The most recent thing I’ve had happen in my apocalypse is a mysterious ‘brrap’ from underground in the middle of nowhere and discovering that ant larva like to ‘struggle to stand.’
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Pathetic larvae can only struggle. Meanwhile,
Another case:
What is that fungal spire doing? And more importantly, how?
In other news, TIL you can gather tea leaves from a coffee tree:
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My island hopping survivor has left the early industrial age of a coal powered existence to living a clean, green, solar powered life.
She set off to the shore of the enormous lake she’s been living on to scout supplies and scavenge parts while her fish mutant follower stayed home to keep an eye on thingsthere. With no car, she skated down a road and into a little town. There were a handful of undead she plinked away at with her slingshot. After that was done, she scavenged the houses and electronics store but didn’t find much of use except some clothing she cut down for the rags. Just outside the last house on the street was an electric car. It was in bad shape but still driveable, so she loaded her loot, slowly cruised the little town, pulling any salvageable batteries from abandoned vehicles then drove back to her boat. The roads were fine but the trips through the field to the shore took some maneuvering to avoid rocks and bushes.
By the time she got to the boat, it was beginning to get dark, so she hopped on the boat and moved off shore a fair distance to anchor and hopefully avoid and undead roaming around on land. The next morning, she landed on shore once again and began dismantling the solar vehicle of anything and everything she could.
With a bank of batteries and solar panels on board, she’s making her couple hour trip back across the water to her island base. With any luck, tonight there’s going to be electric light and not fire/candle light!
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Reyes Albert, Prisoner (Embezzler)
“Wait here, I’ll just go see what that’s about.”
Reyes Albert found himself alone in the prison warden’s office. He was here often, as his computer skills came in handy whenever the prison staff had tech problems. But the warden had been gone for hours, and a barking outside signaled that something was wrong.
Through the reinforced glass window, he spotted a K9 unit, mouth frothing with blood. Reyes called out, “Hey warden! Something’s up.” He didn’t want to leave the room, as he’d been told by the warden himself to stay. But doing nothing made him just as guilty.
He stepped outside into the darkened hall. It was then that he heard a crash, as the front door caved in. An enormous, rotting hulk shoved its frame into the hallway. Reyes immediately stepped back into the warden’s office, and shut the door.
Panicking and trapped, the prisoner Reyes awaited certain death. But the blow from the unnaturally muscular zombie launched him clear through the reinforced window, past the K9, and into a barbed wire fence. He struggled for a moment as the K9 sawed at his ankles, before he took off in a sprint.
Chased by two K9’s, Reyes ran past the helipad and around the warden’s office. He was beginning to be boxed in. Ahead of him, another K9 forced him to run into the alleyway. As luck would have it, the dead-end alleyway had a drain pipe, which Reyes climbed to the roof.
From here, he could survey the entire prison island. Reyes had never seen the prison from up high. It was strictly forbidden to climb any of the structures. He could even see the ocean surrounding, and a couple islands to the east. The prison was composed of three structures, one of which dominated most of the island.
Regaining his stamina, Reyes rested for a few moments. He was in distressing pain, which drained some of his focus but was otherwise not much of an issue. He paced the roof, trying to come up with a plan. He would try to break the window to the southern guard tower, and jump across the gap.
In uncharacteristic deftness, Reyes cleared the gap with ease, and landed on the jagged windowsill without a scratch. He entered the tower, and recovered a L523-MBR with 23 rounds. He felt incredibly lucky to be alive, much less holding the grips of a battle rifle.
However safe he felt, without water his survival would only be short-lived. He checked the bottom floor of the guard tower, which was empty save for two doors. Opening one, he saw the corpse of a K9, and feeling a tinge of dread closed the door and returned upstairs.
With his rifle in hand, he decided it would be best to find a place with high visibility and begin to kill the undead. He climbed upstairs and cleaned the broken window of glass, in case he had to leave in a hurry. Then he went back downstairs, and through the north door. This led back towards the warden’s office, and was protected by bars. It was an excellent location to shoot from.
In two carefully-aimed shots, he downed his first zombie. It had barely touched the metal bars as its skull exploded. A zombified K9 scratched at the bars, although Reyes trained his rifle on a stronger brute which was approaching, trailed by other brutish zombies from inside the main prison structure.
The second zombie was downed quickly as well, although the blast from the shots made Reyes’ ears ring. The K9 continued to chomp and gnash ineffectively at the bars. Reyes kept firing on the zombies streaming out of the buildng. The third went down. The fourth. The fifth. Sixth.
