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Post by Basil on Jun 13, 2010 4:22:28 GMT -5
A nasty feeling overcame Adder as she walked. The feeling something had gone missing while she wasn't looking. Abruptly, she turned around to face Penumbra, and sure enough one of them had disappeared.
"Where's Vintar?"
"-I think he stopped to have a cig..."
They all scanned the road for signs of Vintar, but the Freedomer had vanished. Adder stared flatly at the very empty road behind them before shifting her gaze towards Penumbra...only this time, her eyes were suffused with a murderous light.
"-Now let me get a few things straight. Taking out a few bandits who think they're tough enough to boss Freedom around is easy, but this is different. We're surrounded by hostiles, most of whom are trying to murder me."
Adder's voice had dropped and was now a threatening hiss aimed at Penumbra.
"Your little fan club needs more than just fancy airs. You need some real fucking skill to back it up...and I'm going to make personally sure that you lot shape up or shift out."
Her eyes were now set into a glare that could have bored through wood. The Penumbra members before her were all very silent, and terror was clearly visible in their eyes.
"If you die, too bad, you were weak and got Darwinised. That's what happened to Vintar. So from now on, no stragglers and extra vigilance lest I widen your smiles with my knife!"
"-O...okay boss", said one of the Penumbraites.
"-Good...", said Adder with a small, but not very nice smile and a susurating voice.
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Post by Karcentric on Jun 13, 2010 9:39:10 GMT -5
Schwarz had been delighted to hear more about the mystery of the thieves as he gained a valuable insight into their progress. Lutiy... seemed like a lot of people wanted you dead, if you are dead, then collecting those rewards would be easier, now how would I go about that? If he's in Pripyat it will be impossible to get there with any less than 50 armed men. I'll worry about that later. He thought to himself hearing the question from Sokol. "There is no reason why you shouldn't shoot us but I'd rather you didn't all the same, as for Mr Matrix you don't want to be near him when those blades of his are out, let me tell you. You might be able to blast things into pieces a mile away, but those blades of his a masterpieces, quality blades. As for where he is, I don't know or care." After hearing that another Penumbra member had been killed Schwarz began having doubts about the other members in the squad, their leader was battle hardened but maybe the rest weren't. "So how many dangerous situations has Penumbra actually dealt with?" Schwarz asked, knowing they had popped up very recently but had already gained much fear amongst the bandits, "And more importantly, how would they fare against let's say, one of Duty's hunting squads? They move fast and hit hard. Or the squad you travelled with, Lt. Rurik's attack squad, especially if the rumors of what he did to the those mercs at the construction site is true of course. That man should be in charge of Duty, not old Voronin. You two might be able to work out a beneficial deal for both factions than." "Seeing as neither Ferret or I haven't actually done anything to harm or hinder any of you, I'd like my weapons back right now thank you very much." He said stopping dead in his tracks. The loner behind him went to shove him, in a second Schwarz had ducked the hand and spun around behind the man, kicking out his knees and applying a crushing headlock around the mans neck, he stood on the mans knee forcing his own knee into his back. "I've answered all of your questions and will happily help fight off anymore Monolith you encounter On the basis you ignore my sniper friends actions." He said to his two companions, "Or I'll leave and take these two with me and let you carry on. I'm sure this guy would agree. Right buddy?" He said calmly pulling up on the mans neck slightly, making him gasp for breath and cough.
Rurik was walking through Rostok when the roar of three helicopters flew over head. "Sir what should we do?" One of the privates asked. Rurik looked at them as they passed, "Those aren't Spetsnaz or Russian at all. Are they UN? Maybe their French?" He muttered. The private asked gingerly "Isn't the new Freedom leader that French guy you took to Limansk, sir?" Rurik looked to the man nodding. "He was. I have his PDA's signal, maybe he knows something. He knows how Duty feels about helicopters especially heavily armed one." Maginot. If you have something to do with those helicopters you'd do well to warn them to fly east, around Rostok on their return we are tracking them and will fire if they should fly back over.
