S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Zone of Nightmares

by Merc Scar

Chapter 1 - Arrival

The Zone, described as a land of riches by those who could make it, but more commonly described by everyone else as the man made hell. The exclusion zone around Chernobyl originated from the events of 1986 where on April 26th the 4th reactor failed during fail-safe exercise, resulting in the largest nuclear meltdown in history and amongst the worst ecological disasters, a 60 km exclusion zone was set up around the CNPP to prevent residents from returning to the area.

But what would further the infamy of the CNPP exclusion zone would be the phenomena in 2006, which would be come to be known as the first great emission, which would see the border of the exclusion zone jump out a further 5-km in size. Afterwards military forces hastily set up a new perimeter, what was now the Cordon which ran the edges of the zone.

By 2008 scientists were still unable to explain what caused the first great emission expeditions were rarely sent into the Zone usually with tragic results, accounts from survivors told of vicious mutated animals and unexplainable anomalies which would tear apart any unfortunate who disturbed them.

Rumors of rare anomalous formations which would come to be known as artifacts slowly seeped out into the world, which would attract the attention of daredevils who would enter into the Zone in hopes of obtaining these objects for profit. By 2010 the Zone was estimated to be home between one and three hundred unknown individuals calling themselves stalkers.

By 2011 the stalker phenomena is still growing in number despite military efforts to cordon the zone, open skirmishes between stalkers and the military prompt the military to shoot on sight. Open warfare between factions in the Zone breaks out causing widespread death amongst the stalker population. Without warning in October, a second great emission sweeps the Zone devastating the population further, the resulting loss in manpower, coupled with the reshaping of the Zones territories causes all stalker factions to broker for an uneasy ceasefire and consolidate their territories. Despite this new stalkers continue to breach through the Cordon.

The year is now 2012...

_____

The sun was beginning to set once again over the Zone, dark clouds rolling overhead. A thunderous boom was all the warning Alexei got as the first drops of ran began to fall. Hurrying his pace along he made his way up to the fence of the railway embankment, flicking his headlamp on he pulled out a pair of pliers and began to cut through the strands of barbed wire.

Rain was falling harder now, wind sending the icy droplets like shards against the man's face as he worked. Thankful for the heavy brown trench coat he had found earlier that day, it may have been several sizes too big for him, but he cared not for it kept the rain off of him. Finally cutting a large enough hole, Alexei tossed his backpack and rifle through, crawling under he stood up and examined the gap.

The hole he made was large enough to be seen to an alert eye, and this was a track he wanted to use again to make his way back to the local trader near the stalker village. Going to a nearby bush he pulled out his bayonet and quickly cut away several branches, placing them crisscross in the hole to make it appear an actual bush were growing there.

Satisfied Alexei picked up his kit and resumed his trek back to the small abandoned house that he made his home in. By the time he entered the ageing structure his coat was doing little to protect him from the torrent leaving him water lodged. Closing a makeshift door behind him he climbed up into the attic of the home where he now lived.

Alexei set about pulling a small box of matches from his supplies and lighting a small fire in an old oil drum which he had cut down to a quarter of its original size. He produced his spare set of clothing from a box which he had lugged from the workshops further south which most stalkers referred to as car park.

Sighing with relief he hung his drenched clothes near the fire. “At least I can say I've had a bath now,” he chuckled to himself.

Most stalkers went weeks if not months without ever cleaning, such a luxury was rare in the Zone, stalkers were more concerned with surviving the horrors of the Zone than worrying whether or not their smell would offend other stalkers. It wasn't something that was neglected altogether, as eventually the build up of filth would eventually begin to attract some of the lesser mutants, like rats.

Alexei shuddered at the thought of the poor souls who had met their end at a horde of rats brought on by the build up of various odours.

The storm outside was now near its full force, great claps of thunder roared outside like an angry beast, with blinding flashes of lightning, some bolts could be seen striking the landscape outside as if someone had offended god himself and he was unleashing his wrath.

Alexei threw a few more branches onto the fire. Pulling out a small tin of meat and a half loaf of bread he sat down and began to reflect on his time spent in the Zone as he ate.

He had entered just over three weeks ago. He had entered with only a handful of rubles, a couple of food cans, his family's old SKS rifle, two boxes with 30 rounds each, a small pack and the clothes on his back. He had breached through near the hills and ran through a ravine near the southern military outpost, dodging bullets from a heavy machine gun.

