Chapter XI: Out of the frying pan and into the fire in Agroprom

 The old man at the Swamps had given Boris information about Streloks whereabouts. Apparently the legendary stalker had had a hideout in Agroprom underground. Boris had no intentions to get into firefights with either the loners at the northern base or the military in the southern one, so he took the discreet route through the manhole. He knew of this place since the local loners had told him of it during his loner days when he visited Agroprom. The second he entered a surprised bandit almost opened fire at him but calmed down upon seeing his mercenary patch. The bandits asked him what he was doing here and Boris told them to mind their own business. He slipped a few bottles of Ukrainian beer to the bandit leader and he was let past.

Having dealt with the bandits, Boris descended into the depths of the underground. He could hear things coming from there that would've spooked a lesser man, laughter of a maniacs and screams of mutated monstrosities. Boris didn't have to wait long for the latter to appear. Bloodsuckers, 4 of them, sprang towards him, one especially mutated one conjuring some odd ghosts out of thin air. Boris used his TOZ for close-quarters fighting with the beasts, cursing his chronically empty wallet for still using such an outdated piece. It still worked on the monsters, the bloodsuckers falling one by one to buckshot rounds as they charged him.

With the final twisted thing killed, Boris continued onward. He sidestepped some zombies who wandered the halls, giving them a tap at the side of the head with his kukri. The tunnels were finally silent, and Boris continued on, searching the entrance into Streloks hideout. A sudden breeze of fresh air drifted up Boris' nostrils, and he turned to the source, a massive pipe in a wall. Boris crawled in it to check, and suddenly saw a ladder. Suspicious, he thought to himself, and crawled up, finding the hideout. He turned every stone there, looting the place of all its worth, and then, satisfied, left the room with plenty of documents and new information.

Upon leaving he however started to wonder what to do next. He thought that there could be something else to discover here, something that possibly could help with his poor financial situation. Scouring every single room, he stumbled into a maze of ladders and side rooms, which eventually led into a large, odd looking room. Curious, Boris stepped inside, and his mind was filled with strange images and twisting thoughts. A thundering ringing started in his ears, and he quickly stepped back behind the door. A controller. Goddammit he hated those things with burning passion. One of his old Loner pals had been turned into a mindless puppet by those things.

Boris soon noticed that the cursed mutant was not alone. Things started flying at him, peppering him with crates, spoons, can of beans and whatever else. Great, exactly what I needed, blyat, Boris thought to himself. He took a long breath (a spoon flew into his mouth and he coughed too but let's not talk about that) and leaned out to shoot the controller. The thing was taken by surprise, and Boris' AKS ended it quickly. The poltergeists were a bigger hassle to take down, but the TOZ proved useful once again, two barrels filling the air with too much lead for the ghostly things to survive. Boris let out a long sigh, his heart rare returning to normal.

He searched the room for anything useful, found basically nothing, as the poltergeists had thrown even the baked beans into a chemical anomaly. There goes my lunch, taken by a final vengeful act by a mutant, Boris thought to himself as his stomach announced its disapproval of the constant fighting. Boris started searching for a way out, and soon found a seemingly normal tunnel, but the warmth radiating in the air told another story. You could cook eggs simply by bringing them here, Boris thought, his hunger getting worse. He started inching forward, bolt by bolt getting closer to the collapsed wall that would lead outside. Snorks crawled out from some godforsaken hole behind him, and Boris abandoned all pretense of caution. He kept flinging bolts like a madman, hearing the wheezing of snorks behind him, some of them hitting the burner anomalies and getting cooked. Boris did not glance back at them, his whole concentration focused on surviving the anomalies. Finally, after a eternally long run, sweating like a pig and exhausted like never before, Boris reached a safe area with no anomalies, turned around and blasted the tunnel behind with all he got. With the snorks stopped or burned, Boris left the tunnels finally.

The sunlight blinded him temporarily. It was almost fatal. A bountyhunting squad opened fire at the tunnel entrance, and Boris had to crouch behind the walls of the tunnel to survive. They were apparently Dutyers, firing like madmen at the tunnel. Boris could hear one yell about grenade, and Boris prepared to jump back into the tunnels. However, two snorks ambushed the squad, and Boris managed to leap behind a tree while they were distracted. Boris leaned behind the tree to shoot the Dutyers, who either kept firing at him or smacked the snorks around. Boris nailed one, and the two other scattered. The snorks had died. One Dutyer his behind a tree, other one was running up the hill. Boris managed to kill him with a accurate shot to the back of the head, but almost instantly suffered retaliation as the other Dutyer opened fire. A dangerous game of cat and mouse begun between the two, as they leaned out of the cover and fired at each other. Boris could see that he was running out of time however, in the distance military was rushing to assist the Dutyer.

Boris tossed his last grenade at the Dutyer, who was temporarily distracted, and Boris made a run for it. He ran as fast as his exhausted and weak body could carry him, military bullets sending splinters and dust flying around him. Boris had a very peculiar flashback to the time he had entered Agroprom as a renegade rookie, and thought to him that really nothing had changed. Everyone was still out to get him. He made it to the shelter of the Garbage outpost, where he finally found a protein bar. It tasted better than ever before, and at least partially silenced his stomach, which had protested so hard he could hear it over the gunfire. One more day in the Zone passed, one more day Boris had survived. One thing was sure though, he'd never return to those cursed tunnels, Strelok had to be a madman to have his hideout there.