After my failed run as Cary Velario, it was
straight into another. Let me introduce you to Cole Dean. Touting a mullet and a strong predisposition
to violence, I was ready to take on the insanely infested streets of Louisville. I immediately added sheets to my windows,
as any group who stumbled by could end my run and searched for any items useful for
my survival. Besides food and a good leather jacket, there
was little else. With only a screwdriver, I was essentially
weaponless. Do you know how old buildings creak and moan? Yea... I don’t think this is that. Unsure of my next course of action, I began
to read in a vain attempt to wait out the apocalypse outside. It was not a viable option. I could hear them just outside the walls waiting
for me to make a mistake, waiting to claim my life. I couldn’t let that happen. I would have to take the fight to them. Without a weapon, I needed to push them to
the ground for a chance to kill them, making combat longer and more arduous. The fight for my front lawn was a delicate
balance between pulling and killing zombies but not overwhelming myself. Once it was clear, I looked at my surroundings and found my location on the Project Zomboid Map Project. Something nearby caught my eye. I had once again set my eyes on greener pastures
and decided to abandon my spawn. Gathering what I could, I was off. My reasoning relied on the properties at the
back and a tidbit about the zombie AI. If I create noise at the end of the cul-de-sac,
the zombies outside the walls should be unable to find a way to me and consequently not move. Within reason, I can be as loud as I want and only
need to be aware of the zombies within the community. So, if I blocked the entrance and cleared
it all I would be free to do whatever I liked near my home. But there are two risks. I could jump the fence into or near a group
of zombies. Or any of the houses could be alarmed. Both would mean death. This was it, the first leap of faith. And no one noticed me, and thankfully those I drew the attention of only came to me in
manageable numbers. I even found a car key on one of their bodies. Giving me access to a house... No alarm? From which I could stage my
conquest of the neighborhood. I repeated the same process as my first house but was greeted by a couple of my new neighbours
earlier than I had expected. Before continuing, I met the remainder who had accrued
outside the front and dispatched them. I also made sure to gather their watches for
grinding electrical. Closing the curtains, I could finally... begin looting my new home. Without a water bottle, I chose to carry a cooking
pot full of water to keep my thirst down. I also found my first meaningful weapon, a
short-blunt wrench, and hammer. The house also contained multiple guns, which
are generally unusable with the insane population. Before the day was out, I would test out my
new hammer on my back lawn. Pulling the most zombies yet, I performed
another delicate dance. But one I could capably do with my high-strength
skill. After cleaning off the blood and grime of
the day, I went to sleep. I woke up with a singular focus and a long
day ahead. Before I could make my way to the entrance,
I needed to clear the immediate area. With two large groups to the north and east
of my home I set to work on the smaller of the two. Once clear, I chained into an even larger
group from which I took on four Followed by far too many. Using the house, I ran around the corner and
began sneaking hoping they would lose my trail. Once I was sure they hadn’t followed me,
I went out and dealt with them separately. I could now see how swarmed the street was
and another promising car. After some more killing, I checked out the Cerise and began sweeping behind the neighbouring house. It was more of the same, except for finding
the car key for the Dart. With the house now reasonably clear, I made
my way inside and saw more potential than my current base due to its more defendable
position. Carrying a full backpack, safe, and a porkchop
in the oven, life was good. Later in the day, I christened the house,
cleaned myself off, and went to bed. The third day started with an issue. The radio I had didn’t have the emergency
broadcast frequency stored in it. Without that, I couldn’t keep an
eye out for helicopters and risked getting caught out by them. Regardless, I was in store for another day
of violence. I fought all over the end of the cul-de-sac,
but it mostly went by uneventfully. I did pull too many again, but I looped around
the house and dealt with them quickly. Once back inside, for the first time, I engaged
with the cooking mechanics of the game. Let’s just say they’re interesting. Hi, I’m Alex and I’m here with my identical
twin brother. Hi, I’m also Alex. Our parents weren’t very creative. Today we’re making an apocalypse classic,
boiled chicken and rice with avocado. Setting the saucepan to boil we want roughly
twice as much water as we want rice. While that heats up, the chicken will also
need to be diced. What are you doing? We need… We already have all the utensils we need to
dice the chicken. We can add both it and the rice to the pot. We’re going to want to leave it for twenty
minutes or so. Now that it’s been twenty minutes, we can
take the saucepan off the heat. We can now plate the dish… Bam! Looks good, huh? We’ll both be here next time.
