"Haha," Valerian laughs merrily, leading me out of the bar under the hangar's arches and lightly patting me on the shoulder. "If only you could have seen our faces when they realized they couldn't carry all the loot on their own backs."
"And how many of them cried?"
"You don't believe in them at all, do you?" the stalker grins with satisfaction. "When I left, no one did, but a few guys were very close..."
Word by word, we entered the former bandit lair, where our group's emergency gathering was taking place. I even had to watch from afar a couple of arguments about this or that item, and who exactly should take it. Fun. Realizing that my help wasn't particularly needed here, and my backpack was already packed, I decided to ask the leader for permission to leave.
"Valerian," I address the stalker, who is sorting through some inventory sheets brought by Yakut from the local merchant's back room. "Can I be excused?"
"For long?" he asks in response and, after a moment, adds, "If not, then go."
"I need to pick up a stash. Halfway to the southern checkpoint."
"Hmm," Valerian tears himself away from the papers and looks at me, pursing his lips slightly. "Then, I think, go straight to the checkpoint after it. And check if there will be any unpleasant surprises from the remnants. If anything happens, don't be a hero, like you usually do.
Call us immediately."
"And what, there's no one left for cover?" my eyebrows shoot up on their own.
"What do you think?" he grins. "No-o-o, brother. And what's the point? They would have gotten drunk anyway, since the enemy is completely defeated and destroyed. And so, no one even bothered us when we were drunk, because there were many people gathered."
"You think some of the bandits are still around?"
"Naturally," Valerian smooths his mustache with his right hand. "There are plenty of them here in the Zone. Even if you get rid of them all, someone will still make a mess. Someone escaped in advance, someone slipped away in the heat of battle, like Yoga, and someone wasn't even at the base during the assault. They won't go into direct confrontation, they're afraid, but they can cause trouble on the sly. Set a trap, or some other crap. So be careful, okay? I believe in you, and that's why I'm letting you go alone."
"Okay, I'll keep that in mind," I nod in agreement, realizing that I had become too relaxed after the victory.
Indeed, Borov himself managed to escape during the skirmish and survived. He even took some people with him, not to mention that the gang grew quite rapidly afterward. No one even had time to look back, and in just half a year, almost the entire south of the Zone was under the bandits' control. Yes, they didn't bother the stalkers much, preferring to fleece them during raids, but they felt confident almost everywhere. Cordon, Garbage, Agroprom...
Yeah, as I thought at first. The problem hasn't been completely solved, it's just moved into a different format. For a long time, there will be no centralized control over crime, but loners will suffer from the black plague just as they did before. Just not on the same scale and not as openly as it was now. Well, in any case, a bad peace is better than a good war.
Before heading to Dyl's stash, I decide to pop into the kitchen and beg for the leftovers from Genatsvale. He didn't want to agree at first, but for a couple of folded hundred-ruble bills, carefully placed in the breast pocket of his jumpsuit, he agreed to prepare separate food for the remaining stalkers, not just reheat the morning's meal. Fortunately, the products were almost free. For another hundred, I got him to give me a few packs of crackers, and, loaded with a plastic bag of breakfast leftovers and crumbled crackers, I set off.
Warned by Valerian's words about the possible danger on the road, I kept my pistol ready, realizing that in case of a skirmish, I might not have time to draw my assault rifle. But, thank the Zone, it was fine. Only near the bus stop did a blind one join me. Mangy and skinny, it seemed like you could cut yourself on its protruding ribs. Taking pity, I decide to feed it a little, especially since there's only one mutant. From the pack, apparently, only he remained.
And only at the moment when the dog's head plunged into the bag and started to chew loudly, did I realize that I hadn't lost my new ability. The Zone creatures still didn't show any aggression towards me if I wasn't hostile towards them. This means I was foolish to carry all this food for rats. Fighting them would have been quite a challenge... But oh well.
Stroking the dog's spine protruding through its skin and somehow getting its head out of the bag, I received only a portion of abundant licks. Ha, I can imagine what faces my guys would have made. Executioner, hunter, terror of mutants, and feeding them.
