The moment that changed me.

[imagelesskjc 35]

One... two... three shots rang out across the hillside. The sound was too loud to be anything else but a hunting rifle, and too near to avoid caution. I immediately dropped to a knee and watched for any sign of movement or indication of the person's location.

Is this man just a survivor? Is he a well seasoned bandit? Is he shooting at another person, or is he shooting to protect himself from a swarming horde of the infected? All of these questions raced through my mind as I was deciding on what actions to take...

My journey started out with four other group mates. It was dark, and in the late hours of the night. We met on the southern coast of Chernarus, although we didn't know each other's names we stuck together through various towns as we scavenged for supplies. While we were approaching our third town, I noticed an ambient red light flickering next to what looked like an airfield.

I told my comrades that we should proceed with caution, however one of our members thought he saw someone calling for help. As he ran to help the wounded survivor, the rest of my group followed. I however, was not fully convinced of the person's pleas for help. I used a pair of binoculars to observe the situation from a safe distance.

At first glance, the survivor didn't appear to be wounded at all. He wasn't bleeding, nor was he unconscious. My group approached and gathered around the player. It seemed to be safe to come out of hiding, so I began to stand up and run towards the hangars. That's when I saw, to my horror, several bandits appear from inside of the hangars. I dropped to the ground immediately and brought out my binoculars once again. What I saw next has stuck with me as a reminder of what happens when you let feelings and morals get in the way of survival instincts.

Two bandits and a survivor opened fire simultaneously; all three were armed to the teeth with fully automatic weapons. As the rata-tat-tat subsided, I was left cowering in fear. My entire group was murdered on the spot, all save for one individual. Suddenly the group of four people turned to my direction and started running.

That's when it all clicked.

Since our group formed we had been infiltrated by one of the bandits. The person who had survived the killing spree was with their group the entire time, he just posed as one of us in order to bring us into their trap.

Without anything other than a pistol to defend myself with, I panicked, and darted out of cover back through the town we had just cleared. I could hear gunshots whizzing past my head as my heart pounded in my chest. After about half of a kilometer chase I ended up in a forest. No longer hearing gun shots, I took some time to eat and drink before heading back to the airfield. I wanted revenge.

On my approach, I found a barn that had numerous infected wandering around the perimeter. I crawled to the entrance, hoping to find something of value before tracking down my targets. Sure enough, in the loft above a haystack there was a CZ scoped hunting rifle. I grabbed it and made my way past the infected outside undetected, heading across the countryside just northwest of the airfield...

One... two... three shots rang out across the hillside... Pausing for only a few moments, I realized the shots were coming from the airfield.

Hunched over, I made my way along the treeline until I could gain a decent vantage point over the airfield. Raising my rifle, I looked through the scope. Sure enough, the bandits were back, patrolling around the perimeter in total darkness. I looked towards the air traffic control tower, and spotted the man that infiltrated our group. He was standing with his rifle raised, pointed towards the town I recently passed through. He was looking for me.

I adjusted the zeroing on my rifle, and continued to observe the patrols. As soon as the group of three were at the far end of the airfield, I took a shot at the man in the tower. He immediately dropped, and I noticed a stream of blood squirting out of his neck. If that didn't kill him, he would surely bleed out soon.

I then looked towards the patrols last known location. They were no longer at the airfield it seemed. With one last look at the tower, and seeing the corpse of my victim, I shrunk back into the forest.

TL;DR:

Was with a group of survivors. One of them lured us into a trap, I survived by luck. After escaping I killed the guy who lured us in the first place.

Up until this point I had never so much as shot at another player. Seeing a person take advantage of someone else's trust in such a way shocked me, and has forever changed how I play this game. I now trust no-one, and rarely go out of my way to help survivors; preferring to travel alone and not be seen. I've started to become the hunter, rather than the hunted.

[Moosey 1]

Awesome story - There are so many epic moments in this game.

I found that the moment I changed was when I upgraded my weapons. As soon as I found an M4 the whole game changed for me, I no longer needed random survivors for help.

Long live the bandit!

[mrcheapy 1]

Just met up with some friends at a barn near the NW AF, hiding in a copse of trees while my friends loot the barn. Shots ring out, where are they coming from? My friend says north and I begin to flank around. Came across a survivor with a M16A4 ACOG , shooting towards my friends, he stops shooting, I flank silently.

Bang Bang Bang my AKM spoke

thanks for the M16A4 and 10 Mags

[tajin 17]

Bang Bang Bang my AKM spoke

thanks for the M16A4 and 10 Mags

I hope you kept the AKM!

[crazierivan 2]

That was a great read Redz keep em coming

[Ninju 1]

riveting tale young chap

[TiiX (DayZ) 0]

The worst thing that's ever happened to me was today.

I heard someone fire a makarov in the Elektro harbor and he wrote in chat "help me, im out of ammo, im friendly" foolish as i was i believed him, gave him 2 makarov mags and a blood transfusion. He said "thx" i said "np, always nice to help friendlies out"...

He turns and fires 4 makarov bullets in my face...

I watch the deathcam before the deathscreen and see him loot me and disconnect.

That's an enfield, map, compass, clock, binoculars, bandage, ammo and bloodpack gone to waste.