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Post by Basil on Oct 30, 2010 20:15:00 GMT -5
Ten figures emerged at the entrance to the military warehouses, all dressed in the green colours of Freedom save for one man who wore an exoskeleton, they walked briskly past the guards and onto the road that lead towards the Barrier. One of the people in this group was none other than Freedom's Commandant, Adder. She had gotten a night's sleep the day before, enabling her to quickly get back into the rhythm of day, yet she still felt somewhat tired. Her rucksack felt heavy and her Vintorez also felt like a dead weight in her arms.
The journey that lay ahead of them would take them through "known" territory, such as the path leading through the Red Forest up to Pripyat, but it would also take them into the unknown, a dangerous realm of dangerous possibilities. Adder felt some apprehension over the journey they were now undertaking. Who would the Zone take? Who would make it back to the base? Would any of them make it back alive?
As they reached the Barrier, Adder scowled as a familiar smell drifted down the slope from the small encampment above the heavily defended Freedom checkpoint: weed. If Maginot was with them he'd be marching up the hill to snatch the joint out of the offender's hands before giving a sermon about taking drugs while on duty. The Commandant ignored the drug users and went on towards the Barrier, saluting a few Freedomers before stopping on the limit between the Red Forest and the Military Warehouses area.
The surroundings ahead of them had not changed one bit: a row of severed heads stood impaled on metal poles a few metres away while the trees' skeletal branches vaulted over the dark path that went off into the Red Forest's dark depths. Beyond this point lay danger, for even with the Scorcher gone and more stalkers roaming the area, there were still many mutants and Monolithians lurking there, ready to strike at any traveller.
"Why is it", said Adder, "that I always end up going on these dangerous raids. I mean, who knows what'll happen to us out there? Maybe we'll get eaten by snorks or murdered by Monolithians and then have our heads shrunk and stuck on a pole..."
So why was she doing this? Probably because of Maginot. She and Mag were a team of sorts and had been ever since she had pulled him into a tree and out of the way of a bloodthirsty pack of blind dogs in the Cordon. They'd stayed together all the way to Pripyat and back, fighting alongside Rurik and his team before breaking away and going on a mad run through merc controlled Limansk and the Red Forest.
But Mag was not with her now. He was too busy leading Freedom to go on this kind of dangerous sally into the Zone, which saddened Adder. Like she had always been there to get Mag out of trouble, he had always been there to return the favour, and with him absent, only bad things could happen to her.
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Post by Διμι on Oct 30, 2010 20:40:25 GMT -5
Wake up....
Wake up. They are coming...
The figure jolted awake. The voice rang in its head, a distorted hissing whisper. The man attempted to stand, but was almost immediately crippled by the sudden pain in his chest. A glowing blue crystal was imbedded in the center of his chest, seemingly fused to the flesh.
They are coming... stop them... protect us... The voice hissed, reverberating around his head. Images suddenly flashed through his head - a woman with snake-like slits for eyes and dark red hair, a scrawny, greasy-haired man at the head of a column of troops clad in green. A towering, massive man wielding a machine gun clad in an impeccable black and red exoskeleton along with heavily armed grunts standing rapt at his side, waiting for orders. A single figure in a trench coat creeping slowly through a mutated underbrush. These people... They seemed familiar. Memories seemed to boil to the surface of the being's mind, but were instantly buried by the explosive, torrential flow of the presence inside him that now seemed to permeate every single corner of his body.
The man stood up jerkily and wracked by agony, willed by some invisible force. His head was spinning, but he managed to right himself and make his way to the door, which was cracked ajar.
Two warriors, their faces hid by the masks of exoskeletons stood outside as the man exited. Despite their armor, he still stood a good half foot taller than them. The two sank to their knees in reverence. The man could only stare, but the invisible force seemed to urge him once more to move down the corridor.
Do not meddle, it spoke these servants are of no importance. You must protect us...
The man went on, eventually coming out to a large chamber. A single coffin-like structure stood in the middle, guarded by a rotund Monolithian.
"My Lord," the man said in a wheezy voice "we've extracted the body of the great destroyer. He is no more. He cannot hurt you any longer." he motioned to the trench-coated stalker lying within.
The pallid face of the corpse stared up at Sokol. He had met the man before, fought alongside him but all that he could feel now was the overwhelming ecstasy of the monstrous force possessing him. The crystal glinted fiercely.