But as he trained his rifle further northwards, it appeared that many of the zombies that had chased him before had… died? Their corpses littered the path with gore. Something else had killed them.
Reyes hoped they had merely been slaughtered by the gigantic hulk, in a fit of rage. But in the back of his mind, he recalled the violent security turrets that were also a possibility. It was likely that he, too would be shot on sight, if that was what happened to them.
Either way, it was dangerous to go back. He resolved to push into the prison structure where the zombies had come from. At least he knew he could carve his way in that direction.
With a sense of trepidation, he descended down the gutter pipe he had originally climbed. He landed on a boulder, and was assaulted by a K9 at close range. He fired four wild shots before a fifth connected to tear the K9 apart, and leave a bloody streak down the alleyway.
He checked himself over for injuries, and although he was still in some pain, he was unbitten. He checked his rifle. Seven bullets left.
Then he spotted the hulk.
Could seven bullets put it down? Reyes couldn’t see himself much enjoying sharing this prison island with a hulk much longer, and decided to fire.
Aiming for the hulk, the zombie ahead of it caught the first bullet and died. After firing three bullets into the hulk, it was looking heavily injured. Reyes kept firing.
Due to some Cataclysmic good fortune, the zombies had got caught in a pit right at the same tile as the hole in the wall. Reyes merely had to keep firing and he would take them out one-by-one.
Blood seeped into the pit as the hulk approached. Around the corner, a K9 fast approaches.
Only one bullet left.
Save me RNGesus…
Leaving the carnage below, Reyes climbed up the gutter to the north building. He descended behind the structure. Perhaps he could loot the warden’s office, and find another weapon. If he is lucky, he might even be able to score some water.
The warden’s office has been ravaged. The hulk must have torn through this place in the first few minutes. The are broken walls and bricks on the ground. Reyes Albert hoists a plank up high, and steps forward into the wrecked structure.
Picking up nails, he explores.
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Reyes Albert, Prisoner (Embezzler pt. 2)
It was the same morning as the cataclysm happened. Already, the prisoner Reyes Albert has been punched through a window, into a barbed wire fence, assaulted by zombie K9’s, climbed a gutter, jumped across a building, found a gun, and shot down several zombies, including a hulk.
His sheer will and determination to survive, as well as a hefty dose of luck, has brought us here.
But he won’t live for long, unless he gets a way of making clean water.
Reyes fashions himself a nail mace, and walks towards the location he shot some zombies earlier. He braces himself for a K9 that he knows is out there.
He must get water, food, and medicine. He is woefully unprepared.
He recalls a kitchen, from where the hulk emerged. A pit sits at the entrance. Perhaps, beyond it there is something like a pot, that he could use to boil water?
The K9 spots him as he nears the kitchen. It drags its body through the barbed wire, over top of the hulking corpse. Reyes slams it on its armored head as it approaches, although it bites him in return.
The K9 tears into Reyes as he frantically slams his nail board into its durable body. After three good hits, it is dead. Reyes however is pretty hurt.
Wanting to simply get a pot and go home, Reyes climbs through the pit and into the kitchen. There are no tools here, of course, because it is a prison. There is just a sink and a fridge, the cooking tools must be elsewhere.
In severe pain, Reyes stumbles onward. He enters the nearby rooms. He takes a blanket. Far off, he hears a whump.
The next door he opens is a gold mine. Codeine, first aid kit. He takes them to the room with light, leaving his nail mace in the back room. There are some sounds, but nothing urgent.
Reyes patches up his wounds. He takes an aspirin and a codeine. He retreats into one of the adjacent rooms, and lies down for a while.
He can’t sleep, but the rest does heal him somewhat. Reyes is certainly not feeling his all.
While sleeping, he was kept away by the sound of footsteps, just in the rooms north of him. He’s only killed about eight zombies so far. That’s a far cry from the whole prison island.
He’s hungry now. And thirsty. He’s got to get moving, and find a proper kitchen with tools and food.
The prison is dark, and sounds come from within. The zombies gather at the bars, where Reyes looks at their decaying faces. A prisoner and a cop. Perhaps they could be killed through the bars, using a tool such as a spear…
Reyes headed into the sunlight, and back to the warden’s office. He had found medicine. But he still needed food and water. He drank a soda from the warden’s personal desk.
It was time to explore the third building, which was separate from the prison itself. Reyes had noticed broken glass there earlier, and likely there were zombies inside.
