Dangerous
Rumors Part 2: A Static Remembrance
I
kept walking. I couldn't stop. I wanted to stop, to rest. I didn't care if I
would die. It seemed like a welcome guest. I couldn't though. My legs were
moving mechanically, they wouldn't stop. I didn't even register the UAZ jeep
with three stalkers pulling up, or hear them yelling something to me in Russian.
When they pointed a gun at my face, the sound of the hammer
cocking snaped me out of my haze like a tree limb
breaking. They yelled more Russian words, then getting no responce from me, cracked me on the side of the head with a
pistol. The last thing I remembered was a flashbulb going off in my face and
white hot pain overcoming my head.
Slowly,
I woke up. I shook, trying to clear the clouds from my head, which hurt like
hell. Touching it, I noticed they had taken my mask. My head was caked with
blood. I looked around. I was in a small wooden cage, no bigger than six feet by
six feet. There was another man in it. He looked like a ragged bum back in the
'states, the ones that begged for change on the street corners. I wondered if I
looked that bad too. Outside of the cage, the were two
mobile buildings with semi trucks hooked to them, a large warehouse, an antennia, and three guard towers. The bum across from me was
moving.
"Oh,
so you're awake, eh?"
"How
long have I been here?" My own voice surprised me, it
was a grating sound, like someone had run it through a paper
shredder.
"You've
been asleep for about thirteen hours mate."
He was british. My head was still cloudy, like the fog in a
swamp. "Where... Where the hell are we?"
Well,
we're in a prison camp."
"Of
who's?"
"A
group of stalkers.
Not sure what they call themselvs, some Russian name
though."
"Well
fuck."
"How's
your head mate?"
"Hurts
like a bitch."
"Well
it looks bloody awful. I tried to clean it when they threw you in here, but they
dont give us much water. I poured some down your
throat to keep you alive."
"Thanks,"
I said gratefully. "By the way, what's your name?"
"Name's
Solomon mate, call me Sol. Your's?"
"Justin."
Just
then a guard came up to the cage with a pitcher of what I guessed was water and
a few peices of dried bread. He said something in
Russian as he put the food in the cage, then walked off. Sol split up the water
and the bread. Once I started drinking, I didn't stop till the water was gone.
My mouth was as dry as the sahara desert, my throat feeling like sand paper. I
lay back down and slept.
A
few hours later, I was awakened to the sound of Russians. It appeared they wore
discusing something important.
"A
patrol didn't come back mate," Sol said, making me jump.
"How do you know?"
"Well,
they sent one out soon after you fell asleep, and nothing has come back yet.
They sent another patrol out to find them, and they returned but found no trace.
No dead bodies or even blood."
"How
do you know, you speak Russian?"
"No
mate," he pointed behind him to a dirty looking man with a long beard in another
cage. "He's Russian, but we share a common language,
German."
The
guards continued talking for some time longer, then
they varied their normal routen by posting more guards
around the perimeter. Me and Sol talked about why we
wore in the zone and how we wore captured. He told me his story. He was part of
a British science group dispached into the zone to try
to understand what had made it get larger and how to stop it. His group was
attacked by this group of stalkers. Being mostly scientists, they wore quickly
overcome. He was the only one of them left. I told him my story. About my wife. About Vlad. About the rumors of the
powerful device. This seemed to interest him. He asked me some questions
about it.
"How
did it cause all this?"
"Hell
if I know, all we knew was those rumors."
"Well,
where around is the bloody thing located?"
"According
to the rumors, it was inside
"Inside?
That's suicide!"
"That's
what I told Vlad," I said. I got a shiver down my
spine remembering his screams as the dogs ripped him to shreds. I would never
forget them, no matter how hard I tried.
He
asked me a few more questions, and I answered them the best I could. We talked
about our lives back home. It turned out he was married too. Three times.
"Ya, I have two kids by 'em. Gotta pay child
support even though the little brats hate me, their mothers doing. So
this little trip into the zone seemed like a vacation. Now I dunno what's worse, having those succubi draining me of my money or being stuck in this
place!"
