A group of Bandits finishes a transaction and finds something not belonging in the Zone
(a story ive had in mind since 2013 and it has been reworked and rewritten every once in a while and now ive finally let it be a story to publish if it gets liked i continue it otherwise it gets abandoned.) (just want this story out of my mind since i always wanted to make a S.T.A.L.K.E.R story in which Fluttershy appears and meets mutants and tries to find a way home)
A heavy rain was falling over the grassy hills, obscuring most of the view, not many people out in such a foul weather even the occasional zone mutants kept themselves in their dens, leaving only a few lone figures standing under a heavy pine tree, with one figure peering through the threes and darkness wiping his face periodicly free from rain, trying his best to ignore the muttering from the rest of the small group.
"Can't believe this shit, what's the point in standing around in this damned rain when we could be inside in the warmth?" One of the men grumbled, a thin man in his late twenties with thick scarring on his face, almost a head taller than the others, wearing the standard leather jacket commonly worn by rookie bandits, worn and repaired countless times, wiping his face free from water with a grunt.
"Yeah what is the point anyway, there is noone but us around in this weather." The other one spat, a slightly hunched man with a balaclava covering his face, wearing a brown colored stalker suit with a trenchcoat over it, walking on the spot trying to keep himself warm.
"Iffn't tho bad, freff arr an we geff pedd." A third one said with mouth full of sausage, a big grin on his round face, holding the half eaten piece in his right and using a white metal suitcase as an umbrella, wearing an old worn patched trenchcoat with the hood pulled back, revealing his almost bald head to the weather.
"Dammit yuri swallow!" The scarred man grumbled looking at his companion with disgust.
"You're not the boss of me." Yuri grinned, showing off an impressive amount of missing teeth, before taking another bite, still smiling as the thinner man turned away with a grunt.
The group once again entered a cold silence waiting for either the signal or the rain to end, the silence reigned for a few minutes before the man peering into the darkness stood up and waved his group to follow him.
"Is it time?" Yuri asked looking at the man.
"Yes, flashlights off and keep quiet." He said, shutting off his headlamp, looking at the rest of the group making sure they too shut them off and begun walking into the darkness of the woods.
They walked for a few minutes, walking deeper and deeper into the woods, silently following their leader, keeping alert for anything in the darkness, with nothing but the sounds of their footsteps on wet grass and the occasional pseudodog howl in the distance.
"Halt, this is the place" The leader suddenly said, holding up a hand stopping the small squad almost instantly.
"It is? it looks the same as all the other trees we passed." The thin man said looking around at the nearby trees seeing no difference from all the others they passed so far.
"Just keep quiet and let me do the talking." The leader sighed, waving the complainer to stand back by the tree.
"Wait are those?" The balaclava wearing man said as he quickly unholstered his old gun as he saw who were coming.
"Yes direct import from Germany." The leader nodded still facing the incoming group, holding up a hand in greeting.
"Alopeci?" The squad leader asked, a rather short man wearing a regular mercenary jacket and a gasmask, looking quite odd being flanked by four other mercenaries all about a head taller than himself, each one carrying worn TRs 301s and fanning out into a half circle being ready in case the deal went sour, with a 5th guard patrolling the area a few meters away, eyeing the area for any hidden bandits or stalkers.
"Yes, owl sends his regards." The bandit leader nodded, ignoring his groups uneasiness at being so close to mercenaries without it erupting into a firefight or a quick escape.
"You got the stuff I presume." The squad leader asked cocking his head slightly to the side and crossing his arms over his chest, eyeing up the group of bandits.
"Of course." Alopeci said, waving Yuri forward with the suitcase.
"And you?" Alopeci continued as he watched the mercenary open the suitcase taking a quick look and closing it again.
"Yes here." The squad leader said, tossing a worn pda towards him, who caught it midair and quickly placed it in the inner pocket of his trenchcoat.
"Glad to make the transaction." Alopeci chuckled, after doing a quick look through the pda with a content smile on his face.
"Oh almost forgot, Owl told me to give this to Totenkopf." He continued as the mercenaries begun to turn around, quickly plucking out a small worn flash drive to him.
"To Totenkopf?" The leader asked as he took it.
"Yes give it to him for me when you return to Limansk." Alopeci said, giving the squad leader a final nod as they turned around to leave.
"Well boys time to head back." Alopeci said, as he turned around to face his group, wringing his hands together with a big smile on his lips.
"Totenkopf?" The skinny guy asked, giving Alopeci a confused look.
"Yes I know I don't like that bastard either but a deal is a deal." Alopeci said, glancing back at the mercenaries, considering for a moment to take back what they gave in exchange, only to shake his head with a crooked smile as his little squad was too poorly equipped, outnumbered and he wouldn't want to piss off owl.
