize myself with the layout and geography of the area. I jotted down the range of key areas. About 650m to Sniper Hill, 700m to the barn off to the right. The fog was heavy today, I could just make out the top of Sniper Hill, but I couldn’t see the road that led to Stary from Kabanino. If the fog lifted just a bit, I’d be able to spot any vehicles approaching from that direction. Then I waited.

The team in the town maintained communications and nothing excited happened for the next 10 minutes. Then, someone accidentally fired a non-silenced round and the group had to fight off a small hoard. We miraculously didn’t lose anyone, but the sounds of gun fire could be heard from far away.

It was then that I noticed a slight lifting of the fog and a white car, not moving or occupied on the road. Had that been there all this time and I’m just now seeing it? Or was it recently parked? I reported it to the group and scoped the area looking for any movement. I saw none. I reported that I did not see anyone near the car or on the hill, but to keep an eye out on their side. Nuckle decided to go check it out, and moved into the hill opposite of me. I saw him cross the ridge and as he did so…

“I’ve got someone!” he yelled out. That was followed by a short barrage of gunfire. Then I saw him too. Just moving out of a line of bushes was the shooter. Nuckle didn’t go down and managed to move into the bushes as the guy started to follow. I had my distance figured out and I fired. Miss. I corrected my aim and the second shot hit the guy in his lower right back. He didn’t go down though and he managed to deliver the killing shot to Nuckle as my third shot just missed.

The guy began to run into the trees along the top of Sniper Hill and as he did I noticed a second guy in a Ghillie suit just cresting the ridge and moving south down the other slope. I didn’t think I’d hit him but fired one off just as he disappeared from view.

The guys in the town had their own problems to deal with. One of the bandits had managed to sneak up into the tents with them and had managed to take out Krom just as Nuckle was taken down. The remaining two guys, Scott and Fire, had run out of the tents at a South East angle towards a house and the trees beyond and were managing to avoid the spray of bullets the bandit was sending their way.

Meanwhile, the guy that took out Nuckle had moved back on the Northern slope to bandage the wound I had inflicted in him. That was odd. If they heard my shots, then they had to have known I was shooting at them from the North. Maybe the gun’s sound doesn’t travel that far? I’d never heard one fired from a distance so I couldn’t answer that. But I wasn’t going to turn down an easy shot. I had the time so I pulled out the Rangefinders and got his exact distance, switched back to the M40A3, lined up and fired. It hit him square in the chest, and he went down. I prepared to fire again but as I went to pull the trigger, nothing happened. I’d lost count of my shots and needed to insert more rounds! I did so and saw that the guy was on his back still and not moving. I figured he was dead. There was no need in wasting one of my remaining ten bullets.

Scott and Fire had managed to get to a building and had hunkered down out of sight from the bandit that was on to them. For the moment they were safe. But I couldn’t help them from my location, and if my shots had been heard, Ghillie guy and whoever else was with them would definitely be trying to find me. I decided to move.

Pulling up my map, I remembered a grove of trees that was a little elevated and South East of the tents and Scott and Fire’s holdout. I confirmed their location and planned a safe route to get there quickly. My best bet was to move due north from my location at a sprint into the trees then cut east along a tree line before going south along the Eastern edge of Novy Sobor. Then, I took off, zig zagged while I ran just in case someone spotted me. After I was well enough concealed by the trees, I sprinted on my planned route.

While moving, Fire had decided to face the bandit dead on and charge. Maybe, he figured, that would surprise the bandit enough that Fire would have an opportunity to shoot him down. “It is the last thing he’d expect!” were the last words Fire spoke.

Scott had stayed behind the house and wasn’t going to move until I got into position. I was doing the math in my head. We had 3 confirmed bandits when the engagement started. There could be one more; that white car could hold up to four people. I had taken down one on the hill. That left the bandit that was after Scott, and Ghillie guy. We had no idea where Ghillie guy was at the moment.

I reached my planned position with nothing happening to me. I could easily see the big red industrial about 500 meters out, and the eastern most row of military tents about 850 meters, and the foot of the hill beyond at around 900. The fog had returned and the foot was all I could see of that hill. I spotted Krom’s body near the tents, all his gear still there it looked like, and Fire’s body in the field by Big Red. I couldn’t see the bandit near Scott.

