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vthestalker · 2 months ago

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Tales around the campfire

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Disclaimer! Mention of death and blood. Use of swear words!

Translation from Russian will be in parentheses.

p.s. Enjoy reading

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A young wanderer walks slowly through the Zone forest, occasionally glancing at his expensive PDA. You have heard a lot about this otherworldly, mystical place, played various computer games about the Zone, and discussed it with friends. Why and how did you get here? The answer to this question is clear: Money and ambition. You always wanted to get into the Zone, talk to stalkers, find a couple of artifacts and return to the ‘mainland’ as a rich, new person.

Just a couple of days ago, a mercenary lead you to a small settlement. After getting out of the car, you headed to the bar "Сто БЭР". There, other stalkers measured you with glances, including the bartender - your new informant. You, attracted by youthful maximalism, immediately rushed on the road, to your first mission. You knew that the awl in your ass would again lead you into troubles, but you wanted to show yourself and make useful contacts.

Your PDA beeps occasionally as you walk across the autumn carpet of dry grass. The trees around you sway gently in the wind, causing their branches to tap softly above your head.

As you walk further into the forest, north of the town, you look at your PDA map more and more often.

“Странно…. Я уже должен быть на месте….“ (Strange…. I should already be there….) - you mumble under your breath

You had to, for a good sum, find the second informant of the bar. The last time his PDA signal was at the destroyed factory, where you are now heading.

The building did not want to be displayed on the map of your device. It glitched every time you moved the slider to the ruins. After a while, it began to turn off for a couple of seconds.

“Еп твою мать“ (Mother Fucker.) - you were starting to get angry.

The map started to change because of the glitches. Panic gradually replaced your adrenaline. You started hitting your PDA, raising it to the sky to get a better signal and shaking it, but it was all useless.

You kept walking, but a little voice in your head told you otherwise. You felt goosebumps running down your back and your legs were buckling.

Suddenly the PDA started screeching loudly. Panic rose in your throat and you started pressing all the buttons on your device just to shut it up. The PDA screamed incessantly, and panic began to mix with anger. Swinging hard, you sent your electronic assistant into a tree so that its back part broke off.

The squeak disappeared, as did your safe path to the goal. You froze, listening to the ringing silence of the forest. You feel your heartbeat in your ears, which only intensified your shitty situation.

“Блять…. Я долбоёб…“ (Fuck…. I fucked up…) - you begin to reproach yourself, distracted from the outside world.

You reach to pick up your PDA, but then you hear someone's muffled growl. In a panic, you take out your gun and look around only to see the Blind Dogs approaching you.

The world around you freezes… or maybe it's just you who froze in fear, awaiting the next actions of the half-dead creatures.

But they keep coming, surrounding you from your supposed escape route.

“БЕГИ БЕГИ БЕГИ!” (RUN RUN RUN!) - voices scream in your head, and only then do you break away from your place, running out of the encirclement through the only free space.

Out of fear and panic, you completely forget about your weapon, hopelessly jumping over fallen trees. The dogs rush after you. Their black saliva mixed with blood falls to the ground. You really don't want to feel the disease of their saliva in your blood.

There is no one more terrible in the Zone than a pack of eyeless dogs on a hunt, led by Wolf-dogs. These large and very smart creatures make up unique elements of a single brain, connecting the pack into a single, truly intelligent organism.

But you kept running, occasionally shooting back at the dogs. To no avail. They were catching up; muffled wheezing and screaming were escaping from your throat. Your head was spinning. Your breathing and your heartbeat were too fast to handle. It seemed like it was about to burst and you would fall face down into the dead earth of the Zone.

One of the dogs, similar to a German shepherd, but without the chunks of meat on its sides, was running right up to you. It wasn't falling behind. *It was catching up.* FASTER FASTER FASTER FASTER. ITS TEETH ARE ALREADY VERY CLOSE TO YOUR LEG! FASTER FASTER FAST—-

Everything around you suddenly became quiet…. The air stole your lungs, a knot formed in your stomach. You…. In the air?

And indeed. You were thrown high above the ground, like some of your pursuers. You fly upward. The squeak drowns out all your thoughts. The pressure knocks the air out of you completely…. You choke painfully…. Just as abruptly, you begin to fall down to the ground. You will not survive and you know it. Tears roll down your cheeks, but it is too late to go back….. Right?

