|
Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on Nov 2, 2010 23:31:39 GMT -5
Sigbrand had already reached the exit of the tunnel from Yantar and had been taking a nap in a taller tree when he received the message from Rurik. The furious buzzing from his PDA woke him with a start. He looked down from the tree and saw the Duty squad walking around the area below him.
Clambering down the available branches, Sigbrand slid down the remainder of the smooth trunk and landed a short distance from Rurik.
Brushing the dust off of his suit, he asked "So, what are these Freedomers up to?"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tarasov slowly opened his eyes. The burnt and dented frame of the downed helicopter he had been using for shelter stared back at him. He had no idea how long he had been in the forest. When he had woken up the fighting had been over for quite a while, as all of the bodies were cold. His rifle had been destroyed, and he was forced to scavenge a heavier G3 rifle off of one of the dead Freedomers.
He had found the bodies of his last two squad mates a day later. The military had never arrived to extract them, and they had both been killed. He himself had most likely been reported dead by now, his remaining family notified of his 'sacrifice' and all records of his work in the Zone destroyed.
It's time to move. He thought.
Putting what was left of his supplies in his pack, he headed east. Towards the river. After walking a short distance, he stopped. A figure clad in a gray trench coat had just slipped farther into the forest. Breaking into a cautious run, he stopped just inside the forest, a short distance from where the figure disappeared. Before him was a small patch of overturned dirt, a shallow grave, with a long knife stuck into it as a marker.
Kneeling, Tarasov examined the knife, decided to leave it, then followed the figure farther into the forest.
|
|
|
Post by Karcentric on Nov 3, 2010 11:58:31 GMT -5
Rurik turned looking to where Sigbrand landed nearby. As he approached the young man asked, "So, what are these Freedomers up to?"
"It would seem they have found something in the northern reaches of the zone, we have been tasked in both capturing whatever it is and to eliminate all members of their group should they come between us and whatever it is they are looking for." Rurik said before continuing, "And this pack is for you, it contains enough ammunition, food, water and medical supplies for a long trek. It also contains cleaning kits for weapons and additional gear to patch up your armor should it be damaged. It's good to see you again soldier."
Picking up his own bag and slinging it over his shoulder. "Let's move out, I want to close the distance on the Freedom squad, we don't know what they are looking for I want to keep no less than half a days march behind. MG to the back snipers in the middle, I'll take the lead."
With that the squad headed north along the road, the sounds of the forest seemed to follow them and they occasionally caught a glimpse of a mutant running around in the forest.
Coming to a sweeping corner they heard the distinct growl of several pseudodogs and the sound of rustling leaves from several directions.
"Defensive circle, shot on sight, snipers in the middle." Rurik said clearly over the sound of the oncoming dogs. Holding the PKM steady sweeping it back and forth as he waited for the creatures to attack.
|
|
|
Post by Basil on Nov 3, 2010 12:12:40 GMT -5
"Bloody hell, I had no idea you could be so incompetent", said Adder to Ferret. Earlier on, the group had run into a group of zombified stalkers. Fighting them hadn't been hard, but they had almost lost another squad member in the process, that member being Ferret. The ex-bandit had seemed to be very distracted by something, and had only been saved from death when one of his comrades pulled him to the ground and out of harm's way.
The squad was standing on the Eastern bank of the river that ran down one side of Limansk. The abandoned town was much quieter than it had been when Adder had last been there. The Monolith and the Mercenary factions had obviously stopped fighting for a little while, but even with Limansk's streets free of inter-faction fighting, Adder was not going to cut through the city. Instead, the Freedomers would march along the river bank until they arrived in the North-Western part of the Forest, just above Limansk. From then on it would be a relatively straight run to the Northern territories.
If we don't encounter any major anomaly fields, thought Adder. Some points on the satellite map they had seemed to indicate the presence of many anomalies clustered into limited areas.
"Anyway", said Adder with a sigh. "Ignore your block-head companion's blunders. We'll be following the river Northwards."
