<P>Among the dark, cold streets Nevermore would wander searching for answers, for the truth. Before he&nbsp;was old enough to&nbsp;remember, his father was lost in&nbsp;the cataclysm of&nbsp;Chernobyl. His mother died a&nbsp;short time later of&nbsp;' the sickness'. He&nbsp;never even knew his parents name and as&nbsp;a&nbsp;young boy only refered to&nbsp;his dad as&nbsp;"Nevermore". He&nbsp;only knows, from what he&nbsp;was told, that his father worked at&nbsp;the nuclear facility.</P>
<P>By&nbsp;the time he&nbsp;became a&nbsp;teenager, his friends began calling him, Nevermore also. His real name? He&nbsp;couldn't&nbsp;remember. What did his father do&nbsp;at&nbsp;the Plant, how did he&nbsp;die? The answers, some to&nbsp;questions not yet even asked, could only be&nbsp;found in&nbsp;&#151; the Zone.</P>
<P>Nevermore quickly spun around, following the sound of&nbsp;running feet on&nbsp;the cobblestone. Back somewhere in&nbsp;the dark, wet alley someone was running toward him. Finally a&nbsp;shadow entered the light, breath thick like fog, as&nbsp;the runner drew deep breathes. &#171;Nevermore, I&nbsp;have it!&#187;&nbsp;shouted the dark figure , &#171;I&nbsp;have it!&#187;</P>
<P>&#171;What? What do&nbsp;you have, Alexi!&#187; Nevermore asked the only true friend he's&nbsp;ever known. &#171;I&nbsp;have the map, the map we've&nbsp;been looking for!&#187; said an&nbsp;excited Alexi almost shouting.</P>
<P>&#171;The map of&nbsp;the nuclear plant, of&nbsp;all its buildings!&#187; asked the clearly shocked Nevermore. &#171;Yes, and of&nbsp;all its buildings&#187; an&nbsp;out of&nbsp;breath Alexi continued, barely able to&nbsp;contain his joy. &#171;All the buildings Never, even the administrations and records buildings!&#187;</P>
<P>This was almost to&nbsp;much for Nevermore to&nbsp;believe, at&nbsp;last the search for the truth about his father could begin. Nevermore studied the map quickly unable to&nbsp;hide his smile, though he&nbsp;rarely had much to&nbsp;smile growing up&nbsp;a&nbsp;streetboy. Being raised in&nbsp;the ruins of&nbsp;the new, but already crumbling city Chernobyl Projekts, but living on&nbsp;the streets would become useful as&nbsp;he&nbsp;would soon find out. The strength of&nbsp;body and mind, developed as&nbsp;he&nbsp;endured living among the thousands of&nbsp;homeless nomads, fighting for even something to&nbsp;eat. Now the street education he&nbsp;received would come in&nbsp;handy, he&nbsp;knew that, but would it&nbsp;be&nbsp;enough to&nbsp;make it&nbsp;through the Zone?</P>
<P>&#171;Alexi, when can we&nbsp;leave, you are coming with me!&#187;,&nbsp;asked Nevermore. &#171;No&nbsp;my&nbsp;friend&#187;, laughed Alexi and he&nbsp;reminded Nevermore, &#171;We&nbsp;have been through much together, but it&nbsp;was you that always talked of&nbsp;becoming a&nbsp;stalker, now you have your chance. But I&nbsp;will help you till we&nbsp;reach the Zone&#187; Without saying another word, the two turned to&nbsp;get the rest of&nbsp;their gear from the abandoned building they called home. The journey would start tonight, the nightmares tomorrow.</P>
<P>The morning brought the pink glow of&nbsp;the new sun. The sky often appeared pink since the accident. But Nevermore never saw a&nbsp;blue morning sky before and pink looked normal to&nbsp;him. Besides compared to&nbsp;the gray and dark skies he&nbsp;usually saw during the day this was welcome. They knew the hike to&nbsp;the Zone would take the better part of&nbsp;the day and into the night. Each time they passed soldiers returning from the border area, they became nervous. Alexi though would stay with him till they reached the rusted fence marking the zone. He&nbsp;then showed Nevermore a&nbsp;shortcut. Follow the abandonded railroad tracks, go&nbsp;thru the woods and make camp just outside the &#171;contaminated area&#187; in&nbsp;No&nbsp;Mans Land (NML). Even the soldiers guarding the Zone, were afraid to&nbsp;wander inside the perimeter too far. This would keep Nevermore safe. Or&nbsp;so&nbsp;they thought.</P>