"Let's rest and wait out the rain." The skinny guy said, seeing no point in continuing the discussion, especially out in the rain.
"Viper my boy you are a genius, there should be a tunnel nearby where we can wait this storm out." Yuri barked, slapping the skinny guy hard on his back and taking the lead of the group walking their way out of the forest in silence until they reached the road, all of them startled as the radio came to life.
"Attention stalkers an emission is approaching, I repeat, an emission is approaching seek cover immediately!" The radio blared, causing the group to stop, look at each other and hurrying up their pace towards the tunnel.
"Guess we got lucky." Alopeci laughed as they reached their destination, unholstering a worn double barrel and activating his flashlight as they entered the darkness, ready in case some mutants had made shelter inside.
"We ain't safe yet, let's head further in and wait it out I’m pretty sure I need a break anyway, Viper and Alexander you go on ahead." Yuri said, sneezing and dragging his arm under his nose wiping away the guck, waving Viper and the hunched guy forwards further in the tunnel. taking a deep breath as they moved forwards, turning towards Alopeci as they too begun to walk further in. "So boy I wonder what could be so important in that lil pda that we traded so much for."
"To be honest I have no clue why this is important." Alopeci shrugged, holding the pda in his hand, handing it over to Yuri, who took it and giving it a quick look before handing it back. "But if Owl want something, he gets it, that and he pays well."
"Yes, yes I know that boy is always scheming." Yuri shook his head, clapping his hands together in glee as they reached what could only be seen as remnants of an old campsite, some torn out car seats and even an improvised firepit made out of concrete parts with a few unburned pieces of woods in. "Well, well ain’t this nice, some old wood and some car seats."
"Seems safe, not even a rodent in sight." Viper said, as he and the hunched guy returned from a few meters further in.
"Lighter?" Viper continued, look around at the group, all of them patting their pockets, his eyes stopping at Alopeci.
"Oh right here." Alopeci said, as he reached deep into his side pocket plucking out a worn zippo lighter and in the same motion dropping a half empty pack of cigarettes on the ground, swearing under his breath as he bent down to pick them up and giving his friend the lighter with the other hand.
"You should throw those damn stench pins in, it is a foul habit." Yuri snorted, wagging his finger at the youngling, plucking out a sausage from his inner pocket sniffing it a few times and shrugging as he took a bite of it, as he sat down on an old tire, taking off his little backpack and leaned himself against one of the derelict cars. "So what now? straight to Skadovsk after the sun shines?"
"Well I have some business in the bar." Alopeci said, as he scooped up the loose cigarettes putting them back in the pack and stuffing it deep in his pocket.
"Snitch?" Viper asked getting a small flame burning.
"Yes, but you can head back to Skadovsk if you want." Alopeci said with a smile, before standing up, taking off his backpack and handing it over to Yuri. "Now if you excuse me hold my stuff, I have to take a piss."
"Anyone got something to eat?" The hunched man asked, looking at the other three, only getting a shrug from Viper where he sat next to the young fire and fiddling with his old viper which he shared his namesake from.
"Got some delights in my bag, Alexander you can have one!" Alopeci shouted back towards the group as he walked further in the tunnel.
"Yuri throw me a delight." Alexander said, holding up a hand to catch it as he tossed one towards him. "So viper what will you do when we reach Skadovsk?"
"Have an order from Nimble to get, other than that nothing I guess." He shrugged, not looking up from his worn viper.
"Sure hope it’s a new gun instead of that half rusted crap you got." Alexander continued as he opened the delight.
"It’s not rusted, only well worn." Viper mumbled back, holding a protective hand over the muzzle of his old gun.
"Whatever, what about you then Yuri?" Alexander sighed as he sat down on an old dirty tire on the opposite side of the old man.
"Well sending most to my sis as usual, other than that maybe fix up my coat, heard some guy in freedom has some kind of light weight plating that could be sewn in." Yuri said, licking his lips and plucking at one of the trenchcoats seems.
"Mhm how is your sister anyway?" Alexander continued, digging his fingers into the delight and shoving it in his mouth.
"Well she's doing her best raising those twins of hers." Yuri said with a shrug, making a face and spitting out a piece of sausage with a grunt, giving the offending piece of sausage an angry look before looking up. "Ah Alopeci you are back take a seat an-?"
"No idea, found her laying behind one of the cars." Alopeci said, carrying a young pink haired woman clad in torn and dirtied clothes.
"She really doesn't look like she belongs in the zone." Alexander said, as he stood up to get a better look at the girl, seeing her in civilian clothes not suited at all for the zone, clad in a terribly torn and dirty white tank top and a green skirt and only one knee length green booth, all stained with mud, blood and chemical burns, giving the group a terrified and tired look as she was held in Alopecis arms.