I reached the sewer manhole quite quickly. And, to my regret, the blind one followed me, not responding to any commands. It only sadly turned its head towards me whenever I opened my mouth, and tears rolled from its blind eyes. At those moments, my heart ached, and I wanted to shelter and warm this unfortunate soul. What are these mutants doing to me? I cut down people indiscriminately, but as soon as I see a snotty muzzle of an ugly dog, I feel bad... It's a disgrace.
I left the blind one on the surface, hoping it would eventually leave, not waiting for my return. And, ignoring the faint barking coming from behind me, I head straight into the darkness, illuminating the path with my flashlight. Nothing has changed since my last visit. All the same mud, all the same skeletons, and the distant squeak of rats.
Reaching the place where I left the crackers for the local inhabitants last time, I open the bag and place it on the ground, then move on until I finally reach Dyl's shelter. Judging by the dust clouds throughout the room, no one had been here either. Without wasting time, I decide to immediately move the sofa and get the diary and the rifle from there. I won't get much for it anyway, and it's a shame to leave it here. Another souvenir for Sidor. Then I take a crumpled and folded sheet of yellowed paper with notes from the closet and, folding it even tighter, put it in my pocket. I'll read it when I get back to the Cordon.
I didn't close the door on my way out. And as soon as I stepped over the threshold, I almost tripped over a huge, almost greasy rat. A long body, luxurious gray fur, and a huge tail. It looked at me with intelligent, but small and black eyes, squeaked loudly, and grabbed my pant leg with its paw, pulling slightly. Then it ran towards the exit of the sewer.
I follow it without looking away, illuminating the path with my flashlight, and still, the rat Larisk occasionally turns its head towards me, checking. After a few short minutes, I find myself in the same place where I left the bag. It was already empty. The rat, shaking its hindquarters, prepares to jump. One, and it jumps into a side drain pipe, immediately disappearing into it. Puzzled, I decide to wait and see what happens.
A short time passes, and a slightly glowing brown stone falls from this rat hole onto the ground. An artifact. I pick it up to examine it more closely, and it turns out to be a medusa. A pointed top and a pear-shaped bottom are connected by thin and thick threads of the same brown color with dark spots.
"Thank you," I nod at the rat that peeked out of the pipe. Noticing this, it squeaked joyfully, as it seemed to me, and ran away. "You have excellent dividends here, I must say... For three hundred, I got an artifact. Hmm, maybe I should open a mutant training center? They'll climb for artifacts, why not a business... Heh-heh."
After thinking about the prospects for a bit, I decide to return to the surface after all. And at that moment, something happened that I really didn't like. The sound of a shot. Right above the manhole. I take the assault rifle off my strap and, shifting my body towards the wall, begin to move as quietly as possible towards the exit. But no one came down. They're afraid, then. Or were those just stalkers passing by who scared Bobik? Unclear.
"Baldy, are you sure the sucker went in here?" a hoarse voice with a clear Odessa accent comes from the surface. At least, I wanted to think so.
"You're driving me crazy, Vitek," Lyisiy snaps at his comrade, unable to stand it. "He went in here, ri-ght here! I saw him in binoculars."
"Then why didn't you shoot him? We wouldn't be suffering like this..."
"Vitya..."
"And that dog too," Vitya continues. "Are you sure this sucker dived into the sewer because of this terrible beast?"
"That dog, it, they went together. And shut up already!"
"Okay, okay, I'm silent."
What jerks. For Barbos, I'll kill you. But how? Going out in the open is a death sentence, as soon as I get to the stairs, they'll take aim at me. And then it's game over. Should I call my guys? It would be undignified. I've gotten out of so many scrapes, killed so many scumbags. And here, two idiots have cornered me. No-o-o, I need to think.
Lost in thought, I remove my left hand from the assault rifle's foregrip, which was hanging around my neck, and place it directly on the pouch. And it hits me. A grenade! With one movement, I unfasten the pocket and take out the only grenade left after yesterday's fight. Then I unceremoniously pull the pin and toss it high so that it flies out of the sewer manhole, after which I quickly jump aside and hear a loud explosion that reverberates through the catacombs.