The structure had been somewhat damaged, although it appeared that the damage was limited. The zombies here appear to have disappeared… or perhaps they left the island?
Finding a matchbook, Reyes immediately went to torch the hulking corpse, along with several other corpses.
There are a hole lot of corpses in this tile. I believe they got stuck here, it’s a pit, and the hulk went berserk on them. That’s some cataclysmic luck right there. Thanks hulk.
Lots of fuel for my fire. It’s a lot of work, but after tossing dozens of corpses, the area will be more secure. Reyes tosses various splinters and wood fragments into the fire. We need it big.
Reyes walks down to the south, to add the corpses of zombies he shot earlier to the pile.
Two zombies eye him hungrily from an office. The reinforced glass should hold, but the door is open. He just needs to be quick. He’s also looted a rucksack, and a tac vest. They stink, but maybe the stink will throw off the zombies?
He’s recovering from the heavy job, when the prisoner gets out of the office and gets awful close quick. Reyes sprints off, and leads the zombie into the fire and barbed wire. Some maneuvers and application of nail mace later, and the prisoner zombie is dead.
Reyes rests for a moment, pops a codeine, and watches the corpses burn. He still needs to find a way to boil water. He’s got to find a proper kitchen, and thinks there may be one in the exterior building nearby.
His health condition is moderate. He’s unbitten, and hurt but managing his pain. All things considered, this is a good place to be. He bandages himself up a bit more, and continues on. His prisoner’s shirt and pants are completely tattered.
Reyes explores further into the island’s third structure. It seems to have a computer terminal. He smashes down two doors with his nail mace, and finds a light jacket and a soda.
Encouragingly, there are no consequences to Reyes’s smashing of the doors. It would seem the southeastern part of the island is mostly clear of zombies. Perhaps soon, Reyes can even delve into the computer systems. Or find a boat, and leave this forboding island.
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Reminds me about my recent prison start, albeit as an officer. Started in cafeteria room (or however it is called in prisons). Thankfully, she had a gun and 3 full clips because there was, I don’t even know, about a dozen zombie cops in there. Running wasn’t an option because all the doors were locked, and trying to bash them with a baton? Nah, no chance in hell that’d work. At the time everything was dead, she had only 5 or 7 bullets left.
And of those, she had to spend more at the exit. You know how prison entrances look, right? double doors, then a tile of empty space, then double bars. Well, someone had a brilliant idea to install a riot control turret a tile below one of those.
Good thing: it spent all its rounds smacking the snot out of prizombies so it could only ‘chk’ at me.
Bad thing: when one of bar doors and one of exit doors were finally unlocked, out there were 3 zombie cops, which proceeded to go after her, but for some miraculous reason they stopped at the turret instead. Maybe they were distracted by 'chk’ing? I don’t know.
The problem is, they blocked the only way out and couldn’t be lured away from that pretty shiny clicking turret. Had to* shoot one, spending even more bullets, and run past 2 others.
`* - because trying to conk one in the head with a baton has shown that, of same-distance targets, they prefer ones with braaaaaaainssssssss.
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Reyes Albert, Prisoner (Embezzler pt. 3)
It was the afternoon of the first day of the cataclysm. Reyes’s introduction to the new world had been as quick as a punch through a reinforced glass window by a hulk. Life has been kinder to him since. He found a battle rifle, and used it to kill seven zombies, including the very same hulk, before running out of ammo.
The air smells of the stench of burning flesh, as the corpse pile he set on fire reduces to smoldering ash. He explores the eastern coast of the island, which is barren aside from an empty wooden dock. Far beyond, he can spot two deserted islands, one which has an abandoned barn. The other is known to have a cave.
Although he may seem safe, at his core Reyes is extremely vulnerable. He has no way of desalinating water, or even boiling it yet. Although the southeastern corner of the island is cleared of zombies, the prison is still dangerous, and Reyes is slow to heal his wounds.
He must keep pushing if he is to survive longer than a few hours. That means exploring more of the prison’s main structure. Ideally, he could find a kitchen, with a pot he could use to boil water.
He’s also keeping his eyes out for anything that could make a long spear. Brooms or young trees. The prison bars are holding back the zombies, and Reyes intends to use that to his advantage. With a spear, he could kill them without risk.
Reyes wants to climb up on top of the buildings, but the downspouts he used before have all been destroyed. He drags a bookshelf out of the warden’s office, clears the broken bricks and wood from the path, and pushes it past the corpse of the hulk, all of the way around to the alleyway.
