|
Post by Karcentric on Nov 5, 2010 5:21:43 GMT -5
"Agreed, let's move." Rurik said looking around carefully before walking along the road.
Shots echoed from somewhere else in the forest and a faint roar. "Sounds like someone is dealing more mutants, seems like this is going to be one hell of trip if he keep running into mutants every fifty metres we travel." Rurik said quietly as they continued their pursuit of the freedom squad.
Consulting his PDA's map and an old map of the area Rurik plotted the course they would take, when the sound of dogs came from all directions again. "Fucking mutts." Rurik said before they could form a circle the dogs emerged from all directions.
The first dog sprinted out from the undergrowth and threw it's self at Rurik who managed to swing his gun around and fired a burst of 7.62 rounds into the dog's head and ripping the corpse to shred, firing from all direction as the Dutiers dealt with the pack of dogs. two more dogs leaped at Rurik, one managed to latch on to his left arm chewing at the heavily reinforced armor, while the other jumped snapping at his neck but never found it's target, dropping his PKM he swiped at the dog in mid flight breaking several of the dogs ribs upon impact. Drawing his USP he pressed it against the dog that was still gnawing at the armored elbow and fired blowing it's brains out and dropping heavily to the ground. Turning check the group he saw that one man had gone down with several bites to his calf region and a gaping wound in his neck.
Shooting the blind dog which was still chewing at the young soldier, the rest of the squad had managed to survive with little more than a couple scratches or wounds which could be healed easily.
With the dogs dealt with Rurik knelt down next to the dead soldier. It was clear the man was dead. Closing the man's eyes Rurik stood and sighed before speaking, "Ruin his armor and weapons, take whatever supplies you need from his pack and destroy the rest."
After the young man had been buried quickly the squad moved quicker hoping to avoid anymore delays and catch the Freedom squad.
|
|
|
Post by Basil on Nov 5, 2010 6:01:14 GMT -5
Adder glared at Ferret as he emerged from the bushes. So the scheming little bastard had been eavesdropping on her, not the best way to get into her good books.
"Nothing", she snapped. "Now go rejoin the rest of the squad. We're moving on."
As Adder emerged from the undergrowth and rejoined the squad, she saw their looks on their face, and her paranoid mind interpreted them as looks of suspicion and hatred. The Monolith's words seemed truer with every minute she spent alongside these people: nobody was trustworthy, and they all wanted her dead.
In fact, maybe a few of them were in league with the girl. The girl, or Balalaika as she was also known, was Adder's most determined and fearful enemy. How could she not have convinced some of the people of Freedom to help her kill the Commandant?
As they walked she glanced suspiciously at Ferret. The ex-bandit was a likely pretender for the position of Commandant. Maybe he, Maginot and Balalaika had mounted a cabal against her, and planned to put Ferret in her place once she was dead. Her head would be brought to Balalaika on a platter, Ferret would become Commandant and Maginot would resume his business as leader. Maybe Balalaika had seduced Maginot in order to strike up such a deal, or maybe the two had always been together...the little psychotic bitch wasn't ugly after all, far from it. She'd be quite a looker if it weren't for those burns she'd received.
In fact, the Asian assassin had probably been hired by Maginot.
She had to get rid of Ferret. He'd probably try to stop her from doing what she intended to do now. Thankfully for Adder's paranoid mind, an opportunity soon arose in the form of another anomalous area. Here, many burner anomalies had formed, scorching the trees and the floor and turning the place into a blackened plain of ashes. Adder observed the anomalous area for a while before turning to Ferret.
"Ferret, you go first."
|
|
|
Post by blackpapermoon on Nov 5, 2010 15:10:22 GMT -5
Ferret followed Adder back to where the rest of the freedom expedition was. He felt a chill go down his spine each time she glanced at him. Normally he was not a paranoid person but the way the commandant was glaring at him disturbed him greatly. It was like she wanted him dead. Whatever the monolith had done, it really messed up her head. He had to get in contact with Maginot; the freedom leader had to know of some way to help her. All Ferret had to do was find a time where Adder's snake like eyes where not watching him. Time passed and the expedition was still making its way north, and Adder had not taken her eyes off of the Ex- Bandit. The group now stood before a vast field of burner anomalies. Ever since the fire in the old apartment complex that claimed the life of his mother, Ferret had a great fear of fire. He prayed that he would not be the first to enter that hellhole.