He thankfully made it to the nearby stalker village unscathed, if only exhausted. No one paid him any attention other than a sideways glance. A grizzled stalker wearing suit with a protective vest introduced himself as Wolf, the leader and mentor of the rookies at the village. Wolf had directed him to the local trader Sidorovich who had given him one look and only laughed at his equipment, saying he was one of the sorriest people he had seen enter the zone. He offered him a long barreled TOZ-34 shotgun in exchange for his SKS, he refused to which the trader only shrugged and told him it was his funeral.

Sidorovich did however give him a PDA and a half battered device known as an echo detector in exchange all Alexei had to do was produce three artifacts to pay for the devices. Alexei was also given a couple of extra batteries and a small hand powered charging tool, as well as a Markov PM and a box of rounds, being told that if he were going out, he might as well go with a chance.

He had been told the basics of finding artifacts by the trader, approach an anomaly field and toss bolts or other small metal objects around and identify where anomalies are, and raise the cover of the detector and follow the beeping to find the elusive treasure. Before he left Sid also gave him a small yet weighted lead lined case to store artifacts, lest he die of radiation before he makes it even halfway back.

Over the three weeks in the zone he managed to find two artifacts, a jellyfish and a nightstar. Upon returning them Sidorovich had given him the jellyfish back telling him he would find it useful for the time as he was contracted. Alexei was told that some artifacts may look the same with only slight differences, yet their abilities are vastly different. The jellyfish he had found had what felt like a slimy green coating, its power was to absorb radiation from whatever source it was exposed to, whereas its counterpart did not have the coating and instead emitted radiation, while providing a weak protective field around the wielder.

So far Alexei was euphoric for the artifact as it had indeed saved his life, he had tumbled down a slope further along the embankment after being attacked by a stray blind dog, he managed to use his rifle like a spear and kill the mutant and drive the bayonet into the chest, but the momentum from it's leap had unbalanced him enough where he had rolled down the hill. At its base was an old locomotive, rusting with age and a small anomalous field on the other side, he had smacked his head into one of the wheels driving him unconscious, upon coming to he noticed to his alarm that the built-in Geiger counter to his detector was crackling alarmingly loud.

Alexei had felt incredibly sick and had to drag himself away from the deadly area, it was then that he remembered what the trader had told him about the artifact, rummaging around in his pack he pulled out the artifact and held it against himself tightly for what felt like an eternity. After what he was surely more like a few minutes he felt well enough to retrieve his rifle and return to the rookie village.

Aside from hunting artifacts he had taken on jobs to hunt mutants from both Sidorovich and Wolf, which gave him enough money to buy food and even purchase a somewhat worn sawn-off shotgun. The shotgun had proved effective in killing the blind dogs and fleshes - heavily mutated pigs. However his rifle was undeniably better in killing the boars which roamed around, being capable of piercing their thick skulls. He only used his rifle sparingly however as the 7.62x39mm cartridges it used were fairly expensive, and they weren't in great supply either, a box only appearing in Sid's inventory once in a few days.

Over the past few days Alexei had been fortifying the small house he was now in. Blocking up windows with lengths of wood taken from a ruin right next to the house as well as making a makeshift door to keep mutants out. He had decided that it would be safest to camp in the attic and pull a ladder up at night just in case mutants did breach the house. Alexei had also been collecting various pieces of material, like the drum for his fire pit and some bricks, and a few boxes from the workshops over the embankment.

He had decided to camp here over the rookie village for two reasons, the first was it allowed him more time in the deeper sections of the Cordon, which in turn allowed him to search longer for loot. The second was some bastard had been stealing an item or two here and there each time he camped for the night in the village.

So far he was happy with the life he was carving out, he had begun saving a small amount of money from the jobs he did for the trader and rookie leader. He'd obtained an artifact that he could keep, a new gun, and a small saving of rubles. Things were going better here in this hostile place than they were on the outside in the world that had rejected him.

Pulling out a bedroll Alexei threw a couple more branches onto the fire and lay down to sleep, tomorrow was going to be another long day hunting for more elusive artifacts, and he'd be searching rain, hail or shine.

_____

Alexei awoke abruptly hearing the sound of an explosion followed by the sound of metal tearing and stressing. Looking around wildly he saw that the roof was still intact, and he could heard the storm raging outside still. Pulling aside some planks he'd used to cover a hole in the roof he looked out into the bleak night and saw a small glow of in the distance just up off the road.

