DayZ Diary – Day 3 – “I live in a neighborhood so bad that you can get shot while getting shot”

Day 3

Kamyshovo… it’s fading into the distance, very much like my moral ambiguity toward axing people in the head. I’m heading north, well I’m guessing north since I have no map or compass and a vague recollection of past visits to this area. I’m trying to get to Msta, a small village I know for a fact has a well in it and a nice former hospital where I hope I can find something to replace all the blood I don’t have.

Comparatively I don’t get very lost, it takes me a little while to find the road I want and I have to admit I did start walking the wrong way but all in all the fact I find myself at my target destination without having wasted several hours running up scree slopes full of tress is always a win.

The town is deserted except for a lonely looking zombie stood in the middle of the road, I turn him into the worlds moistest sleeping police in short order. I find the well and drink until my belly tells me I couldn’t take anymore. That should help stave off my body’s irritating habit of perpetually telling me I’m thirsty. I scavenge a canteen from a nearby house and fill it up.

The next few houses sate my other need as I wolf down tins of tuna, sardines, cold beans and spaghetti. I feel like a student again.

The positive effect is my vision begins to return from a positively grey hue to full colour and a while after that the blurriness begins to lift as well. I can now read the signs on the street without pressing my nose against them. For the first time in this whole adventure I start to feel a little perky.

The former hospital yields a med kit full of bandages, water purification tablets and even a saline bag. I swap my old hoodie for a striking orange raincoat, given my lack of armament I hope that the act of being clearly visible will show I’m not a threat. Give me a break here, there’s no neon sign I’ve found that blinks the phrase “Don’t shoot me, I’ll give you everything!”.

I head on, there’s a town less than a mile away called Staroye and I make it in a minute or two. I chuckle to myself as two zombies bundle out into the road as I approach. I two literal strokes I’ve felled both. Hail to the king, baby…

Staroye is split into two part at the top and bottom of a hill, the bottom is shacks and wooden buildings and it generally bereft of anything save a well which tops my hydration levels off nicely. The top brings me a few changes of clothes in the form of a spangley new red bike helmet, some hiking boots and I swap my purple backpack for an orange one to match my raincoat. I look like a crab fisherman from Deadliest Catch…. with a fireaxe.

The last house delivers me a god send, a compass. With roads being a dangerous way to travel especially out i the open the ability to head in a known direction through forests is perfect. It  also cuts out the stupid winding roads out in the country. I head out in a westerly direction, I know there’s a nearly strauight road that should take me to a larger town that way. The compass pays dividends and I reach the road in a few minutes of hill scrambling instead of having to head away from my target by following the road directly.

I hit a cross roads, to the left a dirt road leads me to a village called Pusta and straight on takes me to Mogilevka. Pusta is small, about the size of Musta, and is nearer the coast. Mogilevka is bigger. Pusta is probably safer despite being closer to one of the major cities but I have a good supply of the stuff that kind of place gives up. I’ve been doing well so far so I take the decision to try my luck in a larger town and see if I can’t upgrade some of this gear.

Mogilevka takes me a few minutes jogging to reach before I sprint inside the first building. It’s a treasure trove of stuff but I eat some food and take some rope I find. I sprint to the next house… empty. The next house gives me a tin of tuna and sat on a shelf is another compass. I check it, damaged… I check the one I have…. badly damaged. I drop the old compass and pick up the new one.

*Pachingggg*

That sounded like a ricocheting bullet… but then again if I hit my axe against a wall it makes the same sound. Maybe I put that compass down a bit too hard. I pocket the compass and turn around.

A blue motorcycle helmet pops up from below a windowsill. I try to raise a friendly hand to signal I’m not about to attack. Instead I raise my axe…… A second shot rings out.

Fuck……

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