"Holy fucking shit," was the Major's honest opinion, reaching the farmhouse. "What the hell?"
There was no downed helicopter anywhere in sight, but thank God for that.
Instead, they had a bunch of burned-out military vehicles, trucks, BTRs, and blood.
Lots and lots of blood.
And by the entrance of that otherwise unassuming house—about a dozen bloody corpses.
One was half naked and missing a head; another had his one blown off by something, and—
Yuri threw up behind them.
"Wolves," Sokolov confirmed, looking at one of their shoulder patches. "So he wasn't alone out here after all. But the fuck? Don't you remember anything?"
The leader of those corpses could only shake his head.
"I—how? When? Why?!"
Okay. That seemed like a genuine reaction. But if he never faked it to begin with—
"Were these zombies, too?" Alex asked. "What about that in the different clothing? Looks almost like that one in the jeans you said was a mutant. See if anyone survived."
His inner Major was taking over, treating the scene like any other he had to investigate.
Detached, cold, professional.
Otherwise, he would have had to throw up, too.
"Yeah, that's definitely a mutant," the Corporal nodded, covering his nose and mouth. "And most of the dead are from the Wolves. They all died today, and there are footprints all over."
Did they try to take on a Monolith base or something?
But when they fought them at the Duga, they felt like easy prey.
They lost one man and a few wounded while wiping out at least thirty of them.
Here, it was the exact opposite.
One mutant, a bunch of Stalkers, and not a single winter-camo corpse.
Apart from the vehicles, of course, which all seemed to have their emblems.
"Look," Sokolov grunted, pulling out something hidden behind a crate. "I recognize this gun."
It was huge. An antimaterial rifle?
"Hold on. Didn't you say—"
"Yep," he nodded before he could ask. "Captain Bandera's Gepard. Doubt there would be another one of these in the entire zone. But I don't see his corpse here. Or his friend's."
That fucker again.
First the downed crew, now these guys—weren't they friends?!
"That said, these guys have all died to small-arms fire," the Corporal pointed out. "The only one that might have died to this beast is that poor bastard."
He kicked at the corpse with the exploded head.
Good luck identifying him.
But mutants and mismatched clues or not—
He knew everything he needed to know.
"We have to take that fucker out before he finds the last helicopter crew," Alex seethed. "You come with us, too," he turned to Yuri. "We'll avenge your men as well."
Poor guy wasn't even listening, wandering the crime scene with shaky legs.
That Captain must have been a tough kill, after all.
Or his friend was? Either way, he no longer had his big scary gun, so that was at least a plus.
"Let's go; we must hurry," the Major urged, but the Corporal waved him off.
"We're tired. It's getting dark, and whoever did this, I'm not ready to face them," he said. "Let's loot the bodies. Check the building. Rest. Yuri is in no shape to carry on, either."
But the tiny man finally listened, shaking his head.
"No. I'm fine, don't mind me," he muttered. "This gun—it's my buddy, Walther's shotgun."
He picked it up next to the corpse with the head exploded, his knuckles turning white.
"It must be him. Someone used his very gun to execute him from this close," he seethed. "And whoever did it, I want them dead. I'll use his rifle to take revenge. They won't get away."
Now, that was more like it.
But the Corporal was still on the fence.
"Okay, you two might be full of energy, but I am tired," he grunted. "Some revenge it would be if we get ourselves killed. We need a place to rest in case of a Blowout, and—"
"No, loot my men first," Yuri demanded, his lips still trembling, but—
He was every bit determined.
"Let's see what they have, and use everything to kill those fuckers."
Ugh. That might have been a bit too much enthusiasm now.
But Alex complied, and—
"What the—? Are these Artifacts, too?" he asked, pulling out some sparkling blue things that—
Wow. He felt refreshed.
"That one's a Flash," Sokolov noted. "And he had a Sparkler, too? Hold on."
They all had those, and more. As it turned out, they weren't killed for their valuables.
But why did they have to die, then?!
"Okay, with these, we can actually keep going," the Corporal claimed. "They enhance the wearer's endurance by a lot, but—make sure you take one of these, too."
The Major caught a crystalline formation mid-flight, and, oh yeah.
He almost missed it at first, but once he grabbed those electric things, his hands started to heat up. By the time he got the Crystal, it spread all over his body, making him sick, but—
With that new Artifact, it was all gone, and he was fine again.
"Make sure to balance it out," Sokolov explained. "Most artifacts will irradiate you, but this thing counteracts it. The extra speed is not worth it if you die before you get there."
"Noted," Alex nodded, piling all the Anomalies by the wall.
Despite getting dark, most of them would even glow.
"Take these and that," the Corporal administered the loadout. "That should keep us on our toes until tomorrow. Anything else you want, Yuri?"
But the little man shook his head, still clutching that shotgun like his life depended on it.
"It seems like I already had some. God knows what we were up to, but I'll see this to the end."
Yeah, the Major had no idea, either, but as long as he got an extra hand?
And if he was the leader of that famous Stalker group, he must have been competent, too.
"That does it, then," he said. "Next stop will be Pripyat."
And man, running had never felt this easy.
He thought he would have died if he had to take another step. As much as he tried to push himself—and show that ex-military guy what kind of soldier he was—he couldn't have gone on.
But now?
He felt refreshed, as if he was swimming in a mix of hot coffee and cold energy drinks.
By the time night fell, they covered the remaining distance to town, which—
"Wow, what the hell?" he scowled at the lights all over.
"Monolith," Sokolov grunted. "And looks like it's their better material, too. There's a BTR and a tank. And looks like they blew something up there. See that corpse?"
Yeah, he definitely didn't expect all this.
Random flashes, searchlights on the streets, winter-camo soldiers patrolling, and—
"Is that the helicopter you've been looking for?" Yuri whispered, pointing into the distance.
For being so small, he sure had good eyesight.
Alex had to pull out his binoculars to find what he was pointing at, and—
His blood chilled.
Okay, he's been fueling his chase for the last crash site, racing against Dmitry Bandera, but—
By the looks of it, he shouldn't have forgotten about the Monolith, either.