Part 1

Chernobyl, Ukraine. October 10th, 2010

Vladimir Ruinov often pondered why his American friend had left the beauty of the United States and decided to come to the Ukraine near Chernobyl. Four years ago, Chernobyl suffered a nuclear explosion and almost everything near it was flooded with radiation and chemicals. The only things that were given mercy were the old buildings and the furniture inside them. Everything else…well they all turned into something else.

Dante felt the stare of his comrade from the far side of the room as he read his book.

“Something wrong Vlad?” he asked without looking from his book.

“No…I was just wondering. Why did you leave America to come this godforsaken place?” he asked in a thick Russian accent. Dante put his book down and sighed.

“You ever been to prison Vladimir?” The Russian shook his head. Dante remembered it all too well.

“Well, I was in prison. I know American prisons aren’t as bad as Russian prisons, but when you escape they don’t give up on you after a couple days. They’ll keep after you for years on end. They’ll always find you…unless of course you move to a different country. My friend Edward tried Mexico and he’s still rotting away in one of their prisons. I knew I needed to go to some country that wasn’t very important, someplace where they wouldn’t think of even considering. My friend told me about Chernobyl and its situation. I thought it was perfect. So, I stole some money, paid for a private plane to take me here and here I am. I had no idea what I was going to do when I got here. Then, I heard about the Stalkers. That was two months ago.” Vladimir acknowledged that, nodding. He had met Dante in the Stalker’s pub two months ago. Then, Vladimir was looking to be an apprentice to one of the veteran Stalkers and Dante was looking for something to get him money. Now, two months later, they were ready to venture into the Zone for the first time.

“Can I ask one more question?” Dante nodded. “Why did you go to prison?” Dante laid his book on the table and slipped under the covers.

“I killed people.” And without another word, he switched the lights off, turned on his side, and closed his eyes.

October 11th, 2010

The two rookie Stalkers stepped out of the Stalker Motel that morning, yawning and stretching. Everything was quiet in “Stalker Village” as they called it here. It was a small village created by Stalkers for Stalkers. Today would be the first day the two of them would even step near the Zone’s edge. They checked their supplies one last time. Each of them had a Browning Automatic Hi-Power Pistol, a combat knife, containers to hold whatever artifacts they’d find out there, and a very simple anomaly detector. The only real new thing they had going for them were the pistols. Everything else was secondhand. Dante and Vladimir attached their side holsters to their right thigh and holstered the gun. Each one of them had two magazines on their belts and their combat knife. Vladimir carried the small backpack that held the containers and anomaly detector. The Zone lay ahead of them. Their first walk into it would be easy. Dante’s friend had a chopper and told him he could drop them off somewhere in the zone. Unfortunately, he was leaving tomorrow, so they had to take advantage of his free services. They walked about half-a-mile to a grassy plain where the pilot, Calvin, was kneeling on the side, tiredly. Calvin smiled when the two men arrived.

“Ah, Dante. You know, all the other Stalkers think I’m giving rides into the Zone for free because of you. I’m telling you man, I don’t even know why I’m doing this. If the military spots us, they’re going to shoot us down. Now, all I can do is drop you off in there. If I have enough fuel, I might comeback, but don’t count on it. That place gives me the creeps and I can’t stand even being near it. Now, load up inside. I ain’t got all day.”

Part 2

The choppers blades started twirling, one pair going clockwise, and the other counter-clockwise. Two minutes later, the chopper lifted into the air.

“So, where am I droppin’ you off?” Dante shrugged.

“How far do you think we can go without having to have anti-radiation suits or oxygen masks?”

“I guess you can go far. There was a blowout last night so you’ll probably find some good stuff. I heard there’s like a pond of Galantine near the warehouse marked D-8. I can drop you off two miles away, there’s some military patrols around there so good luck.” The chopper began to slowdown and hover down slowly. Dante slid the door open and jumped out. Vladimir followed. Calvin waved and lifted back into the sky. They were about seven miles in the Zone now, not very far in. They’d have to walk from here on in.

They were jogging down the train tracks when they heard some chatter on a radio. Dante shoved Vladimir into a boxcar and dived in himself. He closed the door to a crack and sat down, listening. Vladimir had been teaching Dante Russian so he could somewhat understand what they were saying.

“Train tracks are clear. There are no mutant life forms present, over.”

“Roger that. No one’s found the beast yet, report to extraction point.”

“Roger that command.” The soldier stuffed his walkie-talkie into a pouch and continued walking. They waited ten minutes until they were sure the coast was clear and left the boxcar. They were both puzzled by what the soldiers meant when they said ‘Beast’. In the Zone, there are all kinds of creatures. Controllers, zombies, blind dogs…

“They’re probably looking for a Controller,” said Dante. Vladimir nodded.

“Well then, we’d better tread lightly. As soon as it senses us, it’ll try and take over our mind. Come on; let’s hurry up.” They started their two-mile jog again. After about a mile, they started to slow down to a walk. Vladimir started wishing he had binoculars. He shook his head at the poor equipment they had.

“We’re gonna need better equipment Dante.” He nodded.

“Don’t worry, if that pond of Galantine exists, we’ll be getting some good stuff from the dealer—” There was some scraping of metal behind the one floor abandon house about twenty feet away. In one quick motion, Dante drew his pistol and aimed on the noise.

