Until The Last Man Remains
My head feels heavy as I wake up in this freezing hell. It's winter in The Zone and the temperatures plummet to unknown depths. I notice that it's about -27°C right now and not even a simple campfire is enough to warm these bones, though Burner anomalies are highly wanted right now. I grab one of my stashed burner artifacts and put it in the shallow hole I made into the ground of this abandoned shack I discovered recently. The Burner flashes eerie shadows on the walls, gradually warming up the shelter. I stand up and stretch out, looking through the barricaded window, The Zone is buried under a blanket of white virginity. The anomalies are clearly visible, as spots without snow mark where the anomalies are located. Stalking during the winter is easy to find artifacts and avoid anomalies. I open a closet and grab my Vintar BC and suit, hoping it will keep my body warm in arctic environment outside. I open the door and the strong icy wind caresses my face. A Stalker arrives, saying that he has to discuss something with me. I check him out and say: "Let's go inside."
We sit down and the Stranger grabs a paper from one of his pockets and hands it to me. I read the letter addressed to a few Mercs. "Hereby you are now a participant of the first annual Hit man contest, where 20 contestant will kill each other, until one remains. The information of the other contestant is now being downloaded into your PDA. The last man standing will get a free secured trip to the Center of the Zone where he can explore a rumoured unexplored village full of artifacts but with no anomalies and mutants. The coordinates of where I reside will be added into your PDA when you are the last man standing. I wish you a happy hunting and more importantly... Don't get killed. Ha ha ha!"
The Stranger gets up as I'm reading the letter, I look to his face and notice an awful menacing grin, a blast follows. I narrowly escape the first bullet and jump up, grab my pistol and return fire. He dodges the bullet, and we start a macabre dance. We dance in between the bullets, none hitting target, at both sides. "You're good," I tell the Stranger. He laughs heartily and manages to get close, very close. I kicks me, and I hit ground, looking up I see him coming near. "One target down," he squeals, I answer him with a shot and say: "Yeah, one target down indeed." The shack grows shady as the Burner anomaly starts to wear out. He's bleeding, but hasn't been shot in his Vitals. I kick the gun out of his hand and stare at him. The fear of Death is embedded in his eyes and I quietly sing: "Hush little baby, don't you cry... This wonderful evening, you will die." He kicks my leg by surprise, and I lose my balance. I hear him get up and take the gun near him. "Tables turned, bitch," he says as he triumphantly towers over me. He licks his lips and psychotically adds: "I will enjoy this. Payback time for this shot." We both aim at the same time, I hear a dry click and a blow. Staggering, he grabs for his left shoulder. I crawl backwards behind the fireplace and shoot a few bullets, but he evades. He proceeds by running into another room of the shack, clearly hurt. I hear him grunting something in the next room and an obstacle falls into the room. Familiar sounds resonate in my ears as I quickly run past the object he threw and throw myself through the doorway. A loud blow and smoke starts to obscure all vision inside. A faint figure appears in the smoke, and I fire my pistol a few times. They all hit wood, and I search for cover. He comes outside, and I see he managed to tend to his wounds. The all-embracing snow makes for a pure feeling, it clears my head. He stands there, panting heavily and I quickly oversee my strategy. A steep hill behind me, an Whirligig anomaly to my right and the Stranger can shoot me easily if I would go left. I let out a deep sigh and storm forward, to the Stranger. He is clearly amazed and paralysed for a second before he starts shooting at me. I pray none of the bullets will hit me, as I bodyslam him back into the house. He's bathing in sweat, and I see his two wounds have reopened. I kick his pistol away and look him in the eyes. "You won, Merc... Kill me, so I can die with honour," he says. I remain silent and let him suffer in the dusty shack, and start saying: "I've killed many, and every time I do it seems the PDA mocks me of my own actions." He stares at me, not able to say a thing, and I continue: "I wonder, would it still mock me now? As I have to fight for my precious little life I have built up here." I crouch down next to him and take out another gun, a Sixshooter. "Let's play a game of Russian roulette, Stranger," I say with an eerie and evil grin on my face. He tries to crawl away, but bumps against the wall. "Giving you three shots, if you manage not to get hit. I'll tend your wounds and let you leave." His face turns full of hatred and remorse as he screams: "You sick bastard! Get over with it!." A dry click, and relief appears on his face. "Two more shots to go," I hum as I shoot a second time. He starts to crawl in the direction of his pistol, and I shoot a third time. "Bang," The shack lights up for a mere second as the Stranger stops moving. A last sigh travels through his mouth and his face falls on the rotten wooden floor. My heart skips a beat from the sudden notification of my PDA, it has received an update. A list of the contestants pops up and I see that the Stranger has been greyed out. I search his corpse for any loot I could possible find. I manage to find quite a lot of canned food in his backpack, this is a real feast. I drag him outside, the bloody trail only leaving morbid rumours to be talked of. "The hunt has started," I say to the deceased Stalker, as I am digging a shallow grave for him to rest in. I stomp him into the grave and look at the place where his head once was. "Sweet dreams little Stranger. Perhaps we'll meet again in hell," I add as the anomaly not far ahead roars. I look at my PDA and see a little dot a few kilometres from myself. "The Free For All has begun!" I shout as I take off.