Stop and Listen or DIE!

[djporternz 644]

"It's a short story, but I'm telling it, so no doubt it will ramble on longer than it needs to. But, hey, the moon's full, the fires warm, and the beans are free. And there's nowhere worth hurrying off too in this god forsaken piece of earth."

 

You pass over your makshift plate to accept the ladle of reheated beans and... what... rabbit, rat... meaty cubes. Probably best not to ask, but as it is the only hot food you've seen for a good long time, you accept it back and begin to eat.

 

The old man continues, "Washed up not too far from here, a little place called Solnichniy. Been there before... before whatever this is. Liked the place and opportunity or fate, I wasn't too put out to be around here again.

 

The old man fades off a little, lost remembering ghosts of the past, before abruptly continuing. "Like most, I was more than a little hungry and hadn't had so much as a drink of water for a day or so. Couldn't stay standing out on the open coast for too long either, so started in towards the closest houses.

 

"My Pa always said, 'Thirst will kill you first', and I remember that there was a good clean pump at the well just off the centre of town, so moved in that direction. Can't be too careful, though, with all this happening and all, so decided to take a more scenic route up around the treeline up towards the old quarry workings. That'd give me a good look around the place to boot. Lots of flaky trigger happy people I don't want to be sneaking up on, no?"

 

You nod in affirmation. You can't place the taste of the meat, but it's definately fresh and palettable. And the beans are just that. Beans.

 

"I stopped at the top of the hill with a good cover of trees. I could see down to the pond and to the well right enough. Eighteen. Yes, Sir. Eighteen of them things all clustered around that pump like they're all there for some sort of village meeting or some such. Just standing there, mind, not one of them making a sound or moving around even a bit.

 

"Now, I don't have a lot in this world, but back then I had even less. Nothing that would see anything but another committee member joining the fray down below me, so, discretion and all that, I retreated back the way I came a way, and headed wide around coast side to skip out and up the coast to try my luck up that way.

 

"I'd been only legging it north for a couple of minutes or so when I spied someone heading down along the rail tracks. I sped up and changed my direction towards them. Need to close the distance before calling out if I didn't want the townies to take too close an interest in me.

 

"Turned out to be a man... well, really only a boy if truth be told. You know the type. Nothing but the clothes they stand up in, two fists and a desire to prove something. You see them all the time ripped up and thrown aside most places you care to look these days. Saw me standing there, I'm sure of that. Had my hand up trying to indicate for him to stop and hunker down, but his reaction on seeing me was the exact opposite. He sped up his pace and ran wide enough so I wouldn't get a hand on him even if I'd been in a mind to try.

 

"I yelled out to him, 'You might not want to be going that way!' when he was no more than 20 metres away. He heard for sure, and  turned to look directly at me for no more than a second, before charging on his way. Now, I can't be sure it wasn't my yell that got the townsfolk all excited, but the young fool was making a hell of a racket all on his own. Either way, the result wasn't pretty.

 

"There wasn't much of a fight, for all the defence he tried to put up. Against one or even two, the result might have been more in his favour. But eighteen... Nothing I could do then, and in the morning... wasn't even enough left for a good burial."

 

The old man grows quiet for a time. You wipe off your now empty plate and stow it away carefully amongst the rest of your meagre possesions. There are no cans of food to clink or move aside, and an unconcious flick of your eyes to the insignificant stack behind the old man... thinking nothing.

 

Whether the old man saw the eye movement or not, is a speculation for another day, but two of the cans come tessed your way in a gentle arc. You have to abruptly stand to catch them, one in each hand. You catch a glimpse of grey at the firelights  limit. Gunmetal grey and rosewood, half buried in a blanket. Indistinct but unmistakeable.

 

"Looks like you're in a hurry to head back out on the road. You might have a need for those. It's a hard road you'll be walking, and harder still with no one at your back.

 

"Take a bit of advice before you go, though. If you see an old man out there in the world, stop and say 'Hi'. You don't get to be an old man these days without knowing a thing or two. And now more than ever, what you don't know will get you killed."

 

You throw the cans on top of everything and tie down the top of your pack before climbing into the shoulder straps. You turn to say goodbye but the old man is already lost once again in the flames of the firelight, lost in a world that might just as well be from another universe. You turn and walk out of the circle of warmth and light and down into the moonlit night towards the Three Valleys road.

 

You look back and see the old man still sitting and staring across an impassible void into the flames, and remember that glimpse of gunmetal and rosewood...

 

But as the old man said, the moon is full, the fire was warm, and the beans were given freely. And you feel the need to hurry towards... something... in this god forsaken piece of earth.

Edited January 26, 2014 by DJPorterNZ

[rydekk 250]

*Applauses*

 

Well written sir!

 

Have my beans, they are free for all as i know ;)

[Blaaaaaaag 75]

I like story time, have some beans.

 

(and since I'm the pedantic sort, it's "scenic")

 

:P

[djporternz 644]

(and since I'm the pedantic sort, it's "scenic")

I may or may not have fixed this before or after you mentioned it, Maam. Do I still get a passing grade?

[sacrdandprofne 100]

I call for a weekly story-telling hour.

Take my beans!

[eleventhavenue 204]

Amazing. Beans dispensed.

[CGNoodlePot (DayZ) 149]

So the old man was simply saying be friendly to everyone and don't fight one on one against eighteen men. An oh, clean up your mess.

[djporternz 644]

If that's what you're taking away from it, yeah sure, why not. Myself, as I'm the Old Man in the story, wouldn't say that. Go back and re-read it.

 

If you want an overly simplistic TL;DR for what is just a story of events in a digital reality, then I'd say something along the lines of: 'Sometimes friendly advice is simply that. Frendly. Advice' or if you prefer, 'Learn to leaverage other's experience in the DayZ-verse to your own advantage.'

 

Other than that you're reading way too much into it. This isn't an English Lit class, after all.

Edited February 2, 2014 by DJPorterNZ