AUTHOR'S NOTE!
This is my First fanfic, and this first chapter isn't all that great. Please read on after this chapter.
Thanks,
MorsTactica.
The year is 2012. Shortly after the events of the Marked one new STALKERs are coming into the zone nearly every day. This is the story of one such new STALKER.
August 30th, 2012
In the small basement of a long gone house renovated into a bunker, Sidorovich, A large man in his usual clothing of a white shirt and dark khakis greeted one of his newest employees with the usual bored face. "Hey STALKER, I got a job for you.".
"Yeah? What is it Sid?" Leon inquires, Slinging his AK-74u over his shoulder next to his Winchester 1300 combat shotgun, his various ammo pouches rattling on his Kevlar vest. He removes his gasmask, simply holding it for now.
"Don't call me Sid, Rookie. Your job is to clear out the muties at the old barn. Too many of you rookies are crowding the village, we need some more space."
"Will I have any backup?"
"I thought you would like going solo, see as you are some big tough ex US Marine and all" A rather sarcastic Sidorovich replies
"Alright. I get it. I'm not a one man army, ok?"
"Ask around the village, I'm sure one of the rookies will help you out."
"Alright, thanks for the info Sid." And with a sly smirk the STALKER left a rather annoyed Sidorovich to continue doing whatever it was he did while alone.
"'Maybe if I do this quick Sid will offer me a discount… That modified Groza rifle of his is mine!"' Leon thought to himself as walking up the last steps to the village.
He approached the ever-watchful Wolf; he was at his usual spot near a house in the center of the rookie village, wearing his STALKER Suit, the combination of protection from bullet and anomalous particles. As usual he wasn't wearing the gasmask and had the hood down.
"Hey Wolf, you mind if I take a rookie or two off your hands?"
"Depends, Are you gonna make sure to bring them back?"
"Sure thing man, you can depend on me."
"Alright… I have two rookies here who have been begging me for days to see some action. Take care of them. They are in the house at the end of this row. One of them is a crazy American, just like you!"
"Oh hardy har. Thanks Wolf, I'll bring em' back to you in one piece."
Leon turned and began walking toward the house Wolf had pointed to. He walked in the door and saw Nimble and two rookies he didn't know sitting around a fire.
"Hey! Leon! What's up man?"
"Nothing much Nimble, I'm just surviving, like everyone here in the Zone."
"Heh. I hear that. Have you met these two guys? That's Matviyko." Nimble pointed to a native looking man in his late 20's wearing the usual rookie jacket with blue jeans and hiking boots, Ak-74u slung across his back.
In a rather thick Ukraine accent Matviyko said "You can call me Mat for short."
"Alright, who's this other guy?" Leon inquired
Across the fire from Leon there is an American looking man dressed in the same garb.
"I'm Jack. I came here from America, like you!"
"Well guys I've got a mission from Sidorovich. We need to head up to the Barn and clear out the muties for some more space."
"Count me in!" They said simultaneously.
About 15 minutes and half a mile later Leon, Jack, and Matviyko are sneaking up to the abandoned barn, moving to a large rock, to the remains of a tractor, then to the wall next to the only open door.
"Alright guys stick close and stay frosty, we are Oscar mike."
"Leon I'm a fellow American and I don't understand a word you just said."
"Keep your eyes peeled and your weapons ready. And stay quiet!" Leon responded in a hushed tone, then putting his gasmask back on.
"Will do." Matviyko said.
The group of three moved closer to the door of barn, their compact Ak-47u's at the ready.
Leon peeked around the corner of the first door to witness four fleshes feeding on a dead bandit.
"Take them out, this is disgusting." The trio opened fire on the Horribly mutated pigs, two of them squealing and going down before they knew what was happening, the others running down the dirty interior of the barn in terror, then going around a corner knocking over crates and snorting the whole time.
"Jack stay here and make sure nothing sneaks up on us, I'll keep our PDA channels open in-case of trouble." "Alright, don't take too long. Its creepy out here man." Leon chucked and signaled Matviyko to follow him. They stepped cautiously to avoid the debris strung around the barn. "Mat, check the body for anything useful." After a quick search her returned with a sawn-off shotgun and two med-packs. "You keep them friend." Leon says "Now follow me, lets take care of those muties and be on our way." Matviyko went around the corner and saw the two Fleshes dead on the ground already, puncture wounds near the nape of their necks.
