Making friends in Cherno

Life as usual in DayZ started with me trying to scavenge supplies in one of the most dangerous places in our new world

- Cherno. Now I thought after surviving this long, I was as stealthy as a cat. There I was climbing to the top of the

hospital roof in search of that oh so critical supplies: morphine and blood transfusions. What I didn't notice was

that my entry on to the roof had not gone unnoticed. Shortly after climbing the roof, I heard nearby gunfire. To me,

it sounded like automatic small arms fire such as heard from an AK-47 from a distance. Immediately my senses were heightened. Although

I had the high ground, tactically speaking standing on top of a roof in the middle of a town is not the best spot to

hide from nearby agressors. Not to mention the horde of zombies who would readily run to my location if I was foolish

enough to fire my pistol or Winchester 1866 rifle!

So there I was trying to figure out the best way to get of this location before whoever was shooting nearby saw me.

When, Lo and Behold!, I hear someone yell to me from below, "Don't shoot I'm coming up to the hospital roof with you."

My first reaction was to yell back firmly but politely, "Please don't come up here or I will shoot you!" To my

surprise I saw the brief outline of someone's head before he ducked back down. Undoubtedly he heard the urgency in my

voice. Now I was definitely compromised. At least one person already knew of my location on the hospital roof. There

being only 2 ladders down from the roof, I was hesitant to make myself a target for anyone to shoot as I

contemplated going down either ladder. While I was weighing my choices, I suddenly heard the sound of gunfire again.

This time it sounded like a .45 ACP revolver coming below and to the north of position. Using caution I peeked from

roof's edge towards the northern most appartment building. There below me was a line of shambling and hopping zombies

attempting to enter the entrance of the appartment. Although I could not see the shooter, I did see the results of his

accurate gunfire. Every few seconds, I saw a zombie collapse from headshot wounds. I realized this must be the

stranger who had momentarily appeared a few minutes ago. Realizing he was in danger, I shrugged off my usual

callousness towards helping strangers. I took careful aim with my Winchester towards the nearest zombie head. Bang!

The slug of an 1866 Winchester rifle blew half the head and brains from that zombie. After blowing away half a dozen

zombie heads, my new found acquaintance yelled out what I was doing. I yelled back, "I'm trying to help you clear out

that zombie mob around him." Between the two of us, we thinned out that zombie mob fairly quickly. As the firing died

out, I decided it was a good time escape the roof. My intervention with the stranger was to be rewarded in kind. As I

started climbing down the ladder, a few zombies I had not noticed were still lingering about. As they saw me descend

the ladder, they immediately raised a ghoulish howl that I can only interpret as undead glee at the appearance of a

readily meal. There I was already half way down trying to figure out if I could make it down before the zombies got to

me. Or if I should go back to my fleeting sanctuary on the roof again. As fate would have it, the stranger had seen my

situation from the appartment. Showing off his earlier accuracy with a gun, he took out those zombies waiting for me

below the ladder. In the space of 10-15 minutes I had discovered a new found friend and unlooked for trust. In a

hurried handshake welcome, I introduced myself to the stranger whose name was Max. He indicated he was looking for two

friends whom he had been inadvertently parted with during the start of the zombie apocalypse. I indicated to him that

I was not adversed to partnering up with him including looking for his two friends.

What started out as a typical morning scavenging supplies ended up with me making a new friend. I am now more hopeful

that there are more trustworthy people in this area. Who knows, perhaps we might be able to form a community and rid

ourselves of both undead hordes and bloodthirsty bandits in this new world....