Falmart. Paradise city. GOIs Headquarters. January 14th. 2 AEE.

"What do you mean he disappeared!" Raged on the Engineer. "Yes he disappeared. I don't know where he went. I'm pretty sure he got some guys to cause that blackout which allowed him plenty of time to slip by security unnoticed." Said Ulysses half lying.

He was telling the truth about not knowing we're Clark went but he lied to the engineer about Clark's guys disabling the power. It was ironically his organization which did. So far the Coup had benefited his organization since them leaking what the pentagram was doing and then making them let's say "disappear" in a single night casted a good light on him and his organization. It also gained the trust of the GOIs going ahead with the coup which spared his organization from having several key members being purged like ORIA and GRU P.

"Trang, are you sure he didn't manage to slip past your little blockade of the city." Said the engineer warily. "Heavens no! I made sure my men checked every car coming in and out of the city using our new high tech scanners.

"On the topic of the blockade, how long will it last? The civilians are already restless as they are and they don't seem to think too highly of us except the UIU since they stole our thunder and hunted down the pentagram. I doubt keeping your little blockade up will help." Said Robert Bumaro Metallically as he pointed at Trang with his right robotic hand.

"I will keep the blockade for another week until we can confirm he isn't in the city itself." Said Trang stubbornly. "Very well then I assume the UIU will keep the peace until you all can stop your excessive purges of the GOIs that stayed neutral in this Coup and when you're done searching for Clark." Said Ulysses sighing and taking a Jab at the other GOI leaders.

"So you saying we made a mess and the UIU has to clean it up?" Mused the Engineer.

"Fuck yes! Did you think purging organizations leaders and personnel just for staying neutral is a good look. Also you have yet to get rid of the pentagram controlled POW camps." Said Ulysses talkigj another Jab at the leaders of the GOIs. "Frankly the UIU had done the most actual work in this COUP and I'd be happy if you fuck heads acknowledged that." Continued Ulysses.

"He has a point." Said Robert Bumaro, surprising everyone in the meeting on how he agreed with Ulysses. "We should have planned this out more as the fact remains Clark has pretty much embarrassed us and the longer he stays out of our sight the more of a threat he becomes. We also should get rid of the camps and possibly recruit the POW into our little hunt for Clark." Continued Robert.

"That's not a half bad idea." Said the Engineer as he fixed his gas mask a bit.

Trang on his part paced back and forth around the room. He seemed to be thinking something before he saw his eyes flash. "That's how he's been under our radar for so long." Said Trang out loud.

"Huh. Say that again?" Said the engineer.

"Clark must be hiding in some underground bunker or just going through the woods around the city." Said Trang. "It all makes fucking sense."

"We need to block off Cramptons pass then. It's only an 18 hour walk on foot from the city to the one small pass that leads out of the valley. If he isn't hiding in the woods or mountains he's trying to take that pass so he can try to escape into mainland Falmart. We can't let him leave the valley if he does, it may take months to find and track him down again." Said the Engineer panicking.

"I'll send out some of my followers to search for him. Also make good use of the GRU P. They got a unit that used to specify in tracking down escaped convicts and enemies of the state when the Soviet Union still existed." Said Robert Bumaro.

"I will make use of the GRU P then. I'll also helidrop off troops to block Cramptons pass and slowly push into the woods. I'll also get in contact with Delilah (she and her Guerillas allied themselves to the insurgency during the coup). I'm sure her and her girls wouldn't mind a good hunt." Said the Engineer

Ulysses watched as the meeting was then dismissed; he could only think. Clark you better have a good plan in mind to get yourself out of this shit cause I can't help you no longer.

Falmart. Paradise valley forests. January 14th. 2 AEE.



https://youtu.be/2_M0kiKNozE

Theme for Clark's journey so far.

I woke up from my small nap I had taken at around possibly midnight. It was now midday, possibly I couldn't tell. Clouds rumbled overhead as snow fell once more on the snow filled ground.

I had slept under a makeshift shelter I made under a fallen tree branch using a tarp and an anomalous heater I had packed to keep me from freezing to death. My sleeping bag was also playing its part in keeping me warm.

I doubted the heater would do me good since it was one of the heavier objects in my backpack. I would have to sacrifice it at some point to shake off any possible pursuers.

I took out the map from my backpack to get a good look at where I would be heading. I had chosen to avoid Cramptons pass for obvious reasons. That being the GOIs would block that pass off first most likely. I decided that I'd scale the northernmost mountains.

It was risky as they were the tallest and the weather would be shit. But the weather would hamper visibility for any helicopters or jets scanning the area for me.

I may die trying to escape the mountains but I'd rather die a free man than be presented before a firing squad.

I packed my tarp and slept as fast as I could and began my trek forward. I had decided to take two jackets with me. A white one which I was currently wearing to blend in with the snow. A certain Finnish sniper during the winter war wore all white to camouflage into the snow to pick off Russian soldiers from a hidden position.

I'd try to replicate his success just to hide a bit for the winter if I came upon pursuers. When the snow would begin to melt I'd switch off to my lighter green jacket.