“What the hell was that?” asked Vladimir. Dante shook his head, holstering his pistol.

“It doesn’t matter right now. Let’s just keep on going. Were not some ‘Duty’ Stalkers hunting mutants.”

The warehouse lay in plain sight of them now. Just as Calvin said, it was marked D-8.

“Alright, take out the detector Vlad,” said Dante. Vladimir slipped the backpack off and dug around until he found a box with an antenna and two meters. He flicked it on…and nothing happened.

“Shit,” he swore in Russian and smacked it a couple times. Finally, the meter started moving. It was extremely weak. Vladimir made a 180 turn towards the warehouse and it spiked a little.

“It seems your friend wasn’t lying, there’s definitely something over there,” said Vladimir.

“Well come on,” said Dante and they started running again. They were excited. On their first hunt, they had managed to actually find something. All the veteran Stalkers thought they’d be dead by the third time they went in there and probably wouldn’t even find much. It was going to be great shoving all those roubles in their faces. Vladimir raised the detector again. It was malfunctioning; the meter stick would stay at zero, then immediately to the highest point. Vladimir smacked it again. Satisfied, he started walking along the side big warehouse, until they were eventually behind it. Directly in front of them was a big black substance lying on the concrete. Vladimir took the container out of his backpack and prepared to scoop it up when Dante’s strong arm caught him.

“We can’t touch it remember?” he said. Vladimir paused for a moment, then nodded. Galantine contained mutated colonies of bacteria. They had heard the stories about how the bacteria had eaten a man all the way from his insides to the outside.

“Then, how are we going to do this?” he asked. Dante thought for a moment and looked around on the floor. He saw a thing that looked like a scoopula and smiled.

“Problem solved.” He took some string and grabbed a stick on the ground. Then, he tied them to each other and from a safe distance, scooped some up and let it drip into the container.

“We can get 50 roubles for every kilogram.” Dante nodded and started scooping again. The container was about half full when some other Stalker holding an anomaly detector approached them. He looked up from the meter and saw Dante and Vladimir.

“I’ll be taking the rest of this,” he said in Russian.

“No, we were here first,” Vladimir replied in Russian.

“What does he want?” asked Dante. The man turned toward Dante.

“I’m taking the rest of this,” he said with a Russian accent. Another person who speaks English Dante thought. He shook his head.

“Uh, no. We were here before you. This is our Galantine.” The Stalker took his Pump Action Shotgun and aimed it right on them.

“You leave or…” he cocked and loaded it, “I blow your limbs off. Go, now.” Vladimir tugged at Dante’s shirt.

“We should just leave, we got enough,” he muttered. Dante shook him off.

“How about we do you a favor? How about you walk away or we’ll kill you,” he said. The man laughed.

“If either one of you even move, I’ll fire.” Dante chuckled.

“I wasn’t talking about us, I was talking about our friend watching you through his sniper scope as we speak,” he bluffed. The Stalker brought his gun down a little, still eyeing the two of them.

“You’re bluffing. He would’ve shot me by now.” Dante shook his head.

“I’m on radio contact with him. All I do is say the word and a bullet rips through your skull,” he said and grinned. The Stalker was debating whether or not to believe him. It was a real big 50/50 chance of him lying or telling the truth. Finally, he sighed heavily and slung his gun on his shoulder.

“Alright, alright. I’ll leave you two be. But, if I ever—” he was cut off as two blind dogs jumped on his back. Dante and Vladimir drew their pistols.

“Kick ‘em off!” yelled the Stalker. Vladimir shook his head.

“Let’s leave him.”

“No…we can’t do that.” He kicked one dog off and fired two shots into its head. He looked over at Vladimir and glared at him. The last dog was now ripping away at the man’s backpack. Vladimir kicked it off, but as he was about to fire, it ran off as quick and as silent as it had come. The man jumped up and started panicking.

“We have to get out of here! We have to go!” he yelled. Dante put his arm on his shoulder.

“Calm down, its gone.” He shook his head.

“He’s going back to his pack! I know it! I know it! He’s going to call them over here and they’re going to attack us!” Vladimir rolled his eyes.

“Get a grip. You got a shotgun for chrissakes; you could take care of ten dogs easily.” But what emerged wasn’t a pack…there were two.

“We need to reach higher ground!” Dante yelled and pointed at the catwalk inside the warehouse. They grabbed the shaken man and started their run up the stairs. The dogs were fast. They had already made it to the stairs.

The Stalker was still panicking from the attack and didn’t know what to do. Dante grabbed his shotgun off his arm and fired. Click. There weren’t even any bullets.

“There’s no ammo in this!” exclaimed Dante. Vladimir kept them at bay with his pistol, firing bullet after bullet. Dante dropped the shotgun and started running up the stairs again. Vladimir grabbed the man and followed. They kept on running as the dogs sprinted up the stairs. It seemed they had called in reinforcements as another pack came.

“You got to be shitting me,” Dante said as he swung around onto the next staircase. On the top catwalk was a ladder leading to the roof. Dante climbed first and opened the hatch, climbing up. He helped the man up and then Vladimir. The three Stalkers sighed in relief and slammed the hatch shut, as the endless barking grew more violent. The Stalker looked at the hills.

