SAFE HAVEN
(The Getaway)
A cloud of smoke bellowed around the room as laughter fi lled the large banquet hall. Many people were dressed up in the finest clothes some clenching glasses of scotch or cognac fi lled with ice.
Clinking glasses and laughter seemed the only noise the room seemed to eminent. The large television screens that surrounded the room were still flashing different pictures and different angles of the hunt. “Ivan, Ivan did you really think that an old man…a man at his age would…or could really last until the end? He can barely walk as it is!” The large beefy man puffed himself up in anger at Lord Otto, “Age is only a number Lord Otto!” “And Thorbjorn my friend, I don’t understand you either, your contestant is in even worse shape…and you’re still putting money on him!” Thorbjorn shook his head, “you don’t know Mwai like I do! He is a killer and he’ll never give up…never!” “Oh my dear Thorbjorn, he is already infected, that scratch by the creature sealed his fate, one bite, one scratch, his death is but a certainty…” “You’ll see Lord Otto, you will see.”
[Anton]
“What do you mean go after it…you must be crazy! You all are fucking nuts you know that?” I checked over my historical MP38 which functioned as if brand new. If only my father could see me now God rest his soul. During my struggle for survival my genuine SS uniform had become muddy and I knew a disgrace to the honor that it required to wear. I tried to ignore the large mud stains covering my once pristine military boots. It felt good to be back in uniform and not confined in a cell with a dinky orange jump suit. “Yeah boy, GO after it! It’s injured, and we should finish it off or it will come back like it did before!” I shook my head at Jacob, “Impossible…it ran off to die, we should try to escape like you planned before.” “And what, let that creature come back again,” I shook my head as I wiped mud off my sleeve. “Impossible I filled its back with as many bullets as I could fire, it won’t be back.” “ARE YOU BLIND, what the hell was THAT?” Aednat moved forward continuing, “Or was that just ANOTHER creature that happened to track us down and attack us?” Shaking my head again, “either way we have too many injured. Simple military tactics is you fi x the wounded then you attack…” “And then what, wait for that...that thing to come back!” Aednat was on the offensive continuing, “I shot that thing and it just hobbled away! If it came back the first time it will come back again!” “You don’t attack with so many injured Aednat its utter insanity!” “I’m sorry to interrupt you two, but if I am going to pick up the trail we need to have left like yesterday!”
I stood speechless as Aednat walked over and helped Yakov to his feet. He threw her off, “I can walk myself!” A ghost seemed to emerge from the crumbling door frame. I realized that it was the shrimp and I scoffed at him. He examined the crumbled water tower with a look of utter confusion. He straightened his suit jacket as he made his way towards the group. Aednat had already made her way towards Mwai who was struggling to his feet. “GET OFF ME IRISH!” Throwing her off as Yakov did he began to hug himself. He took a step and stumbled slightly. His arm went wildly up as Aednat caught him, “yeah, yeah, yeah, big tough Mwai doesn’t need help from nobody.” Mwai leaned on Aednat as she helped to carry him slightly. They made their way to the rest of us, “alright Jacob led the way.” Jacob stared down at his dog, “come on Lefu track.” The dog looked up at its master with big brown eyes and looked confused. “DON”T give me that look Lefu, you know what I’m saying,” the dog wagged its tail slightly and firmly sat on the ground.
“You see even your dog thinks we should stay,” Jacob turned to me and then back down to his dog. “We should stay and dig in deep…not let a darkie plan a trap, have somebody with real military experience…” Through clenched teeth I watched Mwai grit in pain, “if…I had the strength…wh… white… boy I would, I’d skin you alive with… my machete.” Silence filled the group as we all stared at each other. Jacob was the only one that was watching his dog. He stared down at it as its ears pricked up in anticipation of things to come. Jacob looked as if he had never seen his dog act this way. The dog gave a little wag of its tail again as it shuffled its front paws with a slight smile. “Track,” Jacob repeated pointing in the direction of the beast. The dog turned its head and then back to its owner.
I watched Jacob’s mustache twitch as his lips curled into a snarl. Kicking the dog slightly, “get moving Lefu!” The dog moved several inches before it jumped onto all fours. “Track,” Lefu froze and then Jacob pointed to the ground, “track!” The dog whined for a minute but sniffed the ground and began to sniff the air. The dog gave a pleading look as Jacob shouted, “TRACK!” The dog whined again and then began to move towards the beast’s escape route. “Lefu’s got the trail, now let’s go,” Jacob chambered a round as he led the way, “everyone follow me.” Raska began to follow, “I agree with the white boy we should dig in. I only have a couple bullets left, so we’re all fucked!” Everyone seemed to laugh even the walking shrimp cracked a smile. Grumbling “fine since we are tracking the creature,” Raska picked up an unconscious Nikki and decided to carry her on the hunt for the wounded creature. Although it seemed that Raska was merely carrying her to grab certain parts of her body.