"Personally,
I'd prefer the succubi." I said.
We
kept talking until it got dark and they served us dinner. After we ate, Sol
layed down and went to sleep. As I was getting ready
to do the same, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Something
moving swiftly, but as soon as I saw it, it was gone. I shrugged it off as
nothing and went to sleep.
I
woke up the early the next morning, around six. Something seemed out of place.
The guards wore patrolling their normal paths, but it just felt... wrong. Their
movements seemed hesitant, just unnatural. One guard turned towards the cages,
not moving for a second. Then he slowly walked towards them. I woke Sol,
motioning for him to be quite. We watched as the guard opened the cage with the
Russian prisoner in it and motioned for him to get out. When he got out, the
guard promptly shot him in the head. Me, Sol, and the poor dead bastards cell
mate wore so shocked we couldn't move. Then the guard pulled the dead mans room
mate out, and promptly killed him. Me and Sol looked at
each other, horror, fear, and disgust in each others eyes. It seemed like an
eternity. The guard slowly walked towards us and opened the door, pulling me
out. He aimed the gun at my head. Time froze. There's nothing that will slow
down time more than staring down the barrel of a gun. His finger slowly
tightened around the trigger, the hammer withdrawing on it's first step to releasing the bullet inside the chamber,
and sending it into my brain. Suddenly, without thinking, I moved my head to the
right and grabbed his gun hand. I tried to turn the weapon to face him, but he
resisted. My pure determination and anger slowly overpowered him. I had been
through way to much to just give up and die. Slowly,
the weapon inched towards his head. It was pointing at his ear now. Now the side of his head. I moved it one more inch then
pushed the pistol forward, the trigger pushing against his finger, sending the
bullet meant for me into him. He collapsed on the ground and I snatched up the
gun. I looked back at Sol, who was starting to get up, and motioned for him to
follow me. I threw the dead guards body in the cage. Quickly we ran towards a
semi. Sol got in the passenger seat and I got into the drivers seat. I looked in
all the obvious places for keys with no luck.
"Shit."
It was one thing after another and I was getting tired of
it.
"What
mate?"
"No
keys..."
"Bloody
hell, maybe there are keys in one of the buildings or on a
guard."
"I'll
check. Stay here and keep down."
Slowly,
I slipped out of the truck, gun in hand. The guards were still on their
perpetual patrols, the dead guard didn't change their patrols in the slightest.
Something was seriously wrong. When I was fighting the guard who tried to kill
me, he had no expression. It was like his body was acting on its own, without a
mind. I snuck along the side of the mobile, my back to it. Foot by foot, I drew
nearer and nearer to the door leading into it. When I reached it, I slowly
turned the knob and slipped inside. A loan soldier stood there, staring blankly.
I pointed my gun at him, saying "Don't fucking move a muscle..."He continued to
stare past me. I kept my gun aimed at him. Then out of no ware, he raised his
rifle. I fired, sending a bullet into his head. Why the hell did he do that? He
must have known he didn't have a chance with his rifle not even in his hands.
This wasn't making sense. Quickly I searched his body for keys, finding none. I
went into the room he was standing in front, it looked like a small office. I
looked on the desk, no luck. I checked the draws, finding a set of keys. I
pocketed them and walked to the door. I was about to open it and go back to the
semi, but I heard something. I peaked out, there were five guards standing
outside. "Shit..." I though. I went to the dead guard and took his assault
rifle, an AK-74. I looked for a window I could crawl out of. No such luck. All
of the windows were barred up. I cocked the AK and went to the side of the door.
