<P>Sasha Petrovic sits quietly under the tree eating his rations, as&nbsp;the storm off in&nbsp;the distance continues its display of&nbsp;lightning and thunder. As&nbsp;often as&nbsp;he&nbsp;had seen lightning he&nbsp;never grew tired of&nbsp;watching it.&nbsp;Amazed at&nbsp;how such a&nbsp;furious force of&nbsp;Zone nature could be&nbsp;so&nbsp;beautiful. He&nbsp;smiled to&nbsp;himself and thought about how ironic it&nbsp;was that there were so&nbsp;many stranger things in&nbsp;the zone, that were much newer to&nbsp;the world than lightning, yet it&nbsp;was those bright arcs of&nbsp;electricity that held his attention tighter than all of&nbsp;the other zone anomalies. Possibly because he&nbsp;hadn’t&nbsp;ever known anyone to&nbsp;be&nbsp;killed by&nbsp;lightning, but he&nbsp;had known plenty of&nbsp;people who met their end in&nbsp;the zone itself.</P>

<P>Day break would be&nbsp;in&nbsp;a&nbsp;few minutes and he&nbsp;would be&nbsp;on&nbsp;his way into that very zone once again. Slipping past the military checkpoints had become routine to&nbsp;any stalker that had any experience at&nbsp;all. Most Stalkers Sasha was familiar with were from completely different parts of&nbsp;the world. Unlike the others, to&nbsp;Sasha, this was home. He&nbsp;grew up&nbsp;in&nbsp;a&nbsp;small village just south of&nbsp;Kiev. He&nbsp;was a&nbsp;young boy when the original Chernobyl accident occurred, April 26&nbsp;1986. After the accident his family moved north to&nbsp;try to&nbsp;get away from the contamination. But within a&nbsp;year his father was dead from cancer, and his mother was not far behind. Somehow Sasha had avoided death from the affliction that claimed his parents, but that didn’t&nbsp;make him feel like he&nbsp;was particularly lucky. It&nbsp;seems like he&nbsp;went directly from child hood to&nbsp;adult over night. Living near the zone will do&nbsp;that though. He&nbsp;had grown up&nbsp;near here and this was the world he&nbsp;knew, although he&nbsp;secretly hoped for something different one day.</P>

<P>He&nbsp;did a&nbsp;quick check of&nbsp;equipment and weapons and pulled on&nbsp;his pack. The sun was just peeking over the horizon and he&nbsp;would need every bit of&nbsp;day light he&nbsp;could get. It&nbsp;was only a&nbsp;few kilometers into the zone before he&nbsp;came across what looked like another Stalker who had a&nbsp;run into something that he&nbsp;hadn’t&nbsp;been prepared for. The body was a&nbsp;few days old so&nbsp;Sasha wasn’t&nbsp;too worried about whatever it&nbsp;was still being around. Things don’t&nbsp;stand still to&nbsp;long in&nbsp;the outside sections of&nbsp;the zone. Mauled but not eaten, the body had a&nbsp;bit of&nbsp;galantine on&nbsp;it.&nbsp;Sasha pulled a&nbsp;<nobr>bio-container</nobr> out of&nbsp;his pack to&nbsp;collect a&nbsp;sample. A&nbsp;good score for so&nbsp;early in&nbsp;the trip. The sample would bring enough to&nbsp;cover his rations and maybe some ammunition for his next outing. Of&nbsp;course all Stalkers knew better than to&nbsp;plan much about the next trip until they survive the one they are on.&nbsp;As&nbsp;harsh as&nbsp;life around the zone can make someone, Sasha could not help but wonder about the Stalker he&nbsp;had found. He&nbsp;wished he&nbsp;had more time, so&nbsp;he&nbsp;could have buried him. It’s&nbsp;what he&nbsp;would want if&nbsp;he&nbsp;were ever found that way. But he&nbsp;had to&nbsp;keep moving. After several hours he&nbsp;came across a&nbsp;Niva that had seen better days. But with a&nbsp;little luck he&nbsp;could make use of&nbsp;it.&nbsp;After a&nbsp;look under the hood he&nbsp;checked the tank. Naturally there was very little fuel. As&nbsp;he&nbsp;pulled off his backpack to&nbsp;put it&nbsp;in&nbsp;the Niva something caught his attention from the woods along the side of&nbsp;the road. He&nbsp;didn’t&nbsp;get a&nbsp;good look but he&nbsp;knew by&nbsp;the smell that he&nbsp;was in&nbsp;trouble. As&nbsp;quickly as&nbsp;he&nbsp;could, he&nbsp;got into the Niva as&nbsp;the pack attacked. Blind dogs attack with such speed that it’s&nbsp;hard to&nbsp;believe they have such atrophied eyes. But what they lacked in&nbsp;vision they more than made up&nbsp;for with their other mutated senses. As&nbsp;they growled and ran towards the car, Sasha managed to&nbsp;roll up&nbsp;one window. However the window on&nbsp;the other side was broken out. A&nbsp;dog jumped up&nbsp;and stuck his head through the window and viciously snapped, trying to&nbsp;secure what would be&nbsp;it’s&nbsp;next meal. Pulling his knife from his boot Sasha plunged the knife deep into the underneath of&nbsp;it’s&nbsp;neck, severing it’s&nbsp;spine and wind pipe the animal was killed instantly. With the window of&nbsp;the car now temporarily blocked by&nbsp;the body of&nbsp;the blind dog, Sasha turned his attention to&nbsp;the wires underneath the dashboard. Already cut and hotwired previously it&nbsp;took only a&nbsp;few second to&nbsp;start the engine. With Seven viscously hungry animals trying to&nbsp;get to&nbsp;you, the fewer the seconds the better. As&nbsp;he&nbsp;sped away he&nbsp;couldn’t&nbsp;help but feel sorry for the slightly unnatural animal he&nbsp;had killed. Mutated as&nbsp;it&nbsp;was, he&nbsp;had always liked dogs. Too bad most of&nbsp;the zone inhabitants can’t&nbsp;return the sentiment.</P>

