It was a very calm evening down in the Pripyat outskirts, the stars shined bright and the moon was full, beautiful as always. It was getting dark, so a certain stalker began walking home.
He walked calmly on the pavement, having his guns holstered. He didn't think there would be any fights since even the bandits lay low in the area, because they are scared of the monolith and their unique weaponry.
The stalker was with the loners, but was friendly to other factions such as Duty or Freedom, it would be a bad decision to stand up against someone that helps you, right?
And not just any help, they are helping eachother to make the military retreat from the Zone completely, not leaving a single soldier by his life. The stalker was always negative to the military in the Zone, and he killed every soldier that he met.
The stalker stumbled upon two people on the corner of a street, they were talking to eachother and looking at the wall of the opposite building, they spoke quietly so nobody hears them. He tried to listen to the conversasion between the two, but couldn't make up anything. He peeked out from around the corner and tried to see their patches.
They weren't a threat, just two Loners' hanging around at a pleasent evening, no big deal. He began walking again, looking behind his shoulder. He didn't see anyone behind him.
The stalker reached the bar he was hanging around most of the time. He walked on the path from the street to the bar. Some of the stalkers there greeted him with friendly smiles, he did the same, altough his face expression was not visible due to him wearing a gas mask the whole time.
He walked to the door and pulled the handle opening the door. He wet straight in, closing the door behind him. He headed towards his old friend, Sidorovich. Sid is the one taking care of the stalker, he took good care of the mysterious stalker since the first day he arrived to the Zone.
Sidorovich glanced at the stalker with a smile.
"Ah, there you are! Where have you been, Hunter?" asked Sid with a smile.
Hunter removed the gas mask, strapping it on to his belt. He looked up at Sid a moment later.
"Nowhere special, just hanging around in the area" he replied with a little smile, looking at the old man.
Sid looked over at him for the last time before continuing the conversasion between him and a stalker.
Hunter looked around and walked over to an empty seat, it was right next to the exit. That's his favourite spot, because most of the stalkers are deeper in the dining area, right next to the show stage.
He felt a slight buzz in his pocket. He looked down and searched for the source of the buzz, he grabbed it and pulled it up. It was his PDA, it has been updated with a new quest.
"There is a rookie near Red Forest and Army Warehouses, he's pinned down by some mutants. Go ahead and help him" is what the description said.
Hunter sighed and stood up again, putting his gas mask on again.
"Hey, be careful with these asbestos thingys, okay? Nobody wants to see you poisoned by your own gas mask" said Sidorovich before making a trade with another stalker.
"That would be a silly death, nobody wants a silly death" mumbled Hunter to himself before walking outside again.
-Some time flies by and Hunter reaches the destination-
Hunter stops infront of the now abondoned barrier, he immiedatly spotted the trapped rookie and a few snorks around him. Hunter pulls up his Ak-74 and aims down the sights, firing a few rounds.
The snorks fell to the ground and the rookie was freed.
"Thank you s-stalker" the rookie mumbled, he was embarrased of what he got trapped by.
Hunter walked over to the rookie, looking down at him.
"Look, I only had a Makarov with me" said the rookie.
Hunter sighed.
"What the hell were you thinking about going out at night all by yourself? You could've been killed!" said Hunter with a concerned tone.
"I..I just wanted to catch up to my group in Red Forest" the rookie said with a sad tone, he felt stupid.
"I saw them when I was walking over here" replied Hunter with a stone cold expression.
The rookie looked up with a smile.
"Really? Were they looking for me?" asked the rookie.
"They were dead, ripped to shreds by anomalies" continued Hunter.
The rookie was broken by the fact that his friends died, he tried to hold back the tears.
"Never go to Red Forest at night, understood?" asked Hunter before walking past the rookie and into the Army Warehouses where the Loners have a camp, he thought that he could sleep there and go back to Prypiat in the morning.
The rookie sat on his knees for a while, staring down at the ground.