day 1
I got assigned to an research camp in the zone so I have to leave my comfortable office in the university.
I have to be at the airport at 20:00 hours so I better hurry or I am going to miss the ride to hell.
day 2
I slept not very good in the damn plane the turbulence made it impossible to get some rest, so I started to read some of the notes my
it has much freaky stuff about mutants and anomaly's that can kill you in a second.
I am really not looking forward to wander into the zone looking for artifacts if my life is going to be in such danger , but I got no choice only because of that small accident in the lab.
the airplane is going to land soon so I am starting to look out of the window if I can see the landing strip yet.
the airplane landed but the bus to the zone border is nowhere to be seen.
the bus had engine troubles so I have to wait for at least an hour and a half , luckily I have seen some attractive women also going to the zone so the delay is the perfect opportunity to get some names and hopefully some phone numbers.
the bus arrived everybody got in but someone was missing so we have to wait till he shows up.
the man that was missing is called Johan he apparently is the new head of security at the camp I will be working at , not a good sign.
after a bus trip of 4 hours and a couple of minutes we arrived at the zone the air is dark already but it is only 19:13 I heard the zone is affecting the sky but i did not expect it to get so dark so early.
the people in the bus are being divided in groups so that we can get in the 2
at 20:23 we arrived at the camp we are quickly shown around the camp and told we have to report in the briefing room tomorrow at 6:30
so i walked to my room and packed my gear out and prepared it for tomorrow.
day 3
after waking up out of a restless sleep I walked to the coffee room and took breakfast I looked at the wall clock and noticed it was 6:05 so I walked back to my room and put on my working clothes.
in the briefing room we are told that today we will go to an small city called pripyat to take some readings of the radiation and to gather some biological samples of plants and small animals like frogs.
we would be flown in by army
the base intercom system would notify us when the helicopter arrives so until then we should go to the gear room and put on our nbc suits and take the Geiger counters the all important anomaly detector and an weapon of choice.
I took an desert eagle with 3 magazines so that I would be able to defend myself.
I also took 2 specimen containers with 4 slots for specimens in both of them.
7:21 the intercom asks all scientist assigned to zone duty to gather at the landing pad.
so I get up and walked to the heli pad.
I never knew an
I got in listening to everything the pilot said in the cockpit to the air controller of the base cursing my self for not learning Russian when I had the chance.
at 7:30 sharp everybody was in the helicopter and the helicopter took off flying to the former town center of pripyat I asked one of the experienced scientist what i should expect over there.
he told me that the blind dogs are hunting in the outskirts of pripyat but that he is more concerned about the controllers with their zombie's that use the buildings to hide and ambush the unsuspecting people that are forced to shelter in the buildings because of nightfall or the deadly fog that comes from the Chernobyl reactor or from below the surface where the meltdown of the reactor is still blazing causing the feared blow-outs to get rid of the pressure.
7:52 we land on an open field near the town, the soldiers told us that we have to wait until the officer declares the area safe enough for research and specimen collection.
dr burke ordered me to gather water plants from the small pond 300 yards north of the helicopter.
so I walk to the pond and wade in till I cant see my knees anymore and start to pull out some plants as carefully as I can putting them in the specimen container.
I noticed a frog was swimming 2 feet away from me so I slowly got closer to the frog so that I could get in range to grab it.
I waited till the frog moved then I grabbed him by the leg.
as the frog was trying to escape from my grip I noticed his legs had sharp spikes on the skin I tried to put it in the container quickly but I was too late one of the spikes went straight through the protective suit into my finger.
it must have hit the bone because I never felt so much pain it was burning all the way up to my neck.
I walked out of the water immediately and walked to the helicopter one of the soldiers was a medic so I had him take a look at it.
he pulled of my glove and took his knife he cut my finger open bone deep.
I made a loud yell because of the pain signaling dr burke to check out what was going on.
as I was explaining what happened he started talking to the medic in Russian I could not tell what he said but the medic said I had to sit in the helicopter and wait till the rest of the researchers where done with their tasks and that I had to stay close to him at all times.
8:06 my hand started to swell up alarming the medic he took out his knife again getting me really nervous , he asked me if I could move my fingers I could not so he grabbed my hand and tried to cut it again I resisted so he had to call 2 soldiers to hold me down.
this time he sliced a very painful cut in the palm of my hand and he made the same cuts he did on the finger I was pricked in by the spike of that frog on all of my fingers.
I was given morphine to ease the pain but it did not help.
the medic spoke to the two soldiers they then ran of to dr burke.
apparently my wound was serious enough to get back to base as soon as possible , not a very good sign.