The sun was now setting in the sky as we continued our journey. We marched on until the urban area began to leave us and turn into a large field of tall grass. Marching through the grass we crossed what seemed like miles and miles of barren landscape. I marched with my hands folded behind me. My gernade sized “Bouncing Betty” was annoyingly bouncing off my leg. I felt the antique machine gun resting on my back as we made a single file line moving through the grass. I could hear Mwai complaining the entire time. He groaned with pain as Aednat did her part to carry him. “Jacob there’s foot prints all over the place.” “I know Irish, I know.”
We kept marching on as Hakeem was hobbling up ahead like an injured animal. I kept to myself as I watched him move off the trail that we had been following. I tried to gaze ahead to see Jacob’s mutt wondering from side to side tracking every inch that we were walking. “Are you sure the creature came this far,” Chris made his way up to the front to where Jacob was leading the march. “That thing was injured couldn’t it just have wandered off and died somewhere?” I watched Jacob stop in his tracks and turn to Chris. However my attention was drawn towards Hakeem who had wandered off slightly staring into a particularly large clump of grass. “You are as delusional as that other white boy! That creature came back before what makes you think…” I lost the rest of their words when I noticed Hakeem remove something. He removed his Mack-10 from his coat and began prodding at something in the grass. I walked over towards him away from the group. The crunching of the dry grass halted as everybody seemed to be eyeing the both of us suspiciously. “What’re you looking at,” Hakeem pointed to a small rock and next to it stood a grayish log. The closer I inspected the log the more familiar it become, “is that…is that, what I think it is?” I began to reach down to grab it when a diseased dark hand grabbed my wrist. Eyes were wide with terror as he shook his head, “don’t touch it…the arm is cursed!” I swung my machine gun around my back and moved towards the arm. I poked the barrel into the wrist and surprisingly the fingers twitched violently. Hakeem and I jumped back, but I collided into something. “WATCH OUT,” Chris grabbed my shoulders and shoved me to the side. As I regained my balance I heard the group arguing, “That’s impossible,” “what the hell is that?”
Lefu began to howl as our group turned to the mongrel, “well Lefu’s got a strong scent we need to keep going before she looses it.” It took several comments from Jacob, before we continued to move through the grass. Chris seemed to be the only one completely taken aback by the moving arm, “I just don’t know how it can keep moving…it’s medically inconceivable! Jacob you know what’s going on…I don’t understand why you won’t tell us!” I watched Jacob’s eyes glare at Chris, “boy if you don’t shut the hell up with that I’m gunna have Lefu here rip out your throat you get me?”
We marched on until the grass turned to trees and soon a forest enclosed around us. Several times during our journey I noticed scattered bullet casings and even a few rusted weapons during our trek. Yakov limped the entire journey but never asked for help or even let out a sniffle of pain. We continued to journey through the forest as Lefu continued to lead the way. Mwai groaned with every step, “Jacob how much further… Jacob…Jacob!” Aednat was groaning under Mwai’s weight as I smiled at her, “You know you could help Anton!” I shook my head, “I don’t fancy these German hands touching a darkie.” I watched her roll her eyes, “racist shit.” She continued carrying Mwai whose dark skin was growing paler and paler.
The trees surrounded us as the branches twisted into crooked fingers. The forest stood silent seemingly absent of all animal life. “Hold up,” Jacob stopped when a large sign hung on a particularly large tree. Rusted and covered with mud and dirt, it hung by a rusty nail.
Danger Traps Ahead
-All Candidates Have Been Warned-
“Everyone be careful,” Jacob nodded at Lefu who lapped at his black lips and then began to move forward.” I kept my hands behind my back as we continued through the forest. I watched Jacob’s eyes as he scanned every tree and every bush. “This is stupid Jacob,” Chris had broken the silence as everyone continued to move. “We shouldn’t be doing this. We should try to find the wall! We should try and get these bracelets off.” Jacob’s eyes continued to scan the trees. I smirked at them all wondering what everybody had on their minds. I seemed to be the only one realizing the futility of our struggle. As everybody marched forward following a mutt, nobody seemed to realize the danger in our cause. Ammo was beginning to run low and another encounter was foolish without weapons to fi ght it.
