Silence pays well

[Vecilea]

Spoiler: Theme

"One hundred and fifty thousand... one hundred and fifty thousand..." grumbled the man as he scanned the village that lay before him, he couldn't remember what the villages name was but he knew it was familiar in a strange way. A truck, long since forgotten and abandoned, wasted away in the field about a hundred meters away from the village. He jogged over quietly only to crouch down behind one of the wheels and the engine block. Peaking out into the village again as something tickled his brain in that specific zone sort of way. He knew better than to attempt to put a name to the feeling, he wasn't the brainiac type, he only knew the feeling was unnatural.

They leaned their rifle against the rotten wheel, grabbing a pair of binoculars that were easily twice his age. He brought it to his eyes and peered into the village in search for any signs of life. The left lens cracked beyond use, forcing him to shut his left eye and exclusively use his right. He reminded himself to remember to buy a new set of them when he made it back to Kreature. The village laid empty, deathly quiet, not a single hint of life to be found as his vision traveled from window, to door, to alley, then back again to double check. He swallowed the spit in his mouth and exhaled sharply while the binoculars were lowered and secured to his chest webbing again.

"This job better be fucking worth it." spilled out of his mouth in a hushed tone. The man grabbed his rifle and slowly creeped out from his hiding spot and slowly pushed through the overgrown fields towards the the house closest to him. It had to be a simple one bedroom home, no more than fifty feet in length and twenty in width. It reminded the man of his own home. Its front door opened and slammed shut suddenly with a crack much louder than should be possible. He dove face first into the dirt and brought his rifle up to bear on the doorway's general direction. Holding his breath as he listened for several prolonged seconds only to hear nothing again. Quietly his held breath was released out fogging his mask ever so slightly.

They convinced themselves that it was 'just the wind' or 'the house settling' in an attempt to calm his nerves, it failed to do so of course but it was human nature to try and rationalize things.

With as much training as a STALKER had he shifted back into an awkward half crouched, half bear crawl way of movement until he reached the end of the overgrown field. The front door of the home was open, yet gently shifted from more to less open as the wind gently picked up. A countdown slowly began in the mans head before he surged forwards suddenly from the field and shoulder checked the door open.

"Nobody move!" he shouted out as he aimed his rifle around the empty kitchen and dining area. "I mean it! You move and I'll kill you!" he shouted out again as his footsteps crashed loudly on the creaking floor. He pressed his advantage and rushed through the house, his rifle snapping from corner to corner until he came across his first shut door. His breathing became ragged as he stepped back a foot or so only to send his boot flying into the cheap rotting door. The decayed material exploded both in his direction and further into the room as the door came fully of the hinges and crashed into the toilet and sink inside. He said nothing as he stepped out of the room and looked at the second shut door and repeated the action again with similar results. Instead of a bathroom however it was what he presumed to be once the master bedroom. He cleared the room before clearing his throat, trying to keep his fear in check as their hands trembled slightly.

The bedroom was a mess of clothes and broken furniture as glass from the shattered windows glistened in the faint sunlight. He wished that was the only mess to be seen but the dead STALKER in the corner was the biggest mess of them all. He was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room and slumped over. The man had to only look for a single second to find the cause of his death. Fallen beside his leg was a shotgun and if that clue wasn't enough the bone fragment and brain matter scattered across the wall and roof gave the rest away.

He gagged behind his mask, looking away to compose himself for a minute before growling and stepping over to the body. He crouched down and reached into his pockets, trying to find what he was after. He grimaced and couldn't help but turn his head away from the corpse as he searched. A minute later a small flash drive was plucked from his breast pocket. He looked at the drive and played with it between his fingers, curious as to what was actually inside. He considered finding out himself but thought against it. His attention was drawn back to the body once again, tilting his head before tearing the patch from the corpses shoulder.

"I've never seen this one before...Kreature who the hell did you send me after?" he wondered quietly before he heard something move outside the window. He turned around as fast as he could and lifted up his rifle to see three men standing outside, the same red patch on their arm.

"Who goes the-" he roared out before he was struck in the back of the head and toppled forwards, his balance stolen from him as everything faded to black.