"We have your weapons and gear," the Monolithian offered, smiling as the waves of satisfaction seemed to penetrate into his own head. He pointed to a brown and grey Monolith suit tailored to accommodate his new master's immense frame and a G11 rifle with ammo.
"That will do," Sokol ground out slowly, his voice strangely distorted as he donned the suit and slung the rifle across his back. Walking back over to the corpse, he slowly extracted the modified Desert Eagle in its thigh holster, and removed the brown trench coat from its frame before slinging it over his own suit.
"What is your bidding, my Lord?" the Monolithian stared inquisitively at the tall stalker before him.
"Leave me," Sokol felt his mouth move although he never willed to speak "I will go on a journey of my own. Alone..."
Slowly, he turned and slowly began to walk towards a lone square of light that was the entrance to the room. As he exited, he turned, beholding the immense structure of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
We are one and the same now, Sokol...., the voice rang overpoweringly.
Ignoring the pain in his chest, the man began to walk.
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Post by blackpapermoon on Oct 31, 2010 9:25:23 GMT -5
The Red forest, the place where he almost died, and yet strangely enough Ferret was at peace here. Even despite the smell of decay and death and the shrunken heads of the Monolith's bodiless victims, he still felt calm. Ferret had collected his equipment the night before and had gotten a some what restful nights sleep. He had also packed extra food and ammunition along with taking a Machete as an extra weapon. He was prepared but he was still unnerved by something.
It is was not by the landscape it was by Adder's words, the commandant was in distress and it just did not seem right, he did know what he could say to try to light her mood some. But in truth he knew she was right, any number of horrible things could happen to them while on this expedition and the odds where low that any of them would make it back form the north. They where going to the very heart of the zone and the closer you got to it the likelihood of you being killed grew. He really did not want to think of it any more so he changed the topic.
"Hey Adder," he said, " You have been up in Pripyat, right?… I was born there, I'd like to know what's become of the place."
He knew that Pripyat was one of the most dangers parts of the zone and that was the place that Freedom had lost it’s last leader, and that it had become come a Monolith stronghold. But he also knew that Adder and Maginot where some of the only people to ever return from it.
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Post by Basil on Oct 31, 2010 9:59:30 GMT -5
"Hey Adder."
The Commandant was torn from her gloomy reverie by Ferret's voice, and she turned around to face him.
"You have been up in Pripyat, right?… I was born there, I'd like to know what's become of the place", said the ex-bandit. This surprised Adder quite a bit, but her surprise quickly turned into mild sarcasm.
"-A charming place, loved the hotels and the staff who work there."
Evidently Adder was not keen on talking about what had happened when she and Maginot had been to Pripyat. It was a dead and accursed city, the rotten concrete relic of Soviet lies and decay and now the home of an altogether new and spine-chilling horror. Only the insane, the outcasts and the foolhardy entered Pripyat, and Adder was not in the least bit keen on returning there.
"We're not going there anyway", she said flatly. "We'll be steering well clear of it. Might get to see it from afar, but not any closer. That city is best left undisturbed."
And with that, the Commandant stepped forth, going deeper into the Red Forest. Almost as soon as she left the relative safety of the Barrier she felt the change in atmosphere. The area around the warehouses was everything but safe, but it was known territory. The Red Forest was an enormous expanse of twisted, radioactive woodlands that nobody had ever explored in its entirety, and danger lurked around every corner.
"Stay alert", she told her companions. "Keep your guns ready...I have a feeling we'll run into some of these woods' more unfriendly residents."
Her words were confirmed when they arrived at the old guard post. There were the remains of a fire there, and the bodies of two stalkers lay nearby, their faces badly mutilated and their suits torn open to reveal a disgusting mess that could only have been left by the most savage of predators. The savagery of the attack seemed to indicate that the two stalkers had been attacked by snorks, for those were the Zone's most savage and brutal mutants, lacking the stealth of a bloodsucker or the strength of a pseudogiant, but sporting the vicious aggressiveness and cunning of a hundred pseudodogs.
"Just as I thought", said Adder, glancing around her for any signs of the predators. "Only a few kilometres in and we're already running into the dangerous stuff."
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Post by Διμι on Oct 31, 2010 10:10:23 GMT -5
Blood and dilute acid running down his gloved arm, Dober jerked downward, removing the trench spike from the bloodsucker's cranium. The creature had managed to sneak up on him, or so it thought. With a backward movement of his hand, the bandit had speared it with the spike in its mouth and through its skull, the tip finally emerging out the back.
