Post by Διμι on Jul 11, 2010 2:16:45 GMT -5
"Whoa whoa, calm down sonny boy." Duke interrupted Leon as he gave the order to move out. The bandit clearly didn't have much of a predilection for the sort of events that had just transpired, and was now examining the sky with trepidation "A giant fucking light dome's been dumped over our fucking heads, and the question is can we actually get out of this shimmering muck? Are we trapped here in Pripyat with all the beasties and fanatic freaks? Is killing Lutiy so important that none of us will be able to leave this city?" Leon paused for a second, considering Duke's words. Their mission had indeed been compromised, and the Zone was now throwing surprises their way that were slowly stretching the boundaries of the believable, even after their escapades at Limansk, and their chase of Lutiy through the Red Forest. The bandit had a fair point.
However, the mercenary mused, maintaining the morale of the team was a priority, and giving in to fear of the strange supernatural aftereffects of the emission, would be, even if rational, detrimental to this aspect of their teamwork. He had to act like a leader, even if that meant pulling the team together by force, and holding it down that way.
"Mind telling me what you'd be doing if you weren't here anyway?" Leon seethed back at Duke, as the bandit finished announcing his objection to their none-quite enviable situation "we've been in up to our necks for quite a while now, in case you hadn't noticed. We ripped our way through one city of fanatic freaks, and another one is just another challenge. Not to mention this city is a reputed gold mine of all sorts of things. But in any case, I suppose you're right to a degree, finding out exactly what sort of situation we're in first, and what hostiles we're up against."
He glanced up at the sky again "as for that, we'll figure some way out once we're done. There's enough supplies to be scavenged in this city to keep us alive, and we're still here regardless if we try to get out now or sometime later. With any luck, the thing will disappear by itself. I doubt an anomaly that large can hold its form in another blowout."
A quietly growing chorus of moans interrupted the mercenary's speech. He quickly motioned for the teams to get back into the shadows of the apartment building's entrance. A mass of zombies that could only be aptly described as a horde slowly grew, individual creatures slowly streaming from the various alleyways around them, some seemingly so old that the flesh was actually slowly peeling away from their bodies. A few carried weapons, but most were unarmed. At a quick glance, Leon counted a group of at least several dozen advancing up the street, and steadily growing larger as more joined them.
"What the hell are they after? And how the hell are there so many?" he muttered nervously, as the first of the creatures slowly walked by, not noticing the group in the shadows of the building's reception area. "Keep that RG-6 loaded, preferably shot canisters if we have any." he muttered aside to Duke "I don't relish the prospect of wasting ammo on all of these bastards."
He moved back into the shadows, towards the staircase. "I reckon this building's about twenty stories tall. Lack of an elevator is going to be a bitch, but if we get onto the roof, we'll get a good lookout point on what's going on in the city, as well as a sniper position. Hell, maybe we'll even see some other unfortunate bastards trapped in this place with us, as well as more hordes like that one," he pointed to the zombies slowly walking by outside "so we won't walk straight into them like we just did."
The mercenary rose from behind the desk, and, as quietly as his exoskeleton would allow, padded over to the plan of the building's floor layout on the wall next to the stairwell. "Interesting..." he muttered "there's only one exit onto the roof, so at least, if we keep one man keeping watch on it, we can stop any clever assholes from trying to sneak up on us." he noted. "Let's try to get a view, people. Try not to make too much noise. I'd hate to have dozens of zombies streaming into here once we're up there." he remarked gravely, carefully pulling open the door to the stairwell, and ushering the rest of the group inside.
He shut the portal behind them, and the moans of the zombies outside died out as they slowly climbed stairwell after stairwell. The mercenary's exoskeleton, although restrictive, prevented him from tiring as he climbed, and so he led, motioning for the rest to follow. At last, after several minutes of nonstop walking, they emerged to the lone door leading up to the roof. Leon pushed, and it creaked open, revealing a flat concrete expanse dotted with antennae. Overhead, the film shimmered hardly twenty meters away, given how close they were to its boundary, and how high up they had climbed. In the distance, Pripyat spread before them, completely encompassed by the filmy bubble.
Leon stepped over to the concrete cornice of the roof and peered downwards at the mass of zombies that had assembled below. From up here, he could see that the swarm seemed to extend even farther than he had anticipated. There's hundreds of those bastards at least, he thought with a sudden pang of apprehension, how the fuck are we going to get out of this place?
He leaned back against the concrete on the roof's lip, sinking into thought. A grave mistake.
The aged stone cracked slightly against the force exerted by the mercenary's exoskeleton, sending a crumbling piece falling down to the ground and landing upon an unfortunate zombie's head. Immediately the creature looked up, dazed, only to see the mercenary's back on the roof above. It moaned savagely, urging the rest of its comrades to follow as it entered the building and headed straight for the stairwell. The sound reverberated down the streets and was soon echoed by the cries of dozens of its comrades, erupting into a hellish chorus as all of the zombies turned, streaming towards the apartment complex, breaking down the doors to the stairwell and heading up to the roof. The team atop the building had suddenly become trapped.
"Oh, fuck." was all Leon's mind could come up as he stared into the streets below, all of the creatures suddenly flowing to the apartment building. He rushed over to the staircase, and surely enough, the creatures were already swarming up the lower floors, blocking off the only escape route. The group of four was suddenly stranded on top of the twentieth floor of the building, a very real and unexpected deathtrap.
His mind finally came to from the shock, and he quickly ran over to the rest of the team, all of whom too were peering over the lip of the concrete roof to investigate what had happened. "We've been surrounded, and they know we're here. There's at least a hundred from what I can see, possibly more." he nodded to the entrance from the stairwell. "We'll have to shoot them down as they come, and then dig our way out. A barricade is no option, it's the only way out of here. Let's get into position, those brainless freaks will be swarming up here any minute now." The mercenary checked his magazine again. He had limited supplies of the caseless rounds, but if the group were careful enough to place headshots, enough could be saved for later. He sat down with his back firmly set into the concrete lip of the roof, facing the entrance to the stairwell, and calmly waited for the first of the zombies to make their way up.
