• Published 5th Sep 2012
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See the Zone and Survive - RoadRunneR



Two veteran stalkers help out the celestial alicorn princess, lost in the Zone and almost completely stripped of her magic. One thing leads to another and adventure happens, whether they want it or not.

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Chapter 12: We All Are Monsters

Chapter 12
We all are Monsters

Strider scratched the back of his buzz-shaven head. “The Colonel? Angel of Death?” asked my beloved, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t really like that nickname,” I added.

Vano cringed. “Me neither, considering that was a Nazi zealot who bore it first.”

“Well we’re not all history buffs like you big guy, I think that's alright,” shrugged Degtyarev, walking up to Vano, arms open. “How are you doing my friend?” he jovially asked, hugging my tall friend, giving him a pat on the back in the process.

“Got new gear, a new friend and a somewhat chaotic relationship with Snag over there; I managed to stay alive, so by the Zone’s standards I’m great!” replied Vano, returning the gesture. “But how about you my good friend?”

“I’ve been promoted to Colonel but I still get to wander the Zone as a ‘military observer’, and I also get to test neat new weapons the guys in Kiev come up with.”

“New weapons?” I asked, excited at the prospect of more technological wonders.

Degtyarev let out a chuckle. “Ohohoho, yes. Look at that,” he said, producing a strange-looking rifle from his back the gun looked like it was made in two parts: a sleek looking barrel attached to a normal-looking bullpup rifle. “The IMR, or Infantry Marksman Railgun mark 3,” he announced, kneeling in front me and letting me have a good look on it. “You remember my Gauss rifle you were dying to try, Strider?”

“How could I have forgotten the accuracy and the power of that thing,” replied my lover with a chuckle. “Even my new rifle pales in comparison. It had it’s issues though.”

Degtyarev nodded. “Yeah, the ammo was fuckexpensive, it was bulky because of the electronics needed to control the coils and the barrel had to be changed every ten or so reloads because of the wear from friction and heat,” he recalled with a dreamy expression, before grinning. “So they dropped the whole ‘coil’ thing and went in another direction, choosing to develop antigrav railguns instead. All the electrical bits are powered by Flash-powered batteries, just like the ones used to power exosuits,” he explained, holding up a what looked like a standard exoskeleton battery.

“How did they get past the barrel wear then?” I asked with a doubtful frown.

“By getting rid of the bloody thing,” laughed Degtyarev.

“How?”

“That’s where the ‘antigrav’ part comes into play: Gravi,” simply answered Degtyarev. “Carefully cut fragments of the artifact are disposed all around the silicon carbide rails of the gun so the bullets never makes contact with any of them but the space is so small that the air turns into ionised plasma and conducts the electricity. Anti-gravity artifacts are pretty nifty.”

I oohed in appreciation. “And what does it shoot?”

Degtyarev laughed. “You’ll never believe it.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Go on,” I insisted.

“7.62x39mm,” announced the Colonel, holding up a decent-sized bullet with a steel casing. “The engineers of the Kiev polytechnic institute needed a reliable enough launching mechanism in a compact platform and a big enough bullet to benefit from the explosive effect impacts at hyper velocities have. So they took an old AKM from the closet, made it bullpup and modified it so it can fit all the electronic gizmos,” he explained, showing the exoskeleton-type battery in its slot under what looked like the barrel not of the rifle, but of the railgun. “After being launched by the conventional rifle, the bullet is stabilized by the artifact fragments, keeping it at equal distance between the two electromagnetic rails that then propel it. Ain’t that cool?”

“Whoa. That’s incredible,” I gawked. “And all of this, without magic…”

“Did I hear magic?” came a new voice.

We turned in the direction from which the voice had come from. A lean, middle aged man with a brown mane- hair, a thin face, a goatee, rectangular glasses and a lab coat was standing in the doorway, holding what looked like a notepad in his hands.

“My name’s Hermann,” said the man, offering his hand to me, “Scientist for the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and researcher in anomalous phenomenons. I have heard of your abilities and suffice to say that I am very curious.”

“Strider, stalker and freelance assassin.” answered my lover with a frown, putting himself between the scientist and myself before I could reply, grabbing the man’s hand. “And very curious about who you heard of her from and who the Mercs guarding this bunker work for,” he added.

“What do you mean?” asked the scientist. “They work for me and are only here to protect the bunker".

After a short moment, Strider let go of the scientist’s hand and slowly took a step back. “Are you sure about that?” he suspiciously asked, leaning against the wall next to him.

“I can vouch for them,” interrupted Degtyarev.

Strider seemed to deflate at that. “Oh. Okay.”

"What’s the story anyway?” asked the Colonel. "I know that most Mercs aren't nice to stalkers, but I feel there's something else at play here."

“We’re wanted dead by some Mercs,” deadpanned Snag. “Shit’s hit the fan.”

Degtyarev brought a hand to his chin, a pensive expression on his face. “I see. At the very least, you won’t have to worry about the Mercs guarding the bunker. As I said, I can vouch for them, they are good guys and I hired them personally. They don’t want anything to do with other groups of Mercenaries roaming the Zone,” he explained.

Hermann huffed. “Indeed, Hatchet and his group are polite and quite nice, unlike his predecessors.”

The Colonel rolled his eyes. “Tell me about it, they were even working for Jackal. Should have killed the bastard instead of Serbin.”

“Wait, Jackal?!” Strider, Vano and I asked in unison.

“Yeah, a Merc at the head of a large and powerful Mercenary force,” explained the Colonel. “He’s the reason why Stalkers avoid Pripyat.”

“Then that’s where we’re headed,” growled Strider. “We have to end this once and for all.”

“Are you out of your mind?!” asked the Colonel. “His faction have almost completely driven the Monolithians out of the dead city!” yelled the Colonel.

Strider stood up, a scowl on his face. “If it were only for me, I would let them come and kill me. I was alone before, it would not have mattered in the end. But now anymore. I have friends, I even found someone to love in this shithole. I care for them and thanks to them, believe I stand a chance. I am not going to give up or run away!”

The Colonel raised his hands in the air, clearly exasperated. “But you’d need your own private army to face his might!”

Strider pursed his lips. “I shall make one then.”

There was a moment of silence.

The Colonel and the rookie stood there, slack-jawed. Snag tilted his head to the side. Herman’s notepad clattered on the metallic floor with a thud.

"What!?"

Vano scratched his beard. “That’s actually a very good idea. With that little stunt you pulled with the pseudogiants, you two should have enough cred to gather a few followers,” he analyzed. “Besides, we wiped out the bandits from Zaton, I bet we could earn a little following easily enough. From there, we could strengthen and expand. We will have some logistics problems in the beginning though.”

“Problems like?” I merely asked, trying to steer the conversation towards calmer pastures.

The giant shrugged. “Finding a suitable homebase, for starters.”

“That- that would be easy enough. Our hideout in the Jupiter factory can be enlarged and we could even take over the whole compound. First drive off the mutants, then make the buildings liveable,” proposed Strider, still recovering from his outburst.

“Sounds reasonable enough,” Vano admitted. “But we’ll have other problems, like resupplying.”

“Wait wait wait,” interrupted Snag. “Are you guys for real? I mean, the Colonel and you were ready to jump at each other’s throat and then…? Don’t tell me you guys are seriously considering this option. I mean, really? A fucking faction?”

