Silently waiting on top of the platform, Khan slowly peered at the bushes about twenty meters from him. Sure, it looked like an ordinary shrub, he nothing extraordinary. But, Khan knew that there was something much more sinister under the shrub; an entrance to a lair of a particularly large and ugly chimera. It has been half a day since he climbed onto the platform, and nothing happened since.
“
It is a nocturnal. It will not peer out until night comes.”
His eyes returned to the shrub again. He thought he saw something moving in the tall grass.
“
A rat. If I shoot it, the monster will not appear unless I drag it out by its legs.”
He rolled back to the other side, somewhat assured that the chimera would not appear until nightfall. He took a pair of old hunting binoculars from a satchel on his suit and examined his surroundings. This was his second trip to Yanov, and the location itself seemed like a heaven for mutants. Some said that the lairs here are literally one atop another. Khan himself could not believe this if he didn’t find a snork lair under a den used by a group of particularly aggressive Izloms. The beasts themselves were not a problem, but he was not hunting them. He was given a task to hunt something which had been randomly attacking stalker camps and brutally massacring the hunters which were led to it. The moment he saw the victims, he knew that he was dealing with a chimera, and a large one at that. One of the surprisingly intact claw marks was about fifty centimeters in diameter and Khan did not like that one bit. The Chimera can be dealt with in a few ways, but the only sure one, the universal one was to shoot it in the head. Or even better, to shoot one of its heads. The suggestion, of course, is to shoot the larger one. Khan’s “Marlin” was suitable for hunting medium game, but a chimera like this was a bit too large for this one, considering its mobility. The only way to kill such a thing with such a gun was to get a clean, precise shot to the thinner, weaker parts of its skull(s). Preferably, the side. He spent the entire morning chasing the tracks down until he pinned the location of the lair. He found a decent vantage point overlooking the hole; a shabby platform extending to a large gas stream pipe.
Suddenly, something interrupted his thoughts. Something peered out of the bushes. Something large, and ugly. He saw the chimera peer its ugly heads out of the lair, but his first instinct was to wait for it to turn its bigger head to him. The bigger head controlled the mobility of the body, and it was natural that he waited for it to turn around. Something, however, was not right. The chimera peered out again, suspiciously turning to the direction of the platform. Since the sun was nearly down, it couldn’t get a good view of the platform, but it knew that there was
someone there and that that someone wanted the chimera dead. Immediately, it jumped out of its hole, charging at the platform.
If Khan could smile, he would be laughing his face off right now, for that dumb chimera did just what he expected it to do. It exposed its larger head, which now stood in Khan’s sights, clean for the picking. His finger flew for the trigger and just before the chimera knew what was going on, it plummeted down to the ground. Immediately, Khan pulled the lever and sent another bullet flying at the chimera’s neck. The monster roared, trying to pull back to the safety of its den. But, it could barely move, since the part of its one brain which controlled the movements was crippled. Another 30.30 flew for the monster’s other ugly head and before it knew, the beast finally collapsed. However, it was not dead. The last thing its eyes saw was a large man swinging a tomahawk, aiming for its face.
With a heavy sigh of relief, Khan took his old skinning knife out and started cutting the thing’s claw off. The bone was especially thick, but he aimed at the joint. After some toil, he was holding a huge, monstrous claw in his hands. He slowly stuffed it into his backpack and kicked the carcass, before turning around and heading for Yanov.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“It will trouble you no longer.”
He tossed the bloody claw in front of him. An elder chimaera finally found its match. Trapper smiled, just before breaking into another cough attack. Khan noticed he was a bit pale, but there was nothing about extremely unusual about him. Trapper finally stopped coughing:
“Sorry, it must be a cold or something. I see you’re still a sharpshooter. Good. These monstrosities need someone to keep their numbers down. Hunters are too far and too between these days. One of these days, I’ll organize a hunt or something. But don’t let that keep you from your mind. You sure you don’t want to stay?”