“Where the hell is your sniper now huh? You liar. Now, we’re going to die!” Dante looked over the ledge to see all three packs circling around it, waiting for one of them to jump down to their dooms. Should’ve just stayed in prison he thought. Nothing could save them now. If they jumped down, they’d either die from the shock of hitting the concrete or be mauled by the hounds of hell. The panicked man was just about ready to do it.

“Oh lord, please let me die. I don’t want to see them eat me alive…” Dante shook him a little.

“Grab a hold of yourself man. Now, what’s your name?”

“Seregi Checkov.” Dante nodded

“Seregi, I need you to calm down and take a chill pill ok?” Seregi shook his head confused.

“I…I didn’t bring any pills…” Dante chuckled.

“It’s a figure of speech. Just…be calm and let me think for a minute ok? Can you be calm?” Seregi nodded heavily.

“Good, very good.” They could just take their pistols and start shooting them from the top, but there was a good chance they’d miss and just end up wasting ammo. Come on, think, think, think, THINK! THINK! Oh what the hell are we going to— his thoughts were cut off at the noise of a chopper flying in from the distance. Seregi heavily sighed.

“Oh great, it’s the Army. Leave it to them to clean everything up. They’ll probably end up shooting us,” he said. Dante shook his head, smiling widely.

“No, it’s not the Army…its Calvin.” Vladimir made a visor with left hand, blocking the sun from his eyes, and squinted. It was the same exact chopper Calvin had dropped them off in.

“It is him!”

Calvin saw the warehouse in plain sight. “Man, I hate being a nice guy. I’m burning up fuel just to save them when they don’t even need it,” he muttered to himself. As the he got closer, he noticed three figures on the roof of the warehouse.

“Oh, please don’t tell me those are Controllers.” One of them started waving his hands. Calvin immediately recognized him. What the—why are they on the roof? And who’s the other guy? He began to circle around the warehouse’s roof, surveying the ground. All around the warehouse were blind dogs. Calvin lowered the chopper down to the roof level, flicked on autopilot, and slid open the side door.

“Need a lift?” he yelled over the whirling of the blades. Dante looked over at Seregi.

“You first,” he said. Seregi nodded and stepped onto the ledge. He jumped into the helicopter’s side and Calvin caught him.

“You next Vladimir.” Vladimir kicked off the ledge and into the cabin. Finally, Dante followed and he closed the side door. Calvin turned the autopilot off, made a 180 turn, and flew off away from the Zone.

Part 3

London, England. October 11th, 2010.

Dr. Heather Sanderson bit away nervously at her pen as she waited in her office by the phone. The young doctor was finally getting the respect she deserved. This would be her first project away from England and this is just what she needed. The funding was high, the personnel were in medium quantity, and the scientists she’d be working with were some of the most respected in the field. She just needed to know when. The heads of the company were still debating about whether they should really send a team to investigate Chernobyl. Some said it was too dangerous, others said it was too important to pass up. It was to be confirmed this afternoon. Her pen cap was about coming off now from all the gnawing when finally, it rang. The pen dropped out of her mouth and the phone was in her hand before it even touched the ground.

“Dr. Sanderson, its Peter. The project is approved. Were going to the Ukraine.” She almost fell out of her seat of joy. She straightened herself and spoke calmly.

“When is our plane expected to leave?” she asked in her British accent. Please say tonight, please say tonight.

“Tonight my good Doctor. See you at eight.” He hung up and Heather was as happy as ever. Tomorrow, they would be investigating the Chernobyl incident, finding out what had caused this tragedy so many years ago and then, a couple years from now, they’d receive awards for their research and be given promotions. Eventually, she would lead her own projects. Of course, if she screwed up, her only chance at the big times would be over. There’d be no second chances or make-ups.

“This is it Heather. Don’t screw this up,” she said to herself and left the office for her condo where her pre-packed bags would be.

“Are you out of your mind?! You just said there’s six kilograms of galantine in here and your only going to give me 100 roubles? The other Stalkers told me fifty roubles a kilogram!” yelled Dante. The Dealer rolled his eyes.

“Listen, I’m running a business here. The most I’ll give you is 150.” Vladimir slammed his fist on the table.

“We want our 300 now old man.” The Dealer grabbed a shotgun under the table and aimed at them with one hand.

“Either take the 150 or leave. Go to one of those scientist camps, maybe they’ll give you your money’s worth. Galantine is nothing new to me; I got loads of it in the back. Come back to me when you have some mercury balls and then we’ll start talking real deals. But, if all your going to show me is old radios with some magnetic powers or some Galantine that I have enough of…go somewhere. Good day to you sirs.” Dante glared at him.

“Fine, were leaving.” The Dealer shrugged.

“Suit yourselves.” They left the basement and walked out of the house. Dante and Vladimir walked down the road back into the Stalkers Village. Vladimir was growing yancy.

“So, what’re we supposed to do?” he asked. Dante shrugged.

“Take the man’s advice and look for other buyers. I’m sure the scientists would pay more than he would. For now, we’ll just chill in the pub. They always have extra beds to sleep on upstairs. And plus, I could go for some vodka and food.” Vladimir counted all their roubles up.

“We only have enough for one bottle of vodka and maybe three bowls of soup. The soup is just chicken broth and you know I prefer the actual meat than the liquid,” he said. Dante remembered something Edward had told him when they were in prison.

“Be content with the cards your dealt Vladimir,” he said cleverly and without another word, they entered the pub.