Lodged between the shelf and the corner, Reyes climbs over the corpse of a K9 and onto the roof.
From there it’s a simple jump to the guard tower. He’s done this before. But this time, he plans to explore further.
In the protected area just west, which Reyes has not explored, there is a dead K9. A forboding sight, given that Reyes did not kill this one. He advances slowly, careful for any automated defense systems that may still be active. He was a techie, he knew deeply how much of their society had become automated to a fault.
The K9 itself was tangled up in the barbed wire, and Reyes began to think it had unintentionally killed itself. In the dark ahead, he spotted a second K9 corpse bound up in the barbs. It seemed clear.
A beach ahead stretched out into the open ocean. A distant lighthouse and a tiny island were all that was on the horizon. Reyes passed in shadow through to the next guard tower.
Of course, the metal door was locked. He slammed it several times with his nail mace, and it seemed to be making a dent. Taking brief rests to regain stamina and listen, it seemed the island was scarcely inhabited. At least the southern and eastern sides were clear.
The dents didn’t progress any further, and Reyes was forced to give up. He’d try the wooden door above. He smashed through both the southeastern and southwestern guard towers. His prize was a Colt Lightning .45 Carbine, with five rounds.
He decided to continue his sweep of the perimeter of the prison. The west had a long beach. Four of the zombies had died wrapped up in this barbed wire. He pocketed a cash card from a cop, and three bandages.
Ahead, he spotted the gym. He could see a brute standing near some weights. More importantly, he noticed a K9 outside, in the run between the wall and the barred fence he stood behind. He would be safe, even if it did notice him.
He continued to creep through the shadows northward. He could see the entire gym, which was vacant aside from the single brute zombie. A second K9 came into view in the run. As he crept forward, the K9s spotted him, and began to chomp ineffectively on the barred fence.
He continued to scout the western wall. The only other thing he spotted was the carpentry shop. No kitchen, yet. Reyes was becoming thirsty and peckish. He doubled back through the walls, as the K9s gnashed at the metal bars between them.
He climbed up to the guard tower, and crossed the walkway north. The northwest guard tower had no gun. Reyes descended to the bottom wall, and continued his scouting. He was hoping to spot the cafeteria through an external window.
He dropped to a crouch, noticing the K9 nearby. It spotted him anyways, or maybe smelled him. He stood back up and walked forwards, trying to keep his calm.
Through some glass he saw a hall, but nothing special inside. Two more K9 corpses were mangled in the barbed wire to the north. The door at the end of the run was locked, so he doubled back and climbed up top. He smashed the next door in.
At the northeastern tower, there was a fully-charged flashlight. A commotion downstairs made Reyes jump, as something sounded like it was moving in the barbed wire he had passed just moments earlier. Something must have arrived from outside. It sounded like a zombie, but he couldn’t be sure.
He kept going, tracing the eastern wall south. This would be the last wall to explore. He needed to find the cafeteria, or some place with a pot he could use to boil water.
He passed by the helipad, where he spotted another K9 tangled in barbed wire. The wires themselves seemed to be effective at catching the wandering undead. He was glad there was so much of it here. If he could fortify this island prison, he would have a chance.
He pulled a second cash card off of a zombified cop, as well as an extendable baton and a second flashlight. He made a mental note to come and burn the bodies here, as those zombies were close to his safe zone.
Coming up to the warden’s office again, he had finished his loop of the prison. He walked up to the corpses, and tossed them into a pile on the helipad. Altogether he turned three more corpses to ash.
As he stood there, he started to feel hungry. He cracked open a soda, and watched the bodies be consumed by flame.
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Reyes Albert, Prisoner (Embezzler pt. 4)
A small plume of smoke rose from the helipad, as three corpses burned to ash. Ocean waves crashed into the rocks, and Reyes Albert walked beside the barbed wire fence that lined the exterior of his prison compound.
It was the afternoon of the first day of the cataclysm. Reyes was looking for water. He hadn’t yet found a way to boil water, and he didn’t much like the idea of drinking toilet water raw.
He needed a pot. Or something to cook water in. He needed to get into the kitchen, only he couldn’t remember where it was. Something strange had happened, that he was sure of.
He decided to push into the prison, using the open entrance to the south. While walking, he noticed a multi-tool laying on the ashes of the main corpse pile.
Wielding a Colt Lightning .45 Carbine with five rounds, and wearing tattered prison garb, he stepped towards the hall. He knew there were two armored cop zombies here. They would be trouble to dispatch with his gun, and he would much rather tear them up in the barbed wire.
