DayZ, Diaries of the Damned #12

Daytime, Remote Woods

A friend has joined me on DayZ. Hurray! We'll be a team. This'll be so nice. Someone to watch my back, share stuff with, we can heal each other. It'll be great. We're texting each other to communicate until we find each other in the game.

"Do you see yourself on the map, yet?"

We're using an internet mutual map tracker thingy so that we can find each other easier. It's taken half an hour of fussing around outside DayZ, but I think we're there now.

"Oh, yeah, I'm up here under the gray bar."

"OK. Wow, you're way up north. I'm heading toward you now. Just head west, first, then go south after you've gone inland a way," I say.

"OK"

I'm all equipped and loaded up. I've been well to the west, where I got all the gear, and I've come back to the east where the spawn points are to meet him.

"Watch for signs. I've been navigating by dead reckoning in the dark, so I'm not sure exactly where I am, either. The map shows my best guess. There's a town up ahead, I'll find a sign and update my location once I see which one it is."

"OK."

About five minutes later, the "town" turns out to be a single building, but I recognize the area. I'm at a dam north of "Electric Station".

"OK, I just updated the map," I say. "Heading due north now, I'll pass through a town soon where I can do some grocery shopping and maybe pick up some goodies for you."

"OK. It says I'm getting hungry. I've got a can of beans but it won't let me eat it."

"You need a can opener. You can also open it with something sharp."

"It won't let me use my wrench."

"I've got a can opener. But keep looking around, because I might not be able to get to you before you starve."

Five minutes later he says, "I found a sign, but I can't read it."

"I'm guessing you don't know Cyrillic?"

"No. It looks like 3Rekrn-something. Wait, there's another sign."

"What does it say?"

"Ctapoe"

"Oh, hey! You're right where I was five minutes ago. Take the road toward Staroye (ctapoe), I'll come back down and meet you."

"OK."

He's hungry. I open up one of my cans of beans so that I can give it to him right away when we meet. I also fill up my water bottle at a pond along the road. A short while later, I see a guy in jeans and a T-shirt running toward me.

"Hi!"

"How do you talk like that?"

"Caps lock"

"Hi!"

"You got it. Here, take this and eat it."

He eats the beans.

"OK, I'm not hungry any more."

"Keep eating. At least once more. You actually still have room, and it'll make you stronger. Here, have this can of tuna. Give me your can of beans, I'll open them for you."

I drop the tuna. He drops his can of beans. I get it, open it with my can opener, then drop it for him to pick up.

"OK. Now it says I'm thirsty."

"There's a pond over here. Get a drink."

"Aren't we supposed to disinfect the water somehow? I saw online that you can get sick if you drink some of the water."

"It didn't make me sick. I've never gotten sick off the water."

"It said that it can take a while sometimes. How do I drink?"

"Crouch and face the water. You might have to go in it a bit. When it says 'Drink Water', press 'F'."

"OK, just a second."

"I'm getting sick."

"What?"

"I drank the disinfectant."

"What? Why did you do that?"

"I thought it said it would purify the water."

"There are purification tablets. You drank disinfectant?"

"Yeah. It says 'Chemical Poisoning' now."

"Crap. I've got a first aid kit but I don't know how to use it. Drink water."

"I did."

"Drink more. Keep drinking."

"It says I'm stuffed now." He comes out of the pond. He's crawling.

"What's happening?"

"You're barfing now. I think that's good."

"Am I still barfing?"

"Yeah."

"What does it look like?"

"It just sort of looks like mist coming out of your mouth."

"How can I tell if I'm getting better?"

"I don't know. I'm Googling 'Dayz Chemical Poisoning' on my other system."

"My vision is fuzzy."

"Dangit, this says 'No Known Cure.' Something about water and blood loss. Can you drink more water?" He's just standing there now, looking blank.

"It says I'm unconscious."

"You're standing now."

"The screen is black. Can I do anything?"

"I'll try to give you water." I hold my water bottle and face him. The cursor says 'Force Water'. I click 'F'. A short while later, the cursor says 'Force Water' again. I press 'F' again. It doesn't come back.

"Still unconscious," he says.

"I'll refill the bottle, hang on."

I go to the pond. It says 'Drink Water'. I hit the scroll wheel. I don't see 'Fill Water Bottle'. The space where my water bottle was is a white outline now.

"My water bottle is gone!" I come out and look around for it. How did I lose it?

"Still unconscious. Am I moving?"

"No, you're just standing there."

"Darn, I was hoping you could just guide me while I was blind or something."

"I think my water bottle disintegrated. It was pretty worn, it must have worn out completely when I gave water to you with it."

"Or I dropped it, and can't see it," I said.

"Or it went into the void," I said.

"Or it's just lagged and it'll pop up any minute now. No, I think it'd be back by now. So it's gone," I said.

"OK. Now what do we do?" he says.

"I don't know," I say.

"Sorry about eating all your food before I died."

"Don't worry about it."

"Safety tip. Don't drink the disinfectant."

"Yeah."

DayZ, Diaries of the Damned #1

...

DayZ, Diaries of the Damned #10

DayZ, Diaries of the Damned #11

DayZ, Diaries of the Damned #13

DayZ, Diaries of the Damned #14