With that, the squad resumed its journey.
|
|
|
Post by blackpapermoon on Nov 3, 2010 19:26:04 GMT -5
Ferret held back a bit of rage, but he knew that Adder's insults where well deserved. He should have been more careful and watched where he was going. He staid to the back of the group as they headed north along the bank of the river, knowing that he was never going to let that happen again. The River must have over flown at some point in recent time, as the area surrounding the river was muddy and difficult to walk through. It had been an hour or more since they left Limansk, and the only thing that they had run into was a cluster of Whirligigs and Vortexes, that where a bit of a pain to navigate but other wise a none hindrance to the North bound expedition.
This seemed odd to the former bandit, this trip was becoming way too easy, no sign of mutants or of Duty and they had yet to see hide or hair of any Monoliths. Perhaps it would be a straight shot to the new territories, but just then a roar from up a head ended his wishful thinking. They had unknowingly set foot into a Pseudogiant's turf and it wanted them gone.
Ferret knew they couldn't waste time with this thing but it was not going to let them leave. They had to find some way of ending this fast without wasting all their ammo on the thing. He thought he had a plan, that would work he just need to get the beast to take a run at him, then he could lure it into some near by anomalies.
"Come on you ugly motherfucker" called out Ferret as he fired a few rounds into what he presumed to be the side of the mutant's face. What ever he hit it got the job done, the giant was now charging at him.
"Come get me you bitch," he yelled out again trying to keep it's attention squarely on himself as he back petaled to the nearest cluster of anomalies.
Finally when the mammoth sized creature had followed him close enough to the gravitational abnormalities he dove out of the way as it charged right into the anomaly field. The Whirligig picked up the Pseudogiant and spun it the air, slowly ganging speed until the beast exploded into chunks of bone, flesh and blood.
|
|
|
Post by Διμι on Nov 3, 2010 22:14:34 GMT -5
The party following the bandit soon made itself known as the bandit finally emerged by the banks of the river. It was a band of Freedomers, perhaps a dozen strong at most. The unfortunate band of warriors had attracted the attention of a belligerent pseudogiant approximately three hundred yards south of Dober's position, and were now struggling to deal with the beast.
Not wanting to be discovered ahead of time, the rogue quickly picked his way down the hillside to the docks below. There was no way there would be enough boats to ferry all of the Freedomers to their destination, so the bandit worried little of a pursuit. Dober quickly untied a rickety rowboat from a pier and settled in, grabbing both of the oars. In seconds, he was alight in the fog, steadily rowing his way down the river, the river only carrying him faster.
He heard a roar and a splatter as the pseudogiant was carried into a gravitational anomaly in the distance, and for a second thought that he had seen another man on the docks near the pier. But the thick fog quickly obscured the shore he had just left. Sighing, Dober put his arms at rest and let the small craft slowly drift, blanketed by the mist.
The boat slowly sailed into the unknown. Where he was headed, Dober knew, the parties who were pursuing him would be outsiders of the same caliber as himself. There were no already staked territories, it would be a bloody struggle for control and domination that would eventually wear their forces thin. And then the bandits, the everpresent and multiheaded swarm within the Zone, would settle in to take control...
|
|
|
Post by Basil on Nov 4, 2010 16:35:52 GMT -5
Adder looked at Ferret and then at the bloody mess that coated the ground below the gravitational anomaly. She wiped some gore off her suit, shaking her hand to get rid of it before wiping the rest off on a dirty piece of cloth.
“Well, maybe you aren’t as block-headed and incompetent as you seem”, she said. “It does take a few brain cells to off a pseudogiant like that.”
The Freedomers were all in a small clearing of sorts between the whirligig anomalies. The landscape around them was dotted with the broken remains of trees, torn apart by the warped spots of gravity. A few bones also littered the ground, remnants of creatures who had unknowingly wandered into one of the anomalies and had been ripped to shreds. Adder picked up one of those bones and selected a spot ahead of her before throwing the yellowed object. The bone sailed through the air before hitting the ground unharmed. Adder stepped over to where the bone lay, picked it up and repeated the procedure, standard anomaly field navigation.
