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No. 1847238
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>>1847237
"And I came to a big... I don't know what you would call it. It was tall, had big fans leading up to the surface. It was just a big ventilation room. I headed up towards the surface, found another tunnel closer to the surface, and moved through it."
"I guess I missed a few of them, because I heard shooting coming from behind, there was something else down there. Then... everything got real quiet. The shooting just... stopped all at once. And slowly, it felt like I was getting real tired, then the headache came on. Then, that headache turned into like... shards of glass in my head. I didn't stay. Whatever was doing that, a mutant, or some sort of roaming anomaly, I don't know, I don't wanna know. I was probably lucky it didn't find me while I was asleep."
"When I got up to the surface, there was a storm rolling in. The only thing I could see was the lights on the research lab. I stayed in my shadows, I thought that maybe, I could get in without anymore bloodshed. That these men didn't have to die, just for some papers..."
"Not buying that, huh? Well I'll give you credit, you're sharper than you look. Guess the truth of it is that I was already carrying just about as much as I could handle, my rucksack was filled with broken down guns and ammo already, all secured to stop it from jingling, but I don't think I could have carried any more than those documents that I was sent to carry."
"I'd worked my way through the yard, only killing one soldier who had just barely managed to make me out, and had dragged him away again. The storm had moved in, rain, lightning and thunder hiding the sound of my movement. They never knew I was there. But the Zone, it has a mind of it's own. I swear to you, it does. Because the next ten minutes would have sent the Devil himself running back to Hell with piss running down his legs."
"I think they could feel it coming, before any of us inside the walls could. But my plan, perfectly executed until that point, was ruined from no fault of my own. The mutants went crazy, a whole pack of mutant cats ran the blockade into the walls of the base. The alarm sounded, and any soldier that had been asleep was up and gunning. The storm picked up even more, the rain fell sideways, slamming into you like hail, the lightning never stopped, turning night into day, and the thunder drowned out the shots of even 20 Kalashnikovs being fired in full automatic. In the confusion, I made a run to the building, those cats weren't going to differentiate me from any of the soldiers anyway."
"I ended up with my back to a dumpster outside the building, my rifle at the ready to fend off any mutant that came to me. I stopped to wipe the rain from the eyes of my mask, and when I pulled my arm away, I saw a soldier being backed up by mutants, not even a meter away from me. He hadn't seen me, neither had the mutants, but I could see the flash of his rifle, the blood spraying from the cats as he cut them down. Behind him, on the other side of the yard, I saw a soldier pulled to the ground and ripped to pieces. They didn't even eat him, the mutants had just been overtaken by bloodlust."
"The soldier close to me... the lighting flashed, and he saw me, clear as day. A stalker, having gotten this close to their base without being noticed. I could see the rage in his eyes, and he raised his rifle towards me, and I raised mine at him. We had the same realization, at that moment though. The rain had stopped, it was as bright as it would be at noon on a summer's day. The moon, obscured behind the clouds, the lightning had ceased, the cacophony of thunder and gunfire ceased, the pack of cats, all jumped down into the hole, into the sewers where I had just come from." The old stalker paused, as the memories flooded through him.
"... A blowout." The young one said, having been drawn in by the other man's tale. The older man nodded.
"I shot the man, fully automatic fire with no regards to how much of my ammunition I was using for just one man. His blood flowed into the water on the ground, and I ran. I had no regards for whether or not I would be seen by the other soldiers, and they saw me. A stalker in their midst, and an emission on the way. Unfortunately for them, I got into the base first. And remember, this wasn't an actual military installation, but an old Soviet research lab. There was only one entrance. I dove into the building, got as low as I could, and aimed directly at the door. The soldiers came in shooting. But I was already there, I tore them apart. Their training kicked in, they unconsciously sought cover, tried to shoot at me inside the building. But they were still outside, and those moments of military prowess got them killed."
"I don't know the science behind what an emission is, or why it only affects creatures, and not the landscape or plants, but if there's an animal out and without cover when a blowout from that God-forsaken reactor comes, they are just... gone. It leaves anything inanimate untouched, but the flesh just... melts away. And from what I saw that day, it's probably the worst way one can possibly go. They screamed in agony, the realization, and tried to rush to the door again. None of them made it, the blowout's wave came crashing through the zone, and then they were just... vaporized. I watched as the blowout obliterated them. I felt the earth below me tremble in anger, the Zone's anger. I closed my eyes, the light from the reactor burning my eyes. I screamed, I was scared, I was sure the building wouldn't hold, that it would fall around me, or the wave would simply roll through and kill me too."
"But it didn't. I was spared. Those of us who know, are often spared the Zone's most deadly anomaly. We've learned how to avoid it. Whether the Zone will learn or not, remains to be seen. Maybe someday it will know how to get rid of us once and for all. But on that day, I was able to complete my job, because the Zone decided to spare me. Because I got lucky, I learned respect. I took those cursed documents to the smuggler. We've had a good working relationship since then. I get things done. But the man I was, was stripped away with the blowout. Whoever I was before then, has been replaced. The Zone's in me now. Even if I'm taken away from it, back into the rest of the world, I belong here. I belong to the Zone. We all do."
"That day, I survived when over twenty other men were purged. The Zone... doesn't want us here. It hates each and every stalker who calls it home. But, we're useful. We can be pushed to kill one another far more quickly than it can muster. So it will spare you for the sake of causing the deaths of dozens of others. Every breath you draw, is a gift from the Zone. So, young stalker, enjoy the work while you can. Someday, you'll be someone's job." The man finished. He stood up, and put a hand on the youngster's shoulder, just a bit too tightly. The young man looked to the older's hand, and upon his wrist, the young man saw what seemed to be letters burned into the other man's skin.
"S.T.A.L.K.E.R."
...I was bored, alright?
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