"This is giving me a bad feeling friend… We should go back and tell Sid our job is done."
"No" Leon says, stopping where he is. "We need to find whom or what did this."
"And what happens when we do?" "Well," With a grin "If its hostile, kill it. If not, Vodka all round!"
'"I sure hope it isn't a blood sucker. This rookie might spook and leave me to die. Or worse get himself killed."' Leon thought to himself.
"Now you are talking friend!" Matviyko's were spirits boosted by Leon's promise.
"Now I want you to put your back to mine and look for anything odd."
"You don't think it's a bloodsucker do you? I don't think we can handle a bloodsucker have you ever seen those things? What if it kills us?"
"Whoa calm down man, it will be simple, plus with us watching each-others backs it will be nothing. You'll see. Now let's move." A not entirely convinced Matviyko did what he was asked anyways, making a silent prayer.
They walked deeper into the barn, turning on their headlamps as the fading afternoon light wasn't coming through the grimy windows nearly as well as it did 26 years ago .As Leon turned his on he noticed a shimmer. "Must be my imagination… Better get my shotgun out just in case" Leon thought. They walked further into the barn, looking behind crates and other debris. "Huh. Maybe whatever it was has left the barn?" Mat looked hopefully at Leon. "Maybe so. Alright lets go, I could use that vodka right about now." They turned around and started to walk back to the door. "Hold up, I think I just heard something" Leon said, putting a hand on Matviyko's shoulder. Suddenly a bloodsucker screeched 5 yards away and sprinted toward them, it's claws outstretched. Matviyko unloaded both barrels into the tentacled monsters face, yelling as he did so. The creature growled dodged one of them and tried for Leon who sidestepped the beast and unloaded all 6 shells, killing the thing a mere foot to the right of Mat, Its head now just a lumpy smear of gore on the wall behind it. Matviyko just stood there staring at the body until Jack arrived a minute later. "Hey is everyone all right? I heard Mat scream and the shotguns Wha-" Jack noticed the body of the bloodsucker. "Glad you guys are alright."
"Yeah, let's move out. Night will be coming soon, and I don't want to step into a whirligig on the way home."
They began walking back to the village, they snuck past the bandit's base and Leon stopped them at the bridge, his anomaly detector beeping like a RPK at full auto. "Grab onto my belt" signaling to Matviyko "Jack, grab onto his." He procured a handful of bolts from his satchel and began tossing them in front of him. The first one rolled 4 feet and then shot up into the air, exploding into a dozen small pieces. He walked forward two feet and repeated the process. 25 feet later they where safe, and resumed walking to the village, the whirligigs laying dormant once again. Suddenly from behind them there was a great rumble, and it got about two times darker in an instant. Suddenly an unknown STALKER's voice came across their PDAs "Blowout soon STALKERS! Hurry it up!"
Leon nodded to the others and they began running the last 200 yards between them and safety from the deadly Nuclear Maelstrom brewing outside. They made it into to the village's largest basement, and just in time as an emission hit mere seconds after wards. As the Emission raged outside Leon and Wolf talked about how the mission went. "You will never believe it! Leon killed a bloodsucker up at the barn!" "Nonsense Matt! You helped kill it too, here is that vodka I owe ya." He procured three bottles of Vodka and gave one to both his companions. "So Leon, you brought them back safe after all!" Wolf smiled a rather rare smile. "Yeah, It got exciting there at the end" Popping the lid off his bottle and taking a swig before continuing. "But it doesn't make much sense. Why, and how exactly did a Bloodsucker get that far our here? Leon proceeded to chug nearly the whole bottle, his companions went off to chat with the other rookies. "I don't know. I'm going to send up 10 rookies and fanatic to get the barn cleaned up, we should have the area up and running by next week. After we get quarters built I'll let you and your buddies pick out what room you want, if you like." "Thanks Wolf, I wasn't really enjoying sleeping in the rafters anymore." "Don't mention it. And here are 1,500 rubles, spread them out equal amongst yourselves." "Alright, thanks again Wolf." Leon went off to spread the good news and money with his new-found traveling companions. "Hey! Jack, Mat get over here friends!" Jack and Mat left a small group of rookies in the corner and walked to Leon. "Yeah Leon?" "Guess what guys? We get to-" The emission reached its crescendo, the boom cutting him off. As soon as it receded he continued speaking excitedly "We get to choose our rooms at the farm!" Leon said happily. "Awesome, the people who I'm bunking with now can't understand a word of English!" "Would you care if I bunked near you guys? I mean, see as we are being friends and all." "Sure Mat!" Leon patted him on the back and continued "I think this the start of something good, it's almost like I'm in a squad again!" Leon Wasn't sure if he wanted to be happy about that or not. Soon after the emission nearly everybody went to bed excluding the new sentries.