So see you on... I awoke the next day severely depressed a feeling that seemed to have a
hold of me by now. When facing another hard day of labor, there
wasn’t much to keep my spirits up. But after catching the Paws TV broadcast,
I went into the day with a smile. I carried that energy into a new house, which
I promptly looted. I found some pretty good scores in a baseball
bat and crowbar, both long blunt weapons, which synergize well with my brawler trait. For a late lunch, I chucked together another
Michelin meal of chicken and cheese soup and ate like a king. Sated, I truly began my journey towards the
entranceway clearing and claiming yet another house. This one was infested... but featured some gear and items worth looting,
but nothing life-changing. With only three more to go on the northern
side, it wouldn’t be long until I made it. Unfortunately, with a large amount of weight
and exhaustion setting in I needed to return home. I went straight back onto my mission. Only three more houses. In my haste to reach the last one
I accidentally disturbed a dinner party and was forced to retreat. Their numbers caused me to panic, so I popped
some beta-blockers and employed my looping strategy. Now in the middle of the road, my presence
brought many from the surrounding houses. But I won. With my ailments growing, I raced back home
for a reprieve. Taking care of hunger was easy, but my gnawing
fear and severe depression weighed on me. For this, I blamed my hemophobia. I cleaned myself and assumed the corpses and
bloodstains in my home were degrading my mental state for which I could deal with one. Yet, all it took was another banger of an
episode of Paws TV. Contented, I fell asleep. I woke up early on the sixth day and used
my spare time before dawn to transition my belongings to the neighboring house. I also took it as an opportunity to study
electrical, so I could use the numerous watches I had collected. During the day, I added even more corpses to
the growing number strewn throughout the cul-de-sac and made my way into a house. Here I found a good amount of loot,
but the best item by far was a radio with the emergency broadcast frequency stored in it. Listening for any signs of a helicopter event,
thankfully, yielded nothing. On my way towards the entrance, I stopped
by the two cars and assessed their condition, and both were drivable but lacked gas. It was an afternoon of hard fighting in the
rain but I managed to clear the road
so it could be traversed unmolested. In contrast, I had a calm evening moving items
to my new home and finally being able to dismantle all the watches I had collected. It was too early to use the radio to hear
about helicopters. I took use of the road and made my way to
the entrance. There was a lot, and even more, were coming
around the side of the fence. But I had grown in strength and confidence. Popping some Beta-Blockers, I faced more than
I had ever done without issue. Every time I went to the entranceway, there
was always another group. Yet they all joined those before them. The only break I had was a quick pit stop
for food. But I went right back to it. After over seven days of fighting... I had made it. This development led to a plan, I could use
the two cars to block most of the entranceway, but I still needed gas. I swept the garages but found nothing. I would need to make my way to a nearby gas
station. To say the walk was tense is an understatement. The most I’d tackled at a time was overwhelmingly
less than the horde that followed me. I checked cars along the way but found nothing. Upon my arrival at the gas station, I ran
ahead to buy myself enough time to pump something. It was close, but it was a success. On my return, I leaned into the woods to try
and throw off the following groups. But I had done it. With a single fence jump, I was safe. Adrenaline running, I went straight to the
cars. I would drive the Dart into the fence, give
them the slip and then use the Cerise to block off a healthy portion of the entranceway. I panicked and threw it all. In a single move, I’d accrued a massive
horde at the entranceway and my retreat led them up the street. An abject failure. Shaken and battered from the previous day,
I eagerly listened for any news of helicopters. All there was to report was a thick fog falling
over the state. Today was consumed by introspection and reorienting
myself in light of my failure. There was no hope for securing the neighborhood
before the water and power cut off. Meaning my long-term survival was questionable
at best. I spent the day reading the farming skill
