Noon in Moscow — year 2010
«Damn, why do I keep missing everything!» Grumbled Nikolajev for himself while trying to catch a cab. Originally he intended to take a train to his new position at one of the facilities near the zone.
«Humph, I thought that I was worth more than this lowly way of travel. After all I am a highly regarded scientist» he said very annoyed because he was sent on a train, and not picked up with a limo.
«Where to!» asked the man in the small red car with the taxi sign on it.
«Do you know how to get to Chernobyl!» Asked Nikolajev.
«Yes, but I would rather avoid that place. I can drop you off in a small village nearby, if you would like!» The fat man replied calmly and nonchalantly, ignoring Nikolajev.
«Take me there and do it fast. There will be something extra for you if I get there quickly»
«Affirmative, get in comrade!»
That„s how it began. Nikolajev the slightly arrogant scientist was on his way to a place he would not be able to forget. A place where he would be remembered. By people just like him and people downright unlike him.
A few hours later in a small village
«I hope this symbolic sum will satisfy your needs!» Said Nikolajev once he had paid the fat man. The small car disappeared with amazing speed along the horizon.
He had been dropped off in a village not far from the zone, but still far enough to be safe.
The place was teeming with military and scientific activity. He felt that it would be the wiser thing from his part to ask for directions now.
There was a scientist in some kind of orange protective gear a few metres in front of him.
Nikolajev decided to speak with the man.
«Excuse me could you please give me some directions, sir!» He asked with a sleek and persuading voice.
«Yes» The other man answered.
«Well is there a possibility to get to the Mandelejev research facility from here!»
«Yes»
«Could you please tell me the way!» Nikolajev started to get annoyed with the short answers.
«You see that road over there. Follow it until you get to a military block. Then turn right and follow a small trail for a kilometre or so!» Having barely finished the sentence the man walked away.
«Nothing else to do but start walking» Niko thought to himself.
Half an hour later just in front of a military encampment
«Halt» A huge man in green camouflaged clothes yelled to Niko.
«This is restricted area, if you don„t have a valid certification you may not pass!»
Nikolajev pulled out a small card that he had received in Moscow.
«You may pass, but be very careful around these parts. Nothing can be trusted!»
Having ignored the man Niko started walking down the path he thought was leading to his new job. The forest to his left was strange but also very beautiful. «How could anything this beautiful be dangerous!» he wondered.
A few hundred meters down the trail he spotted something moving. It looked like a little white fluffy poodle, but where was its master? Surely it couldn„t be here all by itself.
He approached the little doggy that started barking at him with a cute voice. All of the sudden another twenty dogs appeared as from nowhere. «How cute» Nikolajev thought. «They have formed a pack». He didn„t scare easily so he continued approaching the small doggy that still barked with its cute voice. Niko was a little slow when it came to thinking, but he always got the smart answers in the end.
All of the sudden it started showing of its teeth and everybody knows that is a bad sign.
Niko froze in panic as the dogs all started to approach him with their teeth showing as if they were laughing at him. Nikolajev didn„t stand a chance, all was lost he thought.
He closed his eyes and heard the dogs steps as they came closer. He couldn„t run away from them. He knew that they were to fast for him. Know that he thought about it, how come they were in a pack? That isn„t very normal for dogs like this.
His legs started shaking and he felt the end was coming close. All of the sudden he remembered something. His hand started searching through his pocket.
He was saved, or so he thought when he found the lighter in his pocket.
Let„s hope that the plants in front of him are dry enough to use as a fire.
He lit the lighter with a snap and threw it down onto the ground.
As he opened his eyes he saw several of the dogs get caught in the sudden rush of fire.
But there were still twelve or so dogs around him. Among them was the poodle that had lured him there. It stared defiantly into his eyes. The more Nikolajev thought about it the more it felt like the poodle was trying to read his mind looking for his next move.
Once again all seemed to be lost.
He closed his eyes once again waiting for the dogs to make their move.
Then he heard a large crack followed by a thud and the dogs howling.
He opened his eyes and saw that a big branch had fallen and to his luck it had fallen right onto most of the dogs, but there were still three of them left. Two of them were the most vicious dogs he had seen. They had huge teeth and had a bloodthirsty look in their eyes.