Scott called out that he spotted Ghillie guy just north of the tents, and he quickly lost sight of him. I looked but I was just too far to see anything. We played the waiting game. Whoever moved first would probably die.

After a few more minutes of silence Scott spotted his bandit heading back to the Big Red and I quickly aimed in that direction, spotting him as he headed for Fire’s body. I didn’t waste my time in shooting. I missed, I had over corrected for his crouch run. My second shot hit him right in the knee and he went down. He had a small hoard of zombies following him, and they quickly descended upon his shuffling form. I sent one more bullet through his chest in an attempt to finish the guy off before the zombies did.

Scott had also sent some bullets his way, they missed but he now had some freedom of movement since the bandit was dead. That left one confirmed hostile remaining. I had 7 shots left. The town got eerily quiet. The sight of the zombies munching away on the dead bandit was a gruesome one. I focused my aim back to the tents and the hill beyond. Not much seemed to be happening until I noticed some movement near Krom’s body. A bandit was moving to loot his body. And it looked just like the bandit I had shot on the hill. I guess I hadn’t killed him, just knocked him out. I let out an exasperated sigh. I knew I should’ve shot him again.

I had Krom’s body distance figured out, but unfortunately for me the bandit bent down to check his body at a spot where a fence post blocked most of his body from my view. I aimed at his legs, the one thing visible enough to shoot, and fired. The bandit was at a range I had never practiced for and despite zeroing, the bullet fell a few feet from the bandit’s legs. It did cause him to forget the looting and take off for the hill. I fired one more bullet that went just by his running form before I had to reload and lost sight.

I relayed my ammo status to Scott and he took the opportunity to flee his building for my tree line. I scoped out the hill during this time and never noticed further signs of movement to Krom’s body. Scott reached me and helped me replenish my ammo. I decided that I had been in that spot for too long, and that if these bandits were worth anything they would be trying to flank me. We needed to relocate faster than they could, and the call was made to double-time it South and then West along some bushes and trees to another grove of trees that was due south of Stary.

I ended up moving further South than Scott did before turning east. I hit the grove of trees and started crouch walking to its western edge. Maybe I could spot their vehicle and blow out the tires to piss them off if they were moving to ex-fil. As I came upon a thick pine near the edge under some power lines, I heard a shuffling in the woods behind me. I quickly spun around; Scott wasn’t this close to me. There, 50 meters from me and running away oblivious to my presence, was the bandit I had failed to take down earlier. My camo had saved me. I called out a bandit on the radio for Scott’s benefit and fired. Miss. In my haste, I had failed to zero the scope from 800 meters to 100 meters and my bullet went high. He turned around, and I zeroed my scope in record time, firing a second shot that hit him square in the chest and knocking him down as Scott spotted Ghillie man running towards me and fired. I fired a third round. This time, the bandit was down for good, his head barely resembling its prior form. Scott had also killed the Ghillie guy. Ghillie had started sprinting after the sound of my gun when I first fired, exposing himself perfectly to Scott’s DMR.

A feeling of victory and vengeance began washing over me. We had killed the three bandits that had killed our friends. What they thought to be easy prey knew how to fight back, and their game of quick murder and looting turned out to be their downfall. I felt bad for my friends. But one thing you get accustomed to in this new world is death.

We got a call on the radio from Carl, and he was on his way in his tractor. We could load up everyone’s valuables and store them for future use. I made my way over to the bandit’s body to check it for gear. And in his pack, I found a CCO SD and a couple mags of SD ammo. The joy I felt was immense. Victory was indeed mine and I would enjoy these spoils!

I heard the tractor in the distance and guided Carl to our positions. I was crouched next to a tree when the tractor went rolling by and I saw him: a lone human running in the tractor’s wake. I called it out to Carl and as Carl began to swerve, the guy stopped, aimed, and fired his DMR at the tractor. He was no more than 20 meters from me, and I took my time aiming my CCO SD at his chest, selected Full Auto, and squeezed the trigger. I’m sure the sound of my silenced barrage caught him by surprise, but to me, it sounded like sweet, sweet music. The first bullets hit his chest, and the slight upward jerk of the gun as it fired sent the remaining shots into his body and head in a clear line leading from his sternum to his forehead. As he went down, a grin spread across my face.

It was just another day in Chernarus.

[Kill8ox]

This need a sticky!