Chernobyl, Ukraine. October 12th, 2010.

Heather turned over in her bed and welcomed the sunrays that entered through the windows. She was in the Ukraine now, at the expedition camp. They had set up a small building for the project with rooms for all their needs. They had basic living quarters, three labs, two briefing rooms, and a chamber. Heather wasn’t too sure what the chamber was needed for, she didn’t think they’d need to take prisoners or anything since they weren’t the military. Peter had said something about there being strange creatures in the Zone ready to pounce on scientists and Russian soldiers who cordoned off the Zone. He also told her they’d be getting outside help from the people who knew most about the Zone: Stalkers. Heather didn’t know much about these Stalkers. So far, all she was told was that they had ventured into the Zone many times bringing back artifacts to present the other expedition camps located right on the border of the Zone. Their camp was only about half-a-mile away from the border.

She took a short shower, dressed casual, and walked into the briefing room where Peter, the project leader, and other personnel sat. She took a seat herself and listened to the presentation. Peter stood up and spoke to all the scientists in the room. The two SAS soldiers guarding the door stiffened. He began.

“Welcome everyone to our first meet in Chernobyl. Congratulations on making it to Day 1.” There was some mild laughter. He continued. “As you know, four years ago there was a nuclear explosion in the heart of what we now know as the Zone. It spread for 30 kilometers, damaging the animals and the people who lived in the small towns near the power plant. It is said that all the radiation caused the animals and the people to mutate into…horrifying things you’d see in science fiction. I had a chat with the leaders of the other camps and they confirmed that the radiation did in fact mutate animals, humans, and damaged the landscape, vegetation, and has now caused weird anomalies to take place from time to time. We brought the best equipment in the world to shield ourselves from whatever radiation, bacteria, and chemicals may await us so we shouldn’t have too many problems,” he paused for a minute, took a gulp of his water and continued again. “Now, since it would be too tedious and difficult to send an entire team out there, were going to need one of you to find some help from the Stalkers and go into the Zone, taping everything you see. Once we get a feel for everything, we’ll be able to plan more efficiently. I won’t make it hard and choose someone so I’m hoping one of you will be mature, take this seriously, and volunteer. So…who wants to be the first volunteer?” he asked and looked around the table. Most of them were turned off by the sound of “mutated animals and humans” while others were just too lazy to want to go out there. Heather saw this as her way to prove herself. She raised her hand.

“I’ll go sir.” Peter smiled.

“Very good, Dr. Sanderson. We’ll need to find out more information about the Stalkers. Once we do, we’ll hire one to take you in and see how far that takes us. Ok everyone, dismissed. Enjoy the break while you can. As soon as we get something, were crackin’.”

The morning came gracefully. Vladimir was the first one awake. Dante was still snoozing away under the covers. He yawned and got out of bed maneuvering towards Dante’s bed. Vladimir shook him a little until Dante’s eyes slowly opened.

“Is it morning already?” he asked sleepily. Vladimir nodded.

“We better start lookin’ for those camps if we wanna make some money. You still tired?” Dante shook his head.

“Nah, I’m fine. How’s our stuff?” he asked, looking at the table where the backpack, holsters, pistols, and combat knives lay on. Vladimir peeked inside the sack and took out the container. The galantine seemed to be the same as yesterday: black and sticky. He slid it back in the sack and closed the straps.

They walked down the stairs to the bar where a couple of the Stalkers had fallen asleep on the table while the bartender had woken up early. He was cleaning glasses and mugs. He only spoke Russian.

“Good day Vladimir and Dante. How are we today?” he asked.

“Broke Conrad,” Vladimir replied in Russian. Conrad nodded.

“Hey, I know some people who might want that galantine your holdin’,” he said. Dante stopped dead in his tracks.

“Who?”

“Just about yesterday, a scientific team arrived from the United Kingdom. They’re looking for Stalkers to take them into the Zone,” he said.

“Where would we find them exactly?”

“You remember that fresh new building the British SAS soldiers have been guarding for the past couple weeks? Well, that’s the new camp for them. It’s not too far from here. Just walk down the dirt path onto the road and you should see a checkpoint kind of thing.” Without another word, they rushed out of the pub down the road.

Vladimir was getting kind of sick of running all over the place. Sure, it was good exercise, but things a couple miles away are usually good for driving, not running.

“Dante, I think we should save the money they give us. I mean, we really need a car,” said Vladimir. Dante slowed down to a walk.

“Come on Vlad, you don’t like running?” Vladimir stopped completely.

“Eh, its not that. I’m just out of shape. I haven’t really been running since I met you two months ago. Yesterday was the first time I had ever been running since two months ago.”

“You didn’t look very tired,” said Dante. Vladimir shrugged slightly.

“Yeah, I guess I’m just complaining too much.”

The two British Army soldiers guarding the building entrance stood still holding their LR-300ML machine guns across their chest. They outstretched their hands when the two Stalkers had approached them

“Sorry sirs, this is a restricted area. Were going to have to ask you to leave now,” they said with British accents.

“We have something I think your superiors would like to see,” said Dante. Vladimir pulled out the container of galantine and held it out in front of him. The SAS soldier on the left rubbed his chin and grabbed his walkie-talkie.