Lt. Rurik
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Post by Basil on Jun 13, 2010 10:08:44 GMT -5
"Now", said Maginot, slowly approaching the mercenary, "how about you let go of old Petrukha here. If you're willing to help us in our mission, we'll let you and...Ferret is it? Go. As for that young woman, it's preferable that she remains bound since she tried to murder the Commandant." Suddenly, Mag's PDA beeped. He took the small, battered device out of his pocket and saw that he had received a message from none other than Rurik. Maginot. If you have something to do with those helicopters you'd do well to warn them to fly east, around Rostok on their return we are tracking them and will fire if they should fly back over.
Lt. Rurik Maginot quickly dialled a new message...God, everyone was piling new reponsibilities and requests on his shoulders with every passing minute. If the choppers make it out of where we are right now, I wouldn't mind seeing Duty shoot them down.
Maginot
He pressed the "send" button and redirected his attention to the prisoner. Adder had stepped up this time and was asking him some quick questions about Duty's hunting squads. "You know, those people are more like an insomniac fan club than an elite commando at the moment", she said, indicating Penumbra with a wry laugh, "some of them are very good. Natural born night prowlers and killers, but others are sloppy and need to be toughened up a bit...tell me, what do you know of Dolg's little hunting parties? How are they organised? What tactics do they use? What weaponry?" As Adder spoke, she caught a slight hint of movement in the trees behind the prisoner. To someone without Adder's eyes, it would have been put down as bushes being moved by a breeze. Adder's eyes seemed to be getting more and more sensitive to movement as time went by, and even the most infinitesimal move in her environment rarely escaped her attention. She aimed her Vintorez at the area where she'd seen something move and scanned it through her scope for a few minutes...could it be the Mafiya's killer? After a while of watching that particular spot, she concluded that she must have seen something, and lowered her rifle. "Anyway, tell me what you know on Duty's hunting squads. I'll vouch for your release if you do."
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Post by Karcentric on Jun 13, 2010 10:39:58 GMT -5
Now", said Maginot, slowly approaching the mercenary, "how about you let go of old Petrukha here. If you're willing to help us in our mission, we'll let you and...Ferret is it? Go. As for that young woman, it's preferable that she remains bound since she tried to murder the Commandant." Schwarz pulled the man up, but pulled his mask up and looked into Maginot's eyes, "Alright but once were done, I'm taking these two with me I could use a second sniper in my group, she very well may have tried, but I think we both know she isn't the threat to Adder's life anymore, but your in charge of this operation." He said removing the ropes to Maginot surprise, "Oh relax, it's a simple trick. Now my weapons if you would be so kind, and Ferret's too."
"Anyway, tell me what you know on Duty's hunting squads. I'll vouch for your release if you do." Adder said to Schwarz.
"I don't know much about them, they operate in packs of five to seven, don't use the usual Duty tactic of more fire power, they use silenced weapons probably use sniper tactics too not the usual stuff, probably , you never see them they say Normally leave one alive, changed could turn a hardened stalker into a mouse. Ex Black Ops most likely I'd say or defect Spetsnaz. I think they got the nickname of Shadow Ops, if someone sends them after your scalp, well the best advice would be to leave the zone forever. No ones knows how many of them there is in total. Only the leaders if you ever hear a Duty officer request one... Run. Very, very fast and far." Looking up at the cliffs on either side of them out of a paranoid habit he finished what was saying. "Once they make the mess they send the 'cleaning squad', squads carrying enough explosive power rival what you've got here to erase any evidence. Ever wonder what certain craters with no evidence to what caused it? That's what they were."
Rurik looked the message from Maginot and smiled, "You men know what to do, they've been warned." He went to the bar for a drink before he went to sleep.