Now luck couldn„t save him anymore he thought. As he prepared himself for his demise he felt a hand on his shoulder. He almost jumped right in between the three dogs.
Is this death he thought to himself as his feet left the ground? He looked down and saw the dogs getting smaller and smaller as he got higher and higher up into the air.
He heard gunshots from up above. Then he passed out.
Half an hour later in a little house inside the Zone
«Do you think he is still alive!» A harsh and burly voice sounded from somewhere inside the room.
«Of course, do you think I would„ve brought him here if not!» This voice was more tense and still burlier than the first one.
«Hah, good thing I saw the fire he started and fell that branch on the dogs. He wouldn„t have been alive now if not!»
«You„re probably right, but what are we going to do with him now!»
«We should take him to one of the research camps and leave him there!»
Niko started mumbling quietly in a half passed out half aware state of mind «Mandelejev, Mandelejev, ughh where is Mandelejev»
«Hmm, what„s this about Mandelejev!»
«Isn?t that one of the abandoned research bases? I wonder what he wants to do there!»
«I saw somebody moving in there a few weeks ago, it might not be as abandoned as you think!»
«Well perhaps, but do you think it„s worth risking your neck for this stranger!»
«No not really, but think about it! He looks like an important person and he had some seriously high-tech stuff in his bag. Stuff like microscopes and other lab equipment. That probably makes him a scientist, no!»
«Well yes but do you think they will pay for his rescue? They might as well already be dead out there!»
«No not yet I saw them put up some heavy duty defences, but they forgot abo……
Nikolajev faded back into his unconscious state of mind.
Unknown time in the Mandelejev facility
Thump thump thump thump. The sound just kept repeating It was a seriously annoying sound and it could„ve awoken the dead.
Nikolajev woke to that sound. He felt a hand on his breasts that were bare and naked.
He opened his eyes and screamed. A dead man was lying on besides him with a hand on him.
The man seemed to have lost a lot of blood and died of unknown reasons. He had a few open wounds but not big enough to die of.
He quickly pushed the man aside and jumped up. He looked around and saw that he was in a medical facility. The room had lots of medical supplies like pills and on of those new medipack systems. He felt that it would be necessary to take one. After all he didn„t want to die the same way the man beside him, whatever the cause of death was.
The sounds of the regular metallic thumps were still there. It seemed to come from the outside. There was no time to waste in here. He wondered if the people here were still alive or if they were all dead. Like the man now lying on the ground.
Niko looked back to the man and spotted something in his right pocket.
To his delight he found bullets, bullets for a gun.
That must mean that he has a gun to. Nikolajev would need one of those if he would run into the dogs again. After searching the body without any more findings he got disappointed.
Fear started growing inside of him again. What if everybody was dead?
Running around in what seemed to be a highly radiated area full with mutated creatures wasn„t exactly a good thing to do unarmed.
To his relief the gun was lying on the floor next to were he himself had been lying.
Nothing bad could come out of having some security, he thought to himself.
He picked it up and headed for the door. The metallic thumps came closer as he came towards the door. The door opened to the inside. A horrible image showed itself to him when he opened the door. A man in a metal protective suit was hanging in front of the door and his head was being pushed towards the door over and over again.
He realised that the head couldn„t be pushing itself towards the door so he moved it aside a little. The sight made him sick. There was another man in a lab coat that had his mouth full of a red sticky substance. It looked like mashed tomatoes at first but Niko realised that it was the chewed brain of the man hanging in front of him.
Before he knew it he pulled out his gun and started firing at the man in the lab coat.
He shot a full ammo clip into the zombie like man in the lab coat.
The zombie didn„t even have time to react before it fell to the ground.
The man hanging upside down fell to the ground when the zombie died and stopped pushing his head. Niko pulled him inside the room and locked the door behind him.
«This suit the man has on him, it seems like some kind of protective gear!»
This could be useful Nikolajev thought.