“We will see,” replied Strider. “All in due time. Right now we have others things to do.”

“Such as?” asked Hermann, picking up his notepad. “I have to say, the reason for your appearance here eludes me. Are you looking for a job or have business with Novikov perhaps?”

“Well, you said you were curious about my abilities,” I replied with a smirk.


I was sitting next to Celestia, idly petting her cyan mane, thinking about what I had said earlier. Both of us had taken off our amors and we were sitting on an old operating table in the main lab of the bunker, waiting for Hermann to come back with his colleagues.

In the meantime, Vano, Degtyarev and the others had taken off for Yanov station, saying they would pass rumors about my intent to found a faction, though I suspected they had left primarily because they knew they were going to be bored.

I, on the other hand, was too preoccupied to be bored.

First step: establish a base in Jupiter, recruit some followers... already in motion. No doubt Vano and Rookie will accept. Maybe Snag too. I will have to ask Celestia if she wants to be part of that project… but what would be her place though?

After that, resupply. I will have to ask Degtyarev if he can help us out. Yeah, I guess it is possible. Now how about a name for that faction?

“Strider?” called my alicorn, a hint of worry in her voice. “Are you alright? You’ve been staring at this wall the whole time.”

“I am quite well,” I assured her with a smile. “I was thinking about this whole faction business.”

“I sounds like it’s something you always wanted to do,” she observed.

I sighed. “You have no idea. A few months ago, I tried to start my own thing with my former squadmates but it did not work. They preferred to stay in Duty instead.”

The metal door to the lab opened and Hermann entered the room, followed by two other men clad in lab coats I had not seen before.

“Sorry for making you wait,” apologized Hermann. “My colleagues took a while to convince that a talking equine was in the Zone, let alone in our bunker. This is Ozersky,” he said, gesturing towards a balding man with round glasses.

“Pleased to meet you,” said Ozersky.

“...and this is Novikov,” finished Hermann, pointing at another man, burlier than them and sporting a beard that could almost rival Vano’s.

“You can call me Grey,” he said in a gravelly voice. “I’m the technician here.”

Celestia and silently I nodded to each of them in acknowledgement.

“So, how about these tests?” joyously asked Hermann, rubbing his hands together.

“Yeah, how about them?” responded Celestia in an apprehensive tone. “Please tell me it won’t be painful.”

“Oh nononono, do not worry little one,” assured Ozersky. “A few blood samples, electrocardiograms, electroencephalograms and some other tests while you use your ‘magic’ will be enough to begin with. Of course, we might need tissue sample, but you’re the one calling the shots here, we’re not barbarians,” added the scientist.

“And we will follow protocol,” said Hermann. “Judging by how long you stayed in the Zone already, I suppose your immune system is already on par with ours and besides, the airlock at the entry exposed you to a small dose of ultraviolet light and radiation. Any germs you had on you have been neutralized.”

Celestia nodded. “Okay! Let’s get this over with.”

I observed silently as Hermann and Ozersky then proceeded to fit my alicorn with a lot of electrodes, each one wired to machines of unknown purpose that Novikov kept bringing in the lab, one by one. The last machines were some sort of boxes, with a small parabolic antenna on top and a lot of dials which use was unknown to me. I watched curiously as six of them were disposed in pairs around Celestia.

I am sure I saw these devices before… the bandit base in Zaton!

“What are those?” I asked, pointing at the devices.

Novikov smiled. “Three anomaly scanners and three mutant activity scanners,” he explained. “Top of the line scientific equipment, very hard to come by, they are made outside the Zone. I tweaked these ones myself so they are even more sensitive.”

Celestia’s ears perked up. “Can you show me your workshop after that?” she asked, eyes gleaming.

Novikov laughed. “Of course.”

I brought a hand to my chin. “Interesting. What happens next?”

“We ask your… friend here to use her magic, we collect data and we get to work on it after collecting a blood sample from her,” said Hermann, looking up from the machine the electrodes were plugged in.

“I cannot wait to uncover any scientific mysteries she represents!” Ozersky excitedly added.

“We get it Ozersky, you’re excited, but let’s not get ahead of us here,” scowled Hermann. “No tricks like last time.”

The bald scientist awkwardly cleared his throat.

Herman turned towards me. “By the way stalker, I understand you also wanted to be examined?”

I nodded. “Yes. I have a… condition. But it can wait.”

“If you say so,” conceded the scientist. “Gentlemen! are we ready?” he asked his colleagues.

“All’s good for me,” answered Ozersky.

“All the hardware is up and running, waiting for input,” added Novikov.

“Alright! standby for test number Zero Zero One on subject Charlie Papa Alpha!” called Hermann.

Celestia gave me a worried glance. I smiled and replied with a nod, followed by a mouthed kiss. My alicorn took a breath and looked forwards.

“Alright, Celestia. care to pick up this pen?” asked Hermann, placing the object on the floor in front of my alicorn. “Use your... magic.”

Celestia wordlessly nodded and lit up her horn ,the same glow encompassing the pen. Immediately, the scientists turned towards the screens of the monitoring equipment, save for Novikov who was taking photos of the experiment.

“Fascinating…” muttered Ozersky.

“It’s coming from outside…” nodded Hermann.

My alicorn maintained the pen in the air and moved it around before she put the object back on the metallic floor of the room.

I pursed my lips.

Well, that went better than I feared it would.

Hermann picked up the pen and put it in a plastic bag.

“Why are you doing that?” asked Celestia. “My magic is harmless.”

“I want to analyze this pen to see if there is any residual ‘magic’ on it,” replied the scientist. “It could be useful.”

“Fair enough.”

I jumped off the table and knelt next to Celestia. “You did great,” I softly said, petting her mane.

My alicorn gave me a quick kiss. “Thanks.”

“Alright! Subject Charlie Papa Alpha, experiment Zero Zero One is finished,” announced Hermann. “What else can you do?” he asked, turning towards Celestia.

“Back home? Pretty much anything,” replied my alicorn. “Telekinesis, shields, offensive spells, matter manipulation, enchantments… here, I don’t know why but the magical field is much weaker. I can only do basic telekinesis. Even the weight I can lift is drastically reduced.”

Hermann scratched his goatee. “I see. That furthers the theory we extrapolated from the results of this preliminary test. It seems that you use external energy for your magic. This energy is of unknown source yet, but we also measured a drop in natural radiation.”

“Natural radiation?” I asked.

Ozersky turned away from his computer. “Yes. Literally everything emits radiation. Thing is though, when your… partner here called upon her ‘magic’, this residual radiation completely vanished around her, kind of like light vanishes around a black hole.”

Celestia tilted her head to the side. “Interesting.”

Herman placed an old computer screen on the floor in front of Celestia.

“Standby for test Zero Zero One dash One! Load limit test!” he called.

The rest of the testing was fairly similar from this point. Hermann would put something in front of Celestia for her to lift, take measurements and stop the test. The object would be stored away then replaced by something heavier.

So far, my alicorn had managed to lift a desk, a bowling ball, the corpse of a Bloodsucker, bent several spoons, a couple of metal chairs and dented a metal plate by throwing a golf ball at it. She had even managed to lift herself after a lot of concentration.