Khan sighed, rumbling through his pockets:
“Positive. I have some urgent matters to attend to. I would not have been standing here if this monster had not decided to poke its vile head out of its lair. If you want peace, you will have to ensure that these monsters never return to their lair, which is located near the old container storage to the southwest. I am sure that fire should cleanse it. Try to acquire some flammable solution and toss it into the entrances. Prepare to eliminate whatever comes out, because I am sure this monster just gave birth to something. I will be leaving now.”
Khan was just about to leave, but Trapper started laughing:
“Oh, no you don’t! I’m not letting you walk out on me just like that. Here, you’ve earned it.”
He tossed a rifle to Khan. It was an old .405 lever-action Winchester 1895 model.
“Mighty gun. I barely got my hands on it. This thing was used for lion hunting. I don’t know about lions, but I’d figure a chimera is a bit more deadly. Now, are you sure you can’t reconsider my offer? The benefits are…Eh heh heh.”
Khan turned around.
“I am sure.”
__________________________________________________________________________
He was nearing the place where he left Lutiy. Paskal’s house was some walking further. He was exhausted from all the walking and running, since he didn’t have any sleep in days. He would rest at Paskal’s, hoping that the man received his message. Finally he came to the clearing. The sight shocked him. The house was half-destroyed, with a burning anomaly raging through the roof. He approached the house, still wary. He found a nearly illegible note nailed to the door. It read:
To anyone who might read this. My name is Paskal ############ Red Forest######Looking for me, co####### Tell Batukhan to find m######### Left the house, anomalies moving#########
The message ended there. He was relieved to hear that his friend was safe, but he had something else to attend to.
He walked back to the river, where he found a single, shabby boat tied to a rotting, wooden pole. Slowly, he checked the boat, for he wouldn’t want it to shatter in this irradiated water. Slowly, he pushed away from the dock and let himself downstream.
After a while, he ended up exactly where he wanted to; under the old Limansk bridge. Slowly, he tied the little boat to a piece of a sunken barge and jumped over. He headed back to his old tree-shack, where he would spend the night. He needed all the resting he could get.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
"This will be it."
The entrance to the sewers was hardly inconspicuous. He climbed down the manhole, pulling the heavy cover over his head. He sat down, slowly waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark. It had been long since he last went underground, and even longer since he had wanted to come back. For all he knew, the monstrosities could have realized that there was someone who made it out alive.
The dark corridors of the sewers were as damp and stale as ever. His improvised face-mask barely helped him as he descended further into the darkness. Every moment, he would stop to see if he was going the right way, occasionally marking the wall with a fluorescent, yellow stone before proceeding onwards. Under every sign, he started to write:
"STAY BACK IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE"
He had arrived to a place that looked pretty familiar. He stopped to draw another warning, before realizing he was standing in the same spot where he got attacked by a burer. He could still remember the dumb gaze of the monster as it lay limp on the ground in front of him. Nevertheless, he proceeded.
A door lay in front of him. He stopped to draw another sign, only to freeze straight on the spot. He was sure he felt a sudden draught of air and something which sounded like loud hissing. Quickly scribbling over the wall, he heard the hissing again. He pocketed the remaining piece of his makeshift chalk, waiting for a new signal. The tomahawk was ready in case something went wrong. And, as always, it did.
He could not see his attacker for he swiped him off his feet, loudly snarling at his face. Frantically trying to get up, he was struck again as a pipe crumbled off the wall and flew straight for him. The third strike was not that successful as the stalker caught the other pipe flying off the wall. But, this was nothing out of the ordinary, as Khan finally got sight of two fiendish, yellow eyes staring at him with a ferocious gaze.
He caught the arms of the scar-covered beast as it finally revealed its horrible, terrifying shape out from the shadows. He clasped his other arm around the beast's throat as it widened its "tentacles", trying to wrap them over the stalker's head. It was soon becoming a test of strength, seeing as the bloodsucker let go of the man and tried to take the stalker's hand off its throat.
With one quick move, Khan managed to put his hands over the beast's head.
"Foul monster!"
His hands cracked through the monster's skull, leaving a horrible, blood-drenched, blackened shape on the floor. He wiped his hands, leaving what used to be a subterranean bloodsucker alpha mutilated on the floor.
