Day Z Diary Day 1

Day Z Diary

A group of my friends have started playing the Arma II mod, Day Z, a Zombie survival mod which is as brutal as it is buggy. Yet these bugs mean nothing once you're playing the game as you're either a) running for your life, or b) having a ridiculously fun time and these two options usually coincide.

I've decided to put together a little diary of our adventures in the barren wasteland of Chernarus as we fight to survive against starvation, zombies and dehydration. But mainly against bandits.

A little background information about our group may be necessary, so here is a list of the heroes of the story.

Badger: The protagonist and narrator of this story, aka yours truly.

Tony: My main companion in the various adventures across Chernarus. Tony and I have been playing the most and for the longest. We have taken it upon ourselves to be the unwilling leaders of the group, mainly because we're the only ones with a sense of direction.

Panda: The coward of the group, always complains that we're going to die, never wants to go to the dangerous places, likes to fill his bag with all the “phat lewtz” he wants.

Squiz aka: “Captain Geography”: Newest member to the game, has 0 sense of direction. Once tried to head east to meet up with us, ended up on the western border of the ENTIRE map, three times.

Qworn: We don't see much of Qworn, he likes to run lone wolf. Often in airfields getting shot at or at the other end of the map. Fires upon anyone he sees. Will play the music of Brokeback mountain if anyone is near a tent.

Day 1

Considering our group was recently annihilated by bandits in a field we've had to start again.

Starting locations:

Badger: Centre of Elektrozavodsk

Tony: Otmel Island

Panda: Cap Golova

Squiz: Kamenka

Right, so I'm in the middle of the most populated and dangerous city in the game. Brilliant. Oh well, best to hit the ground running. I spawn on the beach, which is the usual location for spawning and decide to head directly into town as I can't see many zombies around me and I can pick up some supplies for the group. I head past the hospital, leering in to the sweet, sweet medical supplies inside. But no, not yet, I can't risk attracting all the zombies around me, lest the bandits that are undoubtedly lurking around me. So I decide to head to the church.

Oh... it appears I've attracted a zombie.

Wait...

Oh christ...

Around 40 zombies have spawned on top of me... Brilliant. I try to run into the church to find.

Another 40 zombies.

This is a good start.

I run away from the massive horde of zombies baying for my flesh and head towards the school, it's got three floors, I can funnel them and kill them all. I have 6 clips of 7 bullets. 42 bullets... Great.

Once I'm in the school my character starts hyperventilating. Quite fitting considering I'm crying in real life. I manage to take out 8 zombies with 8 head shots. At least I'm being efficient.

Over the top of the zombies moans and the gun shots. I hear Tony complaining that he can't decide whether to choose his AK or a lovely crossbow... Wanker.

I notice the noise has died down, I should be screaming and firing round after round at the horde of zombies that was chasing me, but it appears they've all disappeared. At last. Some luck. I decide to head back to the church. What's the worst that can happen?

In the church I find a crossbow and a new larger bag! Success! This luck is continuing. I sneak out of the church and decide to try out my new silent weapon.

I line up a hopper in my sights.

I carefully aim.

I fire.

I miss.

The hopper continues as if nothing happens.

I'll just pretend that didn't happen. I go to collect my bolt which is now embedded firmly in a wall and head back to the school. A revolver and a map. Things are again looking up, who cares if I can't aim if I keep finding things!

Tony, after much deliberation decides to take both of the weapons he was painfully deciding over... Wanker.

Argh! I've aggroed another zombie! Time for this crossbow to do it's job.

I hit the cunt! I also get the bolt back from his eye ball. My first silent kill, and no one was around to hear it... Wait... Never mind.

Onwards to the nearby supermarket. Pick up some bits. I hear an update over vent about Squiz, he's managed to get lost heading East. He's also managed to lose the sea. This happens a lot. Tony is at Rog Castle, to the North-East of me. Close enough that he starts heading west so I can meet up with him.

I find an m1911, another pistol, I'm throwing away pistols to pick up pistols, the world is my... pistol store. Squiz screams as he's been shot and killed by a bandit. I would be sad, distraught even, if this wasn't a common occurrence. He exclaims “Lucky bastard, he just got himself two maps” I laugh a lot, and envision map man taking over the world.

I decide to crawl to the hospital so I can pick up some supplies before leaving the city. My cowardice is too high and I can't stay in the city much longer. I make it round the back of the hospital and 'liberate' some blood bags, morphine, painkillers and epi-pens. It's not looting in the apocalypse. Whilst I'm sifting around the debris like a junky I hear gunshots and enter panic mode. I run out of the city as fast as I can. I catch the attention of three hoppers as I run out, luckily they're pretty slow and just trundle behind me as I flee.

As I reach the border of the city I notice something moving differently out of the corner of my eye. I look back to see the zombies miles behind me so take out my binoculars. In a field about a kilometre away I see him... A bandit. What's worse, he sees me. I drop my binoculars and run, at a full sprint this time, into the under brush. Squiz yells at me to kill him. Tony shouts over ventrillo “If your heart is pure, the arrow will fly true.” He's a 1000 metres away, and all I have is a crossbow, with an effective range of 40 metres. Fuck that. I keep running. I turn around after about 5 minutes of running to find two zombies (who I named Wingus and Dingus) still chasing after my sweet, sweet flesh. I shoot them both in the face and hide in a bush, calming my shot nerves.

I hear my companions updating me on their current location. Tony, who was heading north, aka away from the sea has ended back at the sea, just east of Elektro. Squiz has arrived at the west of Elektro.

I sigh and turn around.

I decide the best thing to do is to wait at a little pond just north of the city. It's away from the zombies and I'm hidden from the bandits amongst the frond. The others shouldn't be long.

They both are approaching a fire station which could mean they're approaching the same one, unfortunately there are two fire stations in Elektro and seeing as bandits are around neither of them want to make too much noise. Well I say neither of them. I mean Tony. Squiz is sprinting upright (a big no no in this game) and has a horde of zombies behind him. Tony doesn't head towards him just in case the bandits are watching Squiz in the same way that Emperors watch slaves fight lions and hides in the fire station.

Unfortunately there's a fresh corpse in here. An unlooted fresh corpse. Which still has it's items. Which could mean that his killer is very close by. Fortunately for Tony, Squiz has arrived at a different fire station. You can hear the relief in his voice as I chuckle to myself. Squiz climbs above the fire station, but the sound of smug satisfaction in his voice is short lived when we rectify his ignorance about zombie's ability to climb ladders. He's now stuck on the roof of a fire station with angry zombies climbing up a ladder towards him.

I lie by the pond peacefully.

Tony hears shots and decides Squiz isn't worth it and runs towards the pond.

Squiz is no longer scared of the zombies bearing down on him.

Mainly because he's been shot.

Again.

Squiz blames this death on Tony, he should have helped him. Tony blames the death on Squiz. He was on a big red building surrounded by zombies in the middle of a field. I feel I side with Tony on this one. Squiz has a new theory that the bandit was just trying to help him, and he accidentally ran in front of the bullets. Poor, naïve Squiz.

Tony is soiling himself whilst hidden in a bush and decides that although Squiz Mk. 3 has resurrected in Otmel, he's a lost cause and confers with me privately that we should head north together. He can always catch up. We decide to head north to a nearby dam. There's bound to be something there! Otters maybe?

I'm still hiding in the pond waiting for Tony when I hear the distant shot of a sniper rifle or an Enfield. Basically a weapon that could kill me quite easily from very far away, and decide, as Tony can hear it too. I'd best head off north on my own. Tony can catch up!