Valera was awake moments after he heard the dull thudding of footsteps. The fire next to him was still going, casting the cavern in flickering light. He quickly checked to make sure his flashlight was off, and stood to the side of the entrance of the cavern, at the mouth of the tunnel leading up.
No question about it: Something with two feet (he timed the footsteps) was walking down the tunnel, and was getting closer. Light cascaded from the tunnel, suggesting whoever was coming had a flashlight.
“Thank god, a fire.” A voice said in English, echoing slightly. “I thought I would be out there forever. I wonder what in the Zone built it, though?”
Apparently, another STALKER had come through. It might be one of the Freedom members he had heard mentioned, or it might be something else. Deciding now was the time, he opened up his external speakers to talk.
“Don’t come any closer!” Valera said in English, causing the footsteps to pause. “I don’t trust you, and I don’t know where the hell I am, so you’d better speak up.”
“Who are you?” The voice asked, the voice sounding strained.
“Does it fucking matter?” Valera replied. “I’m just a STALKER. What are you?”
“Will you shoot me if I tell you?” The voice said.
“No guarantees.”
“Officially, they call me a Merc.”
Valera’s grip on his TRs-301 tightened. “Will you attempt to attack me if I let you come further?”
“Why would I?”
“Good point: You would die. Come on, this fire is kind of lonely.”
A few minutes later, Valera sat beside the fire. Across from him, a Mercenary, someone who most STALKERs would shoot on right, sat looking at the fire. He wore a SEVA suit like Valera’s, although in the blues of the Mercs rather than the mute greens his had. A GP-37 assault rifle lay beside him, and what looked like a SVUmk-2 was across his back. Valera looked at him in thought for a moment, before figuring out a way to start a conversation.
“How did you get dragged here?” Valera asked.
“The goddamned Anomaly that you found. After you were dragged in, it expanded. Our team was watching from the other side. The rest of them got away cleanly, at least I think so, but I got dragged in. Thought I was done for.” He paused in thought for a moment, before continuing. “When I woke up in the middle of a desert, I thought I was in some sort of limbo. All of my equipment was there, but I never packed much in the way of food: It was only supposed to be a short trip.
“I found this area a short while after I encountered a patrol of God knows what. They looked like something out of mythology, that’s for sure.”
“Griffons?” Valera asked.
The Merc blinked in surprise. “How did you know?”
“I questioned one of them after I ran into a patrol.” Valera stated.
“Yeah, probably.” The Merc said, shaking his head. “When I found this area and the cave, I decided to hole up here. It was the middle of the night, and, even if none of the Mutants I know of from the Zone are here, who knows what else is.”
-=-=-
“Interesting.” One of the creatures observing the exchange said, looking out through a tiny slit in the rock, where the shadows gathered. “We are learning much just by listening. Apparently, they have encountered the Griffon units searching this area for us, and, when the false princess finds out, she will be most displeased at their incursion into her territory.”
“Her territory?” One of them said, snorting. “We own much of this desert, and there is not much they can do about it.”
“Be silent, and observe.” The first one said.
-=-=-
“Do you have a name I can use?” Valera asked.
“Do you have a PDA I could send it to?” The Merc replied.
“Of course,” Valera said, faking offense. “What STALKER does not? Here is the PDA number…”
Valera ratted it off, happy that PDAs came with a function that allowed them to continue to accept any messages, regardless of local satellites. It simply would directly broadcast it in the local area, using the PDA’s built-in transmitters to do so, until it found the PDA in question.
Seconds later, as the Merc tapped his PDA, Valera’s showed a new message and a contact. Apparently, the Merc was named Stepa, and he was with an independent group of Mercs that had operated in the Zone for quite some time.
“So, Valera, eh?” Stepa said. “I have heard of you from the Barkeep. Despite what some may think, some Mercs are welcomed into the Duty camp. It all depends on which group you are in. I have heard of your record. Is it true you managed to slay a Controller when it attacked the Duty camp and killed off a quarter of the guards?”
Valera nodded. “That I did. With my good rifle here,” He said, patting the TRs-301. “I poured enough rounds into it to buy myself a few bottles of Vodka. Then again, when I killed it, I received enough from the STALKERs in the camp to get an elephant drunk. What have you done that is so great?”
“I met him.” Stepa said.
Valera blinked. “Who?”
“The Marked One. Strelok. Even if he did not recognize himself, I did.”
Valera’s jaw hung open. “How did you meet him?”
Stepa laughed. “He fucking shot me, and then healed me up while I was there on the ground. The rest of my team was dead, and that was two weeks ago. Said that I owed him for doing it, and boy, do I ever.”
Valera shook his head. “Strelok? I thought he was dead after the second great Emission.”
“Nope.” Stepa said. “He was looking for himself. It probably wiped his brain clean, and he’s going on a fucking mission to find himself. Poor bastard.”
Valera grinned in amusement. As the two continued to talk, they eventually got more and more tired. Finally, after an hour, Stepa stretched out and leaned back, telling Valera that he was going to sleep. Valera lay his head back as well, hoping to get some rest this night.
-=-=-
“Do you want to take them now?” One of the creatures asked.
“No.” Snapped another one. “Taking them with violence would make them… Unresponsive to our methods. Instead, wait until they wake up, and then send a team in behind a shield. If they accept, we take them to the Queen. If they do not, we ask them another time.”
“Why do we have the ask them?” The first one persisted.
“Because, young one.” The second one replied. “If you take every opportunity by force, who says that there will be others ahead of you after it? If this works, we shall become dominant. If it does not, we have lost nothing.”
“I hope you are right.” A third one conceded.
The second one sighed. “So do I.”