What was supposed to be the other half of the first chapter is now here, enjoy!
These parts don't get many visitors.
STALKERs don't wander around here, not because they are any more dangerous than other parts of The Zone, simply because there's nothing. Just open fields with the occasional tree every so often.
Sharp thought this was somewhat nice. Definetly better than walking around the ruins of some factory.
He and Tinker travelled for a really good time since their agreement, the land slowly began to turn into swamp, it's was a bit more annoying to move around, but just that. Sharp kept watch for anything that could take them by surprise, and Tinker followed the coordinates to the base.
So far they found no trouble on their way there, being in the middle of an open field meant nothing could sneak their way towards them, and with no STALKERs around theres nothing that could be a real threat to the pair. Other than easily avoidable anomalies, the only thing he spotted on this long walk was a boar in the distance, and it simply kept to itself and wandered off after a while.
this was fine and all, but a bit uneventful. You can only walk for so long before you get bored out of your mind.
"Hey, How long till we find it?" Sharp said.
"We're close, give it one more hour or so and we'll be there," Tinker said, his eyes not looking away from his PDA.
No need to keep watch then, they were almost there. Sharp looked at Tinker, "How exactly did you came across this job?" He asked, might as well keep talking. "Got no work to do and just wandered around like me?"
"Something like that," Tinker said as he looked back. "A trade went bad and left me looking for money elsewhere."
"What happened?" Sharp questioned.
"Just bad luck, I was supposed to meet someone in Rostok for a deal," Tinker said.
"Yeah," Sharp nodded. Both of them stopped in front of a small barbed wire fence. Tinker carefully climbed over the fence as hecontinued talking, "well, the poor bastard got himself robbed on his way there and called off the deal, so I went to Cordon to buy low and hopefully sell high, that's when I met this group," He finished, now on the other side.
Sharp climbed on the pole of the fence and jumped over, "Are you a trader, then?" Sharp asked as they resumed their journey.
"That's right!" Answered Tinker with pride, "I make my living through trading! Put me to negotiate a deal and I'll be in my prime!"
"What if someone hold us at gun point and demands all our stuff?" Sharp joked.
"Simple! I'll buy out his weapon!" Tinker joked back confidently.
Sharp chuckled. "Alright, that one got me." He looked at the sky, the sun was setting, it would get dark soon.
"And you? Any line of work you excell at?" Tinker said, done with his PDA.
"Not that I know of," said Sharp taking out his bag and pulling ouy a head flashlight from it. "I mostly keep tabs on all kind of jobs, the easy ones mostly, like hunting animals or looking for stuff."
Tinker took out a flashlight of his own. "Well if you're looking for money after this, then call me up! We traders are always in need of more stuff or getting things done!"
"I will, and if I ever loot another abandoned base you'll be the first to know," Half-joked Sharp.
"Speaking of which," Tinker said, pointing at the hill in the distance. "This is the place."
Soggy grass buried in mud, trees twisted into shapes that were curious at best and unsettling at worst, and a hill sticking out from the ground with the subtlety of a dislocated bone.
This was the place of the coordinates.
Sharp looked around, he couldn't see the entrance, not there, nor in the woods and neither or anywhere in the swamp.
Tinker looked at Sharp, and checked the coordinates. "Don¡t worry, this is the place. It must be somewhere around here," he said.
"Let's start searching then," Sharp said as he drew his gun. "You check the right side of the hill, I'll check the left."
Tinker nodded and drew out his gun, they began to surround the hill.
What little Light that remained started to fade, and soon after darkness covered the area. They turned on their flashlights and continued, they helped them see only a couple of meters away. They met again at the other side, with the entrance dug on that part of the hill: a rusted metal gate, with plants growing between the bars, closed with a lock.
As Tinker took out his PDA, Sharp began to collect branches, sticks and leaves. He putted them all in a dryer part of the floor and soaked them with vodka. Taking sips of his makeshift fuel, Sharp took out a Zippo and lit the little pile on fire. The small flames of the bonfire began to grow, bringing warm and light to the dark swamp.
