Before this story I had killed 2 people. One because I confused a fresh spawn with a zombie my first day, and the second because this dude tried to creep on me at the tents (I just circled around and shot him in the back, ho-hum). Other than that I actively avoided people and usually hid/ran when armed people were around. I like role playing the lone wolf and refused to KOS ... killing and dying just isn't worth a bag of rice. I am trying to play the game "right". I play on high pop servers, vet/hardcore. I use a compass and experience to get around instead of the map programs. So I was about 8 hours into my life. High energy and a nice military kit, about 80% complete. Loads of ammo, mostly pristine gear (from lack of battle :)), etc. I entered a prison and closed the door behind me. I checked out the jail and left the door open while proceeding the the back room on the first floor. (Now mind you, the next sequence takes maybe 30 seconds tops to transpire) 'hello?' -- 'anyone here?' -- 'hello' cracked over the comms I quickly shut the door to my room and froze. I was trapped, nowhere to run. I hope they explore the outside first and give me a chance to run. If they enter the prison they know I am here since the jail door is open. Not good. 'hello?' -- 'you here?' kept getting closer I trained on the door, unsure what to do. Respond? No, that's a dead give away. Make a ru-- *BOOM* the door kicks in and this guy rushes in. Without hesitating I let loose a burst of fire. He spins around and runs into the wall. As I start to process the fact that he is unarmed I hear: 'IN HERE' -- 'HE SHOT' Fuck me. I continue to process the situation. I am now a KOSer and that's not good. I also just nearly killed an unarmed guy so he's in full fight or flight mode. Talking is off the table. And his buddy(ies) are near by. He tries to run out the door and I make the call -- finish him. I burst another round and he falls dead. I close the door and look at my clip. 13/60. Two things become immediately apparent. I need more ammo and holy shit am I bad at shooting. This isn't gonna be good for the fire fight that is now imminent. RELOAD I shout in my head. Panic has now set in. How? Drag clip to gun in hands. Drop gun and hold clip. Fuck me. More panic. Hold gun, remove clip. No space. Drop something, remove clip, reload a new full 60/60 clip. Check. Whew. Now what? RUN!! I open the door expecting OK Corral right then and there. But nothing. No noise, no movement, no anything. I go to full stand and start moving forward, gun raised. As I round the corner of the stairs I see a dude leaning into the prison from the outside with a mosin. I get off a half burst before he (or someone up the stairs?) kills me. I log off in disgust. Not because I was killed, but because when the dook hit the fan I reverted back to a primal KOS mode. I hadn't planned that. I never wanted to. It just happened. My heart is pumping like I just ran a mile. Side note: I immediately logged back in and vowed to make it right this next life. I ran into "The Narrator", a guy who was talking about everything happening around him in third person. We stripped, punched zombies and both bleeding, I ended up using my last bandage on him to save his life. We sat by the sea and looked at the sun while my life slowly slipped away. It was pretty damn fun. -- (Hey Narrator, it's me, "Naked Guy"). Good times. I learned a lot from my prison encounter: One minute you are moving beans to your bag and the next it's a fight for survival. Things happen fast and situations change in a heartbeat. Never forgot that.Muscle memory is important. Had I had more experience using the weapon and simulating battle on zombies I would have performed much better and made better decisions. I know zombies aren't real battle but just knowing how the gun reacts when fired would have helped. How to quickly reload. Having space to drop a mag (or dropping it to floor). I had tons of bullets and should have used some for practice well before this encounter.Dont charge into rooms like the koolaid man, especially if you are pretty sure someone is inside. You lose advantage and scare people into shooting you.Talk. Comms would have at least slowed down the encounter, if not avoided it all together. 2 dead because I got chickenshit on the mic.Don't give up the advantage. I owned the room and once the guy was dead, this encounter had a binary ending: kill or be killed. I should have stayed put and made them come through the door, they have to scan 180 degrees to lock on while I knew exactly where they would come from. Fractions of seconds matter, more so when you are inept with a weapon.No matter how good someone's intentions are, when someone feels threatened they will likely do whatever is necessary to survive. While there are always bandits and serial killers, I bet a lot of KOS happens because people are just plain scared. And that's something both people own.I know, pretty boring story compared to most encounters. But I find it fascinating as a non-killer to be thrust into a situation and see how instinct overrides rational thought. To date, I have still only killed 3 people. And to the guy I killed, sorry. I still feel bad about it.
