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Post by blackpapermoon on Aug 26, 2015 14:45:17 GMT -5
“That base of your sounds as safe as we can find,”Vorona stated, “this is the Cordon, if we hurry we could get to the Great Swamps before night fall. If our old mercenary friend is right then the Military would have wiped out the Rookie Village.”
After a long pause she continued and motioned to the corpse,
“Before we head out we should see if he has any useful data on his PDA.”
With a deep breath she looked down upon the dead man that was sprawled, just one man seemed odd. The military would send squads of at least four or five, she didn’t doubt that Karc had left them alive. No doubt this man and his comrades had been sent to cut them off before they could leave the tunnel, they had to move before more reinforcements could be sent after them.
Slowly Vorona worked up the courage to approach the dead recruit, his body was still warm. His dead eyes stared at her as she knelt at his side, carefully she brought a hand to his face and closed his eyes, he was just a boy of eighteen. It had always been a practice with her to give the deceased some respect before looting their bodies, if nothing else to make her feel better about herself. She felt about the webbing of his armor until she found his military issued PDA. She took a moment to transfer the data from it to her own, updating her maps and Zone event history. She then put his PDA into one of his hand then folded his arms upon his chest.
“Here, I’ll send you all the update maps,” she said softly as she turned back to the group she tried hard not to glance back at the boy. More death, she had seen so much in her short time in zone, still she never got use to it.
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Camelith
Lurker
Three Camel Moon
Posts: 12
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Post by Camelith on Oct 26, 2015 3:47:44 GMT -5
"So it's the swamps, then." Sigbrand said, "We'll have to take extra precautions, there's no way of knowing what kind of new mutants and anomalies could have cropped in the past few years."
He took a moment to glance at the information Vorona had taken from the soldier's PDA. Most of it wasn't immediately useful to them, but it did include a batch of fresh satellite images of the Zone. "It looks like we're in luck." he said to the group, "Assuming the inevitable anomaly fields are navigable, it would seem that both the Eastern and North-Eastern routes into the swamps are still open. Whether or not there are any Western ways out, we'll have to see."
Sigbrand tapped on the screen of his PDA and showed it to the rest of the group, "When these images were taken, this hamlet just off the Eastern path was still reasonably intact. If nothing's changed it'll probably make a good place to camp for the night."
"None of us have navigated an anomaly field recently," he added, "but when the time comes, I volunteer to take point through at least the first few. But before that, does anyone else have any suggestions for routes?"
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Post by The Karcolith on Nov 26, 2015 3:51:06 GMT -5
As they moved for the Bandits base one of the mercs asked Karc.
“Sir, how did you know they would be there, I mean how did you know they were coming into the zone?”
Karc slowed his pace and pulled out his PDA, the message Rurik had sent and coordinates.
“Simple really...” He replied, “Where they'll go now though will be interesting, north is suicide, south too. There's nothing to the east which only leaves the swamps.”
“But the swamps have been cut off for years. There's more anomalies there than the rest of the Zone combined!” The merc exclaimed.
“I know, but there's no other way for them. Either way, I'm sure we'll be seeing them again.” Karc said and started running again.
The military photos of the area were dated nearly 5 months, but it was better than anything before.
“Agreed, we'll need to rest before setting out, and we can't navigate the swamps at night anyway. Let's head for this hamlet and find the most secure building.
Taking up the surplas bag and slinging it over his shoulder Rurik awaited the others. But first taking the soldier's spare magazines and pocketing them. The trip from the bunker to the hamlet wasn't far, but as soon as Rurik emerged into the open, a flood of memories and emotions came back. He could remember everything, from the day he had defected from the military, making the trip north to Rostok, the countless missions and adventures he'd had. The Zone was a hostile environment, but he'd learned to tolerate and even be comfortable here.
But the air had a tainted tang, this was not the same zone he and his fellow travelers knew.
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Post by Lawnmower Joe on Dec 5, 2015 9:17:58 GMT -5
As the horizon grew red with the light of the setting sun, Adder considered the group's options. Deep down she still remembered the Cordon's general layout, places where mutants gathered, anomaly fields...but a quick glance at the maps provided by Vorona shattered what knowledge she still had. Anomalies had vanished in some places and moved to others. Paths she remembered as safe were no longer passable. To add to her fears, the maps Vorona had found were five months old. The Zone had a history of instability, and five months was ample time for large changes to occur in anomaly placements.
She bit her lip as she pondered the issue, but her thoughts were interrupted by the agressive beep of her PDA. Memories jostled in her mind as her hand reached for the electronic device and opened the message she had received.
"To all stalkers in the Cordon, watch out! The army's sent out a chopper and several AFVs from its base, and they're heading North towards the railway bridge fast! If you're close to the road, find cover immediately and pray to God they don't find you!"
