S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - The Mercenary' Deal

[The Mysterious Stranger]

 "I thought it was all extraordinary and fascinating shit that went through my mind once I aboarded that helicopter. Oooohhhhh man, I was like a drunk guy dancing around but that all changed because well... we were almost there and the pilot said something about the area being so dangerous. Before that, I thought it was all about selling artifacts to become a millionaire, easily killing off those damn boars that roam the swamps like a piece of cake, running around with friends but that shit hit the fan when I immediately replied to the pilot. He said that he encountered a few mutants that were dangerous, some of them almost got him by using their strength. He even asked me that anomalies could swipe you across the environment like a slingshot but in a closed area ofcourse."

 Taking a sip of the Cossacks vodka, he continued the "comedy act" that his friends said. "What a pile of dogshit I thought but by the minute, I started to become more worried as my listening to this story became much more frightening. He said that there are anomalies that could easily crush you until you turn into pieces like hamburger meat to being burned alive or... even breathing in dangerous toxins! Man, oh man. Was I worried now. There are ghosts in Pripyat and the surrounding areas, mostly in the buildings and all which can give you a fright depending on whether or not your gonna' get that motherfuckin' loot full of goodies!"

 His buddies laughed whilst some of them pounded their fist upon the table. A few stalkers nearby looked at the group of minor drunks before continuing down the bar, often buying drinks and trading goodies like halloween candy in the middle of October.

 "Alright... alright... I was even more frightened by then. He continued to hassle about with factions that could maul you to death in a few seconds unlike a wrestler beating your face in until your own mother couldn't recognize you! It's a dangerous place - especially Pripyat and Limansk - whereas if you die, then someone loots you and all those worms infest your body. The positive review about this is that we get Personal Digital Assistants! What fancy devices... I mean, I could talk to a stalker kilometres away from my area to getting a map, something close to Google maps... or even search up porn! Baha, I am just bull shittin' you. PDAs man! Can't you believe it? It's just like christmas! Alright, death is what mostly frightens me even if I don't know it when I am layin' in a swamp. I remember one time I was goin' through the bushes until a dog began chewing on my foot. Screaming like a crazy chimpanzee, I threw a hard punch across it's head before it whimpered into the forest. I was screaming like fuck until I landed into the swamp. Water and radiation particles don't mix well together, especially when a radioactive source is nearby! I immediately got medical attention after that with a needle shoved in my ass cheek because y' know, it's the most thickest muscle in your body. I mean, he's a good doctor all-in-all but he knew what he had to do."

 The man continued the story until a stalker sat down on the stool, often glaring at the group of drunks. Obviously, he was serious at the time whilst his breath emitted from his gasmask like a vocoder. A dialogue finally reached out to the man to the side of him. "Tell your friends to leave or this conversation is over." The man dropped the empty bottle of Cossacks vodka before looking at his friends, spouting a good line to the five people in his foreign language. " [RU] Get out of here, scram. I gotta' make a deal with this stalker here, a'right? We'll meet up when my workdays are over."  They went out of their seat with their equipment and weaponry before walking out of the bar, chatting to eachother through speech but in a whispering way. The man itched closer to the minorly drunk before whispering, "You want to make cash my friend?"
 
 The drunk hysterically popped out of his day dream before nodding torwards him. "Alright, y' see. There is a mutant over at the building near the swamp and I need you to clear it out. Get what I mean?" The drunk man nodded once more to the unknown Duty member, noticing how his contract was quite dangerous. "I am picking out good fella's who can get a job done right. If you fuck this up, this can either account for your life depending on if you die or if you pussy out, thus allowing Duty to finally rob your ass. Nah, just kiddin'. Get this job done and I can probably settle a good amount of cash for you." The Duty member patted him onto the shoulder and looked at him for some seconds. The drunk man swore that he saw the agression that was signalled by his eyes.

 The drunk man slowly got up from his feet and went outside the bar, looking around the darkened environment surrounding him. Some of the buildings were inhabitated by stalkers, especially Duty and Freedom. They were protecting the Yanov station from being attacked by both mutants and humanoid opponents. "Alright stalker, get the hell outta' here so you can get your gun out." A vocoder yelled from the trees - which had speakers attached to them - before letting off a beep, ending the short speech. The drunk man swirled around the environment with a bottle of Cossacks vodka before taking sip, then taking out a AK-47M with a loaded magazine into it.

 A wolf howled in the distance which frightened him. Thinking it was a dream, he landed onto the ground infront of the bar before falling asleep, obviously drunk to the bone whilst being sick due to radiation poisoning. 

 

[The Mysterious Stranger]

 The darkened, surrounding environment was due to the night skies above him as he tremendously adventured throughout the frightened area, his AK-47 raised with his hands gripped upon it. The man himself slowly approached door before opening it up with his free hand, therefore pushing himself in quickly with the flashlight gleaming the area up like a light was in the middle of the room; although, it was very dark indeed.

 Someone laughed in the background with a deep voice before a bottle hit the table, "Look at this guy. He's trying to scare us!" "Hey, I ain't trying to scare you at all. Believe me on this one! I heard something back there." A cowardly voice said before a few bottles rattled unexpectedly. A voice croaked once more with abit of agression but in a quiet way. "Stop making shit up. Reinforcements are about to arrive in a hour and trust me on that. Just sit down and keep drinking your beer while I talk to someone on the communications radio." A quiet voice murmured from the dark whilst a chair squealed upon the wooden, rough conditioned floors. "Mhm..."