<P>With the fuel in&nbsp;the tank he&nbsp;would only get a&nbsp;five or&nbsp;six miles down the road before he&nbsp;would again be&nbsp;on&nbsp;foot. He&nbsp;hoped that pack wouldn’t&nbsp;follow for a&nbsp;second try at&nbsp;him. Blind dogs can track their prey for quite a&nbsp;ways, not be&nbsp;scent but by&nbsp;psychic imprint. If&nbsp;he&nbsp;can make it&nbsp;far enough away from their ability to&nbsp;sense him they should lose interest. He&nbsp;could probably shoot most of&nbsp;them from the safety of&nbsp;the car but he&nbsp;didn’t&nbsp;want to&nbsp;use the ammunition on&nbsp;dogs if&nbsp;he&nbsp;could avoid it.&nbsp;There were far more dangerous things to&nbsp;save your bullets for inside the zone.</P>

<P>Midday, and the Niva had run out of&nbsp;fuel a&nbsp;few kilometers outside a&nbsp;small deserted town, which was further than Sasha thought he&nbsp;would get out of&nbsp;the car. As&nbsp;he&nbsp;walked up&nbsp;the side of&nbsp;the road just past the first building coming into town he&nbsp;heard a&nbsp;sound.</P>
<P></P>
<P>&#132;LLOORRRRRRSSSH!!!!!&#147;</P>

<P>Sasha Froze for a&nbsp;moment. The sound didn’t&nbsp;seem to&nbsp;come from any particular place. Instinctively he&nbsp;crouched and checked his surroundings. Nothing was moving at&nbsp;all.</P>

<P>&#132;LLOORRRRRRSSSH!!!!!&#147;</P>

<P>The sound came from everywhere and nowhere. It&nbsp;sounded both distant and yet very close by.&nbsp;With as&nbsp;many times as&nbsp;Sasha had ventured into the zone he&nbsp;had never heard such a&nbsp;sound before. He&nbsp;couldn’t&nbsp;tell if&nbsp;the sound was made by&nbsp;a&nbsp;zone resident or&nbsp;some kind of&nbsp;anomaly. Slowly he&nbsp;pulled his detector from his thigh strap. Nothing&#133;.even radiation was minimal in&nbsp;this area at&nbsp;the moment.</P>

<P>&#132;LLOORRRRRRSSSH!!!!!&#147;</P>

<P>The sound was exactly the same each time yet each time it&nbsp;came he&nbsp;heard it&nbsp;he&nbsp;felt more anxiety about it.&nbsp;A&nbsp;veteran of&nbsp;many trips into the zone of&nbsp;exclusion, he&nbsp;was not accustom to&nbsp;hearing a&nbsp;noise he&nbsp;had not some a&nbsp;crossed before. Not only that. He&nbsp;didn’t&nbsp;just hear the sound&#133;.he&nbsp;seemed to&nbsp;&#132;feel&#147; it.</P>