"She okay?" Viper asked, as he too stood up to get a better look, helping Alopeci to set her shivering form down next to the fire.
"Dunno she hasn’t done anything but whimper and tried to crawl away on all fours." Alopeci whispered back, seeing the girl curl up and looking ready to bolt any second.
"Well that explains the bloodied hands." Alexander said, pointing at her bleeding hands, looking like she had been walking on them through the zone.
"Oi boys back up a bit c'mere lil one let uncle Yuri get a look." Yuri grunted as he pushed himself up to walk over and grab the girls hand to get a better look, sighing and frowning as he also noticed the same wounds on her naked foot and some other burns and cuts. "Aw hell, Alopeci gimme a medkit the yellow one."
"You're wasting a medkit on her?" Alexander said, with a frown as he took a step backwards letting Yuri get some free room to handle her.
"This will sting a bit." Yuri said, giving her a small smile as he unscrewed the tiny bottle of disinfectant, causing her to wince in pain as it got into her wounds, stroking her on her cheek. "There, there now why would a young girl like you be doing in the zone?"
"Come on girl speak up! we aren't gonna hurt you, what's your name!?" Alexander spat, getting impatient as she just sat curled into a ball and shivered.
"Uhm F-Fluttershy." She mumbled curling even tighter into a ball.
"Well that's a eh well it's a name I guess." Alopeci shrugged, meeting the furrowed brows of the others.
"W-what are you?" She stuttered eyeing the group and her newly cared for hands.
"Well bandits mostly, sometimes mercenaries." Viper said, as he sat down again to continue with his gun, letting the other three take care of the girl.
"B-bandits?!" She squeaked glancing sideways looking for a way to escape.
"Calm down girl I'm not wasting a damn medkit on you just to steal your...shoe?" Yuri grumbled, giving Viper an angry look, squatting down and grabbing her shoulder gently, motioning a hand towards her bruised body, bringing out another bandage to fix her hands up.
"See i ain't that bad just ignore the smell and you will be alright:" He laughed as he finished bandaging her hands, getting a small unsure half smile from the girl. "Now lemme see that foot of yours."
"Hmm this does not look good at all, this will probably hurt more than the hands." Yuri continued taking out a pair of tweezers and grabbing her unclad foot with a strong hand.
"Oowwwiee!" She cried flailing a bit with her leg, getting nowhere in the old man’s grip.
"Don't worry it’s just some old glass lodged in there see." He smiled, holding the piece up to her with the tweezers, a piece almost as big as a finger nail, chuckling to himself as he flung it away.
"Uhm m-might I ask why ehm bandits are doing all this for me? I-I have not a single bit on me."
"Well you are lucky our little group got old uncle Yuri, also what the hell is a bit?" Alopeci said, pointing a finger at yuri and then himself before shrugging and shaking his head.
"Oh uhm your kind of …currency?" She continued searching for the right word to use for these hairless creatures.
"Ah you mean rubles? also this is gonna sting." Alexander said, pointing at her foot with a smile.
"Wha eep!" She squeaked, as Yuri poured the alcohol on her foot.
"Heh there, there lemme just wrap it, see good as new." Yuri shuckled, as he unwrapped a bit of bandage and begun to wrap her foot up. "Now lets see if we got any food for you."
"Yuri is this with any rookies in the zone, which actually makes him a bad bandit but he has little enemies, but I still think he should've stayed with freedom." Alopeci said, as the old man wobbled over and sat down to rummage around the bag.
"Oh please you makin’ me blush, now you prefer sausage, delight or bread?" Yuri smiled, standing up again holding all three things in his hands for her to see.
"uhm I don't eat meat and uhm what exactly is a delight?" She said, giving a small smile at the thought of something to eat licking her lips as she saw the old creature hold up all three for her.
“Great we saved the only vegetarian in the zone.” Alexander groaned, taking out a sausage of his own and chewing it loudly out of spite.
“…Uh are delights vegetarian or not?” Yuri asked, stuffing away the sausage and doing his best to read the faded letters on the can.
“Well it tastes like meat.” Alopeci said, taking out a delight of his own to see if there was any text left on it.
“Bah to hell with it here take some bread and a water bottle.” Yuri sighed, plucking out the water bottle and giving the young girl both, who took them awkwardly between her hands.
“No use your fingers no dammit!” Yuri groaned as she managed to fumble around with them for a bit before dropping them on the ground, picking the up again and taking her hands forcing them around the bread. “Okay girl listen I know it hurts but use your fingers cuz I ain’t holding it for you.”
“S-sorry I will hold it better.” She mumbled, shrinking back a bit from his anger and grasping the bread as best as she could.
“Well then move over a bit Viper this old bastard has walked long and is in need of a rest.” Yuri said, patting her on the head before walking over to where viper sat, sitting down heavily on his own filthy car seat and sighing happily. “This is the life.”