<P>They stopped and shook hands and finally hugged, as&nbsp;Alexi wished his friend a&nbsp;safe return. &#171;For good luck my&nbsp;friend," Nevermore reached to&nbsp;take the extra bullets Alexi was handing him. Nevermore jumped the fence and quickly disappeared into the woods. He&nbsp;then follewed the train tracks to&nbsp;a&nbsp;small clearing in&nbsp;the woods. As&nbsp;he&nbsp;set up&nbsp;camp and lit a&nbsp;fire to&nbsp;keep himself warm, he&nbsp;noticed the strange night air in&nbsp;the Zone was odd. At&nbsp;first he&nbsp;didn't&nbsp;seem too concerned, but as&nbsp;the fire went out after just several minutes, he&nbsp;new something was wrong. Never didn't&nbsp;scare easy, but this place, something was not right. He&nbsp;could almost taste the air, yet it&nbsp;had no&nbsp;odor. The one gun he&nbsp;had, rested on&nbsp;his lap, his finger trembling as&nbsp;it&nbsp;lightly touched the cold steel trigger. Nevermore didn't&nbsp;like guns much, but he&nbsp;learned to&nbsp;live with them in&nbsp;the Chernobyl Projekts.</P>
<P>A&nbsp;loud SNAP, and he&nbsp;quickly looked up.&nbsp;Something was in&nbsp;the trees. His heart raced, suddenly he&nbsp;could feel the cold breath of&nbsp;this creature as&nbsp;it&nbsp;swept down over his shoulders. And before Nevermore could even fire a&nbsp;shot, it&nbsp;vanished back into the trees. The only thought now for Nevermore was to&nbsp;keep moving. As&nbsp;he&nbsp;packed up&nbsp;his gear, he&nbsp;would keep hearing the branches snapping in&nbsp;the trees. Why did the bird or&nbsp;creature not attack, why did it&nbsp;not kill him? Was it&nbsp;harmless? Now was no&nbsp;time to&nbsp;find out, the woods would turn into open space in&nbsp;only a&nbsp;few more miles. He&nbsp;could be&nbsp;out of&nbsp;the trees by&nbsp;daybreak.</P>
<P>He&nbsp;woke up&nbsp;in&nbsp;the morning dew, in&nbsp;a&nbsp;field, he&nbsp;couldn't&nbsp;even remember getting there. He&nbsp;felt like he&nbsp;had slept for hours, yet it&nbsp;was just an&nbsp;hour of&nbsp;sleep. He&nbsp;was about to&nbsp;realize it&nbsp;wasn't&nbsp;the sun that awoke him. In&nbsp;the distance he&nbsp;could hear something drawing closer, then he&nbsp;noticed the grasses moving. No&nbsp;sooner than he&nbsp;stood up&nbsp;his attention turned toward the loud SNAP he&nbsp;just heard in&nbsp;the treeline behind him. Suddenly out of&nbsp;the corners of&nbsp;his eyes he&nbsp;saw something that made him panic. Although he&nbsp;wanted to&nbsp;scream, Nevermore drew his gun and fired at&nbsp;the animal, a&nbsp;hairy smelly rat, just some 20&nbsp;yards away. This was no&nbsp;ordinary rat. Not like the rats back in&nbsp;the projekts. This was almost as&nbsp;big as&nbsp;the stray dogs that roamed the streets back home. One shot and it&nbsp;didn't&nbsp;even slow down, it&nbsp;was still running. BAM, a&nbsp;second shot and still it&nbsp;was even closer and still closing in&nbsp;fast. Coming from the trees, behind the young stalker, came the creature he&nbsp;saw just hours ago. He&nbsp;stood in&nbsp;quiet awe as&nbsp;he&nbsp;watched this bird or&nbsp;whatever it&nbsp;was, grab the rat in&nbsp;its huge claws. As&nbsp;the creature flew away the shriek from the rat was only slightly more horrifying than the shrill noise from the bird creature as&nbsp;it&nbsp;crushed its prey.</P>
<P>But what happened next was strange. The creature dropped the dead rat at&nbsp;the edge of&nbsp;the field and landed high above in&nbsp;the tree line opposite from him. Hungry and knowing he&nbsp;brought little food, he&nbsp;decided to&nbsp;harvest the rat and cook it.&nbsp;Forgetting the fire wouldn't&nbsp;last, he&nbsp;had to&nbsp;settle for an&nbsp;almost raw meal, luckily the vodka he&nbsp;smuggled in,&nbsp;helped wash the food down. As&nbsp;he&nbsp;continued on&nbsp;towards the administration buildings, he&nbsp;realized he&nbsp;could somehow sense the bird creature which seemed to&nbsp;be&nbsp;following him. He&nbsp;even seemed to&nbsp;understand it.&nbsp;Could he&nbsp;understand what the next few hours had in&nbsp;store for him? He&nbsp;would have to,&nbsp;or&nbsp;die, this he&nbsp;knew.</P>