Chapter 1 "First Contact"

I opened the hatch leading out of the bunker corridor. Thank god for those Russians, always building bomb shelters everywhere there's possible. Moscow metro System is said to be the best example. But I digress, let's focus on the present.

The exit was located North-East from flooded village, which was in turn located north of Svetiy Village, a modern housing estate housing two shops, some houses and abandoned construction yard of one-to-be Villa, right next to other Villas. I ignored the tempation to check if there's something valuable, as it's very unlikey, so I continued my trek down the street to the actual shoreline. As I've thought, the only sound hearable for now was the wind and your own thoughts. I stopped by an old-looking bus, and brought up the monocular, previously pulling it out of backpack. I studied the callopsed tunnel entrance. Between regular cars, there stood an ambulance, easily spottable by it's white-and-red color scheme. Further down the edge of the road I noticed a simple police car, it's trunk brutally removed from it's hindges. That crosses out the possibility of a Scav Gang not being here. Should I make a straight line for the Guard Hut made out of concrete? Maybe I should, but I'll be exposed.

I made the decision to make a beeline for the hut, not running but walking. It's not like I have a time limit, huh? And so I walked through the small hills and bushes with occasional trees being here and there. After making my way to it, I hugged the concrete wall and listened. Nothing but a whistle of wind in my active headset. I used the monocular yet again, scanning the surroundings.

What's this? I noticed a movement on the old brown metal barge, and as I scoped in I saw the telltale baggy pants, maybe jeans on one of the figures, and sweaters under a simple vestment that was under yet again vest, this time black tactical one. Others had something similar, but one thing was clear - those were Scavs. Mindless beasts.

Weird though, I thought they never moved out of their cozy little island. They must've spotted something interesting, I pondered as I walked slowly next to road, heading down closer to the old ship, using the trees as concealment. And as I got closer to the intersection I increased the zoom so I could focus on the movement.

Gotta hand it to them, Scavengers can be tactical if they want to, or under right leadership. And I think it was the former, I'm afraid. Heading down the road, was a 5-man team of women. Yes, women. And to top it all off, they were pretty- Scratch that, they were the prettiest I've seen since deployment. Like damn, if I wasn't a little bit suspicous and alarmed beforehand, I'd greet them myself. But I'm not, plus I am a Loner by choice.

Now, what should I do? Should I alarm them by shooting one of the Scavs, splattering his blood on the grass and destroying their pathethic attempt at an ambush? Or should I leave, not caring while they walk into their very possible doom? I don't want to play a literal knight in shining armor, but I'm curious of what is their objective.

I pocketed my monocular into AVS, and brought up my trusty AK-103. I aimed down the collimator, and brought it onto the Scavs' clothed and vested back, while he was hiding behind a trunk. Breathing in, I pulled the trigger and fired off a single gunshot. Shot echoed through the air, destroying the peaceful silence. The group of women was somewhat visable in the distance and their reaction was instant. Scattering and taking several shooting positions, it looked like they were no pushovers. But an element of suprise can change the result of every battle.

The Scavs were less that happy however. One of them screamed "Oh fuck, an ambush!" and the other added "Fellas, take cover!" and immidedly retreated back behind their trunks. Two of them looked around, and damn. They spotted me. That can't be good.

"There he is!" He yelled as loudly as he could and aimed his semi-auto MP-153 shotgun "And it's fucking American! You wanted to play the hero, eh cyka!?" He continued, pulling the trigger and firing a couple of shots in my direction. Tarkov taught me well and I didn't even wait for him to end his first sentence to began running behind a tree myself, changing the fire-mode to single fire.

"Oh ty cyka!" I yelled back, maybe it wasn't a good idea to expose myself, but here goes. Maybe this will do something. Taunt them to answer.

"Oh look at that!" Other one yelled instead, peppering the trunk with 9x18 bullets from Kedr SMG. Judging from the side, he was probably closer to the actual road. "He's talking back! Get him!" and with that, the second part was actual orders. Former Policeman, I think? How mighty you've fallen. Alright, I'm here taunting the shit out of criminals, but I'm running out of time to slip away from the female team. I leaned from the left, and aimed for the blue sweaters or jeans. I found them, fools didn't even bother to camoflage them with mud. I squezeed the trigger a coulpe of times, sending off a couple of bullets into their flesh. Grunts gave me a good enough answer, so I fired yet again. This time, I heard a yelp and a small cry before it all ended abruptly. The second one, using MP-153 was quick to use the possibility and close the gap. I also changed the positon into a more left sided one. Fortune had it, I bumped into him while doing so. Unlike him, who was running, I was caught walking and hipfired five rounds into his figure, at what he folded like a pocket knife and gave a dying scream.