“See, the way telekinesis works is that you need an anchor and a point of application”, she explained to a very attentive team of scientists. “The easiest way for unicorns is to make themselves the anchor and the object they want to lift the point of application. But if they wanted to lift themselves, they would have to reverse everything, making themselves the point of application and anchor their magic to the ground or something stable from their point of vue. Doing that is much harder and requires both power and practice. I think that’s the most complicated thing I can do here. I don’t want to strain myself, that would have dire consequences, especially in this magic-deprived environment,” she lectured.

“Interesting,” muttered Hermann, avidly taking notes. “Very interesting. Well. I suppose that will be all,” he announced, looking up from his notepad. “I wished we had an X-ray machine or something along those lines to study your anatomy more in detail but we don’t have one, so we just need a blood sample before you go.”

“How do we do this?” asked Celestia.

Ozersky sat down on a chair next to my alicorn and extended a hand. “Show me your leg,” he said. “I’ll shave a small area of hair behind your knee, sanitize and use these,” he explained, showing us a needle and several empty vials. “Don’t worry, they are hospital-grade equipment, never been used.”

I knelt down next to Celestia who nuzzled my arm. “Go for it then.”

Ozersky nodded and proceeded to shave a bit of my alicorn’s coat on her leg, showing the bright pink skin underneath. Once he sanitized the skin with a piece of gauze damped with what smelled like an alcoholic solution, he searched for a vein and inserted the needle once he found one before attaching a first vial to the needle. After three vials, he withdrew the needle and instantly put another piece of gauze on the small hole in the skin that was left and used an adhesive bandage to keep it in place.

“All done,” announced the bearded scientist. “You can go now.”

Celestia shot up and looked at Novikov. “Can you show me your workshop, please?” she asked, fluttering her eyelids.

The technician laughed. “Of course you can. Follow me.”

I could only stare as Celestia walked out of the room, following Novikov and Ozersky. Just before she exited the door, she turned around and winked at me, leaving me perplex.

Okay. What does that mean?

“Alright!” said Hermann, pulling me out of my thoughts, “Your turn. What is the problem?”

I shook my head. “Right. A few days ago, I was injured and Celestia treated me with an artifact. Everything was normal, but then the artifact she was using exploded,” I recalled, producing the remnants of the artifact from my backpack.

Hermann adjusted his glasses and examined one of the blackened shards. “Interesting. It looks similar to specimens that have been drained of their power…” he muttered. “...that happens sometimes. It’s not common but I studied quite a few drained artifacts. I still fail to comprehend what is the problem.”

“Well, I developed a healing factor after I was exposed to the destroyed artifact,” I explained. “I do not know how you intend to get a blood sample from me but it is going to be complicated,” I admitted. I raised a finger. “Oh, also Celestia was holding it in her telekinesis when it exploded.”

“Fascinating,” said the scientist. “Maybe her ‘magic’ interfered with the artifact, overloading it and then draining it of its properties… fascinating. Do you mind if I keep it?” he asked. “You will be paid accordingly of course.”

“Not at all,” I replied. “I also have what Hawaiian called ‘Cobblestone’, two artifacts that apparently lost their power too.”

Hermann nodded. “More drained artifacts? More specimens are always welcome,” he stated. “It’s not uncommon that a stalker drops by with an unknown artifact, most people around here know that we pay a good price for oddities,” he added with a chuckle.

“You are not the only ones,” I growled under my breath.

“Beg pardon?”

I sighed. “We ran into some problems. Some Mercs apparently working for other scientists in the Zone came after us to capture Celestia. They almost succeeded. I shiver just at the idea of what they could have done to her.”

“I see. Whoever they were, these Mercs were not working for us,” assured Hermann. “I have a profound respect for science and ethics. Never would I consider to study a subject against his, her or its will,” he added with disdain. “While Ozersky likes to ignore the rules from time to time, he is a good man. Besides, I would have heard of it if he had. I can vouch for Sakharov and Kruglov too. Like us in this bunker, they are serious researchers and official employees of the Ukrainian ministry of education.”

“So I am looking for a clandestine group?” I asked.

“Most likely.”

I sighed, bumping my head on the wall behind me. “Well, shit. At least I know they must be in Pripyat.”

Hermann frowned. “Pripyat? I would advise you to mount a big group of highly trained stalkers, as it is a deathtrap, home to Mercs and Monolith forces alike,” he warned.

I waved dismissively. “I know. That is precisely why I want to start a faction,” I replied. “I always wanted to do so actually, but never had the occasion… speaking of which, do you know any people I could recruit in this perspective?”

Hermann scratched his goatee. “Well, usually, most people who weren’t Loners were among the ranks of Freedom or Duty,” explained the scientist. “As far as I know, the situation changed recently. Duty and Freedom alike are losing members every day, most of them tired of the pointless struggle the two factions’ conflicting ideologies cause.”

I nodded. “And that means… an opportunity to enroll a lot of stalkers.”

Hermann raised his brow and smirked. “And well trained ones at that,” he agreed. “I would advise you to contact your former squadmates you spoke of to begin with, maybe they would be more inclined to leave Duty now,” he added with a wink.

“Thanks for the advice.”


Novikov leaned over my shoulder, taking a good look at my work. “Whoa,” he commented. “That’s impressive.”

“I know, right?” I asked. “I had this idea when I saw how Strider struggled to keep his new sniper rifle level sometimes. With that, his life will be a whole lot easier.”

“That idea to use an amovible chassis to fit an exoskeleton over a normal suit of armor is pure genius!” praised the technician. “But what’s the most stunning is the fact that you made it work!”

I shrugged. “I’m good with this kind of stuff and I like fiddling with tools and moving parts.”

“Don’t be so modest. Even I would have trouble mixing together these kinds of tech.”

I looked at my ouvrage. It was truly beautiful. I had managed to adapt the exoskeleton I had found on Strider’s armor by modifying the backplate of his armor and mounting the chassis of the power armor on a harness over it, which I took from a parachute. I had replaced the polycarbonate plates and pads protecting the limbs and joints by ones cut out from a sheet of laminated steel intended as spare parts for the bunker itself, allowing me to weld the exoskeleton on them. Suffice to say that adjusting them to prevent any form of chaffing was arduous, but with the right tools and Novikov’s help I was able to perfect the task.

I had also wanted to replace the lightweight armored plates of the bulletproof vest by thicker, heavier titanium plates to increase physical protection, but unfortunately Novikov -while being an expert technician and being able to reprogram the HUD on Strider’s helmet- lacked the materials. Such modifications would have to wait.

“Are you done with the helmet?” I asked.

“Yes, it is completely integrated within the exoskeleton systems, which I updated most of the software, by the way,” replied Novikov. “You would be surprised how better code can make a computerized system more energy-efficient. I also added a wrist-mounted control module wired to the exosuit to monitor its functions with greater detail. After all, a bloated HUD is most detestable.”

“Fair enough,” I conceded. “I think we did a great job,” examining the helmet.

It didn’t appear to have been modified, the feathers I had given to my lover were still at the same place than before, secured by an elastic strap running around the helmet crown. However, upon powering up the piece of headgear, I noticed that the HUD illuminating the eyepiece was slightly different in appearance. It seemed to have additional gauges, most of which were flashing red.

“Why does it looks like it’s malfunctioning?” I asked with a frown.

“Because it’s not connected to the suit,” answered Novikov. “As far as this thing knows, the suit has been destroyed and its user is dead.”

I nodded. “I see. That’s an impressive job.”

