Tarkov- No Escape

Chapter 8- Friends and Foes

Reshala knew that if he wanted to find the USEC, he needed outside help.  He travelled to the Natural Reserve or Woods as it was commonly known, looking for the best known tracker in the Norvinsk Region, a mountain man known as Shturman.  As he and his men arrived at the sawmill, a dark figure emerged out of the shadows wearing a black coat, dark pants, and black boots.  He had an AK-105 clutched in his hands and a Dragunov SVDS sniper rifle on a sling on his back.  "Where are the other two?" asked Reshala cautiously.  Before Shturman opened his mouth, a bullet whizzed past Reshala's cheek and hit the dirt behind him.  Although Reshala himself didn't flinch, his men raised their rifles, pointing them into the darkness and turning on flashlights.  "They're close," said Shturman in russian.  "I don't want to bring back what happened, we have a new enemy, I need you to find them," Reshala said, also in russian.  Shturman eyed Reshala, scanning for signs of deception.  "Payment is required," said Shturman.  Reshala rolled his eyes and threw over a small bag of roubles.  Shturman opened it, only for his eyes to narrow into a glare.  "I have no interest in your money criminal," said Shturman coldly.  Reshala sighed and motioned to one of his men, who threw a backpack to Shturman.  Shturman opened it to find packs of ammuntion.  7.62x54R SNB rounds, just what he needed.  "We are in business, now, who am I hunting?" he asked.

Jason and Nikita were pondering what to do with this scav.  They had cleaned and dressed the scav's wounds and got the door installed, they took to staring at this mysterious scav.  The closer they looked, the more unique the scav appeared to be.  This scav was thinner than the others, it was also cleaner, had paler skin, and an overall smaller build with slender features.  "What now?" asked Jason, unsure of what to do.  Nikita shrugged, also unsure.  A thought suddenly entered Jason's head.  "I wonder what you look like without that mask on," he said in his head as he reached down.  Nikita stared silently as Jason undid the knot on the back of the scav's fabric mask.  After a couple minutes of struggling, he decided to use his knife instead.   Cutting the knot, he took off the mask, and what they encountered made Jason's eyes widen and Nikita gasp.  It was a girl.  All of a sudden, the strange features made sense.  She was about the same age as Jason, albeit smaller, and the removal of the mask revealed long blonde hair.  She had a slightly narrower face but had high cheek bones, blonde eyebrows, and sharp features, in fact she beared a striking resemblance to the many models Jason saw on old billboards and ads on his supply runs.  As they stared, her eyes began to flutter open, which were a bright hazel color.   Suddenly, she sprang up screaming cursing in russian, only to trip and fall onto the ground, where she was left groaning in pain.  While Jason managed to remain calm, Nikita freaked out and was now pointing his AK at the scav while also screaming in russian.  Before anything else happened, Jason unloaded his pistol and grabbed the barrel of Nikita's rifle, lowering it so it was not pointed at the scav.  "Hey look, calm down, stop resisting, we're friendly," said Jason calmly.  The scav stared daggers at them as she attempted to stand up.  "Let me go," she said in english.  "Im sorry, I can't do that," he said.  The scav stared.  "Being as it is, you are not only wounded but you know where I'm located, that being said, I can't let you leave," he said.  Defeated, the scav nodded and laid back down.  "I got it from here Nikita, if you need to go you can," he said.  Nikita nodded and left, closing the door as he did.  Jason then sat down on a crate facing the scav.  "Who are you?" he asked.  "Natalia," she said.  He nodded and motioned at himself.  "I'm Jason, USEC," he said.  Natalia glared at him.  "Foreigner, you have no business here," she said.  Jason smirked and nodded.  "Ok, think that," he said as he stood up and walked over to the stash, grabbing an MRE and a bottle of water.  "Here, eat this," he said tossing them to Natalia.  She grabbed both items but didn't take her eyes off Jason.  "Look, I promise I won't hurt you, just relax," he said.  Having no other options, she nodded and began eating.