The faintest glimmers of sunlight were revealing themselves on the horizon as I made my way through the swamp. Reeds crackled loudly around me as I crept through the shallow, murky water around me. The air was heavy and moist, filled with biting insects. I clutched my weapon tightly and tried to calm my trembling hands. A rustle up ahead caused me to freeze. Sweat beaded on my brow as my eyes darted around, searching for any signs of movement.
Another rustling in the reeds caught my attention, and I wheeled around, firing wildly into the foliage. The roar of gunfire filled my ears and spent shell casings spat from my weapon. A light mist of blood appeared in the air where my rounds hit what seemed like thin air, and with a shimmer it appeared. The creature known to the inhabitants of the Zone as a bloodsucker was a twisted parody of a man. At least seven feet tall, the thing was covered in a leathery hide. Below its beady black eyes was a mass of fanged tentacles. With blinding speed, it leapt at my face as I continued to fire. Just before it reached me the beast fell, its lifeless body splashing into the shallow waters. The putrid smell of the creature's blood hung in the air, and I wanted to bend over and hurl my fear into the swamp water. However, I knew that bloodsuckers never hunted alone. I steadied myself, then ejected the spent magazine and slammed another in. I calmed my breathing as I swept my eyes around the area. I knew I had to be close to their nest.
Just above the reeds a shimmer in the air alerted me to another bloodsucker. As it burst from the thick foliage, I dived to my left. I swung my rifle around as I rose to my feet. I pulled the trigger, firing directly into its torso, letting the recoil bring my spray of fire into its face. I felt my finger leaving the trigger as it finally went down. I reloaded with shaking hands as I heard movement from further into the swamp. Looking around, I spotted a fallen tree. I clambered up onto a relatively high branch, giving myself a good vantage point of the surrounding area about 2 meters off of the ground. Two more bloodsuckers appeared from the reeds. One of them was at least a foot taller than the other. I unhooked a grenade from my belt, released the pin, and tossed it at their feet.
The explosion deafened me as a wave of pressure swept over the area, nearly knocking me from my vantage point. Looking down, I could see the shrapnel-filled body of the smaller bloodsucker. The other roared in pain and hatred as its bleeding form charged at the tree. I managed to catch a few lucky rounds in its chest, slowing it down, but the thing reached the fallen tree. I frantically tried to reload my TRS-301 as it leaped up, grabbing the branch I was standing on. The branch cracked and fell, bringing both the bloodsucker and myself crashing to the muddy ground below.
A sharp pain in my ankle told me it was sprained, if not broken. I pushed myself up as quickly as I could, and saw my rifle half-buried in the mud a few meters away. Even if I could get to it, I knew it might be too jammed to fire. I had to act quickly. The bloodsucker rose to its feet and noticed my prone form immediately. I could almost see it smiling as it strode over to me, claws ready to disembowel me quickly, if I was lucky. I scrambled to unholster my sidearm. I raised it to the thing's head and squeezed the trigger. The weapon roared as a .45 calibre shell punched through the bloodsucker's eye. As a scream of rage filled my ears, I aimed again, putting two more rounds into its chest as it closed the gap between us. The bloodsucker swiped at my hand, tearing two wide gashes across my skin and knocking the pistol away. In one motion I kicked as hard as I could into its stomach, buying me a split second to free my knife from its holster. I gripped the hilt as I pushed myself unsteadily to my feet and limped over to the injured and half-blind bloodsucker. With a final scream it charged at me, only realizing its mistake when it stopped to look down at the knife embedded into its chest. The bloodsucker's remaining eye glazed over as it let out one last whimper and fell to the muddy ground, lifeless. Quickly retrieving my sidearm, I put one more round into the back of its skull. One doesn't survive long in the zone without being careful, after all.
Bleeding profusely, and clutching the open gash in my side, I breathed a sigh of relief and turned towards the rising sun. It was a long walk back to Yanov.