Chapter Text
I started to wake up from whatever it was that knocked me out. Did someone try to bash my face in with a gun? What exactly happened? Luckily I still had my backpack with Mr. Sharky, my stuffed dolphin, in it. I felt something gnawing on my leg, so I bolted upright and shot the dog like creature with a bullet. I saw bandages and a bolt get tossed down from the nearby ledge. Someone was sitting there. I managed to quickly patch myself up with the bandages. Standing up, I saw the person who threw the bandages and bolt over to me – a young woman, I think no more than 30. She looked like she had seen better days.
“Use that bolt to get outta there. Throw it into the anomaly, run out, then we’ll talk,” she said, “the anomaly is all around you, but I’d recommend throwing the bolt into that one.”
I threw the bolt and ran through the opening that it temporarily created. I walked over to her, a bit confused.
“I’m surprised you didn’t come here with a PDA. Here, take this one. I usually keep a spare on me in case I find people like you without one,” she said, “I’m Lieutenant Colonel Degtyarev, my dad Colonel Degtyarev runs Degtyarev’s Corps in Yaniv and Prypiat. If my name sounds like a mouthful, you can just call me One-Eye. Everyone else does, anyway.”
“I’m Cain,” I replied, “no clue how I got here, but I suppose it could be much worse.”
“Look, I’ll let you stick with me since you’re so… new to the Zone, Cain, but don’t expect such kindness from everyone. I gotta head to Zalyssia to talk with Captain Zotov, so why don’t you pick up supplies – vodka, medkits, bandages, energy drinks – while we’re there? Seems like you’ve already got the pistol part down.”
“You’re not going to believe this,” I said as we started making our way over, “I mostly learned it from a book back when I was stuck in one of the vaults in post-2077 Appalachia. Never really got that much practice with it though.”
“You’re not half bad, I’ll give you that,” she responded, “for someone who learned how to shoot a gun from a book.”
The rest of the run to Zalyssia had been relatively quiet. One-Eye had passed me what the stalkers called a Sunrise Suit. It could carry a couple of artifacts, she explained. It wasn’t like I was stuck with just this until we ended up in Prypiat.
“I’ll expedite your entry into the Corps – me vouching for anyone who I’ve traveled with apparently carries a lot of weight with the Colonel.”
“He’s your dad, right?”
“Yeah. I told him we simply just have to help the Noontiders get back on their feet once their whole ordeal is over.”
“And you’re helping them?”
“Yeah. I bring them supplies that I manage to haggle out of the Ward’s possession. I sometimes have to bring weapons to other factions as well.”
I was given some money – coupons is what the stalkers call them – to barter for items from the barkeep, medic and general supplies store. A veteran stalker gave me an echo detector. They explained it could find artifacts inside of anomalies, but that it wasn’t the best out there and they wouldn’t need it anymore. I thanked them and bought ten energy drinks and vodka from the barkeep, a rifle and 1k ammo rounds from the general supply store and 15 medkits from the medic.
“The backpack you have makes you stick out like a sore thumb,” One-Eye said, walking out of what I presumed to be the town hall.
“I sure hope you don’t mean the dolphin,” I retorted.
“That too,” she sighed, beginning to walk towards the northern part of town, “why do you even HAVE that thing?”
“I just think… Mr. Sharky is sorta… I dunno. He’s got a small following back home. Wanna see him?”
“God, you even NAMED the thing?” she asked, yanking Mr Sharky out of my hand, “well… I’ll give him this: he’s got a charismatic look about him. Where’d you find him, anyways?”
"I found him in an abandoned car near Camp McClintock in post-nuke Appalachia,” I said, gently putting Mr Sharky back into the backpack.
“That doesn’t explain the hoodie.”
“Maybe someone bought him in the famous town of Plymouth before the nukes and brought him back home to West Virginia,” I said while throwing the bolt I had gotten earlier.
“We’re going to have to head to the Noontide base this way– I hate passing through Ward turf. I also hate the train jumping that’s required if heading from the south. I mean, jumping over the trains is one of the better ways to head to Zaton. You could just walk to the Cordon and what’s left of Rookie Village from the east gate.”
“Do you think we’re gonna see anyone on the way to the Noontide base?”
“Yeah, Korshunov wanted to talk with me about something or other. He’s the guy that runs the Ward.”
“What do you know about him?”
“He’s been around for long enough, I suppose. I heard he served as security for some of those X Lab projects before the Zone even became a thing. Hell, he even watched C-Con go into the pods! He got out of being put in the Granite Squad and becoming a Monolithian scott-free. The consequences for his actions are going to catch up to him. Some factions want him dead and the Ward out of the Zone for good. I’ve done some work with the head of SIRCAA and managed to get what’s left of that organization to Prypiat. I think the head of SIRCAA will be just over the bridge arguing with Korshunov.”
“You mean… right there? Whaddya think we should do?”
“I dunno… If Dalin wants us to kill Korshunov, then so be it. Let’s get over there before the two of them start fighting.”
We quickly made it over to the other side of the bridge before anything bad happened, thankfully.
“Look I'm taking bets, do you think I'd be able to drop kick Korshunov into the river in self defense?”
“Don’t start anything unless he starts something with you.”
“Well if it isn’t the Zone’s most experienced half-blind member of Degtyarev’s Corps and her new apprentice,” the bald one claimed as he moved closer.
“Yeah, thanks Korshunov. Though personally I think you could blind people with that bald ass head of yours,” One-Eye retorted.
I just stared blankly at Korshunov, and he didn’t seem to like that. Just as he lunged for me, I moved close enough to the river to be able to drop kick him in. As soon as the moment struck, I picked him up, dropped him and then kicked him. Korshunov then landed in a blender inthe river, never to surface again. The guy in the suit, I assumed to be the head of SIRCAA– I think his name is Dr. Dmytro Dalin, from what One-Eye told me– just stared at me.
“Officer, I drop kicked Korshunov in self-defense, you gotta believe me!!!!!”
Surprisingly, Dalin actually believed me. He also decided to accompany us on the rest of the journey.