Only it turns out I wasn't dead. I ended up in a small town in the mountains with nothing but a Makarov gun, just as how I started. I looked over the horizon like I had done before, and I saw a large town. I went down the mountain and entered the town, it was Hark; the same town I thought I had died in. Pulling out my Makarov, I slowly walked through the abandoned streets, cautiously checking for movement.
I found the spot where my team once were, and I managed to retrieve some, but not all of what we had. A map, a compass, a pack, and rations. No good weapons though, the man who killed us probably got it. While retrieving, I saw movement in a distant house. I quickly hid inside a red house, climbed up the second floor, and watched the window while hidden. I was not sure if it was the same man or another man, so I did not dare to approach.
After hiding for quite some time, I saw another person, distinctly different from the first one, going around the town. I gave up hiding and decided to approach him. He didn't shoot first, that's a good sign. He looked like someone who was experienced, so I decided to try to befriend him. His name was Convert. I asked Convert if he had seen anyone with a van, in which he said "No, I haven't.". His friend Techno then comes out of a house. Techno doesn't know either.
"Maybe the person already left." said Convert.
"Oh well." I replied.
We decided to form a team, and we proceeded to loot what was left in the town. After a while of looting, we found more supplies than we would have found had my old team left Hark. A traveler then was seen entering the town. I somehow recognized the traveler. It was Twin, a member of the old team I was with. I introduced Twin to the team, and not long after that, we saw another person in the distance.
Convert almost immediately brought out his gun, and chased the person. Techno followed, as me and Twin confusingly catch up.
"What are you running after?" I asked Convert.
"We're chasing this guy" replied Convert
We chased the person to the woods, where he hid behind trees and fired shots at us. The person got a good shot at Convert, injuring him and his stuff dropping down. I ran towards the person to avenge Convert, and I killed him. The person was not carrying much, but it looked like he was known to have killed a lot of survivors. I went to Convert, and we helped him get his stuff back. After a while, we were wondering what to do now.
Convert looked at Techno, then looked at me, then ran off. Before I could utter a word, they were both gone. It was just me and Twin.
"Oh wow." I told Twin.
Twin seemed to want to start moving rather than staying around, so we made our way to the small town outside Hark. We then made a left turn and moved back to where we came from. We were going to go back to Kin. As we retraced our steps into familiar surroundings, Twin stopped.
"I have to go somewhere now. See you." said Twin, as he walked his own path.
I was all alone again, just as I was in the beginning.