Freedom HQ

[Basil]

Another sleepless night. Another night spent roaming the darkness alongside the Zone's nocturnal creatures, with only the Moon and her own inhuman eyesight to pierce the obscurity. Adder had been into the Western half of the Red Forest, where Balalaika had last been sighted, with two other Penumbrans. They had searched the woods, going all the way down to the tunnel leading to Yantar and the bridge that crossed into Limansk. They had found no trace of Balalaika, and yet, Adder knew she was still alive. A group of stalkers had lost one of their own to a small stranger barely an hour after the emission, and yet another group of stalkers had reported running into the scene of a massacre near the bridge. They had seen a small woman standing on the opposite bank of the river, laughing at them before disappearing.

Evidently, this last story seemed to indicate that Balalaika was hiding out in Limansk, but Adder was not entirely sure. Penumbra had suffered during the "Captain Trips" (as Freedom's members had dubbed the deadly pathogen) outbreak, and Maginot didn't want to help Adder search for a woman he believed was dead.

Adder groaned quietly as she reached the court behind Freedom's HQ building. One of the men had put a battered old saucepan filled with clean water over a camping stove to make some coffee, and Adder went over to him wearily.

"I'd like a cup of coffee", she said, sitting down next to the Freedomer.

"-Sure thing, Adder", said the Freedomer, handing her a tin mug.

As Adder waited for the water to boil, she saw a familiar figure emerged from one of the buildings on the base. Ferret. The green Freedomer stopped in front of her and addressed her with the voice of a man who had knocked back a few bottles of vodka the night before.

After listening to what Ferret had to say, Adder eyed him for a while before answering.

"-Penumbra wouldn't say no to new blood", she said. "We lost quite a few men and women when Captain Trips hit us...but we can't let anyone in. You'll have to prove yourself..."

The Commandant fell quiet for a moment, keeping her reptilian eyes fixed on Ferret's own eyes.

"I have a task for you", she said finally. "Some of Freedom's scouts saw a chimera near the Barrier the other night. Now, as you probably know, chimeras are pretty fucking dangerous, and neither the boss or I want that creature getting past so...you go take care of it. The beast comes out at night, around midnight. You kill it and bring a part of its body back to me as proof."

[blackpapermoon]

“This time tomorrow, It will no longer be a problem,” Ferret said taking his leave unsure if he could keep his promise or even if he would be coming back at all.

A solo nighttime Chimera hunt was practical suicide, even for the most experienced hunters in the Zone. Chimeras where fast, agile and extremely powerful they could easily tear a man in two before he even knew what had happened. Worse yet these beasts where extremely territorial and where hard to kill. The only sure way to kill one was to hit it in the heart; a feat that was easier said then done, the only time that such a shot could be made was when the mutant was jumping at you. He took his time gathering his equipment; he did not have the finances in order to get a more powerful gun so instead he took four magazines of the armor piercing round. Borrowing a hatchet from another Freedomer he traveled to bloodsucker village to wait for nightfall.

He climbed into the cellar of one of the abandon homes and did his best to try to get some rest. But his dreams where full of horrifying visions, the most vivid was of a Chimera that’s smaller head, had the face of Balalaïka. It mocked him as it tore him limb from limb, then it left him considering him unworthy to even be its food. Ferret lay on his back staring at the ceiling, wondering if he could go through with Adder’s task. It was 11:30 at night half an hour away from midnight, the time that the commandant said that the mutant came out to look for pray. Just then Ferret heard a noise from outside the house, the Freedomer sat up and listened carefully to the sound. It sounded like footsteps and scratching. At first he thought it to be nothing more then a mutant dog, trying to get at some food scraps that had been left by stalkers. But once the beast made a deep bear like growl he knew better. It was the Chimera; and now was not the time for second thoughts.

