“In any case, you’ve been lucky… unlike that Stalker over there.”
Not far from a small, dilapidated wooden boat stands stuck in the sandy shore, a man lies in the shallow water. He wears a ragged protective suit, resting his head on his forearm in such a peaceful pose that makes him appear as if he were just sleeping.
Something moves in the reed, then the head of a black, dog-like creature appears. Its snout resembles that of an oversized bulldog, but its wide mouth flashes fangs fit for an alpha wolf. Seeing the corpse in the water, it licks its snout with its thick, blue tongue.
It trots to the corpse, licks its snout once more and bites into the dead man’s face.
“Yes… this is the Zone,” Tarasov whispers. “Our Zone.”
The mutant growls when it becomes aware of the five humans. It seems to hesitate, but its hunger is apparently stronger than caution — or maybe it just thinks about leaving the still living humans for later.
The bang of a rifle shot shatters the silence. A split second later, the mutant’s head is hit and goes off with chunks of human meat still in his mouth.
“Sorry for spoiling your appetite, puppy,” Sawyer says working the bolt of his rifle.
“Outstanding shot, Sawyer!”
“Just call me Finn, Top. My father was fond of Mark Twain, you know?” With a showy gesture, the Australian adjusts his hat. “Hey Mister Stalker, where’re you goin’?”
“Keep your eyes on the reed and bushes while I check the body.”
“That dog-like beast looks dead alright to me.”
“It’s that fellow I mean,” Tarasov says walking to the dead Stalker. He puts his breathing mask on to filter the stench and pats down the pockets on the dead man’s suit.
“Already acting like a scavenger?”
“Every body tells a story.”
Triumphantly, he fishes a detector from a pocket on the corpse.
“A Veles,” he says showing the device. “A next generation scanner. In normal mode it registers only radiation and anomalies, but if I open it, it also indicates nearby artifacts on a display screen. Pretty useful.”
“Didn’t help this fellow much.”
“Whatever it was, it got to him on his way out or so it seems… the Zone didn’t let him leave.” Tarasov takes one more look at the body. “And if he had a Veles, and was on his way out, it means that…”
He dons his protective gloves and turns the body over. The sight drives cold down through his spine. Even the hardened Top turns his head away with a grimace of disgust.
“At least it wasn’t for nothing.” Tarasov takes an artifact from the container on the dead man’s belt. It looks like two blue mushroom heads held together by a strange substance resembling non-sticking jelly. His radiation meter starts beeping. “A Shell… damn. I’d need another one, a Jellyfish or something similar, to balance out the radiation it’s emitting. Sawyer! Come over here!”
“What is it?”
“I need your hunting knife.”
Tarasov cuts the container off the belt and tosses it to the Australian.
“What do you prefer? Being encumbered by that rucksack or a little nausea?”
“It’s not heavy at all.”
“Fasten this container with the artifact to your belt, and ask Nooria for anti-radiation drugs every two hours or so.”
“I don’t follow.”
“That’s the point,” Tarasov says getting to his feet. “Keeping that thing close to you, you will follow me even if your rucksack were twice as heavy as it is.”
“How come?”
“It’s an artifact, or call it a swag like Hartman’s people do. The Shell I just gave you has a stimulating effect. Don’t ask me how and why. Too bad it’s a little radioactive…”
“Jesus! And you want me to put it next to my balls..? Keep that… thing to yourself!”
“Nothing an anti-rad couldn’t keep under control.”
“You sure?”
“Quite.”
“What if I drink vodka against radiation?”
“You get drunk. Can’t allow that till we get to a safer place.”
Sawyer doesn’t look convinced but when they prepare to leave, and he puts on his overloaded rucksack with much less effort, he starts to grin.
“Hey mate… that’s awesome! But if I wake up one morning with nothin’ left to piss with, I’ll stuff that bloody thingy down yer throat!”
“Don’t worry,” Tarasov says, powering on the Veles detector. ”Crap! the batteries are dead.”
Using the Swiss army knife from the survival kit they all got from Jimmy the Nut, Tarasov screws off the battery compartment of the Bear detector to switch batteries.
“What was that beast Finn just killed?” the Top asks.
“A pseudodog.”
“Lame name for a mutant.”
“’Pseudo’ means ’almost’,” Tarasov replies, shrugging. “Almost like a dog—pseudodog. Sounds logical to me.”
“At least it doesn’t attack in packs like jackals do.”
“Not so sure about that. Sometimes they team up with a pack of blind dogs. Blind dogs are cowards, they run if you kill one or two of them but the presence of a pseudodog gives them self-confidence. Once I met such a pack. They made me run faster than the devil… Okay, let’s see if it works now.”
With the new batteries, the green display of the Veles comes to life. Satisfied, Tarasov fastens it to his belt and scans the river with his binoculars.
“The current is strong but the river’s not too wide here… Think we could cross it in that boat, Top?”
“Kidding? You have two Marines in the party!”
“Actually… it’s not the water that I’m concerned about.”
“Then what?”
For a reply, Tarasov gives Hartman his binoculars and points to a spot about fifty meters downstream. Hardly visible with bare eyes but all the more conspicuous through the binoculars, there is a circular area appearing like a shallow pit in the water, as if an invisible sphere of pulsating energy would be hovering above. Zooming in, small debris becomes visible as it whirls around in the sphere, driven by a vortex of invisible energy.
“Looks like trouble.”
“A Whirligig anomaly.” Tarasov shakes his head and sighs. “Damn! Right in the middle of the river. The current could drive us into it.”
“Anomalies in the water? Jesus Christ, this place is weirder than I expected. There’s no such thing in the sandbox!”
“Sure, because there’s not much water.”
“Because you haven’t been to the Amir lakes, far to the north of the City of Screams. It’s the closest thing the sandbox has to beauty. After our valley, of course.”
“Anyways, there’s an anomaly field between the observation tower on the riverbank and the abandoned Clear Sky base. A powerful emission must have relocated the anomalies. You know what makes me scared? The thought of the Zone being a balloon, emissions the air pumped into it, and each emission making it expand till one day it goes kaboom!”
“That’s very poetic but let’s focus on what’s ahead. Can’t we use the bridge? A stretch is missing from the middle but looks like we’re gonna wet our feet either way.”
“Metal structure. Must be heavily irradiated. Besides, if one of us slips and falls off… no, forget the bridge. We’ve already used up all our luck today with Sawyer getting out alive from that anomaly.”
“You too can call me Finn,” the Australian says behind them.
“That little boat ain’t exactly a landing craft,” the Top observes. Only three of us fit in at once. Besides, steering it overloaded would be difficult.”
“Good idea. First, I’ll take you two Marines. You’ll land and establish a bridge-head,” Tarasov jokes. ”Take your rifles only. Then comes Nooria and most of our gear and finally Finn.”