NOTE: This is just an idea I've been tossing around in my mind for a few days now. I don't mean any offense to the victims of the Chernobyl incident. If ever you are offended, then I sincerely apologize.

October 19, 2012

16:56:17 – EEST

Prypiat, Exclusion Zone, Ukraine

We went out on a raid this morning. The psy-storm had just died down and that made a lot of the stalkers eager to go artifact hunting. Prypiat was still considered virgin territory to most (so long as they weren't either Monolith, Military, or Mercs).

Me and Kostya were still living off our last find so we decided to go check out the supply cache supposedly hidden somewhere in one of the apartment buildings around Kurchatov Street. Two days ago, we found the body of a Monolithian. It was still fresh—you can tell because the worms haven't got to him yet—and there were still lumps in his pockets so we looted it. The guy's PDA was full of the same old Monolith shit except for this little dot on his GPS that was labeled 'special inventory' and had a note that said 'stored extra supplies'. We were too tired to go check it out so we headed back to the Laundromat.

Anyway, Prypiat is a scary place. The old buildings, the trees, and the damn noises that you keep on hearing from God knows where—they all gave me the creeps and I'm pretty damn sure I wasn't the only one who had the same condition. Sometimes, you would see shadows in the windows and other creepy shit moving around behind them. Could be mutants, could be ghosts (which I believe in), or just your mind playing tricks on you.

As we got up the road, Kostya saw a disturbance in the air and gave the signal. We ducked behind a crate and peeked through our scopes. It was a bloodsucker getting on with a pack of dogs. They were making a fracas right in the middle of the road.

"Should we go around them?" I asked.

"Nah, we can pick them off real good." Kostya was a confident shooter. "You ready?"

"I guess so." I flipped into single shot and peeked through the scope. We both waited for the bloodsucker to get rid of the dogs (which was usually the case) and took aim for whatever vital parts we thought fit.

We did this often and the mutant wasn't much of a fight. Though it did unnerve us as some of our shots missed and it was about ten feet away when Kostya landed the bullet right in between the eyes (a lucky shot, mind you).

I looked around. The hospital was just across the street. The entrance was ajar and I almost jumped when I saw the graffiti on one of the walls. Artists and their damned "masterpieces"!

Anyway, we managed to get to the plaza where that statue was. The stash was somewhere in building closest to the old service center. The main entrance was barred shut from the inside so we checked around to see if there was another way in. It was too dark inside so I had to turn on my headlight when I peeked through the windows. One of the rooms had a giant hole in the wall and as I squinted my eyes, I saw a shadow move right across the hall. I almost tumbled from where I was standing. I took a couple of steps back and felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Kostya.

"Chyort! Don't do that, man."

"What? You saw a ghost?"

I just glared at him. He laughed; the guy's a skeptic. I followed him down to the basement where the a hole had been shredded into where the handle used to be.

"After you?"

"Dolbayob."

I went first, seeing as how Kostya was an asshole at times. There was obviously no power; that made it difficult to see as we ventured further into the structure. We both had our headlights on and proceeded to explore the rooms. There was nothing else specific written about the stash so we were forced to check every nook and cranny lest we find anything.

To be honest, I had a really bad feeling the moment we got in. I was sure that whatever I saw was still in here. If it were bloodsuckers or some other kind of mutant, we'd be pretty fucked as we weren't really all that adept at fighting in close quarter combat.

We were heard shuffling upstairs as we dissected the first floor. Kostya pushed his finger against his lips and mouthed, "Tushkani" (mutated rodents).

I we both switched to full automatic and eased up the stairs. The first floor was empty save for some vodka. The second floor was full of rats. It was a crazy fight. We both emptied two clips just trying to hit the damn things. There were two many of them and we barricaded ourselves in one of the rooms.

"How the fuck to we get out of here?" I asked. There were no windows and it was a tight living space.

"How about tossing a grenade and hoping that it gets the little fuckers?"

"Seriously, Kostya. What do we do?"