" Ferret, you go first," said Adder
The Ex- Bandit at the looked at his leader like a field mouse that had found itself the between a hungry snake and a mousetrap. He had no choice but to enter the anomaly, it was a direct order from Adder he could not disobey.
He reluctantly picked up a and hand full of pebbles and tossed one into the anomaly, a jet of flame shot out of the earth. With a shaking hand he tried again, only this time no fire spouted out of the brunt ground. He was sweating buckets form the heat and fear, but he continued onward. There came a point where he was in the center of the field and all he could hear was the sound of the hot jets of fire around him and his steadily increasing heart rate. He had to get out of the field before he went in to cardiac arrest, he tried his best to stay calm as he continued to navigate his way through the fiery abnormality. However just as he was a few paces away from the end of the field he had no more small rocks. Taking a few deep breaths he ran the rest of the way, setting off one of the jet but has passed it before it could do him any damage.
"Come on it's safe," he called back to the others after taking a few moments to slow as heart rate and had his breath.
|
|
|
Post by Basil on Nov 5, 2010 17:10:21 GMT -5
Lucky bastard.
Adder followed the path Ferret had taken between the burner anomalies, the rest of the squad following her closely. Ferret had obviously been shaken by his trip through the anomalous area, but he had crossed it safely and had not come to harm.
A part of Adder's mind briefly questioned the assumption that Maginot and Ferret were actually plotting against her. After all, Maginot had saved her back in Pripyat and had done his best to help her overcome her paranoia.
But had he really?
Maginot had shot her in the shoulder. Maybe he had really been trying to kill her, to stop her from finally uniting with the Monolith. The Monolith was the key to freedom and power...
No. No it wasn't. The Monolith had lied to her. It wanted to enslave her and turn her into a brainless zombie like those deluded Monolith fanatics.
She needed Maginot, but Mag was back at the warehouses. He was too weak to accompany the team North, and she was the one he trusted most for the accomplishment of such a task...
What was she to think?
What?
Adder snapped out of her reverie and saw that they had left the anomalous area behind them. The trees seemed to be thinning now, and not from the action of anomalies. They were actually leaving the Red Forest. As they walked up a hill, Adder got a good view of the area around them. The abandoned and sinister apartment blocks of Pripyat were visible in the distance to the East, and in front of them was the outline of an enormous industrial building of sorts.
The Commandant reached for her PDA and looked at the map. They were now in completely unknown territory. Adder glanced suspiciously at Ferret, conflicting thoughts and emotions clashing within her. Could she trust the Monolith after all? Were those around her really plotting to destroy her? She found herself wishing for some reassuring words from Mag.
Maginot wants you gone.
Adder blinked and shook her head slightly. She felt like she had been on autopilot ever since they had crossed the burner field, as her mind was far too engaged in its conflicting thoughts to register what was happening round her. She realised this could get her killed, so she shoved her thoughts away for a moment and focused on the present and the task at hand.
"Okay", she said. "We'll go over to those concrete basins over there, next to the factory, and we'll have a quick break."
|
|
|
Post by blackpapermoon on Nov 5, 2010 18:37:24 GMT -5
They where finally exiting the Red Forest and Ferret was slowly shaking off his encounter with the Burner anomalies. Looking to the east he could see parts of the Pripyat skyline, the site filled his mind of the happier times in his life, before the accident when both of his parents where still alive and his mother hadn't taken to drinking. However he also knew that the city was dead and transformed into something dark and sinister. A haven for some of the nastier things the zone held.
As they walked he could still feel Adder's piercing eyes upon him, but this time it was different it was like she was battling herself over something. Was the Monolith still in her head or was she still getting over the encounter?
When she called a break, he felt it was now a good time to see if he could talk to her. After all what was the worst thing she could do to him? Shoot him, it would be the first time he got shot.
