Black Sun

Chapter 4

It had already started to rain again by the time Jaune and Cinder made their way back to the 100 Rads. The two of them stepped inside, shivering the entire time. Jaune's stomach growled loudly – he hadn't eaten since yesterday. They approached the bar, and Cinder began laying down gear onto the countertop. She laid down everything except for one shotgun and one rifle, which she kept for the two of them.

Behind the bar, Barkeep stared at them incredulously. "What's all this?"

"You asked me to find out what was killing the Stalkers," Jaune said. He motioned towards the pile of weapons, armor, and assorted equipment lying in front of him. "I did, and I also found the Stalkers. Believe me, they won't be needing any of that stuff anymore."

Barkeep reached out and picked up one of the rifles. He removed the magazine and pulled back on the charging handle, ejecting the loaded round onto the countertop. He inspected the gun for a moment, running his hands across it.

"Kalashnikovs," he grunted. "Looks like you've got three of them here. They're all in shit condition, though."

"Is that a problem?"

"It means I can't pay you as much for them as I normally would. It's going to cost time and money getting them in proper working order again – I can tell you right away that the bolt carriers on two of them are rusted to shit, and the third one looks like it'll need a new front trunnion, since I can see the headspace is visibly off just by looking at it. I'll give you one-thousand each for these, plus another fifty for each magazine."

"Sold," Jaune said. He pushed the rifles over to Barkeep, along with the magazines they'd brought. Cinder glared at him from the corner of her eye for some reason, but he ignored her. "What else?"

Barkeep set aside the rifles, instead reaching for the series of pistols they had lying there. "Great, more Makarovs," he said. "One-hundred each, magazines and ammo included."

"Two-hundred," Cinder interrupted before Jaune had a chance to speak.

Barkeep raised an eyebrow at her. "Sorry, who are you?"

"I'm the one who's doing the talking here," Cinder said. "Two-hundred for each pistol."

Barkeep's eyes narrowed. "One-twenty-five."

"One-seventy-five."

"There are crates of these all across the Zone," Barkeep countered. "You're crazy if you think I'm paying one-seventy-five for one of these, let alone for a stack of them."

"Oh, is that so?" Cinder said. She leaned forwards a bit, resting her hands on the countertop and giving Barkeep a sly look. Barkeep's gaze traveled down to her chest, and Jaune noted that she was giving him a look down her body armor. "Please, sir. I'm just a simple woman, trying to survive in this awful place. Anything you can do to help me would be much appreciated."

"Bah." Barkeep shook his head. "One-fifty for each pistol. For all the other gear… two-thousand total."

"Deal," Cinder said. She instantly stood up straight, then pushed everything over to Barkeep. He slid a roll of paper money over to them, which Cinder quickly pocketed. Jaune stared at her in amazement as she walked away and took a seat at a nearby table.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, taking a seat across from her.

"That's called not being an idiot," she snapped. "Did you not realize he was taking you for a ride?"

"I was just trying to do business."

"And you were doing it very stupidly. He was low-balling you on everything."

"How do you know?"

"Because I've met his type before. They always low-ball people. They're in it to make as much money as possible."

"And your solution to that was to give him a show?"

Cinder rolled her eyes. "Please. I'm wearing a shirt underneath my body armor. He didn't see anything that hasn't been seen before. The only reason it worked is that everyone here is so sex-starved. Then again, I'm sure you know all about that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Cinder waved him off. "Think nothing of it." She gave him a sly smile, and Jaune scowled. "Now then, since I am in charge of our finances-"

"I never agreed to that," Jaune spat.

"You agreed to it when you let Barkeep talk you into letting those rifles go for below market value," Cinder countered. "Clearly, you don't know how things actually work here."

"And you do?"

"I know more about it than a simpleton like you. Do not question me. Instead, listen and learn."

Jaune crossed his arms. "Fine. I'm listening."

"First thing we need to do is get you some armor," Cinder said. "And before you say I just sold all the armor we picked up – yes, I did. Those plates were too small for you – you're tall compared to everyone here. So am I. You need armor that will actually fit, otherwise it's not going to protect you at all."

"How nice of you to look out for me."

"Oh, shut up. Aside from armor, you need a weapon."

"You sold all those, too."

"Because I don't trust you with a rifle," Cinder said, impatient. "You clearly barely know how to fire a pistol. It's pure luck that you managed to take out that man earlier, nothing more. No, you need something that you can actually land hits with."

"What would that be?"

"A shotgun."