The bearded technician smiled. “That it is, little one.”

I laughed. “Believe me, I am far too old for that nickname.”

Novikov raised an eyebrow. “How far exactly?” he curiously asked.

I shrugged. “Somewhere over two thousand years,” I replied, getting back to my work.

I still needed to finish mounting the exoskeleton on my lover’s armor. While the most difficult part -the upper body and the arms- was done, the lower body still had to be attended to. I grabbed an allen key and a Philips screwdriver and got to work

“You cannot be serious,” came Novikov’s voice.

I grunted, looking up from my work. “I am… unfortunately.”

“Over two thousand years old? Do you realize what that means?” asked the technician. “That means you could have been around when the Egyptians were busy building pyramids! Wait, that's not right. More like when Cleopatra... That’s still not possibl-”

Novikov was interrupted by the a commotion coming from the lab. A minute later, the door opened, revealing a disheveled and out of breath Strider.

“Okay… what happened?,” finally asked Novikov.

Strider sat down next to me. “Your guess is as good as mine,” he deadpanned, letting his hand wander through my mane. “After Hermann had finished examining me, he went to see his colleague, leaving me alone. He came back around five minutes later, almost delirious and yelling that you were logically impossible. I managed to calm him down but almost right after that, Ozersky barged into the lab in the same state Hermann was, only this time it’s me he was blabbering about. They were saying things I did not like and were getting agitated so I had to knock out the both of them before anything serious happened.”

I sighed. “Did you really have to do that?” I asked.

My beloved silently nodded and hugged me closer to him, a worried expression on his face.


I sighed and looked at the two unconscious scientists, wondering how I could have let that happen.

After a brief discussion, Novikov and I had dragged them on couches in the room adjacent to the technician’s workshop.

At least they are comfortable now.

“Go back to your friend,” advised Novikov. “She has something for you.”

I raised an eyebrow at the technician’s remark, turned around and went back to the technician’s workshop, where I had seen Celestia fiddling with my suit. At first, I did not like her idea at all, but after seeing her ouvrage, I had to admit I was wrong. She was crafty and resourceful enough to turn a high-quality combat gear into a high-tech, rugged power armor.

I entered the silent workshop. Unsurprisingly, Celestia was holding my modified suit in her telekinesis, examining it with a critical eye, as if she had finished it.

I decided to break the silence. “So?”

My alicorn turned towards me and smiled. “Oh, you’re back!” she joyously exclaimed. “I just finished it. I triple-checked all the welds and circuits. The software has been updated by Novikov and all that’s left is for you to try it out!”

I let out a chuckle. “Alright, dear. Let’s get to it.”

I was presented with what looked like my old suit, only the plates and pads on the limbs had been replaced and there was more bulk to it because of the exoskeleton armature. Celestia then opened the cover of a device on the suit’s left forearm, tapped a sequence on it and the armature opened up with a click before it fell to the ground. My alicorn then unplugged a wire from the same device, which in turn emitted three bips.

“How are Hermann and Ozersky?” she worriedly asked.

“They will have a nasty headache when they wake up,” I replied with a shrug, “which should be in fifteen minutes or so. I know what I am doing.”

The ballistic vest was then taken off of the suit. Instantly, I spotted a few differences. The belt had been modified and now housed a battery along with new artifact containers, and the back had several mounting points sprouting out of the cloth.

I held up the vest and examined it. “Did you… did you use the armored plate as a chassis?” I asked.

Celestia nodded. “Sort of. I modified so I could fit the exoskeleton frame over it and a harness for it, ensuring a tight fit on your torso. The legs use the belt and a hip harness as mounting point and there are several hydraulic actuators linking it to the chassis on your back, making a sort of flexible, powered spine,” she explained. “I know how you like to be mobile and did not want to compromise your movements with a more rigid structure… I just hope that it will be tough enough.”

I whistled in admiratively and put down the armored vest then grabbed the jumpsuit forming the bottom layer of the suit. It looked no different than before except it had some slight padding in some places, probably to be more comfortable with the exoskeleton on.

I nodded in appreciation and quickly put on the jumpsuit: first the legs, then the arms. I zipped it up and took the vest back. After I slipped it on, I put on my boots and turned towards Celestia.

My alicorn was grinning, holding up the exoskeleton itself in her telekinesis. I gave her a smile, shrugged and turned once again, presenting her my back. I felt something being pushed against it, followed by a few clicks and a sudden feeling of heaviness.

I heard Celestia mumble to herself as she secured the belt around my waist, followed by several straps that kept the thing in place. once that was done, my alicorn came around and face me. She gave me a serene smile and focused on gearing me up once again. She started with the legs, using her hooves and mouth instead of her magic much to my surprise. She fastened a strap around each of my boots and a metallic lock welded on the plates above my ankles and the upper part of my calves, securing the bottom part of the legs. Another lock secured my thighs, along with a strap she fastened by pulling it with her mouth, before she stopped briefly at my midsection, only to look up to me and flash me a devious smile.

Nope. Neither the place or the moment.

I awkwardly cleared my throat and shook my head negatively, causing Celestia to pout and flare up her magic, simultaneously fastening all the remaining straps and securing my arms to the exoskeleton armature.

I suddenly felt my left arm being pulled by my alicorn’s telekinesis. When I regained control over the limb, it sported the same device it had seen before, wires plugged in and everything.

I sighed. “Look, this is not the place for this kind of activities, and neither is it the place for that matter,” I softly said, flexing my wrist and checking it for any injuries.

“I know, know, I just need to vent some pressure one way or another. Sex... is just a medium,” sighed my alicorn, looking at the floor. “Ugh. I think I’ll go flying after that.”

I crouched in front of her and put my hand under her muzzle. “We could always make a detour through Kopachy on our way back to Yanov station,” I offered.

“Kopachy?”

“A bunch or ruined houses near Yanov station. Lots of radiation and zombies at every corner. A deathtrap for a Rookie, but a fun shooting gallery for us,” I explained with a grin. “Besides, we could always have our way later.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Celestia replied with a small smile, getting back to her work.

After we triple checked we had not forgotten anything, we decided it was time to try out the power armor. Following my alicorn’s advice, I put the battery in its place on my belt and locked it in place, eliciting a long beeping sound from the suit. I then flicked open the device on my left forearm, only to discover a touch screen with only one button next to it, displaying lines of text that scrolled faster than I could read. After a short while, the screen turned black, only to lit up again, this time showing a sliding button of sorts and a background image picturing a bitten apple.

I recognized that display.

“Wait… did you take Jack’s old PDA?” I asked, incredulous.

“I might have,” innocently replied Celestia. “It’s not like you were going to do anything with it,” she added, rolling her eyes. “You can still use its old functions too, you know. Completely integrated with the suit!”

I let out an impressed whistle. “Very ingenious,” I admitted. “And you did all that in.. what? An hour and a half, maybe two?”

My alicorn pursed her lips. “I had Novikov’s help; he is a very skilled technician. I still have so much to learn!” she beamed. “To think even I thought of myself as the all-knowing princess of Equestria,” she added, somehow punctuating her words with air quotes. “Anyways! Time to start it up!”

I nodded. “Right. What do I have to do?”

“Just unlock the device and launch the application named ‘Control Panel’ then flick the switch from zero to one.”

I did what I was told to, using the ungloved tip of my fingers to browse through the device’s library of applications. Finally, I found the one I needed and started it up, only to flick the quite literal switch the screen displayed then.