12:46
I woke up in the infirmary I must have fainted in the helicopter , I tried to look at my hand but it was hidden in an bandage then I started to feel the burning pain again.
«is anybody here!» I cried out in the infirmary.
«ah good to see you are back from where ever you where» the doctor said.
«my name is nikolai I will look after you for the coming days»
«doctor is my hand still there!» I asked in concern.
«yes but you are still infected with an poison that breaks down the cells it comes in contact with so the risk of losing your hand is still an option» he said with an heavy Russian accent.
«when will you know for sure that the poison is no longer a threat!» I asked to nikolai.
«well the experimental anti-dote is working but we cant be sure without an blood test so I will have to take an sample of your blood» I was expecting this but I was rather surprised by the size of the gigantic needle.
«don’t worry you wont feel a thing it looks impressive but it is painless»
after he took some blood he walked away probably to check my blood right away
14:32
nikolai returned he explained to me that the infection was under control and I would have to keep in bed for at least 3 days.
day 7
12:00
I had to stay in bed an extra day because my hand was still a little painful so I had an extra injection of anti-dote.
I was told that dr burke wanted to talk to me so I walked to his office and knocked on the door.
he told me to come in and started asking what the hell I was thinking when I grabbed that frog.
I explained him that he was the one that send me into the pond to gather plants and catch small creatures.
he denied that he ever gave me such an order and that I had to be careful or else he would make damn sure I would never come back out of the zone.
it was my worst experience with an career scientist ever , I had heard that career officers in the army where worse but dr burke was just as bad as anyone of his army counter-parts.
12:17 after a thorough verbal beating I was ordered to remove my useless behind out of his office.
no wonder he stays close to the helicopter if he was the last one that had to get in he would probably be «forgotten» by the soldiers and scientists.
I walked into the coffee room and I was welcomed by the scientists and the soldiers , I was surprised by all the questions they asked me on how I was doing and how my meeting with dr burke was.
I told them he uncensored version of the meeting and I immediately got their stories about their experiences with dr burke from that moment on I was one of them.
13:00 an voice over the intercom ordered all of the scientists to go to the briefing room for our new assignments.
in the briefing room was a lot of noise until dr burke walked to the front of the room and started to talk.
«lady's a few of you probably already knew that the stalkers where talking about an mutant species they call controller , our Russian hosts asked us to trap an controller alive for research purposes , that means lady's that you have 30 minutes to get your gear ready and report at the landing strip where you will be told where you will be dropped in the zone.
you only need personal protection gear as our Russian friends promised to bring all the equipment we will need to trap and extract an controller good luck lady's"
it was almost as if a bomb blew in the room everybody was shocked by the obvious impossible orders some tried to protest and reason with dr burke but it was hopeless dr burke was about to get us all in mortal danger but we where like hostages because of the strict rules the governments made for the research bases.
meaning that the base leader was judge jury and executioner and dr burke would have us shot if we did not follow his orders so we silently walked to storage room and put on our protective gear I took an old m60 with me that dr burke probably bought from the cheapest gun dealer he could find so that he could buy that expensive leather chair he was so proud of.
13:23
one of the soldiers noticed that I was carrying an m60 and asked me what dinosaur I was going to hunt with it.
«an controller, do you want to come along!» I asked him.
«no my shift is almost over» he said.
«too bad we really could use such an experienced soldier like you» I said to him.
he walked away from me so I knew he got the hint that I was in no mood for his jokes.
I started talking with the soldiers that where coming with us on this suicide mission they where even more worried because they heard the horror stories of the stalkers.
then I heard the rotor blades of the helicopters.
«everybody line up and get ready to board the helicopters when I say go» said our military leader.
when the helicopters landed everybody walked really slowly as if they where walking to the gas chamber , but this was much worse we would not be gassed but we would become an slave of the controller we would stop to be human we would forget about our loved ones.
of course dr burke shined in absence in the helicopters that rat would not dare to do some field work for his
14:07
the helicopters landed in the middle of a small village with an name I forgot.
some zombie's where walking around bumping against walls and everything in front of their feet.
this sight send a shiver down my spine and a question haunted me from the moment I entered the helicopter «would I end up like one of them!».
we started to barricade an road so that nothing bigger than a cat could pass this is where we would trap the zombie's when the controller comes for our minds and souls.
an house that could overlook the «extraction zone» or our landing spot and the zombie trap was chosen as the center of command where the military positioned machineguns in the windows so that most of the village is in the sights of the machineguns.
the only thing we have to do is wait until night falls.
a few soldiers repaired an old car and welded an 6 yard wide metal fence on the front of the car to push the zombie's into the trap.
and now everybody is getting some rest writing their testament or taking care of their gun but I am busy with an binocular looking at the zombie's and searching in the dark spots if I can see the controller we have to catch alive.
that thought made my blood freeze.
if only I was able to make dr burke appear out of nowhere with an magical button i would then lock him out to capture the controller himself but I cant do that.
but that thought is much better than thinking about the fact many good men where going to die doing the impossible for a man that is unable to successfully run an ant farm.