He proceeded through the maze like nothing happened, still stopping occasionally to mark the walls.
"It is here."
He was standing in front of a rusted door. There was a large stone block in front of him, just next to a trapdoor of some sort. He stepped to write the warnings on the door and the stone before venturing further into the darkness.
The place was as chaotic and strangely calm as ever. There was a mysterious presence in the sewers, and Khan was about to find out. He made his way to the central chamber where he and his companion found a living heart on the ground. He could have sworn there were more bodies down there and that some of them had disappeared or moved. The face of the mutilated body that had claw marks was now barely visible.
Khan slowly set down in the middle of the room. There was a strange light in the middle which gave the room an eerier look than usual, since there was no light in the room whatsoever. He laid his equipment next to him and sat down. It looked as if though he was praying.
Just as he started, there was a strange commotion in the room. Even though he felt it, Khan did not stop chanting. Instead, his chants continued, feeling even stronger. The shadows of the underground were back. There was an entire circle of them around Khan, all of them silently standing and staring at him. Khan continued chanting. The spirits slowly advanced towards him. In the end, he opened his eyes and stopped. Just as he did this, the shade plunged itself at him, reaching for his throat.
________________________________________________________________________
"How is he?"
The mercenary guard murmured
"Didn't say a single word yet. Been sitting in bed for two days now. Not sure if he even slept a little. Whenever someone enters the room, it's like he doesn't notice him. Real creepy guy, if you ask me."
Cherkesov frowned; the man knew something, and he was going to find out what.
"Anatoli! Do you know this man?"
The mercenary stepped out of the doorway.
"Yeah, I met him somewhere in the Forest while I was escorting a group. He brought that guy, Burner, back to our group. Thought something happened to the guy afterwards-he just disappeared. Maybe, the scientists could knock out what happened to him.
Cherkesov sat next to the man's bed. The stalker made absolutely no sign that he was aware of the situation.
"Where did the squad find him?"
The guard lowered his gun, leaning against the wall
"Found him wandering around the exit of the sewers."
At the mention of the sewers, the man jumped, startled
"The underground! The spirits…"
_______________________________________________________________________
"Should we really follow this guy, boss?"
The old mercenary darkly responded
"If the base says so. He looks legit."
As they zigzagged through the corridors, the mercenaries couldn't help but feel something in the air. Something menacing.
One of the grunts was lagging behind. Khan stopped, only to see the man pulled back by something in the dark. Rushing to the man's help, he noticed something he was pretty familiar with
"
The third joint from the neck provides the support"
Quickly, he put his hands on the third joint from the neck of the exo-skeleton. The zombie's grip was firm, but its armor had a disadvantage known to few. Without much thinking, Khan twisted the joints. The zombie was slowly being crushed by his own armor.
Finally, there came a "crack!" and the moans stopped. The unfortunate mercenary was mpw lying on the ground, strangled by the same zombie that was now lain over him, his insides all but whole. The exoskeleton itself crushed him.
"Let us waste no more time; the Horrors have been let loose, and we must waste no time. Follow in my footsteps, and do not stray off the path."
The mercenaries followed without question. Finally, they entered the lower levels via the trapdoor.
"This place reeks of death and sorrow. Even the lowliest of creatures stay away from the lower underground. Now, scientist, try out your device."
The scientist, wearing the brand SSP-99 suit stepped out, fiddling with the little gadget.
"Now, mr...Batukhan. I don't see why would you consider this place to be "filled with dark powers" . There is simply no scienti-GOOD LORD, WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL THINGS GOOD DID THAT?"
There was a large blood-stain on the wall, under which lay a pile of flesh and gore. The scientist approached the bloody mass, trying to examine the cause, still shaking.
"Uhh, what is that?"
One of the mercenaries pointed down at the end of the tunnel. Khan realized what the young man was pointing at.
"Shades..."