The beast crashed to the forest floor like a sack of rocks, its body still struggling despite its brain having been impaled on the bandit's deadly blade. Dober wiped the blade off on the monster's dark fur. The things were beginning to appear in increasing numbers the further north he traveled, he noted. This specimen had been the first to attack him directly, whereas the others had simply watched. It would be a lesson to the rest, he thought. The beasts were clever creatures, and more territorial than outright vicious, but if they had all attacked at once, Dober doubted he would be able to fend every single one off.
Pushing the thought from his mind, the bandit crept on through the undergrowth. The relative lack of paths in the western part of the Red Forest had not disturbed him, although the path to the east would have been infinitely more preferable. The western half of the forest, since the downfall of the Clear Sky faction upon their trek north, had been rumored to be filled with horrors of a variety that even the Freedomers hadn't had the pleasure of meeting near their northernmost outpost.
Choosing not to speculate on the unpleasantness that would no doubt await him with every step further north, he concentrated on the task at hand. The area north had remained unexplored in its entirety, and Sultan wanted a reconnaissance report to determine whether it was even worth sending any men there. Dober flipped through the map on his PDA. The sattelite scans indicated a sort of marsh, but the images were far too blurry to make out anything specific. Sighing, Dober pocketed the device and continued his path through the forest depths, his hand, as always, resting on the grip of the massive revolver on his thigh.
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Post by Karcentric on Oct 31, 2010 14:08:12 GMT -5
Sitting up and looking at his PDA, Rurik's interest was snagged from contents of the message. What is in the north that Freedom would send a squad for? He thought, standing to his full height and stretching, a plan began to form in his head. Walking to the armory he donned his massive exoskeleton suit, and grabbed his weapons. Walking back to where General Voronin and several other officers were discussing matters Rurik waited for them to finish before approaching and speaking in a hushed tone while showing the message to the general, "It would appear Freedom has found something of interest in the areas we haven't explored, and I'd like to know what it is, that is if you approve of course." Rurik said waiting for Voronin's reply. "Indeed, assemble your squad and also radio Sergeant Myrvang to meet you. I want you to find what they are looking for, and should you spot any members of Freedom eliminate them, since we don't know what to expect take a varied group to cover any possible situation." "Yes sir." Rurik said before turning away to make preparations for the trip. By the time he had made to the barracks several members were waiting to be informed of the mission that faced them. "Gentlemen, we will be making our way into the northern reaches of the zone, venturing into unknown territory so remember to pack enough supplies and be prepared to face unknown mutants and anomalies. Meet back here in two hours and be ready to move out." Walking back into the armory Rurik dumped several extra boxes of ammunition for himself and Sigbrand, seeing as the young sergeant wouldn't have time do so himself. He also grabbed the necessary food and medical supplies. He also began typing a message to Sigbrand. Sergeant.
We will be pursuing a squad of Freedom soldiers, I am assembling a group now, General Voronin has requested that we meet you in RF, send your location and we shall meet you there.
Lt. Rurik Sending the message he slung the heavy pack over his shoulder and went out to check on the progress of the others.
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Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on Nov 1, 2010 0:07:21 GMT -5
The brush moved slightly. A second later a blind dog poked its head out only to have it obliterated, the crack from the rifle followed just behind. In his perch in a tree almost half a kilometer away, Sigbrand worked the bolt on his rifle, deftly caught the spent brass and chambered another round. There had been rumors from loner groups in the forest about an increase in Monolith activity, and the entrance of a Freedom squad into the forest. Since then, Sigbrand had been moving between the tallest trees he could find to keep an eye out on the forest. Another clump of brambles started moving, next to the boulder with the scorch marks. Glancing at the notes on his PDA he sighted the bush in at about six hundred meters and adjusted his optics accordingly. Raising the rifle to his shoulder, he took aim at the bush. A brown and gray clad figure was pushing it's way through. A monolith scout. He must have heard the shot. Sigbrand thought. Carefully placing the chevron reticule on the center left of the man's torso he took a deep breath, released half, then slowly began to squeeze the trigger. Sigbrand's PDA buzzed furiously just as he completed the trigger pull. The shot went wide, hitting the scout in the arm and removing it from the rest of his body at the elbow. The man collapsed with a scream, fell writhing to the ground then was still. Sigbrand shuddered. He took no pleasure in killing other men, and always tried to make their deaths as quick as possible. A particularly gruesome death for any man, especially one forced into subservience, still gave him an awful feeling in his gut. Looking back down at his PDA, he saw that the message was from Rurik. Sergeant.
