Into That Good Night

[Paintcheck]

((Well it has been awhile since I've done a long story, I know a lot of people like the Maslov Logs but here is something a little more...dramatic. Nikki will actually be coming back to life due to some crazy IC events that were awesome (and because Bielecki felt really stupid when I was like "Oh hey I got PK'd" when he didn't intend for that to happen at all and wanted me to find a way to bring Nikki back to life...so I did, which is what the last 2 lines of the story sort of signify. As always comments are appreciated. Thanks and hope you enjoy it))

((Heard this on the radio and was like "Wow that fits this story pretty well"))
Evanescence - My Immortal


The sun shone brightly and it was warm. Early summer in the Zone would be considered pleasant in the "real world". A slight breeze blew, kicking up dust motes and giving the air a shimmering, sparkling quality. Occasionally a dog would bark or a bloodsucker would howl distantly but even sounds such as those did not seem hostile or dangerous, just part of the background.

In short, it was a great first day back for Veronika Maslov and her boyfriend, Tom Wainscott. She had returned home for a month, expecting to remain there but Tom wouldn't have it and ventured out of the Zone himself to find her. They spent a week in the real world together, taking time off and enjoying each other in a setting where 9 out of every 10 living things don't want to kill you. Touched by his devotion, Nikki knew she had to go back. Together they trekked back in.

Upon their arrival they slipped quietly into Freedom's complex and headed to Tom's room. Our room Nikki corrected herself. Earlier Tommy had suggested marriage and at the time Nikki wasn't sure. But they had been together for much longer now, and both of them began to realize how perfect the other was. As they snuggled together in what might be the Zone's only working hot tub ((That's how we do it in Freedom, I know you're all jealous)) Tommy began thinking about that again.

"Nikki uh...you know...that one time...when we were tanning on the roof of that bunker and I...well...er, I asked a question and...." Tom stuttered.

"What?" replied Nikki.

"You uh...said...you weren't ready yet and I...and..."

Nikki cocked her head quizzically, still confused. An awkward silence followed. She finally remembered.

"Ooooooh. Well...I think maybe you should ask again. Because I think this time, you might get a different answer," she replied, smiling mischievously.

"R-really?"

She hugged him by way of reply, planting a kiss on him for good measure.

"But not right away. I'm not even 20 yet, Tom. But just wait and when it does happen, it will be all the sweeter. And I'll still be yours until then."

She began to massage his back, knowing how much he liked that. What followed after that was predictable for young lovers.

Afterward they lay on the bed, happy to be with one another and enjoying each other's warmth. They dozed off in each other's arms, content with the state of the world as far as they were concerned. It was almost like a dream

But that's the thing about dreams: you always have to wake up at some point. And these two were in for a rude awakening indeed...


An explosion rumbled somewhere fairly close by. Cries for help from several Freedomers flooded the airwaves. Nikki jolted awake. She had never gotten used to sudden noises, and gunfire. Tom lethargically opened an eye, "Whhhhaaaaattt is it?"

Nikki was already out of bed and getting dressed, "Sounds like the Monolith are making a push this way. We got to help, Tommy."

Tom bolted upright at "Monolith" and began fumbling for his own clothes, then his exoskeleton. Finally ready they headed off towards the smoke. They met Seth outside of the Town. He was brief "Monolith. Kill them. Et cetera".

Nikki chambered a round into her SVD. Although a decent shot with her LR300, assault rifles never really clicked for her. This rifle on the other hand...she liked this one. Seth and Tommy did the same for their assault rifles. The three headed up to a ruined brick structure on a hill overlooking the firefight. At least 8 monolith soldiers were visible, raining heavy fire on three Freedomers in the junkyard. Nikki braced herself against the wall and sighted for a target. She settled on an Exosekelton, centering his upper chest in her reticule. Hello. She squeezed off a round. It struck the Monolith, who spun off balance in surprise and collapses against the wall. But it didn't kill him. Nikki sighted in again but Seth and Tom had attracted attention. She saw a GP30 grenade arc through the air. Throwing herself behind the wall, she prayed her cover would hold. It did but a gaping hole was blasted into it and the well-organized Monolith began to pour fire onto the structure.

Nikki slipped around to a boulder pile, hoping the two Freedom exos would be distracting enough. No one seemed to pay any attention to the slim farm girl with the rifle and she was determined to make them pay for that. She sighted in on a new target and fired, dropping him in a spray of blood out of his chest. The Exo from before was limping off, trying to retreat. Nikki sighted in on his back, aimed for the power supply and fired. The exo toppled over, limbs frozen. The tide seemed to be turning as the Monolithians fell back. Nikki pushed up on their right flank, alone although she didn't realize it. One of the Monoliths was trying to help her second target up. She put another round into the wounded one. They stumbled. The wounded one made an attempt to get back up. He succeeded in getting his head off the ground before his heart ruptured heart gave way completely. He collapsed back down, hard, in a pool of his own blood and was still.

