Roleplay Part 4

I think that was me who said that

 

We were only walking for a minute or two when we were alerted to a mutant presence by believe it or not a cat. We formed two lines and engaged the mutants with heavy fire. The one called "jet" dropped a mutant right on our toes with a hearty helping of buckshot. Reacting quickly I dropped to one knee and used it's carcass as a barricade shielding me from the mutants claws. Throwing away my cigarette I took aim and killed two mutants wounded a third which scurried off into the darkness. After a short while Andrey made a run for a small control booth near the source of the mutants and closed the airlock ending the danger. Checking up ahead Pyotr approached a vent while I reloaded my rifle and took a quick sip of shroom vodka. "Lads, I found something"."come take a look at this" Pyotr said to the group. I approached him a saw the human head and blood. Pyotr pointed out the clean cut of this poor fellows neck. "perhaps it's a warning or meant to scare off folk like us?" I said to him. "but why a vent?...I hate tight spaces!" I told myself.

 

Hmm... alright, let's go with this being some sort of mutant hideout... Maybe someone like Jet can point out I'm wrong about it, and the such, disproving my theory.

 

(Oh man, I've missed a lot)

The vent reminded me of one we had used weeks before, when we were hiding from nazis. They were a good means of transportation if one knew where they lead, but entering unknown ones was like sticking your head between a nosalise's jaws: it was just asking for trouble...

 

*approaching the severed head I had a good look around the area. I could see traces of blood going up the air vents. Seeing a small hand rail on the wall I put my ruckpack and Spas on the floor and readied my AKS*

'keep an eye on my stuff for a moment, will you guys?' I said as I started to climb up the hole.

*it was a bit tight up there, but nothing I hadn't encountered before. I took Odessa and put her on the vent before me. she scurried along, her body lowered, concentration pouring from every fiber of her body. putting my gas mask on, I turned my light off, letting my eyes get acustomed to the dark*

'just like with a snork nest' I said to myself quietly.

*after crawling for a few minutes I found what I was looking for. a wider area appeared in front of me, human remains strewn around, but no mutties or satanists. I saw Odessa coming towards me, her body more relaxed now. I knew that if there had been danger, she would have warned me. Looking in front of me and towards the left I saw a smaller hole going into the wall. well, that clears it then I thought. I took out an incendiary grenade and threw it toward the small hole in the wall, then crawling backwards I reached the bend I had encountered before. letting the pin go I threw the second grenade at the small opening*

*I made my way back and climbed out of the hole, back to where the guys were waiting*

'no human scum there, just a muttie lair. found human remains in a little area, just a few meters up. left them a couple of nice little presents' I said, taking my mask of and showing them another incendiary I had in my hand before putting it in my vest pocket.

'see the blood marks going up the vent? that was a nosalis, probably taking lunch to mama nosalis' I said looking at Pyotr.

'a 'human' cut that head off, no doubt about it, but a nosalis, probably one of the bunch we just killed, took the body away for lunch' I commented while putting my gear back on.

*Odessa jumped on my shoulder once again and I got ready to depart*

 

I throroughly digested the situation. "Perhaps the ventilation system was discovered by the Satanists who then lay a head here, as a diversion to make their followers, us, investigate the vent. If the ventilation is the home of mutants, then I would say that it is quite a remarkable and creative trap laid out for us."

"They put the head there to make us believe that the ventilation system is where they would have gone, then they hope for us to be eaten by nosalises as we investigate the ventilation system. Fortunately for us, that plan never seemed to work. They never went through the ventilation system; it was only a diversion, a trap", I figured and shared.

 

I nodd at the newcomer's comment and replied, "Good call. I hate vents." I then turned to Dima and said, "Thankfully, our friend over here seems to have solved that one, and I share Benji's concern... we could've walked in there... Good thing Miss... Odessa, was it? Well, good thing she was able to clarify that. I'm happy as hell we didn't go through that hole... But there's still a problem..."