"Adder," he said, " I need to talk with you…privately."
Once they where out of ear shot from the others he continued.
"I saw what happened with the Monolith, Look what ever it wants from you, what ever it tells you is wrong. Don't believe it …I know you don't trust me but believe me, I don't want to harm you…if it was not for you and Mag, my bones would have been picked clean by now…I have no reason to betray you or Freedom."
|
|
|
Post by Διμι on Nov 5, 2010 23:14:31 GMT -5
She was drawing near... Very very near...
Sokol's psychic perception was slowly returning along with strength. The confrontation between the force roiling within him and the crippled mind of the Freedom Commandant had exhausted him as a medium, but now he felt his mind expand once more to grasp the region around him in its impenetrable hold and all-seeing gaze.
Soon his merciless grip would close once more on the steadfast will of the woman. He was no longer sure his own will was in any way his own anymore, and that he existed for anything other than the alien presence that now seemed to control and eat him away from the inside. But he relished the power and feeling of control that seemed to course through every centimeter of his body. He felt the urge to corrupt, to spread and take hold and eradicate every shred of whatever attempted to resist, and he lived for it.
The Freedomer's repressed memories were now no more than infinitesimal instincts, flaring occasionally in the torrential ocean that filled him, streaming through the crystal still buried in his chest. The real Sokol perhaps still existed, his true, inherent self proving impossible to eradicate.
But now, the all-consuming voice the reach of which spanned almost the entire Zone ruled.
He had now reached and climbed the port cranes, and was sitting calmly atop one, the highest point in the Great Marsh. His rifle was lying idly by his side, still fully loaded. Rusting hulks of what used to be proud Soviet barges now littered the landscape around him, some had been pulled down into the swamps, others had been reduced to destroyed carcasses by the elements.
The Monolithian's eye caught a lone bloodsucker slowly picking its way through the marsh, then another, and another, all cloaked but even their primitive minds not hidden from the all-seeing gaze.
The place was a deathtrap, and those not chosen by the omnipotent force that reigned over the uninhabited Zone, would all meet their ends here, Sokol thought, staring calmly at the murderous predator.
The bloodsucker shook its head in alarm and confusion, as if trying to drive away an angry fly. The Monolithian averted his gaze and the monster loped off into the distance, relieved of the unrecognizable pressure that had momentarily entered its brain.
Sufficiently rested, Sokol slowly extended another tendril into the tainted mind of Adder. The mutation had twisted her brain pathways into perfect receptors for the signal, and Sokol felt the task of sliding in even easier now, for she drew nearer than ever. He could feel the minds of the entire Freedom force, their desires, their weaknesses and fears, concentrated around their Commandant. The team had entered the boundary of the Monolith's psy-Zone, extended by its new vessel. There was no escaping now.
Sokol pushed harder, and the psychic knot he had woven around Adder exploded, more tendrils stretching into the minds of every single Freedomer around her. Sokol had not the power to influence them all, but he could certainly see...
I saw what happened with the Monolith, Look what ever it wants from you, what ever it tells you is wrong. Don't believe it …I know you don't trust me but believe me, I don't want to harm you…if it was not for you and Mag, my bones would have been picked clean by now…I have no reason to betray you or Freedom.
The thoughts flashed through along with the words. There was sincerity to them. Sokol dug deeper, stretching his hands through the man's psyche.
Weakness. Insecurity. An infinite desire to survive by any means necessary. A frayed nervous state all arising from a good heart subjected to inordinate amounts of sorrow and suffering. And at the same time, good will inspired purely through fear for one's own condition. Sokol could see it all.
He could feel Adder's mind wavering, insecure as well, attempting to settle on her trust of those beside her. It was time to strike, before her mind reached a turning point. The psychic tendrils retracted from the team of Freedomers, carrying the fragments of their own psyches with it, to converge on Adder once more.
