(Note this is from a build from 2 months ago)
I started a log in my current session and I have survived a record one week, I think because I have been extra careful (and gotten lucky).
I am Milspec, the Ex-Cop, with good stats that are even and skill in Handguns, Marksmanship, Bashing Weapons, Melee, Dodging and Survival. I am a fast walker with a light step (less noise), good night vision and leave a weak scent trail. On the downside I have terrible eye sight and need glasses, am a heavy sleeper, always tell the truth, am ugly and to top it off lactose intolerant.
= Day One =
I wake up as Cop in Evacuation Shelter.
I have died so many times I know what to do. I smash some wooden benches and a locker. I make an improvised crowbar from a bent pipe. I use that to smash and clean the broken glass from a window and break up the curtains. I rip the curtains into into rags and pull apart a rag into thread.
Its the morning in early spring and its damn cold outside. I venture out to gather rocks and use thread and wood to make a stone knife and hammer. I spot an opossum and bash it with my crowbar and butcher it with the stone knife. Back inside I take the bones and whittle them into needles. I use thread and needles to reinforce my cloth items until I have enough skill to make light gloves, a balaclava and a simple pouch.
Now that I have some basic warm gear in addition to my starting clothes, its time to head out.
I check a nearby radio tower, its empty. I spot a motel and head there. There are four abandoned cars out front and zombies milling around. I check one car, it has low gas and some battery charge but no tires. Zs get to close so run back to the Evac shelter. 2 follow.
I wait for the Zs to get close then shoot them with my M1911 pistol from medium range. I wait for the recoil to subside between each shot. I manage to kill them all with a few shots each, and the shelter is far enough from the motel where the sound didn’t carry. I used 20 bullets total and am down to 30 left. I holster my pistol.
Picked up the shell casings. Stripped the tattered clothing from the dead bodies. Butchered their corpses and left the tainted meat in the street. Repaired a messenger bag one was wearing and swapped it for my homemade pouch. Wielded my make-shift crowbar.
Head back to Motel. An adult and child zombie come out separately. I lure each into the bushes and beat them with crowbar until they die.
I enter Motel. Pick up lighter, cigarettes, tourist map and a few bags of chips. Some vending machines here, the cash card I found on a previous Zombie will come in handy. In the middle parking area another zombie spots me, and as he chases me a second crashes through the window from one of the far rooms.
I lure them back in the office, and position myself on the far side of a table and chairs. They have to slow down to cross the obstacles and I beat them with the crowbar, at one stage they both make it to me but with the next hit the closest dies. The other dies soon after.
Walk the inner perimeter of the motel and check all of the windows. Two are smashed where the zombies came out. Everything is quiet. I clean the broken glass from the window sills then climb through and unlock the door from inside.
The rooms are tidy with beds, dresser, chairs and a back bathroom with a toilet full of water. I know what will happen if I drink that water without boiling it, and I don’t have a bottle handy to get the water.
As night falls I am back in a motel room, there is a real bed so I will be warm for the night. The plan is to get some sleep, head back to the evac shelter to get the cash card and try my luck with the vending machines. One bottle is all I need - ideally two. If the cash card fails there is always my crowbar.
= Day Two =
Sleep well in the bed but wake up hungry while its still dark out. Make way slowly back to motel office. Smash vending machine with crowbar which sets off alarm. A wealth of cans and bottles fall out and I quickly grab as many juice bottles as possible. A zombie appears almost next to me - I didn’t see him walk up in the darkness. I decide to run, fleeing out the other exit and back to my room.
I drink some juice while waiting for him to follow me. He will try and climb through the empty smashed window if he sees me, which is awkward for him and gives me the advantage.
Smash my crowbar against the wall to make some noise and attract the zombie. While waiting notice I am chilly with only my sheriff’s shirt and a t-shirt on my torso and arms. Its 24 degrees F in the middle of an early spring night in the Northeast Atlantic coast, I will need a jacket. Being cold slows me down and dampens my mood a bit but I am not bad off with my gloves and balaclava.