book in preparation for making a garden and contemplated how I could survive in the future. My best idea was consolidation, with the street
filled with half-looted homes and kitchens stocked with resources. I could pool those and buy myself more time. The ninth day opened with the sketchiest situation
yet almost getting bit and losing my crowbar. I looped the house and rectified that nightmare. In line with my consolidation plan, I revisited homes
I had already been through and cleaned them out. The once clear street now had stragglers assailing
me, but I continued to work away. Once I had returned home and deposited my
finds, I heard it. With my street filled with the undead, being
spotted would bring far too many upon me. Unable to do anything outside, I filled what
vessels I could with water and went to sleep. I awoke to the helicopter overhead and quickly
tried to assess the damage. Some were moving towards the house, but it
seemed the worst of my fears were unwarranted. With it gone, I swept the building and welcomed
in the tenth day. I started the day by farming, with the crops
aiding my food situation into the future. In line with this, I continued searching through
the houses for supplies killing the zombies who stood in the way of my goal. In the wake of the helicopter event, it was
quite a few and from many directions. My loot run was a great success. I found weapons, building materials, and,
most importantly, food. However, the weight meant I had quickly grown
exhausted. Being caught out now would be extremely dangerous. At my level of exhaustion, three was far too
risky to face head-on, and my slowing speed meant they were close to catching up to me. After ducking inside, I took a moment to catch
my breath and ditch the weight on my back before cracking onto them. I did my best to split them up,
using the car, the garage and even the internal garage door. But I got lucky. With one separated, they no longer posed a
threat. Regathering what I found, I returned to my
home. I'm not proud of it, but I got bit. No matter what I did now, I was going to die. After some more close calls, I slipped into
the building, snuck upstairs, and put faith in that once the zombies were inside, they
wouldn’t know which room they could find me in. With my body and mind broken, I risked going
to sleep to regain my strength and figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. For all the hassle they gave me, except for
one close call they were nothing. The zombie that had ended my life took no
more than a couple of hits to kill. I whipped up a banger of a meal, Steak, Chicken,
and Peas with Jalapeno as a spice and stared at my only bottle of bourbon. Together they would make a final killer meal. No. My end was going to be brazen, or should I
say blazen. *Please laugh* I medicated any symptoms and prepared for
my send-off. I was going to make them pay. Driving my Cerise, I drew in hundreds, if
not thousands as I made my way deeper into the city. Navigating the swarming zombies was a difficult
task, but not impossible. Eventually, I ditched the car and gathered
them all on foot. I popped more pills to ease my panic and steady
my aim. It was time. It didn’t take long to have more zombies
on my screen than ever before. It took even less time to have them up in
flames. I saw my distance theory in action once
I jumped a metal fence. I could stay and shoot them safely but I wanted more blood, and letting the fire
extinguish itself was not enough. For hours I looped them over each other weaving between those that followed
and those that joined. I had some close calls, but I kept a level head. I shouted and shot to bring out as many as
I could. Mindful of exhaustion, I walked my way along
the coast. Using a serpentine pattern, the group would
mix and spread the flames. Over time the flaming ball began to dwindle causing me to move deeper into the city
to pick up more. Unlike the open coast, this was a far more
precarious situation. The following horde could easily occupy an
entire street, and I often stumbled into roads already infested with zombies. But I navigated it as hundreds more burned,
and the buildings began to catch alight. As night approached, I made
my way back to the coast seeing the charred corpses
and burning buildings along the way. Gathering what was left, I circled the parking
lot until all everything was dead. After a life of never-ending violence, all that was
left for me to do was relax and enjoy the peace. I removed my bandage and decided to let nature
take its course. With dawn approaching, I headed towards the
coast to watch the ocean on the sunrise of my twelfth and final day.