August 31st, 2012 (The next day)
Matviyko, Jack, and Leon sat around the campfire in the village, warming up their breakfasts. "I'm going to go get my reward from Sid, you guys want anything?" "Sure." Said Jack "If he still has that Walther P99 in 9x18 will you grab it for me? This Fort-12 isn't getting it done." "Alright." Catching the bag of coin Jack threw Leon turned to Matviyko "What about you?" "Grab me 4 medkits, please." "Okay." He caught the coins and went down into the bunker.
"Hey Sidorovich!"
"What is it Leon?"
"I'm here for the job."
"Did you take care of those muties like I asked?"
"Sure did, we even killed a bloodsucker!"
"Ah, so you passed my test."
"Test, what test?" Leon started to get agitated "This fat man just throws a bloodsucker at me and 2 rookies and doesn't even give us a warning?"
"Well I have a special job coming up and wanted to know if you could handle it was all."
"Well this had better have a good reward…" "Don't worry, it does. I know you have been eyeing the Groza of mine over there. You can have it. And my prices aren't so steep for people who I know aren't going to drop into a fruit punch." "Awesome! Thank you Sidorovich!" "You can call me Sid." "Alright… Thanks Sid. Do you perhaps have 4 medkits and that modded Walther P99?" "Sure do, that will be 700 Rubles." "Ok." Leon handed him the money and picked up the various objects. "Now what is this special mission?" "Well, I know a STALKER, the Marked One. He went north about 5 months ago. He is the reason you can get past the brain scorchers. Well, he hasn't been seen around here in a while and I want you to go north and look for him." "Alright, but it had better pay well." "Don't worry, it will. On your way north you will want to stop by barkeep. He will resupply you and might know where the Marked One went." "Ok, I guess I'll be heading out." He turned around and started to walk up the stairs. From behind him he heard a faint "Good hunting stalker."
Leon walked back to the campfire and gave his men their things. "Hey guys, Sid just offered me a job." "What is it?" Matviyko inquired. "We need to look for the marked one, apparently he went off the radar up north and Sid wants to know why." "Alright, I'm in till Argoprom. I've got some business to talk care of there." "Ok. What about you Jack?" "Well… I think that I'm going to stay here for a while. I might head up to bar in a month or so." "Well… I guess it's just you and me then Mat." Leon picked up his pack "You ready to go Mat?" "Sure." "Then lets get moving. We are wasting daylight." They set out, heading north up the road. As they walked up to the bridge they decided to just go around rather than risk the anomalies. They walked on past the bandit camp until they reached the checkpoint under the partially collapsed bridge, soldiers standing near the various vehicles that cluttered the road.
"You had better get out of here STALKERs. Before I decide to not be so nice."
"Hold on friend!" Matviyko stepped between the Marine and the Ukraine soldier. "I'm sure we can figure out a way for me and my friend here to get through."
"Maybe… If the price is right, 1500 rubles each."
"That's a little steep don't you think?"
"Well if you want I can give you some lead for free. Now pay up or get out of my face!"
Matviyko turned to look at Leon. Leon nodded and sprung into action, Jumping toward the man and stabbing the corrupt officer in the jugular before he heard Leon's battle cry.
He held up the body as a human shield, spraying the dead man's AK at the soldiers as Matviyko started popping off shots at the nearest soldier. Leon emptied the clip but only managed to drive the soldiers into cover while Mat killed two. They ducked behind a huge chuck of concrete in the center of the road. He holstered his knife and grabbed a grenade from the dead soldier, tossing it over the tipped over boxcar where three soldiers had dove to cover. The resulting explosion and pained screams assured him the job was done. He drew his Groza and put in a mag of armor piercing rounds and quickly took out two soldiers who peeked out at an unlucky time. "Only two left Leon!" Leon didn't hear him though. He was only half in the zone. The other part of him was somewhere else. Somewhere he didn't want to go back to. The remaining two soldiers ran from behind a bulldozer but where mowed down within seconds. And with their deaths it was like a trance was lifted, suddenly he was back in the zone. He was no longer a killing machine with nothing on his mind but death.