"Mother of God," he muttered to the remainder of this team "if we make out of this one alive, I think I'm with you with the idea of raiding that booze shop you've mentioned. I'm going to need more than a bottle to forget this one..." his words slowly faded into the hellish song of the zombies' moans. The creatures had almost made their way up to the top of the building.
Ignominously enough, Seth had been thrown aside by the massive bloodsucker as the latter had struck, scattering the group. Within seconds, however, the group had subdued the creature, Vasily putting several rounds into its arm and tearing it off as a result. Karc's blade then found the creature's back, and after a consequent hail of gunfire as it thrashed about, the bloodsucker met its end.
The rumblings of the blowout had died down, and bright, orangish light streamed down the hatch leading to the basement. The Zone had discharged all it had to give upon the ruined city, twisting, malforming, mutating and destroying everything in its wake, as it had done every time stalkers would approach the core of this mysterious land. But they had persisted, and would persist, Seth thought, and that was why they were here, to finally find out the secrets that lay in the north, the secrets that the mysterious Marked One had somehow discovered. But then, he had disappeared as strangely as he had come. Had the legendary stalker met his end at the Nuclear Power Plant. Seth hoped that his expedition would somehow tell, although the premier concern for the moment was making their way through the ruined city.
He stepped over to the dead bloodsucker as the rest of the stalkers slowly made their way up the stairs, slightly dazed from the power of the emission. The Freedom leader drew his knife, and in a swift movement sliced off the lower jaw of the creature. The incredible beast's tentacles were nearly as long as his arm, he noted. A worthy trophy to hang up on the wall of Svoboda HQ.
He was interrupted from his musings by a commotion upstairs. "Shit. Shit. Shit. Man," he heard Burner's voice mutter anxiously "I told you there were zombies out here. Are we breaking through?" and as if on cue, several moans audibly pierced the silence, clearly emanating from outside. The front door of the shop took a heavy hit. Something from outside was steadily trying to bring it down and make its way inside.
Seth quickly folded the monstrous creature's mutated mandibles, and stuffed the hunk of flesh, still bleeding dissolvent fluids, into the security of his polymer pack. He gathered his USP and rifle from where they had been thrown by the monster, and quickly sprinted up the stairs to join the rest of the team. Dimitri had his AS VAL aimed for the door, which something was earnestly attempting to break down. The Freedom leader drew his SVU and checked that the magazine slotted into the rifle's system was fresh and full.
"Keep your guns fixed on the door," he said to the ex-soldier, scientist, and mercenary "Sokol, take to the side windows, let's see how many of these braindead bastards decided to give us a visit." the two Freedom snipers walked over to the two windows on the side of the door, and peered out. "I'll be damned." Seth groaned "we just can't get a break with these beasts in here." Outside, he could see scores of zombies surrounding the shop. Some had already made their way to the door with the full intent of getting in by any means necessary.
"Make sure that doorway stays secure," he shouted back to the men who were keeping their guns trained on the portal "I don't want to end up overwhelmed while we try to thin their ranks a bit." Seth rested his rifle on the sill just a Sokol flipped both pads of his tripod, resting his own gun on the other window. In seconds, both snipers opened up with deafening fire from their guns, heavy liquid-propelled and antimateriel rounds slamming into the heads of the mindless drones outside of the shop, blanketing the air with a bloody mist as chunks of brain and skull spattered the area.
Several of the zombies, carrying guns, opened up in return, firing blindly and inaccurately at the shop, but nevertheless forcing the Freedomers to back down from their positions and drop their main armaments. Both USPs were now out, and an occasional stream of HydroShock rounds blasted into the crowd of the zombies as they approached the windows as well, attempting to get in through any mode whatsoever. Fuck, Thor and his M240 would have made short work of all of these maggots, thought Seth in annoyance, as he leaned out again to send a round from his pistol into the head of a zombie hardly five meters away from the window. But Thor was dead, courtesy of the Monolithians in Limansk, and the extreme countermeasures the mercenaries had to take to drive them back.
Seth felt a pang of rage at the memory, and stepped to his full height, spraying a full arc of rounds from his automatic sidearm at the head level of the zombies. Unfortunately for the Freedom leader, one of the craftier zombified stalkers, wielding a sawn-off TOZ-66, ducked low before reappearing several feet from the window and unloading a single barrel of buckshot straight into Seth's chestplate. Although the nano-dilatant-soaked kevlar and armored plates sitting atop the cuirass managed to absorb and stop all of the rounds, the Freedomer was sent spinning into the floor onto his back.
Cursing, he half-rose only to see the front door of the shop beginning to give under the pressure of the ten or so zombies struggling to bring it down. "Retreat to the back of the shop!" he roared to Sokol, who was still standing by the window, bringing down zombie after zombie with his own gun. Seth quickly grabbed his SVU from where he had dropped it, and rushed over to Dimitri's side, aiming for the door as it began to splinter and split apart.
A zombie's head appeared in one the resulting apertures, and the Freedomer fired without hesitation, splitting it with a modified 7.62x54mm round. An arm snaked its way through he same opening as the zombie fell back in a spray of blood, but was blown off almost instantly with an explosive report from Sokol's AW50. Nevertheless, the damage had been done, and more and more body parts steadily became visible, as the door grew more and more damaged both from the zombies' onslaught, and from the fire on the other side.
Finally, with a monstrous crash, the door fell, and the zombies swarmed into the shop, only to meet a hail of gunfire from the group's assault rifles. The two Freedomers retreated to the stairs, situating their guns on the railings for a better position to shoot from. Torn off limbs, pieces of bone, brain, and all other sorts of gore filled the air, turning the shop into a literal bloodbath as the mindless drones advanced onto the expedition members. Their mindless ranks did not seem to thin at all, as zombie after zombie succumbed to the group's battering firepower.
