See the Zone and Survive

Chapter 1

Just Another Day in the Zone

It was just another day in the Zone. Vano and I were searching for artifacts at the quarry; that anomalous swamp near Yanov station. The area is quite popular among stalkers for its abundance of artifacts and its lack of dangerous mutants and bandits. It was logical to start our hunt there.

I was watching the area through my binoculars, sitting on the cabin of the digger/crane overlooking the anomalous swamp, my sniper rifle next to me. Needless to say I was growing concerned. The last couple of hours should have been much more fruitful.

I sighed. “Have you found anything yet?” I asked Vano over the radio.

“Nothing. Just nothing,” he replied. “RAH! It’s frustrating! I told you we should have waited until the next Blowout!”

Artifacts tend to appear in anomalous fields after a Blowout, it is just like that. Blowouts -or emissions- are periodic episodes that just happen: one minute everything is fine, the sun shines and birds fly, the next one a massive storm of radiation and psi-emissions sweep the land.

So there I was, on overwatch duty as my friend was risking his life just so we could earn money. The Zone is not a safe place, but I like it that way. I just cannot imagine life out of the Zone. I was pulled out of my thoughts by an outburst from my bearded friend.

“WHOA!” He yelled.

I moved my hand to the radio on my shoulder. “What happened?” I asked, slightly bored.

“Uh, nothing?... alright, I almost stepped in a Fruit Punch,” he admitted.

“Why do you not throw bolts? Anomalies do not reveal themselves!” I yelled. Not in the radio.

I sighed. Vano is one of the best pathfinders I have ever met, but sometimes he can be really absent-minded. But he was my friend, so I have to accept his flaws and deal with it. Beats being alone; it is boring AND dangerous.

I met Vano thanks to a common friend, Degtyarev. The man was mounting an expedition to Pripyat and we all ended up in the same team. Degtyarev and Vano were the only ones to ever befriend me... probably because of my background.

I sighed at the memory. Who am I? A question still left unanswered. Even Pripyat held no answers. Only more danger.

Once again, Vano pulled me from my thoughts.

“It’s a damn Svarog detector I got here!” he shouted, waving the small device around. “Displays the position of all anomalies nearby in real time! I don’t need no fucking bolts!”

Apparently it was not enough. That or he seriously needed rest. I stood up and climbed down the crane.

“Lets us go. We will try again tomorrow,” I said, approaching the anomalous swamp.

Vano did not react. His eyes were fixed on his artifact detector. “Wait, I got something here,” he began, cautiously walking towards something I did not see. “Almost... almost... THERE! Haha!” he shouted, brandishing  a spiked brownish artifact. “Hell yeah, it’s a Kolobok!”

Well, that was unexpected. First time such an artifact is found here.

I facepalmed at what happened next. Right in the middle of the anomalous field, Vano was improvising some sort of victory dance.

“WOOOHOOO!” he shouted. “This baby will make me rich!”

This cannot end well... he will end up walking right into an anomaly.

“Ahem, I mean us,” he said, noticing the disapproving glare I was giving him. “Yeah. This baby will make US ric- OUCH! that hurts!”

Called it.

He did step into a Fruit Punch this time.

His exhilarated personality will kill him someday.

“FUCK!” he yelled. “I hate chemical anomalies!”

I sighed. “You are lucky that your suit protected you! The next time, do not dance in the middle of an anomaly field.”

I do not like to lecture people but sometimes, Vano really needed it.

“Yeah, whatever,” replied my bearded friend. “Let’s get this to our stash and celebrate! I know a lot of people in Yanov station that will be more than happy to chug down a few bottles!”

And so we went. We walked silently through the land, the silence of the moment only disturbed by two blind dogs foolish enough to attack us.

Sometimes I really wonder what happens in the head of these stupid beasts.

Our stash was actually a sort of base camp established in a room at the last floor of the office building right next to the Jupiter plant. There, we had enough supplies and gear to last a few months: weapons, ammo, artifacts, food, medical supplies, repair kits... you name it. We had even a couple of old couches and a decrepit mattress, salvaged from buildings of the soviet era; five starts comfort by the Zone’s standard. It took time and money to gather all that loot, but I always thought it was worth it. Privacy is such a foreign concept in the Zone.