“Mr. Harold, some men say they have something you might be interested in, it’s a container of a black substance. Should I let them in?” There was a long pause as Peter looked through his notebook until he found it. Besides the picture of the black substance was the word Galantine.

“Yes Private, let them through,” he said. The soldier nodded towards them.

“Please remove all firearms, explosives, and/or blades please,” he said. Dante picked his HP-SA Hi-Power Pistol from his side holster, unsheathed the combat knife from his boot holster, took out his ammo clips, and handed them to the soldier. He placed them in the booth as Vladimir followed in suit. Then, the soldier gave them clearance to pass (two security ID cards) and they walked onto the compound led by the other SAS soldier.

Inside the briefing room awaited Heather and Peter.

“Mr. Harold, what exactly have they found?” she asked. She was hiding the excitement inside her. Peter placed the notebook on the table.

“Here, galantine. It’s a black, sticky substance with mutated colonies of bacteria. This is pretty big, already encountering something like this on our first day.” The soldier opened the door and held it as the two men walked in.

“Should I go sir?” he asked. Peter nodded.

“You may go Private Evans.” The two Stalkers simply stared at the two scientists opposite of them on the other side of the table. Peter decided to break the silence.

“I understand you two are Stalkers?” he asked in Russian. Vladimir nodded. Dante only understood a couple words.

“Could you repeat that again?” asked Dante. Heather and Peter jumped back a little.

“You…speak English?” asked Heather. Vladimir blinked a few times.

“You’d be surprised how many Stalkers know English,” he said. Heather still seemed confused.

“Why do you sound American?” she asked, looking in Dante’s direction. He chuckled. “Are we here to discuss me or business?” Peter suddenly remembered the galantine.

“Yes, yes, of course. Now, could we have a closer look?” Vladimir sighed.

“Be my guest,” he said, placing the container on the table. Peter moved it closer towards him and Heather bent down for a closer look. The substance seemed to be moving.

“Heather, take this to Lab 3. Make sure everyone puts on protective clothing and gloves. I don’t want anyone touching this with their bare hands,” said Peter. Heather grabbed the container and rushed out of the room.

“Uh, sir, what about our roubles?” he asked. Peter nodded, opening a door. Inside was a closet packed with boxes and briefcases. Some boxes marked Roubles and some Pounds. He opened one of the boxes marked Roubles and took out three packs. He handed it to Dante.

“There you go, fifteen-hundred roubles.” Vladimir grinned. They got more than they were supposed to. And now…they could buy a car. Dante nodded.

“Thank you very much.” As they prepared to leave, Peter stopped them.

“Uh….I was wondering if I could ask you a favor…nothing too big…”

“Spit it out,” said Dante rudely.

“Well, we want to collect more artifacts and want to know what we’ll be encountering out there in the Zone. We were wondering if one of our personnel could go with you on one of your hunts?” Dante rubbed his chin, thinking it over.

“We want double of what you gave us.” Peter nodded. “Done. Now, where should my colleague meet you two? I understand there’s a small village made for Stalkers?” he said. Dante nodded.

“Can your colleague read Russian,” said Vladimir, Peter nodded, “ok, then tell them to meet us at the pub. We’ll be hanging around somewhere there. Tell them to meet us there in an hour.”

Part 4

There were three knocks on the door confirming it was a Stalker. “Come on down,” said the Dealer. He rolled his eyes at the sight of Dante and Vladimir. He chuckled.

“Unless you boys have an artifact or some roubles, get the hell out of here,” said the Dealer. Dante threw two packs of roubles on the table and grinned.

“I want two AK assault rifles, three clips for each one, a pair of binoculars, and the best anomaly detector you got.” The Dealer counted the money and nodded.

“Yeah, I’m gonna need two hundred more if you want all that stuff.” Dante took two one-hundred roubles out of the last pack of money and handed it to the Dealer. He slid into the back and grabbed two boxes. Inside the first box was about six or seven AK assault rifles, the second box held over a hundred ammo clips for the AKs. He handed the two assault rifles to Dante and Vladimir, then grabbed six clips from the box, giving them to Vladimir who shoved them in his backpack. They slung the AKs over their shoulders and left the Dealer to his thoughts.

It was already into the afternoon when Heather Sanderson had decided to come to the village. Many of the Stalkers stared at the pretty woman as she walked on the road. She became a little nervous, hoping none of them would try and jump her. They probably didn’t get many women through here, if any at all. After walking for twelve minutes, she found the pub easily and entered cautiously. As usual, the Stalkers merely stared at her, surprised to see a woman in their neck of the woods. She smiled slightly and looked around for the two men she had seen earlier. In the back corner, she could make out the young Russian’s face, which looked displeased. As she got closer, she saw the American wasn’t too happy either as he was tapping his fingers impatiently on the tabletop. It’s not like I was trying to be late. These people need more patience she thought. Heather approached the table and sat herself down.

Dante and Vladimir had been waiting for over two hours now. Two hours wasted on waiting could’ve been wasted in the Zone. The woman tried to act casual.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Heather Sanderson from the camp. We met earlier,” she said, extending her hand. Dante looked at it and saw that nothing was in the hand. She sat there, staring at them for awhile with her hand still out.

“Our money miss?” asked Dante. She rolled her eyes and grabbed six packs of roubles out of her backpack and dropped them on the table. Vladimir snatched them up quickly, stuffing them in his backpack. Dante folded his hands and placed them on the table.