Seth slotted a new magazine into his rifle before retreating even further down the stairwell "Cap'n!" he yelled to Dimitri "You got any clever idea on how to bring all of these bastards down? All of Pripyat must be hearing this little rendezvous right now, and I'm sure" he paused to take several shots at a group of zombies that advanced too close "that their friends will want to invite themselves too, soon enough!"
"The Zone just doesn't want to give up on you, does it?" Victor stared worriedly into Adder's face as it contorted, the woman seemingly left unable to speak. "Looks like we'll have to give the eggheads a visit again on the way back. This shit just can't be for the best..." he trailed off quietly, staring down the empty street into which they had emerged. The entire city seemed desolate and abandoned, but the loner knew that the mutants had no doubt all woken up in the wake of the receding blowout, and would be on the prowl soon, searching for new victims to sate their vicious appetite and hunger for killing.
His Vintorez out, he took a quick look through the scope down the street the mercenary named 'Big Orange' had disappeared down. For an instant, he fancied he had seen a brilliant, blinding blue flash somewhere in the distance, as if some sort of beacon had gone off, but, with no further movement in his sights, he tossed the occurence off as an illusion. The dome shimmering overhead, Rurik and the rest of the group stepped out onto the cracked sidewalk of the abandoned street stretching deep into the city. Victor watched as Maginot slowly analyzed the rusting, overgrown sign next to the shop, taking in the various directions it exhibited. "The music school and the kindergarten seem to be safe bets, although I might be wrong." he spoke up "Anyone have any other suggestions?"
The medic frowned, checking his map, which, although frozen and unable to update, still accurately reflected the geographical layout of the city. "The music school is a risky choice." he noted "it's damnably close to Prometheus cinema, and I'm willing to bet my ass on the fact that there's going to be enough fanatics in that place to sniff out any 'non-believers' from half a mile away. The kindergarten is a safer idea, but it's like taking two steps forward and one step back, since we want to fortify ourselves a bit closer to the center than that. But if we want to settle down at any position, we'd better do it quickly. Those Monolithians aren't going to wait for long now that the emission's over, and neither will the mutants."
He looked around, the group seemed exhausted by their trek north, as well as all the strange events that had transpired, and all of the losses they had suffered along the way. Sigbrand and Chaos were both gone, as well as the entire remainder of the Duty team. Adder had been affected devastatingly by the Zone's effects that came with the emissions. The more he saw, the more Victor began to doubt the prospect of going any further ahead before getting some long-deserved rest "We'll need to make it a real safe house," he said with concern "it looks like none of our members are in any shape to fight a war with the Monolithians as of now. Seth can wait, at least for now. Looks like we'll have to put off our advance further into the city and fall back to the kindergarten after all."
"I can scout ahead for the time being if there are no other volunteers." the medic continued "I can't guarantee on keeping myself unseen, but at least my weapons are silenced, and I'm not wearing a red-striped exoskeleton to make me stand out like... a Dutier in Monolith territory." he finished, unable to formulate a better comparison. "I don't know how far to the center of the city I'll be able to make it before my route becomes unpassable. Then I'll be back. If that doesn't happen within two hours, consider me dead."
"As for our temporary base of operations, we'll have to secure it well against assault. If even one of those Monolith bastards finds us, we'll have to wage a real war for our lives out here." he concluded grimly "Seth and his group will probably go through the same sort of fight, so there's no guarantee we'll even find them alive, especially with the city sequestered from the outside world like this."
The loner looked up at the sky again, the dome hung there, shimmering, static, unmoving. "We should send someone back to test whether we can get out of here somehow, or if there's some way through this thing." he said uneasily "we've got no idea if this Big Orange person will even come back alive, much less with some hard information about the state this place is in."
He looked down the street again, taking in the gray shapes of the deserted buildings before him, and the overgrowth of the vegetation that had invaded the boulevard, and suddenly a strange feeling of apprehension filled him. "So, am I going to have to go alone?" he asked the remainder of the team.
Jericho slowly walked out onto the balcony just as he heard Gad and the remainder of his team storm up the stairs. In a gesture of trust and importance, the Great One had given these few men the power of free will and decision making, making them much deadlier enemies to the non-believers, as they still chose to serve Him while maintaining all of their vicious cunning and resolve. The High Preacher stared in wonder at the sky, which had been blanketed by the great containment sphere the Great One had spread over the city. Curiously enough, Jericho could no longer hear His voice, although the crystal he held in his hand still shimmered with the same magical light, a testament to the Great Monolith's powers even in the most isolated of regions.
"High Preacher, there is something out there. In the sky. It looks as if though we are...trapped in this city. Is this another sign of His wrath?" he heard the stout fanatic question behind him. Was it fear Jericho heard in his voice? Even the Free-Willed servants of the Great One had their weaknesses. Jericho swept about to face his lieutenant.
"The Great One has seen all. He has seen our most powerful enemies, approaching his impregnable Domain, and it is upon us, His greatest servants, that he has laid upon this mission." he droned "The leaders of the non-believers are with us, in this very city. And so the Great Monolith has sent down his impregnable bastion to sequester and contain them, so we shall swoop down on them, trapped and cut off, and annihilate them in His name. No, it is not His wrath, but rather his entrusting us with this task of incomparable importance."
He cut himself off, and looked out across the city. Small groupings of zombies were emerging from buildings and alleyways, grouping together into larger hordes, and stalking off in search of new victims as their mutant comrades joined them, eager to purge the city of the infidels. He could hear shots start to ring out in the distance. The unsanct tried to defend themselves vainly against the waves of the Great One's bestial legion. They would never stand a chance.