Reyes stood in the entrance of the hall, and shouted out. A prisoner shuffled in from the central hall. Reyes lured them out, and into the barbed wire fence. The led the zombie back and forth, passing through the fences dozens of times, tearing its skin and limbs. When it finally lost all strength from its body, he tossed the corpse into the fire that burned on the helipad.
Reyes lured one zombie out, and it began to slide against the barbed wire, the barbs not piercing the riot armor. He aimed his carbine, and shot the zombie in the helmet. Blood and gore leaked from the wound, so Reyes aimed and shot again. The cop zombie collapsed. Only two shots. He tossed the corpse onto the ashes of his previous fire, and relit the pile.
He goes for the next one, which is thrashing about in the office. In the hallway lies a broken automated turret. It looks like it was disabled by zombies after firing a few rounds. Took a door clean off.
Luring the zombie just behind, Reyes struggled to conserve his stamina, finding himself too close for comfort. He pulled out his rifle and shot it twice. It died, but he had just one bullet left.
This second corpse had a glock with one bullet. He dragged the body to the fire.
He could hear some smashing from inside the prison. He stepped inside the hall, watching a zombie as it strained uselessly against the prison bars. Stepping into an office, he found a hip flask of vodka.
He flipped on his flashlight to reveal much of the hall. One of the cellblocks was clearly ahead of him.
He clicked the flashlight off, and awaited a zombie from down the hall. When it arrived, he lured it outside and through the barbed wire fences. He managed to kill it without firing a shot, but it took a lot of footwork. It had an AR-15, with 6 rounds.
He just needed to find the kitchen, but it was beginning to look like that would be pretty far inside. He hefted the AR-15 onto his shoulder, but left the carbine and glock resting against the prison hall. They only had a single bullet each.
With his flashlight on, he went deeper. The next cell block held two zombies, who rushed up to the bars right next to Reyes. The next area held two smaller cellblocks, and ended in a locked metal bar door. He would need to open it somehow to get any further. He exited the prison building, and decided on another plan.
Reyes climbed onto the prison structure, and dropped down into the gym. He had scouted this gym earlier, when he snuck through under the shadows of the prison walls. In three shots, the brute was dead. He had some minimal pain from the landing, so he took an aspirin. A zombie turned outside, and strained ineffectively at the bars.
He checked the periphery. Snapping open his police baton, he broke down the wooden door. It led to a hallway, with one more wooden door. He entered. It looked to be a kennels, with dog food and miscellaneous supplies. He pocketed scissors and a dust mask. While he wasn’t desperate enough to eat dog chow, it was good to know it was there.
With all other doors blocked, Reyes stepped back out into the gym. He spun the weights off of a benchpress, and turned the central pipe into a makeshift crowbar. He tried it on the prison bars, but they were much too strong. He dragged the punching bag into the corner, and used it to climb back onto the roof.
While he hadn’t found the kitchen yet, he had narrowed down the possibility to the north side of the prison. It had to be there. But he needed to open the metal bar doors somehow…
Outside, he spotted a prisoner zombie near the helipad. He led it through the barbed wire until it was dead, and burned the corpse.
He thought back to a terminal he saw in the staff house. He went back, and attempted to log in…
The password was routine. He had fooled the guards into using a predictable pattern before the cataclysm hit. Simple iterations on the month, so that they could be in compliance with the prison password policy while simultaneously exerting minimum effort.
Reyes folded a bit of scrap metal into a lockpick, and attempted to pick the lock. He gave it a few tries, before thinking his efforts would be better put towards the doors that were essential to his current survival. That meant he would go back into the prison, and begin to unlock the interior doors. He made a mental note to come back, and loot the armory.
It was early evening, and Reyes continued to try and pick the locks inside. A zombie in the adjacent hallway strove towards him, but was held back by the prison bars.
After a dozen tries, he makes it through the first gate. A dozen more attempts, and he’s through the second. Reyes feels optimistic — he’s just about scouted the entire island.
At the end of the hall, he finally spies it. He has been searching for this all day. A large room with tables, likely the kitchen is nearby. He needs to get the zombies out of the hallway. There are three of them now, in the hall before the kitchen.
Reyes decides it’s time to shoot them. He’s tried to stab them with the long reach of a spear, but a metal mesh between the prison bars prevents him. Only a bullet would travel through.