Jaune paused, staring at her incredulously. "You can't be serious. I know all about shotguns – they can't hit past a few feet, and they're useless against armor."

"You watch too many movies and play too many video games," Cinder said dryly. "Shotguns will pattern effectively out to several dozen feet. Past that, you can still land a few pellets on the target. With slugs, they're effective out to a hundred yards, possibly more. As for armor… yes, armor will stop a shotgun blast, so just shoot them again, either higher or lower. Even if you don't kill them, that doesn't mean they won't be sucking air in through broken ribs and collapsed lungs once you hit them in the sternum with it." She offered him the shotgun from earlier. "It's a good thing I kept one, just for you."

Jaune hesitantly took the shotgun, turning it over in his hands. He didn't know anything about guns, so he couldn't exactly discern what he was supposed to be looking at. The only thing he could see that made sense to him were words emblazoned on the side of the gun, which read 'Remington 870 Police Magnum'.

He looked up from the gun and back to Cinder. "...How do you know all this? I thought you used swords. Where did this come from?"

"Consider it a product of my upbringing," Cinder growled. "Are you done asking questions? Because we still have much to discuss."

"Like what?"

"Dealing with the one that got away, and his friends. You realize we're going to have to kill them, yes? Because they are going to try and kill us."

"Yes, I realize that," Jaune said through gritted teeth. "No thanks to you."

"I did what I had to do to survive," Cinder told him flippantly.

"Is that how you justify it? Was killing Pyrrha necessary for you to survive, too?"

"Yes, actually. But that's beside the point. What we need to do now is consider our options," she urged. "A frontal assault is impossible at the moment – they outnumber us, no doubt, to say nothing of the fact that they almost certainly have better weapons than us, and know how to use them better than us. Plus, we still don't know anything about them, aside from the fact that they almost certainly want us dead. So, what to do?"

"I don't see what we can do," Jaune grunted. "We're going to have to just wait for them to make the first move. Until then… I guess we just carry on."

"Carry on how?"

"I don't know about you, but my main concern right now is just surviving. I figure once I can get that down, I can start thinking of ways to get back to Remnant."

Cinder stared at him. "You think there's a way back?"

"There has to be," Jaune insisted. "I mean, we got here in the first place, right? So there has to be a way back."

Cinder continued to stare at him disbelievingly, but Jaune didn't falter. Not because he truly believed in what he was saying, but because the alternative – that there really wasn't a way back to Remnant, and they were both stuck here – was too horrifying to even consider.

They stayed in the Bar until the rain cleared. Once it had, they set off. In the absence of anything else to do, Jaune had suggested they go Artifact hunting to try and get some extra cash. Cinder had agreed, and they had set off.

The trek to the Garbage took them awhile, and by the time they had gotten there, the rain clouds had started to gather once more. That wasn't about to stop them, not when they so desperately needed money, but it did serve to remind Jaune of just how much he hated this place.

"Okay," Cinder said as they stopped a short ways away from a small field of anomalies, just off the side of one of the big hills littered with trash. They were far enough away that their Geiger counters hadn't started going haywire just yet, though that would soon change. "Explain to me how this works, in case I ever have to do it."

Jaune pulled the Detector out of his pocket and showed it to her. "This is an Artifact Detector. Specifically, it's an Echo Detector, which is the cheap one they hand out to all the Rookies that step into the Bar. How it works is simple – you approach an Anomaly, and if there's an Artifact inside, it'll light up and start beeping at you. Once you get close enough to the Anomaly, the Detector will cause the Artifact to appear. Then you reach out, grab the Artifact, and put it in this lead-lined container here." He tapped the plastic container hanging on his belt for emphasis. "Then you're done."

"Sounds simple," Cinder told him.

"Yeah, well, I haven't been able to find an Artifact yet after several days of looking," Jaune countered. "It's a lot more difficult than it looks, especially because if you mess up, the Anomaly will turn you into mulch. At least, that's how it was explained to me – I haven't bothered to try and find that part out for myself just yet."

He turned on the detector, then swept around the small field of Anomalies. Naturally, he got nothing. Frustrated, he shut it down, then turned back to Cinder. "This one's empty. Let's move on to the next one."

Cinder nodded, and the two of them moved on to the other side of the hill. They had barely made it around the corner when Cinder suddenly grabbed him and shoved him back behind it, then ducked behind it herself. Jaune stared at her for a moment, but she motioned for him to remain still, then reached for his binoculars. She poked her head out from around the corner, peering through the binoculars as she did so.

"What's going on?" Jaune asked.

"You see that structure ahead, the one that looks like an old train station? There are people inside."