Jacob lowered himself to the ground and examined a particularly large paw print embedded deep in the mud. Dark red blood fi lled two of the toes, “Jacob we should be going towards the wall...we should find a way out…no good can come of this…” Grabbing Jacob’s arm, “this is what they want!” Jacob threw off his hand as Chris grabbed him again, “will you listen to me?” I watched Jacob freeze as his handle bar mustache was clumped with sweat, “look you must see them…” Jacob’s eyes narrowed as Chris continued, “There are cameras…everywhere!” Throwing his hand off again, “I know I see them too boy!” Aednat was groaning under Mwai’s limp body, “Who Chris, who do you think is watching us?” I watched Chris turn to her and then shake in frustration, “I…I …don’t know…I don’t know…but obviously it has to be the people on the tablets.” “And who are they Chris, huh?” “FORGET IT, the both of you” yelled Jacob as Lefu moved further forward, “the creature is injured and has traveled a little further then I expected. It’s injured and if we hope to kill this thing we have to keep moving and fi nd it…and fi nish it.”
“I’m not taking another step to find that creature! I’m getting out of here, and if any of you want to live I suggest you come with me.” Jacob stood up “NO, we should kill it, kill it now!” “It won’t come back again! We got it good so now let’s make our escape.” “We…we…need…to… stick…together, Chris,” Aednat struggled with her words, “whether… we like…it…or not. We are a squad…and squads stick together.” Chris shook his head, “I didn’t want this!” My eyes darted back and forth between Aednat and Chris as they continued to argue. “Forget you… forget you all,” Chris turned and left the group. Heading into the forest, “Chris, there are traps out there,” Jacob yelled waving his hand, “I’m done playing their game Jacob! Its time we start playing a different one.” He continued to march away from the group, “Don’t fight a battle if you don’t gain anything by…” SNAP! TWANG!
I watched Chris turn completely upside down and fly into the air. He fl ew wildly and smacked against a thick tree. CRACK! Something deafened the sound as Chris began to scream in pain. He gripped his arm in pain howling loudly. I watched Raska set Nikki’s unconscious body on the ground as everybody began to move towards Chris. “Stay where you are, no sense everybody getting snared in traps!” Jacob moved out of his position as he pushed past Raska. He inched towards Chris who was swearing loudly gripping his arm, “it’s broken…my arm…it’s fucking broken!” Jacob moved closer, “calm down, I’ll cut you down boy!” Jacob removed his knife carefully inching his way towards him. The entire blade was stained with dark red blood as Jacob finally grabbed a swinging Chris. I watched him cut the thick rope, and Chris fell to the ground with a soft, THUD! “Patch yourself up and let’s keep moving,” “my fucking arm is broken you idiot!” Chris was gripping his arm tightly as he sat rocking on the ground. “Half the group is injured boy! Look at Hakeem he has been walking fine this entire time, and even Yakov has been limping the entire way.” Jacob pointed to Yakov who had been using his bow as a sort of makeshift walking stick. “Now sling that arm and let’s get moving,” “WITH WHAT?”
“AAHHHOOOO,” Everyone nearly jumped out of their skin. Guns were quickly raised and even I reached for the quickest weapon that I could grab. I raised my Astra in the direction of the howl and realized that it was that stupid mutt. “Jesus Christ,” I yelled as I stared at the dog, who wagged its tail several times. “Relax everybody it’s just Lefu, she has found something.” Jacob helped Chris up to his feet as the group continued to move forward following the mutt. We marched approximately a hundred more yards and then stopped suddenly when Jacob held up his hand, “woah, woah everybody slow down!” I watched Jacob lower himself again and begin to touch another footprint. I pushed around Raska who was starting to groan under the weight of Nikki. He held her in his arms, his hands firmly placed on her round bottom copping a feel every step that we had been taking. I found the reason for the mutt’s howl and the reason for our sudden halt. A barbed wire fence stretched in front of us as far as we could see through the forest. A white warning sign was hung every other section of the fence, “the creature went through here.” Jacob seemed to ignore the signs as little red flags littered the ground past the wire fence. It seemed every section was covered with them making the journey over the fence a literal “Dead Man Zone”.