Alopeci? Hey wake up it’s your turn to guard.” Alexander whispered, shaking him awake.
“Unh yes, yes I’m up.” Alopeci groaned slowly getting up and stretching, standing up and loading his sawn-off with shells just in case, looking at the group sleeping around the slowly dying fire.
“Hey Alopeci what exactly do we do with the girl?” Alexander continued as he sat down by the fire watching the looking over at the now sleeping form of Fluttershy, all curled up and wrapping vipers extra trench coat around her like a protective cocoon, using Yuri’s chest as a pillow who didn’t seem to mind it as he laid there snoring away with his drool forming a thin stream down his chin barely missing Fluttershy’s head.
“Well I dunno maybe drop her off at the Bar?” Alopeci shrugged, holstering his sawn-off and picked out his PDA to check the map and noting the time. “I know Viper want to return to Skadovsk but it’s just a slight detour, either come with or head back it’s up to you guys.”
“Doubt Yuri will like that.” Alexander sighed, holding his hand out as Alopeci took out a cigarette.
“What?” Alopeci said, raising an eyebrow as he put the cigarette in his mouth.
“Come on man you know what I want.” Alexander said, motioning with his fingers.
“Fine, but this raises your debt to an entire package.” Alopeci smiled as he took out another one for his friend and holding out his lighter to light both of them.
“You’re such a cheapskate, well have fun with the watch.” Alexander smirked as he laid down, waving him away.
Alopeci chuckled blowing him a kiss before turning around and walking closer to the mouth of the tunnel, breathing in the cold air as he looked out seeing the rain still falling heavily over the zone, listening in to a lone Pseudodog howling somewhere deep in the forest, almost feeling bad for the little bastard being away from his pack, picking up his PDA to watch the time seeing it being nothing more than two in the morning, taking a few steps back into the tunnel to sit upon one of the derelict cars and look through the PDA seeing some new messages, smiling to himself as he read through a few messages, sending a few ones himself to his contacts and a small update to Owl about an eta he would receive the mercenaries PDA.
Eventually tiring of it and putting it back into his pocket and instead taking out his Veles detector, starting it up and frowning a bit as he saw it had a low battery, blinking a bit as it beeped as it detected either an anomaly or an artifact, taking a quick look back towards the slowly dying embers further in before holding out the detector to see what it reacted to, or if it was just going weird because of the low battery, giving it a small smack in the side as went dead, swearing a bit as he shook it until it reacted again, pulling up his hood as he walked out into the rain soon seeing what it reacted to, a long and thick tangle of burnt fuzz hanging from the top of the tunnel holding his detector up to it as it reacted to it, putting it back into his other pocket and reaching a hand into the fuzz flinch a bit as it stung him, feeling around for a moment before his fingers closed around a thorny item, pulling it out with a small chuckle.
“Gotcha you little shit, thought you could hide from me eh?” He said to the little artifact, slightly disappointed it was only a Thorn artifact, but rubles are rubles so any little bit helps, shrugging as he was about to put it into his backpack remembering suddenly, he left it by the fire and really not wanting to put it into his pockets even if it would fit. Wiping his hand free from any residue stuff from the fuzz as he walked back into the tunnel, tilting his head a bit and listening to the rain again, pulling the hood off and flinging the butt of the cigarette away and sitting back down on the car to wait out the rain, putting the thorn artifact down on the hood not to prick himself on it.
Slowly dozing off little by little checking the time every once in a while trying his best to not fall asleep out of boredom, taking out the shells from the shotgun and twirling it around his finger, doing his best to imitate the old western movies to see if it was possible to do with a bigger gun than a six shooter, entertaining himself with it for a moment until the radio came alive.
“Anyone hearing this please respond we are in deep shit over here please anyone close by we are pinned down by zombies and are low on ammo please brothers loners in need please we got artifacts with us!” He heard, smiling to himself as he looked at the SOS location on the PDA, seeing it not too far away from the tunnel, already thinking through if it would be worth it to scavenge the poor souls soon to be another casualty in the zone. Scratching his nose, a bit as he put away the PDA and picked up the Thorn again to look at it closer. Only looking up as he suddenly saw something large walk into the tunnel emitting some grunting noises, turning his head slowly at the ugly abomination sniffing around and shaking itself free from water. Not wanting to scare the mutant, Alopeci only sat there watching it look around for a moment before looking up at him, blinking at the human watching it and giving off a garbled low squeal. Eventually turning into a growl as it noticed the danger of a human and taking a few steps back, getting some distance from it.