The High Preacher stepped back to face the stalker once known as Owen, who had now recovered from his injuries at the Great One's unsuccessful struggle for Limansk. The mysterious stalker seemed to have been chosen by the Great One himself, in reactivating His Church in the Red Forest, as a new Champion amongst his devotees. "Take the Free-Willed," Jericho spoke to the exoskeleton-clad Monolithian "and lead them into battle against the Great One's enemies. Let not one live. The very Zone, and every creation of our Sacred Lord" he swept his arm, pointing to the swarms of zombified slowly padding through the city streets "shall help you in your glorious task, to make His name known once more, as the leaders of the non-believers fall!"
"You, my devoted assistant" he turned to Gad "are to help him, and guide our Champion in his task to obliterate these infidels. Do so, and your name shall be glorified, and forever praised by His zealous servants." the High Preacher stepped up to the balcony, and held up the shard of the Great Monolith. The stone flashed a brilliant blue once, sending the Great One's bidding to all of his servants in the destroyed city, and then turned dull once more. Almost immediately, scores of Monolithians began to pour from the HQ, slowly making their way into various buildings, and the many streets and alleyways. Tonight, all of the warriors and creatures of the Great One would be on their hunt for the vicious infidels that had destroyed so many of their comrades not long ago.
Satisfied, the High Preacher turned back to the two before him "Go!" he ordered "Carry His name in your wrath, as you crush the mortal enemies of the Monolith one by one! Tonight, every non-believer will know the wrath of the Great One, and his punishment for destroying his sacred army!" Having relayed his orders to the two finest soldiers of His heavenly army, the High Preacher slowly disappeared into a side passage, picking up his Gauss Rifle along the way. The godly weapon would smite many today, he thought as he slowly descended down a staircase leading out of the base.
He was not interrupted by the scores of Monolithians that were steadily assembling into squads. The servants had felt their orders as soon as the stone had flashed in Jericho's hand, and the orders were simple at that. They simply saluted the Monolithian as he walked among them, slowly making his way to the Hotel beside the headquarters.
Once inside, he ascended the stairs quietly to the roof, his Gauss Rifle in hand. He would be the godly hand that would rain death upon the Great One's enemies from the sky, he thought. At last, after several minutes of steady, rhythmic climbing, he stood atop the great tower overlooking the city, his cape billowing with the wind. The Dome overhead shimmered with the heavenly light of the Great One, illuminating the way for the High Preacher, exposing the champions of the unsanct, and ultimately sealing them in the place that would become their grave.
The Gauss Rifle switched on with a subtle hum as the coils ignited, sparkling blue with dancing electrical charges. The High Preacher slotted a magazine into the rifle, and, pulling out a pair of powerful military binoculars, began to wait for the infidels to reveal themselves from desperation. For a moment, a flash of doubt crossed his mind as he peered once more into the mysterious film shrouding the sky over his head. What if he had been wrong, and Gad right? he thought, what if the Great One had indeed been disappointed in His warriors' performance, their inability to handle the infidels, their inability to assume control over a territory that had always belonged to Him and Him alone?
Lutiy watched Khan disappear around the bend after the fleeing creature. The stairwell the guide had followed the mutant down was still a good twenty feet away "Grab him! I will not let him escape!" he heard Khan roar, as he lunged down the stairwell and through the doorwell. In that very instant, the Burer turned and gave a slight twitch with his hand, slamming the metal door shut behind them so hard that the locking mechanism actually popped out of the frame, leaving the bolt closed, and sealing it. Lutiy was separated from the monster and his companion.
The bandit cursed loudly, and sprinted back up the stairs he had almost finished descending, In a corner, he saw a dilapidated runged ladder leading down seemingly to the same level the creature and the dark stalker had disappeared to. Lutiy wasted no time, jumping down the rusted metal construction, and sliding down to the catacombs below. Their environment had by no means a reassuring effect on him, as it brought to mind the disturbing events that had transpired the last time they had ventured into such a place. But, by any means, the burer was a tangible enemy, and not supernatural. The beast could feel pain and fear, and hence, if it could survive in such a place, so could the bandit.
Those were the thoughts that had flashed through the bandits mind in the seconds in which he slid, the rusted metal ladder sides leaving heavy rust marks on his reinforced gloves. However, due to them, he had only a millisecond to prepare and balance himself properly for what happened next. Something he failed to do.
Due to their age and the thinning the corrugative effect it had on the metal's strength, the structure collapsed under the bandit's weight even as he slid down, throwing him into the wet puddle below, and giving him scarcely enough time to roll away before the massive structure could fall down and impale him.
With a clangor, the ladder crashed downwards into the space Lutiy had been barely a second before. Only the bandit's quick reflexes had managed to save him from being turned into a limp chunk of meat, crushed by a mass of rusted metal. He leapt up, surveying the chute he had dropped down. The only remaining way up had been completely blocked.
They would have to get out some other way, he thought as he barreled down the corridor and around the bend. He could clearly hear the groaning of the mutant, and two thuds as both the burer and Khan fell bodily to the floor. The bandit took a quick peek around the corner, and saw Khan aim his rifle at the monster just as the latter spoke.
"NO! NO! NO...NO HURT!" the burer ground out, only for a second making Khan hesitate. In the next second, it twitched its arm again, sending the guide spinning, and knocking the rifle from his hand. The burer leapt up with all the strength that it had remaining in its body, and began to sprint away down the corridor straight to where Lutiy was positioned.
Just as the monster had nearly made its escape, the bandit leapt out from around the bend, and slammed the stock of his polymer rifle dead into the burer's twisted face. Something broke, and the monster fell on its back, unconscious, blood snorting from its broken would-be-nose with every breath it took. Lutiy examined the creature for only a second before running back to where Khan lay, and helping the stalker to his feet.
"Quite a chase," he muttered "haven't had a run this frantic since back when I was a rookie and got cornered by a pack of pseudodogs in the Garbage." he laughed "shameful days... It seems we're trapped in an underground again. The thing blew out the lock on the door behind you, and the backup ladder crashed on me." he surveyed the area they were in "I doubt you know the layout of this city too well, but it wouldn't hurt to ask if you by any chance knew where the hell these catacombs lead, and what are we going to do with this pretty gentleman?" he pointed to the unconscious dwarf, which was still on the ground, taking heavy breaths through its smashed nasal cavity. The bandit prodded the beast with his foot. "You never expected your typical post-blowout morning to turn out like this, did you?" he laughed heavily
"Well," he said finally, staring around into the darkness of the corridors that surrounded them "Looks like we're all in this one together, all three of us."
However, the mercenary mused, maintaining the morale of the team was a priority, and giving in to fear of the strange supernatural aftereffects of the emission, would be, even if rational, detrimental to this aspect of their teamwork. He had to act like a leader, even if that meant pulling the team together by force, and holding it down that way.
"Mind telling me what you'd be doing if you weren't here anyway?" Leon seethed back at Duke, as the bandit finished announcing his objection to their none-quite enviable situation "we've been in up to our necks for quite a while now, in case you hadn't noticed. We ripped our way through one city of fanatic freaks, and another one is just another challenge. Not to mention this city is a reputed gold mine of all sorts of things. But in any case, I suppose you're right to a degree, finding out exactly what sort of situation we're in first, and what hostiles we're up against."
He glanced up at the sky again "as for that, we'll figure some way out once we're done. There's enough supplies to be scavenged in this city to keep us alive, and we're still here regardless if we try to get out now or sometime later. With any luck, the thing will disappear by itself. I doubt an anomaly that large can hold its form in another blowout."
A quietly growing chorus of moans interrupted the mercenary's speech. He quickly motioned for the teams to get back into the shadows of the apartment building's entrance. A mass of zombies that could only be aptly described as a horde slowly grew, individual creatures slowly streaming from the various alleyways around them, some seemingly so old that the flesh was actually slowly peeling away from their bodies. A few carried weapons, but most were unarmed. At a quick glance, Leon counted a group of at least several dozen advancing up the street, and steadily growing larger as more joined them.
"What the hell are they after? And how the hell are there so many?" he muttered nervously, as the first of the creatures slowly walked by, not noticing the group in the shadows of the building's reception area. "Keep that RG-6 loaded, preferably shot canisters if we have any." he muttered aside to Duke "I don't relish the prospect of wasting ammo on all of these bastards."
He moved back into the shadows, towards the staircase. "I reckon this building's about twenty stories tall. Lack of an elevator is going to be a bitch, but if we get onto the roof, we'll get a good lookout point on what's going on in the city, as well as a sniper position. Hell, maybe we'll even see some other unfortunate bastards trapped in this place with us, as well as more hordes like that one," he pointed to the zombies slowly walking by outside "so we won't walk straight into them like we just did."
The mercenary rose from behind the desk, and, as quietly as his exoskeleton would allow, padded over to the plan of the building's floor layout on the wall next to the stairwell. "Interesting..." he muttered "there's only one exit onto the roof, so at least, if we keep one man keeping watch on it, we can stop any clever assholes from trying to sneak up on us." he noted. "Let's try to get a view, people. Try not to make too much noise. I'd hate to have dozens of zombies streaming into here once we're up there." he remarked gravely, carefully pulling open the door to the stairwell, and ushering the rest of the group inside.
He shut the portal behind them, and the moans of the zombies outside died out as they slowly climbed stairwell after stairwell. The mercenary's exoskeleton, although restrictive, prevented him from tiring as he climbed, and so he led, motioning for the rest to follow. At last, after several minutes of nonstop walking, they emerged to the lone door leading up to the roof. Leon pushed, and it creaked open, revealing a flat concrete expanse dotted with antennae. Overhead, the film shimmered hardly twenty meters away, given how close they were to its boundary, and how high up they had climbed. In the distance, Pripyat spread before them, completely encompassed by the filmy bubble.
Leon stepped over to the concrete cornice of the roof and peered downwards at the mass of zombies that had assembled below. From up here, he could see that the swarm seemed to extend even farther than he had anticipated. There's hundreds of those bastards at least, he thought with a sudden pang of apprehension, how the fuck are we going to get out of this place?
He leaned back against the concrete on the roof's lip, sinking into thought. A grave mistake.
The aged stone cracked slightly against the force exerted by the mercenary's exoskeleton, sending a crumbling piece falling down to the ground and landing upon an unfortunate zombie's head. Immediately the creature looked up, dazed, only to see the mercenary's back on the roof above. It moaned savagely, urging the rest of its comrades to follow as it entered the building and headed straight for the stairwell. The sound reverberated down the streets and was soon echoed by the cries of dozens of its comrades, erupting into a hellish chorus as all of the zombies turned, streaming towards the apartment complex, breaking down the doors to the stairwell and heading up to the roof. The team atop the building had suddenly become trapped.
"Oh, fuck." was all Leon's mind could come up as he stared into the streets below, all of the creatures suddenly flowing to the apartment building. He rushed over to the staircase, and surely enough, the creatures were already swarming up the lower floors, blocking off the only escape route. The group of four was suddenly stranded on top of the twentieth floor of the building, a very real and unexpected deathtrap.
His mind finally came to from the shock, and he quickly ran over to the rest of the team, all of whom too were peering over the lip of the concrete roof to investigate what had happened. "We've been surrounded, and they know we're here. There's at least a hundred from what I can see, possibly more." he nodded to the entrance from the stairwell. "We'll have to shoot them down as they come, and then dig our way out. A barricade is no option, it's the only way out of here. Let's get into position, those brainless freaks will be swarming up here any minute now." The mercenary checked his magazine again. He had limited supplies of the caseless rounds, but if the group were careful enough to place headshots, enough could be saved for later. He sat down with his back firmly set into the concrete lip of the roof, facing the entrance to the stairwell, and calmly waited for the first of the zombies to make their way up.
"Mother of God," he muttered to the remainder of this team "if we make out of this one alive, I think I'm with you with the idea of raiding that booze shop you've mentioned. I'm going to need more than a bottle to forget this one..." his words slowly faded into the hellish song of the zombies' moans. The creatures had almost made their way up to the top of the building.
