Survivor Story. My creative narrative based on playing DayZ!

[thefonztm@gmail.com 86]

I have decided it would be fun to play Day Z and then write a story that mirrors what I did in the game, with a little creative license. (Trim out long parts, add a few story telling elements.) I play it like a game, but I won't do certain things, like log out under fire, ect. As the character can't do that.

So here it is, my story. Enjoy.

NOTE: I'll try to tidy up the format later. Or just download the MS Word document.

If you want to read in chapters, Its got 8. Use find (ctrl+f) and search for "Chp. #)"

Welcome to Chenarus, the travels of the Fonz.

If you’re reading this, I pray to god it’s because I handed it to you.

Chp. 1) A Hangover from Hell

I didn’t know where I was or how I got there. What is did know is that my head hurt like hell and I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. I was on a barren beach. The only feature of note was a lighthouse on a rocky island. When I had hauled myself of the beach I tried to gain my bearings. In the distance I could see the outlines out buildings. With nowhere else in sight, I headed toward the town.

As I approached the buildings, I could feel that something was wrong. The air was still, lifeless. The first few buildings I came across were boarded up. I saw something move in one of the windows. I approached slowly and peered through. Two men where crouched over something, eating. I stood up to get a better view. The men were not crouched over something. They were crouched over someone. In shock I fell backwards. The men stopped eating. One turned towards me and began to yell. I ran.

Chp. 2) A Chance Meeting of Desperate Souls.

I must have run half a mile. I tried everything I could to lose my pursers. Around every corner, down every alley they refused to give up the chase. I was exhausted. They were unfazed. Suddenly from behind a building in front of me, another man ran toward me. Behind him another two men gave chase. We ran past each other, neither slowing pace. I ran over a slight rise in the land and dove to the dirt behind a bush. I looked back expecting the two men to follow, but they never appeared. When I had regained my nerves, I crawled back. I saw my pursuers and the other two crazed men standing there, searching. As I looked on I heard a noise behind me. I turned and saw the other man who had been chased. He didn’t say a word, just beckoned me to follow. Given that he was the first person not trying to kill me, it seemed like a good idea.

Chp. 3) A Grim Reality

We sneaked away from the crazed men. It was my first chance to take a good look at him; unkempt beard, wary eyes, always looking around. He had been here for some time. I introduced myself.

“Hey, am I glad I ran in to you. The name is Fonz.”

“Tom,” he replied, “Tom Wilson”

“What’s with the crazy guys?”

“Crazy guys? You mean the Zed?”

“Zed?”

“Yea, the Zed. Zombies, undead, whatever. The Zed. The disease has infected most everyone.”

“Wha.. What? What disease? Where the fuck am I? All I can remember is waking up on a beach with a splitting headache.”

“You really don’t know? Unbelievable. It started-” A twig cracks. In a whisper, “Shit, follow me… Welcome to Chenarus.”

Chp. 4) Looting the City

Together, we entered the city proper. From house to house, we searched for anything that could help us. All that we

managed to find was some ammunition for guns we didn’t have, a watch, and some matches. Disappointed, we begin to leave the city. On the way out, Tom grabs my shoulder.

“Look, the red house. There’s wire across the doorway. Let’s see if anyone is home.”

Cautiously we approached. The fences were not a welcoming sign and whoever put them up wasn’t likely to be too friendly. We couldn’t hear anyone inside so we decided to go in. It was a small house, two rooms. I took the right, Tom the left. This place was better, I found some beans and soda, but the best remained behind a box.

“Tom, think I found something good.”

“Yea, me too. Come to this side.”

I walked across the hall. The room was full of supplies, a pair of car tires and other things were piled in a corner. Tom was holding an axe. He looked at what I had found. He seemed less excited than I was.

“Nice Lee, but don’t shoot it in the city. You’ll wake up every zed for miles.” He hefted his axe upon his shoulder. “Now this,” he said, “this is nice and quiet. Plus it leaves a certain, personal touch.”

I began to question my decision to follow him.

Then he said, “Here, take these binoculars. You’ve got a rifle, you need ‘em more than me.”