Ferret picked up his weapon and as quietly as possible climbed out of the cellar and crept out of the house. He could see the beast now, it was still unaware of his presents. He would have to put a few rounds into the heart to kill it. He took aim at the Chimera, his breathing was heavy and sweat was forming on his brow. He could not mess this up; if he did he was a dead man. The bullet slammed into the Chimera’s larger head, but because of the beast’s thick skull the round did little but enrage the mutant as it began to charge at the Freedomer. Ferret rolled out of the way as the Chimera swiped at the spot where he once stood, he fired at the mutant again emptying 20 out of the 29 rounds remaining in the magazine. He then turned to run trying to get it to jump at him or tire it out some.

He got the Chimera to chase him to the ruined house, this time Chimera leaped at him. The Ex bandit fired but was only able to get one shot off before his weapon jammed. The two headed mutant’s claw caught the man in the face as it knocked him over trapping him under itself. Ferret tried to get the beast off of him but it was to no avail, in a panic he picked up the nearest thing to him that just happened to be a rusted old water pipe. He forced the metal rod into the beast’s chest just as it was about to deliver the killing blow. Blood came gushing out of the pipe, like water coming out of an open faucet and soon the Chimera was no more. The Ex Bandit pushed the now dead mutant off of him, and then gazed in amazement at the corpse.

He actually did it, he killed it and survived. He then took the hatchet from his belt and hack off one of the Chimera’s front paws and returned back to the Freedom base. Despite being covered in blood, having the left side of his face in shreds and suffering from minor radiation sickness he completed his mission.

[Basil]

As Ferret arrived on the road leading to the army warehouses, a voice spoke up from behind a truck.

"So, young man, did you get the beast?"

Adder's thin form stepped out from behind the old, rusted mass of the abandoned lorry, her irises briefly catching the moonlight and giving an eerie green glow. She approached Ferret and looked at what he was carrying: one of the Chimera's front paw, messily cut from the body with a knife and still dripping blood. Adder nodded.

"Looks like you did...and it also looks like it almost killed you", she said, looking at Ferret's bloody face. "Welcome to Penumbra. Go back to the base and get some rest...you'll need it, because you'll be working the night shift."

Adder laughed wryly and quietly to herself before stopping. A lone, low whistle had risen in the night, similar to the song of a nightingale.

"And now I must leave you...the guy's up near the Red Forest must have seen some bandits, and Mag doesn't want any of those in Freedom's territory. See ya tomorrow night."

And with that, Adder disappeared into the night. Some time later, there were a few cries of pain and some lone gunshots followed by silence.

[blackpapermoon]

Ferret watch the snake eyed woman leave, as she made her way into the night. He had never gotten use to her mutation; he always stood gawking at her. She had a way to let you know that she was in charge just with a glare. It was for that reason the rookie held his tongue until he heard the pained screams of the bandits and Adder’s gun.
“Adder,” he said as the last shot rung out ending a Bandit’s miserable life, “I’m not a kid, so don’t treat me like one.”

He returned back to base to get his face stitched up then got some rest. Tomorrow night was going to be his first mission as a Penumbra member, and it was certainly something he was looking forward to.

[Basil]

It was barely a few minutes before dawn when Adder returned to the warehouses accompanied by her squad. Penumbra had gained one new member tonight, and she and her men had killed a group of prowling bandits up near the Red Forest, so she was in a good mood. She yawned loudly as she went past the guards. The day would be spent sleeping, as usual, and tonight she'd be out again.

As she entered Freedom's HQ building and quietly ascended the steps, she was surprised to hear Maginot's voice call out to her from his "office".

"Commandant, we need to talk."

Adder froze. Maginot was never up this early, especially not since he almost died from the terrible plague which had almost decimated Freedom's ranks. An odd feeling of dread and expectation flooded her as she slowly turned around and entered the room. The room was lit by a small, ancient and battered oil lamp and Maginot was standing near the window, his hands crossed behind his back. As she entered, Adder noted that he had shaved recently, which was no small feat since razor blades were not really in abundance in this part of the world.

"-Yes?", she asked, keeping her features as neutral as possible while stifling an unwelcome yawn.

"-I have a mission for you."

"-Now how come I expected that...", said Adder with a sigh. Maginot ignored her slight show of irritation and forged on.