This part of the Red Forest was still mostly unknown to stalkers, and even though Adder had already been through it before, she still felt uneasy. About two kilometres beyond the whirligig field, the Freedomers arrived in another area where the trees had been oddly warped, giving them an excessively large and short trunk. A large pile of rubble was visible in the middle of the odd clearing amidst the warped vegetation. One of the Freedomers took one step forward, but was stopped by Adder.
“This place is not normal”, she said. She observed the area for a while and noted how strange the vegetation looked, almost as if they had been compressed downwards. The rubble was also oddly disposed, as if some unseen force had pushed all the bricks and shattered concrete down flat on the ground. Adder picked a stone up and threw it, watching the projectile fly through the air before abruptly being pulled down in the strange area and hitting the ground with such force that it left a clear imprint in the earth. The gravity in that area was obviously a lot stronger than it should be, and anyone who walked through that area would be crushed onto the ground.
“Wonderful”, said Adder. “I’ve never seen this kind of anomaly before…just goes to show you can’t go stomping round the woods without getting horribly killed. Keep your eyes open, we’re going round that thing.”
The squad walked carefully round the edge of the anomalous area. As they went around it, Adder could feel the force of it pulling on her body, and she felt a chill go down her spine. After walking round that dangerous place, the Freedomers resumed their march North.
|
|
|
Post by Διμι on Nov 4, 2010 17:18:31 GMT -5
The long fur of a pseudodog standing on the plateau bristled in alarm. The beast gave a cowed look around before growling loudly and bounding out of sight across the ridge.
A minute later, Sokol stood on the small hill, overlooking the expansive marshes stretching out before him. The Monolithian's light brown trench coat fluttered faintly in the breeze around his suit, its hem still several inches too short.
Adder... Yes, that was her name... Sokol thought disjointedly. How had he known that. The closer the group of Freedomers seemed to draw, the more clearly he could see, hear unintelligible shards of conscious thought as they flashed through his mind.
... maybe you aren’t as block-headed and incompetent as you seem...
The Monolithian's memory had not come back to him, rather, he could feel the woman slowly drawing closer, bending an unseen equipotential barrier back as if they were linked by some invisible force. He could feel the uncertainty, and the fear...
Soon, he thought, soon she would feel him.
Hidden within his suit, the crystal embedded in his sternum glowed faintly, its shine growing steadily stronger by the hour. Somewhere in Yantar, too, he could feel a disturbance steadily grow, as if three bodies in straight line allignment were slowly positioning themselves to exert a inescapable pull over the snake-eyed servant of the Monolith.
Come.
|
|
|
Post by Basil on Nov 4, 2010 17:45:02 GMT -5
Come.[/i]
That single word hit Adder like a brick of ice, dropping into her mind like lead. Her train of thought was instantly shattered and her body ground to a halt.
Memories came back. Memories about Rurik and Maginot, memories about the dangerous expedition to the North, chasing after a man she had never seen while a voice both terrible and reassuring bid her do unspeakable things. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and she swallowed her saliva with difficulty, feeling a lump grow in her throat.
"...not again...", she muttered. "Not again."
She turned around to face the confused-looking members of her rag tag expeditionary squad.
"Stay here, I'll be right back", she said before walking off amidst the trees, stopping once they were out of their sight but could still hear them talking. Her forehead was damp with sweat and her eyes had a panicked look about them as she spoke in a wavering voice.
"Get out of my head. Get out! I'm not your toy!"
A couple of crows flew out of a tree with a loud rustle of leaves and much cawing, and Adder briefly wondered if she was going mad. Maginot had once said that voices in one's head was a sign of schizophrenia...good old Maginot, always good for a laugh. Wouldn't that be swell if she went crackpot in the middle of such an important mission? Were the voices just a product of a diseased subconscious?