“Ok, Miss Sanderson,” she interrupted him.

“Call me Heather.”

“Ok…Heather, what exactly do you want to see in the Zone?” asked Dante.

“Well, our project leader wants me to observe the Zone. I brought a camera to record everything. They also want me to retrieve, if possible, another artifact…if that’s ok with you.” Dante shrugged.

“Hey, if there’s an extra one lying around after we get ours…sure you can have it,” he said. Heather nodded, smiling. “Good. So, when are we to leave?” Vladimir stood up first.

“Well first, were getting a car. Right Dante?” he asked, glaring at him. Dante sighed.

“Yes, yes, Vladimir, we’ll get a damn car.”

The three of them left the pub, walking down the path towards another building. This one was like a gas station as there were pumps to get fuel out of. Beside and behind the station were Moskvichs, Niva 4x4s, and two Kamaz trucks. Dante placed twelve hundred roubles in Vladimir’s hand.

“Get us a Moskvich. Nothing special, just a regular Moskvich. Make sure its gas tank is full and there’s nothing wrong with it. We’ll wait out here,” he said. Vladimir ran into the station. Dante felt awkward standing next to the woman. He hadn’t seen a woman as pretty as that in a long time. The few whores who decided to stop by from time to time weren’t too healthy looking and like the rest of them, they only wanted money. But, that didn’t matter to most Stalkers. As long as they were ‘settled’, they’d pay fifty roubles for a quick one.

Vladimir drove the Moskvich out from the back of the station and pulled up in front of them. Dante took his AK off his shoulder and popped the trunk open, placing the gun inside. Heather took out her video recorder and dropped her bag into the trunk as well, then she got into the backseat. Dante took the passenger’s seat and closed the door. Vladimir looked over at his partner.

“So we going through the grasslands or are we taking this baby down the road into the Zone?” he asked. Dante pointed in back of them.

“Take the road. We gotta see if this piece of junk even works.” Vladimir backed up a little, then turned left and put it in drive. Dante had to admit: it did feel good not having to walk. Boy, are we lazy he thought.

It was an easy ride down the road as Vladimir kept it steady. They were only about a quarter away from the Zone, but they’d have to veer off the road onto the dirt path in the small forest. There was an army checkpoint there and they didn’t allow vehicles or people through so Stalkers had to take different paths. Most scientists were allowed through if they had the proper clearance. The dirt path through the forest was the usual way for vehicles looking to enter the Zone. The path eventually led out of the forest onto one of the many roads of the Zone. Surprisingly, the army hadn’t even set up a checkpoint there. Either they never even found it or they didn’t really care about it. Most Stalkers thought the latter.

After leaving the forest and coming onto the road, it was like watching a post-nuclear movie again. On the road lay two cars, one upside down on the grass next to the road and the other missing a wheel and the windshield cracked. The road led down to one of the desolate towns in the Zone. Nothing too major there as most Stalkers said the biggest threat they’d ever seen there was one zombie who wasn’t even moving. After about seven minutes, they entered the town. The houses’ windows were all blown out; debris lay all over the ground. Heather told Vladimir to stop the car and he put it in park, turned the keys counter-clockwise, causing the Moskvich to turn off, and sat back. Heather clicked her video recorder on and started looking around the town with it. Dante had gotten out and leaned against the car coolly. He patted himself like he had down a few years ago when he had been searching for a smoke. He suddenly remembered how he hadn’t had a cigarette in so long. Hopefully the Dealer could hook him up with a pack of cigs.

Heather was taking her time documenting the town. Just about thirty to thirty-five minutes had passed. Dante yawned out loud as if giving her an ‘I’m bored, let’s go’. Heather took the hint and shut the camera off.

“Ok, I’m ready.” She got back into the backseat. Dante took one last look around; bewildered something like this could happen. That’s when he saw it; a quick jump and the figure had flung into the air and landed behind the house directly in front of him. What the hell was that? He thought to himself. He knocked on the window and Vladimir rolled it down.

“I’ll be right back,” Dante said and he moved towards the house. Vladimir threw his hands up.

“What’re you doing?” he asked.

“Don’t worry, I’m just going to check something out.” Vladimir swore in Russian as Dante approached the front door. He drew his Browning automatic and leaned on the door. With his gun in his right hand, he opened the door with his left keeping the barrel of the pistol on the door as it opened. When it was fully opened, he went back into two-hand stance. Something fell on the floor in the back. He pulled the hammer and cocked the pistol, then proceeded into the next room.

The rustling continued in the room. Dante looked through the window. The backdoor was open. He breathed out heavily and kicked the door open. Inside was a dark muddled hair figure crouched like a monkey. It only seemed human…

“What the hell?” he said. The figure moved closer towards him, but stopped. Then, he began to hear a piercing sound. Dante fell to his knees holding his ears as if his eardrums were about to explode. He dropped the gun and tried to crawl away. The figure picked the gun up and aimed at Dante weakly. He finally realized it was a Controller. Dante reached for his boot where his knife lay inside its holster, closer and closer. His hand touched the handle and he grabbed it right out. Then, with his last ounce of strength, threw it at the Controller. The knife dug into the Controller’s chest and it broke its concentration with Dante and dropped the gun. The Controller almost fell on its side, but got back in balance and dove right through the window. Dante rubbed the back of his head and picked up his gun, holstering it. Now, he had a big headache and lost his combat knife.