We decided to leave the house. Whoever had taken the time to fortify it was probably armed. I don’t think they would have happy about us taking a few things. On the way out of the city we ran across a few zed. Tom brought them down with his axe, without hesitation, without a word. I swear I think I saw him smile. I started to hold my rifle a little tighter. As we got close to the edge of town I spotted a hospital. When we arrived at the hospital, the windows were smashed. We went in and searched for anything. All we managed to find were some bandages and painkillers. As we prepared to leave, I saw one box we had forgotten to check.

“Gimmie a sec, one more box.”

It seemed a waste of time. Inside were bandages, bandages, bottles of painkillers, more bandages. At the bottom I saw one bottle that didn’t look like the rest. Antibiotics, disease be damned. I quietly put them in my bag.

“Did you find anything good?”

“No.”

“Alright, let’s get out of here.”

Chp. 5) The Raid on the Barn.

We left the city behind us. Too many zed, too dangerous. We followed a road out of town. Along that road we came across a barn.

“Famers, are self-reliant people. Might find some useful things in there. There’s only a couple of zed around it.”

“They’re too close to sneak in quietly.”

“Well, we’re far enough from the city now. Let’s see if you’re a good shot.”

We went to a tree line overlooking the barn. I could see three zed. I steadied my aim. Four shots, three dead zed.

“Not bad, only one miss.”

“It was the wind.”

“Right, let’s go see if it was worth the bullets.”

As we approached the barn I looked back towards the city, some of the zed had turned this way and were slowly approaching.

“Damn rifle is loud as fuck, we gotta do this quickly.”

We entered the barn with haste. Tom climbed one set of stairs, I climbed the other.

“Hey, over here. I think this is the right ammo for your rifle.”

I turned towards Tom. He was looking at the loot. He never saw the zed coming behind him.

“Tom!”

There was no time. I fired. The zed fell, mere feet from Tom. Suddenly, something struck me from behind, knocking me down the stairs.

“AHH FUCK! My leg!”

I rolled on the ground, still holding my rifle. The zed was at the top of the stairs. I put a bullet in its chest. Outside, the screams of the zed were closing fast. My leg was fucked, I couldn’t stand. Tom stood in the doorway. Zed after zed ran in. Tom brought each down with a swift swing of his axe, piling the bodies like so much cordwood. In the end only Tom was left standing, bleeding badly. He bandaged himself.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“I’ll live. How’s your leg, broke? Can you walk?

“No, I don’t think it’s really broken, but I can’t put any weight on it.”

“Let me take a look. Damn, your ankle got twisted bad. These Tylenol won’t cut it. You need good shit, like morphine.”

“We already checked, there was none.”

“Maybe we missed it.”

“I doubt it. Its not safe here. That road across the field lead into the hills, to an old castle. I think its called Grog, or Rog, or some other stupid name. Its out of the way, might be safe there”

“I’ll never make it!”

“…”

“Please don’t leave me here. The hospital isn’t far back, just take one more look.”

“…”

“I can crawl a bit, I’ll cross the field and meet you by the road. I can help you get to the castle. I’ll watch your back, two sets of eyes and all that crap!”

“Fine, I’ll take a look, but if it’s too dangerous… I’m sorry. There’s a small lake by the road, you should be able to make it. We’ll meet there. Here take the rifle rounds I found and a canteen. The lake water should be safe to drink.”

We parted ways. As I began my crawl, I wondered if I would ever see him again.

Chp. 6) Death of an Angel

The crawl across the field was long and slow. I couldn’t see any zed thankfully. Then again, I could barely see above the grass. About halfway through the field I heard the screams of the zed. I laid low and prayed. The screams never got closer. I propped myself up for a better look. Down the field about 100 meters, near some kind of power station, a man was running with three zed behind him. He rounded a corner only to find it was a dead end. The zed surrounded him. He fell to the ground. I was too far away to be seen, too far to help, but plenty close to hear his screams.

‘Shit, that must have been Tom. He’s dead now because of me and I’m as good as dead anyway’ I thought.

“Hey.”

I spun around, rifle ready. It was Tom.

“Jezz man, I thought you were dead. I saw the zed chase someone down by the power plant.”

“Wasn’t me. I saw the horde of zed running though. I thought they were after you, so I came back.”

“Then, who was it?”

“Dunno, some poor bastard. Better not to think about it.”

“We’ll now what?”

“I’ll go check the body for supplies”

“Careful man, the zed got him..”