I decided to skip breakfast since I wanted to get out of the forested areas near the city as fast as I could. I would only stop for lunch, not dinner or breakfast. I would only give myself those simple luxuries once I was out of the valley.

I checked my watch for the first time. It was 1:45 pm. Shit had I overslept that much.

At least it was the first good night of sleep in my life. I'm not a hippie or shit like that but maybe sleeping in nature does help a bit. Though I'm sure it's a combination of things that led to a good sleep.

The air felt nice to breathe. I walked along the forest until I reached a small river running from nearby mountains down. The water was clear and fresh. I filled one of my canteens with the water before trudging across it while holding my backpack in the air with two hands and trying to keep my guns from getting swamped by trying water as well.

Once I got across I was forced to take a break and set up the heater since the last thing I needed was hypothermia from crossing that small river in the middle of winter. I also looked at what I would have for lunch. I set up on the small camping stove I had taken with me some canned beef and beans. For dessert I would have an apple I brought with me.

This felt like a survivor show kind of but if you had people possibly hunting you down. While the beef wasn't the best I did enjoy the beans a bit. After turning off the stove and cleaning up after myself making sure not to leave any sign of my presence here I trudged further through the snow towards the northern mountains of the valley.

If I didn't face any troubles I would make it to the northern mountains in around 34 hours possibly if I went at my current speed. I was debating on trying to hunt something but I decided to ration my food until spring when the game would come out.

I had learned some hunting here before this whole mess but I already had a good aim at Ganzir since you were fighting horrors beyond human comprehension and you couldn't miss or it meant death.

The woods were an eerie quiet throughout most of my hike. I then heard the sounds of helicopter blades. I dove into a small ditch in the forest and hid in it as the helicopter flew overhead heading in the direction of Cramptons pass.

That was a close one. After 10 minutes of staying in the ditch I slowly made my way out and continued on my journey. Though with more speed and paranoia. It seems that already the GOIs had gotten wind of my plan to escape through the woods.

I was rather now disappointed at myself for oversleeping since I might have made more progress and have gotten way closer to the mountains than I was now had I not chosen to enjoy a good night of sleep.

I also lost a lot of time that the GOIs would quickly make up for. I would be only somewhat safe once I got out of this fucking valley.

I continued my jog but had to jump for the nearest cover at the sound of a helicopter flying above and I always questioned myself if they had spotted me or not.

It was soon turning night by the time I had reached a road loggers would use to cut down trees to expand the city. As I was going to cross the round I heard a rumble and I had to roll over and take cover behind some large trees as a tank rumbled through the road followed by possibly Humvees. I was only going off sound as I didn't dare peek my head to confirm my suspicions.

I then heard one of the cars/Humvees stop and men disembarking. I was within earshot and I heard their platoon leader speak. "Alright you lads have been chosen to help in our little hunt for a certain Mathew's Clark's. We are to sweep some of the woods by this road to try to find if he possibly parked his car here. This road also diverges into a road that leads to Cramptons Pass as we know so we can't allow him to possibly walk or drive down it." Spoke to the platoon leader.

I heard a yessir and counted possibly 8-12 voices. I took a small peek and saw that 2 Humvees were parked and there were 18 men moving about and entering the woods. If I moved I'd be spotted if I stayed put they'd find me since I was literally in their patrol area.

I carefully unslung my disintegrator anomalous rifle or DAR for short and carefully took aim. I didn't want to kill my fellow survivors but it was life and death at this point. They seemed to be from the GRU P.

I decided to take out their platoon leader who was going over a map of the valley maybe with his assistant. I took aim and fired. His body began to turn into dust once the round hit him as his skin rapidly melted off and all that was left were bones.

I saw the panic spread through the platoon as I then killed off another and another. They however regained their composure and fired away at me and kept me pinned down as bullets made holes in the tree I was behind. I crawled over to another tree as bullets flew by. I had to take off my backpack for doing this and semi bury it under fire since I didn't want any of the propane I had stored in it to be hit and explode.

I took out another man before crawling back to where my backpack was half buried and carefully taking it out and pushing it while crawling deeper into the woods as bullets flew right above me.

I got out of range soon enough and darted away deeper into the woods.

Soon after work, running stopped and took a small break. This was a massive setback. Yes I killed 5 of them but it mattered little as I wanted to escape not kill my enemies. I had to cross to the other side of that road to get to the northern mountains.

I now couldn't die since the squad I engaged would be radioing back to high command about finding me and how I was trying to cross the road. This section of the woods would be crawling with agents soon. I now had to head to the eastern mountains which were the lowest of the mountains that dotted the valley but had no trees whatsoever and did not suffer from the bad weather that plagued the others. So the GOIs would have perfect Aerial observation of the mountains.

However I had the option of trying to head to the western mountains though they were the farthest from where I was and it take me 3 days to reach them on foot. However the weather would be on my side when I crossed those mountains so it was worth a shot.

I changed directions and walked towards the west. The western mountains were my only true hope of escape by this point.

My unexpected journey had certainly taken an unexpected turn