Eyes widening Alexei realised that some vehicle must have been struck by the bolt of lightning. Alexei quickly changed back into his somewhat damp set of clothing and pulled a couple of medkits and bandages from his stash box, while they would only save a person with moderate injuries, he knew they were better than nothing.

While Alexei had come to realise that heroics in the Zone usually got a person killed, he couldn't deny the fact that a working vehicle could hold some decent loot, he was going to use the offer of medical aid as a means to get what he could. He wouldn't kill and steal from whoever was involved in the crash, he wasn't a bandit, but their could be something valuable there that the occupants might be willing to trade for.

Putting his headlamp on his head Alexei lowered the ladder and descended to the ground level and exited the house. Switching the lamp onto low beam he began to make his way to the crash site, sawn-off at the ready.

It took Alexei fifteen minutes to jog his way to the crash site, where he surveyed the damage the best he could between the flashes of lightning. The fire from the engine was almost extinguished from the rain which had begun to ease up, though that had really caught Alexei's attention were the numerous bodies scattered around the wrecked truck, each as unmoving as the last.

Walking over he gave one a prod with his shotgun, it lay as still as it did before, he went over and began to shake the other bodies wondering if any survived. He beheld one corpse whose face appeared to have been clawed half away by some large predator, it scared Alexei that something deeper in the Zone was capable of tearing a man apart like this.

He moved over to another body, that of a bald man, he couldn't be sure from the bulk of his ruined cobalt suit but he appeared skinny and malnourished, yet intact. A strange tattoo was on the body's arm, a tattoo of seven letters spelling “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.” he gave the body a few shakes and even though he appeared unharmed unlike most of the bodies he had checked, the marked one did not stir either.

Standing up and sighing Alexei was about to leave when he noticed a large metal container attached to the flatbed of the truck, going over to it he undid a latch a few boxes fell out from the awkward angle of the container which rattled with the familiar sound of bullets as well as a compact gun which he identified as an AKM-74/2U, it was like the child between an AK and a SMG. Alexei picked up a pair of empty magazines from the mud and stowed them along with the ammo into his pack and slung the rifle over his shoulder.

Looking over the unfortunates once more he began to leave once more as he heard the dull groan of someone in pain near the front of the wreck. Quickly jumping around the front of the truck he looked around for someone to be rolling on the ground bleeding out from injury, however he saw before him some equine creature, the fur matted with mud and blood but still a majestic black. The equine was also sporting a pair of wings, one which looked bent out of place, most likely broken, the feathers looked severely damaged as well, a horn also protruded from what would be described as a blue-silver helmet. This wasn't the only other item the equine wore, around it's neck was a choker collar with a silver moon crest, on its hooves were what could be called slippers, all made from the same blue silver metal. Yet still this wasn't the feature that made Alexei double take, both the mane and tail of the equine shimmered like the night sky and softly flowed as if it were exposed to a gentle breeze; despite the moderate winds. Furthermore the eyes of the equine were large enough that he could cup his palm around the eyelids.

Looking on the creature, whatever it may be, sure as hell wasn't spawned by the Zone, of that much Alexei was certain, it maybe strange but it wasn't mutant. Leaning down Alexei looked over the wounds of the equine, there were a lot of cuts on its body though a few looked worse with the amount of blood that was pouring from them. Taking his pack off Alexei removed one of the medkits and a couple of bandages and set about cleaning the wounds the best he could under the now drizzle of rain. Once he had cleaned the wounds he began dressing the large gashes on the equines shoulders, he then moved onto the barrel and lesser cuts on the neck.

As he applied the last bandage on the neck, the equines eye shot open looking around wildly, the iris was slit shaped, much like a cats. Alexei recoiled at the sudden activity, it was then that the equine did something that took him completely off guard...It spoke.

“Get your filthy hands off me you ape,” the equine spoke indignantly, the horn beginning to glow softly.

Between the shock of it suddenly coming awake and speaking to him plain as day, the one part of his brain that was still function told him to run, run like his life depended on it. With that Alexei bolted in the opposite direction, sprinting back to the decrepit house called home in record time, as he ran he heard a scream of rage. Slamming the door shut he rammed a couple of loose boards up against the door where he then quickly climbed up into his attic.

There heavily panting and muscles trembling from the burst of adrenaline he realised that he had left his entire kit behind.

“Fuck,” was the only word Alexei managed to mutter to himself.