“Shshsh fleshie I ain’t going to hurt ya, so no loud squealing and waking the others okay?” He shushed the mutant, alone it was less dangerous than a blind dog but could get quite grumpy if pushed too far, backing off a little himself, grabbing the Thorn and trying to move as slowly as possible not seeing the point in scaring it too much so it would run around waking the others or waste a few shots with the same outcome. Slowly sliding off the car and giving it some room as he walked back further into the tunnel, seeing it could be used as a simple warning if anything else wandered into the tunnel, slowly backing up keeping the mutant in his view seeing it staring at him for a moment before it lost interest and begun sniffing around looking for a good spot to rest.
“Man, if you weren’t such a nasty mutant you would’ve almost been cute.” He smiled as the mutant laid down. Wondering for a moment what happened to its flock had disappeared to, watching it as he took a few steps back towards the group, suddenly thinking about the odd girl who hadn’t said much coherent things, other than how she had eaten grass and other things to survive, alone far from her family wondering if it was the same with the lone flesh or if the rest of the pack had been torn apart,
“Well you aren’t the prettiest one either.” Yuri rumbled, putting a heavy hand upon his shoulder, causing him to jump in surprise.
“Yuri godammit!” Alopeci growled as he dropped the artifact, giving his old friend a frown as he bowed down to pick it back up.
“Shush boy don’t wake the others.” Yuri smiled, holding a finger to his mouth, taking a few steps forward to squat down a bit, watching the lone flesh happy to be out of the rain.
“Where’s the girl? And why are you up?” Alopeci asked, as he looked back at where the old man had come from, seeing him not wearing his worn trench coat.
“Because Its almost time to move out? And she’s all snuggled up into a trench coat cocoon.” He smiled, glancing back at Alopeci tapping his wrist with a finger.
“What? Oh, dammit the stupid summertime savings shit!” Alopeci sighed pulling out the PDA again to look at the time.
“Ah well are the other up?”
“Nope, give them another five before kicking them awake.” Yuri smirked, standing back up with a grunt and stretching a bit and taking out a piece of bread and breaking a bit off to toss to the flesh, who only eyed him for a moment before slowly inching forward to sniff at the piece before licking it up.
Hey wake up sleepy head.” Alexander said shoving the girl a bit with his foot, causing her to stir a bit and mumble something, but otherwise not doing any attempts to leave her trench coat cocoon.
“Ah, she ain’t waking up.” Alopeci sighed watching the girl mumbling something and turning over to her side, the group all geared up and ready to get going towards the Bar just waiting for her to give back both Yuris and Vipers trench coats..
“I want my trench coat back.” Viper mumbled with crossed arms and a small frown on his face.
“Fine shitheads, let uncle Yuri handle this.” He grumbled, squatting down next to her and lightly squeezing her nose shut and silently watching as she began to cough and blink awake with a gasp as he released her and stood up with a grin.
“Works wonders, doesn’t it?”
“W-wha EEP!!” She squeaked as she opened her eyes and saw 4 large pink monkeys stand over her, recoiling a bit before blushing a bit as she remembered what had happened yesterday.
“Oh uhm s-sorry.”
“Yes, yes I know Yuri looks horrible in the morning light but we need to go so either you stay here or we get going.” Alopeci snorted, tapping Yuri on the shoulder and waving his hand at her to get moving.
“Oh s-sorry uhm, thanks for the coats.” She mumbled as she untangled herself from her cocoon, grabbing them awkwardly as she handed them over to them.
“You better not have any diseases.” Viper mumbled, grabbing his coat and giving it a few rough shakes before putting it back in his bag, making her blush even more and hang her head.
“Ah stop teasin her boys.” Yuri chuckled, draping her in his way too large coat and winking at her, standing back up and turning back to the others.
“Well cmon lets get going.”
“Uh, what about her foot?” Alexander asked pointing at her bandaged foot.
“Oh right, anyone got an extra shoe?” Alopeci said looking at the group as he kneeled down to look at her foot, poking it a bit getting a low hurt whimper in response.
“Ah fuck it lets do the napoleon way.” Yuri sighed as he took off his backpack to pull out an extra shirt and rummage around for an extra sole to wrap around her foot as an improvised boot.
“There, that should hold until we reach the bar.”
“So we head through Agropom?” Alexander asked as they turned around and begun to walk out of the tunnel.
“Nah, too much weird shit going on there and can’t exactly get through a horde of zombies with a civilian in tow.” Alopeci said shaking his head at the idea.
“We go through the army warehouses.”
“Hey not a bad idea if we take a small detour, I can see how some of the boys are doing.” Yuri smiled, trying to dislodge something stuck in his teeth with a fingernail.
“Think the hippies miss you eh?” Alopeci chuckled as he glanced back at the old man, only to pause as he saw Fluttershy slowly and awkwardly walking towards them steadying herself against a nearby car.
“Uh boys?”
“Hmm guess it’s a bit early to walk around heh.” Yuri laughed, walking up beside her to help steady her, putting an arm around her shoulder.
