//------------------------------//
// 2. Standoff 
// Story: PONYSHKA 
// by Reviewfilly 
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In front of them, lying in a mix of mud and rubble from the destroyed house, was a small creature, hardly the size of a larger breed of dog. Its body was round and covered by short yellow hair that seemed to glow in the gloomy darkness. Four short appendages ending in nubs stretched out from it, lying strewn awkwardly over the ground. What seemed to be a large piece of crumpled up, black cloth was laid over its head, but as the three men carefully approached it turned out to be a long and brushy mane which, similarly to its body, also shone in an odd yellow color despite being jet black.

Aleksei and Sergei continued to hold their guns towards the creature, but Maxim lowered his. A dazed look sat out on his face as he took a tentative step towards it.

“Maxim. Back here. Now,” Sergei growled at him, but he didn’t listen.

The youngest stalker seemed to be in a trance as he approached the being. He slowly leaned down and held out one of his gloved hands, keeping it hanging in the air a few centimeters from the creature. It looked at him with its quivering, cartoonishly large eyes and shrunk back.

The other two exchanged a confused look. This thing in front of them was just like a character out of Maxim’s inane cartoons. Aleksei slightly lowered his gun and shuffled from one leg to the other awkwardly. He was expecting a monster, not a being like this. He had no idea that he was supposed to do.

Sergei, however, didn’t relent. He continued to train his gun at the scene in front of him. He couldn’t exactly place his finger on why, but the creature gave him a very bad feeling. He felt the hairs on his neck stand up. Some primal instinct he gained over the years screamed at him that he was in mortal danger. The thought of just shooting both Maxim and whatever this anomaly they found was passed through his mind. Yet, while the risk was high, perhaps too high, against his better judgment, he held his trigger.

“It’s okay, we’re not gonna hurt you,” Maxim said in a quiet, reassuring tone. He cast a dissuading glance backwards. Aleksei took a step closer and stared dumbly at the being, while Sergei removed his finger from the trigger, but remained in the back. Upon hearing Maxim’s words the thing’s tear-soaked eyes glinted in recognition and surprise.

“Can you understand me?” Maxim asked.

The being looked into his eyes and then towards his hand, before slowly opening its mouth.

“You- you speak my language!” it exclaimed in surprise between two sniffles. By the voice Maxim surmised it was in fact a she. “How?”

The three men were taken aback by the creature’s perfect Russian. Maxim couldn’t find the words to answer so he merely continued to stand there, half-crouched. The thing, the pony, didn’t wait much for his answer. She slowly leaned closer to his hand and sniffed it, before brushing against it. Even though it wasn’t his bare skin, Maxim still felt a calming warmness where the pony’s cheek touched the glove. Ever so gently he scritched under her chin and in response she closed her eyes and leaned into his hand. They stayed like this for a few seconds and eventually her crying slowly dried up.

Maxim forced himself to let her go and took a step back while she clambered onto her hooves. The stalkers stared as her glow intensified for a second and the mud and rain was repelled from her coat by some invisible force, landing on the ground with a soft plop.

Maxim couldn’t help himself but throw a glance at her flank. Curiously it was blank, unlike the characters in the cartoon, who all had a symbol representing their special traits. The three men stared at the sight in bewilderment for a second or two, before he cleared his throat and broke the silence again.

“I guess we should introduce ourselves. I’m Maxim, this is Aleksei, and this is Sergei,” he said while pointing at his comrades. The former didn’t even try to hide his astonishment anymore, his eyes flicking wildly between Maxim and the pony. The latter still gripped his weapon and the little of his face that showed under his hood seemed impassive. “Do you have a name? How did you get here?”

“My name is Mir and I- I don’t know.” Fresh tears began to flow from her eyes. “I was just walking out in the park when I suddenly felt something lift me up and the next thing I know I was lying here. I- I was so scared!” She let out a small whine.

Maxim gave her an understanding nod. Several of the the Zone’s anomalies included teleportation. Sometimes just between buildings, sometimes between one end of the Zone and another. The destinations of some of these portals were never figured out, as any who entered was never seen again. It was unheard of but certainly not impossible, that an anomaly could tear a hole into a whole other world.

Before he could say another word, however, Sergei walked up to him and grabbed him by the shoulder, yanking him back slightly.

“With me,” he grunted. “Aleksei, watch it for a second,” Sergei commanded and Aleksei half-heartedly raised his weapon again. Meanwhile Sergei brought Maxim to the other side of the wall.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” he spat into Maxim’s face the moment they were out of sight. He was hardly able to keep his voice low enough not to be heard on the other side. His glasses seemed to glint from his rage. “What do you even think you’re doing? This is an anomaly! You should bless your luck you haven’t killed us all or worse already!”

Maxim tried his best to resist the overwhelming aura of the older man. He forced himself not to avert his eyes, even though Sergei’s own bored into his soul like two hot pieces of coal.

“She isn’t an anomaly,” he replied meekly. His voice wavered and he felt like his legs wanted to give out. “She’s just lost and confused. We need to help her!”

“’Her?’ Devla,you really have lost it.” Sergei spat to the side before leaning in extremely close to Maxim’s face. A muscle twitched on his forehead. When he spoke again, his voice was hardly the suggestion of a whisper. “Listen, boy. If you haven’t realized by now we are in the Zone, not in some cartoon. I don’t give a rat’s ass that it looks like that kids’ stuff you have the hots for. That thing over there is still a monster. Any moment it could snap and end us all. We should just kill it and sell its hide to the peddlers before it causes us any more trouble.”

Maxim’s eyes went wide in shock at the words. The gruesome images of a gunned down and skinned pony flashed through his mind and his previous fear extinguished in a moment, its place taken by a boiling rage. The rapid thumping of his heart drowned out the pattering of rain as blood rushed into his face and he bared his teeth. The young stalker leaned forward to meet Sergei’s challenge.

“You will not hurt her,” he replied slowly in a low voice. His hand, as innocently as if he was merely trying to scratch himself, began reaching towards the holster of his gun.

Sergei’s eyes calmly followed the movement. He then looked back into Maxim’s face undeterred.

“Be very careful what you do next,” he said quietly as his fingers curled around his own rifle. “I don’t intend to die here.”

Both men kept their hands on their weapons, but neither made a move. As they glared at each other the rain slowly began to stop. Soon the only sounds breaking the silence were their ragged breaths.

“Do you?” he added.

“You will not hurt her,” Maxim repeated blankly.

A few more seconds passed. The two stalkers continued to hold their ground, as water dripped quietly from their coats.

Finally Sergei looked towards the sky and allowed his hand to fall limp. As his eyes left Maxim’s, they seemed to faintly glint yellow for a moment. He ran his other hand down his cloak on the back of his head.

“Fuck... Okay, fine. We will get your horse wife back to her world, but that’s the last favor I’ll ever do for you.”