Stranded in the Zone

[Basil]

"Fuck, the detector's dead", said the pilot. "I knew we should have checked it out before leaving."

Natasha was sitting at the back of the Mi-24 alongside her comrades. In her arms she cradled her impeccably clean and greased AN-94, and on her belt hung her ballistic knife and her Pernach. It was night time in the Zone, and the only noises she could hear was what came through her headset and the thumping of the rotors.

"-The detector's dead?", she asked.

"-Yes ma'am. We're flying blind."

"-Fuck...what of the anomaly map?"

"-It says that the path to the objective is clear, but there was an emission recently, so I doubt the path is still clear."

"-For fuck's sake", said Natasha. "Turn back now, I'm not going to have us all fly into the night and run into a fucking anomaly."

"-Yes ma'am."

The helicopter turned around and prepared to head back to the Agroprom Institute whence it came from. The aircraft flew away from the Dark Valley and back to the Garbage, taking care to keep away from Duty's outpost in the North. Suddenly, the co-pilot spoke:

"-Wait...what the fuck is that?"

"-SHIT, AN ANOMALY, EVASIVE MANOEUV-"

The helicopter was unable to avoid the gravitational anomaly that lay in its path. Its nose went right into it, and the aircraft was promptly torn in half. Natasha's eyes widened and she couldn't help but scream as her men were ripped apart or thrown out of the aircraft. The rotor was utterly destroyed, and the now sectioned helicopter promptly plummeted to the ground. Natasha grabbed hold of a nearby handle and held on to it with the strength of the desperate as the rear half of the helicopter spun down through the sky. She vaguely saw the ruined front part smash into the top of one of the radioactive rubbish heaps of the Garbage before the part she was in brutally landed on an old tree.

Dazed, she lay on her seat for a few moments, letting her blurred vision readjust itself. When it did, she gingerly reached out for her Abakan, which lay on the floor not far from her hand. She picked it up and tried to stand, but the helicopter swayed dangerously and the branches creaked menacingly.

"Oh shit..."

The branches supporting the helicopter snapped, and it crashed to the ground. Thankfully, the tree's branches and the snow on the ground cushioned its fall, and Natasha was not as badly shaken up by the impact. Now on the ground, the spetsnaz climbed out of the helicopter, hoisting herself up through one side amidst the torn bodily remains of her dead comrades. Once out of the helicopter, she hopped down into the snow and reached for her radio. It was broken, so she decided to use her PDA instead.

It was broken too.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck", she swore. She only had one alternative left: the flare gun. She went back into the helicopter and searched for it. After finding it she loaded a flare into it and fired it into the air, hoping that her allies would see it.

But even then it was more likely that bandits, Duty or some other stalker group would see it, not to mention that the crash must have been visible all over the Garbage. In preparation for a possible attack on her position, the spetsnaz checked her Abakan and took cover behind the helicopter's wreckage. She'd never spent much time in the Zone other than in short search and destroy missions in certain areas. She knew of anomalies and mutants, but doubted she would survive long if she had to hike to Agroprom or the Cordon.

[Karcentric]

Rurik who had been sitting at the outpost on one of the crates sitting around the fire keeping warm when he heard the distant rumble of a hind moving towards the Dark Valley, the army obviously intended to deal with the bandits. With a sigh he went back to reading no of the random dispatches that he'd collected only hours earlier.

Minutes later he heard the same rumble as the the helicopter was returning, That was quick, he thought. But before another thought crossed his mind the sound of rending metal and the whoosh of an enormous anomaly, followed by the crash of and several small explosions near the flea market lighting up the night sky.

Standing Rurik saw a flair shoot up into the night sky, "Mark that location, Corporal with me. Let's move quickly, bandits will have seen that flare too. Send a message to base." He ordered picking his PKM the two Dutiers jogged towards where the flare was falling wreckage. "Looks like it fell just beyond the flea market sir. In those trees, the other half is up on top of that hill" The corporal said, as they neared the crash site, scanning the area, no life appeared on their PDA's.

"Is anyone there? This is Lt. Rurik of the Duty faction." Rurik called scanning the wreckage, he was hard pressed to believe anyone had survived such a savage accident.

[Basil]

Footsteps crunching in the dirt. Her flare had obviously attracted someone, but was it the military?

"Is anyone there? This is Lt. Rurik of the Duty faction", called a gruff male voice from the darkness. She waited for a few seconds, remaining utterly silent. Duty. She'd heard of them a few times even though she'd never dealt with them. Renegades from the first expedition into the Zone who were now killing soldiers and shooting helicopters down.