Immediately, there was a reaction from my suit. It emitted a loud beep and I heard the electric whine of servomotors coming to life. I moved my arms around and decided to take a step or two. After a few tests, I was pleased with the mobility. Despite being slightly bulkier, this modified suit did not restrain my movements any more than before but this time, I did not even feel weighed down by it.

“Do you like it?” meekly asked Celestia.

“I love it!” I exclaimed, scooping her up and pulling her into a spinning hug. “Thank you so much!”

When I looked at my alicorn, her face was red and her eyes were bulging. “C-c-can’t breathe… exosk-k-” she said in a hacked voice.

I let go of her in surprise, causing her to fall to the ground. When I realized what I had done, I deactivated my power armor and knelt down next to her, worried to death.

“Are you alright?” I anxiously asked.

Celestia cleared her throat. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

“I am sorry,” I apologized. “I am not used to power armor.”

“It’s all good,” reassured my alicorn, pulling me into another hug.

I carefully wrapped her in my arms and let out a relieved sigh. “You are the best thing to ever happen to me, you know that?”

She pulled back and smirked. “Show me then.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Err, I don’t know… here would not be the best idea-”

My alicorn rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I meant, you stupid bald head!” she exasperatedly exclaimed, pulling me into a deep, loving kiss.

I returned the kiss, letting my alicorn dominate for a moment before I gently pushed forwards, as if asking for the permission to take over.

Unfortunately, our makeout session was interrupted as I heard someone clearing his throat. Celestia and I turned towards the source of the disturbance, only to find Novikov standing in the doorway, awkwardly scratching his head.

“Stalker… they are waking up,” he announced.


“Oww… I feel like I’ve been run over by a Pseudogiant,” muttered Hermann, scratching his goatee. “My head hurts… where are my glasses?” he asked, slowly sitting up.

“Screw your glasses, where are mine?” whined Ozersky, holding his balding head.

Novikov shook his head and produced his friends’ glasses from his pockets. “There you go guys,” he said, handing each of them their respective eyewear. “I’m going back to my workshop now, just try to sort out your disputes peacefully.”

The two scientists took the glasses and adjusted them over their noses, before they looked around, before they noticed my beloved, their angry gaze finally stopping on Strider.

There was a pregnant pause where the two scientists looked ready to lunge at my beloved, who kept a neutral expression save for nervously scratching his stubble. Novikov’s gaze kept alternating between each of us, visibly uncertain as to what to make of the situation.

Finally, Ozersky spoke up, pointing an accusatory finger at Strider.

“You… get out of this bunker,” he growled heinously.

My lover recoiled at the statement, visibly struck by the tone of the otherwise polite man. “What?! You- you… why?”

“You know very well why,” retorted the bald scientist. “You barge unannounced into our lab, you threaten my friend, you knock out the both of us and now you have the audacity to ask WHY?”

Hermann grunted and raised a hand...

*slap*

Only to backhand Ozersky square in the face.

The scientist scoffed. “What my colleague is trying to explain is that we went out of our schedule for you, we bore with your rudeness, helped you out and you were more than ungrateful in return. I am afraid you are treading on thin ice, stalker.”

Strider opened his mouth and stared at both of the scientists, a look of disbelief on his face. “Thin ice?!” he half-yelled half-asked, outraged. “You were rambling madly about my l and myself, loved one, talking about -and I quote- taking more samples of that unique specimen, and then you asked Ozersky for a fucking angle grinder!”

Once again, silence reigned. The scientists looked at eachother, then at Novikov and Strider.

Hermann facepalmed.

Ozersky let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes.

After another moment of silence, the first scientist tore his face from his palms.

“That grinder was not for you, but for the destroyed artifacts you provided us,” he sighed. “It’s standard procedure for these kind of things: they are so hard we need industrial tools to take any samples for study.”

We let the information sink in, letting another moment of silence pass by, getting more awkward by the second.

Strider let out breath and rested his head on the metal wall behind him, burying his face in his palms.

“I screwed up, did I not?” he asked.

“That’s putting it mildly,” scowled Ozersky.

After another long, awkward pause, I decided to break the silence.

“So, what got you guys so spooked?” I asked, trying to unwind the mood.

Hermann shook his head and took a breath.

“You two... are not normal,” began the scientist. “First: you, my quadrupedal acquaintance, you somehow managed your way around the laws of physics with your telekinesis. While antigravity artifact ‘just’ create a force in a certain direction that can cancel out gravity if used right, you just suppress it completely around the object you levitate and your horn apparently acts as a dampener, absorbing the effects of gravity. It’s… mind boggling, but surprisingly in accord with the ‘anchor and application’ description you gave us.”

“But wait, there’s more!” interrupted Ozersky. “That levitation process needs energy, and guess what’s her main power source besides ambient radiation?” the bald scientist asked.

“Well, the global thaumic field of course!” I interrupted. “Everypony knows that. For some reason here it’s much weaker though.”

Hermann scratched his goatee. “Call it what you want, here on Earth we call it the Noosphere. Its existence has been proven scientifically a while ago though it was a secret well guarded and uncovered only very recently thanks to a stalker. I think he’s the one working as a consultant to the newly formed SIRCAA, Scientific Institute for Research on the Chernobyl Anomalous Area if you will.”

“That is a mouthful,” commented my lover.

I raised an eyebrow, curious at this new development. “The Noosphere? How did you discover it, if you don’t have magic?”

“As you may know, the Noosphere is a field surrounding the planet, much like its magnetic field; only that it is caused by, linked by and affected by and affecting conscious minds and thought. The more people on the planet, the stronger the field is,” explained the bearded scientist.

I just stood there, staring slack-jawed at the scientists as I let the implications of their explications sink in.

Conscious thought… these humans discovered not only what the global thaumic field is but also how it is made, despite not being able to perform magic. That would even explain why it is much stronger in Equestria than on Earth… the only sapient species are humans and a handful of mammals, according to Vano… whoa.

“Celestia! Are you alright?” I heard Strider ask worriedly.

“Yes, I’m quite alright, love” I replied, snapping back to attention. “Just… whoa. You scientists managed to solve in a few hours an enigma that has been eluding the best magii of Equestria for centuries.”

“The Noosphere is still a grey zone to science as of now,” noted Hermann, eyebrow raised, “even though discovery dates from a few decades actually, nothing very new about it. The most surprising thing is that you manage to tap in it without any disturbance.”

“Disturbance?” I asked.

“Last time anyone tried to twiddle intentionally with the Noosphere, it didn’t go so well,” deadpanned Ozersky. “It caused blowouts, killed everyone in the Zone and transformed it into the anomaly-ridden, mutant infested hellhole that it is today.”

“Anyways,” Hermann cut in, “we’re still not finished analyzing with the measurements we’ve taken and besides, your… friend is an interesting case as well.”

Strider pointed a finger to himself. “Me?”

“Indeed,” nodded the scientist. “At first it seemed that you have a healing factor but nooo, no no no no no hohohoho... you are the healing factor. I observed that exposition of your cells to foreign living tissues caused exponentially increased cell meiose to foreign damaged tissues. In short, you can heal as if you were under the influence of an artifact and you can heal others just like you were an artifact.”

I looked at Strider. He was looking at the scientist, a neutral look on his face.

