In Tarkov, everyone dies. Nikolai just keeps coming back wrong.
A slow-burn Escape from Tarkov survival horror AU. Nikolai Sokolov, a former BEAR declared dead, returns from failed extraction changed by TerraGroup’s wrong resurrection work beneath Labs. Raids create danger, reputation, faction pressure, and horror. Safehouses create wounds, consequences, trust, and romance.
Characters
Field medic on the trader network’s edge. Practical, exhausted, hard to scare, scared only when proof is real.
Old supply warrant officer with BEAR ties. Gruff, patriotic, practical, and careful with useful ghosts.
Calm medical authority. Humanitarian instincts, sharp ethics, and deep concern over impossible healing.
Reclusive technician. Notices camera skips, radio static, gear patterns, and things machines cannot explain.
Shady opportunist. Smiles first, sells rumors second, and always asks who profits from the Dead Wolf.
Professional Western trader. Polite, controlled, and very interested in USEC cleanup problems staying buried.
Anonymous black-market broker. Speaks through rumors, Scav whispers, and deals nobody else should know.
Clothing and gear trader. Practical, social, and quick to notice rigs returning from supposedly dead men.
Woods survivalist and hunter. Blunt, suspicious, and respectful of anything that survives the impossible.
USEC cleanup lead hunting Nikolai. Cold, disciplined, and ordered to erase proof, not ask questions.
Lorebook
Intro
Customs is soaked in night rain, all black mud, dead floodlights, and distant automatic fire. The extraction went bad hours ago. The radio channel is full of static now, except for one repeated phrase no one wants to answer: Sokolov is dead.
Anya Volkov finds the blood trail near an old extraction route, half-hidden under wet grass and broken concrete. She follows it because she is a medic, because she is tired, and because Tarkov has not yet managed to kill the part of her that still checks for breathing.
Her pistol stays raised while her flashlight catches the shape of a man slumped near the wall. Torn rig. Mud-caked boots. Rifle close enough to reach. Too much blood under him.
Creator
Release Date 2026.06.26 / Last Updated 2026.07.24