The second Monolithian raised his VSS and tried to find the shooter. Nikki forced herself to relax. It's just like wolves back home...come on Nikki. She scoped in herself on his neck. The Monolith sniper fired 3 rounds at Nikki before she could shoot. She ducked back behind her rock, waited for him to stop shooting. Chips of stone stung her eyes as the sniper's bullets pounded her cover but she ignored these, focusing completely on her target. Had she been more aware she might have realized that the fire to her right and left was dying down, but she had more important things to worry about at this point.

She took a deep breath and swung her rifle up to her shoulder and popped over the top of the rock pile. The Monolith was posted up watching the ground to the right where Nikki had lain earlier. He saw her and started to adjust his aim but Nikki squeezed the trigger and years of hunting experience dropped him where he stood, blood pouring from his throat. She yanked the spent mag and started to reload, just now beginning to wonder where everyone else was.

A burst of assault rifle fire suddenly ripped through her left side. Her SVD spun out of her grip as she screamed in surprise and pain. She fell in a heap, bleeding. She tilted her head towards the direction of the fire...where Tom had been. Two Monolith soldiers advanced on her, weapons raised. She tried to rise to her feet, to run, to fight, to do anything but lie there but she found her body would not respond. She trembled, terror running through her mind. N-no....not...not like this...

In a voice completely devoid of emotion the one wearing an exoskeleton remarked "Brother, guard her."

The second nodded his acknowledgement and planted a boot on the back of Nikki's neck, forcing her face into the dirt. The gunfire had completely stopped at this point. Nikki tried to control the terror she felt, ashamed at showing weakness to her enemy but found she could not. Her worst nightmare had been the thought of being brainwashed and losing everything but still alive and now that seemed to become a reality. She closed her eyes.
The same voice called "Bring her".

She was roughly scooped up and brought into a clearing where the dead and wounded were lain out. She saw that 4 of the Monolith were dead and another one (one of hers) was bleeding badly, fighting for each breath. She took grim satisfaction in knowing that he would die soon. It was then she saw Tommy. He was still alive, but badly wounded. She gasped, "Tommy." He tilted his head very slowly towards her and fixed his gaze on her eyes. She painfully and slowly stretched her hand out to grab his. Moaning with the effort, she grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

"At...at least I killed...some...of them."

A pistol shot echoed through the still air. And then another. She could see the Monolith's leader moving from body to body. He would examine them briefly and then administer a coup de grace to those that proved unsatisfactory for some reason or another. Nikki shivered again and Tom squeezed her hand. She took comfort in that and let her head sag, eyes closed. She felt the Patriarch coming closer and wished she was not so...defenseless.
The Patriarch stopped over the mortally wounded Monolith with the bullet in his throat. He knelt, murmured something, and then stood back up and turned his attention at last to Tom and Nikki.

Tom croaked in a voice barely a whisper, "I love you, Nikki".

The wounded Monolith finally succumbed to Death's embrace.

Nikki rolled her head over and locked eyes with Tom, "I...love....you, too".

The Patriarch examined Nikki, seemingly unable to decide what to do with her. One of the other soldiers called to him, "She was the sniper".
That seemed to make up his mind. He brought his pistol out. Nikki turned her head to him, eyes pleading, "Pl-please...n-no. Please...don't".

Tom squeezed her hand. The Patriarch leveled the gun. "Love is for the weak". He fired in between Nikki's eyes. Her head rocked back as the big round blasted through her brain. Her hand sagged and the darkness enveloped her. She looked extraordinarily young in death, as if she still had more to give to the world.

Tom howled, the noise was more animal than human, a combination of rage and pain. He lunged towards the Patriarch, the knife on his Exoskeleton's forearm springing into position. The Patriarch stepped back to avoid the clumsy lunge from the wounded Freedomer and kicked him in the head. Tom hit the ground with a thud, tears streaming down his face and sobs wracking his body.

"Take him and let's go, Brothers," ordered the Patriarch, seemingly unmoved by what had just occurred.

The surviving Monolith half dragged and half carried the mercifully-unconscious Tom back to their base underground. Once there, his mind was rewritten so he would no longer remember his old life in Freedom, his family, his emotions, or the girl who loved him so dearly and who now lay upon the grass in pool of blood, looking young and vulnerable with her hand still clasped around something no longer there.

Do not go gentle into that good night
Rage, rage against the dying of the light

[Radek]

So good.. SO EPIC.. This my friends this is Why you go to read the in character posts, you might find something like this.. Something so good that it makes you Wish you had been there to see scene that took place. Thank you Paint for such a great story again, you never cease to amaze me!

Edit
Oh right, Monolith I'm comming for ya.

[Ping-Pong]

Dude, I could barely get past the first paragraph, I'm crying.

[Nargotah]

*Schelk's side of events. Slightly changed, due to the fact that he got killed very intensely at the end in the actual event, but NLR does wonders!*


It was a decent summer day, a good bit like all the rest, and there didn't seem to be many mutants or suckers about. I was wandering around, as per usual, trying to ruin as many touching moments as I could, when I slipped down into the bunker and saw Nikki and Tom. Now, I had *just* been told that these two were wandering around the outside world or whatever, so naturally I was pretty surprised. I was actually stunned enough that I didn't even interrupt the moment they were having as Seth and Goose walked out the door. I ended up leaving with a "hey guys" before just following the two exos out.