On the armour suit there was a gadget that resembled a flare gun, but it had a hook inside it and a hole with a rope hanging out of it. The rope seemed very tough and sturdy. It seemed to be wired around the side of the gun. If a guess was necessary it could be around a few hundred meters. Niko picked it up and put it on the table.
He just realised that his ammo clip was empty. Good thing he realised now.
Outside it would„ve been too late. He picked up a few bullets from his pocket and inserted those best he could into the ammo clip.
When ready and armed he went back to examining the armour. It was covering most parts of the body and it seemed pretty unharmed. Time to get equipped, he thought. Running into those dogs again without protection wouldn„t be very pleasant.
He somehow managed to get the suit off the man and on himself.
He felt mighty in the suit of armour, it weighed surprisingly little.
Now he was ready to go outside again. He went for the door and was just about to open it when another zombie leaped in through it. This one seemed to be much more focused on what it was doing.
Niko aimed at it and squeezed the trigger twice. Both shots going right through the Zombies soft mushy flesh. It still came closer. He aimed a little higher and squeezed the trigger again.
«SPLAT» the Zombies head bursted open and covered the wall with slimy red goo.
The zombie fell to the ground completely lifeless.
«So that„s what it takes to get them down!» He said out loudly so that anyone still alive should be able to hear him. He spotted the gadget with the hook on the table and secured it to his left side. With new confidence and courage Niko made his way out through the door.
Once outside he lost all of his confidence and courage just as quickly as he had gained it.
The facility consisted of three huge buildings and a smaller one.
Around the facility was a wall. It was a few metres high, high enough to keep out the dogs at least. The wall was a big square around the facility. Each of the buildings were laying at its own wall. On top of the huge buildings stood men and women, each of them looking at him with white empty soulless eyes. In the middle of the facility was a huge radio tower with a ladder attached to it.
As he started moving inwards again he realised that it would be unwise to lock himself in the house again. He was probably alive because these zombie people thought he was dead.
He looked around more carefully and saw a gate. It seemed to be the main entrance. It had a security guard standing motionless right next to it. Niko didn„t doubt that it was another zombie. But still it seemed to be his only way out. He made a run for the gate while the zombies still stood and watched him motionlessly.
As fast as Nico got to the gate he stopped and listened. He heard a stampede of small feet. It sounded like the small feet were heading his way. He looked out the gate, while the guard two metres away just stood still and watched him. «No time to waste» Niko thought to himself as he saw an ocean of brown matter move towards him.
He started backing away. He was uncertain if the brown matter was dangerous or not.
Rather being on the cautious side he began running for the tower.
He only managed to take a few steps before the guard took a hold of him.
The guard had an iron grip, no matter how much Niko fought it wouldn„t let him go.
The brown stampede got closer and he could now hear that it made squeaking sounds on the way. A sudden panic came over him «RATS». A stampede of rats was more that he felt he could handle. Rats only came out if there was something threatening their home, right?
And even then they wouldn„t be this concentrated on a specific place.
In a moment of regaining focus Niko got up his gun. He pointed it to what he thought was the weak point on the zombie guard. He pulled the trigger and a big bang sounded as the guards skull blew open. The shot took lots of brain substance with it, it seemed so on the ground behind them at least.
His armour had protected him from being bitten by the guard while struggling.
Now he was free. He ran away from the guard to the radio tower.
He flew up the ladder and looked down upon the rat stampede that had devoured what was left of the guard. Up there on the little platform were the antenna was he sat down.
He looked down to the rats. It was just like a brown ocean. You could even see waves as some of the rats climbed up onto each other and fell down.
How did he get here? Chernobyl. His mother always told him to stay away from this cursed place, but why didn„t he listen. Man had made a serious mistake that led to this place being corrupted. Still, look around the place. It is quite beautiful in its own way.
Nature has begun from scratch here. Adapting to the radiation and designing new defences against intruding threats. Even though some saw it as a completely corrupted place with no logic or purpose in it at all, that couldn„t be true. Animals and humans alike survived here.
Niko thought that somehow nature must have created a new balance for this place.
Who knows what kind of animals and plants were to be found here.
You could probably find all the old kinds of animals, but in new forms adapted to survive in a radioactive and hostile environment.