Jaune's heart skipped a beat. "There are? Do they look like the Stalkers we had to deal with?"

"No, they look different. They're wearing black coats."

"Bandits," Jaune reported. "Let me see."

Cinder handed off the binoculars, and Jaune took a look. True to her word, there were bandits situated all over the train station. There were a few lookouts standing high up on top of the station, and on the scaffolding attached to the outside of it. There was also one hanging out in front of the slightly-open gate out front, a Kalashnikov in his hands. Jaune could also tell there was a fire lit just inside the gate, but he couldn't see past the gate into the station. Slowly, he lowered the binoculars.

"They must have just moved in these past few days," he said. "I've been here a few times, and I haven't noticed them before."

"Perhaps you just got lucky," Cinder mused. "What should we do with them?"

"What do you mean? We can't fight them."

"Why not? Killing them would certainly help with our financial situation. No doubt they have plenty of things worth selling."

"Are you crazy?! We already have a group of people after us, and you want to piss off another one?!"

"They're bandits," Cinder pointed out. "They're already going to shoot at us if we cross their path. Nobody is going to miss them, and I doubt anyone would try to avenge them – believe me, there truly is no honor among thieves."

"You would know, wouldn't you?"

If Cinder cared about his comment, she didn't show it. "Perhaps you should consider the implications of a group of bandits setting up shop in a well-traveled area such as this. How many people do you think they'll kill before someone wipes them out? How many people do you think they've already killed? Can you really live with yourself, knowing you had the opportunity to stop them from killing any more, but didn't do anything about it?"

Jaune grit his teeth. "Don't pretend like this is about that. You just want to kill them so you can loot their stuff. You couldn't care less about what happens to their victims."

"No, but you care about their victims. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement to both of us – you get to wipe some scum off the face of the earth, and I get paid for it. It's a win-win."

"You're forgetting one thing: what if one of us gets shot?"

"Then let me do most of the fighting, and you watch my back," Cinder said, hefting her Kalashnikov. "Can you do that for me, or will I have to worry about you getting scared and running off?"

"I can watch your back just fine," Jaune insisted. "Let's just do this and get it over with."

Cinder seemed pleased with herself that she'd managed to convince him. She beckoned for him to follow her, and Jaune did, shouldering his shotgun as he did so. Together, they crept around to the front of the train station, watching the one guard stationed outside the gates. He was looking away from them, peering off into the opposite direction, one hand curled around the grip of his submachine gun. Cinder shouldered her rifle, took a breath, and then pulled the trigger.

There was an ear-splitting crack as the bullet screamed downrange, then hit the unfortunate bandit square in the chest. He doubled over, his gun falling from his hands, as he writhed on the ground, blood bubbling out from behind his balaclava as he gasped for breath around the fresh hole in his sternum. Immediately, the other bandits inside the station took to the windows, sticking their guns out and firing sporadically. Cinder ducked down behind the hill just as a spray of rifle fire impacted in front of her, kicking up clods of dirt.

"Cover me," she said.

Jaune stared at her, bewildered. "Cover you?! I have a shotgun!"

"Good – maybe then you'll be able to get a hit. Just put some fire on those windows, would you?"

Jaune cursed under his breath, but did as he was told, poking his head up enough to raise his gun. He aligned the shotgun's bead sight with the windows and began cranking off loads of buckshot, pausing only to pump his gun in-between firing. At this distance, the buckshot's spread kept him from making any pinpoint-accurate shots, but the rain of incoming nine-pellet shot was enough to get the bandits to duck down for cover.

By the time he'd fired off a few shots, the bandits had all paused to avoid his incoming shotgun pellets, and Cinder had taken off towards the gate. Jaune's gun clicked empty, and he ducked down to thumb more shells into its magazine tube with shaking hands, accidentally dumping a few shells on the ground as he fumbled with them. Off in the distance, the gunfire resumed, this time coming out even faster. Jaune finished reloading, then jumped out from behind cover to chase after Cinder. Fortunately, the bandits were all focused on dealing with her, so he was able to make a beeline straight for the front gate and burst his way in.