“Just freakin’ wonderful,” he said to himself. Tiredly, Dante dragged himself out of the house towards the car. He opened it and sat inside. Vladimir looked over at him as he turned the car on.

“What happened?” Dante lay back further in his seat.

“Bumped into a goddamn Controller,” he replied. Vladimir almost stomped on the foot pedal as the word ‘Controller’ slipped from Dante’s lips. “Did you kill it?” Dante shook his head. Vladimir sighed. “Now, that thing’s going to be following us.”

“Well, my knife is inside his chest. I’m sure it’ll look for me to return the favor.” Heather was confused. “What is this ‘Controller’?” she asked. Vladimir recollected what he remembered from the book The Unofficial Zone Encyclopedia written by one of the most famous veteran Stalkers.

“Controllers are dark muddled hair humanoids with semi-human faces. They usually take control of the lesser forms like zombies or blind dogs to do their bidding as they command from afar. One Stalker claimed to speak to one, but this is has yet to be proven.” Directly out of the context. Those sold widely in the Stalker village. Heather nodded.

“Hmm, I’d like to get some footage of one of those,” she said. They went over a big bump causing them to jump in the air. Vladimir shrugged.

“We might be dead before we even see one again.” Dante rolled his eyes. “How reassuring Vlad.”

Part 5

It had been the same thing over and over again. They’d stop in one area as Heather recorded her surroundings and once in awhile Dante would see a figure leaping behind things. It had been like this for about two-in-a-half hours. The sun was beginning to disappear below the horizon and the sky began to darken. They were losing light fast and would probably end up camping in the Zone. They had gone pretty far out and if they tried to go back, they’d bump into a military patrol and the car would end up having bullet holes all over it and they would be dead. Dante sighed.

“Looks like were camping out tonight. Are we close to a town?” he asked. Vladimir took out a neatly sketched map from his pocket and started moving his finger around it. He sighed as well.

“Afraid not. But, we are close to those train tracks from yesterday. We could probably hop into a boxcar and sleep there,” said Vladimir. Dante nodded slightly. “Sounds good. Sound good to you Heather?” She nodded as well. They got back in the car and drove slowly up the hill onto the tracks. He parked the car beside a boxcar. They all got out again and grabbed everything from the trunk. Dante slid the door open and Heather stepped inside, Vladimir behind her. Dante stepped inside and dug around the backpack for the lantern. After he found it, he flicked on the lighter and lit the lantern. The boxcar suddenly became illuminated with light. Vladimir closed the sliding door and sat down.

“Anyone hungry?” he asked, showing four cans of soup. Vladimir placed the small heater on the floor and put a can on it. He flicked the switch on. Dante handed a blanket and small pillow to Heather. “Here, you go to sleep.”

“What about you?” she asked. Dante shook his head.

“We only have one blanket and one pillow. You take it, we’ll just stay up.” Heather smiled. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” said Dante. She laid down. Vladimir took his AK-74, loaded a clip, and cocked it. Dante took one of the clips out of the backpack and did the same. Vladimir looked over at Dante. It felt just like the night before.

“I noticed you have trouble sleeping,” said Vladimir. Dante nodded.

“Yes…I’m an insomniac.” Vladimir shook his head.

“They say insomnia has something to do with you mentally. Once you solve that, you have no more insomnia.” Dante coughed a few times.

“I know why I lay awake at night Vladimir. I don’t need you to tell me.” Vladimir muttered, “There’s something your not telling me,” in Russian. He knew Dante would understand that. Dante pretended not to notice. The next couple of hours went smoothly. They ate some soup and drank a couple of glasses of vodka. Vladimir fell asleep after that. Dante blew the light in the lantern out and laid down himself. He didn’t try to close his eyes, merely laid down for relaxation. His AK lay on the floor next to him.

Dante had managed to clock in two hours of sleep before his horrible nightmare woke him up like usual. He was breathing heavily. Heather stared at him through the darkness.

“Something wrong Heather?” he asked.

“What is it that bothers you?” she asked concerned. Dante stood up and stiffened.

“I believe my business doesn’t concern you Doctor.” Heather rolled her eyes.

“I’m sorry for being concerned,” she muttered.

“Yes, let’s try not to make it personal. I was paid to guide you around the Zone. I wasn’t hired to be your friend. I don’t care for you and you aren’t supposed to care about me,” said Dante. Heather opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. Dante lit the lantern again, illuminating the boxcar, and leaned against the wall. “I suggest you go to sleep Miss Sanderson. You wouldn’t want to be tired while back in the labs would you?” Heather’s eyebrows lowered.

“You’re taking me back?” she asked. Dante nodded.

“There isn’t much else to see. If we go underground, we’ll need protective suits and bump into dwarves. If we go through the tunnel to the next area, we’ll walk right into Fog and, like I said before, we need protective suits. I’m sure you’ll come back with the right equipment next time so you can see the rest of the Zone. Now, please Doctor, go to sleep,” said Dante. Heather laid down again, but kept her eyes open still pondering the thought: Why was he here?

“Could I ask you one more question?” she asked.

“I don’t see why not,” answered Dante.

“Why…why did you come here? You know, why’d you leave America and come here?” Dante hesitated. Then, he shrugged and picked up the bottle of vodka.

