Chapter LXXI: Stranger Danger

 Deep down the road of Forest Highway, not far from the entrance to Truck Cemetery, lays a small village buried underneath heavy vegetation. Ancient oaks and birches cover the rotting roofs and walls of its houses, and its former occupants have long forgotten its name. Today, its inhabitants consist only of a few bloodsuckers and Zombified stalkers. How the poor husks got here is not known, but for Hip, it was not important. What was however was the fact that they had now encircled her in the attic of an old cottage.

She had woken up here roughly hour ago. The Alpha Karlik had done a number on her brain, conjuring up regrets of the past and spectres of vengeance. Not a pleasant experience for sure, and to top it all off, she had fired plenty of ammunition at the ghosts before blacking out. Somehow, Hip had ended up to this forgotten village, avoided the brainscorched outside and lost her conciousness at the attic. Now, all she had was her trusty Bizon shotgun, a Stetchkin APS pistol and a NR-40 scout blade alongside two mags of 9x18mm and a roughly 15 rounds of buckshot. Not great, not terrible.

Outside, the husks of former stalkers moaned and groaned as they searched the derelict buildings for her. She was trespassing on their land and only punishment was death. From the cracks in the roof and walls, Hip could see that there was at least 20 or 30 of them here. The floorplanks below creaked, and Hip readied her shotgun. If this was the end, she'd at least make sure to take as many of them with her as she could.

First mutated human appeared at the top of the stairs, only to receive a barrel-full of pellets. Its brain matter splashed across the wall and the headless corpse collapsed down the stairs. Element of surprise was gone. Hip ran to the stairs, blasted another barrel down it, causing another zombie to stagger. Reloading two red shells into the gun, she slipped through a hole in it onto the roof. The sea of empty humans waved below, and Hip emptied both barrels into them, not even bothering to use the Leopold scope at this range. A swarm of angry bullets bounced off the roof or buried their way into the steel plates there, but none hit Hip who was already retreating to the other side.

The zombies were taken by surprise as Hip opened fire with her shotgun on the other side of the building, killing two and part of the pellets wounding a third. The third one fell to the floor and started to convulse like almost mortally wounded husks often did. There was four more Zombified, three noticing Hip and starting to fire at her, fourth staring blankly at a wall.

• Nowhere to go now but forward, Hip muttered to herself briefly and jumped down, switching to her APS and knife as she went.

Close by, two figures marched down the road. Boris was following the stranger he had met earlier that day, called Kolovrat. Despite the man's odd behaviour and manners, Boris felt it best to use his knowledge of the area. Situations in which Boris felt like he was in uncharted territory were rare, but this forest made him uneasy. Still, one wrong move and Boris would end the trechcoat-wearing forest dweller, his RPD was loaded and ready for anything.

Gunshots from the village alerted Boris, who raised his eyes from the man's back for a few seconds. Ahead was a sign of the village, but only a few letters remained, the teeth of time having been sinked into the wood of the sign for far too long.

• I assume that is one of your friends? Not many travel these parts anyway, shall we investigate?, Kolovrat croaked and turned to look at his companion. Boris nodded hastily.

The two men raced towards the source of the gunshots, and from under his jacket Kolovrat pulled out a MP-7 submachine gun. The smokestacks of the cottages came to the view first, and soon the hordes of former humans as well. They were diverging towards the town centre, their pitiful wailing in unison turning them into a choir of despair.

• Tread carefully, stalker, there are radiation hotspots here. Wouldn't want to soak your skin in that stuff, Kolovrat whispered to Boris.

Boris raised his machine gun, using the increased strength of the exoskeleton to hold it in one hand while he pulled out a fragmentation grenade. None of the husks had spotted them yet, fixated on the source of the gunfire and cries of pain. Boris looked at Kolovrat and the two shared a nod. The wild glee in the stranger's eyes worried Boris, as if he was barely keeping his enthusiasm contained. Boris pulled out the grenade pin and tossed it across the yard. It rolled at the feet of the Zombified, prompting a few confused looks from the most attentive husks.