We will be pursuing a squad of Freedom soldiers, I am assembling a group now, General Voronin has requested that we meet you in RF, send your location and we shall meet you there.
Lt. Rurik Slinging his rifle onto his shoulder, Sigbrand quickly climbed down the tree and tapped out a message to the Lieutenant. Lt. Rurik
I am in the Red Forest already and have heard of the Freedom group from Loners in the area. I've been keeping an eye out but have seen nothing but mutants and the occasional Monolithian. I will be waiting for you at the exit of the Yantar tunnel.
Sgt. Myrvang
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Post by blackpapermoon on Nov 1, 2010 11:09:37 GMT -5
The Freedomer suppressed a slight bit of sadness about not being able to see Pripyat, but it was for a good reason, it was way to dangers and should be left alone. However he soon forgot about the old city when they came upon the reminds of the two stalkers.
“You got to be kidding me,” said Ferret, “Snorks already, we just left the barrier.”
When Freedom blew up the scorcher, the blast must have disturbed some underground tunnels or caves that the Snorks where using for a lair. They have been spreading out, trying to find a new home. However they where making life harder for the Zone’s stalker residences, namely the one of the Freedomers that manned the north most outposts.
Bring his gun the ready he and the others continued forward, the Ex-Bandit already starting to have bad feelings the trip…If they where already dealing with Snorks what other dangers lay a head?
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Post by Διμι on Nov 1, 2010 20:31:18 GMT -5
A shot rang in the distance, followed by a very faint scream. So he wasn't alone in this place, Dober mused. The gun was evidently a heavy caliber suppressed rifle that someone had attempted to silence at full power. A worthless task, unless that someone was a long-range sniper. The bandit judged that anyone that had managed to get far enough into the Red Forest with that sort of weapon would most likely be the latter.
Whoever had caused the disturbance was a solid distance to the East, perhaps in the very center of the forest. Either way, the bandit was a fair distance away, and almost certainly undetectable, hidden in the dense thicket around him.
He checked his PDA once again. Two kilometres further north lay the war-torn city of Limansk. Dober had little intention of guesting with the likely nerve-frayed mercenaries and their Monolithian comrades-in-arms, and neither did he fancy a delightful trip through the city's undeground. He would have to either skirt around the river, a task that would take a solid day, and bring him right to whoever's rifle he had heard earlier, or find a boat to pilot downstream. Neither possibility seemed very alluring, as it would put him in the open.
Still, it was a decision he would have to make later. Dober pocketed the device and continued his steady course, and only the rustling of dead leaves under his trench coat pierced the silence.
Sokol stared from the top of the apartment complex to the west. The expansive marshes were barely visible from where he stood, but he could already make out the shape of the Preobrazhensky bridge in his powerful optics.
In a short trip to the Monolith headquarters, the Monolithian had swapped the G11 that had belonged to the late Preacher for a silenced MSG90. He could not understand why, but the rifle still felt oddly light, as if his hands were trained for a gun more than twice the weight. Still, it would have to suffice for the task. Not to mention he doubted he would have to use it.
His mind flashed back to the images he had seen, of the woman in particular. Something about her seemed familiar. He could feel her presence slowly pushing its way through the fog in the distance. There was more to her than met the eye, a link of some sort that Sokol himself had now possessed. He unzipped his suit, glancing down at the crystal, but it was still, shining dully in the light.
There will be many, he thought. I cannot do this alone.
Almost immediately the presence within him stirred, flooding his mind.
Do not fear their numbers. We are with you. Not a thousand of them will be able to stop you, to bring you down with us on your side.
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Post by Basil on Nov 2, 2010 4:56:03 GMT -5
The squad's fear about snorks were soon made flesh, much to everyone's dismay. As the green-clad stalkers arrived at a bend a loud snarl was heard and was quickly taken up by other such creatures.
"Snorks!", hissed Adder, raising her Vintorez. The creatures were not yet visible as the area they were hiding in was rocky and several large boulders protected them from prying eyes. It did not take long for the first two snorks to appear and as soon as the two loping once human monstrosities came out from behind a boulder, the Freedomers opened fire. Adder took aim and sent a bullet for the head of the lead snork. The projectile missed but still managed to hit the creature's shoulder.
