Chapter LVII: Maze of Dead Machines

 The wasteland known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is a place of many horrors, unexplainable things, terrifying human behaviour and most importantly, a bleak reminder of the dangers of both greed and curiosity. But there is beauty in it too. As the sun rose over the dilapidated and rusting wrecks of Truck Cemetery, two weary stalkers praised the sight. Sitting in one of the tall watchtowers circling the graveyard, they felt the warmth of an autumn morning on their faces once more.

The field was lined with vehicles as far as the eye could see, and normally it would have represented an aftermath of a disaster. But when the sunrays first lit the cabins of trucks or the turrets of BTRs, they shined as if brand new. The spectacle of light combined with the vibrant colours of autumn leaves created a sight that neither Boris nor Dima had seen before. Almost fantastical in its glory, the pair could only watch it unfold, transfixed on the majesty of it all.

But as always, the need to continue grew stronger in the mind of a stalker the longer they stood still. Despite the rare glimpse into the beauty of the Zone, Boris needed to keep moving. This was an illusion, nothing more, and the longer they stayed here, the worse the situation would become in the north. There, the Zone was showing its ugly side, and they would need to get there quick to fight yet another tide of darkness coming from the power plant. For redemption, but also for all of the Zone's population. Well, at least the sane ones, Boris added in his mind.

They descended from the tower they had spent their night in and started heading north along the western side of the Cemetery. It was generally safer here, as there was a larger wedge between the vehicles. More anomalies too, but Boris had kept his Svarog in top notch condition just for that. They passed by a lit campfire and to their surprise ran into one of their Redemption comrades, Toha Sharp-Sighted. He had clearly just upgraded his gear, sporting a brand new red and black Berill suit.

• Hey boss, what brings you to this lonely corner of the world today, Toha greeted with a friendly smile, he had always been a cheery one, originally part of the bandits.

• I could ask you the same, I presume you're not here to watch the sunrise? We're trying to find Wild Napr's people, apparently they are camped near the trash piles up north, Boris answered, similarly in a friendly tone.

• Oh, I got a job from Sidorovich to map out Truck Cemetery for him. He can't send some poor loner out here as there's so many bandits around, but we're still on no-shooty on sight terms with them so I volunteered to do it. And I know just where you're headed, mind if I tag along?, Toha asked and Boris nodded. An extra pair of eyes was never a bad thing.

They continued further in, avoiding whirligigs and vortexes between the rotting construction equipment. Toha told them all about this place, every little nook and cranny where one could hide in and where the best artefacts were located. While they travelled, they kept an eye out for anything useful, and inside a wrecked Niva Boris found a shotgun repair kit. Dima found a set of advanced tools on top of a large trailer, which he planned to sell to Polymer later on. Rest of the things were mostly of little use, some old ammunition, armour parts, foodstuffs that still seemed edible enough, and mutant droppings, which were definitely not edible.

• Damn, look at that. Looks like pseudogiant shit, Toha commented on a particularly large specimen.

• Thanks for the info, professor, but I could have lived without it too, Dima mocked, getting a chuckle out of Boris. Toha shrugged, saying it would be good to know if a pseudogiant was laying in ambush for them.

• Oh yes, gotta watch out for those sneaky pseudogiants, a real shame this one was given away by its shit, Dima continued sarcastically, and Toha kicked the droppings towards him, missing by a little.

• Alright you kids, let's calm down before we actually get surprised by a giant, Boris ordered, not showing his amusement at the two stooges.

They continued on, passing by the Bus Furrow anomaly, which was essentially like a wound in the skin of Truck Cemetery. According to a rumour, it had been created by a massive moving anomaly that appeared one day and ripped the ground apart, disappearing and leaving only anomalies behind, but this rumour was started by bandits and knowing their drug use habits, it was most likely a hallucination.

Toha led them through the Zealot's Maze anomaly field as well, knowing the safe route by heart. There they passed a exoskeleton-wearing corpse in Monolith colours, the Zealot mentioned in the title of the anomaly field. Despite the fact that anomalies shifted after emissions, there were always too many anomalies around that one particular body that no one had managed to strip the body of its valuable armour, and thus the name stuck. Boris' Svarog started beeping and he pulled it out, seeing a speck on the screen not far from where he was standing. An artefact. It seemed to be in a difficult spot, wedged between two vortexes, but it could be quite valuable.

• It's been quite some time since I hunted artefacts but there seems to be one right there. Should we fetch it, Boris asked his companions and they nodded. Gravitational anomalies are particularly gruesome if triggered, but much easier to avoid than the infamous Burners.

Boris started inching his way towards the artefact, tossing bolts as he went. The Svarog might be the best detector around, but you could never be too careful in the Zone. Toha and Dima kept watch, keeping their weapons peeled on even the slightest movement. Boris was nearing the artefact, making it appear in the daylight when he got nearby. A Goldfish. It pulsated with a green glow, levitating slowly over the ground. Almost in range to grab it, Boris decided to play it safe and toss one more bolt.

The bolt flew across the air, landing on top of the artefact and making it spin a few centimetres backwards. This was enough to trigger the vortex anomaly, which sucked the artefact into itself, making it spin like it was inside a blender, and after more revolutions than France had had in its history, the anomaly spit out the artefact, sending it flying away from Boris. It spun across the air, disappearing from visible light as artefacts did when not influenced by the detectors, and a audible thump could be heard behind one of the trucks nearby.

• Blyat, Boris cursed, annoyed to no end.

• You want to go after it? Dima shouted from where he was standing.

• I think it went far from the anomaly field. Let's clear the field and check if we can find it, Toha said, and Boris returned to them. They navigated the clusters of humming anomalies easily and stepped off the danger zone.

• Huh, good thing that's over. The humming gives me a headache, Toha sighed, relieved, and Dima gave an approving grunt. Boris was already walking to where the artefact had landed in, squeezing through a narrow gap between two Ural trucks. He pulled out the Svarog and the artefact materialized in front of his eyes, showing up in the corridor between the lines of vehicles. Boris cleared the gap and was reaching for the artefact when saw something big appear at the corner of his eye, moving fast.

A pseudogiant roared at him, so close that drops of saliva landed on his helmet lens. Boris leaped on top of the nearest truck as the massive creature slammed its leg down, creating a wave of sheer destructive energy around it. The truck shook a bit from it, but Boris managed to stay on top of it and begun firing his Fort into it. While buckshot could not penetrate its thick back hide, it did remarkable damage to the creature's front, sending pieces of skin and muscle flying. The giant wailed in agony and rushed towards the truck. Boris, not wanting to overstay his welcome, jumped out from the top of it and begun running towards the Zealot's Maze. Dima and Toha gave him fire support, but it barely scratched the mutant's hide.

Boris made it inside the anomaly field, his idea being to trap the monster into it. He focused solely on the Svarog and the bolts moving forward, not at the beast roaring behind him. Toha and Dima seemed to understand what his plan was, and ceased firing, as their round had seemed to only anger the behemoth more. Behind him, Boris could hear one of the anomalies trigger. The giant's screams turned from rage to surprise and finally to panic, and Boris turned to look. It was a mistake, the massive body of the mutant had taken air inside the anomaly and in seconds, it imploded, showering Boris with blood, guts and pieces of meat.

• So, what did I say about them ambushing pseudogiants?, Boris could hear Toha say in the distance.