We could hear the scratching and squealing on the otherside of the door. "How about a Molotov?"

"It could work." I dug into my backpack. Sure enough, there was still a bottle of vodka left although it was half-empty. Kostya found a handkerchief and crudely dipped it into the neck. We timed it as quickly as we could and tossed it outside the moment we opened the door.

It was a relieving sight. It lasted for a moment as the fire spread across the hallway and took up the pieces of furniture that were scattered around. We ran upstairs without thinking twice and eventually realized that we were trapped in the building. The second floor was in flames and we didn't have enough time.

"The stash could have been down there."

"No shit, Sherlock."

"Just saying."

"Come on, let's just keep moving. We better find it before the fire eats this place up."

"Or dies out." I tried to remain optimistic but it seemed as though Kostya was already sliding into a sour mood.

Anyway, I went into this room and pulled the drawer of this shelf. There was a key with the word "maintenance" embedded into it. I took it, thinking it could lead somewhere and felt someone's breath against my hand. I looked down and for a moment, I saw a kid staring up at me. I felt my throat being choked as I couldn't even say anything let alone move. I blinked and the kid was gone. That was when my lungs started and I gagged for a few seconds before looking around. That just fucking scared me and darted around, almost ramming into Kostya just as he was done with his search.

"Calm down, man. What happened to you?"

I couldn't say anything. I just looked at him then at the key in my hand.

"What's this?"

"Maintenance," I finally croaked.

"Probably where the stash is." Kostya looked at me again and this time, he was deadpan serious. "Cut the crap, man. There's nothing in here. We already took care of the tushkani."

"And what about upstairs?"

"Bullshit. Trust me, it's all good. We're together in this. Now get your bearings and let's head up. Maybe we can get some more clues." I heard him call me a pussy under his breath but I didn't care. Because I was already afraid of whatever was standing behind me.

The fourth floor wasn't much. There was a closet filled with junk and a diary that I found interesting. The entries engrossed me and I sat down for a moment to read, forgetting my fear. Then all of a sudden, I hear gunshots from across the hall. I tuck the diary in my pocket (yes, it was that small) and run outside ready to confront the mutant. Only, there was no mutant. It was just Kostya staring at the doorway, eyes wide, mouth agape, and hands shaking.

I approach steadily and he sees me. The way he stared at me was so creepy that I almost felt like I had to shoot him.

"Chyort pobyeri…" he starts.

"What?"

"Something… it's fucking with me."

"What is it?" He sounded delirious and that was not good.

"You were right, man. This building's fucked up."

"What did you see?"

I felt a tug on my sleeve and I see the same kid again. Only this time, he started grinning and I could see how red his teeth and gums were. Blood dripped from his lips and that was enough to send me running. I didn't give a fuck anymore. I was running and screaming too much to even shoot. By the time I stopped running, I was on the eighth floor and Kostya was somewhere else because I could hear him crying from the walls.

"Kostya!" I yelled. "Kostya!"

There was silence for a moment. I looked around. The doors were all ajar. And that was fucked up. "Kostya?"

There was no reply.

"Tvoyu mat…" I started creeping around, forgetting about the stash. I was so focused on finding my buddy and getting the hell out of here. "Kostya?"

I pass by a room and I suddenly hear someone whimpering. It sounded like a little kid. It came from the room in the farthest end of the hall. I don't know what came over me but I was already pacing my way to where the she was crying. I peek around the door and I see a girl huddled in the corner. She was holding a doll and it sort of mocked me—dared me to get close. I did.

"Um," I gulped. "Uh, kid? Hey, kid… you alright?"

The kid just went on. I realized that it was the same one in the lower floors and that caused my heart to skip a beat. I noticed dots of red on the floor and was completely afraid of even saying anything.

"Papa?" she finally says.

"Kid?"

"You're not my papa."

I just stared at her.

"You're not my papa!"

Then she gets violent. That's probably where the shit hit the fan.

"You're not my papa…" She stands up and turns around. There was only a distance of about two feet between us. "If you're not my papa. Then who are you?"