I raised up the head started to look at its face. It was a man, about thirty, I can tell. Young, not as handsome as myself of course, but obviously he must've had a child and wife. Had. His eyes... I can tell... "Where did you come from friend?" I muttered before setting it down. "If we found this head... how can we be so sure your friend, this wolf, is still alive? How can we say that maybe he ended up like this poor bastard, killed and left for mutants to feast on?"

"Now, I know you might think telling you off, but listen here..." I said, "If you want to know what happened to him, we can continue... but from the looks of it... I don't know whether any of you want to see this through if what's in front of us is happening or has happened to him, seeing as he was obviously good friends with most of you. Maybe even best of friends..." I nodded solemnly and said, "Well, in any case, if you're all still willing, let's go find your friend. And bring closure to those who need it."

I then stood up and picked up Saiga.

 

"From the looks of this situation, it is clear that they have taken hostages, but are not afraid of getting rid of them. So there is hope that he is alive, but not for any longer. Despite this, he is most likely to great use by the Satanists, so I believe they will want to keep him alive. I am not turning back", I said simply but determinedly as I could feel that I automaticly tightened my fists. I was walking with my hands freely, as my HK was handing on the side of my backpack. One should always have one's rifle at the ready in the tunnels, but I felt safe with the group. It was less likely that I would be the one to firstly be attacked, and if anyone else were, I would easily and quickly unhook the HK and take it out instead of holding the heavy weapon in my arms through the whole walk.

 

I'm making a small change to my character name and the cat. I think is better to call her 'Odessa' and to call the cat 'Jet'. what do you think guys? I will edit it as well in the character profile.

'possibly' I said. 'Nosalises, even the stronger ones, are not the cleverest of mutties. They'll take whichever space they can find as lair, and it really seems that the satanists left the mutilated bodies behind for them to find and take to their cubbyhole, and to lure us into a trap. don't think they were counting on a cat, and the stupidity of hungry nosalises to spoil their plans'

*I couldn't help it and gave a low chuckle imagining their faces if they ever found out that their carefully laid trap had fallen foul of a cat. I lit another smoke and continued talking*

'that passage is very narrow, no space even to swing a cat! no offence Jet, but you know I'm right, don't you my beauty?' I said looking at Jet, who looked at me and simply purred in response.

*I stroked her ears and started to move forward*

'right, if there is any chance of your friend being alive, we better move our butts. let's keep an eye out for any more remains and little surprises our 'hosts' might have prepared for us, unless anyone wants to stop for a five minute rest, that is. If you do, say so and I'll make some coffee and tea for anyone who wishes so, but ,due to the urgency of our mission, I think is best to keep on going. There will always be time to rest while we plan our strike when we find 'em bastards'

 

I admit I was a bit surprised by the satanists ingenuity and distraction ploys. But then again they didn't count on mutant hunter to spot the flaws. I felt a bit of relief knowing I wouldn't have to enter the vent never mind fight in one. I followed Andrey as it appeared he knew his way for the the time being, so I took my position on his left walking parallel with him. "you know these tunnels, yes?" I asked him.

 

The darkness of the metro had once been almost friendly for me, after multiple missions with my friends, and the comparative safety when returning from the surface. But the Satanists had struck something deep in my mind, some ancient fear. My hand was sweaty as I gripped my kalash and felt for my knife in it's leather sheath...

 

The trap with the severed head made me sick, who were these people and how could they do these monstrosities? I hadn't recognised the head but I was relieved it wasn't uncle Sascha. He could still be alive.

I was astound by the skill of Odessa and her cat, they seemed to be able to percieve any threat nearby. a truly remarkabale pair.

I took the rear position and vent after the others into the tunnel. Hearing that Andrey had some familiarity with the tunnels I relaxed a bit, but I couldn't shake off a slight discomforting foreboding feeling that something bad would happen soon.