"Hey are you ok Leon?.."
"Fine, let's get whatever is useful off the corpses and get moving. Grab the officer's Kevlar and put it under your coat."
"Why not just take the entire suit?"
"I'd hate for some Dutyer or STALKER to pick us off at 300 yards because of a set of clothes, we all still don't like Military very much, even after what Major Detryrev."
"Good point." Matviyko and Leon got to the gruesome task of scavenging the bodies and camp. They divided the loot evenly and got away with 5 army medkits, food, and enough ammo to get them to the Bar for both of their assault rifles and Shotguns, Mat got his own Winchester 1300 and a scope for his AK. Leon got a stock for his Winchester 1300 and 5 grenades for his rifle's launcher.
"Alright, is that everything?"
"Yeah, I put the stuff we aren't taking in a box in that boxcar, Its hidden well. Feel free to use it too Leon."
"Thanks, good thinking. Let's go. I want to reach the edge of garbage by Fifteen Hundred"
"What time is that?"
"That's three O clock, sorry."
"Ha, it's ok. Let's get moving then."
They began walking. They passed an overturned Death-Truck, Some abandoned houses and a few Springboard anomalies without incident. They walked into the gate of the abandoned Military checkpoint right on time.
"Why is this empty? All the STALKERs I've talked to said this place usually had at-least four or five STALKERs in it at all times… What happened?"
"I dunno Leon…" Suddenly a voice boomed out from the checkpoint's building.
"LAY YOUR WEAPONS DOWN!"
"Leon what do we do?"
"Do what he says for now." Leon and Matviyko set down their weapons.
"Nice and easy, just how I like it." A figure in a Trench coat stepped out of the building wielding an Armstel Striker. "You know what's going on here, give me your valuables and you can be on your way." Leon scanned the area and counted 10 bandits. "No getting out of this one with guns. Alive that is."
"Ok. We will do as you say." Matviyko gave him a concerned look. Leon looked back and said "Look this isn't a video game; we can't take out 10 guys with our bare hands!"
"Your friend is right buddy, now hand over your stuff and everyone gets out of here alive and unhurt."
From the watchtower on of the bandits said "Ulrich! Seven more STALKERs are on their way! I think they spotted our friends over there!"
"You two hurry it up! We haven't got all day!"
Over his shoulder there was the wiz of a bullet followed by the sickening crunch of the man in tower's head being hit by a 7.62x54mmR round.
Leon and Mat took advantage of the distraction, quickly grabbing their weapons and opening fire on the bandits. Leon shot Ulrich down, the man dropped with two bullets to the skull. A bandit turned around and opened fire with a pistol. He clipped Mat in the shoulder as they ran for cover behind a derelict UAZ. Leon returned the favor with his Groza while Mat killed a bandit attempting to escape before returning to cover and injecting himself with the syringe from an army medkit. Soon the bandits recovered from the shock and opened fire at the UAZ.
Somewhere from Leon's memory he heard a voice say, "Cars are concealment NOT cover!" Heeding this advice he yelled over the gunfire to Mat "WE HAVE TO MOVE! STAY BEHIND ME!"
Not a second later a 12 gauge slug ripped through the door Leon was behind a mere second before. They sprinted behind an APC; Mat fired his pistol at their attackers and killed another bandit with a lucky shot.
The STALKERs arrived at the gate, Killing two more bandits and losing 1 of their own. The few bandits left moved into the courtyard. Leon and Mat peeked around the corner and opened fire on the 3 bandits moving toward them. They yelled in surprise and attempted to duck out of the fire but Leon was in the trace. He killed the closest one with his Groza, emptying then mag. He let go of his Groza, the sling taking to weight as he drew his pistol up and popped 3 in heart of the furthest bandit. He was about to take out the last bandit but one of the STALKERs beat him to it.
Mat came out from behind the APC to grab their shotguns. "Hey Leon i'm going to grab a Striker instead, you want the other?" Leon nodded "Sure. Thanks."