The girl was visibly angry. What used to be her eyes were now black holes and blood was just all over her. I flip on the switch on my gun, unknowingly locking it back into semi-automatic, and felt the trigger stiffen. I was sweating so hard as she paced towards me, ready to deliver whatever bullshit motherfucking-kill-it vengeance she had on me. The pressed the trigger over and over but the damn thing wouldn't fire.

I backed up and felt the wall. I edge towards the door and just as I stepped into the hallway, she lunges at me and I just bolted out of there.

I don't recall how, why, or what the fuck. All I know is that by the time I came to, I had punctured thirty holes into the walls and floor. I was breathing hard and felt almost like throwing up. I was by the staircase and I see that I had ascended another four stories.

"Kostya?" I coughed out, my lungs pounding for more air. "What… the fuck was… that?"

I then hear more gunshots from downstairs followed by a grenade blast. I was too scared to move so I stayed in place. It felt like hours before I heard footsteps come up and a figure move around the corner. I pulled the trigger and heard it click. By then, Kostya was on top of me asking all sorts of questions.

"It was a controller," I heard him say.

"What?"

"It was a fucking controller. That son of a bitch had been manipulating us the whole time. Making us see ghosts and all that shit!"

"You killed it?"

"You bet I did. Emptied my whole clip and fed it a frag." He sounded so proud. "Come on, we're in the clear. I'm sure of it."

By then, I'd given up on the stash. What I encountered in that room was enough to make me crying for home. "Is the fire dead?"

"I don't think so. We'll just have to improvise." He gave me a bundle of rope. "I think we can reach down from the seventh."

I never wanted to go back down to the seventh. Regardless, I took it and didn't give a fuck. I flipped off the air as we descended. "The stash… what about the stash?"

"What stash? It was just a fib. Nothing but a bunch of Monolith bibles is what it is."

"No gear? No ammo?"

"Nyet."

I followed Kostya to the end of the hallway, daring to look back into the room where the girl was. Where the blood was were just a bunch of faded stains but it was still blood. I saw my buddy tie the rope around the sill.

"You first." It was a big enough window. I looked down. The fire didn't reach this part of the building so we were in the clear. Kostya tied a knot around my waist and guided me down. It was a rough slide until I bounced off the wall and slammed my face against a window. I grabbed the rope and pressed my feet against the concrete. I look up and almost suffer a heart attack because the kid was there in all her crimson glory. She had both hands against the glass and was staring at me.

"Hey! You alright down there?"

Kostya seemed to have broken the spell because when I glanced at the window, it was boarded up.

Eventually, we got out of there just in time to meet another group of stalkers who saw the smoke and went to check up on us. Kostya was a mouthful, and amazingly so. Awhile back, he was like a chick at a horror flick—all scared to death and pale as snow. But now, he was treating it like another raid, as though he never even encountered the ghost. I quickly attributed it to pride but I didn't want to ask him about it.

We returned to the Laundromat and got myself checked by the doc and his nurse. They suggested I take literary therapy to clear my head and get rid of the trauma. After all, a controller played us so the after effects should wear off if I wrote it all down. I could tell they knew it too.

They knew about the ghosts. They knew about all the paranormal bullshit in this fucked up city and they pretended as though it was the work of a mutant. Well, for me, I don't give a fuck. What I saw was a ghost and a fucking scary one at that!

I picked out the diary and flicked through the entries, just to get the thoughts out. It was then that I noticed some words. I returned a few pages and it soon became pretty clear to me.

The diary belonged to that little girl. The maintenance key belonged to the pedo-fuck who did what no one should ever do to kids. The place where he worked was also her den and the key that was used to lock it was also the tool used to… I can't really say it. Goddamn that motherfucker!

Prypiat is a fucked up city. Don't expect to just run into the victims of the Zone but also the victims of its past.

I just hope this doesn't give me nightmares.

NOTE: As you can tell, this is a rushed story that I typed up without much thought. I will be updating this soon with a (hopefully) better version.