22:13 the zombie's are getting restless , the soldiers say that the controller will start his attack soon so we should start to round up the zombie's in the trap and kill them all «can I kill something already dead!».
the two soldiers that made their battering ram «nicknamed the bull» started to push the zombie's into the trap.
about 34 zombie's are in the trap so the order for the bull is given to
within seconds the machineguns start to gun down the zombie's with an hail of metal.
at that point all soldiers except the machine gunners are sent out along with the scientists to capture the controller.
everybody searches the houses one by one until there remains only one, two soldiers are standing in front of me while a third is opening the door.
he looks inside and closes the door.
«oleg what’s wrong» one of the soldiers says to him.
he looked up aimed his ak47 at his friend and shoots.
the group scatters taking cover where ever they find it.
one of the machine gunners answers the gunshots with his own gunfire.
the man that shot his friend was torn apart by the bullets his head blew open covering the door in blood.
his left arm fell off his body that was reduced to minced meat.
the team leader orders the machine gunners to shoot through the door and the windows maybe they could kill the controller probably not.
when the machineguns stopped their deadly bullet rain the door was plastered with explosives so that the team could stay away from the controller.
some of us hoped that the controller was dead but I was not so easily convinced.
when the doors exploded the soldiers ran in shooting wildly around them but there was nothing there.
i followed them closely they checked every room with gunfire first «some thought that if the controller could not see you he would not be able to take you over»
i was not sure about that so I only hoped it was true.
the rooms where all clear so the soldiers walked out of the building but they where running back in almost at the same time.
I tried to ask what was going on but my answer was not answered by the soldier but by machinegun fire from our reinforced command post.
the bullets hit a young soldier in his neck spraying blood al over us.
he was dead before he hit the floor.
we all dropped to the floor and tried to crawl as fast as we could into one of the rooms we had cleared only seconds ago.
the machineguns stopped shooting but we all knew we where in trouble and probably not going to survive this nightmare.
i slowly looked out the window at the back of the room to see if we could get out but we where trapped the streets where crawling with zombie's it would be impossible to survive this so I aimed the m60 I was carrying all the time at the center of the group and I gently pulled the trigger.
then nothing the gun was jammed, I gave the m60 to one of the soldiers in the hope that one of them could fix the damn thing.
but the tools they needed to repair it where in the property of the machine gunners the same that are shooting at us.
as one of the men where walking around one of the wooden planks broke revealing an large crawl space.
the building once was attached to the building we used as a command post according from a soldier that lived here so it could be possible that the crawlspace was attached to our command post.
it was our only option and we all knew it.
the soldiers where thinking of a plan while my thoughts where drifting away to the days that passed and how I got here in the first place.
that awful flight the bus that was too late , Johan that was missing.
that reminds me I was absolutely sure Johan would get us killed maybe he would be the one to come searching for our dead bodies but he would only find zombie's.
the soldier returned he said it was not attached.
we had to make a run to the command post if we wanted to fight for our lives.
its an small chance but if the controller took over the machine gunners their shooting skills would be decreased giving us one last desperate option that would mean the death of at least half of us.
we gathered at the door and the soldiers leader said «we have to run in different directions so that the machinegun fire has to shoot individual persons instead of the entire group» it was a bad plan but the only one that would not get us all killed so we got ready and ran out of the door.
i was one of the last persons out and I was lucky that the machineguns where shooting at soldiers to the right of me so I ran to the left until I was out of sight of the machineguns.
the survivors quickly stormed the command post jumping through windows shooting at our previous friends.