Tinker approached Sharp and took a seat, "alright, I noticed the guys that we're here, now we just need to wait."
Sharp nodded and shared his bottle to Tinker, an act he accepted. "What can you tell me about these guys, are they Loners?" Sharp asked.
"Most likely" Tinker said as he took a drink from bottle, and gave it back to Sharp.
"They're like 4 in total, maybe more, they had common equipment and weapons from what I remember. They sure aren't Duty thought," he finished.
"Because of no easily distinguished uniforms?" Asked Sharp, finishing his bottle.
"Because Duty would never do something like this," Tinker said. "They would rather demolish the base with explosives than make use of what's inside!" He said with some exasperation, throwing an arm in the air.
"No wonder these people weren't recruiting in Rostok, Duty would've shot them on the spot!" Sharp said with some laughs.
Tinker laughed, "What if they are actually Freedom, and were recruiting just outside of Duty's base just to fuck with them?"
Sharp laughed aloud with Tinker. "That sounds like Freedom alright!" He said while slapping his leg.
A noise interrupted the conversation. It was coming from Tinker's PDA. "It's the group," Tinker remarked. "They will arrive later, and we can start without them if we want."
"What? 'Start' without them?" Sharp said perplexed.
"Yeah" Tinker put out his PDA and looked at Sharp, "to compensate for making us wait, we can risk it and call dibs on whatever we find."
"This is an undiscovered base they found, and they let us enter first, just like that?" Sharp said, skeptical. "Something is not right here."
"Yes, but..." Tinker looked at the entrance. "It's still and an undiscovered base we can enter first..."
Sharp looked at the entrance, he couldn't take his eyes off it. This was stupid, his gut was telling him this was stupid. It could have mutants, it could have anomalies, it could have nothing but the skeletons of previous would-be-explorers like them.
But, those skeletons could have something, then- No! This is stupid!
It could be just a research lab, with nothing but documents and failed experiments.
But, those documents could be confidential, and they are of great value to someone.
No, this is stupid.
It's likely just a military outpost instead of a base, it wouldn't have much in it. Maybe just some worthless stuff like canned food and medicine.
No, those are useful.
And if it was military, maybe it had ammunition too... perhaps it could also have guns stored somewhere... and probably sturdier outfits too.
Sharp stood up, greed won over caution. Tinker looked as he aproached the gate, and hesitantly got up and followed.
"What if... " Tinker said, "What if we run in with something?"
Sharp drew out his shotgun and turned to Tinker. "The moment we see something hostile, we shoot it dead and we run like hell," he Said. Tinker nodded.
Sharp buttstroked the rusted lock, it cracked in two and fell to the muddy ground, the noise of the hit was still echoing inside the building.
He grabbed one of the bars and pulled, the gate didn't move. He putted away his shotgun, grabbed the bar with both hands and pulled again, it barely moved. Tinker grabbed another bar and the both pulled with all their strenghs.
The hinges gave in, rusted pieces of metal jumped out of them as a metallic screech resounded through the area.
The gate was now open.
Inside was a short concrete hallway, cut wires hanged from the ceiling, metal rods coming of the walls and broken tiles scattered the floor.
Sharp entered with Tinker following close behind, both moving slowly, and with their rifles aimed in front of them.
At the end, bolted to the side of the wall was a metal staircase leading below in a spiral.
Sharp reached it and looked down over the edge, a very long way from where he was, and still his flashlight could not illuminate the bottom.
He grabbed a tile from the floor and dropped it beyond the railing of the stairs. It falled into the dark and a couple of seconds later a loud cracking noise echoed from the bottom. He aimed his rifle down, expeting something to scream and climb its way up. He waited for a minute, and another, nothing came out.
"Well... no roars or howlings, that's good," Sharp said with some relieve in his voice.