“You’re taking this surprisingly well,” observed Hermann. “I expected you to-”

“To freak out?” asked my lover. “No. I do not ‘freak out’. Please continue.”

Ozersky scoffed. “If you say so… anyways! We had discovered that your body acted literally like a healing artifact, so we put some of your cells in culture, you know, the skin sample Hermann took from your ear,” recounted the bald scientist. “Now let me get back to the lab,” he mumbled, walking in the room next door.

After a minute or two, the scientist came back, holding in his right hand a small, circular box made of a transparent material, probably glass. He lowered it so Strider and I could observe it and, to our surprise, it contained… an ear. But not any ear, it was an exact copy of Strider’s left ear.

I recoiled in disgust. “Ewww, what the fuck?”

Ozersky scoffed. “I couldn’t say it better, little one. What was a sample of skin minutes before evolved into a fully-sized, genetically perfect adult ear. I ran some tests myself: the cellular structure of the thing is absolutely flawless: no signs of cancer, not a single random mutation and not even the slightest sign that they aged. They just stopped multiplying simply because they ran out of nutrients,” he explained. “I tried feeding them more and they started growing again: regularly, methodically, flawlessly. This ear formed in fifteen minutes and is still alive, meaning it survived for nearly an hour on its own!”

Hermann raised his hands in the air, as if grasping a big invisible ball of front of him. “Understand this: by studying your cells, we just might discover a way to farm organs in vitro and maybe even the secret to immortality!”

Strider blinked several times, before he opened his mouth to talk. “You must be joking,” he finally said after a pause.

“No,” firmly replied Ozersky. “We do not ‘joke’,” he added, mocking my Strider’s previous line.

Hermann nodded. “I’m afraid that you are as near as immortal as it is physically possible, stalker. Short of being literally ripped to shreds - and even then I think you could recover - you should always heal, and your cellular regeneration is completely flawless. Your cells do not age, do not mutate and do not multiply anarchically,” he summarized. “Your metabolism is also off the charts, which means you will need to eat a lot more than before and… you cannot get drunk anymore.”

I felt my heart jump in my chest.

Immortal?

This new development both filled me with joy and worry.

That means that I will never be separated of my Strider! But… sapient beings able to endure the burden of timelessness without growing mad are exceedingly rare; and besides… our relationship may not last forever.

Ugh. I hate that idea.

There was a moment of silence, only interrupted as Strider sighed.

“Well, shit.”

“What you said, stalker,” agreed Ozersky. “I’m gonna need something strong now,” he added, standing up. “Too much weird shit for today.”

“For me too,” said Strider.

Ozersky stood up once more and exited the room, only to return a short while later with three bottles containing a clear liquid and four glasses.

“What are these?” I asked, picking up one of the bottles in my telekinesis. “I saw similar beverages before here, but was never told why so many people seem to enjoy it.”

Ozersky chuckled. “This, my quadrupedal friend, is vodka. Go ahead, try it!” he said, offering me a glass almost full of the clear liquid. “It gets rid of radiation and clears your mind.”

Strider raised a finger. “I am not sure this is a good idea,” he hesitantly countered.

Hermann shrugged. “While its mind-clearing abilities are yet to be proven, the presence of alcohol in the bloodstream does stimulate kidney activity, quickening the elimination of fluids and radiation poisoning.”

“I still disapprove,” deadpanned Strider, defeated. “But who am I to prevent her? She’s more than old enough to make her own decisions,” he added, producing a bottle of his own from his backpack. “Let’s try that accelerated metabolism then,” he shrugged, before downing half the bottle in mere seconds.

I gave him a wary glance before I took the glass Ozersky was handing me. I lifted it to eye level in my magic, careful as to not spill any of the liquid. It was almost as clear as water, just like the bottle marked ‘водка’ I had in one of my bags. I hesitantly sniffed the liquid. Its smell was neutral and fresh, maybe too much… the scent was almost aggressive.

I shook my head and downed the glass I was holding.

Big mistake.

I felt like my mouth was overwhelmed by an intense coldness so strong it felt like it was burning. I felt tears come to my eyes as I desperately fought to keep the liquid in my mouth until I gathered enough courage to swallow.

Bigger mistake.

My throat felt like it was burning as the liquid made its way to my stomach, leaving my oesophagus in no better state and causing my eyes to well up with tears and forcing me to close them. After a few seconds, I opened my eyes, slack jawed, panting for a good minute or two.

I raised my head, swallowing hard. “I-I don’t feel so good…”

I felt the world move around me from side to side and everything looked like it was in slow motion. My peripheral vision faded away and I began to lose my focus as my sight was progressively blurred. The last thing I saw was Strider letting go of the bottle he was holding and turning towards me.

Something wrapped around my neck. Panicked, I tried to break free, to no avail.

Everything slowly turned to black.

Before I blacked out, I felt my vision return progressively, as if I was slowly waking up. My head suddenly ached, my mouth felt dry and my tongue heavy. I shook my head, trying to regain my senses.

“Whoa. I really am a healing artifact,” came Strider’s voice.

My lover had wrapped his arms around me and was keeping my head against his chest, a hand on my neck. He looked down towards me, a relieved smile on his face.

He let out a sigh. “I told you that was not a good idea,” he whispered, pulling me into a hug.

“I’m sorry,” I meekly replied.

“It is okay. All is okay,” he shushed, hugging me closer.

“Awwww, aren’t you two adorable?” came Ozersky’s voice.

Hermann rolled his eyes. “With all due respect colleague, shut the fuck up.”


Booze. There was so much booze. It dripped from the ceiling, forming giant, sparkling waterfalls of- wait, shouldn't that be vodkafalls or something?

Anyway. Basically, I was dreaming about alcohol. Oh, and there was Snag too, only wearing a kind of white toga while eating grapes, occasionally flashing me a devious smile.

Things were gonna get interesting when I was woken up by Rookie.

“Come on! Wake up big guy,” I heard the young stalker’s voice call.

I opened my eyes and let out a breath. “Ah, buzz off! I’m up, I’m up,” I groaned, sitting up and rubbing my groggy face.

I stood up from the bed I was laying in and stirred before I exited the dorms of the repurposed train station, acknowledging the various stalkers saluting me with a wave and walked out the double doors of Yanov station, holding my automatic shotgun, PKM and my RPG by their straps in one hand, scratching my beard with the other.

Snag, Alexander and Rookie were already there, talking to each other as they waited for me. Degtyarev had his railgun slung on his back and his shotgun was resting on his lap. Snag’s SG-550 was resting on his shoulder and Rookie was holding his bolt action sniper rifle tucked under his armpit, smoking a cigarette with his free hand.

“I think that went well,” remarked the young stalker.

“Indeed the terrain seems favorable,” replied Alexander. “Seems like most stalkers want a bit of change around these parts.”

“True. Most people can’t even stop talking about ‘Bane of Giants’ too,” added Snag, making quotes in the air at each word.

“Watch’u talkin’ about?” I asked.

Snag turned around, a smile on his face. “Well, well well, looks like the cuddly bear is done hibernating!” he snarked, putting a hand under my chin.

I let out a chuckle. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” I said, planting a quick kiss on his lips. “But seriously, what were you guys talking about?”

“Strider’s intention to form a faction.”

“Oh. Yeah. Right. So how did it go?” I asked.