After that, we went into the bar, discussing Tom and Nikki, while I yelled at them about not being told about this earlier so I could pretend I knew everything. As per usual, we all laughed and made loads of injokes during this, while the rookies looked on, stupefied. After a while, Seth noticed that one of them, Mikhail something, had only a day until his trial was up. According to Seth, he had failed to impress the officers. I guess that's pretty true, as I barely even knew he existed. He sent us on a nice, routine little mission where we had to scout out the junkyard for a good outpost position in case the main base was compromised.

Obviously, this could help us a lot, so I gladly volunteered to lead it, and Vasili and Mikhail were put into my care as we sauntered on over to the junkyard. It was hard looking dignified prancing about on one foot, but I think I pulled it off pretty well. Once we arrived, Vasili pulled out his PDA and began mapping the area. Within about half an hour, we had the entire junkyard recorded onto his PDA, and we were all pretty thrilled. Well, I was more neutral, but hey, it was the rookies' first completed mission, and I decided to give them a few props. We called Seth over to look at the data, when suddenly there was an odd explosion. I moved out onto one of the towers, but couldn't see what had caused it. I decided to send Mikhail out to check it out, thinking that he could use a few more brownie points with Seth.

That's when shit got real.

Somehow, Mikhail managed to fuck up enough that he walked right into the middle of a Monolith squad, and they had him captured. Of course, the Monolith saw this as an act of aggression, so they opened fire on us with a VOG. Vasili and I dashed behind a few rocks, and I had no idea where the hell Seth ended up. Within a few seconds, we were in a full on firefight.

During a slight break in the skirmish, in which I assume the rest of our forces flanked them, Vasili and I moved up through the trees, where we spotted Mikhail. He didn't look very good. Not good at all. He seemed near dead. After assigning Vasili to look after him and get him back to base, I looked around the area, curious at the lack of Monolith forces. Assuming they had fled, I ran up behind Vasili and helped him. After a short while, it became increasingly evident that Mikhail wasn't going to make it if we kept on. I ordered Vasili to carry Mikhail to a nearby brick house.

And that is when shit got real-ER.

The Monolith forces that I mistakenly thought had left spotted us as we entered the house, and after shouting at Vasili to patch Mikhail up, I shot suppressing fire while taking cover just inside the doorway. I tagged a couple of Monolith, but didn't cause any real casualties. Suddenly, I heard shuffling noises behind me, and as I turned...

The world exploded.

A Monolithian exo had sneaked up behind us, poking an RPG through a crack in the back of the house. It was just large enough for the missile to get through. I was blown clean off my feet, flying a good 30 feet away from the barn. Understandably, I was pretty fucked up. I couldn't see what happened to Vasili and Mikhail, but I saw Seth pop out of the rocks, and he hoisted me up. The Monolith assumed I was dead as Seth pulled me to my feet and set me down in the junkyard, leaning against a tree. He stormed off, leaving me to my own devices.

Using the tools I had on hand, which consisted of a sturdy twig and a rock, I began to pull the shrapnel out of my leg, piece by painful piece. It was excruciating, but after about five minutes, I was close to combat-ready. I thanked god for my luck, before moving along the wall to where the combat seemed to be at. A Monolith soldier spotted me, and almost opened fire before a sniper rifle round dug into his neck, spitting blood and a spent casing out the other side. I moved on, sneaking through the junkyard, until I saw a few Freedomers fighting out the last of the battle. I joined them, slipping into the formation. An exo was slowly advancing, seemingly sure of his victory. I blasted him with an entire G36 round to the chest. He wasn't quite so sure after that, falling to his knees. Shouting at the remaining rookies to retreat, I gave them covering fire.

And that's when I saw Nikki and Tom being dragged to the area.

I knew I couldn't help, that it was already too late. But even still, it was so hard not to pull the trigger, and at least TRY to save them. I was about to pull the trigger when a scrambled radio message came through.

"...Vasili-...*CRACK* help... *CRACK east junkyard..."

That single message jolted me back to reality, and I knew I couldn't let myself die. I might not be able to save those two, but I could damn well save the rookies I had to protect. Nodding at the pair one last time from my perch on the hill, I turned away, hearing a lone gunshot echo behind me. I forced the feelings out of my mind, focusing fully on the objective, managing to save Vasili and Mikhail, dragging them both back to base. With every step I took, however, I knew... I knew I had failed. And I knew that I would never forgive myself.


// In reality, Schelk stayed behind, and fought his damn heart out alongside Seth, Nikki, and Tom. He managed to fight off a good few Monolith before the one he thought was imprisoned snuck up behind him and grabbed him. He fought for a minute, but ended up having a knife buried in his skull. Obviously, as he's still alive, I couldn't exactly put that in the IC text, but goddamn that was epic. Oh, and he got shot like 6 times too. It was pretty sweet.

[Welek]

Great story Paintcheck, I would have expected nothing less.

[deluxulous]

Really cool.

I kind of want to make stories about Kerechinov... you know, that oldfag that everyone forgot about.