“I’ve got my axe. Sit tight, if it gets hairy, I’ll haul ass back here. You’re a good shot, but hit me and I’ll put my axe through your head.”

I believed him. Tom crept down the field and made short work of the zed. He worked like a lumberjack. A crazy, blood covered lumberjack. He quickly searched the body and returned.

“Man, are you in luck. I’ve got morphine, epi pens, more painkillers… That guy was a walking pharmacy.”

“Must have gotten to the hospital before us.”

“Yea, now hold still.”

The morphine worked fast.

“Man, I feel good.” I put a little weight on my leg. “I think I can walk now.”

We headed to the lake, ate, drank and filled our canteens for the journey.

Chp. 7) To Castle Rog and Beyond.

The journey to Rog was quiet, almost peaceful. We kept to the woods, the road was too open. Tom filled me in, it was hard to take. A disease had ripped through the land, turning anyone affect into a madman, turning them into the zed. It had started somewhere in Eastern Europe and spread like wild fire. The last news he had heard is that some refugees had spread the disease across the Atlantic. It was on every continent. I was the end of the world as we knew it. Along the way, Tom began to cough. I didn’t take much notice at first, but the coughing became more frequent. We stopped to rest. That was when I got a good look at his face, pale and sickly.

“Are you alright?”

“Yea. It’s nothing, just a little cold.”

“Bull, I can see you shivering. You look like shit”

“I’ll be fine.”

I took a step back. “How badly cut were you? Are you infected?” Tom reached for his axe. I leveled my rifle. “Wait, I owe you.” I reached into my bag. “Here take these.”

“Antibiotics? Will it work?”

“Hell if I know. It’s worth a shot.”

We continued towards Rog. Tom stopped coughing and gradually the chills let his body. After some time we finally reached castle Rog. I had been expecting tall walls, gates, a moat full or crocodiles, and other survivors if we were lucky. Rog was none of that and even less. There was a wall, crumbled to nothing in several places. The tower looked barren, no sign of people. There were no survivors to be seen, but Rog was not uninhabited. Thankfully, there was only a handful of zed. Tom was ready to go and split skulls, but given I didn’t want to risk infection again, we were out of antibiotics. We managed to sneak into the central tower. With only once entrance it was easy to defend. I had Tom throw bottle off the tower to alert the zed. They came running, but the narrow entrance forced them to run straight into my sights. Four shots rang out, four zed fell at the entrance.

We searched the ruins. People had been here, empty cans were strewn about the grounds. They must have left in a hurry, we found a 1911 and a shotgun, with ammo for both. I also found another 30 or so rounds for my Enfield.

Tom handed me the pistol.

“Take it. Unlike your rifle it won’t piss off every zed in town if you need to shoot.”

“You’ve got the shotgun then?”

“No.”

“Are you kidding? We need to arm ourselves!”

“Listen Fonz, these zed have been after me for a long time. I’ve got an axe to grind.”

Since I had woken up on the beach, I had been scared. I had been chased, crippled, and nearly killed. Now I laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“I’m running for my life. It’s the end of the world. The zed are every where, and my only friend is an axe murder! But hey, at least he’s got a funny side.’

Tom chuckled. “Well, if im the funny one, you’re the smart one. Coming to Rog was my only idea. Where to now?”

“Fuck if I know, let’s follow the road, it’s bound to lead somewhere.”

We followed to road for some time. It led us to a small town, no survivors, only more zed. We moved quietly, avoiding the zed as we searched the town. There was little of value, we moved on by another road. We repeated the pattern, the only time we found anything worthwhile was in a barn outside some town. Tom found a cross bow and a couple bolts. Tom liked it so much, he tied his axe to his belt and decided to use it. This made getting around much easier. Tom could kill a problem zed with little risk and without alerting the others. After leaving that town, we came across a cow in a field.

Tom loaded is bow.

“Fancy a steak dinner?”

I hadn’t eaten for a while at that point, my stomach growled.

“Do it”

One shot, back of the skull, the cow fell where it stood. Tom Pulled out a knife and began to cut a few pieces of meat.

“Where’d you get the knife?”

“Found if a town or two back.”

“You never mentioned it.”