“Well, since you were too busy sleeping, I took charge of everything,” scowled Alexander. “Which went better than expected though. General unrest and good rumors about our friends are just the right soil you need.”

Rookie nodded. “Yes. Something new is bound to happen, might as well be us provoking it, right?”

“Us?” I asked, eyebrow raised.

“Yeah we’re all aboard this adventure!” cheered the young stalker. “I mean, this is big! This is awesome!”

I waved my hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah. I get it.”

Snag put a hand on my armored chest. “You worry me sometimes. It’s like you aren’t interested in any of this.”

I grunted, securing my PKM and RPG on my back. “It’s not that, I just… I feel like I didn’t have a say in all this.”

My boyfriend chuckled. “If you didn’t sleep through most of Alexander’s speech, you could have had a say in all this,” he scolded, an almost condescending expression on his face. “Besides, your ideas for a home base and start-up strategies were sound. It was your idea to come here and spread the word about your friend’s project!”

I raised a finger and opened my mouth, ready to let out a sarcastic reply, when I realized that he was right. “I just hate speeches,” I lamely muttered. “Look, can we just go back to the bunker?”

Alexander shrugged. “Alright then. Let’s move,” he ordered, putting on his helmet.

We began to journey back to the Ecologists’ bunker, the silence only interrupted by the sound of the wind blowing through the vegetation of the fields of Jupiter. The snow from two days ago was long melted, causing the ground to be muddy and slippery in some places. Our progress knew little hindrance from this however, and we managed to keep a fairly fast pace as we walked in formation.

Degtyarev was in front of the column, his railgun clanking on his power armor as he moved. He was followed by myself and Rookie, watching our sides, weapons at the ready; while Snag was securing our six.

We were making good progress when suddenly we heard gunfire in the distance. In itself, that was nothing out of the ordinary: there’s always a stalker fighting of mutants or gunfight between hostile factions going on in the Zone. We redoubled attention and resumed walking more cautiously when something new could be heard among the sounds of gun reports.

*BOOM*

That sounds halfway between a gunshot, halfway between and explosion…

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

...more like a large-caliber rifle.

I cleared my throat, gaining the attention of the others. “That must be Strider,” I commented.

Alex shrugged. “Let’s go investigate then,” he offered.

The sounds of firefight seemed to come from Kopachy, an abandoned village half-buried under tons of earth to prevent it from irradiating all the area. Go figure why, but that place in particular was almost as irradiated as the interior of reactor four in the CNPP. It’s also teeming with zombified stalkers and there’s practically nothing of interest there. These factors alone cause most stalkers to avoid the area.

We climbed a small hill hiding the village from us and were greeted by the sight of dozens of zombified stalkers limping towards a house overlooking the main street of the small village.

On the roof of said house, Celly and Strider were there, unloading on the horde of zombies. Celly was laying down, unloading her newly acquired FN Minimi in long bursts of automatic fire while Strider was standing, spraying his anti-materiel rifle at the zombies as if his weapon weighed nothing.

Well, he was shooting as fast as the rifle would go, but each one of his bullet seemed to hit a different target. So it was less ‘spray and pray’ and more ‘improbable aiming skills’.

I turned towards the others. “Shall we?” I asked with a grin.

Degtyarev nodded, Rookie smiled from ear to ear and Snag simply pumped his SPAS-12.

“We’re going in then,” I said.

I unslung my RPG from my back and dropped to a knee. The zombie horde being about two hundred meters away, I took careful aim, compensating for the distance. I cocked the lever behind the front pistol grip with my thumb.

“WATCH THE BACKBLAST!” I yelled. “FIRE IN THE HOLE!”

With that, I squeezed the trigger.

The handheld antitank grenade launcher gently nudged my shoulder, releasing its high-explosive payload at over a hundred meters per second.

Less than two seconds later, the rocket propelled grenade hit the large group of zombies square in the middle, taking out a good half of them.

Not bothering to reload, I slung my empty rocket launcher on my back along with my automatic shotgun and took my machine gun instead. Followed by the others, we charged into the village, flanking the zombified stalkers. While Alexander and I rushed forwards, Rookie and Snag stayed behind, making good use of their accurate assault rifles.

I entered the village, checking my corners with my PKM and ignoring my Geiger counter as it clicked to life. The device panicked when I took cover in a heavily irradiated house, followed by Degtyarev. I grunted, took a couple of antirads and put my helmet back on.

I peaked through a window, getting a good look of my surroundings.

The big group of zombies had been almost halved by my rocket and their fate was made even worse by Snag and Rookie picking off random stragglers and the constant onslaught by Strider and his girlfriend on their roof.

Or would it be ‘marefriend’? Eh. Whatever.

I shrugged and switched to my USAS-12, preparing for a CQB firefight.

With the help of my power armor, I took some speed and plowed head first through the ruined wall of the house I was hiding in, just for the hell of it. I instantly spun around and opened fire on the zombified stalkers, emptying all its twenty rounds into the fray.

Of course, some of the zombified stalkers reacted to this and sluggishly turned towards me, retaliating with poorly aimed short bursts from their weapons. I paid them no mind and reloaded, before I resumed shooting as the few bullets that hit me harmlessly bounced off my power armor.

I was left with only a few zombies remaining. Instead of reloading my shotgun once again, I drew my Beretta, letting my shotgun hang by its strap. I casually dispatched half of them with carefully aimed shots while the others took care of the ones I didn’t bother with.

All of a sudden, everything was silent. I looked around, taking a good feeling of my surroundings. All the zombies were dead or convulsing on the ground and bleeding out.

I took off my helmet and threw my arms in the air.

“WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!”


I looked out of my scope and in the street below, where Vano was cheering and exchanging high-fives with the others. I tilted my head and looked at my alicorn besides me, who just shrugged and opened her wings.

She flashed me a smile and planted a kiss on my gas mask. “Let’s go,” she simply said, before taking off towards our group of friends.

I put my weapon on safe and switched to my AN-94 as I walked to the edge of the roof, only to jump to the ground, two stories down.

I impacted the dirt with a thud and dusted myself off, walking towards the others.

Vano turned towards me, a smile on his face.

I took off my helmet. “You walked in my line of fire,” I scowled, eliciting a downtrodden expression from my friend. “But that was cool,” I added, holding up my fist. “Nice shooting.”

My bearded friend beamed. “Yeah, demolishing a wall by running through it is cool,” he laughed, bumping my fist with his in return. “But why were you using your anti-materiel rifle at such a close range?”

“Because it is cool,” I snarked. “In all seriousness, I wanted to see if cheap machine gun ammo was viable under three hundred meters.”

“And?”

“It is, as you can see,” I deadpanned, looking over a zombie missing the upper part of his cranium.

Snag stood up from one of the zombie corpses and approached us. “Shiiiit, you got an exoskeleton all of your own!” he noticed, looking at my power armor. “I thought you didn’t like them?”

“Usually yes, though this has three very compelling features.” I replied before I raised three fingers. “First, Celestia made it. Second, it has a very clever quick-release system, also designed by Celestia. Thanks to it, I am not at the mercy of a systemic malfunction. And third, with it I can swing my BFG around as if it weighed nothing,” I added, holding up the anti-materiel rifle in one hand for emphasis.

Snag observed my armor and let out an admirative whistle. “She made it? Damn, girl. You good.”

