TheLaughingMan

Not sure how many of you have heard of Day Z, but it is a mod for ARMAII that may be one of the most "realistic" zombie survival games I have ever played. You start off with just your bare hands and must sneak your way into towns, past the hordes of zombies in hopes to find the supplies you need to survive. This includes drinks, food, ammo, weapons, vehicle parts, blood, morphine.... anything that can help you survive. This is the story of my first day in Day Z.

I found myself washed on the shores Chernarus, just south of the small town of Balota. In the distance I see a small group of buildings with an airstrip to the east. Against my better judgement I decide to head over to the airstrip, in hopes that the shacks along it will have something that I can use. I crouch slowly up to the airstrip, keeping my distance from the crawlers (zombies that crawl) and hoppers (you guessed it, these ones hop).

I make my way over to a storage shed only to find another survivor has beaten me to it. I contemplate whether or not to make my presence known and decide since I have nothing to lose to reach out to him. "Hey there, fresh starter here. Finally made my way over here but it looks like you beat me to it," I said. The survivor turned around quickly aiming his shotgun right at my face. I could see the wheels turning in his mind about whether or not to take me out, a few seconds passed but it felt like forever.

Eventually he lowered his weapon and spoke, "You scared the crap out of me, it isn't often I see another survivor out this way. From the looks of it you don't have much on you so you aren't much of a threat." He fiddled with his backpack and pulled out an old rusty hatchet. "Here, at least now you defend yourself." I took the hatchet, looking it over, giving it a few swings at the air to get a handle on it. It was nice to find a friendly face, too many time had I heard to stories of survivors taking each other out over something so simple like a can of pop. Though he did not fully trust me and decided it would be better to go our separate ways.

I headed out of the shed, deciding to make my way over to the town. There were zombies everywhere, I spent most of my time on my belly, crawling as slow as I could towards the town. Everything was fine until out of no where a zombie came out from the bush next to me. I froze, praying that it wouldn't notice me laying on the ground but my prayer went unanswered. The zombie lunged at me, clawing at my arm. I swung with my hatchet, first hitting in the shoulder and then square in the head.

I had done it, killed my first zombie or zed as others call them, but the damage had been done. There was a fair amount of blood coming out from let arm. My only hope was that the house ahead of me had some bandages inside. I crawled my way inside, slowly looking around the house, listening for any sign of zombies inside. Next to the kitchen table I found a dead survivor with a bullet hole in their head. They had a backpack on them, I took it and looked through it. There were a few bandages, some pain meds, and rounds for a Lee Enfield.

I quickly bandaged up my arm to stop the blood loss, wanting to get out as quickly as I can. I didn't want to meet the same fate as this survivor. Before I left I decided to check the body, finding a Lee Enfield to go with the rounds I found. I would of rather found something a bit quieter, there was a reason the Lee Enfield was nicknamed "The Zed Dinner Bell." I made one last sweep of the house, stocking up on a few cans of soda and a can of sardines. I absolutely HATE sardines but this was the first food I had seen, I threw them in the backpack deciding I would only eat them if it came down to it.

I was feeling a little dizzy, that cut on my arm cost me a lot of blood. I decided to take the pain meds so that I could focus on something other than the throbbing in my arm. As I made my way out of town I saw a sign for Chernogorsk. I new that there were two hospitals along with some apartments in Cherno. With my recent blood lost I needed the supplies inside the hospitals so I decided to head that way. It would be safer to hug the coast as the zeds seemed to not like the water. After a 30 minute jog I had found Cherno.

Cherno is known to be filled with bandits, they raid the hospitals and residential houses for supplies. Once they have enough they camp out on the roofs, just waiting to take out others trying to do the same. It was a big risk going into a hospital but without the blood that was inside there was no way I would survive for long. It was getting dark out so I decided to wait a bit so that I could use it to my advantage. A few minutes later and the sun was almost down, it was time to make my way over.

The good thing about the dark is that zeds can't see a thing in it, the bad things is neither can I. The only thing guiding me was a light coming from one of the rooms in the hospital. I made my way up with no issues. The door to get in was locked but there was a big glass window I could break to get in. Trying to minimize the noise I took out my hatchet and smacked the window, shattering it into a hundred pieces. A few seconds later and I heard gun shoots followed by a few bullets whizzing by me. The sound must have alerted some bandits. I immediately ran in, climbing the stairs a few flights so that they could not get another shot at me.

At this point the pain meds where starting to wear out, that dizzy feeling started to come back. I knew I needed some blood so I ignored the fact that bandits were after me and searched the cabinets. Luckily there were a few blood bags, I quickly used one to perform a blood transfusion and threw the others in my backpack. On the floor in another room I found a revolver with a few rounds, at least this thing wouldn't alert every zed around me to my presence when fired. Then I heard some voices coming from down below, then bandits must of followed me in.

I decided my best bet was to get onto the roof, that way there was only a single path up and I could defend it if needed. A few times the voices got really close. I could of swore that once or twice they were just below me. Eventually the voices grew distant, they must have given up the search for me and decided to head back out. I crawled to the edge of the roof and watched to see if they came out from the broken window. A few minutes later three bandits come crawling out, slowly making their way back to their hideout.

At that point I decided I should return the favor and shoot back at them. My revolver only had a few rounds and I might need them to get out of the hospital. I checked my bag, I had five shots in my Lee Enfield. Ammo is scarce out here and the chances of me getting down in time to loot the bodies before zeds showed up was small. Then an idea formed, since there was no way I would make it down in time to loot them, why not save the ammo and kill them with a single shot? I took the Lee Enfield in my hand, raised it towards the sky, and fired. The sound was loud enough to alert every zed on this side of town.

The bandits quickly turned, getting off a few shots at me as I crawled back from the edge. They should of saved that ammo because they were going to need it. As I positioned myself at the only entrance to the roof I could hear the zeds coming. The bandits had not chance but to hightail it back into the hospital. Within moments the place was flooded with zeds. I could hear the three bandits below fire off every round they had. Slowly but surely it went from three guns firing, to two, and then only one. They were out of ammo and the zeds were still coming in.

They never had a chance, once the last bullet was fired they were zed food. You could hear their screams as the zeds pulled them apart, fighting over the fresh food. The surviving zeds seemed to be content as they were no longer rushing up to get to the roof. I waited until I could no longer hear them before placing some wire I had found on the roof in from the of the entrance and then calling it a night. I had survived my first day in Chernarus, but tomorrow was going to be a long day as I now had to get out of the hospital.