Artyom opened his eyes as he slowly sat up from his cot and slipped out of his tent. He stretched his arms before observing the entire camp. Only a quarter of the tribals that greeted them in their camp remained. Perhaps they went to do their work while their guests remained? It was just like home.

He heard Cass's voice call him from his right. "Morning, Arty. Did you sleep well?"

When he turned his head, his eyebrows were raised when at the sight of Cass bathing in the waters of Zion with only two pieces of clothing. His cheeks were oddly warm in this weather as he did his best to avoid making the moment weird. Hopefully, this was the whiskey making her do that. "Yes. I slept well."

"Aw, you're blushing. I should do this more often." She said as she stepped out of the water and reached for a fur towel atop of her belongings.

"Maybe you should stop drinking every now and then?"

"Not going to happen." Then the caravanner brought out two wooden bowls sitting beside her clothes lying against the rocks. "The Dead Horses made breakfast. They hunted some fresh geckos this morning. Now you better eat up quick, Joshua wants to brief you and the Rangers on getting out of Zion."

Artyom was quick to slip in a remark. "Are you sure you want to leave? From what I can tell, you seem to be enjoying this."

A warm smile was all she could offer. "Only for you. Now that we have some personal time to ourselves, how long am I going to wait until I meet your dad? You seem to be taking your sweet time."

"If you haven't noticed, we've been getting side-tracked by the Sierra Madre and surviving a tribe filled with degenerates." He countered. "I'm surprised we even have a conversation about our-"

"Relationship." She cutted.

"...our friendship."

"You better make a decision, I can't wait any longer."

"I know." Artyom replied as he walked up to her and took his bowl. Thoughts the Dark Ones foreshadowing about the future worried him. "I just want to take things slowly. This is my first time."

"It can't be that bad as having entire caravans cut down by raiders. Hell, I think I'm bankrupt at this point. Aside from that, I'm on Ranger Jackson's shitlist for leaving the outpost with my papers."

Soon, the Russian started to eat into his meal.

Ranger Tomilin sat in his wooden chair as he inspected his weapon by ejecting his magazine out of his Kalashnikov and adding more dirty bullets to its full capacity. Meanwhile, Joshua Graham was standing near the edge of the cliff, looking down on his camp and the rest of Zion. He had hoped to join Colonel Miller and his men in fighting against the Legion threat, but here he was as a guest of an ex-Legionary.

Joshua's admiration for the sun rising was short-lived when he turned around with his weapon in hand. "I suppose you want to know what I plan for you and your people."

The Russian laid his weapon in his lap. "What do you have in store for us?"

"Daniel, my friend who is in the company of the Sorrows tribe, needs several items that will help you get out of Zion. However, they are scattered throughout Zion in the pre-war buildings. What you will need to find is a compass, three lunch boxes, and two walkie talkies. Then you will head over to the Sorrows and bring them to him."

"In other words, we're stalking for old equipment?"

"I do not understand."

Tomilin slipped his magazine into his assault rifle before slipping the weapon behind his back. "In Moscow, we have a profession of scavengers called stalkers. They usually look around for pre-war objects with anything of value. I presume you need us for that?"

Johsua nodded and understood the concept. "Yes. They might also help us deal with the White Legs since they preferable avoid such structures. It is something that has to do with an angry father of the caves the Sorrows speak of."

He scoffed at the idea. "Thankfully, I'm not a superstitious man."

"Just because they're easy to locate doesn't mean you will be fine. Once you all leave the safety of our camp, you will be fighting the wildlife of the scouts the White Legs have sent."

"I see. It's complete chaos down there. Looks like I got my work cut out for me. I'll tell the others about what you have in store for us."

"I also noticed that someone in your company wears a Pip-Boy. You will need it. She already has a map of Zion and it should help you located the areas with little trouble." The Burned Man stated.

"Thanks for the help." Tomilin replied with gratitude.

"It is the will of God and he will help you in such times. I pray that you succeed finding what you need."

Everyone in the caravan had split up into four groups. Three of them would leave the safety of the camp to locate the necessary tools for their survival; however, the fourth group would stay behind to secure their goods. Tomilin had inspected Cass's Pip-Boy and drew up several maps that roughly described the terrain across the entire valley. It wasn't accurate as the Pip-Boy itself, but it was better than nothing.

Thankfully, Joshua allowed his scouts to help these groups navigate through valley and avoid the wildlife. Follows-Chalk led the way out of the camp as Artyom and Cass walked out of the camp. "Joshua said there are some tools for you from the way back days. We need to be careful, the White Legs have scouts everywhere and there are some Yao Guai going hungry."