Leon was surprised to see Fanatic and some of the others that were sent to the barn.
"Hey Fanatic! What are you doing here?"
"Well you're welcome Leon. We heard the commotion up at the checkpoint and figured we ought to come check it out. I saw you lay down your weapons and figured you would need some help."
"Well thanks Fanatic. I owe you one."
"It's no problem. Good luck in garbage, Try to be more careful. The bandits are far more prevalent in Garbage."
"Alright, Thanks guys. C'mon Mat. You have everything you need?"
"Yeah. I checked the bandit leader's PDA. Apparently they where planning on joining up with the bandits at the Car park and then taking the rookie village!"
"Hear that men? Sound like those bandits need to be put in their place!"
Fanatic and his "men" left Leon and Mat to scavenge the bodies. They put most of the loot in a chest within the checkpoint with a PDA GPS beacon labeled "Thanks for the help! Take all you want" programmed to broadcast to Fanatic.
With all that taken care of they headed out to garbage, hoping to make it to the STALKER's camp by dusk.
Part two:
They smelled Garbage before they saw it. A stench of decay death and rot wafted over from the horizon as they approached the gates to Garbage, along with the occasional sound of a gun firing. Mat took point with his striker and moved through the gate first, scanning the area. He was surprised to see an intact military convoy, relatively untouched by the zone.
"Hey Leon you gotta see this!" "What? Is it some artif-" He saw the convoy. "Whoa man. This might be a trap. Mat you check the trucks, I'll make sure the drivers of the UAZs are dead. Then let's look for supplies." They set out on their work.
"They don' have any bullet holes or scratch marks..." Leon said, stabbing the soldier in driver's seat of the last UAZ in the heart. "The blood is cold and congealed. They have been dead for a while, but not too long or the wildlife would have gotten them... Interesting."
"Do you think it was the emission Leon?" "Probably, it could have been a controller but they play with their victims, make them shoot their buddies and such. Now the question is what where the military doing this far into the zone. These aren't even military STALKERs. Let's check the vehicles for documents and supplies, the solders too.
30 minutes later they but most of what they found in a chest in the back of the truck, then they locked the chest with a key, of which the commander conveniently carried two of. What they did take was a USP-45 for Leon, An Abakan for Mat, and some encrypted documents the found on the commander.
"Hey Mat!" Leon exclaimed, waving him over. "Let's see if any of these vehicles still run." Mat climbed into the cab of the supply truck and turned the key. Nothing happened "Leon it's not starting, and it's barely cranking." "Try pumping the gas pedal. Carburetors don't do so well here in the Zone." He tried again "Nothing man." "Alright you try the lead UAZ I'll try the one at the rear we need to hurry though, We are wasting enough daylight as it is."
Leon and Mat ran to the vehicles, Leon jump in and turned the key. Nothing happened. "HEY MAT! ANY LUCK?" Leon shouted "NO! THE PIECE OF CRAP WON'T START!" Leon turned his attention back to the UAZ "C'mon baby! Start!" he pumped the gas pedal a little and it jumped into life, purring and coughing. "Yes!" Leon patted the dash as he pulled around to get Mat.
"Leon mine just won't star... You must be real lucky Leon." He hopped in the back and drew his Abakan just in case anyone wanted to start trouble. Leon pulled the UAZ around and went on down the road till they reached an old bus blocking the road, with a crashed troop transport nearby.
"These Military need to learn how to drive, eh Mat? Let's go check it out." Leon killed the UAZ and put the keys in one of his pockets, and then he drew his Groza. They moved toward the bus first.
"I have a bad feeling about this Leon..." "Just come on and don't be such a wuss." Leon pried open the door with his combat knife and quickly sweeped the bus for anything hostile. "Alright Mat look around for anything.. this place looks empty though. Leon moved toward the back of the bus, checking under every seat.
"Hey mat! I found a backpack... There's some loot in it! Looks like a couple of artifacts. And some ammo" "Cool. I didn't find anything up here but an old air freshener and dust." "Alright lets get out of here." They exited the bus and suddenly a psydog jumped out of the bushes. It split into 9 others. "AH WHAT THE HELL!" Leon yelled whilst opening fire with his Groza, Disabling 4 of them in a puff of psychic energy. They surrounded him and he lunged wildly with his knife all the while Matviyko stood there in shock.