I snap my fingers right in front of my ear, but I hear nothing. It hit hard, even though the explosion was outside. Taking a deep breath, I put the assault rifle on my back and carefully climb up. And to my great surprise, I find two moaning bodies lying on their backs, twitching slightly. I can't even imagine how lucky they were that they weren't killed immediately. But judging by the amount of blood on the asphalt, they don't have long left. So, where's Sharik?
Unfortunately, only two halves of the dog remained. The front half flew to the right roadside, towards the concrete slabs, and the back half to the left. You had no peace in life, Polkan, and you didn't get it after death. I quickly draw my pistol and end the lives of these two scumbags, then, turning around, head towards the checkpoint. To wait for our guys.
Depot, same time.
"Well, guys, did you get everything?" Valerian asks the crowd of stalkers gathered at the eastern gate.
"Ye-e-es," they answer in a ragged chorus.
"Boom!" a loud explosion sounds in the distance, followed by two more shots.
Only a few stalkers stirred, but they all grabbed their weapons. Who knows, are the bandits messing around or someone else? But the stalker leader guessed who it was. And so he cursed to himself.
"Alright, brothers!" Valerian draws attention to himself, grabs his assault rifle, and chambers a round. "Let's go help Executioner!"
"Ye-e-es!"
The subsequent events went by in a flash. To the surprise of other stalker groups, the clan of free ones from the Cordon poured out of the gates like a swarm and immediately ran south, from where the explosion had sounded. Many of them still remembered Berkut, who was
ambushed near the base, but then it was too late and dangerous to do anything. And so... Whoever it was, they won't get away with it!
But, to the surprise of many, they found only two mangled bodies by the open sewer manhole. The blood-soaked asphalt, like the corpses, was riddled with a hundred metal fragments. And in the crimson puddle lay two pistol casings. Valerian, frowning, takes out his PDA and immediately writes a short message.
Father Valerian: Where are you?
15.07.2011, 13:11.
Executioner: At the checkpoint. Waiting for you.
15.07.2011, 13:11.
"Well, what is it?" Yakut asks as soon as the leader puts the communicator back.
"It's all over," Valerian says loudly to everyone, nodding his head slightly. "Alright, guys, time to go home!"
Free stalker base, late evening.
We reached the base when it was already getting dark. The sun was slowly setting beyond the horizon, it was getting cold, and a strong wind began to blow around, its gusts getting right under our clothes. And, to be honest, I was a little disappointed. For some reason, I thought we would be greeted as heroes. Joyfully, with smiles. But everyone had such grim faces, you'd think something terrible had happened. But they hadn't written anything to Valerian, had they?
"Why the long faces? Your own have returned," the leader says warmly, approaching one of the sentries, while the other guys are relievedly dropping their loads in the inner courtyard of the former pig farm. "Or did something happen?"
"Something happened," the sentry replies in a barely alive voice and turns his head away, closing his eyes tightly. His face turned pale, and his lower lip trembled, hmm.
"It's better to go to Shilova, he should know," I interject, looking at the other sentries on the roof and realizing that they are all in roughly the same state.
"Yes, let's go," Valerian agrees grimly. We head for the right building, and halfway there, Yakut joins us, having given a few instructions to the stalkers who came with us.
The merchant, contrary to his habits, sat at the head of a long table, not behind the shop counter. To his right, facing us, sat a scowling Furgon, tapping his fingers rapidly on the uneven tabletop. Shilov paid no attention to our approach, continuing to stare straight ahead. I walk closer and turn my head to the right to see an empty cage with its grate wide open.
"How?" Valerian asks, repeating my movements.
"Shcherba must have fallen asleep while on guard and leaned on the grate," the merchant replies in a hoarse voice. "And the major seemed to be waiting for just that. He strangled the guy, took the key, his weapon, and escaped."
"Why didn't you shoot him?" Yakut blurts out.
"We weren't here," Furgon says this time, clasping his hands and fixing his gaze on him. "We were celebrating victory in the street. Beer, vodka, shashlik..."