Quietly she felt for her night-vision goggles and put them over her eyes. She switched them on and was amazed they had withstood the crash. The spetsnaz then cautiously looked out from behind the wreckage, remaining out of sight in the darkness. There were two men, one wearing a bulky suit of armour similar to those exoskeletons that kept getting smuggled into the Zone. The one with the exo also had a PKM, leaving her quite out-gunned and in a precarious position.

She would have to use violence as a last resort and try to buy time to plan her escape by trying to negotiate with them.

"I am. Lieutenant Badanova, Spetsnaz GRU, Zone Intervention Unit. I hear Duty kills members of the military, so why should I come out?", she called.

[Karcentric]

"I am. Lieutenant Badanova, Spetsnaz GRU, Zone Intervention Unit. I hear Duty kills members of the military, so why should I come out?", a female voice called out much to his surprise.

"You hear a lot Lieutenant however murdering in cold blood isn't one of Duty's traits, but I take it my word isn't enough to convince you, regardless the fact remains there isn't anywhere safe for you if you try to make it on your own, even with the training you've had. Bandits would of seen that flare as well as lone stalkers, and you know how they feel about military personal?" Rurik replied. He saw slight movement among the wreckage.

"I assume you've come from the Agroprom Military base? You can try walking but in this weather you'd surely get hypothermia and not to mention bandits."

Almost as if on cue voices could be heard in the far distance carrying over the chilling surroundings.

"Sir it appears bandits have come to investigate the crash." The Corporal commented quietly enough so it wouldn't carry, but the other two heard it.

Rurik smiled beneath his mask, "Shale we leave you here Lieutenant, with this fine new company that coming? Can follow if you want, ultimately it's your choice." With a nod to the other Dutier they both walked back towards the outpost without looking back to see if the solider had followed.

[Basil]

Bandits. Just what she needed. Walking to Agroprom would be impossible in the snow, and the bandits would probably outnumber her. There seemed to be only one option: to follow the Dutiers. She rose to her feet, her boots sinking into the thick snow and cautiously went around the helicopter's wreckage. The Dutiers were already halfway to the old, ruined building nearby, so she hurried after them and raised her arms in the air.

"I'll come with you then", she called before catching up with the Dutiers. She kept her Abakan slung over her chest and her hands free of weapons and raised to show that she had no hostile intentions. There was, of course, the possibility that she'd be taken prisoner, but she was not in the least bit afraid or worried about that part.

[Zeno, Lord Camelith]

Sigbrand stood propped up against a metal fence. The barrier between Rostok proper and the Garbage lay just ahead of him, the road stretching out between the hills beyond.

This endless inactivity was driving him mad. He could feel his strength returning little by little every day, but at the moment even basic tasks could leave him exhausted.

"Don't worry about it." Colonel Potrenko had told him, "You got pretty fucked up in Pripyat. It'll take you a while to recover, but you'll do it."

Until then, he was stuck wandering around Rostok in the snow or sitting on his bunk in the barracks. Life was dull.

[Karcentric]

Looking back Rurik saw Natasha catching up to them with her hands held up, waiting as she caught up, " A wise decision. You can relax, but tell me what were you doing heading to the Dark Valley, and why did you turn back?" he asked curiously.

The voices of the bandits were much clearer now, there was at least 8 of them easily visible with their headlamps illuminating the area, one stumbled or was pushed by another judging by the wild manner that one of the lights was moving, or possibly drunk. The corporal looked back, "Was there anything of military value left or salvageable left?" He asked

"Did you want to deal with them?" Rurik asked looking to Natasha, watching as the bandits began chucking scrap metal and debris out from the crash site and digging through the wreckage

[Basil]

"Just a routine search and destroy operation, lieutenant. Our helicopter's anomaly detector ceased to function so I ordered an immediate return to the Agroprom Institute."

She looked back at the helicopter. The headlights of several bandits were visible, and it was quite obvious that they were busy looting whatever stuff they could get from the wrecked aircraft.

"Well, we had a Pecheneg machine-gun, brand new, and we all had AN-94 rifles and one of us had an SVU...oh, there it is."

A blood caked rifle was barely visible a couple of metres away, its barrel sticking out of the snow. It had obviously been thrown out of the helicopter by the anomaly. Surprisingly, a few more metres away was the Pecheneg, still attached to its user's severed arm.

"And there's the Pecheneg", said Natasha. Her entire team had been butchered, and now she was finding bits and pieces of them in the snow.

What a ghastly night.

