The Terror of Tarkov

Chapter 2: first blood

30 minutes.

That's how long she had been walking for, thirty damn minutes. She originally thought that she was still in Lungmen, but of course that was quickly disproven when she saw the signs and architecture was all Ursan.

Ursan architecture, Ursan letters, hell she ever saw a billboard advertising for a restaurant in cyrillic.

W frowned as she continued walking. She wasn't in Lungmen that was for sure, and she definitely hasn't seen anyone for the past 30 minutes, in her mind she was either Back in Ursus, or she was hallucinating, hell maybe she was in an Ursus immigrant enclave in lungmen and just didn't know it yet.

'Odd' she thought to herself. She didn't feel like she was hallucinating. Hell this all felt real to her.

"Wait, let me check." she muttered before pinching her arm, causing her to curse to herself.

Ok she definitely wasn't hallucinating. Shaking her head to snap herself out of her thoughts, she simply continued on, hoping to reunite with the Reunion and her mercenaries or atleast find a decent place to rest and lay low.

'If they are even here, that is.' She added with a grimace as she continued down the road before stopping as she felt her senses scream danger.

The hair on her arms stood up as her mind screamed danger, W seeing a glint in the window of a nearby apartment complex as her eyes widened in horror.

To a normal person, they would've brushed it off and thought nothing of it. But to people like her who fought in a civil war and lived to tell the tale, she knew all too well what it was.

'Sniper!' she internally shouted and dove behind a nearby car. Not even a second later there was a loud crack followed by a bullet pinging off the tarmac where she once stood.

"Fuck, ok this place has snipers, greeaatt." She drawled out with a groan and switched to her assault rifle, flicking the safety off as she peered over to see where the shot came from.

She peered over the car window, seeing a glint coming from the third floor of the apartment window on the left and ducking back down, narrowly avoiding another bullet that pinged off the car.

"Apartment on the left, third story, fifth window from the left." she recited to herself so she couldn't forget. In combat, the smallest of details can make a big impact or save your life, that's what she remembered Hoerder telling her.

Peering over once again, W aimed at the window and squeezed the trigger of her assault rifle. Her shoulder absorbing the recoil of her rifle as she fired off a three round burst.

Not even a second later dust kicked up around the window, the bullet's impacting the brick and material around it as W got up and ran into cover behind a mailbox.

Breathing in and out, she once again peered over and fired at the window before getting out and diving back into cover, slowly creeping closer to the apartment as she repeated this method again and again.

By the time she made it to the door to the apartment, she had sweat rolling down her head. But W didn't care, she wanted this bastard's head.

Grabbing the knob and turning it to the right, she opened the door and walked inside.

The first thing she noticed was all the trash on the floor. Paper, bags of chips and snacks and soda cans all lay on the floor as the wallpaper had mold and was peeling back due to the lack of care.

Shaking her head, she slowly walked forward, gun raised as her amber-colored irises scanned the doors and halls for anyone or anything of note.

Looking to the left, she saw a sign that said 'лестница', below it there was an Victorian translation that said 'Stairs' with an arrow pointing to the door beside it.

"Jackpot." she muttered with a wide grin and walked forward towards the door.

Once again grabbing the knob and turning it, she walked through the door and grimaced at the lack of lighting.

"Oh, great." she muttered and blinked rapidly, her eyes trying to adjust to the darkness as she began her slow walk up the stairs, gun scanning the top just in case someone got the drop on her.

She didn't like being here, not only was it cramped with very little room to move but also because it was dark and someone could easily get the drop on her.

Once she made it to the third floor, she opened the door and-

Was met face to face with a man in a black ski mask, making her yelp in surprise as did the man.

Quickly using the window of opportunity, she charged forward and her and the unknown man went through the doorway and slammed into a wall, their guns falling onto the floor with a loud clatter.

With no time to lose, the man slammed his head into hers. Making her stumble back as the man grabbed the knife from his sheath and ran towards her.

W quickly grabbed his wrist, the man trying to punch her before she caught his wrist with her other hand, the two grunting and snarling before W shot her foot out and collided it with the man's crotch, making him hunch over.

Using the advantage, W grabbed the man's wrist and twisted it with a loud CRUNCH. Making him yell in pain and drop the knife, to which she managed to catch.

The man once again threw a punch, hitting her in the side and making her yelp before she drove the knife into the man's side with a wet tearing noise and making him yell in pain.

W pulled it back before she thrusted it forward again, blood pouring out as the man wrapped his arms around her waist and ran forward, making her collide with a wall.

She could feel the adrenaline rushing through her veins, her heart pounding in her ears as W Pulled the knife back once again, and after finding the right angle, drove it into the back of the man's neck, making him gasp in pain before releasing his hold before falling over.

W growled and looked down at the man, getting a good look.

It was a man, that was for certain, since she could tell by his stature. The man was wearing a black ski mask, cargo pants and a black shirt with some body armor that covered his torso and belly.

Walking over, she got on top of the man and drove her knife into his neck, making him give a wet gasp and weakly reach his hands up to grab her before his eyes rolled back into his skull and his body went limp.

"Fucking prick." She growled and pulled the man's mask off, wanting to get a good look at the bastard.

She then paused and blinked rapidly.

He was human, that was for certain. But he didn't have any features. No ears, no tail, no scales or feathers. Nothing.

W's first thought was that this man was some sort of Liberi. But that didn't make sense because he didn't have any feathers. Was he a sarkaz that removed his horns? No that didn't seem right, Sarkaz normally don't remove their horns unless they were in hiding.

"What in the fuck?" she said to herself and inspected the man's face. Once again trying to find any features on this man.

But he had none. Making the sarkaz mercenary even more puzzled.

W pursed her lips together in thought as she got up off the man and walked over to where her gun had fallen in the scuffle before picking up the man's gun and pausing again.

It felt somewhat heavy, but what made her shocked was the fact that it had no originium in it.

Whereas on terra art users would use their arts to propel the bullets at their enemies at high speeds, this gun had no originium. Without it, the gun wouldn't work.

Curiosity getting the better of her, W picked up the gun and aimed it down the hall before squeezing the trigger.

Not even a second later, the bullets slammed into the wall and kicked dust up as it left behind holes in the wall.

W pressed her lips together and frowned before looking down at the gun SMG in her hands and chose the perfect words to describe her situation.

"What the fuck is going on?"