He fires the final shots from both his carbine, glock, and AR-15, killing two of the zombies and injuring the last. All he needs to do now is get into that hallway, and he could surely finish off the last one.
He heads north to the cafeteria’s other entrance, and shouts loudly. This causes some of the other zombies nearby to stir.
He picks the lock towards the last zombie between him and the kitchen, kills it, and is in the kitchen at last.
A cast-iron frying pan will have to do, to boil water. Reyes snatches up a water bottle, unlids it and knocks it back, drinking down the precious water. There are a couple fruits here, a couple of TV dinners, and some tins of food. Some pasta, pesto, and sugar.
There is also a massive pantry nearby. Reyes could live for weeks on this… He may very well be safe. He closed shut the doors, and at last he felt secure. He was safe in the cafeteria, locked behind the powerful metal prison bars. And just in time, as dusk was beginning to fall on the first night.
4 Likes
Reyes Albert, Prisoner (Embezzler pt. 5)
Reyes had one last thing to do before he could settle in for the night. An armory in the staff building taunted his mind. It was on the southeastern side of this prison island.
He’d hacked it open earlier, but now returned with his makeshift lockpicks. After a few short moments, he was in. He took a tazer, but the other police equipment seemed too cumbersome for him. Better suited for gunfights than zombies.
Maybe he would eventually recycle the fabric to make something new. There were two shotguns, but without any shells they were just dead weight. He could always come back, if he needed to.
Reyes went through the warden’s office next, to see if there was anything he’d passed over earlier which would be useful now.
This is the same room where, in the first minute of the cataclysm, Reyes had been launched through the reinforced window by a hulk. The broken glass lay there. A forgotten empty gun — the one he had killed the hulk with — lay in the corner. The place reminded him of his past life as a prisoner. It was easier then, being told what to do and just living off of what was given to him.
It all felt so oppressive to him then. But compared to now, that was easy. Since the cataclysm, he had to fight every inch to survive. But maybe now that most of the zombies were dead, he could turn this place into a paradise of sorts.
On his way back, Reyes was surprised by a prisoner zombie. Where did this one come from?
It stood on top of the pile of burnt corpses. Reyes couldn’t decide whether it had risen from the ashes, or merely stumbled upon the pile. He killed it, and inspected its body. It certainly looked like it had just gotten up. Very concerning.
He decided that all the dead zombies around the island needed to be pulped immediately, starting with the hulk. It was bloody work.
Reyes clubbed in dozens of heads, as the blood seeped out to a fair chunk of the island. From the sky, great red warts must have appeared across the compound. Fear gripped him — what if he had missed a zombie somewhere, and it would come back to life? He didn’t like the idea of walking around at night in the dark, and being ambushed. Patrolling around the island twice however, he was beginning to feel at ease. He thinks he got them all.
He entered the prison and passed the seven or so zombies still locked in the cellblocks, carrying his loot back into the cafeteria.
Reyes lit a small fire in the oven, and read a book on, of all things, birdhouse construction. Maybe he could set up some birdhouses outside, and attract some food to the island. Or maybe that was just fanciful thinking.
The embers in the oven soon went out, and Reyes finished his water bottle. Just a moment’s rest. It was dusk outside, and he had work to do before he could sleep.
He flicked his flashlight back on, and set off down the prison halls. He pulled at the heavy bar doors, but they wouldn’t budge… He remembers shutting them, but not locking them. Perhaps the prison had an automated system? The thought of being trapped inside there petrified him.
He was out of lockpicks. He crafted a dozen more, and used them all. Still no success. He was beginning to get worried, and the thought of no longer seeing the light of day made him desperate. He felt like a prisoner again.
Finally, after 20 lockpicks, he was free of the prison. A wave of relief washed over him.
He passed by the cellblocks, with pair of zombies straining to reach him through the bars. He’s looking for furniture to clog the gates with. He’d rather deal with the rare chance a zombie gets into the halls, than be trapped in the prison to die.
He drags a chair from the parole office through the halls, and jams it into the door. Then he does it again with another. With the chairs in place, he should never get trapped again.
He enters a bathroom in the entrance, and plunges his water bottle into toilet water. Never done this before. He’s going to try and boil it for tomorrow morning.
Using the oven’s fire, he cooked two TV dinners, and ate one of them. The other he would eat in the morning, when he woke up. Reyes slept in a bed, in a closed room in the doctor’s office. It was in the center of the compound, and felt safe enough.