[Karcentric]

"I see, interesting," Rurik said, "was it an anomaly that shorted out the scanner?" The last thing the bandits need is machine gun, on closer inspection of the area there was body parts scattered around the area, the sheer force of the anomaly must of been incredibly powerful Rurik thought looking at the area. "Mutants are going to have a field day here tomorrow." He added

The SVU was quite a grotesque scene, whatever was wrapped around the barrel was most certainly from one of the now deceased members of Natasha's team. Picking up part of the gun that was covered in blood the corporal used his knife remove the gory mess and looked down the scope. "Completely scattered, pressure busted all the glass out of it. It feels slightly warped too, I won't try firing with those bandits so close." He said, wiping the barrel clean with a scrap rag.

The Pecheneg had been torn from it's mount and the chain had also whirled off landing else where in the dark. Rurik picked up the Machine gun and uncurled each finger chucking the severed limb away, carrying it over his shoulder as they walked back to the outpost. "You can stay in the carriage if you'd like. There's spare mattresses and blanket in there. Or if you'd prefer to sit out by the fire." He said sitting on a crate checking the machine gun over and cleaning it. "We'll have to get you back to Agroprom." Before he could say another thing several shots echoed throughout the area from where the wreckage was.

"Sounds like they found one of your squad's AN-94s." Rurik said without looking up from the task of cleaning the machine gun.

[blackpapermoon]

Morak followed orders like a good soldier, and stayed at his post when his higher ups went to investigate the crash site. Rurik was a good commander, never sending out men on job or takes he could not do himself. Vadik only wished that the Ukrainian military had more leaders like Duty’s seconded in command, and then maybe they would not be using grunts to plug up the messiest of holes.

“ Rurik sir,” said the young Dutyer “Colonel Potrenko radioed from HQ, a Sergeant by the name Sigbrand Myrvang has woken up. He suggests that you should come and see him.”

[Karcentric]

"Rurik sir," said the young Dutier Morak "Colonel Potrenko radioed from HQ, a Sergeant by the name Sigbrand Myrvang has woken up. He suggests that you should come and see him."

Putting down the disassembled machine gun onto an old, oil covered rag and wrapping it carefully so as to not drop any pieces he walked into the old carriage and placed the bundle on top of the shelf.

"Thank you Morak, I'll be along in a moment." Rurik replied, he wasn't sure whether to bring Natasha or not, it was unlikely that she would want to follow, but he figured he would ask all the same, since it would be slightly more interesting than sitting around in the cold waiting for something to happen.

Exiting the carriage he spied the Spetsnaz member standing looking into the crackling fire, with a slight faraway gaze. "Lieutenant Badanova, I am heading to Rostok, if you wish you may come with me, if you feel like going than by all means, if not I don't blame you if you'd rather turn in and get some sleep." He said.

Since carrying Sigbrand back from Pripyat Rurik had been busy organising Duty, despite feeling some concern for the young man, he'd seen him pull though equally tough experiences in the past. His mind wandered back to that fight, emerging from the shadows and surprising the monolith forces with only 3 men, and finding Sigbrand half dead after being attacked. Absently making his way towards Rostok unaware if he'd been followed or not by Natasha.

[blackpapermoon]

Posted for Basil

"Badanov, not Badanova", said Natasha. "I'm not married."

She'd been observing the Duty outpost with somewhat distant interest. After all, the brutal death of her comrades and the crushing failure of her mission were still fresh in her mind, and she felt weary, even a little sad. However, she still had a sharp eye for anything military, and from what she could see, Duty was well organised. Guns were well looked after, and she even saw several Dutiers equipped with AN-94 rifles, very recent and rather rare gear for a place like the Zone. Maybe Duty had contacts with the armed forces?

She got up with difficulty. She didn't trust the people at the outpost. The Dutiers seemed all right, but there was a group of stalkers sitting around the fire that had noticed her and had been giving her vicious looks. If she slept here, she might get her throat slit in the night, something she wasn't keen on.

And so, the spetsnaz set off after the Lieutenant. The sentries at the gate let her pass, and warned her about anomalies in the way. Natasha had never dealt directly with such things, except maybe a couple of times, but judging from the power one of their airborne cousins had displayed in tearing her helicopter and team apart, caution was the order of the day.

She walked with care after passing the gate. Sure enough, a strange whirling sound reached her ears, and her anomaly detector started to beep. She switched her night-vision goggles on in an attempt to see where the thing (or things) was, but to no avail.