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Post by blackpapermoon on Jun 13, 2010 12:01:54 GMT -5
"You thought I would turn you in and run didn't you? We haven't done anything wrong, did you have any intentions or harming these idiots or their leader?
The rookie said nothing, fear and what the Mafia had engrained into him was what kept his mouth shut. Back when he work in Kiev as a drug runner his boss told him if he where to ever to be captured by either the law or a rival mob, to keep his yap closed . In this case he would let Schwarz do the talking.
Once the Mercenary was done explaining about the weapons and some of that tactic used by Duty's hunting squads, the rookie Bandits bounds where cut. Ferret began to rub the rope on his wrist where the rope had been and took his AK back. He now walked beside the Merc.
“Schwarz,” he said quietly, “I’m sorry for thinking that would just bail on us…. I don’t want to think of what would of happen if you didn’t step in.”
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Post by Διμι on Jun 13, 2010 13:09:03 GMT -5
"It's your choice then, stalker." Meph began to say, but was cut off as the blind loner suddenly interrupted him, having heard someone in the brush on the other side of the road.
Meph froze, staring at the foliage. For an instant, he thought he could make out a small black shape deftly moving through the brambles, but then it disappeared. Someone is in here with us, the assassin thought uneasily. The Asian had no way of telling whether the intruder was hostile or not, but he appeared to not notice the two stalkers despite the noise they were making.
"Stay here for a bit, and don't make any noise," he told Rodent finally "then go on wherever it was you were going, and good luck." making as much noise as a fallen leaf, Meph stole away from the edge of the road deeper into the woods, once again following the Freedom squad, tailing them as they walked down the road.
He stopped in his tracks as a figure emerged from the woods. The man was small, not much taller than Meph himself. Before Meph could get a closer view of the assailant, the latter came up to one of the Freedomers lagging behind the rest of the group. Deftly, the man pulled him back, and after several words, slit his throat, stuffing the body into a shrub. Before Meph could even make sense of the occurence, the man retreated into the forest shadows.
The Freedomers noticed soon enough that one of their own was gone, and a commotion soon erupted among their ranks. The Commandant quickly gave her team a pep talk of sorts. Meph grinned, the woman's squad had no clue of what was coming to them in the forest. More importantly, it seemed as if he had found an unwitting ally in his stalking of the group, as his mind strayed back to the unknown assassin. Meph followed the squad at a distance, in the safety of the brush. Several times, he thought he could make out a shape on the other side of the road, but he could not get a clear view of the man as he eluded both him and the Freedom squad. He noted that both Schwarz and Ferret had been untied, and even given back their guns. The two now walked alongside the Freedomers. What a change in plans, he thought, they had chosen their path, and if they were to get in the way, he would have to kill them like any other enemy he had never even looked in the face.
Sokol saw the shape just as it darted between the trees to the right of the group. His rifle was up and cocked in a millisecond when another movement amongst the trees to his left distracted him, he darted back around, but the assassin had already disappeared.
Assassins, he thought; there were more than one. He swept around back to the mercenary, who had been untied on the orders of Maginot. "Merc, we're being tailed by at least two people, yet you say there's only one man of yours still on the loose." a confused look was the only answer, so the sniper turned back to Maginot.
"Any chance your UNSF friends sent a little tail after us in secret?" he inquired "I'd hate to shoot first and start an international conflict by accident."
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Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on Jun 13, 2010 14:50:07 GMT -5
At a point where the road was straight for almost a mile, Sigbrand crouched behind a stump, propping his rifle against he took aim at the group of Freedomers, now at least 600 meters down the road. He was far out of the effective range of any of the assorted assault rifles and VSS sniper rifles that they were carrying, but the tall one named Sokol worried Sigbrand. If he missed, or didn't get to cover in time, the bullet from the Freedomer's massive sniper rifle would tear him in half. Towards the front of the column, he could see his target. She was talking to a stalker of medium hight and was carrying a VSS Vintorez rifle. "Score one for Duty intel." Sigbrand muttered.
