Chapter XLV: The Hunt Begins

 After the sudden appearance of Anton Anomaly, the veteran loner, in the Rookie village, Wolf and Boris both geared up their troops for the task of seeing what had happened in Cordon checkpoint. Dima and Hip prepared their shotguns, Vityukha loaded up his medical kit and Dimuha swapped his rifle scope. Boris discussed the nature of the military's operation with Anton, but he didn't know much more beyond what he had intercepted from military transmissions.

Anton Antipin, the ecologist residing in the village, volunteered to take part in the scouting expedition, and Fanatic rounded up two experienced loners as well. Wolf remained in camp just in case, but was ready to help if things turned out badly. Boris and Anton Anomaly took the lead, followed by Dima, Antipin as well Fanatic and his loners. Hip and Dimuha would take up sniping positions on the hills outside of the outpost while Vityukha was ready to act as a medic.

Everyone in position, the group moved slowly into the outpost. Outside it, they could see a soldier collapsed over one of the concrete blocks, his blood soaked into the grey concrete. Another soldier was found next to a door, his rifle pointing under his chin and his fingers still on the trigger. A chill rolled down Boris' spine. The silence in the outpost was unnatural, and in normal circumstances it would've already been flooded with all sorts of carrion birds and animals. The further they got into the camp, the more bodies they found.

Others had clearly perished while fighting each other, their weapons drawn and magazines half spent. Boris crouched to inspect two, a soldier with a bullet hole in his forehead and another with a knife in his gut. Bullet casings, couple of 10-metre ropes, family pictures, some notes, nothing important on the bodies. Horrifying expressions on them though, Boris thought. Dima and Antipin were searching the outpost tower-like structure, while the loners checked the barracks.

One of the loners yelled from surprise, and Boris rushed inside, weapon ready. The barracks was deserted, the beds empty and even the television eerily just showing static. But the last room with a large television was home to a bonechilling scene. Fanatic and the loners looked at it with disgust. One of the soldiers had been viciously stabbed, while another one was hanging from the ceiling, having hanged himself or been hanged. Gore-filled scenes were somewhat regular in the Zone, Springboard and Vortex anomalies in particular took no prisoners, but this was not some uncaring anomaly, this was the doing of a human being.

• What the hell went on here?, Fanatic exclaimed, and it disturbed Boris slightly that even this veteran of the Zone was so deeply affected by this place. Dima, Antipin and the others entered the room as well and looked in horror at the gutted soldiers.

• Good question. One on hand, I don't want to know, but on the other, I need to know, Anton replied, unable to take his eyes off the scene.

• A controller perhaps, Antipin said and continued: - Could be even a psy-dog or a karlik? Or some unknown mutant, new mutant are appearing in the Zone as we speak, which is, frankly, quite alarming.

• A karlik? What kind of suka is that?, Vityukha asked

• A distant relative of burer, we presume, and quite rare at that. Unlike the burer, they create illusions, hallucinations. Usually these are little more than a nuisance, we had one in Yantar that kept creating illusions of naked Sakharov, I still see nighmares to this day. But it could be possible, Antipin responded with his usual detached professionalism.

• Well, whatever it is, it needs killing. Preferably before it does this to Rookie village or Meadow, Dimuha growled and loaded a round into the chamber of his SVDS. Everyone nodded or murmured agreeingly.

Boris had been searching the bodies of the victims as the others talked, and found a PDA on the body of the lieutenant that had been butchered. While he was searching the hanged man, he made a grim notice that his hands were covered in blood. On the floor was a Makarov with an empty bullet casing next to it and 7 rounds in the magazine. Boris opened the PDA and skimmed through the files. Watchlists, bored notes of a soldier, e-books on the maintenance of firearms, reports and lastly, a list of the base personnel. Boris did a quick calculation and asked Dima if there were more bodies inside the watchtower. Dima raised a finger. One more.

One was missing. Private Egveni Yazov. Could be that he had deserted or been transferred, Antipin speculated, but Boris shook his head. This lieutenant was clearly of the "stick so far up his ass, when he yawned the stick saw daylight" type, and he would have noted it down. The private could still be alive and provide answers. Boris gave a quick set of commands and everyone began executing them as he finished. The loners, excluding Anton, left for Rookie village to organize search parties there. Boris and his troop, Antipin and Anton would start searching the right side right away.

The group splintered and Boris lead his unit into the woods. Morning light painted the trees red, as if even the Zone acknowledged the rivers of blood spilled here yesterday. Stray survivors from the Day of the Crimson Mist still circled around, and occasionally the group would have to put down a dog or two. It did not take long for them to find the soldiers body, but awaited them there was quite unexpected. One of the Redeemed lost in the fog was standing there, scrathing his head in utter confusion, his shotgun still smoking. When Boris appeared, he relaxed and holstered his shotgun.

• Damn you're a sight for sore eyes bossman, first I lost the others in the fog, then had to spend the night in the tree as dogs kept trying to chew my legs off and once I got down, this crazy urod runs at me like lunatic and tries to kill me. Good thing the old buckshot worked or else I would've been shanked, proper shish kebab I tell ya, the Redeemed blabbered, and Boris could see he was in shock.

He crouched by the side of the dead soldier. Dogtags confirmed the man's identity. Boris looked back at the Redemption member and asked:

• So any idea what happened to him? The entire southern outpost seemed like they had killed each other, and we're trying to find out what caused that. Can you enlighten us on this?

• I was coming down from the tree when he charged me, so I took off running as my shotgun was still holstered. He kept screaming that everyone was mad and something about a monster grandpa hunting him. When I finally shot him, he looked blankly at nothing beside him and went "I am sorry mother, I did as you told me to", groaned and died. Creepiest shit ever, the Redeemed said.

Boris thanked him and turned to Antipin, eyebrow raised. Antipin nodded, he had heard enough to assess the situation and replied to Boris' unspoken question:

• Sounds like a karlik to me. A strong one. Controller could be behind this as well, but those rarely get to Cordon, last time one was sighted nearby was in Darkscape and that place is a hive of mutant activity anyway.

• This ain't good, not one bit, Dimuha murmured, and Vityukha placed his hand on his friends shoulder.

• Well, whatever it is and wherever it is, we'll kill it. But I think we might need a proper tracker for this, Boris said, deep in thought.

• I might know just the guy who fits that bill, Anton said and everyone turned to look at him.

• So you guys might've heard of Theo Restless...