No sooner had he made it through the gate than did he have to hit the deck to avoid an incoming spray of automatic AK fire that nearly took his head off. Jaune laid there for a moment, his heart pounding so hard he could feel it reverberating off his ribcage, then took a breath and leaped to his feet, bringing his Remington to his shoulder in the same motion. Off in the distance, on the upper floors of the train station, a man stood on a crosswalk, his Kalashnikov braced against the metal railing. Jaune didn't hesitate – he fired off a load of buckshot towards the bandit's location. Half of the pellets were stopped by a piece of metal that was hanging down from the railing, but the other half had the desired effect. The man dropped to his knees, clutching at his neck as it spurted blood. Jaune stared at him for a moment, stunned at what he'd just done, but he was quickly snapped out of it when the gunfire resumed, this time coming from behind the train station. Without missing a beat, he took off running once again, this time aiming for the rear of the station.

The train station was strewn with dead bandits. Apparently, Cinder was as deadly with a rifle as she was with her bow and arrows. Jaune swallowed nervously as he passed the corpse of a bandit that'd had the top half of its head nearly sheared completely off by an AK bullet, instead continuing on his way.

He found Cinder in the rear of the station, hunched behind a crate as she reloaded her rifle. There was another gate in front of them a short ways away. A bandit spun out from around the corner, an AK already at his shoulder, but Jaune beat him to the punch, raising his shotgun and throwing down a wall of lead pellets that brought the man down. Cinder instantly whipped around at the noise, only to relax when she saw it was him.

Jaune didn't acknowledge her presence, instead keeping his weapon trained on the gate, waiting for more bandits to pop out. None did, and Cinder cautiously stepped out from behind cover and began to approach the gate.

She peered out from around it and was very nearly decapitated by a spray of gunfire from off in the distance. The only thing that saved her were her reflexes; she just barely managed to pull her head back in before the incoming rounds killed her.

Cinder motioned for him to cover her, and he did, looking out from behind cover and firing his shotgun as fast as he could towards where the gunfire had come from. As he fired, Cinder sprinted out from behind cover and hunkered down behind a rusted old train car sitting just outside the gates. Jaune's 870 clicked empty, and he ducked back to reload. The two bandits stuck their heads up, but Cinder was already taking him. Two quick shots later, and it was all over.

The gunfire stopped, the final sound of Cinder's last two shots reverberating through the area. Jaune stood there, panting heavily as adrenaline surged through his body. He fumbled to reload his shotgun, his hands shaking as he loaded loose shells into his weapon's magazine tube. A short ways away, Cinder removed her half-empty magazine and replaced it with a new one, then thumbed her weapon's safety on and slung it over her shoulder. She didn't even bother to look back at him, instead moving over to where the two bodies were so she could rifle through their pockets.

Jaune watched with morbid fascination as Cinder looted the dead, uncaring even as blood quite literally stained her hands. He joined her after a few seconds, standing just behind her as she pocketed anything useful she found on the corpses.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Jaune couldn't help but ask.

"I'm simply doing what I must to survive," Cinder said without looking back. "If you were smart, you'd be doing the same."

"No, I mean… how can you kill someone in cold blood, and then just go through their pockets without a care in the world? What the fuck happened to you to make you like this?"

That got a reaction. Cinder instantly rounded on him, malice etched across her face. She rose to her full height and marched over to glare into his eyes, their faces so close they were almost touching.

"Do not ask about my past again," she hissed. "My history is of no concern of yours. Bring it up again and I will shoot you. Understand?"

Jaune nodded, unsure of what else to do. That seemed to placate her, as she relaxed slightly, and went back to robbing the dead. He continued to watch out of bile fascination, the whole time wondering what he had gotten himself into by allying with her.

All things told, they'd ended up with a decent haul, though he hated to admit it. They'd wound up with more ammo than they'd started with, not to mention several thousand rubles, plus various other odds and ends such as food, water, and medical supplies. Jaune's pack was almost bursting at the seams from how much he was carrying, and he struggled under its weight as he walked. His pockets were equally bulging, filled with rolls of paper money. Cinder had been right – taking on the bandits had been profitable for them, not that it brought him much comfort.

Sure, it was good that the bandits were gone now and couldn't hurt anyone, but that wasn't why Cinder had chosen to fight them. There wasn't an ounce of altruism in her body, he knew – all she cared about was surviving as best as she could. At the end of the day, she only had temporary allies; even he was fleeting, in that regard.

It was a sad, lonely existence, he had to admit, but he couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for her. Not when she did it to herself.

As was usual, the skies had decided to open up on their way back to the Bar. They had chosen to hunker down inside an old bus stop for the time being in order to avoid the rain. Their packs had been set aside, and they were both currently hunkered down along a small fire Cinder had started with a box of matches she'd claimed from the bandits. And that was where they sat, both of them silent as they stared into the flames and listened to the rain drum against the concrete roof. Jaune's thumb idly tapped against the receiver of his 870.