It was a straight shot, with no wind or even slight breeze to worry about. Moving the second chevron of his scope's reticule just above the center of the Commandant's back, he took a deep breath, held it, then moved his finger to the trigger.
The clouds that had been covering the sun suddenly moved aside, and the entire forest was bathed in sunlight. Sigbrand quickly moved his hand over the lens of his scope to prevent it from flashing, but he was too late. One of the group's rear guards had seen the flash and was quickly alerting the rest of the group.
Moving his eye back to his scope, Sigbrand saw Sokol raise his massive sniper rifle and begin to scan the area. Taking quick aim, Sigbrand fired at the Freedomer. The bullet smashed into the mans rifle, sending it flying from his hands. Staying low, Sigbrand quickly shrunk back into the darkness of the forest.
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Post by Διμι on Jun 13, 2010 16:25:22 GMT -5
Sokol felt his rifle jerk in his hands as the massive magazine carrying the .50 BMG rounds flew clean off, the catch snapping back with a click. The Freedomer dropped to the ground on one knee, reaching for one of the many magazines he had brought along. "Get those explosives down and covered!" he yelled.
He glanced at the magazine that had been blown off. A massive hole clean through the center marked where the bullet had gone through, igniting one of the .50 rounds as it passed. He stared through the scope once more at the position the guard had shown. The grass was rising again slowly next to a small tree stump, marking a place where someone had crouched down to take a shot. Sokol gauged the distance to be more than half a kilometer away. Whoever this man was, he was an expert marksman. Luckily enough, however, the man either missed, or did not shoot to kill, only to take out his rifle. Evidently, he was trying to remove all the long-range shooters to kill off the group one by one from long range.
Sokol rose, as the assassin seemed to have retreated, just for the time being. "Is this anything of the sort your Asian guy would pull?" he questioned the mercenary "I thought he was more of an up-close-and-personal kind of person?" The Freedom sniper quickly waved over Maginot, who was the only man in the group carrying a long-range rifle other than himself. Sokol recognized the gun as Seth's old SVU, a finely tuned and modified killing machine that had probably taken more lives in its time than any other rifle in the Zone.
"We can't all stay on the road like this anymore," he informed "we'll be sitting ducks. One shot to the explosives and we'll all be toast. As much as I hate to say this, but the two of us need to split and take the woods. It leaves us more open to the alleged blade ninja, but staying in the open with a sniper tailing us half a mile away and taking potshots at our vital spots is just too damn dangerous." he looked around "Send the gunners with the crates through the woods, separately. That way, they won't be open to the sniper, and they won't all go off at the same time." he turned back to Maginot "The two of us will need to fall back and comb the different roadsides to take this sniper out. I'll take the left, you take the right. We can cover each other if there's any shooting. Are we good?"
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Post by Basil on Jun 14, 2010 2:25:12 GMT -5
Maginot nodded. Strangely, he did not feel any inner tension at the prospect of hunting down a possibly dangerous target, probably because the situation had left him rather blasé.
"Sounds like a plan. A risky one, but a plan nonetheless."
They both headed off into the forest, Maginot on the right, and Sokol on the left. Maginot soon found himselg amidst the bushes and trees, their bare branches gnawed at by radiation and the Zone's strange effects on living organisms.
Living organisms like Adder.
Maginot stopped and crouched down, keeping an eye and an ear out for any signs of movement. The expedition to the Scorcher was becoming ridiculously complicated, like a drunken game of poker with stupidly high stakes and everyone suspecting everyone else of hiding something unpleasant.
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Post by Karcentric on Jun 14, 2010 3:49:02 GMT -5
"There was only Mr Matrix in our group, as for the second guy. No idea maybe Duty hired another sniper, cos that isn't Monolith tactics. Matrix had an M16, we both know they wouldn't hit their target from that distance. He's armed for close to medium combat." Schwarz said, standing by Ferret and Balalaika, he quickly slashed the ropes around her wrists making them look secure but would pull apart with a sharp tug. "Stick close we if get an opportunity take it. Go into the forest and hide" He whispered before watching Sokol and Maginot hide nearby.
