Friday, July 20, 2012

Pay it Forward



In my travels I have done some sinister things. I always kill on sight, always. Even if they have their back to me at 600 meters, I will take the shot. I won't even go check the body afterwards, Ill just kill you for the sake of doing so. And if you're getting eaten by zombies I would probably laugh and run right by while snapping a few pictures. So I felt like it was time to give a little bit back to the community that I have a bad history with.



After getting some blood for a buddy at the hospital in Berezino, I decided to head back down to Solnichniy for no particular reason. Carefully picking though the woods west of the city I noticed an orangeish object in the trees ahead. 



Very interesting I thought...that is not native to the area. I figured it was some kind of vehicle that someone had attempted to hide away, but I was skeptical if I was alone in the area. Perhaps someone is watching it and they don't have the intention of giving it up so easy. More cautious then ever I checked the surrounding area. I made a wide sweep to insure that I was indeed alone. After about 2 minuits of searching I was satisfied with the fact that it was just me in the woods. Time for a little joy ride! I hopped in and drove it south in the tree line. Which actually turned out to be a terrible idea. For 1 the tractor has terrible handling. You never really feel quite like you are in control when at the wheel. And on top of that I had to dodge trees left, right and center. Before I got the hang of it, it was like playing bumper cars in the forest.



I finally was able to learn how to maneuver the beast well enough to not run into every tree in the forest when suddenly Enfield shots start ringing out very close to me. I panic! And floor the tractor, sending it flying down a hill towards the north end of Solnichniy. Lucky for me the forest was not so dense in this area and I was able to weave though the trees, keeping me and the tractor in tact.




I wound up on the road way, heading south into the heart of Solnichniy. When I saw a person running though the field ahead of me. From a distance I could see that he was unarmed and running right at me. I sounded the horn and pulled right in front of him. 



Unfortunately I ended up hitting him, but after patching him self he was alright. I jumped out of the tractor and said, “Hey dude! Today is your lucky day, have a free tractor!” He wasted no time and jumped into the tractor and drove off into the sunset. 





Three is a Crowd


Three is a Crowd

There is a certain peacefulness that exists in the country side of Chernarus . You could literally wander around for days admiring the country side, the cows, and the occasional infected in the road way and still not find a single person on your travels. Its easy to become complacent and careless in the wilderness, you might find your self forgetting to scan the tree line or wandering though a field. These mistakes can cause your death because survival out here is all about who spots who first.

I was heading east from Devils Castle taking a rather lazy and loopy route towards the NE Airfield. I decided a stop at the Pobeda Dam to refill my water bottles and enjoy the lake atmosphere. The Pobeda Dam is not on most maps, it is north east of Gvozdno tucked between the rolling hills of the north. Surprisingly enough it is one of the bigger lakes in Chernarus, and it even has its own low yield warehouse building. After filling my bottles I started heading south east. My goal was to climb the top of Ostry to get a better look at the town of Krasnostav before descending to the NE Airfield. As I was leaving the Pobeda Dam I heard a faint “pop.” I froze, “That sounded like gun fire” I thought to my self. But it was so faint it could have been any number of things...Perhaps it was the sound of me stepping on a twig or just some background noise. I kept quiet for a few more seconds and then I heard it again. “Bang” “Bang.” The distinct sound of a Enfield being fired in the distance.



I instantly remembered seeing the warehouse on the map. They must be there! I started backtracking towards the mouth of the dam. As I drew near I dropped to my knees and began to crawl towards a knoll that overlooked the warehouse roughly 135 meters away. As I crested the hill I could see dead infected around the perimeter of the warehouse, and just as I looked, a person darted from one side of the warehouse to the other. I quickly scanned the surroundings and to my surprise I saw a second person on the opposite hill in the prone position looking down at the same warehouse. Was this guy friendly with the guy in the warehouse? Or was he attracted to the area because he too heard the shots from a distance? From the looks of it, it seemed like he may be hostile to the person currently in the warehouse. I zeroed my M24 and took aim at his head. 



As I was pulling the trigger my target moved slightly causing the round that was aimed at his head to strike him in the shoulder. Blood sprayed from his body, but because I had missed his head I quickly fired off one more shot, killing my target. I scoped back to the warehouse and observed my surroundings for the next 30 seconds. No change, no sign of the other person in the warehouse. As the seconds ticked by I decided it was time to move, pulling out my 1911 I cautiously moved towards the warehouse using the hill as cover. Peeking in the building I saw no signs of people. I had watched the building, so I was sure that he had not escaped. I decided he most likely logged off and worked my way to the downed survivor that I had just murdered. 


After looting the body I re-corrected my course and began to head towards the NE Airfield as previously planned. Having crossed a field and made it into a treeline I noticed a survivor at my 7 O clock sprinting towards me about 300 meters away. I dove into nearby bush and watched him continuing to run. He was running in the same direction as me clutching an Enfield rifle and had failed to notice me. Could this be the guy from the warehouse? Or is it just a random person? I waited until he was at my 11 O clock and then fired. 



My first shot missed, hitting the dirt slightly in front of him. I adjusted and fired again the round hit him in his back bringing him to the ground. I fired once more for good measure. 



Tuesday, July 17, 2012

M24

A special thanks to Headache for the M24! what a sexy gun!