"Shcherba was drinking?" I ask, and Furgon just nods. The picture becomes clear. Complete irresponsibility. "And the other guards?"
"They weren't there; they were afraid they'd fall over drunk..."
"What the hell is going on!" Valerian, who had been quietly simmering, can't take it anymore and slams his two fists on the table with great force. "You... you're like little children! I was gone for just a couple of days, and look at this! Our guy is killed, the prisoner escaped. I don't even care about that Khaletsky, I didn't know what to do with him anyway. But it's a shame about the guy, such a fool..."
"That's not all..." Shilov continues. "All the time you were gone, the major was threatening us."
"How?"
"He kept shouting that as soon as he got out of here, he'd spend all his money, arrange a combat sortie with aviation, and level us to the ground," the merchant whispers, hiding his face in his hands. "We laughed, saying, 'Just try to escape.' And now, he's escaped! It's one thing to shoot conscripts, another to deal with helicopters? What do we do!? Some of them already..."
Shilov falters on the last word, but Valerian, staring at him like a boa constrictor, asks: "Some what?" he says, syllable by syllable.
"Ran away."
"How many?"
"Only five so far," the technician replies this time. "The rest are on edge. No one wants to mess with a chopper. Everyone's scared, Valeryanych."
"I have no words for your actions," Valerian spits out, then sharply turns towards the exit, throwing over his shoulder, "Let's go, Executioner."
As I walked behind the leader, I thought about what kind of hell the group had fallen into. There was no other way to put it. And I also wanted to say that I was leaving. That makes six...
As soon as we entered his office, the stalker first poured water into a kettle, turned it on, and walked over to the table. Bending down, he pulled out a drawer and took out something rolled up in a green cloth, which he immediately placed on the table. A moment later, two glasses with tea leaves were placed on the tabletop.
"Why are you standing in the doorway?" Valerian asks in a tired voice and heavily sits down on a chair, as if having lost all strength at once. "There's no truth in standing... Oh, damn it. It all turned out so stupidly! I can't even get properly angry because they're all fools. They got drunk, left the base unguarded, and then Khaletsky, that scoundrel, escaped. Oh, well, let's not dwell on that for now. I owe you a reward, so take this package."
I reach for the cloth and pull the object towards me. It's something rectangular and thin, but weighty. I begin to slowly unroll it, and it turns out to be a Veles detector. Absolutely new, without a single scratch. I carefully pick it up and turn it on. The dark green radar-like screen lights up, and the detector immediately finds an artifact in the backpack at my feet. An excellent thing.
"I'm glad you like it," Valerian smiles tiredly. "You know what they say? Give a stalker an artifact, and he'll drink it away; give him an excellent detector, and he'll get drunk, hah. Just kidding, just kidding. Own it and use it for your health."
"No," I turn off the Veles and push it back to the leader.
"Why? Did you want something else?"
"No, that's not it. It's an excellent gift," I smile at him slightly. "I can't take it. I thought about it at the Dump, that I want to leave the group. And no, I have no complaints or grudges against you or the guys. I'm just tired of constantly running somewhere and doing things on command; I want freedom."
"So that's how it is," my interlocutor sighs deeply, leaning back in his chair.
"I'm sorry I'm bringing this up so suddenly when the problem with Khaletsky has piled up, but it's definitely not because of..."
"Oh," Valerian waves his hand and gets up from his seat to pour the boiled water into mugs. "If there's anyone I wouldn't dare accuse of cowardice, it's you. And, to tell the truth, it was obvious about you. And you can't keep a wolf like you in captivity... You know, I'm actually very glad I got to know you; you've done a lot for me and for the guys, so you should take the detector. It's a rare and very valuable item. And don't worry about the major. I'll gather the people tomorrow, well, those who remain, give them a good kick in the pants, and make them pack their things. One of the excellent hangars at the Dump just became free; we'll move there with the others..."
With a sense of relief, I jump up from my chair and hug Valerian tightly, realizing that another chapter of my life in the Zone had come to an end.