He putted a foot on the first step of the stairs and pressed, it wasn't sturdy but it wouldn't break. He did the same with the next one, and the next one.
They went down with absolute care, Sharp tested every step of the stairs before standing, if it creaked too loudly he would skip it it and go for the next. Tinker kept aiming below for anything that showed up, walking exactly where Sharp walked.
With every step downwards darkness engulfed more and more of the place, their flashlights were the only thing that kept them out of complete blindness. Outside in the swamp they could see a couple of meters away, down here only one.
They reached the bottom after what felt like a day, a room not too different from the hallway above welcomed them, it had a table and some crates, and at the end were two closed doors.
Tinker went to one of the door and opened it. He peeked from the corner, and gave a thumbs up to Sharp before going inside.
Sharp nodded and walked to the crates, they looked like military storage boxes.
He opened the first one; it had a silenced PB1s, a Fort-12 and ammo to spare, not a new rifle but definelty good.
He opened the second one; Six grenades! Three F1 grenades and three RGD-5. This was getting better and better.
he putted the whole loot in his bag and walked to the table, it had a small blue box on it.
Tinker came out of the room and walked towards Sharp, "I don't think there's anything alive here," he whispered.
"Me neither, nothing attacked us so far," Sharp whispered back.
He grabbed the box with one hand and drew his knife. "Got anything in that room?"
"Yes, I did" whispered Tinker with a smile on his face, his bag looking heavier than before.
Sharp nodded and pried open the small box with the edge of his knife, a red light came out of the box, slightly illuminating the dark room. It was an artifact, a fireball!
Sharp quickly took it out and hold it close with both arms. This trip was worth it, no matter if they didn't find anything else, no matter if it was a nest of mutants, it was already worth it.
"Nice," whispered Tinker. Fireballs were really useful for dealing with radiation, not to mention the heat and light it produces, it could be sold for a good price if needed to. Sharp attached the artifact to his suit, he would never take it off from now on.
Tinker walked to the other door. "Might as well check this out too," he whispered.
He opened the door and the both checked inside, a rather large room, filled with the same deterioration than the others, though this one was also full of burned machinery and broken computers on top of rotten desks. There was't much that could be looted other than some small wooden boxes scattered around and those desks.
Sharp entered with his rifle ready, Tinker remained close to the door. Once inside Sharp could see three hallways, one in each opposing wall. The one of the left collapsed and the one in front lead to a dead end, the one on the right caught his attention.
There was something at the end of it, a massive transparent bubble that kept shaking, looking like it would pop off at any moment.
Sharp stood there confused, was that an anomaly? It didn't looked like any he encountered before. He grabbed a piece of brick from the floor and threw it inside the bubble, the brick flew and completely dissapeared from sight. He grabbed a much bigger brick and threw it to the bubble. Just like the first one the brick dissapeared without any trace or trouble.
Sharp was astonished, this couldn't be an anomaly, it didn't became a chaotic danger when bothered. "Hey Tinker, look at this," he whispered.
Tinker entered the room, "what?" He whispered while looking around, Sharp pointed at the giant bubble in the corridor. Tinker looked at it and flinched back.
"You know what's that?" Sharp asked.
"Careful!" Tinker whispered unnerved. "It looks like an anomaly I heard."
"It is? I threw some stuff at it, and it didn't exploded into fire or showered acid everywhere."
"It is, if you touch that it will take you somewhere else, and there's no way to tell if it'll be safe or dangerous." Tinker said, pointing a finger at the anomaly, "Someone ran into one of those and got trapped, he messaged his friends for help but they couldn't get him out, after some days he starved to death," He finished, looking at the anomaly with caution.
"Oh," Sharp said with unease, he looked at the anomaly with the same caution as Tinker and walked away a couple of steps from it.
A noise invaded the room, Sharp jumped back trying to take aim at whatever was there and Tinker nearly dropped his rifle tapping his pockets, the noise was from his PDA; it got a message.
