Chapter VI: A Renegade's road to freedom

 A Duty patrol was set up on ambush position right outside the entrance to Army Warehouses. They had been expecting a Freedom patrol, who had just raided Rostok. Their guns trained on the road, they never heard a silent, lone renegade creeping up on them. Five shots rang in quick manner, and the patrol lay dead, with the renegade holstering his Mosin on his back, the barrel still warm from firing. He began inspecting the bodies one by one, grabbing rubles and ammunition from them, taking all the time in the world to find everything he could.

The renegade, Boris Unforgiven, had been tracking this patrol ever since Truck Cemetery. They had survived an onslaught of dogs, and had clearly come prepared for a heavy fight. They had some heavy weaponry, Grozas, AEKs and SVDs, and Boris thought he could use those. He did not care much for Duty to begin with, but these five had been deserters on a murdering spree throughout the Zone. Duty leader had placed a bounty on them, and Boris had a plan of collecting it now that the traitors no longer needed their uniforms. He took whatever he needed, rolling a Duty uniform into his pack and grabbing a good condition AKS-74 for himself. An improvement over the Mosin and TOZ to be sure, he thought.

But before he could collect his bounty, he needed some supplies. He had been on the road ever since Dimuha and Vityukha left, and he still needed a technician to finish some work on his new ad hoc exoskeleton. He could barely move in it, since it lacked any sort of gear meant for fast movement. Truly, it was the closest thing a renegade had ever come to owning an exoskeleton, and it clearly looked the part. The Freedom technician probably had some knowledge of those, more so than the bandit technician at Truck Cemetery had had. Boris started strolling towards the Freedom base, first making sure that the bandit patch he had found was shown clearly on his left arm. Freedom might tolerate bandits, but renegades were a bit too extreme even for them. Boris had come too far and worked too hard to be shot by a guardsman too overzealous or high.

He managed to slip into the base unnoticed. There wasn't even anyone at the entrance, there seemed to be a rather large Monolith assault on the Barrier going on. Boris rushed off to Skinflint, unloading all his surplus gear at the trader. The trader seemed weary, and when Boris asked about the situation, he replied that it was the third raid this week. Monolith were pushing harder than ever, and the situation seemed dire. Interesting, Boris thought, perhaps I could use this to earn some connections within the Freedom. He bought some ammunition from Skinflint, who seemed far too tired to pay any attention to the strange visitor, and headed to hunt the Monoliths.

Boris had so far avoided combat with humans to the best of his ability. He had been a conscript before the Zone, and while he had fought Monoliths, Sin and bandits during his Loner years, he had been much more of a scavenger. Still, he knew that with a Mosin, he could cause a lot of damage if he was careful. Camped on a hill overlooking the Barrier and the entrance to Dead City. The trader had not been joking. Monolith were swarming the area, fighting Freedomers everywhere. Boris chose a group to hunt, and one shot after another a fanatic dropped to the ground. After 12 shots and 12 deaths, Boris was spotted. A hail of bullets sent splinters and dust flying around him, and Boris escaped over the hill, seeking refuge behind old concrete piles.

While there, he furiously loaded his rifle and prepared his pistol. This was a temporary quiet. The fanatics would find him eventually. Fire had quieted down all around him. Freedomers lay dead in the valley and the hillsides. He was alone for the time being. Boris could hear the distant yells of Monolith, closing in on him. He leaned from behind the block, taking quick aim and fired the Mosin. A Monolith soldier dropped down, gurgling horribly. Another one fired something at Boris, a beam that left a burn mark on the concrete. A Gauss gun, Boris thought to himself. They do exist then. Boris took aim and fired back, and a gun designed over a hundred years ago made more sure work of the target than the ultra-modern Gauss Gun had done. Two more Monolith soldier crossed over the ridge, and two more shots hit them. Boris switched to his TOZ-66 and closed on them.

No more Monoliths were in sight. Boris once again searched the bodies for anything of use, a habit he had picked up since no one wanted to trade with a renegade. He found some useful information alongside large amounts of ammunition, supplies and roubles. But most important thing for him was the Gauss Gun. Giving that to Lukash he could perhaps bypass weeks of menial questwork and servitude to Freedom and earn enough connections among them not to be distrusted. Boris hurried back to the Freedom base, with the Warehouses now quiet. Lukash too looked extremely tired, but allowed Boris to say what he had to say. And when Boris showed him the Gauss Gun, his eyes lit. He was intrigued by the gift, but questioned Boris' motives.

Boris told him that he was looking to start over. He wanted at least some connections to get somewhere away from the bandits. He had even thought about joining Freedom. Lukash told him that they'd be happy to have him, but it was his choice. And in the meantime while he thought about it, he could also go see if Dead City offered any jobs for him. One of Lukashs bodyguards had a delivery heading there and Boris had proven his worth. Boris agreed, he had planned of heading there someday either way. With newfound alliance with Freedom, he could see his plan to be set more concretely into motion. Perhaps his quest for vengeance against the factions wasn't so futile after all.