Chapter CVI: Land of the Giants

 On the plain just outside the gate leading into the enigmatic and sinister Generators area, two figures stood out in the mist. A Sin Castigator, in his bent, broken and bloodied battleplate, lay on the grass, a puddle of his lifeblood soaking into the hungry dirt. Over him, a towering stalker in his crimson and ebon painted Nosorog raised a matte-black Tokarev, pointing at the Sinner's head.

• Kill me, then, Dutyer, it makes no difference. My brothers fell for a cause, and so will I. No matter how long you seek to follow Sin, you will never catch us until it is too late, the Sinner spat, drops of blood escaping his lips.

• This is getting stale. Every time I beat one of you assholes, you still have the energy to gloat. I don't have time for this though, Boris replied and fired twice.

The fanatical follower of Chernobog twitched twice and stiffened. Boris holstered his gun and turned to face the rest of his faction streaming down the hill, Dima leading them on. He had done great today, which made Boris feel a tinge of pride in his captain. The former mercenary had been a broken and rage-fueled man when they met, but was now a skilled leader. Both of them had learned so much, and without each other they'd probably lay in some unmarked grave somewhere in this hellscape of an area.

• Another Castigator? And here I was trying to be all high and mighty over killing one, Dima commented as he reached Boris and his squad.

• This one barely had three men to guard him. Was dressed in some fancy-ass armour that sure must've been a treat to wear but couldn't last under the fire. Nothing like the Absolver, Boris replied, tapping his dented MASKA helmet and grinning.

• I'll take my SEVA over that walking scrapyard any day of the week, thank you very much, Dima said, frowning while looking at the Absolver from head to toe.

• Your loss buddy. But now, gentlemen, shall we finish this fight?, Boris replied, sliding his Tokarev back to its holster.

The Redemption and allied force cheered despite being exhausted, showing their willingness to see this through. Boris kicked the gate open and his troops followed, into the Generators, to finally end Sin and their madness. They travelled through forest road that had seen few boots outside of those worn by lunatics and brainwashed puppets, their feet thumping defiantly forward into the heartland of Sin and Monolith. In the distance, an eerie pillar of pure electricity rose towards the sky, reminded them of their mission.

• What do you think awaits us there?, Sanyok asked quietly, walking right behind Boris and Dima.

• Kruglov and Stitch were pretty vague, but apparently the area is crawling with Sin, Monolith and very dangerous mutants. Still, I believe we have thinned Sin's herd enough that a breakthrough could be possible, Boris replied.

• And we haven't heard from them in... What, two days now? Damn, I thought we were in this suicide mission together but apparently they're too good to answer to us, damn snobs, Dima commented.

• Or they're all dead, Mark said, cheery as always.

• That too. In which case we'll have to find a way to blow the generator sky high or sabotage it somehow, Boris explained.

• What's with you and blowing up every piece of the Zone infrastructure?, Dima asked snarkily.

• Hey, need I remind you that it was your job to blow up the thing in Limansk?, Boris retaliated, amused.

• You didn't have a chopper on your ass!, Dima protested.

• Alright kids, I think we're here, stop squabbling like old babushkas and get ready, Anton commented, tinge of humour in his voice.

The Generators are the heart of evil. Even if the Zone may not be a malificent entity, but the Generators do its reputation no favours. It is twisted earth, the spherical generators resting in the middle of it having turned the ground beneath them into nightmarish shapes. Anomalies awaited hidden beneath the ground or swirling in the air, waiting to be triggered by an unsuspecting stalker or mutant. But worst of all is that the place is quite literally the heart of the storm. The cataclysmic, almost apocalypic emissions, are a common occurence, and nowhere are they as powerful as at the source. Very few stalkers have ever made it here, much fewer made it out alive.

The stalkers of Redemption marvelled at the otherworldy sight for a minute or so, watching the releases of energy mesmerized. Boris snapped out of his childish wonder first, and barked orders to secure a perimeter of sorts. Soon Toha reported that there was a hamlet of sorts nearby, and the Redemption task force took cover there while waiting to hear from their allies. Bellowing of monsters came from further down the hill, but it was yet unclear whether or not they had been spotted. While painful minutes crawled by, waiting for a message from Kruglov or Strelok, Boris and Dima took positions on top of the cottage and observed the ground ahead.

• There's a pseudogiant there... And I think I see a chimera. Next to that tree on the hill?, Dima whispered.

• I see two pseudos, seemingly in the middle of a territory clash. And yeah, looks like a chimera. First time I spotted one before it spotted me, Boris murmured back.

• There's even more pseudogiants heading towards the ruckus the two are making. Borov's balls, I count at least seven more...

• What the fuck are we supposed to do to them?, Boris asked, afraid by the sheer numbers of the massive beasts.

• I have no idea. The chimera alone is a grave threat, but nine goddamn pseudogiants? One alone needed our squad's whole firepower in Red Forest.