"What do you want?", she asked in a half murmur.
|
|
|
Post by Διμι on Nov 4, 2010 18:08:04 GMT -5
Get out of my head. Get out! I'm not your toy!
The Monolithian felt the woman struggle about in the net of psychic connections that spanned the distance between them, sticky tendrils of consciousness bridging a many mile gap. For a moment, he could see clearly through her eyes. A rustle of leaves and a flutter of wings. Mission... Maginot... Schizophrenia... The words flashed in and out of his mind as he reached out a hand and pulled the proverbial reins in.
What do you want? he felt echo in the back of his cranium. Sokol's pupils seemed to retract and disappear, his entire eye slowly filling with a flat and milky stare as his conscious flashed an infinite distance, filling Adder's mind. He saw a forest clearing, a group of confused-looking Freedomers in the distance. He was now within her, or perhaps he was no longer himself at all, for it was not his voice that now spoke.
Join us. Succumb to your deepest desires and live them through me. I will give you everything you've ever dreamed of. You will be unstoppable. You will know no fear and every one of your demons shall be eradicated.
The spellbinding, hypnotic voice seemed to morph, take on countless forms before finally settling in a sickeningly familiar tone.
After all, the voice of Maginot purred in the confines of Adder's head, I would never lie to you, would I?
Sokol felt his consciousness retract from the infinite presence and sweep through the air over the Red Forest before finally alight in his own form. He blinked, his green eyes struggling to focus. Soon, he thought, soon she would be here at last, finally caught in his unbreakable grasp.
|
|
|
Post by Basil on Nov 4, 2010 18:18:50 GMT -5
"..no...no you wouldn't lie...", breathed Adder, wiping sweat from her brow and leaning on a nearby rock. Thoughts whirled into a chaotic mental maelstrom as the woman tried to keep her mind under control. Maginot had not spoken to her, it was the Monolith, using lies to lull her into lowering her guard.
"But you aren't Maginot, you're the Monolith. I know you. I will not listen to you, your words are poison and falsehood."
She took a shuddering breath and began to repeat those last three words over and over, like a protective mantra against the evil which was trying to lead her astray.
"Poison and falsehood...poison and falsehood...poison and falsehood..."
She remembered something Maginot had once said. Something about not believing promises of freedom and fulfillment and obtaining those by yourself. She clung to that like a drowning man clinging to a buoy in a storm.
"Go. Away", she said in a firm voice. "You aren't Maginot, and you are nothing but lies."
|
|
|
Post by Διμι on Nov 4, 2010 18:44:16 GMT -5
Your weakness compels you to deny yourself. the voice thundered. The poison you speak of runs down your very veins and the falsehood constitutes your pathetic illusory reality. Your predilection for your human coexistants will be your own demise. Can you not see them plotting against you now - scouring the world to degrade and annihilate you and turn your remains into their own playthings? And you've seen the evil yourself, oh yes, I know. And it knows too...
The image of a small girl, a murderous glint in her eyes and an Arctic Warfare rifle strapped to her back, flashed through Sokol's pathways down to Adder's own consciousness.
The Monolithian's personality seemed to be completely repressed, and his mind strained even further now by the torrential flow of influence that streamed through him from the depths of the Nuclear Power Plant many kilometers away. He was an antenna, and although he was far away from his target, his power was still as great as his still functional mental essence allowed.
I can see your fear of her, and so can she, what's more, she can use it. But what is there to fear of the filth and pathetic state of her human condition? The voice whispered now soothingly to Adder before taking a jagged turn into hissing malevolence.
You've seen the limits of mortal treachery, it whispered as the image of a frantic Ferret in the company of Meph and Balalaika in the company slowly sank in, and the weak will murder you for your compassion as soon as your back is turned and they are pinned to the wall... Free yourself of human sins and obliterate the corrupt alongside me. The voice trailed off slowly.
Or defy me! it challenged finally, continue your course into self-deceit and annihilation and see how true your perceived falsehoods really are!