Looking over to his stash he saw he still had his trusty SKS and Markov, with the knowledge he still had those firearms he knew he was still somewhat safe, well as safe as you could get in the outermost reaches of the Zone.

“I'll head back in the morning and get my stuff back, horse-pegasus-unicorn thing or not” Alexei resolved to himself.

_____

Nightmare Moon groaned as she awoke, her mind fuzzy as she struggled to maintain consciousness, slowly things began coming back to her. She had finally broken free of her prison after a thousand years, and trapped her great enemy, the sun loving Princess Celestia, in her own prison.

She had then gone to Ponyville, the site where she was defeated so long ago to unleash her gift of eternal night. While she was there, Nightmare Moon had detected the faint tell-tale traces in the ponies present which shared the same power of the Elements of Harmony.

She had tried at every turn to discourage the ponies from making the journey to her old castle, yet they still made it, there they found and unleashed upon her the power of the elements...and beaten her.

Nightmare opened her eyes immediately as she realised that she was still alive and breathing. What met her sight was what looked to her like a monkey with its hands on her. Immediately she glared at the ape and barred her fanged teeth while powering up with what magic she had in her reserves for a kinetic blast.

“Get your filthy hands off me you ape,” Nightmare said in disgust, her actions had the desired effect and the ape promptly turned around and bolted off.

Sighing Nightmare sat up on her haunches, her body protesting with dull throbs, looking around taking in her surroundings. She was out in some wilderness, though none that she was familiar with, even in her time of imprisonment she was able to scry into Equestria.

Charging her magic again Nightmare looked over into a puddle and cast a scrying spell in an attempt to see something familiar, such as her ruined castle. The puddle glowed silver for a moment before fading back to normal. Nightmare had a sinking feeling now she was certain...she was no longer in Equestria.

“FAUST DAMN IT,” Nightmare shouted at the top of her lungs, causing her to curl over panting hard from the outburst in her already weakened state.

"Alright I need to find some shelter, then figure out where in Tartarus I am,” Nightmare thought glumly to herself.

Nightmare looked over to where the ape creature had been and saw a sack and metallic stick with a strap attached to both end of it as well as a smaller metallic tube attached to a stick. She also saw a small orange box that had various pieces of basic medical equipment, such as bandages, sterilising agents, syringes and pills to name a few. It was then she noticed the tight bandages on her body, red spots on a couple of them. Gathering all the loose supplies together into the sack she placed the sack onto her back only for it to erupt in pain.

Throwing the sack off she looked to her left flank to see her wing hanging limply at her side.

“How did I not notice that earlier” Nightmare wondered, mentally scolding herself for not taking full stock her health.

Sighing she charged her magic up, initially nothing happened, concentrating harder she enveloped her wing in her telekinetic grip, taking a deep breath she pushed the wing back into its socket causing Nightmare to scream out in pain.

Panting again Nightmare looked around taking in her surroundings in greater detail, where ever she was, she concluded that these lands looked about as welcoming as the Everfree did. Once again she pulled the sack onto her back, albeit more gingerly this time and strapped the two metal stocks to it as well.

“Luna I know we've had our differences over the actions I have taken, but are you paying attention to the situation we're in,” Nightmare asked her other half, after a moment of silence she finally notice that Luna's presence was completely absent from her mind.

“So I'm alone here then...I hope Luna is back in Equestria safe then” Nightmare sighed dejectedly. She knew that Luna did not agree with her actions in Equestria, but everything she had done, she had done for Luna, even if it made her into a tyrant.

For whatever world she was on, she knew she would need assistance, because if her assumption was right, these lands would be about as dangerous if not more due to its unknown inhabitants than what horrors inhabited Equestria. Further to her misfortune not only were her magical reserves dangerously low, there appeared to be some form of field suppressing her magic.

So far she had only come across one creature that seemed to have any desire to help her... she needed to find that ape creature.

Walking around the hunk of smouldering metal she was met with several decaying bodies strewn across the ground. Looking back at the smouldering metal she noticed a dent in its structure, looking back to where she lay then at herself she realised what must have happened.

“I hope this doesn't come back to bite me in the flank” Nightmare sighed as she set off in the direction that the ape had fled.

Comments

[Jack Kellar]

The sheer amount of run-on sentences is disheartening for someone excited to see a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. crossover on this site.

Really, bud, get an editor to help you with punctuation.

[Lovecraftia]

has better punctuation than the last S.T.A.L.K.E.R story i read.