My alicorn rubbed her forelegs awardly. “I adapted it. Also I had Novikov’s help,” she admitted. “He helped me with a few electronic problems and did the programming.”

Snag shrugged. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, that’s impressive. I couldn’t even tell he was wearing power armor from a distance,” he countered.

I pointed at the hooded stalker. “And that is what pleases me the most: have tactical advantage of having a smaller silhouette with enhanced mobility.”

Degtyarev walked up to us, encumbered with loot he most likely had gathered from the dead zombies. “Enhanced mobility? Is that one of these models with servomotor boosters?” he asked.

“It is,” answered Celestia. “Novikov was surprised at first, but yes. Boosting the servos will make them noisy but also faster and stronger.”

I nodded. “Yes, and thanks to my new PDA I can control if I want to boost them or not,” I said, tapping on my left forearm. “I really like that function.”

“That’s badass,” commented Vano. “Now you too will be able to burst through walls!” laughed my tall friend.

I let out a chuckle. “This place is ideal for urban warfare training drills. It is fairly small, meaning it can be easily made into a controlled environment; and it provides lots of cover and dead angles,” I analyzed. “So try not to bring every house down, please.”

Vano awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, I’ll pay more attention next time. I promise not to demolish a whole village by mistake,” he replied, eliciting a laugh from everyone.

“I see you’re always thinking about your idea to make a faction then,” noted Degtyarev.

I nodded. “I am. It is a dream I had for as long as I can remember!” I dreamily said. “How did it go in Yanov?”

“Vano slept during the whole thing, but besides that everything went smooth as fucking silk,” replied Snag. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of stalkers with nothing better to do than twiddle their thumbs and play cards.”

“Good.”

“Yeah, but what happens to us?” asked Vano.

I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

My bearded friend sighed. “Well… you start your own thing and what am I supposed to do?”

“You think I hadn’t thought of it? You’ll be the head of your own group, of course,” I reassured him.

“And what? You thought I’d be okay with- wait, what?”

“You heard me. Your own division of the faction, and you’re the one to decide what to do with it,” I explained.

Vano looked at me, babbling incoherently for a minute.

“You’d really do that?” he asked uncertainly.

I smiled. “Of course.”

My bearded friend wrapped his arms around my midsection and I was lifted in the air. “Thank you thankyouthankyou!” he joyously exclaimed, hugging me.

“You are most welcome,” I replied with a chuckle. “Now, can you put me back down?”

“Oh. yeah.”

I was dropped and I landed on my feet with a thud.

Degtyarev brought a hand to his chin. “That’s all good, but who would be the real head of the faction?” he asked. “Don’t get me wrong, you are a great tactical leader, Strider… but being ‘the guy in charge’? I doubt you’d be able to do it alone.”

“You are right,” I conceded. “That is why I plan to make Celestia the co-leader of our would-be faction.”

Celestia’s eyes widened and she took a step back. “M-me?” she incredulously asked.

“Of course, who else? You are the one with actual experience of running things by yourself, being the diarch of a whole country,” I recalled. “Zone be damned, you were even in charge of it by yourself for a thousand years!”

My alicorn blinked a few times. “W-well, yes, but I-I don’t… I didn’t-” she stuttered.

I scratched the back of my head. “Oh. I thought you would be excited about it.”

Celestia shook her head. “No! that’s not it! I mean, I like your idea actually, but you should have told me. That’s not a decision one makes lightly!”

“I know… I am sorry I did not tell you but... you were the best choice,” I replied. “Besides, there is nobody I trust more than you,” I added, caressing her muzzle with my hand.

There was a moment of silence, broken by Vano.

“Awww, you two are adorable!” he exclaimed, holding his hands together.

*slap*

Snag’s palm met my friend’s occiput. Again.

I laughed. “I know we are,” I said, giving my alicorn a kiss. “Now, maybe we should-”

*BRATATATATATATATA*

I was interrupted by a very close gunshot.

We all turned around, only to see Rookie, holding his AKS-74u, smoke pouring from the handguards, aimed at a zombie who was missing half of his head.

“He-he wasn’t dead!” cried the young stalker. “I swear! I turned around and he was standing up!”

Degtyarev put a hand on the stalker’s shoulder. “They often do that. You did good kid,” the Colonel approved.

I coughed, catching everyone’s attention. “And that brings us back to what I wanted to say: maybe we should move. The area is not safe.”

“I can only second that,” approved Celestia.

Of a common accord, we decided it was time to go back to Yanov station. It was time face the music and start something new.


After half an hour of walking, the overpopulated train station of Yanov was in view in the distance, partially hidden by the many bushes and the few trees around it.

Degtyarev and Vano had been opening the march, discussing animatedly with each other while Snag and Rookie were in the middle, checking our blind angles and Strider and I were in the back, keeping the rear.

We couldn’t back down now, we were closer than ever to start a new page of our lives. Maybe it would work. Maybe it wouldn’t. Either way, we would be changed by this new experience.

Hell, I was changed already. Killing these zombies in Kopachy hadn’t even upset me, no. I found it useful. It was a good way of practicing my skills with firearms, which I had grown to love shooting. I had had fun killing. I had just found killing fun.

I stopped walking, suppressed a shiver and ruffled my wings in discomfort.

I felt a hand on my neck. I looked at Strider, who had stopped too and taken off his helmet. His face showed nothing but concern and worry and I knew he knew something was up.

“Something bothering you, love?” he asked.

“I… yeah,” I sighed. “I was overthinking.”

My beloved put a hand under my muzzle. “Overthinking what?”

“Back in the village… I had fun,” I confessed. “I found killing those zombified stalkers… fun.”

“...oh.”

“I’m a monster,” I muttered distressedly.

I didn’t know what I had expected, I wanted my lover to reassure me, to tell me I wasn’t, to tell me that everything would be okay and that he would help me, protect me, prevent me from turning into what I feared the most.

That didn’t happen.

Instead, he knelt down, took me in his arms and hugged me tightly.

“We all are,” he whispered. “We all are.”

I let out a breath, leaning into the hug and burying my face in his chest.

“This world is not black and white, but made entirely of various shades of grey,” he said sternly. “There is a large yet very thin line separating good and evil, where both overlap in a confusing mess. In the Zone, that limit is even more blurred,” he added, staring into my eyes, “but you have to be careful to never cross it, ever.”

“I don't know if I can do it,” I muttered.

“You are so much stronger than you think. You managed to stay alive and sane so far, after experiencing what could have driven any average stalker crazy. Do I need to remind you that you even endured a thousand years of loneliness!” exclaimed Strider, holding me by the shoulders. “But, you are not alone. I will follow you, help you so you stay on the right side of the threshold,” he promised.

I buried my face in his chest. “Thank you,” I whispered. “I needed that. Oh, goddesses, why am I dependent of you?”

I felt my lover's hand rest on the back of my neck. “Shh... it's okay. I promise I will not let you turn. In the Zone, we may all be monsters but it is how we keep that monster in check that defines us,” he soothed, his forehead against mine.

We stayed in each other's embrace for a while, before we separated and gave each other a kiss.

I gave Strider a nod and we resumed walking, catching up with our friends, heading towards something new.

Author's Note:

Behold! The biggest chapter of StZaS yet, Chapter 12 in all its glory!
I proofread and edited this one myself, so tell me if you see any mistakes.

How should I name Strider's soon-to-be faction? Tell me in the comments!