Adder didn't even think of firing twice as the wounded mutant limped back to its hiding place, for before it made it there it fell to the ground, convulsed for a few minutes and finally died. Her poison bullets spared no-one and nothing. The second snork was gunned down by the collective fire of the squad.
"That's all...?", asked one of the Freedomers in an elated voice. Adder did not relax however; she knew that there could still be more lurking about for had they not heard several roars?
Her suspicions were confirmed when three snorks leaped out of a bush on their left flank. One of them landed on the Freedomer who had spoken just before, sinking its yellow and shapr teeth into his throat.
"-Nope, there's the others!", yelled Adder. She shot one snork bang in the forehead, the bullet ripping through its gas mask and smashing out through the other side of its skull, killing it instantly. Two more snorks charged out of cover, heading towards the Freedom squad. The fact the humanoid predators were working as a group instead of the usual free for all frightened Adder, but she kept on fighting the disgusting creatures.
One snork fell, its body convulsing, soon after Adder shot a bullet into its arm, while another got half its head ripped off by another of the Commandant's bullets. A Freedomer screamed a curse as a snork sank its teeth into his hand, but its life was quickly ended when its victim pulled a knife out and stabbed the creature's neck.
What a nice way to start an expedition.
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Post by Karcentric on Nov 2, 2010 6:15:46 GMT -5
The Duty squad had gathered their gear and were waiting for Rurik's order to move out. Several short beeps from his PDA reading the message from Sigbrand and noting the location. Rurik synchronized the PDAs uploading the location to each of the men in the party. Giving a nod, the soldiers hefted their packs and followed Rurik out of Rostok heading through the battered remains of the Wild Territory, the faint smell of decay lingered in the air as the squad silently and quickly made their way to Yantar, continuing straight into the factory area and into the pipes leading to Red Forest ignoring the occasional zombie which seemed to pop up despite the constant effort to remove them from the area. Trudging through the dank pipe Rurik and his squad made good time inspecting the area as they emerged from the pipe and forming a semi circle with guns pointing in all direction covering each member as they emerged from the pipes opening into the forest. Once all of the members were secure and the area was deemed clear Rurik locked his signal onto Sigbrand's PDA and typed out a quick message to Sigbrand. Sigbrand, we've arrived at the arranged meeting point. We'll stay put until you arrive, I've set my PDA with a tracking beacon which your PDA will pick up.
Rurik Sending the message Rurik sat down, and proceeded to look over the old maps of the area circling several areas of interest.
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Post by blackpapermoon on Nov 2, 2010 11:13:53 GMT -5
"Think there are any more," queried Ferret after the last Snork was killed; his eyes scanned their surroundings, he couldn't see or hear any more mutants, but that did not mean any thing. After a few moments the silence still hung in the air as a thick ominous mist began to cover the dead, radioactive forest.
Slowly Ferret and others let down their guard, they had killed off the Snorks for now. The former Bandit was quite proud of himself, he had kill one of the on-coming beast single handily and helped wound a few others. However his satisfaction was short lived, as he was soon reminded that they had just lost one of their own so early in the expedition.
"Adder, what should we do with him," said Ferret indicating the man who had his throat rip open by one of the monstrosities.
_________________________________ "This fog is ridiculous," said the female Mercenary, "I can't see for shit."
Swift and her partner had traveled from the Garbage to the Red Forest after getting a lead that their target had gone north. That same lead they sent running back to Dark Valley, with a brown stain on the back of his pants.
However she was starting to wish that they had never found out that Dober had gone to this forsaken wasteland, the whole forest put her on edge. And she was starting to have second thoughts about the bounty that Janne and her where after. They where ill equipped and had little information on the forest or the areas that where around it other then they where home to the fanatic, bloodthirsty Monolith faction and some very extremely dangerous mutants. But the reward of 25,000 Rubles was just too alluring for her to turn down, with that amount of money on top of what she already had she would be well off for a very long time.
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Post by Basil on Nov 2, 2010 12:44:49 GMT -5
"He's dead, what else do you expect us to do with him?" said Adder. "Drag his body into a bush or bury him if you have time to waste..."