• Anomalies maybe? If we can lure the bastards into them?, Boris replied, puzzling the dilemma in his head.

• Could work, could at least save us some bullets for later. But where to lead them?

Boris shook his head, he did not know. This was truly uncharted territory. Never had he seen this many massive beasts in one spot, pseudogiants were usually solitary creatures. Not only was this place the birthplace of emissions, but it apparently was also the centre of pseudogiant breeding activity. For a second Boris' thoughts strayed into exactly how that worked, but the thought almost made him vomit and he quickly turned back to more pressing and less nauseating manners.

Leva came down the hill and climbed on top of the house as well, panting as he crawled to the two commanders. Boris raises his eyebrow at the Redeemed, and Leva explained that there was a graveyard full of gravitational anomalies up the hill. They had run into a controller, but thankfully Mark's excellent and most importantly silent sniper fire had dispatched it before it could take over Leva's and Toha's minds. Boris looked at Dima, and saw a glint of maleficent glee lit up in his friends eyes. The trap was found, now the bait would have to follow. They got off the roof and gathered the men of Redemption.

• We scanned the perimeter ahead, and found nine pseudogiants. Yes, nine. More fatasses down there than in army high command, and they're between us and the Sin's magical thingamajing emission machine. So here's the plan. We'll lure the buggers up the hill into the gravitational anomaly hotspot, and hopefully dispatch them without going bankrupt from ammo usage, Dima explained to the men, many of them almost slamming their jaws on the floor upon hearing of the nine giants.

• Mark and Anton, I've got another job for you guys. There's also a chimera down there, and I need you guys to hunt it down. My guys are good at killing humans, but none of them have tangled with many chimeras, Boris said to the two free stalkers once the Redeemed had begun to prepare for the baiting process.

• Fine by me. I've got my hammer ready, Mark said, and Boris looked on his belt where an old hammer sat, the heavy end of it hued in dried crimson.

The two loners disappeared into the foliage, Mark leading the way to the hunt. Boris watched them go, sending a quick prayer above that he had not sent them to their doom. They both were so close, Mark to finding out what happened to Theo, and Anton to getting back home to his wife and kid. If they died now, Boris would never forgive himself. Sanyok interrupted his thoughts as he came to inform Boris that the men were ready. Boris nodded to him absent-mindedly, until the sergeant snapped his fingers in front of his face.

• Listen boss, we need you focused. The giants are already bad enough, but look at that Generator thing. We need to stop it, and to do so we need our best fighter in the game, Sanyok said demandingly.

• Yes. You're right. Thank you. It's just... The stakes keep getting higher, yet good men keep dying. It's hard as hell.

• I know, Boris, trust me I know. But I also know that when that happened to me in Limansk, it was because of my failures. You haven't failed us, and I know you won't. I haven't been with your crew for long, but I will follow you to hell and back if need be, Sanyok said, his voice steady.

• Well, my guess is that hell won't feel too bad after this place. But let's not find out today. Thanks Sanyok, I needed that. But now, time to kill us some big boys, Boris said, having regained his confidence, and Sanyok grinned back.

Redemption is an interesting mishmash of personalities. During the battles against Sin, the cool, calm and collected ex-mercenaries have had the stage, but this time, the somewhat "colourful" characteristics of the former bandits and renegades could truly shine. The idea was to get the mutants so pissed off that they would follow them to their death, blinded by rage. And there is one thing that bandits and renegades excel at above all else, pissing people off.

• ANUU CHEEKI BREEKI IV DAMKE, Vityukha and Toha screamed at the giants while firing at their direction wildly.

The mutated beasts got startled for a second, but then a stampede of muscle and bone started rolling towards the two Redeemed. They begun to spring, passing a pond that probably was swimming with all sorts of nasty diseases, and the mutant horde followed. The other members of Redemption raked the mutants with bullets, Orlov's SVT hitting one of them in the eye. The wounded mutant roared in agony, and the army of titans rushed forward, bellowing and snarling as they went. Toha and Vityukha dodged anomalies, lunged forward and rolled out of the way of the beast's slam and headbutt attacks.

• Boris, how about you guys actually start harassing these guys instead of sitting on your asses?, Vityukha screamed, avoiding another howling charge from a giant.

• Fine, it was pretty fun to watch though! Forward boys, let's distract the big lads!, Boris commanded, and Redemption obeyed.

They performed a swooping charge, first striking the beast's side and then turning back to lead them into the anomaly field. One of the giants fell to concentrated fire, but was soon turned to into mincemeat by the others stomping over its corpse. Boris shuddered at the sight while switching a new magazine into his M16. These things took hell of a beating to go down, but at least Toha and Vityukha had managed to escape the wrath of the giants bar one, which followed them stubbornly. The familiar sound of rushing air combined with a surprised welp of a massive creature told Boris even over the gunfire that the beast had ran into a vortex. Two down, seven more to go.

