Chapter Text
Shit shit shit!
That was supposed to be a simple mission!
She was supposed to go in the Zone, measure the area of the Bug Zapper in these coordinates and come back with the data (and the artifacts she could find that weren’t a pain to transport back). The area was known to be safe, no gangs, no directly lethal anomalies, no creatures mutated by the Zone
She didn’t even bring a gun with her! Stupid in hindsight, but the recon was legit.
So, think it like this: Who would have expected that the Ocelots would get in a firefight with another gang not too far from the Bug Zapper!? The gangs of the Zone weren’t the most stable on good days, but nobody would like to fight next to an anomaly.
And before anyone would want to ask, no, she wasn’t part of the fight, but the firefight started not too long after she arrived and did about half of her work.
Petra didn’t waste any time in running away from the firefight, she came here with a reason, a non-violent reason this time. She had to find an exit and she had to find it fast
Too bad that stray bullets and ricochets didn’t care, they hit whatever they wanted.
And one of those strays thought that she looked like a tasty target.
Suddenly, Petra felt a sharp pain on her side, followed by warm liquid under her protective suit.
That’s fate for ya when it comes to Stalkers, doesn’t matter how good your plan is, if the Zones want you dead, you will die. Gunshots, artifacts, anomalies, it’s all fair game in the Zone.
Even so, the Zone wasn’t done with her, be it luck or fate, the shot wasn’t, directly, lethal. Loss of momentum from ricocheting, hitting her in the side, leaving a deep bloody gash, one she could feel even under the thick glove of her suit. She would survive. The Zone gave her the chance to survive another day, she had no intention of squandering it. There was so much more to be done.
Think, Petra, think.
She couldn’t check the map without removing pressure from the wound or drenching the paper in blood, time to think. She wasn’t that far away from the border checkpoint, about a kilometer in a straight line, not that you can go in a straight line in a Zone, but it’s always good to keep such stuff in mind.
Alright, if she went in a straight line from here to her left the edge of the Zone should be in about… one point five, maybe two kilometers and she’ll go into the remains of the suburbs, maybe one of those smaller parks.
Perfect! That part of the suburbs is mostly abandoned. On one hand, the property values are so low that it goes backwards and most people don’t want them. And on the other, well, normal people don’t want to live next to a Zone.
She was close to the border now, a former park, now overgrown. She didn’t see any guards here, good, just a few more steps and she was -
She was out!
God, you could feel the air change. Assuming if it actually changed and it wasn’t just her perception of it. You can’t get the same energy outside of the Zone. She wasn’t out of the Zone for more than a few seconds and she already missed it.
Now she needed to get to the Institute for a proper -
She had no idea where she was.
These were the suburbs, sure, but this was the first time she went through this area.
Okay, okay, think, Petra, think.
She injected the coagulants not too long ago, maybe an hour. They should have staunched the bleeding enough for now, now she won’t die from bleeding out. Next, she had to get some, relatively, proper treatment. She had one more syringe, but that would be for later, the last thing she wanted right now was to cause herself a deep vein thrombosis or a pulmonary embolism.
Again, in hindsight, it would have been a good idea to bring bandages and/or a suture kit. But, hey, if the recon says the area is safe, the recon is usually correct.
Too bad nobody can expect people.
Okay, she was wasting time thinking about useless stuff.
Think, Petra, think.
She’ll have to stitch herself up, and for that she needed, string, medical alcohol, boiling water and a needle.
Heh, she could already hear Isa shout at her about her piss-poor self-treatment.
Ugh, all these houses were boarded up, not a chance of finding anything useful in them. Tho, wait, over there! Over that fence, more than a few non-boarded up houses!
This one looked good.
The lights were off, good, good. She didn’t hear any dogs either, and there were no lights on in the neighboring houses.
Perfect.
Climbing a simple wood fence turned out to be harder and more painful than she was used to, but that’s the price of being in her sphere of work.
Hmm, pretty large backyard, a paved zone for a grill and a few backyard chairs, a porch, sliding glass doors. And all of it was still taken care of! Rich person maybe? If so, what are they still doing so close to the Zone? Most people left the area after the Visitation.
Eh, doesn’t matter.
Petra tried the door. The door was locked.
Smart.
Let's see… Ah! One of the chairs on the porch had a large blanket on it!
Honestly, she had no idea if this would work, but she assumed it would lower the chances of someone hearing her and calling the cops on her. In any case, Petra had to try it.
Keeping the blanket more or less glued to the glass sliding doors, Petra smashed her hand on the blanket covered glass until the glass cracked and broke.
Oof, a bit loud, but did seem loud enough that it would attract the neighbors’ attention.
Oooo, a pretty nice house. A bit basic in the furniture design, but she liked the blue tones the walls had.
But, she wasn’t here to admire the house
She had to get to work, search around the house, see what useful stuff she could find and get out of here before anyone came home.
Ooo! Her luck finally turned around! The owner of this house had a first aid kit! Here goes half the stuff she needed, the other half being the string and needles. That took a moment longer than the first aid kit, but she managed to find a needle and thread in a nightstand.
Taking off her protective suit, Petra cleaned the area around the wound with some alcohol and gauze, using a second gauze to cover the wound itself, while she placed the water to boil, throwing the needle and thread into it. Alright, that should disinfect them.
The bleeding slowed down a lot, combination of the coagulants, pressure from the gauze and herself slowing down for a moment. It wasn’t quite done, but good enough for her to do some work without problem.
Waiting for the boiled water to cool down, Petra removed the piece of gauze, picked up the needle and, steeling herself for what was about to come -
The entrance door opened.
Shit!
Ah, shit! It was too late to close the light!
She could run! But all her stuff is here! She could intimidate them! But she didn’t have the gun with her either!
God, why was life outside the Zone so hard!?
“What the - !?” Said the man, the moment he saw the underwear-clad woman in his kitchen. A woman that was also half covered and surrounded by blood.
“Uh, hi! I know this seems a bit… unexpected.” She said, a large, but nervous grin decorating her face, while her eyes jumped from place to place, searching something. “But, hear me out a bit…”