“How are you feelin’?”
“Not bad really, I’m just not used to this.” She mumbled in response, looking down at her feet.
“Ah, don’t worry, the zone isn’t for everyone.” Yuri smiled, patting her on the head, taking her arm and putting it around his neck.
“Just lean on me and you will be fine.”
“A-are you sure I mean I could manage on my own.” She mumbled, feeling a bit awkward to lean on someone she had met only yesterday, but she liked how easy it was to grasp things when not having hooves.
“oh please, it’s either this or you’re riding on viper’s back.” Yuri said, waving a dismissive hand around before pointing it towards Viper.
“Why on my back?” Viper answered with a confused shrug, annoyed at the suggestion.
“Because you are the only one who got some muscle and you’re already carrying light shit.” Yuri continued as they began to walk, smacking a heavy hand on vipers shoulder as they walked past.
“Only one with muscle?” Alexander said turning his head towards Alopeci who only frowned and shrugged.
“Uhm, where exactly are we going?” Fluttershy asked after they walked a bit, seeing the entrance of the tunnel coming up, giving a last look at the odd wagons, wondering what the point of their odd design were.
“We’re heading for the bar, the safest place In the zone since we can’t have a little girl running around well the zone.” Yuri said, shrugging at his own words.
“Though they weren’t much for us bandits, but since Baba Yaga took over the Dark valley and Garbage things have changed a bit, since her ways are a bit different, no more of the usual random shootings and looting but more like mafia tactics but you aren’t following at all what im saying.” Alexander said as they exited the tunnel, stopping himself as he turned his head towards Fluttershy who only stared at him, clearly not understanding what he just said.
“Ah, just forget it.”
“Actually, how did you end up this deep in the zone? You fell asleep before you answered us.” Yuri asked, steadying Fluttershy as she wobbled a bit.
“Oh well I don’t know really I just remember that my friends mirror acted up all of a sudden and I just trotted over and I-I think I must have fainted since I just woke up in this dark forest and uhm just kinda tried to find my way after that until I ran into you.”
“Huh so then the next question is trotted?” Alexander nodded.
“Uhm well I am not usually a you know this.” She said motioning a hand at her body.
“A woman?” alexander asked, frowning and looking her over.
“No, I mean what me and you are.” She frowned back, not liking his sudden disgusted look at her.
“……Humans?” Yuri said after a moment of silence meeting the confused looks at the others in the group, stopping abruptly causing Fluttershy to wobble forwards a bit surprised at the sudden stop.
“If that’s what your eh our species now, I guess, is called.” She said leaning away a bit from him as she saw it wasn’t just Alexander giving her an odd look now.
“I-Im sorry if I said something wrong, I swear I did not mean to offend you.”
“What in the hell are you talking about?” Alopeci asked.
“Uhm I’m actually a pony or well a Pegasus to be more specific.” She mumbled, cringing a bit at the harsh words from Alopeci.
“Oh of course sure you are say Yuri could you you know feel her forehead for me?” Alopeci said slowly nodding his head and giving her an overly friendly smile.
“Uh right.” Yuri said, raising an eyebrow at the request, turning back towards the girl and placing a calloused hand on her forehead.
“Huh wadda ya know she’s running a fever, well Viper guess you are carrying her.”
“Ah come on, I have to carry her just because she got zone madness?” Viper groaned as he crossed his arms and making it clear he refuses to even come closer to the pair.
“What? Im not mad and I certainly don’t got zone madness.” She frowned.
“Ah just ignore the idiots all you need is to get up on vipers back an-“ Yuri smiled giving his companions an angry glare before turning back to her and about to say something more only to stop as they all heard a low squeal, looking past Fluttershy and seeing the lone flesh from earlier eyeing the group.
“Well, would you look at that thought he ran off somewhere, also a perfect distraction.”
“What is that?” Fluttershy asked as she kneeled down to meet its eyes, getting a questioning squeal back.
“Oh, I-Im sorry I did not mean to be rude I just have never seen your kind before.”
“What? Did it tell you its name or something?” Alexander chuckled, watching the exchange between the two.
“Well, yes and it’s a he not an it.” She said turning her head towards him not noticing the mocking tone in his voice, turning back towards the Flesh as it squealed again and took a careful step towards her.
“Uh hold on there missy it ain’t one of the more dangerous mutants in the zone but it can give you a nasty bite if threatened.” Yuri rumbled placing a hand on her shoulder holding her back as she was about to move towards it.
“It’s fine he isn’t hostile just scared and alone, here come on I promise they won’t hurt you.” She calmly said to it, making it slowly walk over to her and smell her hand, getting a slow scratch under where she assumed his chin was.
“There, there no need to be scared.”