 Creeping in the dark while his breath was a illusion in the frosty, contaminated air; it was a beauty to see such a thing, although he was in a combat situation that could either end his existence in the zone of alienation or to punish his life forever. "Yeah, just talked to someone on the communications radio and it was said that a dangerous emission is going to arrive in a few more hours. We are gonna' have to pack up our resources in a few more minutes and then I will head to bed. What about you?" Again, the cowardly voice emitted from the room infront of him. "I'll sit by the campfire outside. Better off eating sausages then heading to bed while mutants haunt my dreams." "Hah, nice joke there..."

 The mercenary quickly adjusted the blue packet positioned on his collar before raising his AK-47, tilted downwards with his arms raised abit. "Meet your maker motherfuckers!" Squeezing the trigger with such force, he lighted the room up as the rounds penetrated the two bandits sitting down near the counter, blood soaking their uniform as they screamed in agony. In the background, AK-47 sounds were heard echoing throughout the zone to those in the radius. A loud, muffled scream came from behind the house. "There is someone in our base! Call the alarms and get those reinforcements in here quickly!"

 The mercenary kicked the dead corpse aside before swiping the Personal Data Assistant from the table, pushing it into his packet bandoiler across his torso. His dirty hand gripped across his XM40 gasmask, adjusting it quickly while his face began to soak with sweat due to the high amount of fear kempt in his body but he was also suffering from anxiety too. The mercenary couldn't feel his legs nor arms but he could still control the AK-47 still gripped in his gloved hands. "It's my job..." He whispered before cranking the magazine out, pushing a new magazine in with live rounds in it. Although, the blue cloth surrounding the magazine signalled that it was armour piercing rounds that were much more dangerous than the average round.

 Looking out the window. A helicopter was seen in the distance crashing into the forest area before a loud crash echoed throughout the zone. A anomaly was seen in the atmosphere before disappearing, yielding off any airborne vehicles in the area. A few flashlights were seen but the silhouettes were hidden in the shadows. Sirens were heard in the distance as a loud voice emitted from his earphones attached to his helmet, positioned behind the straps of the XM40 gasmask. "Alert! Alert! A emission is approaching unsuspectedly! Find cover immediately or else you want to be dead meat! Skadovsk out!"

 The mercenary rushed anxiously out the doorway of the apartment before pushing himself up the staircase while his exhaled breath lit the lenses of his XM40 gasmask, blocking some of his vision infront of him barely but he continued up the staircase through the Pripyat apartments. "Fuck... fuck... fuck... fuck.... fuck!" The mercenary whispered before pummeling onto his chest, hands on his head. The apartment was clearly a barricaded area with the windows boarded up and the door made of metal plates, surrounded with chains. He looked out the creak of the window before a summoning beam pierced his vision as he screamed in agony. The helmet was upgraded in which didn't zombify him from the emission.

 Soon enough. The blue suited mercenary started to faint into unconsiousness, therefore leaving him in the Pripyat apartments... helpless.

 

 Life was about to become worser.

 

 

[The Mysterious Stranger]

 The mercenary awakened on a bed whereas a man entered through the doorway of the entrance. His silhouette seemed to be blurred due to the chronic, head trauma but luckily, it was going to die down soon later. This was from the emission earlier but this didn't seem to zombify him due to the fact his helmet was upgraded with protection in order to block phys damage to his brain. Although, he exhaled in relief as he raised himself out of the bed. Approaching the tattered blue suit that was on the crate just on the other side of the room, he began to search through it for his backpack and ammunition packets just to make sure that it was intact from the emission itself.

 "Awake? Yeah, we found you in the abandoned hotel earlier but we fought through some bandits. They go there for a ton of shit from artifacts to furniture to even... making it their own base but we ratted them out for now. Just before we hauled your unconsious ass out there, a bunch of reinforcements for the bandits came marching down the hall but they never saw us in pitch black." The mercenary nodded in response before putting on his uniform, hesitating in a low voice. "Give me some privacy for a second and then we can talk." The soldier blalantly whispered "Mhm..." before shutting the wooden door behind him, emitting a creaking sound that irritated the ears of those around them.

 The mercenary checked the closet and noticed that the ex-military had left behind a AK-47 sitting upon the wall along with a crate filled with ammunition and food. "Why put such things in a closet?" The mercenary whispered before interacting with the said objects, grabbing ahold of the AK-47 - which he placed around his back - and searched through the box, taking the type of suitable ammunition for the said AK-47. A additional backpack was sitting in the corner of the closet so he took that too. The mercenary couldn't trust the ex-military soldiers so he went to the window, sliding it open as a gust of wind blew in his face. Indeed, the air wasn't fresh due to radioactive particles within it but it was very low in order to harm someone.

 "Well, here we go." He whispered before jumping out of the window and landing down the slope, his body flying around like a ragdoll before hitting a jeep. "Agh, shit." Coughing before raising himself up, he quickly pulled open the door before putting himself in the seat, singing along at the music that was on the radio. "Poor bastard left the keys in the ignition. Aha." Ignition? Keys? Good combination right?

 The jeep startled all of a sudden as a few ex-military members flashed through the doorway with their weapons raised. "Get him!" The leader with the raincoat surrounding his torso and legs yelled. The ex-military members opened fired, penetrating some of the armor on the jeep and deflecting off the inner plate. All of a sudden, the gun firing died down in the middle of the abandoned town as the leader shook his head in disappointment before screaming on the top of his lungs. "Who the fuck left this bastard in the room by himself... and... and who left all those resources in the closet?"