Contest starts today and will wrap up on Oct. 29th, with winners announced on the 30th. Unfortunately, I have to limit this first contest to NA people only.

The rules are simple. Write an ORIGINAL "S.T.A.L.K.E.R./FTW" inspired short story. The 3 best win. Myself and 1 other person will decide who the winners are. Obviously, if only 3 people present stories, they will automatically win. Hopefully there will be more.

The copies will be awarded through STEAM. I am paying for them out of my own pocket.

Looking forward to reading some good short stories.

To the mods, if you see people posting off topic, trying to be ignorant, please, feel free to delete any posts that are not relevant to the contest. Thanks.

Well, my native language being French I don't think I stand a chance.

This contest is for people in North America, not the EU. The next one that I do will have prizes for people in the EU, but right now, we need more NA players.

It was a winter.. dark, cold and dirty from muds
He woke up in a tiny shad, naked, wet, nothing but a gun in his hand
He stook, took the gun, wore clothes and put a coat on him than he left
But Hey ! there is someone overthere..(footsteps)
there is someone here ? WHO IS IT he yelled
From nowhere a little boy with a blue baseball cap on his head that was belong to his father came out from the shadows but it was so quick he couldnt knew it was a kid ! he was too scared from the sounds so he took the gun with no fear aimed to the dark wide forest and shot constantly
then It was at this moment that he knew He fucked up.

So because I speak french you think I'm from EU? LOL!

You don't seem to have a problem speaking English, when you type here, so why would I assume that you are saying you don't speak English well? Makes no sense. Yes, while there are many French speaking people in Canada, it's just not the first place a person thinks, when someone say's their native language is French. At least no one I know. In reality, if you expect people to not speculate, you need to be more informative. You could have EASILY said you were in Canada and there would have been no confusion. Right? Right.

ALL winners came from the STEAM forums. Only had 2 entrants that met all of the rules and guidelines.

The first entrant was BigBoss, here is his story..
I don't remember anything prior, maybe an helicopter sound and me smashing my head and falling unconscious. When i woke up i was heading towards a dome, with electric poles everywhere, if there was still human life that was the place to find it, i needed bendages and something to drink . While I was crossing a bridge I heard the familiar groan of boars to my left. I turned to see if it there was one coming after me and saw a lone stalker in the field, desperately trying to fight off about eight boars. I could tell just from the weapon he was using (a Beretta 93r probably) that he didn't stand a chance. I decided to help him, i needed to speak with him to know what happened of me, why we were there. I had found a Vepr-12 in a empty house before and my jacket was full of ammo so i tought we could have done it togheter, so i went in. I run into the fight, he probably run out of his clip because at that point he was fighting his way out with an axe; 3 boars were already down and i started shooting. It was a long fight , always in close range and i had to focus just on them, i couldn't look after him, i got bit once but after a while the last bore crumbled on the ground, and all the noises stopped.
I turned around to be sure he was alive and ok but he wasn't there anymore, and while i was looking around i heard a "boom" and before i realized what happened i had a bullet in my leg, i run into cover behind a tree, the loner i helped was shooting at me with his pistol hiding behind his jeep; so i started reloading my shotgun, i had to defend myself. He was too far for the Vepr to be effective but i didn't have any "choke" with me so there was nothing else to do other than keep shooting hoping he would run out of ammo and leave, or come closer with the axe and die.
Then, suddenly, he stopped shooting and started running in the field, the anomaly got him and he was trying to escape, but it was too late and he just fell flat on the ground with the radiation devouring his skin. After a moment of relieve because i was alive, I started running as fast as i could to avoid the same fate, but a group of 3 wolves was in my path, there was no time to avoid them and the decision was just between them and the anomaly, and you can't win against the anomaly. I took out my weapon and started shooting while they were running towards me, i downed the first one with two shots from afar and then waited for a clean shot on the other two, they came close and i killed the second one hitting it in the head before he could jump, there was only one to go and i was ready for it, i went to shoot at it but i felt a metallic clap from my gun, my clip was empty, i put my hand in my jacket to take other ammo but my jacket was empty too, i realized i wasn't going to make it so i started running away; but you can't outrun a wolf, and it got me just some seconds later, and ate me alive. I was dead, but i found myself on a plane to the contaminated zone once again some minutes after,ready to jump, with a new learned lesson: always Fear The Wolves.

PS see you in game, i would like the key(s) because i can't manage to convince my friends group to buy it even thought i'am sure all 3 of them would play it (especially because it got better after the patches) and they have a lot of spare time and they could help the game gaining population even when i am not around (too often lately unfortunately)

Second winner was Raven Blade and here is her story....

The worst part of of being a S.T.A.L.K.E.R was listening to Jaydens guitar while we sat around the fire. It would always start out with my self passing the cans of beans around and spliting the loaf of bread. Kyle would find the stones for the fire, and Micheal would make us make shift stools. At which point Jayden would start tuning his guitar and strumming. We'd always make fun of him and he would tell us "don't you worry guys, I got this, you'll see." The joke was we never saw.

This night however, was something differnt. It was the 3rd of october and as usual we all did our routine. We'd just come back from a nice haul of goods from the inner zone. Jayden had been the most lucky on this one. Since he found not just an anomoly but something...else... and while it looked like an anomoly, it didn't feel like one. We'd all taken our turns with it, when Jayden had mentioned he had found it. Each of them had examined it. I my self didn't need to worry about such things. Since I had my own haul and some bullets that I had found.
We sat by the fire just as Jayden was tuning his guitar, when Kyle said he heard something. He got up raised his gun in the direction of his said sound. It was then he stepped forward, then took another. We all went for our weapons; taking up my Groza I pointed in the same direction. Kyle moved into the dark. We heard a scream and he vanished form our sights. We ran toward his direction, suddenly seeing him looking up at us and laughing. Micheal kicked him a couple times and went back to eating his beans. Kyle, still laughing, sat down and begain eating his beans. Jayden spit on the ground and cursed and begain playing guitar horribly again.

It was then that I heard something... something ... faint. something... odd. The air begain to feel heavy as I raised my gun again. Trying to see into the night with the comfotable fire behind me. Jayden stopped playing, then trying to speak, only to be silenced as I turned around to see him dragged off into the night. I heard his screams, I fired my rifle, burts of muzzel flashing lightin the area around me. Kyle went for his gun only to be carried off; I fired more rounds off in his direction. It was then that Micheal was by my side letting loose a full mag into the night. His final shot made the silence sink deep into our hearts. Micheal looked at me as his face mirrored mine. I mentioned we should stand back to back near the fire now, he agreed.
It was now starting to get heavy again, the air, the sound of our breathing. The wind blew and batted at our faces and clothing, as we stood waiting for the next onslaught. Waiting for whatever it was to meet our bullets and say hello.
3 minutes, 5 minutes, 8 minutes, went by and nothing. Micheal then left my back and went to pack up tent. He said we have to get out of here. I did not lower my weapon as I covered him and my self the best I could.

Micheal packed the last thing, as I saw it coming behind him. I do not know how I saw it; As it was so fast, that It was not human in its speed. It grabbed him it ins claw like hands. Dragging him into the night. I knew it was futile to shoot. I was alone now. standing, waiting for my demise. My friends all gone, most likely dead. I stood for hours waiting for an attack that never came. The sun, I begain to see it come up. The night was over. There was no attack coming, I knew this now. I packed up what i could carry and moved on. Where to go? I Didn't know, Follow the trail? Head back to head quarters? Maybe... Maybe in an hour or two I will know.

end

Congrats to both winners. See you in the zone...

it's just not the first place a person thinks, when someone say's their native language is French.
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