S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 - Heart of Chornobyl (2.0) #1,744: The Railroad Bandits

There was a light rain and fog, and I was at the MAS with the loot I had gathered from three interactions with Mercs, as it was just a stop on my way back to the Cement Factory. As I was expecting an Emission at any time, I tried to stay close to known shelters, especially when overloaded. I left the MAS, crossed the bridge and returned to the Duty base, where I sold the yellow damaged weapons to the Trader for coupons, and got repairs from the Mechanic which I think cost more than I made. I then went up to my stash to drop off the red damaged weapons and excess supplies. When I went back outside, it was still raining and hazy. I went up to the main gate and got on the roof, watching Duty patrols come and go. I was undecided what I was going to do next, and I looked at my PDA, seeing it was late afternoon. I went out on the east side of the base, walking along the outer perimeter wall, going to the north gate and across the bridge back into the Cooling Towers territory. I went back to the MAS, stopped by to check on the Dutyers and then to where I had killed two of the Mercs, where I had dropped some pistols and other items. I picked them up and decided to head in a new direction I had not been to in a while. I went to the northeast, through some lightly wooded areas and by a canal, going to a camp of stacked containers. This had been the location of a some zombified Stalkers that I had fought on a couple of occasions, but this time I found the camp deserted. From there I went north, across an open field, where I came to a railroad track running east to west. This was a location near the water's edge, where you could go no farther north unless you had a boat. There were small islands way in the distance, but they looked heavily wooded and uninhabited, without any signs of buildings or structures. I went over to a large boulder alongside the tracks, jumped up on it and looked eastward down the tracks. It had finally stopped raining, and the sun had come out, with no signs of any men or mutants. I was using my binoculars to look north across the river, when I turned to the east, and along the railroad tracks and they identified three figures coming towards me with red skulls of the Bandit Faction. I quickly got behind the boulder and pulled out my Mark 1 EMR for a brief firefight. I went to loot the three Bandits, and with the fading daylight, headed back the way I had come, passing through the container camp. I went straight back to the MAS, talked to the Duty squad leader there, and then was on my way back across the bridge to the Cement Factory. I went to the Trader to sell what I could, got repairs from the Mechanic and went to my stash to drop off the excess supplies. I went back outside to the main gate and got on the roof, where I was still waiting for an Emission to pass. I had a far location I wanted to go to, where there was no shelter, so I had to wait for the next Emission, so I had a couple of days of safe travel afterwards. I looked up at the sky, as dark clouds rolled in and the sunlight faded behind them, as I was looking towards the Slag Heap with my binoculars. Usually, an Emission happened every two days or so, but I had lost track of time and it seemed overdue. Game Note: