DayZ DUG

19:30, November 24, 2020 (Military Calendar) / Chernarus Former Satellite nation of the USSR, Chernarus International Airfield (NWAF) Theater of operations Security Status: Classified "Captain move to the Eastern edge of the airfield I want a blanket of coverage from the Warehouses to the camp, make it happen" The order was made and the Captain started moving into position stalking without a sound and showing no profile to potential prying eye's. The only thing you could hear in the air was the rustling of the leaves as the tree's started to crack from the heavy winds that were caused by the cold front meeting with the warm weather from the day. If I closed my eyes I could hear the crying and growling of the husks of men and women that were rotting and shambling throughout the airfield. The sun was already under the horizon when our team moved into position and started the initial reconnaissance, Recon Team Alpha had heard rumors of a mostly unmolested military base that was so overrun with the infected that it was a borderline suicide mission to attempt to retrieve any supplies. My team was antsy, even for hardened veterans of countless battle's and wars. They were no greenhorns to suicide missions and relished the challenge of trying to make it out alive...This time was different though, before the outbreak these kinds of missions either ended up with a bullet in your back or being captured and tortured. This time came with the threat of being eaten alive by creatures that were from the darkest corners of our nightmare's. We were no stranger to these creatures but even now it was no less unsettling. The Captain clicked his radio twice announcing his arrival to his overwatch position, the Reaper was in and nothing would move past him without his admission. I ordered Lieutenant Falco to take the newest operator of our group; Staff Sargent Von to the edge of the crumbling concrete wall to get ready for our sweep. I myself moved into position on the left side of the entrance and clicked my radio three times, signaling my men to check in and acknowledging their ready status. I heard a subsequent six clicks from my three men and clicked my radio twice more signaling to start our sweep. Lt. Falco and SSGT. Von moved in from the North when they were caught off guard by two infected staring right at them, Lt. Falco immediately swung into action smashing one skull into the wall shattering the maxillae and the orbital bone into pieces sending shards piercing into its brain. Ending it's...so called life in a flash. Before the husk collapsed he turned and put his combat knife through the eye socket of the other...actions such as these is why he earned the call sign of Titan. The Lieutenant and Staff Sergeant continued past the barbed wire and into the small tent barracks searching for potential munitions and gear. The tents had been erected as a base of operations for the Czech/Russian military forces hoping to quarantine the outbreak. The sweep initially yielded limited prospects, some pistols and loose ammunition for various Russian weapons. Eventually the sweep took itself to some more tents closer to the airfield that were densely protected by the infected and there they hit the jackpot. We'd been running low on supplies since we'd arrived in Chernarus. Our "Recon Team" was sent with 5000 rounds of 5.56 and 1000 rounds of 7.62. 50 m67's fragmentation grenades, 25 Flashbangs, 10 IR grenades, 30 spare magazines of STANAG and 30 spare M1A magazines. This included 6 M4A1's, 6 M1A's, and 3 M40a5's in reserve. Hell they should of just called us Force Recon with what they sent us in with. Now I'm sure command has seen the wreckage from the Chinook that was meant to drop us in. That wreckage included all of our supplies, our provisions and winter clothing. Improvising has become a very routine part of our daily lives and scavenging Czech/Russian Military bases was always a real consideration even before landing in nation. The loss of our gear was a heavy hit but it was nothing we couldn't handle. I regrouped with the Lieutenant and Sergeant in the tents; we started discussing how to get this large stash of gear out but everything we could possibly do meant multiple trips resulting in a massive increase in the risk of this excursion. As the Team Leader I was left with the decision of taking what we could carry or making multiple trips. I decided that it was well worth taking the risks and taking a few trips to a FOB we had in Bashnya. I ordered Von to stand watch over the cache while Titan and I ran the gear and Reaper would provide the overwatch. Just as soon as the order was given Reaper called out over the mic we had four survivors moving towards us at a fast rate, he asked for permission to engage; I denied his request. The survivors pushed in and started firing their weapons at the infected drawing a large horde towards them, and in return us. I ordered everyone to lay low and await further instructions while I attempted to make contact. I made my move and called to them announcing myself as Major. Lothar Myer of NATO and to move to us for assistance. There