He woke up in the dead of night, fully rested. Flicking his flashlight on, he went to head back to his pantry for a meal. He gobbled down the TV dinner he made the night before, and drank the water he had boiled. He would start his day by making more clean water for himself.
After he readied himself to head out, he started exploring the prison for the second time. At the eastern coast, he tore apart the rope dock railings for some long strings and rope in the hours before dawn. He didn’t have a clear idea yet, but perhaps the ropes would be of use.
Taking a good many ropes, he headed back. He went to the cafeteria, and began to break up the bench for scrap wood. Using some of the rope fibers from the dock, he crafted a crude bow, and arrow shafts to kill the zombies. There were a few unknown rooms in the prison to explore, but he had to put the zombies down first. Luckily, they were behind bars.
Reyes walks up to a prisoner, trapped behind bars. In the light of his flashlight, he shoots nearly 20 of his crude arrows into it before it finally collapses. He recovers some of the arrows, and bashes the corpse into pulp.
It seemed to have originally come from a second room, and it bashed a door down to get closer. Earlier, he spotted a circular saw inside there. He’s got a good feeling that this will be the prison’s hobby shop.
The prison’s workshop. There’s a drill press and a power lathe in there, as well as a workbench. These are some advanced tools, but Reyes isn’t sure what he’d use them for yet. They’d probably need power, as well. He grabs one of the circular saws and put it in his backpack. Might help with cutting up wood.
He starts to construct a boat over on the docks. He wants to call it the “Lowrider”. He thinks it’ll be a small canoe, big enough to explore the islands to the east. It’s a long way off, but it’s a start. He’s not great at building, so he figures he might try a practice project first.
He steps into the gym every so often to craft in the sunlight. It’s nice and protected, even if there is still a corpse there. His flashlight is at about two-thirds power, but he may need to conserve it for a long time. He pounded a metal piece into some wood for a screwdriver, and created a short bow which will be a bit better than his self bow.
He crafts thirty more crude arrows. It’s hard to feel safe even if there are only three zombies left on the entire island. Anything that’s loose must be killed.
Trying to shoot the K9 with his bow, his crude arrows just reflect off. It’s got a kevlar vest, and this just isn’t cutting it. He lets out a shout, to try and draw a zombie he saw earlier over. Looks like this will be more trouble than he thought.
Reyes re-applied his bandages. He had a lot of scratches from the K9s yesterday, as well as being punched by the hulk. It might take him a few days to heal. He’s never been great at healing.
He climbs up to the guard tower, and gets behind the barred wall. He walks around, shouting, but can’t find the zombies he saw before. Maybe he killed it somewhere else?
He searched thoroughly around the prison, until he attracted the same K9 around the perimeter. Wielding his sharpened bit of rebar, he tries to jab it into the K9’s body. The dog tears Reye’s tattered prison garb, this time completely. He’s left there in his skivvies and light jacket. In retaliation, he strikes the final blow next and kills the zombified K9. He pulps the body, punching it with holes.
It’s not exactly cold out, so he’s enjoying the freedom of not having that prison garb on anymore. His bare legs are feeling the morning breeze. He realizes that he has one last place to explore inside the prison — the showers. Maybe he’ll be able to find some soap, which he could use to clean a new pair of pants.
But there are two zombies up in the shower room, a cop and a prisoner. He tries firing his short bow at the cop, but the makeshift arrows he’s made won’t pierce its armor.
He flings dozens of arrows at the prisoner zombie, each one slowly taking it down. He keeps firing these little fragments of wood into the zombie as it becomes more and more like a porcupine. Eventually it is killed through sheer determination.
Now that there’s one less zombie in there, Reyes goes another route. He thinks the showers has a second entrance.
He went to make some more lockpicks, and fired arrows until a zombie in an adjacent hall until it died. It was slow going, as he had to craft so many little items.
But soon he got through. He would try and approach the shower from behind, and see if there was any soap. From this angle, he could unlock the shower without being seen, and sneak up on the cop zombie from behind.
He flicked his flashlight on, and was surprised to see that this led to an actual laundry. There was thread, and dozens of prison shirts. No pants, unfortunately. He ripped a blanket up into smaller rags.
Stepping into the light of the gym, he continued crafting a pair of jeans. He read a sewing book earlier, which was invaluable. Feeling hungry, he headed into his pantry for a bite. He ate two pickled herrings for lunch.