Dima ran between two beasts, nimbly avoiding their swipes and turning rapidly to avoid an anomaly. The mutants followed, but being much larger, one got trapped into a whirligig, suffering a quick and seemingly painful death. The other behemoth lumbered on, fixated on the lone Redeemed who kept tossing bolts ahead and making rapid steps out of the way of anomalies. The others were similarly trying to bait the mutated monstrosities while avoiding anomalies, and Boris himself was in the midst of a highly dangerous cat and mouse with a nasty-looking giant. It roared and spat on the Redemption leader, close enough for Boris to feel its warm breath in his neck. But the beast itself was not what Boris focused on. Bolt by bolt he navigated the treacherous boneyard, avoiding graves that with a single misstep could have stored his bones just the same.

He felt the beast prepare to lunge forward, trying to hit Boris with its massive skull which would cause broken bones and internal bleeding at the slightest. Boris breathed in, tossed a bolt to his side and turned to face the beast. No anomaly on his left, one right behind him. This was his chance. The enormous creature came at him with frightening speed, and on the last possible moment the Redemption leader jumped out of the way. The giant tried to stop, but it was too late. Sucked into the anomaly, it struggled to get out, only to be raised over the ground by an invisible force. In its last moments, the monster let out a bellowing warcry, which ended abrupty when the Zone's immense energies ripped it apart, tearing both flesh and bone alike.

• Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, Boris muttered before turning to watch the carnage unfold around him.

Toha and Vityukha had returned, helping Leva take down one of the gigantic mutants by raking it with gunfire. It finally fell to Leva's accurate shot. Orlov and Sanyok were dueling another abomination, baiting and switching with it, luring it slowly into a situation it could not escape from. Boris watched their cooperation with pride, seeing Sanyok deal the final blow by making a snap turn out of an anomaly's way. This turned to horror for Boris however, as Sanyok was sucked into the anomaly as well, the giant and the stalker trying to push out of it. Orlov looked in shock at the sight, while Sanyok screamed for help.

The swirling quirk of nature was coming close to the stage where it would slam the two unwilling participants to the ground. That was when the giant, disoriented and swinging its limbs wildly, managed to hit Sanyok, pushing him just outside the anomaly the second it smashed the giant into bits. Sanyok went airborne and landed on his chest, the anomaly having torn most of his suit to unusable condition. In seconds, Orlov had stepped next to him to help the confused and badly beaten stalker up. Boris ran up to them to provide cover from the two remaining giants. His M16 joined Dima's Val and together they finished off another mutant, aiming for its weakpoints in the eyes. The bullets managed to bypass the creature's thick skull and struck into the brain behind the sockets. The giant groaned, rose up to its full height and tumbled down. Dust and dirt flew out of its way as it breathed out for the last time.

• You okay?, Boris asked from Sanyok now that the immediate threat was dealt with. Dima led the others into a head-on attack against the last giant.

• Been better. That fall knocked out all air in my lungs, I feel like shit. And my suit, look at this, cost me a fortune this Berill..., Sanyok replied, his voice croaky and hoarse.

• We'll get you a new one, but in the meantime I think Vityukha has a spare Sunset suit you can borrow. But that AK-5 of yours..., Orlov said.

He was looking into the anomaly, where a green assault rifle had been turned into scrap metal. Sanyok glanced there as well, then shrugged before replying:

• Oh well, I have a better rifle back home, my beautiful AK-104 chambered for Dragunov rounds. Although we're a long way from Dead City.

• No shit, Orlov chuckled.

The other Redeemed had finished off the last giant, concentrating their fire as much as they could. With the final threat dealt with, they returned to Boris. Dima lit up a victory cigarette, although adrenaline made it hard for him to operate the lighter. Stepukha opened a bottle of vodka and begun to share it with Toha and Leva.

• Well, I've seen some roaylly stupid plans from you Boris, but this takes the cake, he mocked.

• Hey, if it's stupid but it works, it ain't stupid, Boris replied.

• Guess who use that sentence a lot? Stupid people.

• Alright kids, calm down again. Sanyok, you okay? That was some hardcore escape you pulled off, Vityukha asked.

• As I said, yes, just dizzy. No need to do a full-body scan, Doc.

• Hey, somebody needs to take care of the health around here, since you lot seem content on not doing so, Vityukha replied, pointing his words at Dima and Stepukha particularly, receiving a smirk from both.

• So, what do we do next?, Orlov asked.

• Might I suggest not making a ruckus that everyone could hear all the way in Pripyat? We're trying to perform a stealthy operation here, came a voice from behind them. Boris turned quickly and saw the familiar face of Major Tarasov.

• Tarasov? Hell, we thought you were gone for. Where the hell are the others?, Boris asked quickly, and Tarasov's face darkened.

• The whole mission went to hell pretty quickly... Come, follow me and I'll explain.