Me and my partner/brother Wesley had spent the better part of the afternoon moving up the western (the left side of the in game map) side of Chernarus. We had recon'ed and scavenged several points of interest on our way to the city of Zelenogorsk were we planned to re-up on supplies and continue north. Outside of Zeleno we put binoes on the town and scoped for entry/exit points, choke points, things of that nature. After putting together our method of assault we moved in, calm, steady, organized and collected. Inside of the grocery store we were over run (best laid plans and all that). We expended way more ammo and medical supplies than we had planned fending off what seemed to be a never ending horde. We had no choice, it was time to bug out; and that is where our story begins. We ran westward towards the nearest tree cover we could see with a handful of the living dead hot on our heals. Safe in the woods we picked off our persuers. Low on ammo, hungry, thirsty, with the nearest supplies beseiged in a sea of the dead a half a klick behind us , we where out of options. We couldn't go back. We couldn't risk making a run on unfamiliar territory (which we where surrounded by). More importantly, we couldn't stay where we were. We had reported our position to every sniper around. We made the only choice we could make: run back to the coast and scavenge the city we are most familiar with. Cherno. effing Cherno. The run would take about 20-30 minutes from where we were. The route winds through back roads, mountain sides, steep slopes, small villages, thick woods, all of which offered ample cover and concealment to help keep us alive. Wes has to go for the night so I'm left alone, map and compass in hand, rifle at the ready. I'll make the run to Cherno tonight, he'll do it tomorrow. Should be entirely uneventful and completely safe. I look through my kit doing an inventory check: 20 rounds in the mag of my AKM, not good. My forty-five revolver is empty, basically a paper weight in my pack. One canteen of water, one can of beans, one bandage, two epi-pens, one morphine pen, two pain killers, a hunting knife, a hatchet, and a flashlight...a trusty old flashlight. The sun is starting to set. I can still see but the dead's senses are dulled in the failing light. A few miles ahead, on the south side of a mountain in my path I can hear a storm; which means even more cover for me. This combination of circumstances meant that I had a far better chance of making this run than someone who tried to do it in broad day light. Normally, if the dead where my only enemy, this would be a piece-of-cake run. I check my map one last time, get a bearing on my compass, and start running. Half way through the run I stop to check my bearing. It's gotten much darker out so I absolutely must get there soon. I decide that I need to make an eight degree correction to avoid the living dead and hit my rally point exactly. I would have to cross a high way and a portion of a field to get there, which could easily mean death if it were day light out. I lay in the grass at the edge of the forest I had come out of and listen. No gun shots. No undead death rattles. Nothing but the crickets. It has to be safe. Off to my left I can see the silhouettes of a small farm. To my right, the road stretched out until it made a turn around the mountain that I had come off of. Feeling comfortable I stand up and start to make a run for it again. I make it over the road, and start running at full tilt across the field. Suddenly, car horns blare in the farm village and I see two sets of headlights come on. I...am...f***ed... My first thought was that they've got a spotter with night vision goggles scoping the sorrounding country side and that I've surely been seen. Continuing to run across the field would get me run over by a car. Turning back seems the only option. Instead, I think I'm going to be crafty and run around an embankment to make their spotter loose eyes on me. After that I'll make my move back to the woods and back to safety. The hill is too steep for me to negotiate as quickly as I had anticipated. Their head lights are getting way too close for comfort. I'll never make it, so I lay down right there in the grass. The headlights come to a stop no less than twenty feet in front of me. There's a car and an ATV. Two people get out of the car and two others get off the ATV. They scope the woods hoping to find me, hoping to shoot me, hoping to take my supplies. I'm thinking "please let the shadows play a trick on them, please go away". My heart is beating so hard that I'm afraid they'll hear it. I'm on edge. Physically sweating. I could stand up, spray and pray, maybe kill one or two with lucky shot(s) but still die. I could bolt for the opposite side of the field, but their spotter (or even worse, a sniper) would see me before I took a step. I lay there, twenty feet away from death, blinded by headlights, watching the shadows of their feet move around, listening to them hunt me, thinking of any way out of this mess. One of them thinks he spots me up the road and alerts the others. I breathe relief as they drive off around the bend. I wait a moment for them to pass and I stand up to sprint for the trees. As I disappear into the woods I can see their headlights down on the road beneath me. I think I'm home free when they suddenly stop. The ATV whips around and starts to head up the mountain towards me. Their spotter must've seen me. I might be able to shoot the driver of the ATV, but in all likely hood the bullet would have hit a tree instead. So I hide again, this time I'm not so lucky. I'm bathed in his headlights as he starts to scream at me "RUN PIGGY RUN!!!" I start running as fast as I can towards Cherno. The forest is thick enough to slow him down enough so that he can't run me over, but open enough for me to gain some distance on him. I don't slow down, I don't look where I'm going, I crash through thick brush and evergreen scrub, I can still hear him shouting "RUN PIGGY!" inbehind me, every so often the headlights illuminate me completely, I'm not going to make it, he's going to kill me, I am going to die here, alone, scared, wet, in the dark. They will eat my beans. The trees start to look like they're thinning out. I might make it. I finally burst out of the tree line, panting, heaving, I can see the silhouette of Cherno, I'm close. I keep running as hard and fast as I can, then come to a stop not wanting to run blindly into certain death. I can hear the zombies groaning, I've over shot...I am way, way, way too close. I look back quickly, I can still see the psychopath's lights in the trees behind me. I fling a flare as far into town as I can hoping to draw the undead to IT instead of ME. I turn back around towards the trees and spray almost half my remaining clip as suprressive fire into the woods at him. Twelve shots left. As I bolt through town the dead are running towards my flare, blood thirsty, hungry. I look back to see the mad men turn away from Cherno. I dip into an apartment building. This city is hell. No one comes here in the dark unless they're armed to the teeth, f***ing crazy, or have nothing to loose. Here, irronically, I am safe. I get to live another day. I stay awake IRL for the next two hours on edge, blood surging, heart thumping. I smoke a quarter pack of cigarettes. It's just a game....it's just a game...it's just a game....mother f***er it's just a game... (I could have alt+f4'ed at any time, but I'm a grown ass man and not a looser. Besides, the rush I got from this is unparalleled in any game I have ever played, ever)
