Go the long way

“Let’s cut across the road, go in the woods, creep down to the river, cross the little junk bridge, then creep to the exit,” you suggest.

“Crossroads?” Colby considers it. You can sense her initial resistance to taking such a cautious approach, but her optimization brain wins out. She wants to survive and accomplish her objective, and playing safe is the way to do that.

You check your ammo and take the lead, mindful of the fact that you have one medkit left with about a hundred HP left of juice in it. Given that a player has 440 HP in this game, that’s not much. That’s all you have. Heavy fighting is absolutely out of the question, but both have suppressors on your weapons. That counts for something; suppressed gunshots sound loud to the one firing them, but they don’t carry across the map like everything else does.

“Scav Sniper,” Colby calls out as you cross the yard. You can barely see the little dot at the top of a tower in the distance. He hasn’t aggro’d to you and Colby, so you don’t care about him. Besides, the path you have in mind will keep you well out of his coverage. But the raid is more than halfway finished; you’re surprised he’s still alive.

Making your way cautiously across the industrial park, then through the construction site is nerve-wracking, but uneventful. You can’t just walk with your weapon raised; aiming down sights drains a special stamina bar. It regenerates quickly, but still. You reach the wall, listen for a moment, then make your way down to the opening that will let you get back to the road.

You and Colby take a look. Faint shooting comes from the direction of the dorms, but that’s not your problem. People don’t generally just walk down the middle of the road in this game, but you look both ways regardless. They’re more likely to be crouched in the bushes somewhere, but trying to spot someone like that is pointless.

“Go,” Colby says.

You sprint noisily and clunkily across the road, crashing into the undergrowth on the other side. You feel a sense of relief as you get out of the open. There’s no loot in these woods, and thus no reason for anyone to care about them.

The journey to the wall isn’t very far. Two minutes’ travel at most. You and Colby make your way through the shade without seeing anyone, PMC or otherwise. Players Scavs can spawn back here, so you can’t let your guard down.

“Hey, I need a drink,” Colby says.

“What?”

“Water.”

Then you realize she means in the game. Colby is not the type to walk away from Tarkov for real-world needs. “Oh, shit.” You open up your inventory and check your stats. Your guy is hungry and thirsty too. “I don’t have any.”

“What?”

“I didn’t bring any. I don’t play this game,” you say defensively.

Colby lets out a frustrated little growl.

“What happens when you’re dehydrated bad?” you ask.

“You slow down. Start making noise. I think it’ll kill you, actually,” Colby says. “But it’s not like heavy bleed. Just keep moving.”

Shit. Things were looking good for a second, too.

Sure enough, seconds later, your guy makes a noise.

You reach the edge of the trees. A steep embankment leads down to the river, where you can see the little debris bridge. It offers a little cover. The big bridge spans the river to your left, high above.

You hear more shooting, this time from the direction of the building called Big Red. That’s ahead and to your left. It’s on the left side of the road that you will have to take to get out. Big Red is a critical hotspot, but with a little luck, any PMCs over there will be out before you get there. It’s getting late in the raid, after all.

You don’t see anything, and there’s no time to think too hard about it.

Colby heads down the slope and you follow. The bridge creaks ominously as you start across.

“Ow!” Colby shouts. “Fuck!” She drops prone behind a big tire that’s part of the bridge, the only cover available. You didn’t hear a shot, but your brain works fast. Someone just shot her from the big bridge. You have zero cover, so your only option is to sprint forward and crouch behind a piece of corrugated metal that probably won’t stop rifle rounds in this game.

“Fuuuck,” Colby moans, as though she’s actually been shot IRL.

You don’t think about it, you just peek. There’s a dot up there on the bridge. Sparks fly off your cover as he takes a shot at you. Fuck him. You put your red dot on him and click.

He vanishes. He’s hundreds of feet away. You don’t know what happened; did you get him? Did he duck? Why? He has the advantage. You hold your angle, sweeping in case he’s moving, but seconds go by.

“Did you get him?” Colby sounds impressed.

“I don’t know,” you mutter.

“OK, I’m bleeding,” she says.

Shit. You drop your backpack so she can grab the medkit, then go back to covering.

Your guy grunts in a… dehydrated way, and a black vignette forms around the edges of your screen. That’s not good.

“Whatever. We just have to go,” you say.

“I’m coming.” Colby stands up, and her guy lets out a sound of pain.

“Do you need more pills?”

“No, those’ll just dehydrate me more,” she grumbles. “Fuck, I’m limping.”

He shot her in the leg; she has a fracture, and you can’t splint it. She’ll be limping for the foreseeable future.

“Was that a Scav?” Colby asks, lifting her MP7, as though it’s going to help her at this range. The bridge is 300 feet away easily. You can’t believe you hit that guy with just a red dot. Or did you hit him?

“I didn’t hear shots. Scavs don’t have silencers, right?”

“Uh, not usually,” she says worriedly.

“Probably a PMC.”

“Probably,” she agrees.

A PMC would have supplies. Food, drink, maybe a splint or a medkit. That could be huge. He would also have a weapon. You could cross, then get up there and check his body.

Or you can push for the exfil.