Ignominously enough, Seth had been thrown aside by the massive bloodsucker as the latter had struck, scattering the group. Within seconds, however, the group had subdued the creature, Vasily putting several rounds into its arm and tearing it off as a result. Karc's blade then found the creature's back, and after a consequent hail of gunfire as it thrashed about, the bloodsucker met its end.
The rumblings of the blowout had died down, and bright, orangish light streamed down the hatch leading to the basement. The Zone had discharged all it had to give upon the ruined city, twisting, malforming, mutating and destroying everything in its wake, as it had done every time stalkers would approach the core of this mysterious land. But they had persisted, and would persist, Seth thought, and that was why they were here, to finally find out the secrets that lay in the north, the secrets that the mysterious Marked One had somehow discovered. But then, he had disappeared as strangely as he had come. Had the legendary stalker met his end at the Nuclear Power Plant. Seth hoped that his expedition would somehow tell, although the premier concern for the moment was making their way through the ruined city.
He stepped over to the dead bloodsucker as the rest of the stalkers slowly made their way up the stairs, slightly dazed from the power of the emission. The Freedom leader drew his knife, and in a swift movement sliced off the lower jaw of the creature. The incredible beast's tentacles were nearly as long as his arm, he noted. A worthy trophy to hang up on the wall of Svoboda HQ.
He was interrupted from his musings by a commotion upstairs. "Shit. Shit. Shit. Man," he heard Burner's voice mutter anxiously "I told you there were zombies out here. Are we breaking through?" and as if on cue, several moans audibly pierced the silence, clearly emanating from outside. The front door of the shop took a heavy hit. Something from outside was steadily trying to bring it down and make its way inside.
Seth quickly folded the monstrous creature's mutated mandibles, and stuffed the hunk of flesh, still bleeding dissolvent fluids, into the security of his polymer pack. He gathered his USP and rifle from where they had been thrown by the monster, and quickly sprinted up the stairs to join the rest of the team. Dimitri had his AS VAL aimed for the door, which something was earnestly attempting to break down. The Freedom leader drew his SVU and checked that the magazine slotted into the rifle's system was fresh and full.
"Keep your guns fixed on the door," he said to the ex-soldier, scientist, and mercenary "Sokol, take to the side windows, let's see how many of these braindead bastards decided to give us a visit." the two Freedom snipers walked over to the two windows on the side of the door, and peered out. "I'll be damned." Seth groaned "we just can't get a break with these beasts in here." Outside, he could see scores of zombies surrounding the shop. Some had already made their way to the door with the full intent of getting in by any means necessary.
"Make sure that doorway stays secure," he shouted back to the men who were keeping their guns trained on the portal "I don't want to end up overwhelmed while we try to thin their ranks a bit." Seth rested his rifle on the sill just a Sokol flipped both pads of his tripod, resting his own gun on the other window. In seconds, both snipers opened up with deafening fire from their guns, heavy liquid-propelled and antimateriel rounds slamming into the heads of the mindless drones outside of the shop, blanketing the air with a bloody mist as chunks of brain and skull spattered the area.
Several of the zombies, carrying guns, opened up in return, firing blindly and inaccurately at the shop, but nevertheless forcing the Freedomers to back down from their positions and drop their main armaments. Both USPs were now out, and an occasional stream of HydroShock rounds blasted into the crowd of the zombies as they approached the windows as well, attempting to get in through any mode whatsoever. Fuck, Thor and his M240 would have made short work of all of these maggots, thought Seth in annoyance, as he leaned out again to send a round from his pistol into the head of a zombie hardly five meters away from the window. But Thor was dead, courtesy of the Monolithians in Limansk, and the extreme countermeasures the mercenaries had to take to drive them back.
Seth felt a pang of rage at the memory, and stepped to his full height, spraying a full arc of rounds from his automatic sidearm at the head level of the zombies. Unfortunately for the Freedom leader, one of the craftier zombified stalkers, wielding a sawn-off TOZ-66, ducked low before reappearing several feet from the window and unloading a single barrel of buckshot straight into Seth's chestplate. Although the nano-dilatant-soaked kevlar and armored plates sitting atop the cuirass managed to absorb and stop all of the rounds, the Freedomer was sent spinning into the floor onto his back.
Cursing, he half-rose only to see the front door of the shop beginning to give under the pressure of the ten or so zombies struggling to bring it down. "Retreat to the back of the shop!" he roared to Sokol, who was still standing by the window, bringing down zombie after zombie with his own gun. Seth quickly grabbed his SVU from where he had dropped it, and rushed over to Dimitri's side, aiming for the door as it began to splinter and split apart.
A zombie's head appeared in one the resulting apertures, and the Freedomer fired without hesitation, splitting it with a modified 7.62x54mm round. An arm snaked its way through he same opening as the zombie fell back in a spray of blood, but was blown off almost instantly with an explosive report from Sokol's AW50. Nevertheless, the damage had been done, and more and more body parts steadily became visible, as the door grew more and more damaged both from the zombies' onslaught, and from the fire on the other side.
Finally, with a monstrous crash, the door fell, and the zombies swarmed into the shop, only to meet a hail of gunfire from the group's assault rifles. The two Freedomers retreated to the stairs, situating their guns on the railings for a better position to shoot from. Torn off limbs, pieces of bone, brain, and all other sorts of gore filled the air, turning the shop into a literal bloodbath as the mindless drones advanced onto the expedition members. Their mindless ranks did not seem to thin at all, as zombie after zombie succumbed to the group's battering firepower.
Seth slotted a new magazine into his rifle before retreating even further down the stairwell "Cap'n!" he yelled to Dimitri "You got any clever idea on how to bring all of these bastards down? All of Pripyat must be hearing this little rendezvous right now, and I'm sure" he paused to take several shots at a group of zombies that advanced too close "that their friends will want to invite themselves too, soon enough!"