Yes, of course. The voice permeated her mind once more. Why not put your trust in the creature whose bones would have picked clean by the Zone's natural selection long before he even met you? Someone who has been allowed to live through the grace of better men. Better men that have lived for nothing but the despicable purpose of destroying you. The image of Meph shooting the bloodsucker through the head just as it leaned over Ferret, cowering on the ground, and the assassin patching up the greasy-haired man as he lay bleeding out on the ground, all of these scenes, gathered and transcripted straight from Ferret's brain, entered Adder's overwhelming her senses. "Fuck," Meph's horrified words rang out "we're really going to have to find someone that can get those three slugs out of you in short order. What the hell were you thinking?!"
Then Ferret's voice echoed, completely devoid of emotion and compassion or loyalty "His name is Meph, works for the Mafiya, don't know who his boss is, just that who ever he is he's got a lot of power and wealth." there was no regard for anything that the grey-clad Asian had ever done in that hurried, nervous revelation.
Think! the voice returned, Would he not leave you for the next best man on earth who could guarantee his survival as soon as you were in a tight spot? Don't you see now? His abhorrent self-servitude will become the end of you!
Free yourself from your earthly imperfections of men like him! Embrace the single truth and live for it! Destroy everything that stands in your way between you and your destiny!
So pressed on Sokol, the words now infinitely more subtle, interweaving in intonation. The Monolithian's exertion would increase exponentially as the distance grew shorter.
Adder's will would not be much longer...
|
|
|
Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on Nov 6, 2010 0:19:17 GMT -5
After a while more of walking, the smell of open sewage and swamp filled Sigbrand's nose.
"We must be getting near the river." He said.
Sure enough, they reached the slope down to the dirty river within minutes. The area before them was filled with anomaly fields.
"Well." Sigbrand said, "I guess we can either try to go straight through them. Or we could try to find a way around these anomalies."
"What do you think, sir?" He asked Rurik.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The small boat came to a grinding halt. It had run aground. Jumping out of the boat and climbing out of the riverbed. Tarasov saw an unfamiliar landscape before him. A huge expanse of land stretched out before him. A factory or complex of sorts was nearby and the land continued to reach outwards past his vision.
"So this is the North." he muttered.
Walking quickly down towards the buildings, Tarasov caught sight of the Freedom group. They were checking out the area and some were sitting down and removing food and drink from their packs.
Moving quickly off to one side, Tarasov moved around the Freedom group and found himself behind and to the left of them, concealed by a few overgrown bushes.
Two of the Freedomers had broken off from the group and had moved closer to Tarasov. He could only catch snippets of their conversation, but when one of them, a woman he recognized from the fight with the Monolithians, drew nearer. He felt almost as if a pressure was being placed on his head. His ears buzzed, and he shook his head slightly in an attempt to rid himself of the sensation.
|
|
|
Post by Διμι on Nov 6, 2010 1:11:00 GMT -5
After half an hour more of drifting, the fog finally began to clear. Dober rose slightly from his position and glanced behind him. The second boat was gone - his pursuer had no doubt been lost in the fog and carried down another creek where he had run aground.
Still no guarantee that he wouldn't be found, the bandit thought, but at least he could disembark without being spotted immediately.
A huge outline of a partially destroyed bridge slowly appeared in the distance as the fog was blown away completely. The sun shone as the boat slowly sailed in the small harbor bordered by reeds. Dober had at last reached the swamps.
The place looked primeval, untouched by humanity since its abandonment. Dober gently rowed the boat to the shore underneath the bridge and pulled the craft onto dry land so it wouldn't drift away before examining his surroundings.
He was in a wide valley. The marshes spread out before him, rusted hulls of ships dotting the expanse. A huge factory stood atop the hill to his left, a waste disposal plant judging by the massive effusion channel. He was the first to step foot in this land following the destruction of the Scorcher, and he was at last completely alone.
Dober checked his PDA. Both the signal from the bandit base and the map of the area proved, unsurprisingly, inconclusive. Slightly dismayed, he began a climb to the top of the hill to get a better view of the area from atop the bridge.
