‘This is by far the shittiest day of my life.’ Verniy thought an apparent scowl clearly written on her face. Already livid at her current situation right now.
Her team was on a job to a small wrecked post-war town in the states of Minnesota as it was a recently found out to be an artifact hotspot brimming with all kinds from the most common to the rarest of them all.
They would fetch a high price back at the market since artifacts became a necessity in common life ranging from cooking, healing and more. Plus it’ll be doing some good for other communities in need of Artifacts.
It as smooth sailing ahead as they collected quite a sum of artifacts mixed in together with rare ones at that and were already on the way back to Concord.
But their miner happiness was immediately thrown out of the window as she spots a bandit comes out of nowhere and throws an IED right in front of her MRAP which exploded forcing her to hit the brakes.
On one hand, she was pissed but on the other hand, she was glad that the Cougar didn’t suffer any serious damage other than the paint being scrapped off.
Currently hiding behind the left side of her MRAP hood, her AK-103 cradled in her arms. She slightly exposes her head from her cover but immediately backs down as several stray rounds pings off the armored hood.
"Cyka!" She swore in Russian. Annoyed with the local bandits taking advantage of the high ground granted in one of the abandoned houses.
The sound of rifles firing at Verniy’s position was drowned out by the loud roar of an M2 Browning firing.
The turret being manned by a girl her age, a brunette Japanese girl wearing the same set of armor and clothing like her.
The bandits at the high ground quickly got away as the hail of 50 cal came banging at their cover. Ripping through the wooden cover of house second level with total ease.
‘They know what their really doing.’ Verniy thought, given how organized their attack was.
"ANU CHEEKI BREEKI!"
She turns to her right to see a bandit flank her, a sawed-off shotgun in hand.
Before she and the offending bandit could do anything, the same bandit was suddenly taken three bullets to the chest crying out in pain before hitting the tarmac ground dead.
"Watch yourself Verniy!"
She turns to the source, another girl her age but petite much like her and in height with. She had a tomboyish look, wearing the same clothing and armor but in her hands was a VSS Vintorez. Soon the petite German was crouching at Verniy’s side
"Thanks, Zwei." Verniy thanked.
“How many bandits we’re dealing with?”
“Not sure,” A rounds pings off the hood. “I’m guessing 18 Bandits, along with a couple of mercs with them.” She answered.
Zwei hissed at the news. Things just got a lot more complicated. Hearing the sounds of other bandits coming closer, she instantly pops from cover, her rifle aiming a pair of bandits hiding behind a van wrecked located opposite of their vehicle.
Pulling the trigger, her rifle kicks. Nailing a bandit’s balaclava head, instantly killing him.
At the same time, in one of the houses, a merc takes up a sniping position at one of the many windows, aiming down his SR-25 sniper at the Cougar MRAP. The reticle of his scope settles on the head of Zwei.
About a hairline from pulling the trigger, a large hole suddenly appears on his forehead, a 7.62 punching through the merc gasmask and out from the back of his skull.
"Sniper down!"
"Good shot Barfleur!" Teruzuki shouted over the roar of her MG.
At the back of the MRAP, where the backdoor is located was a young British girl, under the same age as the others and wore the same set of armor and clothing and armed with an M110.
Taking cover from AK fire, the British girl ejects her now empty mag after her last shot at the enemy sniper and swapping it with a fresh one. “They’re everywhere!”
Despite being well equipped, the four stalkers found themselves stuck in a furious firefight between them four and an unknown amount of bandits and Mercs.
That was until an at too familiar chilling roar was heard. And it was close too.
Soon a sense of dread settles upon all of the combatants, each of them knowing that sound all too well.
The tarmac ground soon rumbles as loud thundering footsteps could be heard. Turning around the corner was a mutant. A lump of deformed flesh looking like a walking tear-drop flesh with several limbs attached and growing, its front pair of trunk-like arms bulging with pure muscle and mass with blue veins clearly visible beneath its pink skin.
The most prominent feature of the mutant was it’s hideously deformed face, rows of sharp teeth exposed, disproportionate eyes and flat deformed snout.
It was a Pseudogiant. One of the most feared mutants.
The air was tense, both parties were frozen stiff, unsure of what to do.
On the roof of one the many residential houses, a bandit armed with an RPG-7 fires a rocket at the massive mutant.
The rocket careens through the air closing the distance between it and the mutant and hits the tarmac in front of it engulfing the creature in a blaze of fire and creating a cloud of smoke obscuring their sights on the creature.
But a furious roar of pain and rage penetrated the air, signaling the others that the massive mutant was indeed still alive and it was pissed off.