was no response but a few pop-shots directly at my location, their intent was made and Reaper took action putting a well place .308 into the temple of one of them. I broke radio silence and called on Titan and Von to move into position and repel their attack. The remaining three pushed through the tents and started firing through the tents and towards whatever they could see. A stray round ripped through a tent hitting Titan in the helmet knocking him unconscious. I returned fire double tapping the chest and one to the head, the man collapsed without making a sound. Von moved to Titan's position checking his vitals and making sure he was not bleeding. Von pulled Titan into a tent placing him in the corner and moving to Titans original position. He heard footsteps on the other side of the tent and when he turned the corner was confronted by six infected. Maintaining his cool he used his "borrowed" AK-74 firing a controlled burst dropping four of the infected before they were too close for his rifle. Kicking one back he tackled the other to the ground shoving his knife into its skull and using his pistol to finish the other. The last survivor used this to this advantage firing on Von clipping him in the leg before Von let loose dropping the would-be attacker. The result of our firefight lured a horde of infected from the surrounding 800 meter area. Von rushed back to Titans position and using a Epinephrine pen as a booster, woke him from his unconscious state leaving him still a bit dazed and explained the situation to Titan. Von told him to stay put and would man the outside of the tent drawing the infected away while he came to. The horde was coming from every direction and it was only getting larger; I'd thrown my M4 on my back and grabbed a AK-74 from the tents. All around the compound you could hear the cracks of rifles and the roaring from the infected. In the distance you could hear Reaper's Winchester letting rounds loose as fast as he could pull the bolt and reload. At this time I'd estimated he had used around half of his ammunition which left us with the advantage of another forty infected he could kill. I moved towards Titan's and Von's last known position trying to rendezvous and build a dam against the torrent. As soon as I got to their position they were getting pushed on again from the infected. I joined their firing line carefully choosing my shots making sure to land well placed shots not wasting any ammunition. With barrels smoking and piles of dead bodies we were secure for the time being. After assessing the situation I ordered Titan and Von to grab whatever they could carry and to get ready to pull out. The horde was becoming too much, ammo was running low and we were at a serious risk of being over run. The largest push started running towards us. Titan and Von had grabbed what they could and started to move to the north end of the compound. I had grabbed whatever loose ammunition I could find as well as a few Frag Grenades. An infected sprinted into the tent almost catching me off guard; I let loose a small burst from my AK dropping her. The sound of that burst drew at least ten infected and they were sprinting my way. I took a M67 Frag Grenade into my hands, pulled the Pin and let the spoon go...dropping it at my feat and sprinted out of the tent. I counted. Five, Four, Three, Two, One.....Zero? Then it went off; the infected in the tent and surrounding it were maimed or dead. Dawn was beginning to break over the Airfield as I made it to the Northern wall. Titan and Von had lost the attention of whatever infected had been chasing them and I was being chased by only a handful. Von and Titan used their suppressed pistols to kill off those chasing me as I approached their position. I called over the radio to Reaper to give me a sit-rep. He was down to twenty-three rounds of ammunition for his Rifle and down to magazine of his FNX. He had already moved position situating himself for a better view of the interior for the tents. The tents were utterly packed with infected sitting idly by waiting for some movement or sound to reanimate them. Titan and Von checked their gear and ammunition assessing their combat effectiveness. We were almost depleted on ammunition and we were exhausted and hungry. Our dilemma was this, if we leave now we may not have the supplies to ever come back; but if we get into another pinched situation we could certainly run out of ammo. I made the call, everyone get half an hour sleep. and prepare to go back in. After two hours we were ready to move, however the infected were far too dense still. They had been filtering out in all directions but it was still an unmanageable number. I gave Reaper the order to set off an explosion down the airfield to draw them away but someone beat us to it. A large explosion plus four different guns started to go off. It was another group trying their luck here. All of the infected starting pouring out of the tents towards the sounds leaving the tents mostly unprotected. Reaper gave the all clear, we pulled our pistols and knifes sprinting in and killing whatever remnants of the