 

I felt a bit more at ease when Andrey told me he knew the next few stations. "let's just hope they aren't anyfuther than that" I told him. "I've heard tales of ghosts and all sorts of other strange beings. I'm sure its all bullish*t but it still makes you wonder" I told him in erie sort of voice.

 

*silently I started to walk behind Andrey. I'd never been in this part of the metro, but knowing that Andrey knew some of the stations ahead made me feel a bit better. Rolling up another smoke I lit it and craddle my AKS in my arms. Jet jumped of my shoulder and scurried ahead*

'don't worry guys, just call of nature. she'll be back, and I can track her anyways' I said as I pulled out my old Veles, another relic from the Zone, which still worked.

*back in the days Novikov, the master of technicians working in Jupiter, had modified the detector for me, changing it power source. whatever he did it meant it would never run out of batteries. don't know if he would approve if he knew I was using it to track a cat and not artifacts and anomalies!*

'Jet has embeded under her skin a couple of small artifacts, a slug, which speeds wound healing, and a soul, which regenerates health. so it acts as a homing device, since nothing of the sort exist here, and also she can find me as well, since I have a unique frequency in the detector which will lead her to me anywhere she might be' I said showing them the Veles.

'this little thing which you can see is just a glorified geiger counter. in the little screen you can see any artifact nearby, since there are none around....'

*my words hung in mid air as two small round forms appeared on the screen and the detector emmited a low steady beep*

'see, those are the two artifacts Jet has in her, and here she is' I said as she jumped on my shoulder and made herself comfortable once again.

*giving my smoke another puff I fell silent and continued walking. after about a minute of carefull thinking I spoke again*

'you might wonder how come I have all this gear with me, just being a simple mutant hunter in the Zone. The truth is, I also dealt in artifacts and equipment in the Big Land. when the nukes fell and I was caught in Aleksevskaya, I was on my way to sell a few artifacts and a couple of detectors to a client near VDNK station, that's why. and also why I still have my old SigPro. I never went anywhere on business without it. just a safety precaution really'

*after adding that I fell silent once again and kept on walking, my eyes always darting around, looking for any sign of danger*

 

As we yet again walked through the dark tunnel, I was unable to focus and my mind drifted off. I thought about the people I had killed, edged out by my mind - was it worth it? Was my life really worth more than those I had extinguished with the pull of a trigger? Most of them were just faceless targets, but with some of them, I had seen a ring on their finger, or their children, crying over their dead bodies as I continued my rampage. I thought about what Gandhi had said: It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence. But did that mean I was cold? Did I have a choice? I shook my head when I realized it: You always have a choice. I could have chosen to lay down my weapons and wait for the enemy to shoot me. But I had chosen to kill, rather than be killed. I was a survivor, I had to survive - at all costs.

 

The names of which places Odessa talked about were unfamiliar to me, as if she had come from some strange far away land. It did not take long before we were on the move again. As we already had ran into this trap this early, I could not help to think of all the possible traps we would maybe have to face further on. After all, we were not just hunting some barbarians. These were intelligent barbarians. A combination of wild and uncontrollable, but still intelligent and skilled. Though this was an uncomfortable thought, I was still looking forward to finally perhaps be able to save Wolf. It was the least we could do after all we had done for him.

I slowed down a little and eventually ended up walking beside Sergei, a slight bit behind the rest of the group. I looked down at him. "May be rude enough to question you about your earlier state of unawareness in front of our cart's headlights?" I asked suspiciously, but also conversationally in a perfect volume for him to hear it, while the others could not.

 

Benjamins question puzzled me at first, then the dream of the wheatfield and the child came to mind. "I-i was S-sleepwalking I think. It's my body or mind, don't know which, that reacts to anomalies. I get these weird dreams that I C-can't explain. My uncle said I was S-ssensitive to the tunnels magic, in lack of better words. They usually happen near anomalies, but not always".
I hoped the answer would satisfy him and continued to walk under silence.