I wait until dawn, then leave and hunt down the zombie. I check all of the doors to the rooms and grab a few items like a phone book, map and bible from some drawers. A hungry coyote that has been hanging around the parking lot tries to jump me, I kill it, butcher it and take its bones.
The Motel is safe, and its more comfortable than the shelter. I consolidate everything in the Motel into one room, filling the cabinets, and make a run back to the shelter. I cut up the useless clothes into rags and head back. On the way the light snow turns into rain, soaking me and ruining my mood.
I cheer up after a snack of smoked meat and fresh water (from the vending machine). I flip through the Bible, it will cheer me up if I ever need it. I flip through the phone book, reading that will only sour my mood. I check the tourist map, showing me the major roads in the area as well as a few major landmarks. I wait out the rain, getting thirsty.
In my haste I accidentally drink a bottle of water I filled from the toilet. Ugh, that is going to hurt at some point. Yup, there we go. Food poisoning. I am slower, my stats take a hit and my mood decreases. Oh god that was stupid (“bottle of water” vs “bottle of clean water”).
I eventually vomit, which makes me fell better but also makes me hungry.
I enter an adjacent room, smash up some furniture and stack some wood in the bathtub. I go back to my room and craft a pointy stick from a board with my knife. I grab the raw meat I have been collecting, enter the room next door, and light a fire in the bathtub. This keeps the fire from spreading and allows me to cook some meat. The room fills with smoke and I start coughing, so retreat for fresh air.
I use some rags to make a bandana, cover my mouth, grab more wood then head back into the lightly smoky room to finish cooking. I cough some more but manage to cook all of my meat, finally backing off when I cough so hard I hurt my chest,
I now have a repeatable, if inelegant, way to cook raw meat I get from butchering wildlife and to boil the unclear water than I can collect from the toilets and the pool. That, plus the real bed and the solid roof, is the basic recipe for survival.
I craft some improvised lock-picks from the scrap metal and work on the doors that were locked. I slowly get one or two open, damaging the crappy picks while doing so, and stumble upon the motel workshop. Its a wealth of equipment, including a simple crafting book, flashlight, duct tape, screwdriver, superglue and tons of other things. It pays to be thorough!
I completely smash up one of the vending machines to get the metal lumps, tubing and rubber hose. I make a few more lock-picks but my skill is terrible and I break most of them. I resort to smashing the windows of the last few rooms to loot them, ripping up the curtains for more rags, string, etc.
By the time that is done it is nightfall. I eat, drink and slip into bed. I survived for a second night.
= Day Three =
The next day I dig a shallow pit outside in the dirt, fill it with splintered wood and light it. The smoke dissipates in the air and the fire is contained in the small depression. I cobble together a cooking surface with some stones and proceed to cook up meat and boil water. This will work better.
I check the 4 abandoned vehicles carefully. There is a little fuel in some, but none with fuel and wheels. I don’t have the right tools to swap wheels around (need a wrench at least) so will have to come back to this later.
I wander over to the radio tower and spot a moose. My pistol flies out of its holster and I kill it with a few shots. This is a bonanza of meat, sinew, bone, fat and fur hides, which will really help with my crafting.
As I drag that all back to the Motel it starts to rain. I stubbornly try and cook in the rain. I manage to light a piece of wood and cook one chunk of meat but the fire goes out. I try again and again, using a charge from my lighter each time, but eventually the wood is too charred and wet to continue.
I decide to stay inside for the rest of the rainy day. I read the Crafting book, which slowly increases my fabrication skill and teaches me some new recipes like for a hacksaw, shovel, hoe and other useful things. I eat and drink from time to time, but other than that time passes quickly until I run out of light. I have a flashlight but no extra batteries, it is stupid to use it up just to read a book - so I go to bed.