Restricted Area
-Mine Field-
“Well that’s just great Crocodile Dundee just fucking great,” Raska placed Nikki down on the ground. “I’ve been carrying this bitch for miles and look at where you have led us…a dead end!” Chris moved forward, “all this time…all this time you motherfucker! We could have headed towards that wall! We could have gotten out but NO! You wanted to kill the creature, to fill some sort of pride!” “It’s not about pride you little shit,” Jacob sounded just as angry as everybody else. He looked down at Lefu who sat tongue hanging out looking as if she had found a bone in a pile of dirt. “What the hell are you smiling at Lefu…what do you want from me, a treat?” “Tsk, tsk, tsk,” “And what the hell are you smiling at white boy?” I watched Raska move towards me teeth clenched and sweat coating his bald head, “I told you. I told you all, didn’t I? Now look at the mess we’re in! It is completely idiotic to go on the offensive when you have almost half your squad injured…” pointing to Chris I added, “and with more getting injured along the way.” “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you little shit! I’ll cut you up myself…” Mwai was breathing heavy but Jacob came between us. My calm exterior and superior smirk must have sent them all over the edge. “Let’s just see if we can go around it alright? We can still make our move.”
Chris complained the entire time as we followed the fence for a mile and then another mile. Raska’s face was coated with grease as he carried the unconscious Nikki the entire way. He grumbled several times, “heavy little bitch…I should drop this whore and leave her as bait.” I wondered how long it would take for Raska to finally crack. Aednat carried Mwai who was growing weaker and weaker every second. His dark skin tone was fading as he grew even paler and paler. Aednat was growing more tired as she tried to hold him up the best she could. Mwai’s legs were beginning to drag behind him. “Forget this,” Raska dropped Nikki on the ground. “Let’s just go over it,” Raska made his way towards the barbed wire. “Look there is the end of the fence,” Aednat sounded relieved but Raska was inches from the fence when I watched Kiyoshi snatch his wrist. “What the hell do you think your doing shrimp boy?” Kiyoshi shook his head and stared down at the fence releasing Raska’s wrist. Kiyoshi made a sound that would have made sense had he a tongue. He shook his body, Raska shook his head in confusion, “I don’t know what you’re saying! You should really speak up when you want something.” Raska reached over, “I’m through with all this we can just…” Raska grabbed the barbed wire. He screamed violently as he began to shake wildly. He released the wire as he flew backwards several feet. Raska began to shake violently on the ground.
It took ten minutes for Raska to regain consciousness. It took him nearly a lifetime to regain his balance and composure, “what the hell is your problem, why…why…didn’t you tell me you walking piece of guppy shit?” Kiyoshi just smiled as he seemed really pleased by Raska’s reaction. “Why didn’t you tell me? I could have been killed because you can’t speak…” “Can we please just put the differences aside Mwai is getting heavy!” Aednat sounded angry as she grew tired. Jacob stared down at Lefu, “track,” Lefu sat and wagged her tail again. “Don’t just sit there… track!” Lefu gave a little bark and then continued. It moved away from the fence as it sniffed the ground and trees as we moved down a hill and made our way into a small forested valley. We continued for a while longer until we made our way to a small river. “Oh great another dead end,” Aednat was growing angrier, “now what’re we going to do? We tracked the creature to the middle of nowhere!” Jacob looked confused and frustrated, he stared down at Lefu. “What the hell is wrong with you girl…why did you bring us here?” The dog looked up at Jacob tongue lapping out the side of its mouth. I began to glance around the woods feeling the frustration that was being felt by everybody.
“Hey…everybody,” nobody seemed to pay me the slightest bit of attention as the group began to argue louder with every passing second. Through the thicket of trees and in a small clearing sat a large blue tarp, it was covering some mysterious objects. Next to the tarp stood a large pole topped with what looked to be a green golf ball. “GUYS,” I shouted as loud as I could. I heard all the voices die. “Look,” I pointed to the lone object, and I heard voices behind me saying, “What the hell is that?” I heard Raska whisper, “leave it alone…it could be a trap or an explosive!” “I hope it is, maybe then I can finally get away from you all.” Aednat pushed through everybody still dragging Mwai. He seemed to have fallen into unconsciousness like Nikki. She seemed to lead the group now and made her way towards the object. She dropped Mwai onto the ground near the object and gave a great sigh of relief. Her face was covered in more sweat than Raska’s. Raska seemed tired too but didn’t argue a second time. Aednat knelt and pulled from inside her boot the crossbow pistol. She gave it a click and out popped little wings. She motioned closer as I saw the black arrow with a steel point shine slightly in the last remnants of the setting sun.
She held up her hand to keep everyone back, “it looks too big to be a bomb.” “What the hell is that stick right there,” Chris was pointing to the brown stick standing vertically next to the tarp. “Look,” I exclaimed as I motioned towards an envelope on the ground. It must have fallen off the object. I picked up the envelope and began to open it. Aednat grabbed the edge of the blue tarp and pulled it off to reveal a couple wooden crates. “What…the…hell?” Aednat’s words seemed to some up everybody’s feelings. I began to read the letter contained in the envelope and everything began to make sense, “everyone listen to this!”