The mercenaries suddenly felt a gust of wind of some sort. It was not fresh, cool air, but a dark, stale gust which blew through the tunnels. The scientist's gadget went off like crazy. Khan started yelling:
"RETREAT! WE STAND NO CHANCE!"
The scientist turned around, trying to see what disturbed the stalkers but one of the mercenaries pulled him back and he hastily ran off with the group. They managed to reach the trapdoor and when the last man climbed up, Khan slammed the hatch of the door and, with a sudden surge of strength, pushed the block over the hatch.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"And, what you say is true?"
Professor Sakharov frowned, looking at the little gadget. The scientist took off the visor of his suit. He was a man in his late thirties with a worried look and somewhat receding hair.
"Every word of it."
Sakharov took the gadget and slowly set it next to the computer.
"I'll have Vasily run some tests. He seems to have a knack for these. In the meantime, I'll have a word with the stalker who brought this to our attention."
The scientist turned around, looking a little disappointed.
"He is, already, umm, here."
Khan stepped inside. His appearance was even more haggard than usual.
"What do you want from me? I have already told you that the underground is not a safe place and you still ignore my warnings? Why should I follow your orders? Twice already you have sent your "research" groups into the forest around Limansk and twice have they perished the moment they stepped in, directly ignoring my lukewarm suggestion to turn around the way they came from. One of them even took a shot at me, albeit a bad one, and I was forced to disable him. He was quickly carried away by his colleagues. The group still entered, and, as I predicted, never returned."
The scientist's jaw dropped, but Khan continued:
"I am not to blame for their perish. I left them alone. I had no intention to prevent someone from ending his life."
Sakharov continued, somewhat agitated by the stalker's apparent indifference:
"Yes, well, I'm sure conflicts
could have been avoided. But, there is no time for that. I want
you to lead the expedition. I have already been told what you are capable off, and, after all, you've discovered this phenomenon yourself. I will send the message to Vasily to examine the results of this task. You will have to find someone to help you in order to help you. I want you to discover the cause of this phenomenon! I personally believe that there is nothing supernatural down there, but whatever it might be, it is certainly not ordinary. I am willing to compensate for your efforts greatly. Now, you have to gather a group of stalkers to help you. I am afraid I cannot lend any of the security and the mercenaries do not have many squads or lone stalkers to provide. You will have to rely on the occasional free stalker, Duty member or Freedom stalker to help you."
Their conversation was interrupted when a stalker came up knocking on the bunker door.
"Hello? Professor Sakharov? Vasily? Anyone home?"
Sakharov checked the monitor camera; it was one of the mercenaries that came to their lab covered in horrible burn wounds. He let him in quickly-not many would come to help the scientists however lucrative the reward was.
"Come in, come in!"
Burner slowly stepped into the room
"Oh, hello professor. Is Vasily around here? I'm 'ere looking for the good captain, who left us in the middle of the night an-wait a minute, I know you..."
Khan turned his head; it was the gray-faced man he had found half-dead in the forest.
"You’re the guy who brought me back to the group...What are you doing here?"
Professor Sakharov smiled:
"I assume you came here looking for work?"
Burner tentatively answered
"Not really, I came to find the good cpt. Dimitri and maybe have a chat with Vasily, but I don't know, if the captain's gone, I could do some work. What have you got in mind?"
Khan answered, interrupting the professor:
"A perilous task. It is a mission to track down an unknown 'phenomenon' in the underground of the ruined town of Limansk."
Burner whistled:
"Cossack's? Whoa. Guys don't like it there. Say it gives them the creeps. Well, anyways, I'll go. But first, 've you got a decent shooter around here? Is that some F2000 around there? Hand it over, I'm willing to pay! Oh, and, is Vasily here?"
The professor pressed a button on his communicator:
"Professor Vasily? I have some work ready for you. Also, you have a visitor."
They were interrupted by a loud, buzzing noise coming from the strange device behind the counter. Sakharov turned around, trying to see what was the problem. His eyes widened as he looked at the paper:
“Vasily! Hurry up! This is…Impossible! I have never seen something like this!”
Khan gains: Winchester 1895 .405
[limegreen][CHECK][/limegreen]