Chapter I

Above the dry fields were only clouds of dust carried by the wind. You could see them change shape, merge together, split. Not much to look at. Then suddenly a strange roaring sound appeared in the distance. You could hear it getting closer and closer, with the very same clouds of dust trying to stay away from it. Getting closer, you could see that it is a helicopter. Eventually, it would just fly over you and keep going, with the roaring sound, the only sign of life in miles around, going away in the distance.

"Base, this is Kedr, approaching drop 2 minutes, over."

"Roger that, Kedr. Drop the cargo and get back to base, over."

"Copy that, base. Ending transmission."

"Are you boys feeling all right back there?" Kowalski looked backwards to the troop compartment.

"Yeah, super. Metal seats and all the ass massage you could ever wish for." Stephenson, one of the two Americans in the group whined.

"Well, this ain't Air Force One, so you're gonna have to live with it or walk on foot. And by on foot I really mean on foot. "

"Relax. It'll be quite some time until we need to get out, so you won't have to put up with his constant whining anytime soon." Lothar, the squad commander said.

"So you know that I'm just you ride-in? We'll probably never see or hear each other again. I just hope that you're not on your own down there."

"Yeah, we know. Why can't you get us any further into the zone?"

"The clouds are too low and you can't see for shit. And there's too much particles in the air that get inside the engines. Why do you think most of the other teams that were sent are missing? However I heard that some new protective skirts were being tested and they should help battle with the problem. I can only get you about 15 kilometers from the plant without risking the helicopter, somewhere near Hayredin. That village was probably the first one to be evacuated. You won't see anyone there. It's a dead place. Okay, that should be the drop zone. We have some wind blowing, so hold on. It might be a hard landing."

The wind started blowing stronger and stronger. The helicopter tilted to the side and started rotating counter-clockwise with the "cargo" getting a hell of a shaking, until Stephenson's seatbelt failed:

"Fuck! I can't hold on! I need help!" shouted Stephenson, trying to hold on to his seat, but all the vibration and rotating threw him right next to the side door.

"Catalin, grab him!" Lothar shouted.

Catalin, the Romanian in the squad quickly, even before Lothar told him, tilted to the side and stretched his arm, but couldn't reach Stephenson. The American caught the handrail on the side of the door, but could only hold on for a few seconds, until he let go and was thrown out by the strong wind stream.

"No! Stephenson!" Johnson, the other American in the group screamed.

Only a few seconds after that the helicopter hit the ground hard with a loud *thump* sound and some minor cracking which could be heard if you somehow ignored everything else. Johnson tried to unbuckle his seatbelt, but the concussion from the crash made it hard for him to coordinate his hand movement. Eventually, he let loose and jumped out to find Stephenson. He was about ten meters from the helicopter, lying on the ground.

"Guys, come on! I think he's still alive." said Johnson, checking his pulse. "Catalin! Catalin! Get here now!"

Catalin, obviously the medic in the squad jumped off the helicopter and ran to them. He put his hand on Stephenson's wrist to check his pulse and confirmed Johnson's words, nodding to the others who were helplessly watching from the craft.

"He'll live." were his words, filled with hope and optimism.

Then they both dragged him inside and the medic started treating him. Stephenson's eyes were staring at the top of the troop compartment. Blinking occasionally,his sight was getting lost at the never-ending blue-grayish pattern. Meanwhile the flight engineer went around the helicopter and checked for external damage to the machine.

"The nose landing gear has been damaged but it won't take long to get fixed. And there is some damage on the external of the hull. Nothing major, sir."

"All right. I'll report back to base." Kowalski replied and turned his head to Lothar."And you? What are you going to do now?"

"Catalin and Stephenson will stay here with you. The rest of us will continue as planned."

"Aye." Kowalski turned his radio."Base, this is Kedr, over."

"Kedr, here base, go ahead."

"We had some strong wind near the drop zone and had to crash-land, over."

"Copy that, what's your sitrep? "

"We've got injured. One from the squad fell during the landing. The helicopter also suffered some minor damage, nothing major. The injured will stay with us, over."

"Repair and get back to base ASAP."

"Roger, Kedr out."

Catalin got out of the chopper and went to speak with Lothar, leaving the now conscious Stephenson alone inside.