"For fuck sake Tinker, put that shit on silence already!" Sharp said with a hand on his chest, breathing deeply.
"Sorry, sorry," Tinker said as he checked his PDA, then smirked.
"Oh, very funny" he deadpanned, then looked at Sharp, "the group's here, they asking if we're still alive down here."
Sharp rolled his eyes, "funny bastards," he scoffed and walked out of the room.
Tinker followed him, "well, they do sound like Freedom, after all..." he joked. Sharp gave a small laugh.
"Whatever, let's go meet them" Sharp said.
The both went to the stairs and made the long way up.
The staircase got brighter as they reached the top, and they could hear people outside.
Once on top they could see them; there were five STALKERs arguing.
"No! We got nothing out of that!"Angrily said one.
"And apparently it's my fault that our trader got killed!? Yeah I'm so sorry the Dark Valley got assaulted by that madman!" Responded another one.
"Dark Valley?" Sharp thought, and stopped.
He grabbed Tinker by the shoulder and dragged him to a corner of the entrance, he protested but Sharp shushed him. Unsure, Tinker remained silent. Sharp turned off his flashlight before looking at the group again, he could see them illuminating each other with their flashlights.
There were five in total, and the one in the middle was being confronted by the rest.
"The base had nothing to do with this! you said it was a rare artifact, and no one wanted it!" One said.
"So!? I can't control what people want!" Said the one in the middle.
"You fucking tricked us! You knew that artifact was worthless and didn't say shit!" He yelled and stepped closer.
The middle one stepped back. "No! Just- Let's talk about it after this, alrigh-"
"We won't talk shit, Fuck you! Once we kill those 2 inside you're on your own!" Interrumped other furiously.
Sharp knew it, bandits. This was simply too good to be true, all of this was a trap and he fell for it like a fucking retard. Tinker grimaced and shook his head, not only they made a fool out of him, he dragged someone else to this.
One of the bandits turned to the entrance, a sudden light fell over Sharp and Tinker, slighty dazing them.
"They're here!" he alarmed. All of them turned to them.
The flashlights of the bandits completely illuminated the inside and the outside of the entrance. Hiding was now impossible, Sharp tried to look at them but could only distinguish five lights coming from the darkness.
"Tinker, come out here with your pal, we need to talk," a voice said.
Sharp and Tinker went to each side of the gate with the rifles ready and turned off their own flashlights.
The voice sighted, "you overheard our little disagreement, right? Well then let's make this quick, give us what you found insid-"
Sudden gunshots interrupted him.
A burst came out of Sharps rifle, he aimed at one of the lights in the dark. It trembled and fell to the ground.
"Rusky!" another voice yelled. One light turned and illuminated a body laying in the ground.
All of the lights turned to Sharp, blinding him. He took cover and the field outside started flashing, with each shot a chunk of the floor or the wall came out.
Tinker peeked from his side, four shots came from his rifle, four instants of brightness on him. One of the light moved from Sharp to Tinker.
Tinker took two shots, and the light fell down. There were only three now.
"Motherfuckers!" Another voice yelled.
The bandits stopped shooting, their lights were still illuminating the entrance. Neither Tinker nor Sharp wanted to peek out, they stood there waiting for an opportunity.
Something flew to the inside, it bounced two times and stopped near Tinker, he looked at it.
"SHIT!" He yelled stumbling back, trying to dig his way in the wall, it was a grenade.
Sharp quickly jumped out and approached the greneade, he grabbed it and throwed it back with all his energy. He ran back to cover as the grenade flew out to the field, and just one second later exploded mid-air. Tinker compused himself and gave a grateful nod.
Gunshots started again, but these ones weren't hiting anything near them. All the lights of the bandits moved away from the entrance.
"What the fuck!?" one bandit yelled.
"We found it, eliminate all witnesses!" a new voice yelled outside.
The whole area drowned in sounds of burstfire and gunshots.