It began to open, so I put all my weight against it, sending the person on the
other side flying backward. I jumped in front of it, firing the AK into where
the guards should be. Quickly I jumped to the other side of the door, outside of
their line of fire. I heard the thump of them hitting the ground, but no
yelling, screaming, or any other sounds of pain. Either I hit them all in the
head, or these wore one hell of a disciplined group of soldiers. I peaked out
the door. Some wore on the ground and getting back up. "Holy
shit! You guys are tough!" I yelled, then I
sprayed them with 7.62mm rounds. I stepped out, jumping over bullet-riddled
bodies, and headed towards the semi. I hit the dirt as I heard shots, the
bullets sung just over my head. I rolled over onto my back and started shooting
wildly, hoping to make the duck for cover. They didn't move, just stood there.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU FUCKS?!?!" I yelled in frustration. The AK ran
out of ammo, and I pulled out the pistol I took from the guard. I thought
quickly. He had fired two shots to kill the two prisoners, and I had fired two,
killing him and another guard. It was a FORT 12, so it had eight shots left. I
aimed carefully and fired. The guard pinning me down dropped to the ground. I
jumped up, pulled the keys out, and threw myself into the semi.
I
tossed Sol the gun and said "You know how to use one of
these?"
"Afraid
I haven't used one much mate."
"Well
you better learn just point and shoot!"
"I
think I can handle that," he said as he leaned out the window and began firing
at incoming troops. I shoved the key in the ignition and cranked it. It made a
grinding sound. Nothing.
"Fuck!"
I yelled and cranked it again. It kept grinding. "C'mon, work damn you WORK!" I
cranked it again, the engine roared to life. I slammed the gas. The truck
stalled. "SHIT!!"
"I
hate to make things worse, but I'm out of ammo!"
"Check
the glove box for more!" I cranked it again, and it turned over. The bullets
wore slamming into the metal of the truck now. Soon we'd be swiss cheese if this thing wouldn't
get moving.
"I
found more ammo!" Sol said, reloading.
I
pressed the accelerator, and it took off. Sol leaned out the window, shooting at
the running soldiers. Sol yelled in pain and slid back inside. "They got
me."
"Shit,
where are ya hit?!"
"The
arm.
Not to bad, but I'll need help soon."
I
stomped the accelerator harder. We roared up and over the hill, the shots still
hitting the truck and flying by them. "Keep down Sol,
we're gonna get outta
this."
I
kept driving away. I looked in one of the sideview
mirrors and saw something on top of the warehouse, it
was humanlike and looked nude. "...What the hell...?" Then another burst of
rounds ripped my attention from it and back to driving. After awhile of driving
full speed, the bullets died down. About an hour later, a camp came into sight.
"Sol, I see a camp! You're gonna be ok!" Sol moaned. I
pulled up to the camp and jumped out.
"I
NEED SOME HELP!" I cried. A couple of science looking types poured out of a
tent.
"What
is wrong?" one asked with what sounded like a
German accent.
"The
guy in the cab's been shot, he needs help now!" They carried Sol out of the
truck and into a tent. I got some food, water and rest. When I got up, I went to
see Sol. He was doing fine.
"Thanks
for the help mate, I owe you my life!"
"Anytime.
I'm gonna keep heading west to get outta here. You wanna come with
me?"
"Thanks
mate, but my work is in here. Plus, I'm going to investigate those rumors you
told me about."
"Good
luck," I looked grimly at him, "just don’t get yourself
killed."
"Heh, I'll try to keep safe. Plus...
I STILL say this is like a vacation..."
I
walked out thinking what a crazy bastard that Sol was. I went to the command
station to see if I could get some spare ammo. While I was there, a distress
call came on over the radio.
"This.
i-..
Captian...An-............ Rani--.............. Mayday....... chopper..... down..... can't control..........
losing altitude! Co-ordinates..... C-10........."
That
voice... It sounded so familiar. Like one I had known all my life. Quickly I
picked up the transmitter. "Andrew? Andrew, is that you?"
"Yes...
Who is thi-
SHIT..........................................................................."
There
was only static.
~What's happening now? Who's voice is it that jogs my memory? Is it just a
coincidence? Will I finally get some sleep? Will Sol's near death-experience
bring him closer to his wife and kids? Stay tuned to find out!~
*
Note- future edition WILL be posted in GSC’s literary
contest forum.
GSC contest details:
Name: Justin Kauffman
Nickname: CaptBob8789
Email: jbarrk@cox.net