"Stop that," Cinder announced, annoyed.

"Stop what?"

"That tapping. It's annoying."

"You think everything I do is annoying."

"Because it is. You, and all the rest of them. You're all annoying."

"Is that why you attacked Beacon?" Jaune couldn't help but ask. "Did our mere existence annoy you? Or am I asking one of those questions you'll threaten to kill me over?"

Cinder glared at him. "You have quite the mouth, has anyone ever told you that? You seem utterly incapable of simply sitting in silence and doing nothing."

"I suppose that's annoying too, isn't it?"

"Quite. Now, are you going to answer my question?"

"Only if you answer mine."

"Why should I?"

"Because, as much as I hate to admit it, we're working together now. I figure that at least gives me the right to know why you decided to attack Beacon and murder my friends."

"There's nothing to know," Cinder declared. "Beacon held something I desired. Your friends got in the way. Nothing more."

Jaune stared at her, stunned. "You really don't care, do you? It's just that easy for you – taking a life, I mean. It doesn't mean anything at all to you."

"Correct. Now then, did you have any other inane things to ask me, or are you finally going to allow me to sit and enjoy the silence?"

"Why the fuck would I do that when you've just admitted openly that you killed my friends purely because they got in the way?"

"Then I suppose you're going to do something about it, hm?" Cinder asked. She motioned to his 870. "You are armed. If it bothers you so much, then take action."

"You think I won't?"

"I know you won't, because at the moment, you need me."

"And when I don't need you anymore?"

"Then it will be a race to see who kills who first."

Their conversation died down after that. Jaune looked back to the fire as he listened to the rain drum against the roof, uncertainty in his mind the entire time.

Ruby was quickly learning to hate the Ukraine for another reason – it always rained. When it did, her choices were to either go out and get soaked down to her bones, or sit inside and be bored out of her skull. Most of the other Stalkers preferred to wait inside, she'd learned; apparently, the Anomalies changed positions with every storm, for some reason. That was as dangerous as it was promising – new positions meant that navigating the Anomaly fields became much more difficult, but on the other hand, it also meant that the Anomalies would be refreshed with new Artifacts, so they could all earn some more money.

In any case, Ruby was thankful when the storm finally cleared and the rain stopped. She stood up and stretched, feeling her joints crack and pop as she did so, a satisfied groan escaping from her as she got her blood flowing again. Once she was limber, she slung her Mosin-Nagant over her shoulder and stepped out into the Rookie Village.

The other Stalkers were starting to emerge from their shelters, too. Ruby waved to a few of them she recognized, and they waved back. She looked around for Wolf, and found him in his usual spot next to the two-story building.

"Wolf," she called as she approached. She noticed he was soaked, and frowned. "Were you out here in the storm that entire time?"

"Sidorovich asked me to wait here," Wolf growled as he lowered his hood. "Said something about sending the new guy over to me once he got finished with him."

Ruby blinked. "...Why did he require that you stand out in the rain?"

"Revenge for me telling jokes about him to some of the others, I assume. The instant I find out who told him, I'm going to make them pay."

"Hm. So, the new guy, huh? Marked One, right?"

Wolf nodded. "He's awake. Sidorovich has been talking to him for awhile. I think he intends to have him do some jobs for him, same as you."

"Saddling another traveler with debt right from the get-go, huh?" Ruby noted.

"It's kind of his thing," Wolf agreed. "Oh, here he comes now."

Ruby and Wolf stood up straighter as the Marked One approached. He was a tall, older man with a receding hairline, and the tattoo that gave him his name emblazoned across his arm. He was dressed in the standard rookie Stalker loadout – a leather coat, with a holstered Makarov at his side and a backpack slung over both his shoulders. He seemed uncertain and confused as he approached.

"Sidorovich said you would help me learn to survive in the Zone?" he said.

Wolf nodded. "I'd be happy to."

"We'd be happy to," Ruby interrupted. That earned her a look from Wolf, and she shrugged. "I mean, I've got nothing better to do, and I figure if we're going to show him how to hunt for Artifacts, then I might as well come along, too."

"Alright, we'll help you learn how things work in the Zone," Wolf said. "Follow us."

A few minutes later, and the three of them found themselves searching for Artifacts off to the side of the Rookie Village.

"Keep an eye on your Detector," Ruby advised as she watched the Marked One tentatively step through the Anomaly field. "Throw bolts if you're not sure. If your skin starts to tingle or the hair on the back of your neck stands up, back off and throw bolts."

"Listen to you," Wolf praised. "You sound like you've been doing this all your life."