There probably was a perfect balance of nature in here. But why call it corrupted and destroyed by man? You can just as well see it as a way for nature to get accustomed to mans new methods of life and mistakes in life. But enough rambling thoughts now. How will I get out of here?
He looked around. On the roof tops he saw lots and lots of zombies just standing around. How they got there was a mystery, but they were there and that„s for sure.
Suddenly Niko felt a horrible pain in his head.
Inside the pain he could feel words slipping into his mind. «Jump, I must jump to get rid of the pain. NOW JUMP!»
Niko slowly stood up holding his hands over his ears to cover the pain as he walked over to the edge. He jumped. As fast as he was in the air he had realised that it wasn„t his own will to jump.It was to late now. He was on his way to his death.
«What an appropriate end for my life. I regret being so mean and evil to everybody. If I could just get one more chance I promise I will become a better man. Please god at least let me live long enough to make peace with my little brother. Our feud over toys from when we were kids, I confess it was his toy. I„m sorry god. PLEASE LET ME LIVE» That„s when he realised that he was still alive. How could this happen? He was hanging in the air face down to the rats.
He looked up. Hah the gadget with the hook had gotten stuck in the edge.
God had given him a chance. A chance to apologise to his little brother and to become a better man. He swung himself to the ladder and climbed up again.
«Thank you god! That was close!» he shouted out loudly making sure that god were to hear him. The pain in his head was coming back again, but this time he didn„t let it control him.
He just ignored it and stayed were he was. Suddenly he saw a little greyish man sitting among the zombies. He didn„t actually look like a man. The only resemblance was that he had two arms and two legs and a head in the same fashion as a man. It was completely naked and kept swinging back and forth.
It stared at him, but not in the same way as the zombies. The zombies eyes always seemed to be empty while the creatures eyes were focused and seemed full of life.
It was to far away to study closer, but if he looked really carefully he could see something resembling his own image in the eyes of the creature.
It was horrifying and he shivered of cold even though it was kind of warm around him.
He looked away before the creature could steal to much of his attention.
Then he spotted another tower outside the base. A lookout post it seemed.
With a very convenient way of thought he realised that he could use the gadget with the hook to get there. He loosened it from his side and picked it up. He aimed for the tower.
He squeezed the trigger and missed. Now he had to quickly get the hook back before someone or something got a hold of it. He pulled and pulled furiously but it only came a little closer by each pull. He saw a zombie running for it down there, outside the camp. «How could it get out there!» he asked himself. Now he pulled even more furiously, but soon he was completely exhausted. He couldn„t pull more. He sat down and waited to see what the zombie would do with it. To his big surprise the Zombie just took the hook and rope and ran to the outpost.
He climbed up the ladder and waved to Niko. «What, a zombie that waves to me??!»
Niko asked himself. Well the man/zombie fastened the hook securely to a door in the outpost.
With nothing better to do, Niko grabbed the rope and took his chance, starting gliding down it. As he got to the outpost he saw that the man had normal eyes and he was no zombie.
The man yelled to him «I see my new grappling hook invention has saved you twice!»
Niko recognised the mans voice as the one he had heard after surviving the dogs.
This is the second time Niko would have to let his fate be decided by this man.
Niko fell to the ground and collapsed. This time by exhaustion.
Epilogue
A few days later in one of the border outposts Niko regained his consciousness.
He wrote a long report on what he had seen to the military, that later did a massive assault and cleared out Mandelejev from mutants. Niko was the first to have met with a controller and survive. He made peace with his family and kept his promise to god.
When he had finished all his business outside the Zone he returned. He went to study the flora and make himself a living as a stalker.
After all he had the wits and he had the luck for it.
Later he became celebrated as one of the foremost and richest stalkers in the Zone.
Unlike any other stalker he did his best not to kill excessively in the Zone to preserve the local fauna. Many tried to follow him but none were able. His skills were being able to sneak without being seen. Most of what is known from inside the Zone is reported by him.
Nikolajev Andrej was one of the first great stalkers.
//I the writer hopes that all of you have managed to get a view of how one in the Zone can handle himself and survive. Always make sure you don„t come unequipped and try running before you get yourself killed.