Friday, July 13, 2012

The Sound of Death


Location: Berezino apartment buildings south of the military camp
Time: 1200 hours
Conditions: Clear/Cloudy

Berezino is one of the larger towns in Chernarus, located on the east coast north of Solnichniy but south of the NE airfield. It boasts a hospital and 2 supermarkets! Yeah take that Elektro! Along with these amenities it has a hand full of medium yield residential buildings that I was in the process of scouring for ammo. The fire fight at Solnichniy the night before had left me with just 1 mag for my CZ550 and not being brave enough to look for ammo in Elektro or Cherno I decided that Berezino would be my destination of choice.



I left the tree line west of the city moving cautiously towards the city to avoid detection from both infected and human elements. Entering the city went relatively smoothly and only had 1 altercation with an infected at the bottom of the cluster of apartment buildings. I drew him into a building a let him have it with the M1911. As he fell to the floor I paused for a second and listened to see if any infected had been attracted by the disturbance. All was quiet, so far so good. Searching the body I found a CZ550 clip, presto! “This is why I'm here” I thought to myself. I climbed the stairs of the apartment building cautiously, as not to alert anyone near by. At the top floor I found 2 more CZ clips, along with some much needed soda. I was just about to go to the next building when I heard a audible CRACK followed by the sound of agitated infected. I froze, my senses went in overdrive, I was not alone in Berezino.

A few moments later more gun fire erupted from north of my position, crab walking to the window I drew out my CZ550. I peaked up over the window and saw 3 survivors entering the abandoned military camp 200 meters north of my position. Even though the odds were 3 to 1, I had the element of surprise on my side, but in order for this to work, I would need to fire at the right time. If I fired too early and I might not be able to eliminate a target and then I would have hoards of infected to deal with along with 2 or 3 armed survivors hunting me down. If I waited too long then I might lose track of the targets and be endanger when I tried to leave the city. So I waited and observed.



The 3 survivors finished off the infected that were in their general area, one had a Winchester the other had an AKM by the looks of it. They each split up going to different tents. I picked a target and watched him move towards the western most tent. Anxiously waiting for an opportunity to take the shot. I was hoping that because he was investigating a far away tent that the other 2 would finish searching their tents and regroup on him before he finished. I watched him slowly enter the tent while his buddies were still picking up loot. As the seconds ticked by it began to dawn on me that his friends were not going to regroup on him, and as he emerged from the tent I realized it was now or never. I fired twice hitting him both times in the side.



 As he crumpled over the roar of infected, now alerted to my presence, was becoming a bigger treat. I quickly scoped over to the other tent that his buddy was in to try my luck once more. Partially obstructed by the camo-netting, I could barely make out movement in the tent. His buddy had gone prone, gun facing towards the entrance of the tent. I could see his ALICE pack and head from this distance and decided to take one more shot. I fired once more hitting him in the head killing him instantly.

It was time to leave, the sound of infected slowing marching up my stair case was now the only thing going though my head. I pulled out my M1911 and started to sprint down the stairs. My plan was to escape the same way I came in. I would attempt to make it into the tree line and head south putting as much distance between this place as quickly as possible. As I got close to the bottom I started firing at the wall of infected massing out side, blowing my way though the infected with brute force. As their bodies fell to the floor I advanced stepping right over them. Finally blasting my way out side I broke into a dead sprint to the north west, an entourage of infected chasing behind me. After hoping 2 fences I was able to lose all but one of my flesh hungry friends. I glanced back at the city to make sure I was not being followed, to my horror I saw the 3rd survivor chasing after me with his own pack of infected in hot pursuit. The situation just turned south. He was trailing about 200 meters behind me, and because I was running taking out the sniper rifle was not an option. It would be nearly impossible to get an accurate shot after running for so long. My heavy breathing would cause the scope to jump around making it difficult to even keep the target in my sights. I had to do something and fast, there was an upcoming bush and it offered just the kind of momentary cover that I needed. I ran past it putting the bush between me and him breaking visual contact. I spun around killing the infected that was after me and waited for the survivor to run past the bush. Sure enough a few seconds later he sprinted past at which point I was surprised to see that he was completely unarmed. As a general rule I don’t usually kill unarmed players because they don’t pose a direct threat, but seeing as this survivor was running at me with a pack of infected following him, I made an exception.


I opened up on him, franticly firing my M1911. I managed to hit him twice sending him crashing to the ground. He was incapacitated and unable to pursue me. “Good enough” I thought and begin sprinting to the tree line. I could hear him screaming as I ran off due to infected chomping sizable chucks out of his flesh. What a terrible way to die, but right now it was not my problem. The escape plan that I had envisioned from the apartments had turned into a full blown charlie foxtrot. This was far from a clean get way.


The Sound of Death Pics

arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-52-31-39arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-35-29-71arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-35-32-74arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-35-35-70arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-35-38-72arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-35-41-71
arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-35-44-72arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-35-47-74arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-35-50-70arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-35-53-71arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-35-56-70arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-35-59-72
arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-36-02-70arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-36-05-73arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-36-08-71arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-36-11-71arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-36-14-75arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-36-17-70
arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-36-20-71arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-36-23-71arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-36-26-69arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-36-29-71arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-36-32-70arma2oa 2012-07-12 21-36-35-71

The Sound of Death Pics, a set on Flickr.