Chapter XVI: A stab at the heart of the Zone

Boris stepped into the Rainbow Emitter facility, known by stalkers as either Lab X-19 or more informally, Brain Scorcher. Boris had seen thousands of former stalkers, who had met their ends due to this cursed place. He would not stop until it was shut down. He could not. He had started his journey a renegade, and despite being driven mostly by vengeance and grand plans for a new order, he knew that this time, he'd do what was just and right. The Scorcher had to go. Boris was greeted by an automated message, telling him that the facility was about to self-destruct. Slight panic gripped Boris, but he managed to regain his calm, and begun sprinting forward to avoid being destroyed by the facility.

The place was a maze of tunnels, corridors and abandoned labspaces. But something guided Boris forward. Maybe it was something to do with the humming coming from the machine, but despite running like a madman, Boris was acutely aware of where to go. Bloodsuckers stalked the halls of the compound however, and Boris had to dispatch them one by one, stopping for a few seconds to properly aim at them. Despite these few stops dispatching the monsters, Boris made it to the main chamber. He could feel the rusting machine pulsate and hum, generating deadly signals that drove men to madness and ruin.

Boris could hear the voices inside his head, pounding his skull despite the psi-helmet. Here, at the heart of the Zone's madness, even the best things science had produced could not protect him fully. Feeling himself become increasingly numb, he struggled forward and collapsed onto the switch, barely holding on to turn the machine off. The voices that just seconds ago had screeched inside his head went away first. The machine sputtered and groaned, until it finally fell silent. The facility was finally utterly silent.

The silence, however, did not last. Monolith troops flooded the halls and corridors, their boots booming through the silence and their orders being barked with increasing clarity. Boris cursed his luck. How the hell had they cornered him like this? He had made sure not to leave anyone alive in the base, yet now he could hear more than two dozen pairs of boots in the lab. Confused but not overwhelmed, Boris loaded his shotgun with slugs, turned on the double-shot setting and prepared. Entering the first room outside the chamber, he could hear a big Monolith warrior breathing. As silently as Boris could, he took of the pin in his grenade and tossed it at the suspected place of the warrior. A corpse was thrown out in an explosion, confirming Boris' success. Yet more needed to be done.

His shotgun ready, he leaned over the doorframe to check the next room. This saved his life, as he spotted the Monolith aiming at the door a second faster than the ambusher did, and finished him off with two slugs penetrating the troopers skull. Next room was empty, but after that came a larger room with plenty of Monolith warriors. Fighting a war of attrition on them, he peeked from cover, took potshots and switched positions before return fire came, and managed to end three troopers who tried to push him out. Fourth was sitting on a catwalk near the roof, and a well-placed USP shot managed to drop him down, cracking his neck.

Another ambush happened in the other room, as a Monolith trooper tried to end him as he rounded the corner. Unfortunately for the warrior, his .45 ACP SMG could not penetrate the venerable battleplate Boris was covered in, while Boris' slugs could easily punch through his SEVA suit. With the immediate threat dealt with, Boris could hear a squad of heavily armed Monoliths moving on his location. He took cover behind a stairwell, and with careful positioning managed to tuck his SVDS PMC into a strong position covering the doorframe. As the Monolith squad entered it, Boris quickly unloaded all ten rounds of 5.56 AP into them, felling three and wounding one that retreated. Boris tossed a grenade behind him, and a groan revealed the warriors death.

Next few rooms were empty, and Boris used this moment to prepare for the battles to come. He fixed up some of the holes, cracks and dents in his armour, added some oil into his weapons and healed some minor wounds. With his gear and health in order, he charged forward up a staircase. Just before entering the second floor, he placed an IED at the doorframe and tossed his entire grenade supply into the room ahead. Hearing groans of pain following the explosions, Boris retreated back a bit more, taking cover in the staircase. Soon enough, his trap was sprung and the IED detonated, taking a Nosorog-clad warrior with it. Another exoskeleton wearing trooper appeared stunned, and Boris ended him with two slug shells from his Saiga. The coast seemed clear, and he entered the room.

Just as he entered a Monolith warrior did so as well. A angry swarm of 5.7 rounds was fired at him, and Boris sought to take cover in the room nearby, but just as he round the corner, a Monolith warrior hit him with a rifle butt and he dropped his Saiga. The warrior grabbed it, and Boris cursed at him. Getting his sniper would be too hard, and his USP was entangled with his belt, so he grapped his combat tomahawk and planted it into the head of the Monolith warrior, who was furiously reloading. The blow ended the fanatics life, but before Boris could reclaim his weapon, the fanatic with P90 rounded the corner. He was too slow however, as Boris ended him quickly with a swing of his axe. 

Reclaiming his shotgun and untangling his pistol, Boris was once more ready for combat. It was a good thing, as more enemies poured into the large room he had just conquered. They came from the door at the opposite side of him, which made them easy targets for his shotgun. He peppered the doorway with buckshot and reloaded, keeping the fire up from his somewhat safe position. The fanatics responded with fire but Boris had clearly positioned himself better and it took little time for the final opponent to fall.

Boris was not too keen to enter the room where a squad of Monoliths had just attacked from, and he spotted an alternative route out. In the oyher side of the room was a small door, but as Boris observed it from right next to it he arrived to the conclusion that he could never squeeze through it in his Nosorog armour. Looking through the door he saw quick movement, and realized that he was looking at a Monolith warrior, aiming a rocket launcher at him. He almost suffered a heart attack and lunged away from the door as a explosion boomed inside the facility. Laying on the floor, he quickly came to his senses and saw that he was still alive. There was no signs of the explosion and Boris was utterly confused. He heard no sounds from the other room, no reloading sounds or Monolith cursing.

He creeped to the door and very carefully leaned to check the other room. On the floor, he saw a corpse of the Monolith warrior, a massive mark of an explosion on a container right where the Monolith had stood before and a broken down RPG. The fanatic had failed his shot and planted it in to the container right next to him. Boris chuckled at the sight, seems like having an anti-tank weapon indoors might not be the best idea there ever was. Or maybe being too close to the Emitter did some wonders on cognitive abilities in the long run.

With the most dangerous enemy to him dealt with, Boris moved onwards. The facility was once more silent, no commands from Monolith to be heard or sounds of footsteps anywhere. Room after room, Boris inched forward, Saiga held high with a full magazine ready to be emptied into any enemies, but there was none. Boris reached the end of the facility, passing by the corpse of the Rocketman, and soon entered the last chamber before the door leading outside. A final hurdle awaited him, a massive Monolith warrior in an exoskeleton. Boris managed to spot him before being spotted himself, and decided to ambush him with grenades and then charge him. Tossing a fragmentation grenade into the room and then charging in after the explosion, he caught the massive fanatic completely by surprise and pumped a magazine of lead into him, ending his days as a puppet of the C-Conciousness. With the final adversary dealt with, Boris stepped outside. His suicide mission was over, he had survived. Dushman better accept him into the mercs now fully, or he'd do the same to Dead City.