"If we go further up we'll be covered by the hill." He said to Adder looking at barrels laying about, opening one of them the revealed the strong stink of petrol which rushed up his nostrils, resealing the lid he looked about there were a lot of barrels, "We might be able to use these barrels too, however we should move, most of these things a full of petrol. But you shouldn't stay here, take half of your squad and follow your men carrying the explosives. The rest will cover you and follow once you've found secure cover."
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Post by Basil on Jun 15, 2010 5:16:38 GMT -5
Balalaïka stared blankly at Schwarz as he slashed her ropes. She felt strangely indifferent towards the world and the people around her...life had always been hard, and things had always gone for the worse for Balalaïka. From the death of her mother, to poverty to the death of her father to forced prostitution, things had never gone well.
Earlier on she had heard two Freedomers discussing how she would be dealt with. One had suggested simple execution, while the other had been rather keen on shaving her head, stripping her of her belongings and sending her back to Duty as a warning. Humiliation or death? The question seemed trite.
Underneath Balalaïka's indifference and resignation, something else was stirring, barely perceptible, but definitely there. Something that had briefly surfaced when she grabbed her father's SVD and finished off the thugs who brutalised her. Something she felt whenever somebody struck her or dragged her in the mud.
That something was hatred. Hatred with a hint of madness.
That something wanted to lash out at everything. It hated everyone equally, everyone was dirt to it. Ferret and his protectiveness? A fucking hindrance and a hypocrite. The Asian assassin? Another one of those fuckers who had always trampled over her and should have his balls cut off. Schwarz and his plans for escape? Like an annoying rat scrabbling away at his cage.
And the commandant? The one who had beaten her and tied her up? The one she had been unable to shoot out of weakness?
She looked up at Adder and felt anger pulsate within her. That woman...that woman was not even human anymore, and she was treating her like a maggot. Adder suddenly turned away from the contemplation of the path ahead of them and set eyes on Balalaïka. Balalaïka stared right back, her blue eyes looking straight into the woman's reptilian eyes.
Adder turned away. That young woman was strange...there was something behind those pretty blue eyes, like a small fire slowly growing. Adder felt a slight shiver as she thought about the look the girl had given her.
"We'll do what the merc said", said Adder curtly, "let's move."
And so the small group set off up the hill, already closer to the Scorcher than ever before.
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Post by Διμι on Jun 15, 2010 14:40:11 GMT -5
"Move quick," Sokol suggested to the Commandant "we want you guys to be at least a couple hundred meters ahead when I and Maginot start following. You know the plan," he turned to the Freedom leader beside him "stay out of sight, but don't get too far away from the road. If someone turns up, I want to be able to figure out where the two of you are."
With that, the sniper slowly sank back into the brush to the left of the road and began to wait as the rest of the squad slowly moved up ahead. He didn't trust leaving the prisoners unbound, but nine men, the Freedomer figured, would be more than enough to put them in their place.
The Freedomer looked back across the road. Maginot had disappeared into the forest on the other side. Hopefully, he wouldn't stray too far from the edge. Losing two leaders in as many days would be a blow Freedom wouldn't quite be able to recover from.
Meph watched from the shadows, his binoculars out, as the struggle unfolded. He saw the assassin's rifle glint hardly fifty meters ahead of him, on the other side of the road, and then fire, nearly making the tall Freedomer in the back of the column drop his weapon.
The group then scattered. Two men, including the apparent leader of the squad and the tall sniper Meph had seen earlier, stayed behind, and quickly disappeared into the two sides of the brush alongside the road, the sniper to the left, where Meph was, and the other man to the right, where he had seen the other assassin. The remains of the group, comprising six Freedomers including the commandant and three bomb carriers, as well as three more loners and the prisoners, continued moving up the road, now covered by the two that remained behind.