Then we headed to Yanov. The trip once again was relatively uneventful, something I found strange. Usually mutants would jump out of the bushes and attack unaware stalkers... it happened to us a few times.

But at the moment, the Zone seemed peaceful.

I did not like it.

My vision was flooded by an intense white light. I felt like I was falling. I tried to flap my wings to stabilize myself but landed heavily on my right side. I heard a sickening crack followed by intense pain pulsating through my right wing. I was cold... so cold. I suppressed a shiver and tried to stand up, ignoring the pain in my wing. I shakily rose on all fours, trying to get a view of my surroundings.

Where am I?

I was lost. I felt... so weak. I couldn’t even sense my magic. I began to hyperventilate, only to be taken by a fit of coughing.

The wind... it’s so cold.

I shivered and began to shakily walk in a random direction, when I heard a monstrous, predatory, blood-freezing scream, followed by heavy breathing.

I did the first thing my instincts told me: flee. Ignoring the pain, I took off in a random direction, away from the horrible screams.

We had arrived to Yanov station, the haven of peace in Jupiter. Even Duty and Freedom stopped jumping at each other’s throat there.

Surely enough, many stalkers were happy to improvise a party of sorts. Of course, Vano was the leading one. Unlike me, he is like a fish in water around people.

I do not feel at ease with big groups of people. I prefer to sit down and enjoy a moment of solitary peace whenever I can... of course, that was not an option there, so I sat down at a table with my bottle and just discussed a bit with random people.

The party went on, until Vano decided to provoke a couple of Freedom experts in combat... unsurprisingly, he beat the shit out of them. Who in their right mind would attack a hundred kg giant?

The two Freedom stalkers were sprawled on the ground and Vano was standing over their unconscious bodies.

“That’ll learn yer!” he shouted, his voice slurred by the amount of alcohol in his bloodstream.

I gave my friend a disapproving glare. “Vano, let us leave, you have had enough,” I said firmly.

“Ahm ferpectly fine, a swear!” replied my drunk friend. “Look,” he began, holding up a finger. “I cun toush mah nose wizou- OW MY EYE!”

Sigh. Definitely wasted.

“Come on, let’s go!” I insisted. “You are only embarrassing yoursel-”

“GET OUT OF HERE STALKERS!”

I turned around and saw Loki -the local Freedom leader- standing behind me, pointing at the door.

Great. Both factions are at it now.

Vano looked at Loki. “Aw, you’s not fun,” he said, before passing out.

I sighed. Awesome. I am going to have to carry him all the way back to the plant.

“Very well, we are leaving,” I said to Loki with a wary grin.

I did not want to be on bad terms with any faction. Having a force of hundreds of military stalkers as my enemy is definitely not a good asset for one’s survival. They already distrusted me for being ex-Duty... among other things. Agreeing to their terms was the only sensible course of action.

With the help of a couple stalkers, I picked up Vano’s drunk carcass and set him on my shoulder. I grunted under the weight. The son of a gun is heavy. with all his gear, he must weigh well over a hundred and fifty kilograms.

Without a word, I walked out the door and headed to the Jupiter factory.

The night had fallen already. I checked my PDA: 2AM; It was more than time to hit the sack, and there was a good hour of walking to get to get to our hideout.

And so I walked. The night was dark and silent. Thank the Great Crystal my helmet had a night vision module. Wandering randomly in the dark only to stumble upon a Chimera or a Bloodsucker is never pleasant.

I followed the road south, then, right before the bandit checkpoint, I turned left towards the Jupiter plant. The walk was uneventful, and it would have been relaxing if it wasn’t for Vano and his 50 kg of equipment on my right shoulder. Everything was calm. Too calm. Usually mutants go out hunting at night...

The breathing sound was coming closer and closer. I looked behind me, only to see two pairs of floating yellow dots closing on me.

I ran faster, desperately searching for a place where I could get away from whatever was pursuing me.

My lungs were burning. My vision was blurred from the effort and the pain. Through the indistinct haze of colors that was the world around me, I saw the shape of a building in the distance. I ran to it and climbed the stairs, only to come to a dead end.

I turned around, only to see two bipedal monsters standing behind me. Their face was rotten and deformed, bloody tentacles sprouted out of their maw and their eyes shined with a malevolent yellow gleam.

They began to advance, their heavy breathing drowning the silence in the room. I backed off, only to hit a wall. I was cornered. I curled up in a ball, tears flowing freely flowing down my cheeks.