<P>&#132;LLOORRRRRRSSSH!!!!!&#147;</P>

<P>Now his head began to&nbsp;hurt and he&nbsp;started to&nbsp;feel nauseated. He&nbsp;didn’t&nbsp;know what the sound was or&nbsp;where it&nbsp;was coming from, but he&nbsp;had to&nbsp;act. The building closest to&nbsp;him looked like an&nbsp;old gas station or&nbsp;mechanics shop. As&nbsp;carefully as&nbsp;he&nbsp;could he&nbsp;side stepped over toward the door of&nbsp;the building. He&nbsp;didn’t&nbsp;know what might await him inside but he&nbsp;knew didn’t&nbsp;want to&nbsp;be&nbsp;out in&nbsp;the open right now. He&nbsp;pulled a&nbsp;flare from his pack and ignited it.&nbsp;Throwing it&nbsp;into the building, hopefully blinding anything that was inside long enough to&nbsp;give him an&nbsp;edge. Entering quickly but carefully, he&nbsp;scanned the room now flickering crimson red from the flare, he&nbsp;saw nothing inside except of&nbsp;few plain old rats that quickly scattered.</P>

<P>&#132;LLOORRRRRRSSSH!!!!!&#147;</P>
<P></P>
<P>Again the sound echoed in&nbsp;Sasha’s&nbsp;head. The sound seemed the same volume inside as&nbsp;it&nbsp;did outside. Like a&nbsp;knife twisting behind his eye’s&nbsp;the pain that was now coinciding with the sound seemed to&nbsp;come from all around him. Suddenly the walls began to&nbsp;shake as&nbsp;his anomaly detector now began to&nbsp;beep frantically. Sasha now realized he&nbsp;was in&nbsp;the middle of&nbsp;a&nbsp;gravity concentration forming. Very few people had been around a&nbsp;new one when it&nbsp;formed and even fewer escaped them. The nausea and headache began to&nbsp;distort his vision. He&nbsp;had to&nbsp;run&#133;.he&nbsp;had to&nbsp;get away before he&nbsp;was both crushed and torn apart.</P>

<P>Desperately, he&nbsp;staggered towards the door. He&nbsp;felt his own weight begin to&nbsp;increase. He&nbsp;felt himself being pulled towards the floor. As&nbsp;he&nbsp;got to&nbsp;the door he&nbsp;wretched from the nausea but kept going. He&nbsp;had no&nbsp;idea how big the anomaly would be&nbsp;so&nbsp;he&nbsp;would just have to&nbsp;run as&nbsp;long as&nbsp;he&nbsp;could. Feeling like he&nbsp;was carrying three or&nbsp;four times his own weight he&nbsp;knew he&nbsp;must not allow himself to&nbsp;fall to&nbsp;the ground, as&nbsp;he&nbsp;would surely not be&nbsp;able to&nbsp;get up.&nbsp;The very blood was being pulled from his head as&nbsp;the <nobr>g-forces</nobr> increased. He&nbsp;started to&nbsp;faint as&nbsp;he&nbsp;made it&nbsp;to&nbsp;the edge of&nbsp;the event horizon. Feeling the pull on&nbsp;his body going back to&nbsp;normal, Sasha ran several more yards before he&nbsp;felt it&nbsp;would be&nbsp;safe enough to&nbsp;stop. Falling to&nbsp;his knees, his heart raced as&nbsp;he&nbsp;struggled to&nbsp;catch his breath. Turning to&nbsp;look back he&nbsp;saw a&nbsp;tree near the building he&nbsp;was in&nbsp;lower its branches to&nbsp;the ground just before it&nbsp;seemed to&nbsp;splinter into hundreds of&nbsp;pieces. The building itself then cracked and shattered. Falling very unnaturally into the gravity pit. Not like you would see a&nbsp;building fall that was demolished with explosives. This was a&nbsp;surreal vision. When a&nbsp;brick or&nbsp;even a&nbsp;rock hits the ground naturally there is&nbsp;at&nbsp;least a&nbsp;little bounce or&nbsp;rolling. But not here. Objects that fell here onto the ground lay where they land and stick there as&nbsp;if&nbsp;glued. Then even the ground itself was beginning to&nbsp;sink. Sasha realized how lucky he&nbsp;had been. He&nbsp;would like to&nbsp;be&nbsp;able to&nbsp;say that it&nbsp;was his experience that had saved him. But he&nbsp;had never experienced anything like this. Very few stalkers had. It&nbsp;made him realize that with all of&nbsp;the trips he&nbsp;had taken into the zone, he&nbsp;still would always run into things that he&nbsp;would not be&nbsp;completely prepared for. He&nbsp;smirked as&nbsp;he&nbsp;once again realized the &#132;gravity&#147; of&nbsp;life as&nbsp;a&nbsp;S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Looking at&nbsp;his anomaly detector he&nbsp;thought to&nbsp;himself&#133;&#132;What a&nbsp;piece of&nbsp;junk&#133;..I&nbsp;guess I&nbsp;better look into getting a&nbsp;more sensitive detector when I&nbsp;get back&#147; It&nbsp;was at&nbsp;that exact time, that it&nbsp;started to&nbsp;beep again.</P>