You fall faster and faster to the ground. It's a shame, because you haven't even spent a week in the Zone. Her cold hands take you to herself without the slightest pity.

You already feel the approach of death, which is why you close your eyes, unable to see your own demise and……

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Opening your eyes, you see dogs all around you again. You stand in the same place, clutching your broken PDA.

“Что за чёрт?!” (What the hell?!)

You start running again, choking on your own saliva. Your legs carry you without your permission and you, still jumping over the bumps, try to escape from the dogs. You try to turn, but it’s too late. One moment and you were thrown up again…..

And you fall…. and again, and again, and again, and again….. AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN!

An endless circle of pain, animal fear, panic and death.

You can’t get out, you can’t scream, you can’t do anything to free yourself from this vicious circle.

No one hears you. Dogs and the forest are your only companions in this circle of hell. The Zone is looking at you. It doesn’t care about your torment, your pleas, your suffering.

With each death, you gradually lose the ability to think. You are absorbed by the non-existence of the same events: Dogs, escape, death, dogs, escape, death, dogs, escape, death, dogs, escape, death, dogs, escape, death, dogs, escape, death, dogs, escape, death, dogs, escape, death……

You are caught in a Time Loop…. Unfortunately, you are doomed to exist in the Zone until it gets tired of seeing you. You are a part of the Zone. Maybe at least this thought will warm your soul when you once again wake up from the shroud of the abyss, coming face to face with this endless, eternal sky.

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“Вот так обы��но и дохнут амбициозные новички в Зоне. Таких тут никто не любит.” (This is how ambitious newcomers usually die in the Zone. Nobody likes them here.) - Меченый (Marked) - The senior talker, and also the Zone's favorite, threw some branches into the eternal fire as usual.

The young stalker without a nickname shuddered.

“Ничего себе сказка на ночь! И каждому вы такие байки травите?” (What a bedtime story! Do you tell such tales to everyone?) - Said the boy, swallowing a piece of canned meat into his mouth.

«Нет» (No) - replied Меченый. - “Только тем, кто прожил в Зоне дольше Масленицы“ (Only to those who have lived in the Zone longer than Maslenitsa) - The man grinned

“Не робей, малой. Если рядом со мной держаться будешь, ничего тебе не будет“ (Don't be scared, kid. If you stay close to me, nothing will happen to you) - he said, taking a sip of water from his flask.

“Наверное я поистине везунчик раз наткнулся на вас во время задания. Ещё раз спасибо, что выручили. Я бы с той пулей не выбрался из бункера. Жизнью обязан.” (I guess I was really lucky to run into you during the mission. Thanks again for helping me out. I wouldn't have gotten out of the bunker with that bullet. I owe it to you with my life.) - The guy smiled, carefully stroking the wound.

“Да… но везение штука коварная. Никогда не полагайся на неё. Зона не любит самоуверенных.” (Yes… but luck is a tricky thing. Never rely on it. The Zone doesn’t like the overconfident.) - Said Меченный and lay down on the grass

The guy nodded - “А эта история….. Она произошла в реале?” (And this story… Did it happen in real life?) - the young stalker asked.

Marked turned around with the boy and looked at him for a long time, without saying a word. The stalker shuddered and was about to open his mouth, but the man got ahead of him.

“Меньше знаешь - крепче спишь. Не забивай себе этим голову.” (The less you know, the better you sleep. Don’t bother your head with it.)

The young man nodded and looked at the night sky of the Zone. - “Мы завтра в ‘Сто БЭР‘?” (Are we going to ‘Сто БЭР’ tomorrow?) - he asked, not taking his eyes off the sky.

“Да. Раз ты теперь со мной в команде, мне нужно тебя остальным приставить. Да и позывной тебе нужен, малец.” (Yes. Since you're on my team now, I need to assign you to the others. And you need a call sign, kid.)

“Хорошо”(Okay) - said the young stalker, peering into the darkness of the Zone…..

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hurray! I finally finished this campfire tale. I want to say that the "Tales around the campfire" column will appear here very often, but I will gladly accept your comments and suggestions!

P.s. Maslenitsa- Slavic holiday that lasts 7 days

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