“You never mentioned the antibiotics… Look, it’s no big deal now. I’ll let you know if I see another. Besides, I’m not cutting all this meat for myself.”

“Thanks, and likewise if I find more antibiotics or something.”

“Let’s get to the woods, we need to cook this and I don’t like being so exposed.”

After we had cooked the meat and eaten our fill, we each split the remaining food between us. The woods were not far from the road, so we walked along their edge. It was a good decision. We stumble across a wooden tower. There were a few zed in military uniforms around. Tom dispatched the two close to the tower. I climbed up.

“Well, hello. Tom, I found a Remington shotgun.”

“Take it if you want it. I like my bow.”

“There’s a pistol up here too, Makarov.”

I placed my Enfield down and grabbed the shotgun and a handful of shells. It had served me well, but it attracted too much attention when I fired it. Tom grabbed the pistol. We decided to head across the field the paralleled the road rather than down the road itself. We headed into a small grove of trees that topped a small hill beside the road. From there we could survey the area.

Chp. 8) Firefight

When we reached the top of the hill, we were stunned. A large town lay below us, and at the end near us was a military camp. I used my binoculars to look around. I couldn’t see a living soul. Plenty of zed, but no survivors. The town was long and thin, it followed the main road. There was a large red building at one end with the military tents. We decided to check the town out.

“You’ve got the bow, you can take point here in case we need to kill a zed or two.”

“Ok. But where should we go first?”

“Well, I saw a tent flying a red cross flag, we could really use more medical supplies.”

“Yea, then lets check the big red building, no telling what may be in there.”

“Alright, after that lets stick to the edge of town and see what else there is to find.”

We crept down the hill towards the tents. As we got close to the tents, a bullet stuck the ground between us. We never even hear the shots. Tom reacted first.

“Take cover!”

“Fuck that! RUN!”

We hauled ass out of the camp, chased by both bullets and zed. We went around the side of the hill and toward a patch of bushes. When we reached the edge of the bushes, I turned and shot the zed behind us. We crawled from on end of the bushes to the other, and laid in wait. Five minutes passed, In the distance we heard more shooting and an explosion. We waited another five minutes. Eventually, curiosity got the better of me. I convinced Tom to follow me as I crept forward to get a look. From this angle, I could see someone in the tents. They were surrounded with at least a dozen dead zed. I heard them shoot as a few more zed rush their position. It was no use. Whoever it was, they ran out of ammo before they ran out of zed.Tom got my attention.

“Look, at the other end of the camp.”

He was right, there was a man creeping toward the tents. I got a look at him through my binoculars, he was carrying a rifle.

“That’s the fucker who shot at us. Let’s make him pay.”

“Right behind you.”

We snuck back into the camp, guns ready. I peered around the edge of the tent I was hiding behind. The man was standing on the open, his back turned to me. I never gave him a chance. I pumped three slugs into his back. He was dead before he hit the ground.

“Tom! I got him!”

“Let’s see what he had.”

As we get close to his body, the air is once again filled with gunfire.

“Shit!” I dove into a tent.

“In the tree line! My 12 0’clo-“

Tom’s warning was cut off, his body fell in front of my tent.

“NO!”

The gunfire continued, by none of the shots found their mark. Either it wasn’t they were lousy shots or the tent was made of Kevlar. I didn’t care, I was alive. I thought of my Enfield, wished I had it.

‘Lot of good a shotgun with 5 shells does me now…’

I had to think.

‘They can wait me out or come get me. Either way, I’m screwed. Shotgun’s almost empty too. No choice, run or die.’

I managed to pull Tom’s knife and bow off his body. Someone took a pot shot at me, but they missed. I gathered my courage, took a deep breath, and ran towards the big red building. Not two steps out of the tent and bullets began to strike the pavement around me. I zigzagged, desperately trying to throw off their aim. It was an eternity in a few seconds. Somehow, I made it to the building. I ran right through it and out a back door. With the building between me and the shooters, the shooting finally stopped. I ran down a road. There was a patch of bushes, I dove into them and waited. No one followed. I was safe, for the moment. Tom was dead, I was alone. There was one question left to answer.

‘What do I do now?’

[Grey Owl 3]

I enjoyed reading this, thefonz. You have a good amount of talent.

Have you read anything of Max Brooks? Your pacing and attention to character is appreciably similar.