"How the fuck do stalkers deal with this shit?", she said to herself. For the first time in years she felt stupid and helpless, like a child left alone in an unknown and hostile world where none of the familiar rules of life applied. She raked her brains to see if she could remember or devise a way to locate the anomalies and get past safely.

And then, Natasha had an idea. If an anomaly was capable of reacting to a human, blind dog or helicopter, then it could react to an inanimate object like a branch or a stone. She looked down at her feet and soon found several stones, which she threw ahead of her. Two of them hit anomalies and were crushed into dust, while the other one got through safely and landed loudly in a nearby bush.

Muttering a quick prayer, Natasha walked towards the stone. Her body ached as she expected to be snatched up and ripped to pulp by an unseen and undetected anomaly, but despite her apprehension she got through without a scratch.

"I suppose that is how stalkers do things", she said, before resuming her journey to Rostok, chucking a few stones ahead of her whenever her detector began to beep in alarm.

[blackpapermoon]

The young Dutyer followed Rurik back Rostok, his shift had ended and Morak was looking forward to crawling into his bunk in the barkers. The anomalies on the road had not changed their patters in weeks and so he and the other Dutyers could navigate them just by memory along.

He looked back at the crash survivor, she was new the Zone but she has clearly not a grunt like he was during him stent in the Ukrainian armed forces. She was something else entirely, perhaps a high ranking officer or maybe even a Spetsnaz. He had not accompanied the second in command when he went to investigate the crash site.

Whoever this woman was, she was not of his concern, unless he was told otherwise by his superiors. A grunt’s life was an easy life; you did not have to think about things you just did what you were told to. Everything was organized, everything was routine for the most part. All you had to do was follow the orders and procedures that where given to you.

[Karcentric]

Rurik looked back seeing that in fact several people had followed and ahead several more were heading towards the outpost to take their place, it dawned on Rurik that he had barely had any sleep in the last few days.

Waiting for the group to catch up he saw the young lieutenant picking her way through the anomaly field rather hesitantly. Mustn't have much anomaly experience. He thought. A slight breeze began to blow, a layer of loose snow and leave towards Rostok, almost urging him to continue, the forest on one side and the steep ridge on the other always but Rurik at ease, a place he knew well, only the occasional springboard anomaly was on the road.

As the group passed Rurik he nodded to them, letting them continue onwards, watching as they greeted the replacement group who also passed Rurik with the same greetings before moving off to their post. By this time Natasha had caught up to Rurik. Turning and walking along side her.

"Had some fun learning the anomalies I see. They have claimed a lot of lives those ones, stalkers carelessly wander through them and, well you get the picture. During the day it isn't so bad, the distortions they create a slightly visible." He said, before deciding to move off the topic of anomalies quite sure the soldier had had her fill of them for the night.

"So how long have you been operating in the zone?" He asked ahead Rostok loomed ever closer.

[Basil]

"Almost a year", said Natasha. "But as you saw before, I don't have much experience with the Zone's bigger threats. My team's objectives were all about strikes against pre-determined targets, so we didn't see many anomalies or mutants."

As Rostok drew closer, Natasha was able to get a better look at this centre of stalker activity. She'd heard of Rostok back at her base, as it was considered a no-go zone for helicopters and was the home of one of the two most influential and powerful factions in the Zone: Duty. The other one, Freedom, was more elusive since its base lay closer to the Red Forest and the Zone's centre.

Rostok looked like a Soviet era industrial island. She could see the rusting hulks of metal structures as well as brick buildings. As they drew closer, she saw that the inhabitants had dug a trench reinforced with metal spikes. A few rotting dog corpses lay strewn around, some having been shot, others impaled on the metal spikes that jutted aggressively forth. Beyond the trench and its spikes was a checkpoint of sorts where Dutiers patrolled gun in hand next to a small wall of sandbags and an old concrete bunker.

"Interesting little base you have here", said Natasha while taking note of the equipment the Dutiers had in their possession. She saw the same kinds of guns as she had seen at the Garbage checkpoint: Abakans, a few shotguns, even a few OTs-14s. One of the Groza rifles suddenly found itself pointed right at her as one of the sentries guarding the checkpoint challenged her.

"-You! You look like you're from the army! What are you doing here?"

The challenge ended abruptly when the sentry noticed the hulking form of the Lieutenant accompanying Natasha. The Dutier stood to attention and saluted his superior.

"-Permission to know what a member of the Russian military is doing here, sir?", said the Dutier to his superior. Natasha remained silent and kept her face hidden by her Sphere helmet's integrated gas mask, her sharp, cold eyes assessing the situation.