"It's the military!" Tinker jumped out alarmed, he quickly turned to Sharp, "let's get out of here, this is our chance!" he said as he ran outside.
"No!" Sharp yelled, raising a hand to stop him, but Tinker was already gone. He followed hesitantly and stopped halfway out, there were many gunshots around the place, each one illuminating some part of the field like a lightshow, three flashed in front, nine further at the distance, seven to his left and eight to his right.
He runned back inside and hid in the shadows, the chaos was too much. With such a firefight stray bullets could easily hit him, or maybe they could spot him as he runned, or he could bump into one of them.
He looked outside nerviously, trying to gather all the valor he had, suddenly the firefight stopped and silence took hold of the now dark field. Sharp bolted to the staircase, there was no chance to make a run for it now, he had to hide.
"Hostile inside the building!" he heard as he reached the staircase.
Sharp turned on his flashlight and went down the stairs. He didn't stop for anything, there was no time to test the steps, he had to guess wich one to ignore and wich one to step on, his light might give him away, but he couldn't risk to trip and fall down.
"He's down there, don't let him escape!" He heard.
He started to run, the staircase now shaking from his haste. Steps creacked, cracked and even bent on his way down. What felt like a day, now it took only a minute, he reached the bottom.
Sharp runned to a random room and closed the door behind him, he couldn't escape, and they knew he was there.
Broken computers and machinery, this was the computers room. Desperately he pushed the machines and moved the computers, hoping to find some kind of tunnnel or hole to hide.
He found the anomaly again, right in that hallway.
Sharp stood there looking at it.
"Maybe..." He thought. "Maybe what?! Get stuck in some tunnel and die!?" He thought again.
If he jumped, where would it lead to? Somewhere in Cordon? Right at the Red Forest? A nest of bloodsuckers in the middle of nowhere?
It could save him, but it could take him into an even worse problem, if not outright kill him.
If he stayed, he had to fight the military, outnumbered by who knows how many of them.
For how long his ammo would last? or his supplies? How long could he last to begin with?
He had to make a decision; face the military or go through the anomaly.
Footsteps came from outside the door, "Check the rooms!" he heard. They were already here, and he already decided.
Sharp runned towards the anomaly, gaining as much speed as he could.
He jumped and his vision went completely white.
Sharp fell face first to the ground, his vision came back to him. He nervously looked up, there were trees, he was in a forest. He quickly stood up and looked around, no traces of the anomaly behind, no bloodsuckers running around, and no dead end.
Just a small forest in the middle of the night.
Relieved, Sharp chuckled, then started laughing outright, he kneeled and threw his arms in the air yelling in happyness. It worked, it actually worked. He escaped!
He got up and started walking, throwing a prideful laugh every so often.
It didn't mattered where he was going, it didn't mattered where he was right now, nothing mattered at this moment, he felt like the king of the world.
He looked at the trees as they passed by, bigger, sturdier and much less twisted than the ones in that swamp. After a while he reached the end of the forest and found himself in a valley.
The grass looked healthy, and and felt easier to walk on. The sky was full of stars and did not have a single cloud in it, the moon itself illuminated the area with its blue light. He turned off his flashlight, he could see just fine without it.
He turned to the side and looked at a mountain, a really-
Sharp stopped dead in his track, and kept looking at the mountain completely dumbfounded.
there was a mountain.
Not an over glorified hill with junk stuck in it. An actual, gigantic mountain was rising in front of him. The Zone didn't have any mountains, at the very least not one as big as this one!
Sharp came back to himself and took out his PDA, he needed to know were he was. He activated the tracking device and... nothing. There was no map, no location, no coordinates.
He tried again, and again, it gave the same result. He tapped the PDA, turned it off and on, took out the battery and putted it back again, The thing simply didn't work.
Sharp stared at his PDA disconcerted, then looked around.
"Where the fuck am I?"
Alright, we are in the main part of the story now, hope you like where this goes.