"Fuck!" Said Adder. In the distance she could hear the rhythmic throb of the helicopter's blades, covering the growl of the armoured vehicles following behind it. Back in the day, the army seldom sent out that many vehicles, preferring to rely on heliborne strikes and infantry patrols.
"We don't have any time to think now" said Adder, leaving the safety of the bridge and casting a few cautious glances outside. Night was coming quickly, which would hopefully hamper the soldiers' performance. "We move now, and keep all lights off. We'll try to go for the old grain silo, then go as fast as we can for the Electro tunnel. Fuck, I hope the army won't set up a blockade along the railway line or we'll be screwed."
With that she ran out into the open, moving from bush to bush. The roar of the helicopter grew closer, but seemed to head off towards the old autopark. On the other hand, the sound of engines grew alarmingly closer, and as she and the rest of the group came in sight of the old silo, the vehicles seemed to stop. Adder threw a glance over her shoulder and saw three BTRs parked on the other side of the bridge, their headlights illuminating the area around them. Soldiers poured out of them, securing the area while others headed beneath the bridge where she and the others had been only a few moments before. From where she was she could hear them shouting orders.
Blank was content with following Adder and the others. The world felt distant from within her medication-induced haze, and although a small part of her could feel the danger they were all in, the danger itself seemed utterly alien to the rest of her mind. She ran behind the others, occasionally losing her footing on the uneven ground. Some distance behind them she could hear engines and voices. When they reached the silo, night had finally fallen, with the sun only a fading memory in the darkening sky. Blank blinked as the buildings around her seemed to take on new, more menacing forms.
"Fucking hell" she murmured to herself. A familiar sensation was overtaking her as her anxiety medication wore off, leaving her to fall back into the cold murk of fear. Her teeth clenched, her eyes shot open and her breathing grew faster.
"Fucking hell, fucking hell" she murmured again, and gasped for air. A massive weight was pressing down on her chest.
Remember what your psychiatrist taught you, Anastasia, remember to breathe and go to your safe place.
Blank forced herself to breath deeply through her nose and exhale through her mouth, all while struggling to picture her safe place: a quiet, grassy knoll overlooking an old farm. The technique worked, as her overwhelming anxiety faded.
"The Electro tunnel's clear" said Adder, and Blank saw the group had crossed the open area between the old silo buildings and was looking down at the small vale where the tunnel was. Something, however, was amiss, and it took Blank a few minutes to realise what was wrong: the tunnel was in total darkness.
"The anomaly's gone" said Blank, just as Adder went over to a small object almost invisible in the darkness: a sign. The former Freedomer looked at it before turning towards Blank and the others.
"The area's mined" she told them, and Blank's heart sank. Adder continued: "That's why there's no blocking force on this side of the railway line. They want us to either run into them, or blow ourselves up in the minefield."
"Fucking hell" said Blank, her voice trembling. The safe place in her mind was ripped apart as a new wave of fear submerged her. "What do we do?"
Blank watched Adder go over the map on her PDA again. What the snake-eyed woman had to say sent her heart plummeting.
"The road under the railway bridge is marked as a military checkpoint. Either we hope this is outdated, like the status of the Electro tunnel, and go there, or we try to scramble over the railway bank, or we brave the minefield. I'm sure you all know that all these options can end with us getting shot or blown up."
Blank moaned in despair and anguish. Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it would jump out of her chest at any moment, and the familiar weight was pressing against her chest. The world was spinning slowly in her peripheral vision.
"We're all going to die!" She breathed, eyes wide with panic.
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Post by blackpapermoon on Dec 5, 2015 17:10:56 GMT -5
The sun had crossed over the horizon mark, taking with it the light and warmth. Vorona pulled downed her sleeves so that they now covered her hands, the summer months had come to an end as autumn had now set in. The nights where starting to become chilly and longer, but not dangerously cold yet. The maps that she had found where old and where clearly no longer accurate, as the Elector tunnel had been clear for sometime. The road under the railway bridge had be noted a military checkpoint and given the show of force that she had seen roll in that would not seem that unlikely. Nervously the tall women chewed on her lower lip softly, as she heard the smallest of them cry out their doom.
"We've survived worst then this Blank," she found herself saying, "I remember using bolts to navigate a minefield in the north."
Reaching deep into a coat pocket she retrieved one of the heavy metal bits, the bolt easily the size of her palm. She showed the group as she turned the rusty metal slowly in her hand.
"I filled my pockets with these in the bunker as we where fleeing," she continued," and I'm sure other Stalkers have used the same to slip past the soldiers."
She found it strange that she had just compared themselves to stalkers after only just a little while ago she had claimed that they where that no longer. However it felt like something was coming back to her, old skills and memories. Things that one can never truly lose, that they would always have. They had all done this before, back when they didn't have that expertise to know what to hear or see what the danger was.
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