Ruby grinned sheepishly. "Well, I had a really good teacher."

The Marked One finally stepped close enough to an Anomaly that his Detector started screaming at him. There was a shimmer of light, and then an Artifact appeared. He quickly snatched it up and dumped it in the lead-lined pouch hanging from his belt, then began to carefully step back through the Anomaly field. It was slow going, but eventually he reached Ruby and Wolf intact, his brow dripping with sweat.

"Five minutes," Wolf noted. "Impressive, but I've seen faster."

"Yeah, yeah…" the Marked One breathed. "I'm just glad I'm still alive. People really do this for a living?"

"All the time," Ruby chimed in. "Alright, that makes one Artifact. Ready for round two, Marked One?"

The Marked One stared at her. "Is that really what we're calling me? It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue."

"It's already stuck, I'm afraid to say," Wolf acknowledged. "Nobody picks their nickname in the Zone, they get assigned one by everyone else."

"What about her?" the Marked One motioned to Ruby. "She doesn't even have a nickname."

"She's a special case," Wolf insisted. "Now then, did you want to keep talking, or did you want to earn some more money?"

Marked One shook his head. "After that? I need a quick break. Give me a few minutes."

Wolf hummed in agreement, and the three of them sat down on the ground. Ruby reached into her backpack and pulled out a bar of Ukrainian chocolate, then unwrapped it and took a big bite. Ukrainian chocolate had nothing on Remnant chocolate, but she didn't care – once she'd seen Sidorovich sold any kind of chocolate, she'd been hooked.

"So, Marked One," Wolf began. "What are your plans?"

"What do you mean?" the Marked One replied.

"Are you going to stay in the Rookie Village for long?"

Marked One shook his head. "No. I have something I have to do."

"Really?" Ruby asked between mouthfuls of chocolate. "What is it?"

Marked One's brow furrowed. "I can't remember much of anything," he confessed. "All I know is that I have to find and kill a man named Strelok."

Ruby and Wolf exchanged a glance. "...Any particular reason why?" Wolf asked.

Marked One shook his head. "I couldn't tell you. All I know is those words keep echoing in my head – Find Strelok; kill Strelok. I don't know why I feel compelled to do it, but I do. Perhaps he did something bad to me, or is the reason why I ended up on the Death Truck. All I know is that he has to die."

Ruby swallowed her final bite of chocolate. "...I guess that means you're leaving the Village, then."

"Sooner rather than later, yes," Marked One agreed with a nod. "Once I learn the basics, I'll set off for the Bar and see if I can't purchase some information from Barkeep. If anyone knows anything about Strelok, it'll be him, at least from what Sidorovich has told me."

Ruby and Wolf exchanged another glance with each other, but neither one said anything. Instead, they turned back to Marked One and watched as he withdrew his PDA and used it to check the time. He was an unnerving man, to say the least – Ruby didn't particularly like him that much. Sure, he wasn't threatening towards her or anyone else in the Village, and had actually been quite cordial up to this point, but it was hard for her to trust a man who had just confessed to wanting to commit murder for reasons he didn't even know.

And so, when Marked One stood up and went back to hunting for Artifacts, Ruby made sure to keep one hand on her revolver as she joined him.

It was several days later when Ruby was suddenly awoken by the sound of far-off gunfire. She'd gotten used to most of the sounds in the Zone over time, but this much gunfire was very rare, and very unnerving.

"Wolf?"

At the sound of his name, Wolf stepped into the room, his SKS in a low ready position. "You hear it, too?"

She nodded. "Yeah. What's going on?"

Wolf's brow furrowed. "Marked One is gone," he announced. "Seems like he set off a little while ago. If he was headed for the Bar like he said, then he'll have had to pass through the military checkpoint at he railway underpass. Generally, those guys will only let you through if you pay a toll."

Ruby nodded. Wolf had explained to her already that she ought to stay far away from that checkpoint. The military accepted money from everyone else, but given that she was one of the few females in the entire Zone, he had warned her that the men at the checkpoint would likely demand some other form of payment from her. So she had wisely decided to stay away, even though that meant she was stuck at the Rookie Village for the foreseeable future.

But now, it seemed that things were changing, if the sporadic gunfire was any indication.

"Didn't he only have a Makarov?" Ruby asked. "What is he doing, getting into a gunfight with people armed with automatic weapons?"

"I have no idea." Wolf shook his head. "Maybe he's just got a death wish, or perhaps he really is that good."