It comes out of the black smoke, its large muscular arms carrying and moving it. The mutant despite it clumsy appearance, the fearsome mutant achieved the speed of a charging bull as it barreled through numerous houses with total ease and into the one where the rocket originated.
Shouts and screams of fear echoed out from the house followed by uncontrolled gunfire.
She was scared, though she didn’t see on her stoic face, she could tell her friends…no…lovers were having the exact same feeling as her. To see one of the rarest and fearsome mutants was a terrifying sight behold.
"We need to get out of here now!" Zwei said, her voice shaking in fear.
Before Verniy could agree, her wolf ears detected a soft but hungry growl. A growl she was all too familiar with. She immediately tackles Zwei to the ground as leaping form of a deformed human misses them by mere inches and over the MRAP hood.
Seeing the leaping form, Teruzuki swivels the M2 turret and narrows her eyes in recognition of broken GP-5 gasmask permanently strapped to the creature’s face and the exposed white bone which was its spine.
It was a Snork.
Without hesitation, she opens fire giving the human mutant little time to invade s it quickly turned into a pile of indistinguishable pile of flesh and bone.
The distant growls of other snorks could be heard from afar.
Teruzuki spots another figure running and turns to point the MG barrel which turns out to be a retreating bandit. Before she could do anything to it, the bandit was suddenly out of nowhere blindsided and tackled to the ground by an invisible force.
The said force soon reveals itself, a terrifying humanoid creature Teruzuki recognized immediately. It was a Bloodsucker and it had is disgusting tentacle mouth around the Bandits neck sucking him dry as he weakly struggles under the mutants steel grip.
Teruzuki quickly pulls the trigger of her M2 Browning, the barrel firing out plumes of fire as a hail of high caliber bullets soar through the air.
But the Bloodsucker was faster, already on the run, evading the gunfire thrown at it before disappearing into thin air.
The Japanese brunette hissed in annoyance and fear. Gunfire erupted from her rear, on instinct she swivels her M2 to the source of the threat.
Attacking her teammates was a pack of bloodsuckers mix in together with Pseudo dogs and Snorks, turns out the bloodsucker she tried shooting at brought its entire pack into the fray.
Hell! There was even a Chimera here too!
She didn’t hesitate to open fire at the surrounding opposition. She kept a hold on the trigger feeling each round discharge from the 50 cal.
She lost track of how many rounds she fired upon the horde of mutants, bandits and mercs alike. It didn’t matter at all.
CLICK!
CLICK!
CLICK!
Hearing the M2 was now empty, Teruzuki hadn’t had time to reload the Machine Gun as she spots a Snork leaped towards her turret. Instinctively, she pulls out her sidearm holstered on her vest, that being the Desert Eagle XIX.
The barrel flashes followed by the strong recoil of the sidearm as a .357 Magnum was discharged from the chamber and into the skull of the Snork instantly killing it forcing its corpse to impact against the windshield of the Cougar HE.
Teruzuki then pops back into the interior of the vehicle, shifting her body into the back of the truck and grabs hold of her AEK-999.
Before she could even exit from the back, the slow to a sudden rapid beeping of her rad detector alerted her of high amounts of radiation being detected.
Her eyes widen at the readings displayed on the detector and straight away, she felt a wave of nausea hit her, it felt like her head was getting hit by multiple jackhammers at the same time.
Unknowingly dropping the detector and LMG onto the interior floor, her body plops onto the cold metal with a thud as the nausea came back at full force again effectively rendering her immobile.
Her eyes gaze out to the windows of the Cougar, staring out to the sky.
The sky was coloured in a strange hue of darkish-blue as clouds were twisting and turn like a vortex, lightning crackling above the skies every second.
At first she thought it was an Emission storm of sorts. That thrown out of the window given the massive black swirling hole forming above.
Another wave of nausea hits her head the third time but this time it was ten times worse than the previous two.
It was too much for her, causing her eyes to roll up to the back of her head.
'Zwei….Verniy……Barfleur….’ Were her last thoughts as everything went black.
Somewhere, deep inside the many forested areas of the Astarte continent in Schatten-3.
It was coming to night in the autumn season of the region, it was peaceful until now.
In one of the forest areas, arcs of electricity sparks out of nowhere scorching the dirt ground and fallen leaves slightly followed up by a swirling black hole spontaneously opening up and spitting out a armored vehicle and three individuals before the portal soon collapse upon itself.
“Uuuuugh….” Barfleur groaned out, regaining conscious back again in a short couple of minutes.