“I was…in prison on death row. My friend and me had the perfect plan of escaping. After we escaped, we went our separate ways. He went to Mexico and last I heard was caught only about two days later. I hired a pilot to take me here because I figured they wouldn’t think to look for me here. So…here I am.” Heather would’ve never thought that. It seemed answers led to more questions.

“Why were you in prison?” she asked. This was reminding Dante of conversation with Vladimir only two days ago. He figured he’d end it like that.

“I killed people. Now, Doctor, go to sleep!” he exclaimed. Heather couldn’t believe he had killed people…she felt perfectly fine near him for some reason. Vladimir never winced near him. If he had killed people, why didn’t he seem like a murderer? Heather was beginning to speak again when something hit the boxcar with heavy hands. Dante grabbed his AK.

“Get in the corner,” he whispered. Heather crawled over to the corner on the right. Dante shook Vladimir.

“Vlad, get up. We got company.” Vladimir’s eyes fluttered and he sat up.

“What’s wrong?” Dante handed him his AK-74.

“We got company.”

Dante gave Heather his pistol. “Hold on to it, we’ll be right back.” She nodded nervously. Vladimir opened the door and jumped down. It was way too dark to see anything now.

“We need some light Dante.” He grabbed the lantern and jumped down with Vladimir. He closed the door tight. They rounded the corner to where the thing had hit the boxcar. There was a small dent, but nothing more. Dante crouched down to the ground and saw footprints leading to the next boxcar. They crept towards the next boxcar, Dante covering the front, Vladimir the rear. It seemed like nothing was there. The footprints stopped at the boxcar next to theirs and that was that. Vladimir noticed the ladder attached to the boxcar. He didn’t know many mutants that could use ladders. The only ones he had ever heard that could use ladders were Controllers and Dwarves. Dwarves usually didn’t leave the underground and Controllers didn’t really need to climb, they could jump pretty high and pretty far. They also weren’t into fighting. Then, he remembered Dante’s knife.

“You think it’s up there?” he asked. Dante shrugged, smiling.

“Only one way to find out.” He climbed up first, the lantern in his left hand and his AK in his right. Dante straightened himself up and looked around. There was nothing on the roof. The trapdoor on top was open though. Vladimir climbed up. He noticed the open trapdoor as well.

“I guess we should hop in then,” he said.

Part 6

Dante jumped down through the trapdoor first. It was pitch black inside.

“Hand me the light Vladimir,” said Dante. The light dropped into his hands. He fumbled with it, almost dropping it.

“I said hand, not drop Vladimir,” and he looked up to see Vladimir aiming his AK at him.

“What the hell?” When Vladimir spoke, it was not of his voice. This voice seemed more distorted.

“You have no reason for being here. You are the reason we must live like this. I was once a father. Then, there was an explosion and my family was dead. My bone structure was deformed, my mind became a weapon, and now I must gnaw on my food. I will kill you both if it’s the last thing I do. No human deserves to live.”

“There’s always going to be more of us. You’re going to die out before we do,” said Dante. Vladimir/Controller grinned.

“Soon, we will control all land. Humans will be killed and become food to our armies. We will be unstoppable. We will—” Dante clicked the AK-74 to semi-automatic and fired two rounds into the left corner. There was a soft thud as the creature hit the wall and slumped down. Vladimir was shaking his head, looking around like something happened. Dante crouched down near the creature, holding up the lantern for light, and looked the Controller up and down until he found what he was looking for. The knife’s handle stuck clear out of the Controller’s chest. Dante ripped the blade out of its chest and stabbed it repeatedly. Then, he jammed it where he supposed the heart was. The Controller was breathing heavily now, ready to die. It sort of grinned slightly.

“The Phoenix…will come…for you…” It stopped breathing. Dante brought his gun to its head and fired a shot. Just to be sure. Vladimir jumped down and stared in the direction of Dante and the Controller.

“Everything interesting happens when I’m not around huh?” Dante nodded slightly.

“Let’s close this up and get back to the boxcar.” They opened the door, hopped out, and closed it tight.

Heather had heard the two shots and was beginning to hyperventilate. She wondered what they had found and shot. And why were there only two shots? Maybe whatever was out there had gotten them. There were to knocks on the door. She aimed the gun there.

“Don’t shoot, its us,” said a familiar voice. She breathed out heavily and brought the gun down. The door slid open and the two Stalkers climbed in. Dante put his hand on her shoulder.

“Its ok, everything’s ok now. Mind if I have that back?” he asked, pointing at the pistol. She nodded and handed it to him. “Thanks.” He holstered it. Vladimir closed the door and sighed.

“I sure could go for a bottle of vodka.” Dante chuckled.

“If you can find another bottle, I finished our first one.” Vladimir prepared to say something when something screeched highly in the distance. Dante and Vladimir piled out of the boxcar to see what it was. Off in the distance high in the sky was some kind of illumination of fire. It began to zoom down near their location faster and faster, picking up speed.

“What the hell is that?” asked Vladimir. Dante brought his AK up and switched it to fully automatic.

“The Phoenix.”

Author’s Notes: There you have it, the first part in the 6-part Chronicle. If you’re an AFI fan like myself, you’ll know the subtitle to the story is…one of their songs. I hope you enjoyed it and if you did, there’s more to come. If I get positive feedback, I’ll start working on the sequel.