He motioned for her to follow him, and she did after gathering up her M44 and making sure it was loaded. They stepped out of the Village and made a beeline for the underpass, creeping along the entire time. As they drew closer, the gunfire increased in volume, but then suddenly died completely. There wasn't even any shouting, or signs that any of the participants were still alive.

Ruby posted up behind a tree along with Wolf. He motioned for her to cover him, and she nodded, then worked the bolt on her Mosin to chamber a round. As she kept an eye on the underpass, Wolf stepped out from behind cover and cautiously moved over to the checkpoint. Ruby lost him in the darkness before long, and her heart just about skipped a beat when she saw his flashlight come on and begin looking around. After a moment, it cut off, and she heard him start moving towards her again.

"They're dead," he announced.

"Who's dead?"

"The military guards. All of them are dead. Marked One killed all of them."

Wolf suddenly reached behind him, and Ruby realized in that instant that he had something slung over his shoulder. He shrugged it off and offered it to her. "For you."

Ruby hesitated for a moment, then switched on her flashlight to get a look. She was surprised to find a gun in his hands.

"What is it?"

"It's a PP-19 Vityaz," Wolf replied. "Submachine gun, nine-millimeter. It's the only gun left; Marked One looted all the rest, but he must have missed this one. I figure it's better than your Mosin."

Ruby slung her Mosin, then accepted the submachine gun. It looked just like a Kalashnikov, but shorter and chambered in a pistol caliber. She looked back to Wolf, and then nodded.

"Thanks."

Wolf waved her off. "Let's head back. There's nothing more we can do here."

Ruby didn't argue, and they both went back to the Rookie Village.

The next morning, Ruby was awoken by a commotion outside. She hurriedly reached for her new PP-19 and slung it across her front, then raced outside. Wolf was already there, his Simonov in-hand.

"Wolf?" Ruby asked, getting his attention. "What's going on?"

Wolf motioned the front of the Village, where it looked like a small standoff was occurring. Several Loners were standing there with their guns in-hand, staring down a contingent of soldiers that were doing the same. They were all arguing with each other in Ukrainian; Ruby couldn't tell what it was about, but things were obviously very heated.

"It's the Military," Wolf stated. "They want us to hand over the person who killed their men at the checkpoint."

"They want the Marked One…?"

Wolf nodded. "They do."

"But he's not here."

"That's what we keep trying to tell them. They keep insisting that they want him anyway, or they're going to get their revenge some other way."

A chill went down Ruby's spine. "Some other way…?"

Again, Wolf nodded. "There's a military checkpoint down the road from here. Generally, there's about fifteen men stationed there. My guess is that if we don't hand over Marked One sometime today, they're going to come for us."

Ruby's eyes went wide, and her hands started to shake. Hurriedly, Wolf reached out and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"You don't need to be here for whatever happens," he said gently. "You can go deeper into the Zone if you want. Nobody would blame you for it. Hell, I'd bet money that most of the Rookies are going to do exactly that."

Ruby shook her head. "Thanks… but I couldn't. You guys are going to need all the help you can get, if… if it comes to that."

"Are you up to it? You may need to kill several people."

"I know…" Ruby said, her voice soft. "...But it's like you said. Sometimes, it's unavoidable. And if I'm defending all of you in the Village… I think that's worth it."

Wolf nodded in understanding. The two of them turned their attention back towards the men who were arguing. One of the soldiers suddenly spat on the ground in front of him, then let out a growl and motioned for the others to follow him, which they did, disappearing over the hill that led back to their checkpoint.

"Guess that means negotiations are over," Wolf said. He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Alright, listen up! We all know what's coming! If you're unable or unwilling to help defend the Rookie Village, I suggest you head for the Bar immediately! Anyone else, come see me!"

Ruby watched as the people of the Village split into two groups, one of them made up mostly of rookies who had decided to leave and the other made up mostly of veterans who had decided to stay and fight. Most of the familiar faces – such as Nimble and Drifter – had opted to stay. By her estimate, they had nine people, including herself and Wolf.

As he stared out over the crowd, Wolf brought a hand to his chin in thought. "How are we going to do this? It'd help if we had more people…"

"If I could make a suggestion?" Ruby asked. Everyone suddenly turned towards her in anticipation, and she shrank back a bit, but recovered quickly. "...I think the best thing to do is shack up throughout the village. We've got plenty of places to peek out of windows and shoot at anyone who comes near. If we reinforce all the windows, we should be good to take shots at them as they come over the hill. If there are fifteen of them like we expect, then they're going to be forced to rush in to avoid being picked off, and once they do that, we can ambush them from inside the houses."