Sokol collapsed to the ground, exhausted. The entity seemed to retract and the bridge between the two individuals' minds collapsed as the Monolith's final words rang in Adder's head.
Slowly, the Monolithian's vessel rose to his feet. Like the pull of a hyper-magnetized plate on a block of iron, the woman would slowly fall within his lethal radius, drawn closer and closer until her mind was obliterated by the monster that spoke within him.
|
|
|
Post by Basil on Nov 4, 2010 19:23:30 GMT -5
The last words resonated in her head and the invisible link between Adder and the Monolith collapsed. Adder remained silent for a moment, having fallen to her knees during the terrible exchange, her eyes lost in the distance and with the same glassy sheen of those of a stuffed animal.
And then the words uttered by the Monolith struck home.
Images and feelings flashed through her mind. Violence, suspicion, hatred and alienation. The world before her faltered and disappeared, replaced by scenes buried in the very depths of her subconscious...
...a tall woman with dark red hair tied into a bun and venomous green eyes stood over Adder, her face set into a sour and unforgiving expression, made all the more frightening by the bruise marring her forehead. The woman bore a striking resemblance to Adder, and she was holding a green ribbon in her hand.
"Stupid girl, who gave you this?", snapped the woman. A tear of shame and fear rolled down Adder's cheek as she directed her gaze to the floor. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, you little sow!"
Adder forced herself to look upwards. The woman's hand had tightened, crushing the ribbon in an iron grip. Adder had been struck by those hands before and knew the pain they could bring.
"-Anya Malenkov gave it to me...", she said in a tiny voice. Her mother's face retained its hard expression, but it seemed like a mere mask behind which squirmed horrible anger. "She said it would look nice in my hair..."
"-I will not have my daughter look like a whore", said the woman coldly. "Anya Malenkov's mother is a whore, and so is her daughter. I will not tolerate having you become any worse than you already are, with your stupid drunk father spoiling you rotten."
"-I'm sorry mummy...I really am", said Adder, tears running more freely now, her voice a desperate plea.
"-Fucking brat", muttered the woman before throwing the ribbon into the stove that sat in the corner...
...Adder was weeping. The Monolith's words were now becoming mixed with those of her mother, and her mind was spiralling away. The growing suspicion towards other people which had finally turned into an obsessive fear which had plagued her from the end of her teenage years and all the way into adulthood...
"Why? Whyyy?", she cried. "What did I do to you, mother? What?!! Why does everybody hate me???!!!"
Adder was now a crying wreck. The Monolith's insidious presence had torn all her old wounds open to let them bleed freely and had pushed her mind into the diseased corners she had done her best to avoid in the past few weeks.
"Why...why am I so alone?"
But she was not alone. She had Maginot, a pillar of stability and kindness she could rely on whenever she needed...
But then, why had he sent her North?
If he really did care for her, why did he refuse her advances?
He's sent you North on a suicide mission, said a snide voice she had not heard in weeks. Her paranoia was taking over again in full force. He doesn't give a shit about you, all he wants is to have you die so he can continue his little routine as leader of Freedom. You're just a weight on his shoulders, a hindrance, a worthless bitch not even good for a fuck...he lied to you, and has always lied to you, right from the very beginning...
"Like everyone else..."
Yes. Like everyone else.
Adder had stopped crying. She knew what she had to do now.
|
|
|
Post by blackpapermoon on Nov 4, 2010 20:28:43 GMT -5
Ferret watched as Adder disappeared into the trees, something was wrong. Even he understood in his short time of knowing the red haired women she was not exactly what one would call a stable individual, and tried not to spark one of her paranoia episodes. But yet her behavior was strange even for her.
Despite his better judgement, he crept away from the group and followed her into the woods. He kept to the shadows of the small mutated grove and watched her from a far but was close enough to hear and see every thing she did. At first he had thought that he had lost her mind and was talking to her self or more rather the voice in her head, but when he heard her utter the word Monolith he knew he was way over his head. When he first heard story of the Monolith’s power he thought it to be nothing more then some scary camp fire stories that the veteran stalker told the rookies just to mess with them. But after coming face to face with some Monolithians during an attack on the northerner outpost he found that those stories where true. The Monolith was not a power to be messed with.