"HELP ME YOU IDIOT!" Mat sprang into action as if he were slapped, pulling out his Walther and killing 3 new clones. One of the Dogs leaped at Leon, tearing his Kevlar vest in half, ammunition and supplies raining down on the pavement, the soft tingling of casings hitting the acient pavement almost ironic in the case of the situation. Leon stabbed the beast in the chest and threw it at the bus, pulling out his USP and splattering the demonic creature's brains on the side of the bus. Quickly he tore off what was left of his vest and grabbed a roll bandaging, wrapping it around the two feet long diagonal slash across his chest.
"Oh no, Leon man... I'm sorry I just.. and that thing!" "It's alright Mat. I'll make it. My armor won't though."
Mat started picking up all the spilled supplies and put them in the backpack while Leon hobbled over to the bus, sitting down next to the Psydog. "Mat toss me the best medkit we have." Matviyko tossed him a scientist medkit.
He took the bandaging off and spread the antibiotic on the wound, biting down of a wad of the old bandage to not scream from pain. The he grabbed syringe and filled it up with the coagulants, injecting it in the worst places, then re-wrapping the wound with Unna's Boot.* and an outer layer of regular bandaging to seal in the medicines.
"Mat go check the truck over there for some armor I can use, I wont last five minutes in Jeans and a T shirt."
Mat came back with a Huge grin and a suit of Skat-9M Military armor. "Leon you hit the lottery! This will compensate for me letting you get hurt like this. Hurry! Put it on. I hope it fits." Leon laughed and quickly put on the suit. "Like a glove my friend. Lets get moving... Its going to start getting dark soon"
Leon put all of his belongings in the storage compartments within the suit and powered it up. A heads up display prompted him to link any capable weapons. He looked on all his weapons and activated the microchips in all of them. Ammo counters and Vitals jumped up in the corners of the display, and a small GPS map came to life in the top corner.
"I could get used to this!" Leon said happily taking in a deep breath of clean air. "Ok lets get moving. I can get you to the stalker camp by sundown." He walked to the jeep, climbing in carefully as not
They drove on past the vehicle graveyard and the pile of concrete slabs that housed the bandit's camp without trouble and pulled into the hangar. He shut it off and grabbed the keys holding them in his hand.
"Hey STALKER, Where'd you get that fancy toy?" Said a random stalker
"That military convoy near the entrance to cordon, you know anything about that?" Leon responds, clutching his chest as his wound reminded him it was there.
"Well.. I might remember, its just I'm so low on funds that I know if I can get the stress out of mind..."
"How does 200 Ru sound?"
"Well yeah its all getting clearer now.. I saw some military go by the hangar from aprogram in one hell of a hurry. You'd think there was a herd of pseudogiants after them the way they where driving. An emission hit a couple seconds after they went around the bend up there. I guess that's why they where driving so crazy."
"I wonder why they left aprogram with an emission approaching... those documents must be important." Leon thought to himself. "Alright. Take your money." He handed him some coins."Well Mat I guess this is where we say goodbye. I'll be in the Bar area for a while. I might go to the Rustok wilds for a bit."
"Alright. Thanks for the help man." Mat said. Leon head out his arms. "Brohug. Not too tight. Heh" They quickly embraced.** "Well I'll be heading out. Hopefully Duty has a good medic."
"Godspeed Leon." Leon got back in the UAZ fired it up and pulled out of the hangar, heading toward the duty checkpoint. Matviyko watched him drive off, then began looking for a cot to spend the night in.
Leon sped along the curved road at 40MHP, avoiding the occasional obstacle. He arrived at the duty checkpoint around 11:00, Took off his armor found the nearest cot and collapsed, slipping into a deep sleep instantly.
* In medicine, an Unna's boot is a special gauze (usually 4 inches wide and 10 yards long) bandage. The gauze is impregnated with a thick, creamy mixture of zinc oxide and calamine to promote healing. It may also contain acacia, glycerin, castor oil and white petrolatum. Yes, I do know it is for feet injuries mostly, but he just got his chest ripped open, I firgured the medkit had to have some sort special bandage.
**No they aren't gay. This isnt a gay romance or slash type deal. If that's what you want gtfo.