Yet despite the complete lack of life and the bright sun shining overhead, illuminating the land before him, some part of the bandit still couldn't shake the feeling that he was not alone.
|
|
|
Post by Basil on Nov 6, 2010 5:30:32 GMT -5
Adder remained utterly silent for a while, her mind torn between the Monolith's psychic whispering and Ferret's pleading. She blinked and a small trickle of blood came out of one her nostrils, a small vessel having burst from the sheer stress her body was being put through. She let the blood trickle freely for a moment, seemingly unable to notice anything around her, before finally raising a hand and wiping it away.
The Monolith had revealed new things to her during this brief but harrowing contact. Ferret was a parasite, feeding off the strength of better men and women in order to survive. He had latched onto Penumbra like a leech, probably getting someone else to kill the Chimera he had been tasked with hunting in order to gain admittance and even mutilating himself to lend veracity to his tale. Adder's green and reptilian eyes looked at him with a mixture of hatred and despisal.
"You...you're a parasite", she hissed.
Before Ferret could react, Adder struck with the speed of an angry snake. She punched him in the face and then kneed him in the stomach before kicking his feet from under him, sending him sprawling. With that done, Adder ran. She could have shot him, but something had prevented her from doing so. She wanted to get away from them now, she wanted to go North and do what she had intended to do earlier: find the Monolith. She ran past an abandoned ventilation complex before turning right down a road that lead North, running alongside an old railway track. Some time later, she arrived at and abandoned railway station with the name "Yanov" written above the entrance. Exhausted from her earlier bout of sprinting, Adder pushed the double doors open and entered the building.
There was a waiting room of sorts and a counter near one of the doors. Small side rooms were also present on the left and right sides. The floor was coated with a thick layer of dust that seemed to have only been disturbed by the feet of mutants. Adder was the first human to enter this place in a decade.
The Commandant sat down on the floor and put her hands to her face. What had she done? She had disobeyed Maginot's orders and punched a member of Penumbra in the face, barely stopping herself from shooting him. And now, what would she do?
Go to the Monolith.
The insane thought was still there. Had it been planted there by the Monolith or was it her own conclusion? Adder could not tell as she stood up and left the station before heading North again.
|
|
|
Post by Karcentric on Nov 6, 2010 13:28:29 GMT -5
"Well." Sigbrand said, "I guess we can either try to go straight through them. Or we could try to find a way around these anomalies."
"What do you think, sir?" He asked Rurik.
Studying the anomalies patterns and the distortions left by the anomalies Rurik replied. "I feel we can make through them they aren't clustered together so we can go amongst them without any trouble, just keep some anti rad close-by that water is probably heavily irradiated."
Walking carefully down and picking his way around the anomalies Rurik eventually emerged on the other side of the river unharmed. One by one the other members of the group all made.
"Excellent work." Rurik commented, "I'd say this will cut a considerable amount of time from our trip, let's see if we can't close the distance between us and those Freedomers now."
They continued their march north, keeping an eye out for any mutants or stalkers.
|
|
|
Post by blackpapermoon on Nov 6, 2010 15:35:47 GMT -5
Ferret slowly picked him self up as the other Freedomers ran over to see what happened. Adder hadn't hurt him to badly, save for some bruising on his face and abdomen, but it was enough of a shock to keep him on the ground for a few moments.
"Yo dude you ok," asked one of the Freedomers as the Ex-Bandit got back to his feet. "I'm fine, what direction did Adder run?" said Ferret now back on his feet, he still felt a strange pressure in his head like a slight migraine but other wise thought nothing of it.
"North, why what's going on?"
"Shit…You guys go on with the expedition…I'm going to try and find the commandant."
Before anyone else could say any thing he was gone, running to the north trying to catch up with Adder. So long as he was breathing he was not going to let Adder join the Monolith, he owed her at least that much. During his time in Freedom he had be come much stronger in more ways then one, joining Penumbra only helped. He was not the weak pathetic Rookie he once was not all that long ago, he just needed the right environment to thrive in. Freedom had given that to him and did not use him or treat him like he was a pawn, and it was for that he held nothing but relentless loyalty for the faction and the people with in it.
