Karma or "How killing people is bad" (The 24p quotes that are aligned to the right signify a chapter, and is a quote from the chapter itself) "not a living soul was on my tail" I boarded the land near Balota, on the far east side, where the old airstrip spans. The sun was just rising and the way the undead spread across the airstrip seemed almost graceful in the morning light. Suddenly the silence was broken by the sound of gunfire. I was about half way down the strip, in plain sight, so in the panic I turn around and start running for cover. While running I was constantly looking back, to see if any zombies spotted me, but not a living soul was on my tail - they probably went for him rather than me. Only once I was already lying down in the bushes I started paying more attention to the sound of gunshots and realized the shooter is not a sniper, and he is them... It seemed like a second after my moment of clarity the shooting stops and the console spits out: "KingCrimson was killed." "not a rifle, not a pistol.. not even an axe, but I have the upper hand." That's my que - The bandit is probably looting, it's now or never. I know the hangars there were always full of all sorts of goodies and now that I know the bandit was there and he doesn't know I'm here, I have the upper hand... not a rifle, not a pistol.. not even an axe, but I have the upper hand. I climb up the airstrip's control tower to see where he is stationed, but I can't, the only thing I see is about five zombies and what could be his victim wearing an alice backpack. I try to resist and just head east, to the safe-haven of Chernogorsk, but my sin is greed and the temptation too big to resist. With my head low I make my way to the hangars, this time from the north side - the landing strip is south and I'm sure the bandit will be watching that, rather than the plains on his left. I suddenly see him. He's holding a shotgun and running from the hangar closer to me, to the one further away. With one foot already in the hangar I spot another survivor that had just exited the same hangar, but from the second door. I freeze, now it's not a looting mission anymore - these guys are working together and I need to find a gun, ASAP! Going straight for the corpse would be a suicide, since it is close to the second hangar, where the two bandits were stationed now, so going around is the only option. When I was about to lean over the corner, so I could see second hangar's entrances, the two bandits open fire at the passing zombies, getting themselves occupied aswell as clear my path towards the dead survivor. Crawling there takes ages, and I can't believe I'd ever say this, but I wish there were more zombies around. Despite all odds, I make it there, without checking I just throw away my backpack and strap on the big one. I check around and see an Enfield and find 4 magazines on his body. "What a beutiful rifle.." I thought to myself, while checking the aim, when suddenly, the bandit with the shotgun walks sideways around the corner taking slow steady stepps and aiming down his sights, unfortunetelly for him, facing the wrong way. "he didn't fear death, he welcomed it" The shot went straight through his head, and I swear I saw a ray of sunlight shine right through the hole for a split second before his lifeless body collapsed to the floor. I felt fear, excitement, relief and sadness at the same time... but only for a short while, before his buddy came out of the hangar. He surprised me, but he didn't shoot - like he was waiting to see if I was friendly. I didn't give him time to ask, just instant transition into survival-mode and boom... He fell to the ground, and I saw it in his eyes, he didn't fear death, he welcomed it. I glanced at my debug-monitor which stated: Zombies killed: 0 Headshots: 1 Murders: 2 Bandits killed: 0 Then I only felt sadness and shame. The corpse I looted was the bandit and the survivors I murdered were the heroes defending the good image of people in this hell. It all seems so obvious now. The first gunfight I heard was probably them fighting the camping bandit... And when I was sneaking around the hangars, they probably saw me, and thought they would help me by clearing the sight of zombies. And when I shot the first one, the second one was probably thinking it wasn't me and was just checking to see if I was fine... I decided to burry them, so the zombies..- Ok, I burried them because I had to burry them. I had to burry my guilt. And even though they probably weren't as kind hearted as I imagined them in the last paragraph, they were still not murderers like me. They weren't bandits, like me. Hope you guys like this and also, the story doesn't end there, it continues. But it's a lot of work to write like this and if not a single person will read it, I don't see a point. :) So please, let me know if you like it.