He crafted some jeans out of fabric from the laundry room. He impressed himself with how well they fit, so he decided to try and tailor another thing. He went over to the armory at the staff house, to pick up the clumsy riot gear. He put a riot helmet on, and picked up a steel-plated vest. He also grabbed a pair of hiking boots he spotted.
From the vest, he took out the steel plates. Without them, the vest was light enough to wear. He also made some cotton gloves, and a balaclava. He’d never worn a balaclava before, but the warmth did feel nice on his face. The extra fabric might throw a zombie off, too.
The island is his. He was in pain, but he’s considering the whole island clear.
3 Likes
Take martial arts and you can just throw brutes that I assume are taking you down.
I don’t know how lucky a find this is, but I just found a pristine condition motorcycle, in a garage. And I do mean pristine. This bike is flawless, and even had almost half a tank of gas.
2 Likes
Wait, we can jump now!?
How please?
1 Like
Stay at the edge of a roof, press 'e’xamine, select direction, choose jump.
That moment when a zombie brute goes full schoolyard bully and throws you into a dumpster!
Lol
2 Likes
Watch out. Next time he’ll give you a wedgie and hang you and your underwear on top of the flag pole.
Been a while since I went into the game, so I decided to deviate from my usual lab test subject start, as it’s not really “really bad day” but it gave the same amount of points and was way more predictable than the aforementioned start.
But hey, I was bored so I picked shower victim and really bad day. My first try was a bust, the town was way too small and absolutely filled with the dead, so I gave up.
My second try, however, was an astounding success. I spawned in, grabbed a cast iron pan, chatted up the NPC, got him to join me on my adventures, and promptly dipped out of my house into the neighbors.
Crouched down and rummaged through the bathroom for any medical supplies. Nothing. Went into a bedroom and put on some clothes, most of it didn’t fit, but that doesn’t matter to someone who’s naked.
My NPC friend stumbled in, bleeding, and I frantically tried to find some kind of cutting instrument to help patch his wounds.
Upstairs was too dangerous, so I opted to go down into the basement where I found a single turkey chilling on the steps, I walked in the room that looked like some sort of underground electronic, ham-radio enthusiast den and was greeted by two things:
A singular tough zombie and a chunk of royal jelly.
To my absolute amazement of getting my infection cured this quickly, I quickly darted past the zombie, grabbed the jelly and scarfed that thing down while the NPC started punching it to death.
The singular tough zombie put up quite a fight, but luckily there were two of us, and my NPC friend’s unarmed skill was around 5. I really only survived because my dodge was 3 and I had a heavy pan.
However, a new problem arose. Now, we’re both bleeding. My head was cut, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I ran around the basement and amazingly found a pair of scissors, I went upstairs, grabbed a dress shirt and cut it up into rags to staunch my bleeding. While I did this, NPC’s wound stopped bleeding on his own.
So here I am. Pretty much set. I just have to wait for nightfall to make my escape into the woods.
And find a water container while i’m at it.
3 Likes
Checking out a drug deal gone bad in the middle of a city and found an RPG-7 for the first time ever. First thing I’ve ever seen with a damage of 3,000. Niiiiice.
EDIT: And very shortly thereafter, I noticed this:
Gotta be fate.
So, um, what’s the minimum safe distance for an RPG-7?
3 Likes
Quite a jump from last time I posted. I cleared out most of a city with a trusty fire axe and leather touring suit. Upgraded everything to survivor gear soon after I finished decking out my security truck, which curiously was completely fine, and even was welded onto orichalcum frames. Made the two all-in-one welder/forge plus kitchen/kitchen buddy/chemical station and used cargo spaces for storgage. Added a large battery array from an electric car, around 6 solar panels, two extra tanks for clean and dirty water, a full steel jerry can and two full tanks of gas, since I upgraded to a V8 gasoline engine.
The progression basically looked like this fire axe > Clear area > loot necessities > read books > deck out car > make katana > read some more > fill gas > make survivor gear
Doing pretty well. Slaughtered a cow in a far-off farm and i’m currently driving, exploring the world. Just torched an entire forest because it was a fungal one.
There’s something irresistible about seeing the fire dance in my eyes as, in that moment, the entire world is burning around me.
Somewhat of the aftermath, there’s SEVERAL map tiles of just burnt forest.
The inventory, for those who are curious.
um… how the heck do you achieve 38.5L storage capacity? suit 7.5, runner pack 8L, coat 9L = 24.5L. Where do yet another 14 come from?
Dunno, but you missed the harness, the holster, the scabbard, the sheath. I dunno, honestly. Might be a bug, might not.