Jeff (Arma II DayZ alpha mod)

“Jeff we have to get off this beach!”  The beach isn’t safe.  The Zeds are around….and other trigger happy survivors looking to make a name for themselves.  Gun fire will attract more Zombies (Zed’s).

Jeff doesn’t respond but as I move up he follows and I guess we are a 2 man group now.  We follow a road going east in a combat run.  Running in a crouch is quitter and reduces our visible profile.  I check behind me and Jeff is running down the road. 

“Hey get off the road!  Follow the tree line – we’ll be less visible to the Zeds or Bandits.”  Jeff obeys and hugs the tree line with me.  We are a couple of feet inside the fall forest which goes up a fairly steep hill.  We stop once in a while to take a knee and scan our surroundings looking for Zeds or Bandits.

Jeff seems more confident in our “plan” and is taking the point.  He’s doing good – crouching beside trees and bushes and looking before we move forward to the next bit of cover.  He still isn’t talking but we seem to be on the same page and making progress.

“Jeff it’ll be getting dark soon – we need to find a building or some flashlights or something.”   As I finish telling him this we can see a bridge ahead and beyond the bridge some little buildings.  Hopefully we can find some ammo and food….maybe a better weapon (these pistols we are carrying won’t win us many battles) and a flashlight would be a god send.  When it gets dark…..it gets very dark. 

We have road flares with us. But these things are death traps in the night.  Nothing says “Hey I’m over here  - come and shoot me and steal all my stuff” ….. or “come eat my brains” like a road flare.  No our best bet is to get some supplies and better light source and then go hold up in the woods.   The towns are dangerous – especially at night.

Crossing the river or bridge might be a problem.  Zed’s – maybe 5 or 6 are lurking around the bridge.  We can hear them screaming and gurgling as they wait for any indication of movement or sound.  I’m looking around – trying to see if we can go around this guarded crossing. 

“CRACK!” a shot rings out.  I see blood spatter off Jeff – we were crouched near a tree but it didn’t seem to matter.  A bandit has found us…..and we haven’t seen him.   “CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!”  Jeff begins emptying his clip – he’s panicking, he’s bleeding….and he’s drawing a crowd.  The gurgles and screams of Zeds become more frantic and they run.  They run fast.   They close in on us in a hurry.  Jeff reloads and shoots more rounds wildly. 

“Jeff – run” I yell.  As I do Jeff drops to the ground.  He’s injured bad.  He’s moving slow.  He can’t stand for long without falling to the ground again.   I manage to fire off some rounds and kill a few Zeds that are fast approaching our position.  I haven’t thought too much about the bandit – but I imagine he is fighting his own battle having drawn Zeds to his location with his gun fire.  Jeff is up and we move forward.  He drops again – recovering.

I have nothing to help him.  He has nothing to help himself.  He will die.  If I stay with him - I will die.

It wasn’t easy shooting Jeff.  He never did say a damn word and he was a little green – but we were in it together.  He wasn’t going to make it but he had supplies that could help me make it.  I grabbed his backpack and charged up the hills.  As I looked back I could see the Zeds devouring Jeff….they seemed to stop chasing me to feast on Jeff’s corpse. 

Alone again.  Charging up this forested hill as the darkness falls…..and I have no light.

This was my 45 minutes in an Arma II DayZ alpha mod yesterday.  50 players per server. 1000+ Zombies (or Zeds) a distinct lack of supplies.  Simply the best survival horror game going….even in buggy alpha version.  It is incredible the stories that this mode creates.  Check it out at http://www.dayzmod.com