That solves that. While I was busy with Scav fiasco, the shots from a diffrent number of weapons could be heard, but only now, I managed to connect the dots. FN 5-7 handgun, a variant of SA-58 and three weapons I didn't know the name. Two of them sounded like a 5.56 NATO rounds, other unknown... And I think there were some singular cracks of a .308 rifle; very similar yet diffrent to 7.62x51 NATO; model unknown to me.

All that information in mind, I turned North-West, and followed the road, sprinting. Losing the line of sight was crucial. I could make out the diffrent villas and the contruction site with a small shop and a bus stop in one. It's time to do head where I need to.

FN SQUADRON

"FN, come in!" A voice of a distressed female commander was heard in the FAL's earpiece. She turned around, gestured a closed fist to the other T-Dolls, who in turn too defensive positions, Ballista overlooking the area.

"Oui. We're here." She stated calmly after answering the call."Everything's fine."

"I told you at the debriefing to be more careful, but I'm glad you're alright." Commander replied with genuine relief in her voice. "After Action Report, please."

"We were moving along the shoreline using the road to cut travel times, and we almost walked into an ambush. Than-"

"An Ambush!?" Shock was apparent in her voice "Sangvis Ferri is there!? Intel clearly denied the possibility!"

"No, Sangvis Ferri wasn't responsible. It was a third party. Could you wait a minute or two? I will confirm who they were."

"Standing by." She replied and waited.

FAL used this time to move up the road and desended into the bushes of the road. Truly, maybe it was a bad idea to wear her standard uniform on this sortie. The branches were swatting her, and while harmless, they were annoying.

"I'm back." She announced into the the microphone. She kneeled on one knee, taking a closer look at the body in front of her. The man looked like he was in his 30s, olive jacket on top of a sweater, pants had a single kneepad protecting the right joint. Bloody flower was plastered on his chest, making a clear bullet entrance wound. The rest of her team looked at it for a second and continued their guard duty. After examining the body she came to a grave conclusion. "Mein Gott." She muttered while covering her mouth in shock."They-They are..."

"What are they, FAL?" The Commander asked catiously."Who-"

"Human." She ended biting her lip "We- Humans."

Startled gasps were heard from the group, and even Ballista gave a small half-done curse before she reprimanded herself. Tons of questions formed within their Digi-minds. Most common were: 'Why?'; 'What drived them to kill on sight?'; 'Is every Human in this city like that?'.

"It's alright FAL. You couldn't have known." Commander started. "And they did try to hurt you first. Their positioning gave them away and...?" The unspoken question was asked.

FAL collected herself and answered "Thankfully, someone shot at them first, alerting us to their presence. Even after that, they still fired at us. No remorse, nothing."

"Hey, you!" The Commander shouted to someone. "Fetch me something or someone, that can analyse the types of weaponry by their sound. Thanks." She cleared her throat and continued. "Sorry, FAL. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, Commander." Ballista chiped in. "I'm sorry for interrupting, but I have a report to make."
"Go ahead." Commander and FAL answered in unison. "After we..." She paused, clearly looking for a right word. "Neutralised the hostiles, I scanned the surroundings and I may have spotted a culprit of their failure."

"Interesting." Commander replied, intrigued."Details, please?"

"From the looks of it, It's a He." Ballista started."And AK-pattern rifle was in his hands, I don't know which one, ask AK-47 for that. He was covering his face with a black balaclava, wearing green pants. Tactical with an additional kneepad on his left leg, I think? And the most important clue: A tan jacket with a logo Patch on his right upper arm." Ballista ended, but before FAL and Commander could further inquire she added "Words 'USEC' were sewn on top a stylized eagle. Last seen him running deeper into the woods, roughly predicting he's going to Health Resort."

"One of the sides in the 'Contract Wars.', I know." Commander replied immidedly. "And we have analised the data we got from your encounter. Mostly shotguns, one SMG; 'Kedr' we think, one SKS - hunting variant, called the OP-SKS and one Mosin-Nagant from the sniper. What's interesting that there was an AK-103 in all of this. The Gunshot that saved you was the one."

"Why would he do that?" FNC wondered aloud, not talking to the commander but in private. "He had nothing to gain-" She was abruptly cut off by a playback.

*Ah ty cyka!* The words sounded foreign to them, but Commander added, more like wondered aloud. "It's Russian with Slavic no-russian accent. Curious,it truly is." Then She cleared her throat. "United Security was responsible for protecting Terra Group's assets. New objective FAL. I want you to find him, pronto, and convince him to guide us. If He refuses, I will make an offer he should not decline."

"I see." FAL replied, looking around at everyone."Copy that. Over and out." she then turned to everyone, Ballista made her way here while she was busy giving report o the Commander.

"We got our orders everyone." She said, after disconnecting from her call."Let's go. And fast, we may catch him before he enters the resort." The T-Dolls nodded and followed the trail of a lone USEC Contractor.