Adder's radio crackled. The signal was getting weaker and weaker as they left the Warehouses behind them, but here it was still barely strong enough to let transmissions come through. In this case, it was Maginot on the radio.
"-Adder, I've received word of a Duty squad heading North. I suspect their objective is the same as yours, so you'd better hurry and get there before they do. If they interfere with your objective, kill them."
"-Orders received and understood", said Adder. "Looks like you'll just have to shove him under a bush", she added in Ferret's direction, "Duty has sent some of its goons to beat us to the unexplored Northern territories, so we have to pick up some speed."
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"Yeah, that mist is definitely a hindrance", said Janne. He had never been this far North before, in fact, his usual range ended at Rostok, and the Forest unsettled him even more than it did Swift. The trees were all dead or mutated into ugly, twisting shapes, and strange cries would resonate through the gloomy depths of the woods.
Janne had heard a few stories from the Freedomers stationed at the Forest's edge: mutants abounded in that place, as well as terrible and unexplainable phenomena.
"Let's hope we don't run into any of the creatures Freedom told us about...and they say their leaders went there to destroy the Scorcher, sounds like propaganda to me."
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Post by blackpapermoon on Nov 2, 2010 15:56:07 GMT -5
"Who knows," said Swift as she started to walk deeper into the woods. But just then something caught her attention, it sounded like breathing, heavy breathing and it was coming from behind her. She turned around to face it but she was too slow. A Bloodsucker appeared and cut into her flesh, the last thing the woman ever heard again was the sound of Janne's Valmet before it too was silent. Her world had become cold and black just like the forest around her. She soon passed into unconsciousness. __________________________
Ferret dragged the body of the dead Freedomer and hid it in a near by bush, the whole time guilt played on his conscience. That could have been him, he could have been the one they dumped in some brush and left to rot.He was so wraped up in that notion that he didn't even know that they had made it to Limansk. more importantly he did not know that there was a group of Zombified loner waiting a head until some one pulled him down just as the brain dead stalkers open fire. Who ever had pulled him out of the way had literally saved his life, if they hadn't done that he would have been Swiss cheese.
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Post by Διμι on Nov 2, 2010 16:37:22 GMT -5
More shots, more screams from the direction of the east. Whoever it was that caused the initial commotion was either getting closer or there was more than one group, Dober thought.
The mysterious bloodsucker pack that had followed him until now seemed to have disappeared, distracted by whoever was steadily following him. The bandit picked up his pace as he saw the tree line before him slowly grow nearer. Dober holstered his sidearm and drew his tactical AK-47 instead as he entered the clearing.
The place looked like a warzone. A faint trickle of smoke rose from the devastated remains of what looked like a bunker. Bodies of Monolithians and military personnel were scattered all over the area. Not wanting to investigate what had transpired, the bandit quickly crossed over to the other side of the forest and continued his path, until an object lying in the shade of a massive mutated fern caught his eye.
It was a broken M16, a silenced one with a massive scope mounted on a rail, eerily familiar to the bandit. Dober left the weapon where it lay and kept walking. Soon he encountered two Beretta pistols, both modified for automatic fire, their magazines empty as if their wielder had discarded the guns in the haste of combat.
He came upon Meph's body soon later, as he had by then anticipated, Dober found his friend to be quite dead and pinned toi a tree by a combat knife. Both of the man's blades lay nearby, one spattered with blood and spearing a shred of black and red fabric on its tip. The Dutiers had at long last caught up with the Asian assassin.
Dober gave a gruff laugh. "I warned you that you'd meet your death up here without me backing you up, you daredevil bastard." he poked the body jokingly before tearing the knife from its throat. Meph collapsed limply onto the ground.
He had time to spare, Dober figured. Picking up the small body and removing all of the artifacts on it, he doubled back to the clearing, his progress made much easier by the three Flashes and two Springs. Burying the small form took little time, as the bandit tired no longer over his work. Covering the man with several inches of dirt would suffice, Dober thought as he surveyed the small mound. Picking up one of the blades, he jammed it into the earth over the grave. A rudimentary marker.
The bandit hid the other blade into the sheath he had taken from the Asian's body. It was of fine craftsmanship and would serve him well in the future, Dober thought.
Giving a final salute to the deceased assassin whom he had once mentored, Dober turned away from the grave and continued on his route. According to his PDA, he was a mere kilometer from the river docks by the Dead City. The torrential flow of water would bring him to his destination in less than two hours.
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