'The Monolith or what ever the hell it is, is shitting itself if it thinks that I'm just going to roll over and let it win without a fight," thought Ferret as he continued to run, he was going to make sure he became a thorn it's side. He passed the old Yanov station hoping that he was on the right track. After a few more minutes of running he saw the figure of a woman in green a head of him.
"Adder," he yelled speeding up to catch up with her, "stop…don't go… it's a trap…it only wants to use you.”
|
|
|
Post by Διμι on Nov 6, 2010 16:17:02 GMT -5
Sokol's features twisted into a sly smile as he felt the anger and vicious instinct swell within Adder like a hateful tsunami, battering the remnants of her sanity. The smile did not last long, however, as he witnessed the ex-bandit's resolve at thwarting his efforts. An ugly frown now bent the tall Monolithian's face.
He quickly withdrew his presence from the Freedomers' minds before slamming his fist down on the steel surface of the crane top he sat on. He felt the presence within him boil with the same anger, burning within his chest. The crystal momentarily flashed with an impossibly bright light. A wave of rage seemed to surge through the air around him. A flock of crows rose from the forest in the distance with a flutter of black wings and set course north, away from the swamps, evidently disturbed by the psychic outburst. The mutants on the ground began to panic, diving into their lairs and underground alcoves in anticipation of something terrible.
A colossal crack of thunder pierced the clear morning sky. A giant black cloud seemed to float over the Monolithian's head, steadily floating south towards the Jupiter factory territories, blanketing the sky in darkness as lightning flashes threw haunting shadows from the objects they momentarily illuminated. In minutes, an inferno would be unleashed over the north that would stir even the most vicious creatures from rest and force them to cower in their safest havens.
The sky seemed to split in two as a massive lightning bolt flared across it. The blue heavens instantly went dim before turning a malevolent reddish hue. And Sokol knew that deep within the confines of the Chernobyl NPP the Monolith's wrath knew no bounds, that it would now bring down the entire might of the Zone onto the vestiges of Adder's rational mind in the blowout that was about to ensue.
Not wishing to feel the wrath of his host descend upon him, the Monolithian vessel quickly climbed down the crane scaffold and entered the small shack next to it. His mind still roiling in his madness, he began to wait for the emission he had summoned to subside.
Standing atop the Preobrazhensky Bridge, Dober witnessed the turmoil that seemed to tear the sky apart to expose a firestorm waiting to erupt. Although blowouts were rare in the southern parts of the Zone where he had hailed from, the bandit knew well enough from his experience that it was time to duck and cover.
He turned and sprinted away, dodging the various gravity pockets that dotted the bridge's crumbling roadway. In the distance Dober could see the the concrete fence surrounding a forestry compound. It would have to suffice, the bandit thought, if his fate wasn't to have his brain fried in the next several minutes.
He sprinted through the gates and into the main building, paying little attention to what was happening around him. Reaching the deepest, darkest room, he ran in and slammed the metal door closed behind him.
Several seconds later, he felt the ground rumble.
|
|
|
Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on Nov 6, 2010 21:40:25 GMT -5
The sky above Tarasov tore open. Red light poured down from the heavens and a rumble echoed out from the south. Jumping up from his place behind the bushes he shouted at the Freedomers, "You might want to follow me if you want to survive!"
The Freedom stalkers, already dazed by their commandant's mental breakdown and the sudden arrival of what would doubtlessly be an extremely powerful emission, they followed Tarasov into the factory complex.
Tarasov sprinted past building after building, looking for adequate shelter as the ground beneath him began to rumble. Then he saw it, a small garage building with a sliding metal door that could easily be closed.
Running into the garage, he slid the metal door shut and slammed its lock into place.
The Freedomers outside pounded on the door with their rifles, shouting with panic. Red light glowed brightly through the cracks in the door and the ground began to shake violently. The rumbling intensified and the panicked shouts became screams of terror.
As the wrath of the zone tore about him, Tarasov laughed.
---------------------------------------------------
A red glow pulsed from the northwest and faint rumbles met the ears of the Dutiers as the continued northwards. A sizable emission was raging somewhere near their destination.