Cass immediately asked a question. "What's a Yao Guai?"

"It's a very big beast and it's often angry. They're found running all over Zion. Best to stay away. They're very hard to kill." The Dead Horse guide replied.

"Have you actually hunted them down?"

"No. I am a scout and the hunters often had trouble trying to kill one. Why do you ask?"

"Simply curious." She answered.

Artyom looked to his right and found a cave, but there was bushes in the way as if it was meant to be hidden. "What's in that cave?"

Follows-Chalk looked at the sight and stopped walking. "I don't know, but the Sorrows say the caves are lived by someone called the Father in the Caves. They worship him, but they believe anybody who goes in there will feel his wrath. It's just superstition."

"After what Cass and I went through, they might have a good reason." He said. Then he walked towards the cave.

However, he heard the Dead Horseman ask a question. "It sounds like a lesson from the civilized lands. Why do you believe that?"

"Civilized? Cass and I are no more civilized than you like the droplets of water." He reasoned. "Before we go, I'm going to check these tunnels out."

"Well, I better go back and get some fire."

Artyom turned on his flashlight as he walked into the cave. "No need for that. I can make do."

The trio diverged from their main path as they entered the natural underground. There were some routes that ended with a cave-in, but there were other ways out. When they finally reached their destination, the stalker's flashlight lit up an entire open area before them. However, there was several boxes and signs of human occupation within these caves. "It looks like somebody was living in here." Follows-Chalk commented as he was about to step forward.

Yet, experience in the Metro tunnels had taught the young man that some people have the sense to make it defensible. If they were sleeping here, there must have been a way to trigger an alarm. He looked down before his hand shot out in front of him. "Don't move."

The young man beside him froze. "What is it?"

The Russian fell to one knee as he drew his knife out of his sheathe. "If somebody lives here, then they need to put a trap for intruders. I can see why the Sorrows believe these caves are haunted." His flashlight scanned the entire room as he noticed the two shotguns angled in from the side. "Whoever lived here had those shotguns waiting for us. Watch your step and check your surroundings. Cass, get your light on if you can."

Soon, a green light accompanied her as they explored the large cave space. After Artyom dismantled the trigger mechanisms he was quick to make his way towards the crates in the center of this place. He walked over to them and lifted the cover off. His eyes fell upon several shotguns with plenty of ammo for everyone. Yet, the young man looked down and noticed a pistol similar to the ones Joshua had stockpiled.

He reached for the pistol and grabbed it from the bottom of the crate to inspect it himself. His mind felt a strange feeling in his head. Artyom felt it his control slip away from him as he fell to the ground. Falling to the ground didn't go unnoticed by Follows-Chalk and Cass before he succumbed to a slumber.

It had been some time since Artyom had returned to any of these dream-like states, but there was something supernatural that didn't. The stalker looked around and hoped there was a good reason for this to happen all suddenly. His eyes noticed a blue light in the distance, but there was a large body of water keeping him away from reaching it. Yet, there was a man sitting near the water as he looked at the light from afar. "I'm sorry, Char. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you and Alex."

He had never encountered this person before in these moments, but when he took a step forward he heard a crackle coming underneath his boot. Artyom looked down to see that he stepped on a twig before he looked up at the stranger whose back was turned away from him raise his head. The sound caught his attention as he turned around.

"Who goes there?" He demanded.

The stranger's gaze fell upon him while Artyom saw a middle-aged man with black hair stare at him. It appeared he went through a nightmare while he wore a long coat around him. He reached for deep inside of his pockets, but the young man could hear the voices of his company call out to him. "Wake up, Artyom! Wake up!"

Out from his mind, Cass sat beside him while Follows-Chalk stood over her shoulder. He was quick to comment about this strange moment for him. "That is odd. What happened to you? Are you sick?"

Artyom sat up from the stone-cold floor as he placed his hand over his head. "No, I'm not sick." He answered. "Sorry about that."

"Should I tell Joshua about this?"

He shook his head. "No, but let's get what we need. I don't want to get too curious about these caves."

Hours had passed since they had left the strange cave that was once occupied, but it was easy to forget about it when the trio could hear gunfire in the distance and the wildlife thriving all around just to kill one-another. A minute ago, he saw a giant insect creature take on a greenish-yellow lizard all by itself. While he trekked through the land, he pumped his Tihar's air pressure to the maximum and was grateful he spent several cartridges into an air-tight valve. However, he would have to use the ammo sparingly.

