"Explosives in place," the Corporal reported. "Blow this shit up, boss."
Well, not the Duga, of course.
For some reason, the brass wanted to keep it. But the underground complex full of mutants, weird stuff, and a brain floating in a fucking tank?!
Yeah. Those had to go.
"Fire in the hole," Alex yelled, hitting the detonator without regret.
The ground shook from explosions, smoke rising, but—
That was still pretty underwhelming, to be honest.
But it took care of all the Monolith soldiers, and the Brain Scorcher for good.
Now, to figure out what to do with his own—
"You say those scientists will patch 'em up?" the Major asked, looking over the carnage.
How the hell could they all get themselves shot up this much?!
Where did they get their basic training?
If that were how rookies fought, they'd lose the war in no time.
"Well, they've every artifact to deal with those wounds," Sokolov said, shrugging. "And as a nice bonus, nursing them will delay their excursion into the center. This place's no safe."
Ah. So there were people he actually cared about?
Not that he expected charity from that grumpy ex-soldier, but he'd take what he got.
"So you'll escort them back?" he asked, planning his next steps.
There were two more downed choppers, one all the way on the outskirts of Prypjat.
A long walk without a guide, but—
"Like hell I would," the Corporal scoffed. "I'm here to babysit you, not those guys."
"Excuse me?" Alex raised an eyebrow.
"The Barkeep's Stalkers can do the honors. You ain't seen anything yet—I can't leave you to wander around by yourself. Who knows when you'd start reporting to the Russians?"
Now, that was a load of bull, and the Corporal knew it, too.
He was there when that grizzled man revealed his background, but—
"Why not say you're attached to me, and won't let go?" he teased the guy.
Which might have gone overboard.
"I want to be the one to bury your corpse, Major," Sokolov scoffed. "That's all there is to it."
And how could he reply to a confession like that?
Thank God, he didn't have to. The Bar's heavy gunner limped up to them.
"So what's next?" he asked, looking fine and dandy for someone who took a few bullets. "My job was to take care of the Monolith guys, and they're all buried now. Can I leave?"
Pretty straightforward. But the Corporal answered before Alex could.
"Take those babies back to the Bar. Tell your boss they need to get to Yantar," he barked. "And don't think I have forgotten what artifacts I lent to you—"
Oh, so that was the secret?
He still couldn't wrap his head around everything in the Zone, but yeah, fair enough.
When they had these bullshit items that could do anything, no wonder they didn't mind getting shot. As long as they survived such an ordeal, they'd walk anything off.
"Sure, sure, I'll tell the Barkeep to clear your tab," the guard said, waving them off.
Within a few minutes, only the two of them remained.
"Now then," the Corporal sighed, strolling to a mangled tree trunk. "Someone built such an obvious stash here; I was dying to find out what they hid below this trunk."
And the Major blinked. Again.
This old fox was full of surprises.
"Don't tell me," he scoffed, following him. "This sorting out the wounded and sending everyone home thing was all about this? You wanted them gone so you wouldn't have to share?"
"As I said," Sokolov smirked. "You still don't know shit about the Zone."
He kicked some loose stones away, digging under a big, obvious X-sign.
"We captured a bunch of weapons. They got a cut from the fuel, too. And you can bet—they'll claim our cut of the bounties as well, so I earned this much for myself."
"Bounties?" Alex repeated. Not like he cared about money, but "There was a bounty?"
"Didn't you hear?" the Corporal grunted. "The Barkeep hates the Monolith. Of course, there's a bounty on them. I hear he's been in the original search group looking for them? Go figure."
Ah. He meant the lost crew. Sure.
That's how he remembered the guy, too.
So was he mad that these Monolith guys posed as them? Made sense.
"But whatever I find here is mine," Sokolov claimed. "And if you have a problem with it—"
He sure was eager, only for his face to go pale when he finally removed the last obstacle.
Yeah. They've split all the weapons and ammo since they couldn't carry everything with them.
So what do you know?
Someone had hidden a whole bunch more under this tree, and now—
"Tough luck," the Major grinned. "But you're right. You do deserve them all."
"Why even hide this cheap crap?" Sokolov moaned, sifting through the weapons cache. "And it's all so well organised? This had to be a huge waste of time. Wait. What even is this crap?!"
The last thing he pulled out was not a weapon.
It looked like the lower half of an octopus, already dried out.
"Food?" Alex guessed. "Or part of a monster?"
"Don't tell me," the Corporal grunted, putting everything back. "The scientists back in the bunker told the Captain to collect samples for them. This has to be his stash."
"Captain?" the Major repeated, but then it hit him. "Captain Dmitry Bandera?!"
His guide nodded.
"The Hero of Kyiv himself. Well, he was the one who first disabled this place, so—"
That was a lead he didn't expect.
But yeah. He was also looking for that guy. He almost forgot.
He was low on his personal priority list, but the brass didn't want him to talk about the Zone. That was something to keep in mind. But the only thing he learned from this stash was that—
"Man, they must have chewed through quite a lot of guards, too," the Corporal said.
The stashed weapons were much older and rustier than the stuff what the Monolith had.
"Zombies?" Alex guessed, with Sokolov's nod confirming it.
"And a lot of 'em, too. We called it the Brain Scorcher for a reason. And now it's all thanks to him that the road inwards is safe, so hurray, I guess."
Yeah. And also the reason that this trigger-happy commander had sent those choppers in.
"Well, it's thanks to us that it's still safe, and those Monolith guys didn't rebuild it right away."
Which, in fact, raised a few questions.
Who were those guys, and what did they have to do with the zombies and those weird devices?
Were they the remnants of the original lost crew?
They didn't get a single one alive. Even those who should have survived the shootout were dead by the time they found them. And their gear and uniforms were all too new.
Alex had one hell of an investigation still ahead of him.
But first—
"Well, I don't need any of this shit, so I'm ready to go," Sokolov said, dusting his hands off. "How about you, Major? Should we take a look at your choppers?"
"Yeah, let's go," he nodded, taking one last glance at the Duga behind them.
Who knew what the brass wanted from that place?
But their explosives should have kept the road open for a while longer.