"Well that won't make getting over there any easier." Sigbrand said.
|
|
|
Post by Basil on Nov 7, 2010 12:09:31 GMT -5
"Fuck!", hissed Adder as she heard Ferret call her. The leech was probably intent on killing her, and she would not make it easy for him.
She ran towards an abandoned station, which was little more than a small concrete construction with a platform, a shelter for rainy days an a lavatory round the back. Once there, she jumped onto the platform and crossed to the other side, dropping behind it and raising her Vintorez.
"You asked for it, scum", she muttered as she took aim at Ferret. Her finger was shaking as she squeezed the trigger and practically emptied her magazine, loosing several highly lethal poisoned bullets at her pursuer.
She was however unable to see if she had hit him, for the sky became suddenly dark, followed by the deafening crash of thunder. Adder blinked in surprise at this sudden occurrence, for there had been no warnings whatsoever regarding a blow-out.
The worst part was that she was out in the open with no apparent shelter, and she could already feel the sickening throb an emission always brought to one's brain. Rubbing her head, she chucked her rifle aside and began to search her rucksack with a fevered hand...she had something in her bag that she had been given back in Yantar, something that the scientists there had said could help her survive an emission...
Her hand closed around the object in question, and she pulled it out, exposing a pack with one, large pill in it. She tore the pill out of its package and stared at it for a moment, her eyes flickering and sweat pouring down her forehead. The pill had never been tested before, so who knew if it would work? It was too late to seek shelter now, so she might as well swallow it.
Adder swallowed the pill, stumbling over backwards. Staying conscious was becoming a lot harder, and the sky was a nightmarish dark purple criss-crossed with terrifying bolts of lightning. The Commandant's tried to reach for her water bottle, as her mouth and throat were dry as a canyon, but found herself completely unable to move, as if she had lost all connection to her limbs. She fell limply onto her side, not even feeling any pain as her elbow and head struck the cracked asphalt, before the world flickered and flashed before her eyes and went completely dark.
|
|
|
Post by blackpapermoon on Nov 7, 2010 14:50:32 GMT -5
Ferret hit the dirt as Adder fired at him, her poisoned bullets just missing the top of his head. The emission was right upon them. He looked up just as Adder took a pill out of her bag and swallowed it before she stumbled and then fell to the ground. Running up to her, he found her in an almost comatose state, however he didn't have much time before the blowout turned him into one of the mindless brain fried Zombies.
Seeing the tower by the abandoned Yanov station, he scooped the unconscience woman up and made a run for it. Once there he kicked open the door and hurried inside the structure, before slamming the door shut and hastily running up the steeps.
At the very top of the tower was a good-sized room; on the end of the room was a metal table and various wooden crates. Laying the commandant on the table, the Ex- Bandit took a seat on one of the crates. His body pained him, he had over exerted it, and he soon found himself dozing off.
When he woke the emission was over but there was something wrong, he could not feel his body. Standing up he looked at his hands…they where transparent. Ferret found himself standing over his own body. He immediately panic, was he dead. Did Adder hit him with one of her bullets? Or did the emission do him in? However he soon noticed that the upper part of his body rose and fell, he was breathing, that meant he had to be alive. It was as if is conscience self was outside his physical self, but how to return?
Just then the former bandit noticed light blue string like tendrils come through the cracks in the tower, he watched them curiously, some of the semi transparent strings seemed to be attracted to him. The tendrils try to attach themselves to his ghostly arm, but Ferret took hold of them. The strings tore easily like spider webs before disappearing in his hands. He looked over to where the Commandant lay, the tendrils look as if they where trying to get into the resting woman's head, but for some reason where unable to enter her mind.
Was this how the Monolith messed with peoples heads? There where more blue strings coming into the tower, the ones that where around the unconsciousness Adder and the new Tendrils changed direction and where now making their way over to him.
"Fuck Off," he said as he tore them away and they too disintegrated into nothingness.
However Ferret's victory was short lived a Tushkano had been crawling over his body looking for food. Finally it bit his hand and Ferret let out a yelp of pain as he was pulled back into his body. Swearing colorfully he grabbed the little monster and tossed it across the room. The small mutant had landed on Adder before scurrying away.
|
|