"The Zone just doesn't want to give up on you, does it?" Victor stared worriedly into Adder's face as it contorted, the woman seemingly left unable to speak. "Looks like we'll have to give the eggheads a visit again on the way back. This shit just can't be for the best..." he trailed off quietly, staring down the empty street into which they had emerged. The entire city seemed desolate and abandoned, but the loner knew that the mutants had no doubt all woken up in the wake of the receding blowout, and would be on the prowl soon, searching for new victims to sate their vicious appetite and hunger for killing.
His Vintorez out, he took a quick look through the scope down the street the mercenary named 'Big Orange' had disappeared down. For an instant, he fancied he had seen a brilliant, blinding blue flash somewhere in the distance, as if some sort of beacon had gone off, but, with no further movement in his sights, he tossed the occurence off as an illusion. The dome shimmering overhead, Rurik and the rest of the group stepped out onto the cracked sidewalk of the abandoned street stretching deep into the city. Victor watched as Maginot slowly analyzed the rusting, overgrown sign next to the shop, taking in the various directions it exhibited. "The music school and the kindergarten seem to be safe bets, although I might be wrong." he spoke up "Anyone have any other suggestions?"
The medic frowned, checking his map, which, although frozen and unable to update, still accurately reflected the geographical layout of the city. "The music school is a risky choice." he noted "it's damnably close to Prometheus cinema, and I'm willing to bet my ass on the fact that there's going to be enough fanatics in that place to sniff out any 'non-believers' from half a mile away. The kindergarten is a safer idea, but it's like taking two steps forward and one step back, since we want to fortify ourselves a bit closer to the center than that. But if we want to settle down at any position, we'd better do it quickly. Those Monolithians aren't going to wait for long now that the emission's over, and neither will the mutants."
He looked around, the group seemed exhausted by their trek north, as well as all the strange events that had transpired, and all of the losses they had suffered along the way. Sigbrand and Chaos were both gone, as well as the entire remainder of the Duty team. Adder had been affected devastatingly by the Zone's effects that came with the emissions. The more he saw, the more Victor began to doubt the prospect of going any further ahead before getting some long-deserved rest "We'll need to make it a real safe house," he said with concern "it looks like none of our members are in any shape to fight a war with the Monolithians as of now. Seth can wait, at least for now. Looks like we'll have to put off our advance further into the city and fall back to the kindergarten after all."
"I can scout ahead for the time being if there are no other volunteers." the medic continued "I can't guarantee on keeping myself unseen, but at least my weapons are silenced, and I'm not wearing a red-striped exoskeleton to make me stand out like... a Dutier in Monolith territory." he finished, unable to formulate a better comparison. "I don't know how far to the center of the city I'll be able to make it before my route becomes unpassable. Then I'll be back. If that doesn't happen within two hours, consider me dead."
"As for our temporary base of operations, we'll have to secure it well against assault. If even one of those Monolith bastards finds us, we'll have to wage a real war for our lives out here." he concluded grimly "Seth and his group will probably go through the same sort of fight, so there's no guarantee we'll even find them alive, especially with the city sequestered from the outside world like this."
The loner looked up at the sky again, the dome hung there, shimmering, static, unmoving. "We should send someone back to test whether we can get out of here somehow, or if there's some way through this thing." he said uneasily "we've got no idea if this Big Orange person will even come back alive, much less with some hard information about the state this place is in."
He looked down the street again, taking in the gray shapes of the deserted buildings before him, and the overgrowth of the vegetation that had invaded the boulevard, and suddenly a strange feeling of apprehension filled him. "So, am I going to have to go alone?" he asked the remainder of the team.
Jericho slowly walked out onto the balcony just as he heard Gad and the remainder of his team storm up the stairs. In a gesture of trust and importance, the Great One had given these few men the power of free will and decision making, making them much deadlier enemies to the non-believers, as they still chose to serve Him while maintaining all of their vicious cunning and resolve. The High Preacher stared in wonder at the sky, which had been blanketed by the great containment sphere the Great One had spread over the city. Curiously enough, Jericho could no longer hear His voice, although the crystal he held in his hand still shimmered with the same magical light, a testament to the Great Monolith's powers even in the most isolated of regions.
"High Preacher, there is something out there. In the sky. It looks as if though we are...trapped in this city. Is this another sign of His wrath?" he heard the stout fanatic question behind him. Was it fear Jericho heard in his voice? Even the Free-Willed servants of the Great One had their weaknesses. Jericho swept about to face his lieutenant.
"The Great One has seen all. He has seen our most powerful enemies, approaching his impregnable Domain, and it is upon us, His greatest servants, that he has laid upon this mission." he droned "The leaders of the non-believers are with us, in this very city. And so the Great Monolith has sent down his impregnable bastion to sequester and contain them, so we shall swoop down on them, trapped and cut off, and annihilate them in His name. No, it is not His wrath, but rather his entrusting us with this task of incomparable importance."
He cut himself off, and looked out across the city. Small groupings of zombies were emerging from buildings and alleyways, grouping together into larger hordes, and stalking off in search of new victims as their mutant comrades joined them, eager to purge the city of the infidels. He could hear shots start to ring out in the distance. The unsanct tried to defend themselves vainly against the waves of the Great One's bestial legion. They would never stand a chance.
The High Preacher stepped back to face the stalker once known as Owen, who had now recovered from his injuries at the Great One's unsuccessful struggle for Limansk. The mysterious stalker seemed to have been chosen by the Great One himself, in reactivating His Church in the Red Forest, as a new Champion amongst his devotees. "Take the Free-Willed," Jericho spoke to the exoskeleton-clad Monolithian "and lead them into battle against the Great One's enemies. Let not one live. The very Zone, and every creation of our Sacred Lord" he swept his arm, pointing to the swarms of zombified slowly padding through the city streets "shall help you in your glorious task, to make His name known once more, as the leaders of the non-believers fall!"