Supply Dump #12
Hello Candidate/Candidates if you have found this supply dump it means you have left Pripyat. There are 15 supply drops scattered throughout the gamming area. It is impossible for you to get them all. These dumps are designed to give you some time to recuperate hopefully gaining new strength to continue the hunt. The stick before you will provide you with an eight hour window free from any attacks. All you have to do is break the ball and the stick will do the rest. Unfortunately for you this stick provides no protection against your bracelet engaging after the three days. Remember candidates, there is only a couple distinct kinds of ammo provided in each dump. Unfortunately not every candidate is incorporated into each supply dump. So, enjoy the next eight hours of safety on us. When your time is up the stick will change colors. Hope you are enjoying the hunt as much as we are, so congratulations on finding this added perk. Have a relaxing time.
“Eight hours…eight hours,” Chris came forward and snatched the note out of my hands with his one good arm. He read the note over again, “Well, let’s pop the ball!” Hakeem was making his way towards the ball, when I raised my Astra quickly towards him. “Don’t you dare pop that ball…not yet at least,” everyone seemed shocked that I pulled my pistol out. “We are going to do what we should do.” Raska snarled as his fingers slowly inched towards his nearly empty AK hanging off his shoulder. “We should wait until night falls and then pop it. In the meantime can we all agree that we should go through this shit and patch up anybody that is wounded?” “Well, well, well, look at the cream puff right here…thinking he’s big man! I could squash this boy like a melted marshmallow.” I smirked superiorly at Raska and then them all, “I forgot how different the world is from the superior class.” I holstered my pistol and grabbed my gloves tightening them on my hands continuing, “What you fail to realize Mr. Raska is that…” “You, the superior class…” I ignored the wild eyed Raska and continued loudly, “IS THAT Mr. Raska everybody, and I do mean everybody has or eventually falls under the Sieg Heil!” Chris scoffed as he seemed to ignore the pain in his arm yelling, “The Germans lost you idiot!” I smirked, “why don’t we see what we are left with and we can discuss all that…indeed, discuss it fully.”
“Check this out,” I watched the many eyes turn from me and make their way towards the wooden crates. “This…this looks like a timer,” pushing Raska away Aednat began to fumble with the small laptop. A screen was flashing as numbers began to flash sporadically until Aednat clarified it all, “it’s a bomb you moron!” Raska snarled at her as his bracelets rattled rhythmically. “And how do you know,” lowering himself down to examine everything, “doesn’t look like…” Aednat raised her hand and snarled at him, “Really, have you really not heard of the RIRA?” Shaking his head viciously, “I could care less…” Turning her head in frustration Aednat began to examine the laptop and the wires that traced the boxes. “It’s rigged to all the crates, we have five minutes to answer the riddle on the screen and if we don’t…” “Oh shit, I knew it, I should have never gotten involved with white folk, father always told me...” rambling like an idiot I watched Raska grabbing his bracelets as he clenched his AK to his chest, “well, what the hell does it say?”
Chris made his way towards the laptop, “why the hell do you care white boy? These people have kidnapped us! Straight kidnapped us, so that riddle is probably so hard nobody could solve it!” I watched Chris smile as he watched Raska slightly panicking, “maybe to your monkey mind but to me it’s just another grade school question.” Raska loosened his grip around the gun, “I don’t need to be smart enough to pull this trigger! I’ll waste the last of my ammo on you…you little shit!” “ENOUGH,” Aednat yelled, “I can’t be mother to this squad! You better hope he can solve it, because I can’t disarm it!”
“Nothing in life comes without price. True power is not where strength lies. Strength is found in the knowledge one has procured. With great knowledge comes great reward.”
Riddle
1
11
21
1211
111221
312211
13112221
Answer:
“What the hell is that?” Raska looked shocked as he seemed to barge his way through the group. “My dear Raska a wise woman once said that the only interesting answers are those that destroy the questions. And I am about to slaughter this bitch!” I watched Chris beginning to type on the keyboard. “The numbers don’t make sense,” Aednat shook her head in utter confusion as she continued to read the riddle. “There’s no pattern, what the hell are you typing…that doesn’t make sense white fish!” ‘It does, your pathetic little mind couldn’t grasp something like this. My mind could leave yours in the basement! A king to you…a god to the world, so you see Raska its…all…in…the…mind.”
Answer: 1 1 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 1