Meph considered the situation. The two men were still about 600 meters ahead of him, and would no doubt move along with the group to stay safe. The fact hardly hampered him; all he would have to do is stay with the group to whatever point they were traveling to, and attack whenever they were disheveled by some other menace.
The assassin waited until the Freedom squad was almost out of sight, and then slowly continued creeping through the brush after them.
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Post by blackpapermoon on Jun 15, 2010 21:37:59 GMT -5
All nine Freedomers had their eyes on either Schwarz, Balalaïka or the forest but not him. He was a non-threat, a nothing, just a useless most likely soon to be dead bandit. Yet he could still change that, he could make himself useful if he could distract Freedom for just a few seconds then his companions could make a break for it.
Now was the time; the tall, lanky sniper was far enough away for the rookie to even attempt what he was about to pull. He walked up behind the loner who was carrying Balalaïka's SVD, with speed that was comparable to Meph's he seized hold of the weapon. Pushing the stalker to the ground he tossed the weapon back to its rightful owner, not seeing if she even bother to get the SVD he turned and started to run deeper into the forest. But just as he turned, the loner that he had pushed pulled out a silenced pistol and put three rounds in to the bandit's side.
Ferret hissed in pain but some how managed to keep running. Just as he rolled down an embankment the Freedomers opened fire on him. Yet still he kept running even as blood poured out from his wound. The rookie did not stop until he was deep within the woods. He fell to his knees, crawling to a fallen tree and then pushed his back against it. He lost a lot of blood.
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Post by Διμι on Jun 15, 2010 22:19:30 GMT -5
Before the group had moved even two hundred yards, Sokol began to hear shots erupt from their direction. Lifting his rifle, he could see that one of the prisoners had managed to attack his guard, and even retrieve the SVD the latter had been carrying. The bandit had sprinted into the trees, but not before taking several bullets from the Freedomers.
Sokol saw Maginot emerge from the other side of the road, rifle in hand. Motioning for the Freedom leader to keep watch on the group, the sniper jumped into the woods from the roadside, and began to sprint in order to catch up to the intruder. Had the Freedomer been even a bit more attentive, he would have noticed a dark shape spring up behind him, and begin tailing the tall stalker.
Finding the runaway was not difficult. A clear trail of blood marked the path he had taken. It was everywhere, on trees and shrubs as well as the ground itself. The man would't get very far before collapsing from blood loss.
He was right, after scarcely a minute of sprinting, the Freedom sniper came across the perpetrator. It was the scrawny man in the stalker suit. The bandit was propped against a tree, and was bleeding from several wounds in his abdomen. The Freedomer stopped, and at almost a leisurely pace, approached the runaway. At scarcely four paces away, Sokol stopped, and drew his USP, aiming it straight between the man's eyes.
"You thought you could attack us and get away with it, didn't you, you little rat?" he hissed, flipping off the safety "well, you're about to find out what happens to those who try to pull a second on us after we spare them once." the Freedomer's finger tightened on the trigger "any last words?". The Hydro-Shock round would make short work of the man's skull. The bandit's death would be almost painless.
"Objection!" said a sharp voice behind them both. Sokol wheeled around, only to see the black boot just as it crashed into his face.
Meph landed just as the Freedomer crumpled to the ground, unconscious. The short Asian stalker had actually pulled a spinning kick in the air just to reach the head of the 6-foot-9 Freedomer, who was well over two heads taller than him.
"You're one crazy bastard, I'll give you that." the assassin muttered as he rushed to Ferret's side. The Asian had started sprinting just as he saw the sniper give himself away. Thankfully, the tall Freedomer now lying on the ground hadn't noticed him until the very end. "Shit!" the short assassin exclaimed as he saw the enormity of Ferret's injuries.