infected were left, quietly. We checked the rest of the tents grabbing anything and everything. Reaper called out over the radio saying the squad was heading straight to our position and he had no shots. There was six of them, things were about to get interesting. They moved in two groups of three up through the tents. Once they saw us, there was no friendly contact. It was only the sound of them suppressing us with their fully automatic AK's, M4's, and MP-5's. We returned fire, maintaining fire control and conserving the limited ammunition we had. One tried rushing us with no regard for his life. Titan dropped him with a well placed shot to the chest. Von spotted one pulling a grenade and called for us to move. I went through the tents on the right while Von moved into a tent further up to the left. Titan hid behind a sandbag wall that absorbed the blast. Von was reloading in the tent when he heard movement, he racked his new AK and sat patiently for it to move by. However the person moved into the tent letting off a round of AKM right into Von's helmet...luckily the helmet held against the round allowing Von to kill the attacker. With the sounds of the gunfire their men started firing into Von's tent catching him in the legs and chest. Von was down to 9 rounds of 5.45 and he was being rushed. Von sat in the corner and another broke in to which he immediately replied with a small burst dropping him. The other came through the same entrance shooting Von in the chest twice. Von killed the man, but was injured far too badly. Von called over the radio for help. Titan and I were already moving towards his position to assist. When we came into the tent we didn't expect to see Von in that state. He was bleeding heavily with multiple bullet wounds and a concussion from the 7.62x39 hitting his helmet. Titan bandaged him up while I watched for the two others. Von was in no shape to move on his own and there was no way he could stay here. I heard Reaper fire his gun, he called over the radio that another was hit but not dead and there was no sign of the last guy. Reaper started to take fire from across the airfield. He had no choice but to leave his position. Titan finished bandaging Von up but could not move him. Titan gave him another magazine of ammunition and told him to stay put. He was going to find something to move him and something to splint his broken leg. I moved towards the survivor that got hoping to find him before he found us. I walked into a tent to use the windows as a view port; there was no movement at all which left me uncomfortable, by now we should of been getting swarmed by the infected. I decided to leave the tent and head outside. Across from my position there was someone leaving another tent, they had their weapon pointed at me. I tried calling out saying to not fire and to put their weapon away. He started firing on me, he missed every shot. I brought my weapon to bare firing twice, Putting both rounds into his eye socket. I continued down the tents to find the last person but there was no sign of him. At that moment I heard two weapons open up back by Von's location. I started sprinting towards the tent and saw no movement from the outside. I moved to clear the tent and to see what had happened. While entering the tent I the body of the last person, I called out to Von but there was no response; I entered the tent and saw that Von had been shot in the chest two more times. He had no pulse and there was nothing we could do. I called out over the comms "MAN DOWN Von is KIA" There was only static over the radio; there was such disbelief that no one could muster and words. I called out "Titan hurry back we need to get him out of here; We'll burn his body right". Reaper was waiting near the treeline of Bashnya covering the open fields while we carried Von's body from the compound. There was absolute silence and the men's faces were like stone. We all mourned our friend and comrade in silence; when we reached our camp we cut down tree's to make a funeral pyre. We burned his remains in his BDU's with his Knife, pistol and his trusted M4. The decision was made to call Von from that time on Grizzly. He was as tough as a Bear and killed his prey as such. We whispered "See you in Valhalla brother, May Odin great you personally" I gave a small speech honoring our fallen warrior. I won't include that in this report; we as a team need that for ourselves. I know that Freyja came to him personally to take him to the great hall. A true warrior's death he had earned. If all of us die that way, we would be so lucky; it will be a true honor. Warriors like Von are greeted by Odin himself, Von will dine, drink, and fight for the rest of time until Ragnarok comes. Then we will fight our last battle. Staff Sargent Von Noxberg "Grizzly": March 18th' 1994 - November 24th 2020 OOC: This took a REALLY long time to write because I am a massive procrastinator. I had half of it proof read by Paetra, Titan, and Reaper but I just finished the other half...which has not been proof read. Bare with me and point out anything! It's my first time writing something since 2012!