“Fight it Adder,” he whispered, “come on fight it Adder.”
He continued to cheer quietly from his hiding place as trying to go up to her right now would be suicide. Once it was over he slowly went over to her.
“Adder,” he said cautiously, “ are you ok…why did the Monolith come to you like that... boss?”
Yet something was wrong, he didn't like the way she was looking at him. He knew that it was a bad idea to have followed her.
|
|
|
Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on Nov 4, 2010 21:49:07 GMT -5
Sigbrand took up his position in the center of the circle with the other Duty marksman.
"Eyes open." He muttered.
The group moved slowly forward, brush rustled on the side of the road and the occasional snarl was heard.
"I don't think they're going to attack." One of the men whispered.
Suddenly, a shaggy gray mass flung itself from the side of the road and slammed into Sigbrand. Before he hit the ground, he already had a hand on his knife and before the beast could react he had drawn the blade and slashed wildly at the creature's face and rolled away, kicking the creature off of him.
Gunfire from the rest of the squad rang out as Sigbrand pushed himself back up and retrieved his rifle from the ground. met with More snarls came out from the bushes as well, and were met this time with a hail of bullets from the Duty squad. The hidden Pseudodogs scampered away with whines and surprised barks.
"Knowing Pseudodogs." Sigbrand said, "They'll be gone for a while, but we'd better get moving before they decided to come back."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emerging from the forest near the river, the sounds of gunfire from the north immediately diverted Tarasov's attention from the trench coat clad stalker. Several figures clad in green were attempting to fight of a pseudogiant near a massive field of gravitational anomalies.
The ex-captain tensed. He would deal with Freedom later, but he would make them pay for their mistakes.
Turning back around, he saw he had lost track of the trench-coated figure. Hurrying forward, he discovered a small dock with a few small boats roped to it, one of which was gliding smoothly down the river. Walking down onto the dock, Tarasov carefully climbed into one of the small rowboats and cut the cord holding it to the dock. Taking the one intact oar, he pushed off and began to paddle down the river. Staying to the other side of the river from the Freedomers, he kept his pace slow, so that he could simultaneously watch the squad and the distant outline of the other boat.
|
|
|
Post by Διμι on Nov 4, 2010 22:43:19 GMT -5
Squinting slightly through the murky fog as he lifted himself from the floor of the boat, Dober caught sight of a single figure in one of the remaining rowboats that was slowly sailing after him. The hazy outline of the man's profile suggested heavy armor - likely a SKAT or BULAT suit.
Dober pondered for several seconds. The man was certainly not a Freedomer - most likely a mercenary, possibly a military operative, or perhaps even a loner. Neither of the alternatives appealed much to the bandit, who had until this point been contemplating a journey north alone if anything. Now it appeared that he had at least two parties in hot pursuit, one of them with a similar means of transportation.
Shooting was useless, he decided. Even if he managed to breach the other boat's hull with his gunfire, his pursuer would have plenty of time to do the same before he sank into a watery hell. The prospect of having to swim didn't hold much temptation either.
Dober sank back to the bottom of the boat and out of sight. He doubted that the stalker following him had seen his head rise over the boat's stern due to the thick fog. Hopefully, the bandit thought, he would lose the pursuer before he would have to disembark.
He glanced at his belt. Hanging from it were a total of four flashes. Even with two, he could fully expect to outrun the man following him on land even if the latter were an Olympic runner. Dober knew full well the secondary use of the glowing orbs, and was fully prepared to sacrifice one to throw off and blind any pursuit if necessary.
Moving his body into a more comfortable position at the bottom of the rowboat, Dober forced himself to relax. These were all groundless apprehensions, he reassured himself. Any minute now, the man following him would lose track of the small craft. And even if he didn't, whatever awaited the bandit in the northern territories was no doubt a much more grave concern.
|
|