Freedom

Chapter 36

Like you probably figured, I did get out – though not before being smashed over the head with a flying piece of wood, knocked flat by a bit of pipe, and tripped by a barrel that was rolling all by itself. There was some trial and error in finding my way topside, then out of the building, made worse by the electrical anomalies. I'd see something flying at me and try to dodge, only to notice that if I dodged that way, I was dead.

That is to say, compared to how I felt down in those caves, I was having a blast. Bruised, aching, cold, starving, and exhausted, I emerged to find myself not far from the channel. It was daylight, but it was late, and dusk was coming on. I could see the dark water down the hillside.

The building I'd come out of wasn't easy to identify; there was no road, only a gravel path. I was, of course, on the west side of the channel, and the lack of access told me nothing about what sort of basement I'd been in. The building could have been anything. I hadn't been paying close attention to the little details as I fled from the floating debris that had been trying to kill me.

But what did I care what kind of building it was? I wasn't going back in there. I didn't know what had been throwing all that stuff at me, but I wasn't going to make friends with it, that was for sure.

As I took stock of my surroundings, it became clear that I was some distance north of where I'd begun. I climbed up the bank to the highway and looked south. I could just see a smudge that was probably the ship we'd tried to stay the night on, way down there. I let out a long breath. It was well over a kilometer away.

I wondered if the stalkers at large realized just how expansive the system of caverns beneath the Zone really was. I was betting most of them didn't. Especially now, with fewer stalkers on the scene, and more mutants. And no satellite imaging, because a quick check told me it was still down. I wondered how long it would be before there was no point looking at maps at all.

Great. Now that I was in the open, I felt like I could finally relax. A little, anyway. I ate my second calorie bar and sat back against a large rock, wondering what the odds were I'd find my way from the bottom of those caverns to here in one piece. I looked at my right hand, but didn't take off the glove. The decisions about which way to go – they had come to me awfully easily. I'd assumed I was being random.

I shook my head, finished the calorie bar, and took out the PDA again. Maps were still not updating, but the communicators were unaffected by whatever was blocking the satellites. I entered Velvet's frequency and got on the band.

"Anybody there?"

Static. I waited patiently, but didn't get anything. So I pinged her PDA. She'd see it the next time she checked it, and presumably get online. That done, I made sure I was more or less out of sight, and closed my eyes. It was cold, but not so cold I didn't think I could doze off. Maybe I did. Velvet's voice woke me up.

"Who is this?" Of course she'd ask that – I'd pinged her from a random stalker's PDA.

I got alert fast, and cleared my throat. "It's me, Mist – where are you?"

A bit of a pause. "Well – well, I'll be damned." It might have been wishful thinking on my part, or maybe the static – but she sounded a little choked up. Another moment went by. "Are you all right?"

"More or less. No weapon, no supplies. But I'm topside now. I've been underground."

"I – I don't want to know. Well, I do – but not now. Where are you?"

"North of the ship, west side of the channel."

"Okay – okay, great. Mist, you need to go north – you need to follow the channel north, all the way to Kevorich."

"Is that where you are?"

"Well – sort of."

"What's that mean?"

"Just go, it's getting dark."

"How far is it?"

"From the ship it's two or three hours, depending on your pace."

I let out a low whistle. That was a little more ground to cover unarmed than I liked. "Is the road safe?"

"Not especially. Sorry – I can't talk now. Get up here."

This was a bad idea – the smart thing to do would be to wait until morning to travel, but I wasn't keen on spending the night with no weapon and no food. So I had to go while the going was – well, not good, but while it was an option. I got to my feet, tucked away the PDA, and climbed the hill. The road was cracked and overgrown, like most roads in the Zone, but it was passable. I started to jog.

As the sun sank, the sense of isolation was profound. Perhaps even more so than underground. Up here there were the sounds of the Zone, all the more ominous in the twilight. Crows cawed in the trees. I heard a distant gunshot just once, and it must have been a very long way off. I crossed a bridge, and heard something splashing underneath it.

Lights appeared on the road ahead, and I hid myself until the stalkers passed. They could have been anyone; I'd never know – but I couldn't risk them seeing me. I needed the rest anyway. I'd started flagging after a couple kilometers, and I was really panting now.

So far I'd managed not to run into any anomalies, but I wondered how long that luck would hold once the sun was down and I couldn't see. I had to pick up the pace, but that was impossible. I'd been tired even before reaching the surface; now I didn't even know what I was running on. Probably nothing more than willpower – but I doggedly jogged off once I thought the coast was clear.

My breathing was getting pretty loud, and I wasn't getting anything from my right hand. It almost felt normal. That was refreshing, in its own way.

Out of breath again, I had to stop. I was in the middle of the road. It was quite dark now – the goal of running had been to reach Kevorich before night fell, but so much for that. I weighed the risks, and turned on my chest light – but it only amplified the darkness around me, and made me feel more alone. I put on the dead stalker's earpiece and switched it to the open channel, just to have some company.

It's not a good idea to sacrifice your situational awareness that way, especially not at night – but I was desperate. I couldn't account for it. I just didn't want to be out here in the night, completely alone.

I didn't want to talk, either. I didn't know what I would say, and my ragged breathing was probably broadcasting my position well enough without me going out of my way to announce myself.

A pair of stalkers were talking about the ship, and how it appeared to be leaning more than it used to. I listened to them, grateful for the measure of normality that was restored just by hearing human voices. As I jogged on, I wondered about what they were saying. The ship leaning? That probably wasn't caused by the firefight. Or was it? What had hit the ship, not once, but twice during the battle? That had to be the cause. But what had it been? Some large piece of debris, floating down the channel?

Maybe. I knew one thing – I wasn't going near that ship again. And it would be a while before I'd consent to go underground, too. Fresh air tasted good; I wouldn't be giving it up anytime soon.

I heard Kevorich before I saw it – but then almost immediately the glow was visible ahead. Even though the man it was named after was dead, it looked and sounded as if Kevorich was as lively as ever. They say it's the biggest settlement the Zone's ever seen. I haven't been around long enough to comment on that – but even from a ways off, I was impressed. Or maybe I was just relieved that I'd gotten there in one piece. Whatever the case, the brightly colored lights, loud music, and raucous sounds were a lot warmer and more welcoming than anything I'd encountered underground.