A story of violence and anonymous heroes.

[kristoferen 10]

I arrived, wet and confused, on the beach near the airfield. About three seconds into my confusion, I got slapped across the face and told GRHRGSDHL, which I assume is zombie for "Braaainnnssss!". I ran in circles for a bit to lose him, and then used my band-aid. 9000 blood left.

I made my way towards the guard towers outside the airfield, only to find a dozen zombies patrolling around the premises. I walked around slowly, climbing up ladders to check the towers for any goodies.

Three empty towers.

All tents empty.

Had I been fooling myself?

One more tower to check, but it had an usually muscular zombie soldier right on top of the ladder. Would I be so brave? I had no choice, so I crawled up the ladder just enough to peek inside without alerting the zombie, and wouldn't you know it - an AK74 with three clips turned up.

I tested my luck, inching up the ladder until - I couldn't believe it - I reached through the zombies legs, shining his shoes with my shirt sleeve in the process, and grabbed the AK. A heart-throbbing moment passed as I looked up at him, breathing as quietly as I could and backing down the ladder.

I had just set one foot on the ground, when all of a sudden: "BRAAAAIIINNNSS!".

I don't even take a second to find out if its the man in the tower or his buddy on the ground, I just make a lap around the military base, jump the sandbag wall, and run straight into the commanding officer, who promptly takes a chunk out of my forehead, leaving me pumping blood into the fresh morning air.

No problem, I'll just pop him in the head with my AK and bandage up.. Oh wait, I already used my bandage. Crap. More zombies, I should have known the AK made so much noise. Firing wildly in the approaching hoard all while letting my blood paint the ground, I check zombie corpses for bandaids.

Soda can? Pass. Pasta? Pass. .45ACP ammo? Pass. Painkillers? Pass. 6000 blood, and dropping fast. Two more zombies show up, and I end their misery.

Luck strikes again, both have bandaids. Patched up, I eat some pasta and get the hell out of Dodge, running towards the forest in order to circle around Cherno and meet up with my friends.

As I approach the forest, feeling ever so slightly more safe when I can touch the first tree, until I notice myself moving my hands up towards my head, feeling the loss of most of my jaw. And then nothing. I'd been shot. My run was over. The game loads, and I start... back at the airfield? With my AK? No time to ask questions, just thank the gods and run like hell - my killer is out there! I feel a bullet whirring past my head, and then another, and another. I high-tail it through the woods, seeing bullets make friends with treestumps and bushes. Maybe its the adrenaline, but this got who hit my square in the face about a minute prior is now throwing a dozen Enfield rounds my way and hitting nothing but ground.

Hiding in the outskirts of Chernogorsk, I meet my comrades who hand me a few cans of beans and I immediately feel like I'm superman with my new 7000-something blood level. Finally, I feel safe again. We start planning our adventures when we see two strangers about a hundred yards down the hill. They're armed. I don't know who shoots first, us or them, all I know is that I catch a bullet in the leg and we kill both of them... and one of their friends... and another of their friends... and they just keep coming. They killed my friends. I counted seven in total, maybe there were more.

In shock, with a broken leg, with blurry vision.. but at least I'm not bleeding, I start rolling/dragging myself down the hill. I think the other guys took off, or thought they killed us all, because I'm not hearing any more bullets. I spend the next 20 minutes crawling towards the closest hospital, only to realize I have no empty cans to throw at the window and for some reason, AK bullets don't break glass. Deciding to wait for my buddies to make it over from Cape Golag with some morphine, I hide out in an apartment building.

Note to self: Crawling up a set of stairs with a broken leg HURTS and will put you in shock again. My vision coming in and out, sometimes barely letting me make out my weapon from the rest of the world. Holed up in the staircase, I see two guys raiding the hospital. I am at them, see them with a crowbar and a crossbow, and hope they don't notice me. One calls out "friendly?!" and I tense up. I've been here before. I've been shot by a "friendly" before, more than once. I try to sound tough "I have plenty of ammo, but my legs don't work. Got any morphine?".

Maybe he'll steal my AK by bashing me across the head with a crowbar, but I've no choice - I have to trust them. He asks for ammo in exchange, I offer what little I have - none of which he wants. For sure, I'm dead, my AK will go to a murderer. Until all of a sudden, this syrupy warmth clouds around me, and the pain goes away. He fixed me, he fixed my leg! No time to think, he also dragged a few stray zombies with him. We run up the stairs and I shoot a few of them. I thank my savior and boldly ask if he'll take a blood pack from me and give me a transfusion, which he does. He says the hospital has more supplies if I need it, I thank him again. We go down stairs, I take out a few more zombies that are chasing him and his friend, and they take off.

I am left with my health, my AK, and a sense of being the luckiest bastard alive in Chernarus.

To the person who administered drugs and blood in my moment of need, when you could easily have taken everything from me... THANK YOU. Thank you, not just for saving my life and my gear, but thank you also for bringing back my hope in humanity. After being betrayed so many times, I was ready to shoot first and ask questions later. You helped me keep my sanity, you restored my faith and trust in the good of strangers. I hope one day, I can repay the favor.

Edited July 24, 2012 by kristoferen

[XMorTus 15]

Great post.