"-Since we blew up the Scorcher", said Maginot in the academic tone of voice he used when briefing Freedom about an upcoming mission, "many stalkers have been up North, stepping out the path leading to Pripyat and the power plant...they've been to the North-West. Not many have come back, but those who did all stopped by our base and had some pretty interesting tales to tell."

Adder sat down on the sofa, crossing her legs and looking at Maginot with sleepy but attentive eyes.

"There are entire unexplored areas up there just waiting to be claimed", said Maginot. "Those who went there only brought back a glimpse of those new territories, but all is needed is a team of competent men and women to open up those new lands..."

"-And you want Freedom to be the first to do that", said Adder, finishing Maginot's sentence for him. "Therefore reaping the glory of the act, securing a good rep up in those new territories and getting a nice share from any artefact trading that might get started up there."

"-Exactly."

"-What's the risk factor?" asked Adder, arching an eyebrow.

"-Pretty high", said the leader of Freedom. "Mutants abound and the way to those areas is clogged with dangerous anomalies...some of which have never been encountered in the known parts of the Zone before."

"-So, a very dangerous trip. And you want me to grab my boys and girls and go up there to plant our flag on some radioactive piece of dirt?"

Maginot chuckled and nodded. "That's the Zone for you, Addie."

Adder smiled and got up with a slight yawn. "This will need some preparation, Mag. I'll need food, water, ammo, guns and people who are brave and skilled enough to handle the journey. Penumbra's ranks were badly thinned during the Captain Trips outbreak, so I'll have to take others."

"-You can take Ferret", said Maginot, going towards his desk and glancing at a printed satellite map with red and blue circles marking out points of interest.

"-How fortuitous. He joined Penumbra just tonight", remarked Adder in the tone of voice she used when being sarcastic. "A new insomniac for the Zone's Club Med. Anyway, I'll be up for a couple more hours and then I'll go get some shut eye, I'm fucking tired."

As Adder was about to leave the room, she heard Maginot again.

"-Adder..."

The Commandant turned and looked at Maginot, but all he did was shake his head and say "nothing". Adder hesitated in the doorway for a moment before leaving, going down the stairs and heading outside where a few of Freedom's early birds were getting up.

"All right, who wants to go on a trip North?", she asked with a yawn.

[blackpapermoon]

“North? What’s going on North”, asked Ferret who had been unable to sleep mainly do the fact his face had just been stitched up. He was mostly like not going to be able to rest well with out the use of pain meds until the wounds had healed up, yet no mater how much pain he was in he wanted to a part of any new missions.

The ex Bandit was grateful to his leader and Adder. They not only pulled his half conscience sorry, good for nothing hide out of the red forest and got him to a medic, but they had also given him a second chance and a place among the ranks of Freedom. They could have easily left him for the dogs or worst yet sent him back to the bandits where he would have been punished severely for his failure. Or more likely due to the magnitude of his slipup, beaten him to death and then leave his corpse in the middle of the dark valley compound to serve an example to the other Rookie Bandits.

While in Freedom he never needed for anything and he always had enough food and a warm safe place to sleep. Unlike as a Bandit he had to fight off the other rookies for such necessities as food and a bed. In fact he had to sleep out in the rain, his two nights in the zone. That was something he did not wish to return to, he owed both Maginot and Adder so much the less he could was join any mission he was given.

[Basil]

Nobody reacted, much to Adder's lack of surprise since practically nobody was up at this time of day. The Commandant yawned and was about to re-enter the HQ building when a familiar voice piped up behind her.

"North? What's going on North?"

With the look of a snake that has just spotted a sleeping gerbil, Adder turned to face Ferret.

"-Interested, eh? Mag has sent me on a mission of exploration up in the North. He wants Freedom to arrive first in those unexplored territories in order to get the glory and the cash when stalker start moving in there. Evidently, I need volunteers to organise such an expedition..."

Adder clamped her hand down on Ferret's shoulder and, not even waiting for an answer, said:

"Oh, you're volunteering? Good! C'mon, let's go get some other people and get our stuff together shall we?"

And with that, she dragged Ferret off.