A blinding explosion shook the ground, and with the horde staggered, it was time for a speech from the RPD. The hail of bullets sunk deep into the husks, killing many. Kolovrat's MP-7 fired a short burst after another, killing former soldiers and stalkers one by one. The survivors shambled towards the two men, firing their rusty and broken weapons as fast as they could in wild abandon. Bullets whizzed past Boris' head, sunk into the dirt and mud around him or dented his battleplate. Nothing could pierce the mighty Nosorog however, and Boris kept returning fire until no husks remained standing.

Holstering his RPD, its barrel red hot, Boris took out the FNX pistol and walked among the corpses. Each wriggling survivor received a .45 ACP bullet to the head, ending their suffering once and for all. For each death, Boris said a short but emotional prayer. Kolovrat followed him keenly, much less unseremoniously firing a few bursts at the zombies Boris had missed.

• Odd behaviour for a stalker, why waste your breath for some maggots, Kolovrat asked arrogantly.

• They were stalkers like you and me, Kolovrat, they deserve our compassion for what they've gone through, Boris said, anger in his voice. Kolovrat's scathing tone had seemed rather ruthless to him.

• Oh believe you me, son, those husks were never anything like me, and I don't have a morsel of compassion for those who manage to get their brains scrambled.

• What do you mean, anything like you? Who are you exactly? A bandit? Monolith?

• Bah, stop babbling away and go find that friend of yours, we got a lucky break from the Zombified but more will come.

Boris wanted to argue, but Kolovrat was partially right. He needed to find out if it was Hip, Anton or Mark who had been firing earlier, and only way to find out was to head to the village centre. He gave one last angry and hesitant glance at the man before turning around. Suddenly, a psi-blast came out of nowhere, hit him at full force and scrambled his brain.

Before Boris knew what was happening, his knees gave up under him and he collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. His eyes started to water and he lost his focus, everything turning blurry and fuzzy. His head pounded with pain and darkness seeped to the edges of his vision. Everything seemed to take a yellow tinge, and his entire body from ribs to knees felt like it was being crushed by invisible weights.

• Weakling just like everyone else. You'll be good meal for my friends, a voice spoke inside his head. It had the guttural sound of a controller, but it was mixed with Kolovrat's croaking dialect.

• What the fuck are you?, Boris managed to groan out, turning to face the stranger.

He watched in horror as the man was no longer there. Kolovrat had transformed into a controller, still wearing the long dark trenchcoat as before. He had a patch on the coat's arm, one that had been concealed before, depicting a man with glowing ball over his head and some letters which Boris in his weakened state couldn't make out. He tried to raise his pistol, but an invisible force kept his hand down as if it was turned into stone.

• I am the next step in evolution. Unlike the slaves of Monolith, the zealots of Sin and the mindless creatures of other factions, I am one with the Zone and the Zone flows through me, giving me unlimited power. You're but an ant to me, and all you deserve is death, Kolovrat hissed and extended his arm, a familiar ringing filling Boris' ears.

Boris could feel the nature-bending powers gather at Kolovrat's hand, preparing to be unleashed. His eyes filled with murderous glee, but just as he, it, was ready to unleash the psi-blast, a shot rang out and one of the man-beasts fingers was cut off by a bullet. The finger fell to the ground, leaving a blood-spurting wound behind. Kolovrat watched the empty spot on his hand with horror and then raised his gaze to the shooter. Hip was standing at the edge of the yard, holding her APS high. She pressed the trigger once more, but the gun clicked and the case was lodged badly in the chamber. Hip cursed, and Kolovrat raised his other hand to direct a blast at her.

Boris felt the pressure on him weaken, and in a swift movement he lunged his pistol up and emptied the entire magazine at the transformed controller. Kolovrat screamed in pain and released a undirected psi-blast towards all of the village, making Boris and Hip stagger backwards. Gravely wounded, the creature limped into the forest, using the darkness and mists to cover his tracks while his human opponents regained their composure.

• What the hell was that?, Hip managed to stammer, her head heavy with dizziness.

Boris shook his head. Yet another horror of the Zone had been released upon them.