"Sir, there's nothing more that I can do for him without proper equipment, but I think he'll make it to base. I'll just be wasting my time here. Permission to continue my original mission?"

"Granted. Kowalski, Catalin is coming with us. You hurry up and get Stephenson to base."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll do our job. You just go finish your thing in the zone."

"Finish… I'm afraid we haven't even started it…"

And so the squad went on into the zone, one of the first to actually land inside after the blowout. But that didn't mean that Lothar, Johnson, Catalin, Dmitriy and Petrov were alone. Many people, single or in groups entered the area on their own, unknowing what it would look like after the outburst of the plant. There wasn't much information given out to the public, so humanity's most basic instinct – the one to explore, to know, took over. The vegetation, or what remained of it, hadn't changed much for the short period of time, but the buildings…the buildings…they would no longer hold life, looking more like dead men's coffins than an actual place where one can rest. Kozloduy NPP's first and second reactors having neared their life's end were supposed to be put out of commission long time ago. The country, lacking funds, kept them operational way more than they were built to last. Before its accession to the EU the country was required to send a report on the plant's condition. The Union considered the plant safe based on the data they received and on reports that it had recently underwent a major safety upgrade. The explosion that followed was more destructive than the one at Chernobyl NPP, destroying or irradiating almost everything at ground zero and severely hindering any floral development in the whole 25 km radius – the actual zone size. You could probably get to about 20km from the center without much risk to your life, but that's where things started getting nasty. The explosion had released a huge cloud in the air, preventing any form of communication inside or outside. That's why some call it the Shadow zone. Hours after the meltdown the documents' data was revealed to have been faked and that no restoration had taken place. With help of the EU and UN rapid response teams were formed and contact with the inner areas of the zone was tried, some of it successful, most of it ending up with a whole squad and helicopter never to be seen again.

Hearing that everything had been fixed Kowalski thanked God and quickly jumped in the cockpit with Roberts the co-pilot right after him. Martin, the flight engineer, who was at the back with Stephenson quietly said:

"I didn't tell anyone but…well…his seatbelt didn't fail. It had been unbuckled."

"We'll worry about that when we get home. Everyone ready? Here we go."

Kowalski reached with his finger to press to "START" button on the stick but suddenly the windshield in front of him cracked. He felt a strong pain in the chest and looked downwards, seeing a bullet hole and blood coming out. He tried to touch it, but his strength suddenly left him and his hand fell lifelessly on the side. The co-pilot tried to get out of the cockpit and ran backwards to the flight engineer in the troop compartment when another crack was heard. Martin saw Roberts come down breathless right next to him with blood at the back of his helmet. Shocked, he couldn't move and just stood there waiting for what his destiny was. Not long after that he heard footsteps and some people talking outside:

"They shouldn't have been here so early, we still aren't ready."

"And we won't be anytime soon if they keep sending more people. I fear they know what have in possession. We must report to HQ, you check inside for survivors." One of the people said and an unknown soldier came into the helicopter. He looked at Roberts' body and then at Martin who tried to protect Stephenson.

"Sir, we've got two people alive I think." He said and looked again at Martin. "Why are you here? What is your mission?"

Martin stood silent, as if not being able to comprehend.

"Are they going to talk?" a voice from outside replied.

"One of them might. The other is unconscious I think."

"Kill him. He's of no use."

"Yes, sir." Said the soldier and took his pistol out.

He pointed it at Stephenson and fired a round which went just inches wide from Martin and hit Stephenson's chest, killing him.

"Do you want to share his faith? No? Then start talking."

"I'll talk, I'll talk!" he was frightened."We were just the crew sent to transport part of the expeditionary force and didn't know anything about the details of their mission. I can only tell you that they went into the zone. I know nothing else. I swear!"

"Sir, he says he's just part of the helicopter personnel and that they were sent to transport a squad to the zone. Apparently they went further inside."

"Tie him up and put him in the car. We'll take him to base and see if HQ's got any plans about him. Strashilov and Ognyanov, take care of this mess."

"Roger."

Someone put a bag on Martin's head and tied his hands. He was thrown outside and later on what he thought was a jeep by the sound of its engine. The machine drove off in an unknown to Martin direction.