He dashed back over to the Freedomer, quickly finding a Mica artifact and an army medkit on the unconscious stalker's body. Rushing back to the bleeding Ferret, he slashed the side of bandit's suit open before pressing the solid, transparent artifact to the three wounds. The holes immediately stopped bleeding, and Meph set about sanitizing the wound.
"Fuck," he muttered as he finished bandaging the three holes "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?!"
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Post by Basil on Jun 16, 2010 12:17:56 GMT -5
"We're there", said Adder quietly. The Scorcher's buildings and the sinister forms of the facility's old antennas were clearly visible from the road where they stood.
A quick binocular scan of the facility's visible areas revealed no enemy presence whatsoever, much to Adder's relief. The rookie bandit had escaped earlier on, much to Adder's irritation. She didn't really consider him as a threat though: he was one of the two prisoners who wasn't intent on killing her, and he had been badly hit by fire from the loners and the remaining Penumbra members. He wouldn't last long.
She felt a little sad for the young man...poorly equipped and probably naive to boot, she suspected he had been dragged into this whole thing without realising how badly it would turn out for him. The prisoner he had tried to help hadn't even caught the SVD he had tossed at her.
If I had time, I'd go looking for the poor bastard and try to help him...
Adder was surprised. Those were unusually altruistic thoughts for her.
"-What are you going to do to me once you're finished here?", she heard a quiet voice say from the back. She turned and saw it was the female prisoner, Balalaïka, who had spoken.
"-I don't know, young lady", she said, "since Duty sent you we might make an example of you...I really don't know."
Adder then turned away and focused her attention on the abandoned facility in front of them.
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Balalaïka felt sick. The Commandant's lack of concern for her fate seemed altogether horrifying...was she not worth anything? Then again, the Commandant did have more pressing business at hand to think about prisoners.
And then a crazy thought occurred to Balalaïka. But was it really a thought? It was more of an impulse brought on by the Commandant's cold-blooded attitude towards her and her fellow prisoners, and an unclear loathing for all the people and things who could have possibly contributed to her current situation.
The young woman glanced at Schwarz. The mercenary was paying more attention to what Penumbra and Adder were up to, and his knife was in plain sight, protruding invitingly from his sheath.
Quick as a snake, Balalaïka leaped forward and wrenched Schwarz's knife from its sheath. The mercenary tried to stop her, and got kicked in the kneecap for his troubles. Before anyone could neutralise or kill her, Balalaïka was onto the Commandant, her eyes wide, Schwarz's stolen knife raised to kill and her mouth set into a terrifying rictus of triumph.
"I'M NOT DONE YET!", she yelled as Adder fell over backwards with Balalaïka on top of her. The Commandant's reptilian eyes were wide with fear and surprise, which made something horrible and bestial stir within Balalaïka's soul.
But as Adder fell and hit the tarmac, her finger accidentally squeezed the trigger of her VSS, emptying the gun's magasine in a single unruly burst. The group was standing next to a large stack of rusting barrels, which Schwarz had claimed to be full of petrol.
The bullets evidently hit the barrel marked with "benzin" just as someone yelled at everyone to run.
The petrol inside the barrel was ignited by the bullet's sparks, and exploded. This caused a spectacular chain reaction which in turn caused a massive and highly destructive explosion. The blast generated by the explosion was strong enough to knock all those standing nearby off their feet, and the heat singed exposed skin and hair and made eyes water. Two of the loners who were standing too close to the barrel stack were incinerated.
Balalaïka was knocked off Adder in the blast, and the Commandant was able to get up, her skin an angry red and her dark red hair singed by the heat. As she stood up, she heard somebody snarl incoherently behind her and turned to see Balalaïka lunge at her with the stolen knife, her eyes wide and filled with monstrous, bloodthirsty rage. The knife stabbed through her suit's shoulder padding and dug into her shoulder's flesh. Adder screamed in pain and fell backwars, her hand clutching the knife's hilt.