“Well, that’s a first.” Alopeci said holding his sawn-off at the ready, slowly letting it down as he saw it actually be peaceful, tilting his head a bit to the side as it let out a series of sounds at her, hesitating a bit as he asked.
“So uh, what did he say?”
“Something about if we have seen his herd.” She said scratching its head getting a grumpy oink in response, raising an eyebrow at it as she turned her head back towards them.
“And also if the fat one have more of the good stuff?”
“Oh, you calling me names now, you melty bastard?” Yuri frowned, pointing an accusing finger towards the Flesh who he swore was smiling at him, thinking on it for a moment before continuing.
“Wait, you can’t know about that. Only Alopeci knew I fed that one.”
“……..So she uh, you can actually really communicate with the Flesh?” Alexander said meeting the eyes of Alopeci who only shrugged in response, scratching his cheek a bit as he turned back towards the odd girl.
“Yes uhm, do you want to pet him?” she asked, putting her arm around its lumpy back, giving it a nice big hug.
“I prefer not to.” Alexander said, shaking his head and holding up his hands.
“Can you ask if it will carry you?” Viper asked suddenly taking a few steps away from it.
“Oh Viper, you lazy fuck.” Yuri chuckled, taking out a half-eaten piece of bread and taking a bite out of it before tossing it over to the flesh.
“Tell the flesh he owes us one.”
“You will?” She asked the flesh after it had devoured the piece of bread and giving her a long squeal.
“I mean, if it’s okay with you.”
“Just get on the damn pig already I wanna reach the bar before it’s nighttime again.” alexander groaned, pulling his hood up as the rain begun to fall again, sighing as he walked past the duo.
“Well, you heard him.” Alopeci shrugged, walking forwards and holding out a hand to help her up on its back.
“Thank you and uhm sorry for annoying you all.” She smiled as she got up onto it, trying to find a good position on its back.
“Well then cavalry is ready the asshole takes the lead, now let’s get going boys.” Yuri said scratching his nose and waving the flesh forwards to follow Alexander.
They had walked mostly in silence the only word really uttered were between the flesh and Fluttershy, constantly chatting away about their lives. Getting odd looks from everyone except Yuri who chimed in once in a while with a chuckle.
“Uh Alopeci you might wanna see this.” Alexander said holding up his PDA, the group had let him take the point for a bit before they regrouped after a few minutes.
“What you got there?” Alopeci asked as he leaned in to see what the PDA was showing.
“Well, you know when we took this mission and I carried the case first?”
“Yeah, you even opened in front of Owl pissing him off.” Alopeci smirked.
“Well look here, I put a small tracker in it and look where it is.” Alexander said, pointing to a small blip on the map not far from their position.
“Wait those mercs have barely moved at all.” Alopeci said. seeing the blip barely even a kilometer from where they had their transaction.
“What?” Viper asked as he walked over to look at the map.
“This can’t be right, that memory stick I gave to the other one shows the location far away from here.” Alopeci continued pulling up his own PDA next to Alexanders
“So, both of you tagged some stuff and gave it to mercenaries?” Viper asked letting his eyes wander between the two PDAs seeing Alopecis blip moving slowly northwards and Alexanders being still only a few hundred meters away from them.
“…… wait so does this mean the leader survived and ran off somewhere and the merc carrying the suitcase is still nearby?” Alopeci asked, meeting the eyes of the other two for a moment before all three faces suddenly grinned at each other.
“Guess we can afford ourselves a little detour.” Viper said, looking back at the duo of Yuri and Fluttershy standing a few meters away and watching them with raised eyebrows.
“Hey Yuri you can head towards the army base we will meet you there in an hour.” Alopeci said, as he walked over to him and explaining the whole thing to the duo, pulling out a PMM and handing it to him.
“Just so you don’t have to rely on that old shotgun of yours.”
“Do all three of you need to go? I mean I know the safe ways and we got Vladimir here helping with the girl but still.” Yuri said taking the gun and putting it in his pocket.
“Well, there’s a lot to get and going at it with only me and Viper would mean one of us would have to carry the suitcase and we would be down to one guy ready to fire.” Alopeci nodded glancing back at Alexander and Viper checking their equipment, before turning his attention back to Yuri.
“Also you gave the flesh a name?”
“Well actually Fluttershy did, but I get what you are saying it’s a damn heavy case.” Yuri nodded, unholstering his radio and turning a small knob on its side.
“So, use 102.6?”
“Yup if shits go south or when we’re getting close, I give a call.” Alopeci continued taking the radio and turning the small knob for his old friend before handing it over, leaning close to him and whispering.
“Remember don’t waste your life for hers, she is an unknown you are worth a lot more to me here in the zone.”
“Can’t promise you anything.” He smirked watching Alopeci walking back over to the others, speaking to each other for a moment before waving Yuri goodbye as they began their hunt.