"You, my devoted assistant" he turned to Gad "are to help him, and guide our Champion in his task to obliterate these infidels. Do so, and your name shall be glorified, and forever praised by His zealous servants." the High Preacher stepped up to the balcony, and held up the shard of the Great Monolith. The stone flashed a brilliant blue once, sending the Great One's bidding to all of his servants in the destroyed city, and then turned dull once more. Almost immediately, scores of Monolithians began to pour from the HQ, slowly making their way into various buildings, and the many streets and alleyways. Tonight, all of the warriors and creatures of the Great One would be on their hunt for the vicious infidels that had destroyed so many of their comrades not long ago.
Satisfied, the High Preacher turned back to the two before him "Go!" he ordered "Carry His name in your wrath, as you crush the mortal enemies of the Monolith one by one! Tonight, every non-believer will know the wrath of the Great One, and his punishment for destroying his sacred army!" Having relayed his orders to the two finest soldiers of His heavenly army, the High Preacher slowly disappeared into a side passage, picking up his Gauss Rifle along the way. The godly weapon would smite many today, he thought as he slowly descended down a staircase leading out of the base.
He was not interrupted by the scores of Monolithians that were steadily assembling into squads. The servants had felt their orders as soon as the stone had flashed in Jericho's hand, and the orders were simple at that. They simply saluted the Monolithian as he walked among them, slowly making his way to the Hotel beside the headquarters.
Once inside, he ascended the stairs quietly to the roof, his Gauss Rifle in hand. He would be the godly hand that would rain death upon the Great One's enemies from the sky, he thought. At last, after several minutes of steady, rhythmic climbing, he stood atop the great tower overlooking the city, his cape billowing with the wind. The Dome overhead shimmered with the heavenly light of the Great One, illuminating the way for the High Preacher, exposing the champions of the unsanct, and ultimately sealing them in the place that would become their grave.
The Gauss Rifle switched on with a subtle hum as the coils ignited, sparkling blue with dancing electrical charges. The High Preacher slotted a magazine into the rifle, and, pulling out a pair of powerful military binoculars, began to wait for the infidels to reveal themselves from desperation. For a moment, a flash of doubt crossed his mind as he peered once more into the mysterious film shrouding the sky over his head. What if he had been wrong, and Gad right? he thought, what if the Great One had indeed been disappointed in His warriors' performance, their inability to handle the infidels, their inability to assume control over a territory that had always belonged to Him and Him alone?
Lutiy watched Khan disappear around the bend after the fleeing creature. The stairwell the guide had followed the mutant down was still a good twenty feet away "Grab him! I will not let him escape!" he heard Khan roar, as he lunged down the stairwell and through the doorwell. In that very instant, the Burer turned and gave a slight twitch with his hand, slamming the metal door shut behind them so hard that the locking mechanism actually popped out of the frame, leaving the bolt closed, and sealing it. Lutiy was separated from the monster and his companion.
The bandit cursed loudly, and sprinted back up the stairs he had almost finished descending, In a corner, he saw a dilapidated runged ladder leading down seemingly to the same level the creature and the dark stalker had disappeared to. Lutiy wasted no time, jumping down the rusted metal construction, and sliding down to the catacombs below. Their environment had by no means a reassuring effect on him, as it brought to mind the disturbing events that had transpired the last time they had ventured into such a place. But, by any means, the burer was a tangible enemy, and not supernatural. The beast could feel pain and fear, and hence, if it could survive in such a place, so could the bandit.
Those were the thoughts that had flashed through the bandits mind in the seconds in which he slid, the rusted metal ladder sides leaving heavy rust marks on his reinforced gloves. However, due to them, he had only a millisecond to prepare and balance himself properly for what happened next. Something he failed to do.
Due to their age and the thinning the corrugative effect it had on the metal's strength, the structure collapsed under the bandit's weight even as he slid down, throwing him into the wet puddle below, and giving him scarcely enough time to roll away before the massive structure could fall down and impale him.
With a clangor, the ladder crashed downwards into the space Lutiy had been barely a second before. Only the bandit's quick reflexes had managed to save him from being turned into a limp chunk of meat, crushed by a mass of rusted metal. He leapt up, surveying the chute he had dropped down. The only remaining way up had been completely blocked.
They would have to get out some other way, he thought as he barreled down the corridor and around the bend. He could clearly hear the groaning of the mutant, and two thuds as both the burer and Khan fell bodily to the floor. The bandit took a quick peek around the corner, and saw Khan aim his rifle at the monster just as the latter spoke.
"NO! NO! NO...NO HURT!" the burer ground out, only for a second making Khan hesitate. In the next second, it twitched its arm again, sending the guide spinning, and knocking the rifle from his hand. The burer leapt up with all the strength that it had remaining in its body, and began to sprint away down the corridor straight to where Lutiy was positioned.
Just as the monster had nearly made its escape, the bandit leapt out from around the bend, and slammed the stock of his polymer rifle dead into the burer's twisted face. Something broke, and the monster fell on its back, unconscious, blood snorting from its broken would-be-nose with every breath it took. Lutiy examined the creature for only a second before running back to where Khan lay, and helping the stalker to his feet.
"Quite a chase," he muttered "haven't had a run this frantic since back when I was a rookie and got cornered by a pack of pseudodogs in the Garbage." he laughed "shameful days... It seems we're trapped in an underground again. The thing blew out the lock on the door behind you, and the backup ladder crashed on me." he surveyed the area they were in "I doubt you know the layout of this city too well, but it wouldn't hurt to ask if you by any chance knew where the hell these catacombs lead, and what are we going to do with this pretty gentleman?" he pointed to the unconscious dwarf, which was still on the ground, taking heavy breaths through its smashed nasal cavity. The bandit prodded the beast with his foot. "You never expected your typical post-blowout morning to turn out like this, did you?" he laughed heavily
"Well," he said finally, staring around into the darkness of the corridors that surrounded them "Looks like we're all in this one together, all three of us."