"All clear," Dmitry's voice crackled in the radio, and the Wolves moved up. "Sticking to the rails."
"Copy that," Yuri grunted, checking the area behind them, too. "Looks like we lost our little headstart. Look. Another group is catching up."
Which was great news for Konrad.
He didn't care about any of the rewards or the race towards the CNPP.
But the more friendlies they had, the safer that route would become.
'As long as they aren't too fixated on those rewards, either, and start shooting us,' the brain pointed out. Because the spirits forbid they would agree on something for once.
"They all show up on my PDA, so they shouldn't be bandits," he noted.
But true. Not every Stalker was friendly to every other group.
"Do you detect any more Artifacts?" Walther whispered, his shoulder bumping against his, looking eager. But truth was, Konrad was way too deep in his own thoughts to care.
'As if you were the one to find them earlier,' the voice in his head scoffed. 'Want me to look?'
He could only shake his head.
Both to the parallel brain and Walther's question.
"Let's focus on any potential ambushers for now," he said. "We can't stack any more of these electric Artifacts anyway. And no point when we move this slow—"
But safety came first.
If such a thing even existed this deep into the Zone.
"What do you think that thing was?" the leader of the Wolves asked, drifting closer to him on the move. "Did it come with that helicopter, or were those troops trying to hunt it down?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Walther answered. "But it was kinda freaky."
And that was putting it—
"Halt," Dmitry's voice crackled again, and they all froze. "Blind Dogs."
Yuri let out a sigh.
"Don't scare me like that," he grumbled. "Press on through them. If they smell us, they'll run."
Yeah. Not the exact experience Konrad had with their kind earlier.
But ever since the brain mentioned that furry dog leading them—
"Could that Psy Dog or whatever be the prototype for this thing?" he muttered to himself.
That one escaped to take control of all the other dogs, while this humanoid monster—
'They're similar,' the brain agreed. 'But it was much, much stronger. And aggressive. The Psy Dog only wanted to be free, but this thing wanted to take over. Destroy our minds.'
But he shared an even more terrifying thought.
'They must have made it to keep those Bloodsuckers under control. Or any other creature, to be honest. Like a mobile Brain Scorcher, or something. But judging from his clothing—'
Yeah, he wore jeans, and not much else.
Which was already more than the rest of those monsters had.
The Bloodsuckers had thick red skin, and while they retained their humanoid shape—
They acted anything but.
On the other end of the spectrum, Zombies kept their clothing, but they were all ragged. They let their weapons rust, forgetting all survival instincts and humanity as well.
But that thing—
"At the very least, it wanted to be human," he mumbled. "Wonder if your scientists set it free, or if it escaped?" And his next question would have been if there was more of it, but—
"What're you muttering about, Konrad?" Yuri interrupted, leaning into his face.
"Stay sharp," Walther warned, too. "Those dogs might jump us in a moment."
But the leader of the Wolves didn't seem panicked.
"If they actually do, we'll outrun them. With all these Sparks and Flashes, we should be able to."
And his subordinate laughed.
"Yeah. Let the next group deal with the fuckers," he grunted. "We need our advantage back."
Sigh.
And here Konrad was hoping they could gather more Stalkers to take on whatever was ahead.
'To answer your question,' the parallel brain interjected. 'From the state that monster was in, I would say it escaped. But it's not a dog, so if it did, the lab might be—'
"Here they come," Dmitry's voice crackled through the airwaves again, followed by a bang.
"Hold your fire and run," Yuri repeated. "The stragglers will be dog food."
And a moment later, he spotted the actual animals as well.
The same burned skin as before; eyes seemed to have welded shut, and—
For a split second, he even noticed the familiar furry dog again, watching them from a distance.
'That's him,' the voice in his head confirmed. 'The test subject I let escape. He won't harm us.'
And as if to underline those words—
The rest of the dogs changed direction and pulled back, rather than chasing the Wolves.
"Hah, they know better than to try," Walther panted, coughing out a laugh.
But Konrad had a hunch.
"Did you do that?" he whispered.
'I only asked if he remembered me,' the voice responded. 'And as you can see, he's much more reasonable than that Controller was.'
Controller? Lily had already taken that name for Soap, but—
Yeah. It was fitting for that monster.
From what he remembered, it almost ripped his mind out to take control of his body.
"Did you ask if he knew anything about his bigger brother?" Konrad asked, voice still low.
And as he sprinted past the treeline, he spotted those big, intelligent eyes again.
'Bad news on that front,' the brain noted. 'Yes, it broke free about three days ago. And yes, there are more of them, too. They have taken over the lab and then spread out in this area as well.'
Ugh. Wasn't that great?!
The dog blinked—or winked at him—then disappeared into the woods.
'He also told me where to find the lab, though,' the voice added, feeling much more cheery now. 'And surprise, surprise, we're heading straight towards it.'
Um. That wasn't exactly good news in Konrad's book, but—
"A smoking building ahead," Dmitry announced, panting into the radio. "Looks like fresh signs of fighting, and lots of blood all over the place. Should we avoid it or investigate?"
"That close?!" Konrad yelped, drawing some unnecessary attention.
"Um," Yuri muttered, slowing down. "How bad does it look? Would it slow us down?"
"At first glance, it's like a farmhouse," the Captain reported. "But there are way too many vehicles here, all burned out. Gives me X-16 vibes. Bet there's a hidden staircase somewhere."
Yep. They have definitely found that lab.
And the parallel brain got quite excited.
'Makes me wonder how many of my fellow lab experiments survived?'
Things like him, that Controller thing, and the Bloodsuckers?
Yeah, no, thank you.
"It's not on our agenda," Yuri confirmed, and Konrad let out a relieved sigh. "But if it looks important, there might be a reward for picking it apart, so—"
Oh no. No, no, no, no.
"Looks like the dogs are giving some headache to the Stalkers behind us," Walther noted with a grin. "We could take a look before they catch up, and loot the place dry."
Come on. Didn't they plan to play it safe and focus on reaching Pripyat?!
"Fine," the leader of the Wolves sighed. "It's only a little detour, but let's make it quick."
And if there was one thing Konrad was sure about—
It would be anything but quick.