One of the monsters pounced at me, pinning me to the floor. It seemed to examine me with its predatory eyes then raised a paw and slashed at me. I screamed in pain as its sharp claws dug deep in my flesh, sending a hot, burning pulse course through my body. The other one approached me and wrapped its jagged tentacles around my neck.

I screamed. Everything went black.

I was almost at the camp when I heard it. A scream. A long, high pitched, blood-freezing scream of pain and desperation. I stopped and decided to set Vano down in a room on the ground floor of the building we had installed our crib in, before taking off, chasing after the source of the scream.

Nobody dies on my watch.

It sounded like the scream had come from the administrative section of the Jupiter complex.

I pumped my legs as fast as I could, doing my best to ignore the exhausted state I was in. Carrying Vano and his equipment had taken its toll.

The administrative section of the Jupiter factory - more what is left of it- is a small two stories high building. I entered it, my trusty M1911 in one hand, my knife in the other, carefully watching every corner.

Everything inside was weathered by time and abandon. The walls were stained by humidity, the wallpapers long gone. In a room, a toppled desk had been crushed in half. The door to the next room was blown off its hinges... it seemed recent. I could hear two creatures breathing heavily upstairs.

Bloodsuckers. should not be too difficult.

I tightened my grip around my pistol and began to slowly climb the stairs, careful to not make any noise.

I checked the rooms on the first floor one by one: more torn up furniture, broken doors and the occasional Burnt Fuzz anomaly hanging from the ceiling... nothing unusual. the last room however was void of debris, but there were there.

Two Bloodsuckers, their backs turned away from the entrance, were bent over their victim and were feeding off him.

I crouched, crept up on them silently. Once I was at arm’s length from the first mutant, I raised my knife in the air and brought it down swiftly on its skull-less head, killing it instantly.

Its companion snapped towards me, cloaked and stood up,  roaring in fury. It swept its paw at me, throwing me to the floor. Not bothering to stand up, I aimed my pistol between the two bright yellow dots betraying the eyes of the invisible mutant and fired.

BANG

BANG

The two .45 ACP hollow point rounds left the muzzle of my gun, impacted the Bloodsucker’s face, penetrated and then expanded, causing a massive cavity as they exited from the back of the mutant’s head; splattering blood, cerebrospinal fluid and brain matter all over the wall behind it.

The beast decloaked and dropped dead instantly.

I turned to get a look at the victim of the Bloodsuckers.

My brain jammed at the sight.

This creature is not from this world.

Black. Everything was black. I could not move. I felt a presence next to me... not like the monsters from before, no. This presence seemed... peaceful.

I don’t want to die. Help me.

I saw a little light grow closer to me. I approached it.

It was not human. But it was not an animal either, and it lacked the rotten, mutated aspect of the beasts roaming the Zone. I am not a zoologist, but the... thing at my feet definitely looked equine in build. It’s white coat was smeared with blood and gore, letting its flesh appear underneath in some places.  It had no mane or tail.

I could see two big bite marks on its neck and side, evidence of the bloodsuckers’ tentacles, and a sort of branding on its flank. One of its legs was broken, the bone sticking out of the skin. Its facial structure was strange, as if someone had the sick idea of humanizing a horse. But what struck me the most were its eyes. They were huge.

Its brain cannot be bigger than a peanut.

The left side of the creature's face was adorned by a large gash, a big chunk of its left ear was missing and the eye seemed to be injured. It had a single, broken horn protruding from its forehead, and, more surprising, wings, though its right one was bent to a strange angle.

Yes, mobile, feathered wings, like a bird’s, only much bigger, bringing the total of its functional limbs to six.

Darwin must have been turning in its grave the moment this animal was born.

I noticed that the animal was still breathing and realized the extent of its wounds. A pool of blood was forming underneath it. Knowing the anticoagulant properties of the Bloodsucker saliva, I knew it did not have for long.

I decided to end its suffering. I raised my pistol to its head and cocked the hammer.

It is over, little one. Rest in peace.

I was about to squeeze the trigger when the creature suddenly opened its eyes and took a deep, ragged breath.

It weakly raised its head, looked at me and reached to my leg.

“Help-p m-mee...” it begged in a faint voice before passing out.

… What?

Just another day in the Zone, really.