They had just crossed a bridge and found their destination. "Here we are," Follows-Chalk spoke, "the tools should be in there. Be careful, I hear some strange critters lurk the buildings."

Artyom's finger was close to the trigger. "Then we better make this quick." He said as he made his way towards the door. "Cass, you go first since you have the four-barrels."

The caravaneer appeared to enjoy the opportunity. "Finally, I get to use this thing." She acknowledge as she unlocked the door with her barrels aimed within the wooden strucker.

He followed after her as she fired her first blast of shotgun shells. When he entered the building, he saw an entire aisle of dead insects on the floor. On the left side of the room, there were these two small insects with pincers as tails. The creatures' advance towards them was short-lived when Cass sweeped that side of the building.

"Reloading!" She shouted before tossing out the empty shotgun shells.

Meanwhile, Artyom stepped forward and looked around for what was needed. Tomilin had told him that the group would need five of these so-called lunch boxes if they were going to be leaving Zion. "Go look for the lunch boxes, I'll check everything else." Observing the entire room, his gaze fell upon the locked door on the other side of the aisles. Perhaps there was something there worth exploring.

He walked towards the door and turned the knob, but when he opened it he found a flying bug rotate towards him with its wings buzzing. The stalker's immediate reaction resulted with firing two ball-bearings into its large behind before exploding with its green-yellow blood everywhere. Then he began to search the room for anything of value, but there was very little to offer to him. There were pre-war toys, leftover food that was surprisingly untouched, and the terminal did not contain anything meaningful aside from pre-war messaging about the wrong shipments.

Cass walked into the room, informing him about their situation. "I got all of the lunch boxes. Do you have any room in your knapsack?"

"Yeah, here." Artyom took off his knapsack and unzipped it open before stuffing the metal boxes along with the rest of his inventory. "There, we should be good."

Follows-Chalk ran into the building as he yelled for his life. "White Legs are here!" The stalker could hear the foreign yelling outside as the young man drew out his large pistol and fired upon them.

The duo were quick to come to his aid as they busted down the windows with the butt of their weapons. A group of a dozen savages were on the road as their leader pointed his finger towards their building. They had more people to overrun them, but Artyom knew they had the building for defense. He switched out his Tihar for his Kalashnikov while Cass put down her Duplet for her automatic rifle.

The enemy fired upon their position with sub-machine gun fire peppering the wood. Yet, half of those White Legs only carried melee weapons as they rushed towards them. Artyom pulled the trigger as he watched his bullets cut them down. Then Cass's assistance helped hasten their demise.

Although they killed half of the White Legs, their ranged people were far more threatening. His eyes saw the gunfire penetrate through the wooden walls come into contact with his friend's. He was filled with terror when she stood up and watched her take enemy gunfire while the armor stopped the bullets. Yet, she was unable to stop herself from falling onto the ground.

Filled with anger, the stalker aimed through the scope of his weapon and fired in six bursts. In a matter of seconds, the White Legs were lying on the ground. He slid over to the caravaneer's side as she groaned. "Cass, are you okay?"

The woman placed a hand on her armor and began patting it down. "I think so." As she sat up, she shook her head. "The armor got the bullets. Damn, that's one hell of an experience."

Follows-Chalk spoke up and caught their attention. "I thought they killed you."

She chuckled at the comment. "They wished they did. The only reason I'm alive is because of this armor. Well, it handled well to whatever the hell they were wearing." Then she glanced over to him. "Hey, mind getting their guns. I'd think I'm out of ammo for this gun."

"Yes, will get them." The Dead Horseman replied as he left the building for the dead corpses of the White Legs.

Then she glanced over to the Russian. "I know this is a bad time to tell you, but I think you need to carry me."

"Carry you?" He wondered.

"Yeah. Those bullets knocked the wind out of me and I'd think it be nice of you to carry me."

"Why? You can stand up."

"So much for a special moment between both of us." She said.

"We haven't gotten there yet."

Then Follows-Chalk shouted at them from outside. "I don't wish to trouble both of you, but we need to leave."

"Why?!" Both the stalker and the caravaneer asked.

"There is a Yao Guai about to enter the building."

Without a word, Artyom carried his friend in his arms and sprinted out of the building. A loudbesital cry called for him as he looked over his shoulder to see a large black mass of angry coming for him. "Follows-Chalk, WE ARE LEAVING!"

Author's Note: Thanks to the previous chapters, my writing juices are still there and allowed me to post another one. Hope you all enjoyed this one.

The Great Big World: Thanks. Go check out some of my other Metro fics. Maybe you'll like them.