S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Jumping the Gap

by Senseisteel

Sawdust

"This is Sargent Zotkin at Prypyat anomaly location eighty one. Anomaly identified as category teleportation. Beginning analysis at seven twenty six PM, duration of analysis approximately six hours"

Sawdust cringed at using his old name as he set the voice recorder down inside his backpack. He was now stuck on a rooftop for the best part of seven hours with nothing to do besides keep an eye on the activity reader the scientists gave him. He had positioned the equipment around twenty feet from the disturbed area, the anomaly had slightly deformed the ground beneath it and had caused parts of the roofs guardrail to melt.

After he got a small fire going the last of the sunlight gave way to complete darkness that swallowed his surroundings. Sawdust never liked the zone after dark. Its not that he was afraid, it was the fact that during the night the zone no longer belonged to humans. After the twilight hours the zone became a mosh pit of mutated freaks that would not think twice about tearing you limb from limb and not even eat your remains.

hours came and hours went as Sawdust became mind numbingly bored of trying to occupy himself with what he could find in his pockets. Trying to juggle iron bolts got boring after half an hour. His PDA offered some entertainment through the local news updates and STALKER rankings but he couldn't use it for long, his battery was nearly dead and it was two days walk to Yanov station to get it charged.

"Fuck it" he mumbled to himself as he came to the conclusion that he was going to do some night stalking. He had skipped a few floors on his way through the building and now he thought it was high time to check them out.

Sawdust left most of his gear on the roof as he descended into the darkness of the ex apartment complex. Slowly strolling through the empty halls, his flashlight shining a sickly yellow tint over each room he investigated. Passing through an apartment he received the call of nature and rushed into the residential restroom. Upon bleeding his lizard he began to hear something emanating from the roof

*beep* *beep* *beep"

"Oh come on!" he shouted to himself as he re-sealed his trousers, grabbed his rifle from the top of the toilet and sprinted for the roof. The scientists told him that if the alarm goes off it means there is a huge burst of energy within the anomaly that is usually associated with the anomaly collapsing in on itself, a rare occurrence but a possibility none the less.

Upon reaching the roof Sawdust was met by the uncomfortably loud ringing of the equipment's emergency alarm. The noise becoming almost painful Sawdust simply blasted a hole strait through the tough-book that sat on the floor with his old AN-94 immediately ceasing the racket. However once the air cleared it was quickly refilled with the sounds of blood thirsty mutants, most noticeable of which a pack of blind dogs on the street thirteen stories below, howling and barking as they swarmed into the ground floor and began climbing the stairs.

"This is going well"

Comments

[kpatkoch]

and the swarming begins.