Looking up and panting with pain, she saw Balalaïka standing triumphantly above her. The young woman slammed her boot down onto Adder's chest, and picked up her SVD which had somehow fallen near them in the explosion. The gun's cold, steel barrel ended up pressed into Adder's forehead like the cold kiss of Death.
"I win, bitch", said Balalaïka with a cruel grin. Adder closed her eyes.
But Lady Fate had decided otherwise on the outcome of the struggle. The stack had been hastily made by Soviet scientist when the facility was abandoned, and was composed of petrol barrels as well as barrels containing a corrosive chemical.
The chemical barrels were a lot stronger than the oil barrels, and several had been sent flying during the explosion. One of them though had landed a few metres away from the two women, and the chemical solution inside was reacting rather badly to the heat. The barrel burst violently, and large quantities of the chemical were sent flying through the air around it. Adder was not hit, but Balalaïka, who was only wearing a simple leather jacket, a jacket who had been ripped in several places during the explosion and exposed her skin in several places, was doused by several fat drops of the chemical.
A large dollop landed on her face, and she closed her eye in instinctive response. More landed on the top of her chest, her right hand and forearm and her neck.
There was an ugly sizzling sound as the corrosive solution began to eat away at the unfortunate young woman's skin. Balalaïka's eyes widened and, raising her hands to her face, gave off the most blood-curdling, banshee-like wail of pain Adder had ever heard. Balalaïka screamed and screamed and screamed, clawing at her face and chest who were now adorned with ugly darkish marks from the chemical's effects.
Adder stared in silent horror at Balalaïka...the young woman continued to scream as she collapsed to the floor, trying to get rid of the stuff eating away at her skin. Adder closed her eyes and tried hard to block out the girl's agonised cries.
Adder briefly re-opened her eyes to see Balalaïka standing again, a few metres away. Her face was turned to the sky, and she was still screaming...the flames behind her etched a strangely diabolical picture.
Balalaïka stopped screaming, and, with one, trembling and burned hand clamped to her mutilated face, she faced Adder.
"COMMANDANT! THIS ISN'T OVER! YOU HEAR ME?! THIS-"
Adder drew in a shuddering, agonised breath, the heat torturing her lungs.
"-ISN'T-"
She propped herself up on her elbow, breathing laboriously. She closed her eyes to protect them from the fire's scorching heat.
"-OVER!!"
Adder flopped to the ground, her elbow giving way. Her world was filled by the hungry rumble of the flames nearby. Balalaïka had fallen silent.
A hand caught hold of her shoulder and turned her gently over. A concerned voice spoke:
"Boss? You okay?"
"-I...I'm okay", croaked Adder, her throat parched by the heat.
"-We need to take care of your shoulder."
Adder felt herself being slowly dragged away, and the heat began to fade...she opened her eyes and saw she was being taken away from the blazing inferno. She looked around for any sign of Balalaïka and saw nothing. The girl was gone.
"-Wh...where...?"
A demented howl of pain came to them over the roar of the flames, from somewhere in the forest above the facility. Adder moved weakly, but was restrained by the Penumbraite who had rescued her.
"-There's nothing we can do for her now, Boss. She left...I've no idea how she managed, but she dragged herself away with her rifle in tow and struggled over the bank before disappearing in the trees. I don't think she'll live much longer in her state. Not in the Red Forest."
Adder felt herself being laid down onto the ground. She looked around and saw she was lying on the ground, amidst dead grass. She struggled to sit up, and succeeded...she was not in too bad a shape after all, but her shoulder was killing her.
"You should be okay, Boss", said another Penumbraite as he handed her his water bottle, "your skin is a bit red from the heat, and it might hurt, but it'll go away."
Adder drank thirstily from the bottle, painfully forcing the water down her throat and sighing as the blessed liquid soothed her dried oesophagus.
"-Good", she croaked, "the Scorcher is right in front of us. We can't stop now...free stalkers everywhere are depending on us."
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