DayZ, Diaries of the Damned #3

Nighttime, Airport

Today there wasn't any sun. Fortunately, I figured out how to "attach" a battery to my flashlight in the dark and turn it on. I've heard that this can make you a target, but there's only one other person on this server so how much risk can there be, really?

I've fitted myself out very well. I came to the airport with a motorcycle helmet, fuzzy flannel shirt, cargo pants, screwdriver, several cans of beans and tuna, an axe and a fire extinguisher. I killed two zombies to get the beans and screwdriver, so I'm feeling pretty good about things.

Now I am at an airport. It's a treasure trove of stuff. I've got a backpack, a military helmet, a tactical vest, a gas mask, and I'm collecting up the parts for an M4 machine gun.

I know there has to be a machine gun around here somewhere, because I keep finding parts for it. I have collected the following parts for an M4 rifle:

Bipod
Bayonet
Quad Rail
Collapsing Stock
Camoflage Sling
Rail Mountable Flashlight
4x Competition Scope, Jeff Cooper Signature Model
Trigger Touch Activated Laser Sight
Custom Foregrip
ReelTree Camo Thumbhole Stock
7.62 Copper Bore Brush
50% Full Bottle of Hoppe's #9
Partially Damaged Package of 100 Pre-Cut Cotton Bore Wipes
Led-Free Cleaning Patches
Franklin Mint Vietnam USMC Commemorative M4 Glass Display Case with U.S. Flag and Richard Nixon Medallion
Sling Swivel Mounts
Flash Suppressor
2 lb Trigger Pull M4 Competition Tune-Up Kit and Feed Ramp Polishing Pad
Soft Side M4 Travel Case, Hunter Orange
Hard Travel Case with Safety Lock, Baby Blue
BOF4542A State of California Firearm Ownership Registration Form
4 Each 30 Round STANAG Ammunition Magazines
1 Each 10 Round 5.56 CMAG Ammunition Magazine
2 Each 40 Round 5.56 CMAG Ammunition Magazines
1 Box Loose 5.56 Cartridges
Protective Barrel Guard

I am sure that the final building of the airport must yield an M4 rifle. So sure, in fact, that I have left behind everything in my inventory except for the parts of the M4, which will all attach to the rifle, once I get one. Aside from the rifle parts, I have only a partially eaten can of beans. I left the rest at a place I can go back for them later, in a room where I got some of the magazines off of steel shelves. I even gave up my coveted can-opening screwdriver (partially damaged), because I should be able to use the bayonet to open cans even if I don't have an M4 yet, though I haven't tested that theory yet.

I have been skulking around with my flashlight in the dark. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to have been drawing any unwanted zombie attention. The last building at the airport looks like a picture I saw on a website, so I have a really good feeling about finding my M4 there.

Inside the door is a jail cell. Well, this is the post-apocalypse, everything is topsy-turvy. Maybe there's a gun inside. Wait, what's that? Am I hearing a zombie? I turn with my light, but there's nothing. Hmm.

I come out of the jail cell, and the sound of gunfire erupts. My flashlight goes out. I run blindly, caroming off walls. The shooting stops. I hear labored breathing and occasional moans.

Great, the only other player on the server is here. They're injured, and they've got my M4. I'm in the dark with a bunch of crap I can't use, trapped inside a building somewhere that I don't even know the layout of. I try to turn my flashlight back on, but it won't come on. What the hey? Hmm, it's marked as "broken", they must have shot it out.

Apparently I can't use the rail-mounted flashlight. Maybe it needs special batteries or something, or it just doesn't work unless it's mounted on a rail which is mounted on a gun. I don't know. But maybe I don't want to make a better target of myself anyway.

It's completely dark. I decide to "cheat" and play with my video settings. If I adjust brightness and gamma up all the way, I see a slightly lighter oblong gray patch in the middle of the black sometimes. I have no clue what that means. I can still hear the labored breathing and moans, they're waiting for me. I bet they found a night vision sight along with the M4. Either that or they see me as a slightly lighter gray patch that they can shoot at in the midst of the blackness.

What to do, what to do? I've got everything but the stinking rifle. I could log off and change servers, maybe. Or maybe I can run out past them. I think I can see a hallway leading off in the darkness--I guess my "eyes" are adapting to the adjusted video settings or something. Maybe if I drop the broken flashlight then take up the bayonet in case they try to block my way...

I make a run for the corner, turn, and run again. Shots ring out, but I keep running. I hit a wall. I get wedged, I'm stuck. But the shooting stopped. What's this? It looks like a gray oblong shape. Cripes, I must have turned a 180 and run right back to where I was.

I'm bleeding now. My bandages are in another building, next to the cans of beans. I drop crap out of my shirt pockets, and prepare to tear it into bandages, leaving several magazines of ammunition on the floor.

I hear an unusually prolonged moan from above me. Maybe they've finally died from blood loss or something.

My screen goes black as I click to tear up my shirt.

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