Well I learned the hard way that I should just murder every single player I ever encounter. I finally got some gear after wandering the game searching empty houses for 4 hours. Picked up a hatchet and a shotgun. I was in a barn when another player ran in bleeding with an entire horde chasing him. I took out the horde and we teamed up for about 15 minutes until he found a hatchet and then buried it into my skull. My new policy is I don't care how friendly they seem, they're going to die.