“Uhm what’s going on?” Fluttershy asked as she rode up next to him watching the trio walking away.
“Ah the boys are going for a trip we meet up in an hour.” Yuri said as he waved the question away with a hand as he walked past her.
“So how are you feeling?”
“Uhm I think I got a small fever and well I’m lost in a world where I’m apparently insane.” She said putting her hand against her head like Yuri had before, frowning a bit as he coughed in his hand and tried to look innocent.
“Hey now, we never said you were insane only had a bit of zone madness.” He said turning around towards her and continued walking backwards holding up his hands.
“And that is better?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Well, uh one you are born with the other is something you get?” He answered with a shrug.
“I…uh are you asking me?” She blinked.
“Uh no you see zone madness comes from the psi emissions conflicting with the the eh noosphere burning out parts of the brain…. temporarily and uh it uh dammit should’ve brought Viper he knows these kinds of stuff.” He said doing his best to recall the specifics but eventually giving up with a sigh.
“Oh, sounds almost like the magical theorem of a friend of mine.” Fluttershy said thinking through the words trying to find anything that made sense.
“Oh yes sure magical diorama.” He nodded as they continued walking for a moment before he turned back to her.
“So, uh Fluttershy where exactly are you from? I mean what kind of name is Fluttershy anyway? French? Japanese?”
“I don’t know those words.” She said, pausing for a moment listening to the grunts from Vladimir before continuing.
“Oh, the answer is no, I’m Equestrian and more specific from a town called Ponyville.”
“…. Huh well I at least am from Prague a lovely little town.” He smiled sighing with a content smile as he thought back to it, only getting interrupted as his detector begun to beep, stopping in his track and holding up a hand to stop Fluttershy as he took it out.
“What is that beeping thing?” She asked as she leaned over to see what he was doing.
“Oh, this is a detector a bear detector to be precise actually a modified bear detector to be extra precise.” He said showing the little metal box to her.
“You see this here little thing shows if an artifact is nearby, but it also beeps if there’s an anomaly nearby.”
“Oh, and what is an anomaly then?” She asked as she watched where he was pointing on the little box.
“An anomaly is hmm lemme see.” He said bending over to pick up a small rock from the ground, looking around the area for a moment before narrowing his eyes as he finally spotted what he was searching for and tossed the stone towards it.
“Wha-“ Fluttershy asked mid throw wondering what he was doing that could explain an anomaly, flinching in surprise as it suddenly seemed to trigger a harsh updraft sucking in both the stone and several other loose things into the air for a couple of seconds before with a loud whoosh flinging it all away.
“Now that is an anomaly.” He laughed as he turned back to her staring in amazement, tossing another pebble behind himself getting another loud whoosh as it activated again.
“And that is why no stalker ever goes without a detector.”
“I-I think I saw something like that yesterday but it was electrical, was that the same thing?”
“Uh yes there’s several others like burners, electric and even acidic ones.” Yuri nodded as he waved her to follow him around the anomaly.
“So just keep close and we should both be safe.”
“Uhm Yuri?” Fluttershy asked after they had walked a bit changing course every once in a while, as the detector beeped.
“Yeah?” He said without turning around as they made another turn.
“Why are there so many broken iron carts everywhere and why is everything so well ruined?” Fluttershy asked as they passed some rusting pieces of metal and a horribly worn-down steel barrel.
“Iron carts?” He frowned as he turned back to give her a confused look, wondering what she meant as he didn’t see a single cart around.
“Yeah, those weird ones with glass and some rubbery looking wheels.” She said glancing back from where they came.
“You know like in the tunnel.”
“You mean cars? Well, those broke down some time after the accident and the following accident and well the wear and tear of weather radiation same with almost everything in the zone.” He said scratching his head a bit before taking off the balaclava to scratch better ending it with a loud sniff, suddenly pausing and giving her a look over.
“What? do I have something on me?” She asked looking down at herself, seeing nothing has changed worried at first that there was something on her.
“no, no I …. I think I’m starting to believe you aren’t from around here, I mean I have met weirdos in the zone mad ones from the monoliths and even had a lengthy talk with Noah but none of them are confused about regular stuff.” He said shaking his head and holding up his hands about to say something more before sighing and turning around to continue walking.
“So, you accept that I’m from Equestria?” She said suddenly hopeful at his words.
“Whoawhoawhoa I said I’m starting to, nothing else.” He said waving a finger in the air.
“Guess it’s better than nothing.” She sighed, happy at least that she made some progress.
“We only need to pass that place a helicopter and then we should see the army base.” He said after a while pointing at a walled area ahead of them, pausing for a moment and holding up a hand to stop her.
“Actually, let me go ahead here you never know who might’ve set up shop.”