Shakily she stands back up, only to suddenly collapse on her knees as a splitting headache hammering away in her head.
She tries to ignore the pain and focus on the most important thing of all. Her wives.
“Verniy…Zwei.” She weakly called out to the two forms lying on the ground near her.
Nearest being her team lead.
Reaching out to the unconscious form of her wife, she place both hands on the German chest and starts shaking her.
This manage to slightly stir the petite German awake followed by a violent cough from the girl while Barfleur slowly helps her sit up.
“Barfleur? Are we.”
“Dead? No.” Barfleur finishing and answering the question. “Whatever happened, that was no ordinary Emission.”
“Yeahcoughgo check on Verniy, I’ll go check up on Teruzuki.”
Barfleur nodded in agreement, quickly rushing over to the unconscious wolf girl.
Coughing a bit, she quickly recovers from her dizziness and was up on her feet making her way to the Cougar MRAP which was thankfully unscathed. Opening the back carriage door of the vehicle, she finds the person she was looking lying face flat on the metal interior floor.
Worried, she was immediately at the Japanese girl side, picking her up where her unconscious face was facing hers.
“Teruzuki. Wake up.” Zwei called out softly, slapping the girls left cheek lightly stirring the Japanese awake with her eyes slowly opening.
“Z-Zwei?” She mumbled out. Still feeling dazed.
“Yes.” A small smile gracing Zwei’s face. Resting the palm of her left hand on Teruzuki cheek “I’m here. Barfleur and Verniy are also alive and well.”
Teruzuki heaved a sigh of relief, happy at the good news. Without warning, she grabs hold of the collar of Zwei’s ballistic vest and pulls her into a deep heated kiss much to the petite German surprise.
Within seconds the two broke the kiss, slightly panting for precious oxygen. Zwei was first to break the silence, a red blush apparent on her facial features.
“W-What was t-that for Teruzuki!?!” She stuttered out in complete embarrassment.
“W-Well after what happened I thought it was needed!” Teruzuki quickly answered, as equally embarrassed as Zwei.
“W-W-Well you a-are my wife……”
“Are we interrupting something?” The voice of Barfleur cutting in.
Zwei and Teruzuki heads turn the source frozen solid as they see the back carriage door open with Verniy and Barfleur at the door.
“Ummmmmm no.” Was petite German answer.
-Night Time, 22:34 PM-
“Давайте всегда наслаждаться жизнью, как этим бокалом вина!!!” Sitting around a small campfire with the help of a Fireball Artifact. The four shouted in unison, each of them holding a glass bottle of Cossack Vodka and clashing theirs with each other before downing the strong distilled liquid down their throats.
Within seconds, the four finish gulping a small portion of their drinks and lets out a satisfied gasp, thoroughly enjoying the strong burning sensation the alcohol left behind in their mouth and throats.
It was a unspoken tradition if a Stalker were to survive a deadly three way confrontation between bandits or mutants, one must celebrate their survival of such a deadly confrontation with their friends and family with an abundant amount of food, drinks mainly vodka and music.
Reason behind this unspoken tradition was to remind the group or individual that they manage to survive and have the chance to return back home to enjoy the simple pleasures or life and to see their loved ones and trusted friends once again.
And that what the four young stalkers were doing.
The atmosphere was relax as a loud rowdy laughter echoed through the dark forest as the group traded jokes from light hearted ones to dark jokes or a occasional sexual joke too. Friendly challenges like a drunk sloppy kiss for Verniy and Barfleur which was accepted to a slightly dangerous one by shooting a flying glass bottle in the air.
While at the sametime, the four enjoyed a simple meal being a generous serving of sausage and rice.
And Verniy? The wolf stalker already had her Guitar out, expertly playing a melodic tune and softly singing with Teruzuki as her co. Sooner or later, Barfleur and Zwei joined in.
The four together in sync sang in russian throughout the night.
Unknown to them, they were not the only ones from their universe sent here. After all, the Zone is forever changing and will always be there where you least expect it.
Such is the life of a S.T.A.L.K.E.R
-Next day, 44km from the campsite-
“I think we’re lost Zwei.” Barfleur commented from the back.
“You think?” She responded, looking through a geographical map.
“Yes. Look around you Zwei, tell me that this place looks unfamiliar. Plus I don’t even see a single anomaly around and plus the land looks way too colorful.”
“She does have a point Zwei.” Verniy added her 10 cents in.
“I guess.” Zwei muttered, folding the map in her hands. “Stop the MRAP. We’ll need the high ground to find out where we are.”
“Dah.”