I did not join them in the fight because I did not have a weapon , the m60 was taken by one of the soldiers.
when the gunfire stopped I walked into the command post walked past the corpses because I did not want to step on one of them.
when I reached the place where the machineguns stood I saw the soldiers where picking up the corpses to remove them out of the building.
day 8
1:12
the village was dark and silent the only sound was coming from the zombie's eating the corpses that we dragged into the streets.
the sound of flesh being stripped from the bones was the only thing we could hear except an laughing sound from a child.
the soldiers said that was the controller laughing at us.
daylight would not reach us until 7 at least.
so we had to stay awake until we could walk out of this place the radio was damaged by the gunfight so we could not radio for extraction.
our team was now 5 soldiers and 3 scientist me included we came here with 18 soldiers and 15 scientists and equipment.
everybody had an injury I had an head wound from falling down the stairs , I slipped over an puddle of blood.
I also got my arm twisted when I hit the ground so I can not use my left arm.
just when my hand was in a good condition again I hurt my arm what are the chances of that happening.
4:20
a little glow could be seen at the horizon but it would take a while until we would have enough light to see where we where going.
5:32
the zombie’s are gathering at the outside of the command post ready to storm in.
the controller is laughing all the time now but we still don’t know where he is.
6:09
the zombie’s have torn down the door so their path upstairs is clear.
The soldiers fortunately had placed an machinegun on a tripod at the top of the stairs where a soldier is sitting with the gun between his legs mowing down all the zombie’s that walk up the stairs.
It had an funny resemblance with a fly that tries to fly through a glass window.
But this window would not last much longer and the zombie’s would get through soon.
The soldiers where trying to shoot the controller with the grenade launcher attached to the barrel of the ak47’s .
But they could not locate the source of the child’s laughter and kept wasting the grenades on empty houses and deserted dark corners.
I was sitting on an table waiting for the inevitable waiting till the machinegun would run out of ammunitions and the zombie’s would start to kill everybody that was still alive.
6:21
the machinegun stopped signaling the soldiers to hold of the zombie’s with their ak47’s.
one soldier sitting in front of me grabbed an bayonet and attached it to his gun.
'I want to fight till the end“ he said with an calm voice.
One soldier fell of the stairs and landed on top of the zombie’s the other soldiers tried to shoot him before the zombie’s would start eating him but he was already pulled outside where he screamed for help until we could only hear gurgling sounds probably the blood in his mouth.
The soldier with an bayonet threw an grenade in the zombie’s that where eating his friend an explosion of blood and flesh was the result , the scene was much worse than any video reports coming from the many war zone’s from the past Bosnia or the civil wars in Africa.
The soldiers at the stairs where reloading but it was too late the zombie’s captured the remaining soldiers and ripped them apart.
The scientists where climbing out of the window up to the roof I followed them but I first took a few grenades from the table and quickly climbed up the roof.
Fortunately it was a flat roof so we had lots of room.
7:49
the sounds of zombie’s eating stopped a half hour ago but I am not sure my watch stopped working long ago.
We where waiting for the end to come.
8:43
we heard a distant sound of an helicopter but it was only passing by.
That’s when the 2 other scientists gave up.
The started to talk about going back down and try to get one of the guns the soldiers had.
'and what about the zombie’s are you going to ask them to please step aside !“
'no but we did not hear any sound for a long time maybe they are gone“
'do they have better things to do than kill us besides the controller wants us dead and he is the only one deciding what the zombie’s do“ I replied
'we wont know if we don’t try“
I stopped arguing with them we are dead already so why delay the inevitable ?
'do what you want but bring back a weapon for me okay“ I did not want to tell him that he would not come back so I encouraged him.
He climbed down and was pulled in by a bunch of zombie’s his screams where incredibly loud and could be heard in the entire village.
His screams where answered by the controllers laughter.
'well that was smart“ I said to his friend.
'asshole “ he said to me.
'sorry but I told him he was going to die“
he wisely ignored me.
'sorry but it is the zone that does this not me“
'I know but I am angry that I did not go down instead“
'then he would be sitting here saying the same words don’t feel bad for yourself if you want to be angry be angry at dr. burke“ I said to him
'its all his fault“ he said.
13:32
another helicopter was heard but this one seemed to fly in our direction.
We waited until we could see it then we stood up and waved our hands in the air to get its attention.
It started to hover above our heads and lowered an rope we climbed up and where flown back to base.
13:56
we landed on the airstrip and I walked out the helicopter and went straight to the office of dr. burke.
As I stood in front of his office I took my grenade and pulled out the pin.
I walked into the office and put the grenade on the desk dr. Burke’s fave was filled with fear then the grenade blew.
Epilogue
The office of dr. burke was blown up by an un identified person.
It appears dr. burke was in his office at the time of the explosion.
Dr burke died at 13:58
The identification of the unknown person is being performed by the DNA department of the Moscow police.