"It's not a bad plan," Nimble admitted. "Of course, there's one part you're missing – what do we do about the checkpoint? If they end up retreating to the checkpoint, then they're just going to regroup and call in reinforcements, and try again some other time."

"We're going to have to rush it once we get the chance," Wolf said begrudgingly. "If we can capture the commanding officer there, we can use him as a bargaining chip to make the Military pull out of the area."

"Assuming they don't just decide to let us kill him," Fanatic mused.

"It's a big gamble, but I think it's the only real plan we have," Ruby said. "We can't assault them first, not with these numbers. We're going to have to work defensively until we've routed them enough that we can bring the fight to them."

"Anyone have a better plan?" Wolf asked. Nobody spoke up, and after a minute, he nodded. "Then it's agreed. We hold here, and then once the tide has turned, we take the fight to them. Get ready, everyone. It's going to get busy here soon."

The rest of the day was spent preparing. Ruby helped the remaining Stalkers shore up their defenses, reinforcing windows and doors and passing out extra supplies and ammo to anyone who needed it. As night fell, she found herself perched up inside the ruined attic of a two-story building, her Mosin in hand and her Vityaz leaned up against the wall nearby.

Nimble was here with her, a scoped Simonov in his hand. Apparently, he had taken it from one of the Bandits who had kidnapped him, then attached the scope to it himself. Together, the two of them were hunkered down behind a small row of sandbags, with just their heads and the barrels of their rifles peeking out from over the top, aimed over at the hill next to the village. Neither of them spoke – they were too nervous for that.

Finally, as the sun began to set, casting an orange glow over the Village, Nimble suddenly sat up a bit straighter.

"I've got movement over the hill," he said quietly, his voice on-edge.

Instantly, Ruby snapped her rifle into her shoulder and took aim. "Where? Which part?"

"They're coming around the left side. I see five… no, six of them. The others must be coming straight through the entrance."

Ruby swallowed nervously. She cycled the bolt of her Mosin, chambering a round. "Okay… how do you want to do this, Nimble?"

"Pick your target," Nimble urged. "I'll take the first shot, then you. You'll have to do it fast."

Ruby nodded, then moved her Mosin so the sights were centered on an incoming soldier. He was about a hundred yards away; at that distance, with this rifle, she couldn't miss. Next to her, she heard Nimble's finger begin to pull the trigger of his rifle, the gun's old surplus metal creaking as he steadily applied rearward pressure.

Then, there was a deafening explosion as the gun went off. Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby saw Nimble's target drop. She didn't waste any time, and pulled her own weapon's trigger. The 7.62x54R bullet screamed downrange with a supersonic crack, impacting against her target's torso with a loud thud. The man went down, screaming bloody murder.

And then, pandemonium. Everyone opened up – the soldiers, the Stalkers, all of them. People were shouting and screaming, bullets were flying, guns were going off every which way. It was almost too much for Ruby; she grit her teeth as she endured the cacophony around her. Ruby cycled her weapon's bolt and took aim, but a burst of incoming Kalashnikov fire impacted against her cover, forcing her to duck her head down. Next to her, Nimble poked his head out and squeezed out several shots from his SKS, until the bolt locked back on an empty chamber.

"Cover me!" Nimble called as he jammed a stripper clip full of ammo into his weapon's open action. Ruby poked her head out again and took aim with her rifle, and fired off several shots at a soldier who was running across the field towards the houses. Two of her shots went wide, but the third struck him in the torso. He went down, but to her amazement, he soon picked himself back up.

"Some of them have armor!" she called. Another burst of AK fire nearly took her head clean off, and she ducked down, hyperventilating as she opened her rifle's action and dumped the unfired cartridge onto the ground. With shaking hands, she fed loose rounds into the weapon's action, then closed the bolt.

"Of course they've got armor," Nimble growled. He peeked out again and fired off several more shots, but a sudden incoming burst of fire again forced him down.

Ruby grit her teeth and stuck her head up once more, only to freeze when she saw a soldier setting up a machine gun on top of the nearby hill. Her eyes widened as the man pulled back the charging handle and took aim at their position.

"Nimble, get down!" she cried. And not a moment too soon, as the machine gun began to fire, the heavy bullets tearing through their cover like it was made of wet tissue paper. Ruby fumbled around for her Vityaz, grabbing it and leaving her Mosin behind as she desperately searched for an escape.

She found it in the form of the door they'd come in from. They'd pulled the ladder up so nobody could come in after them, but now it was their only way out. Ruby rolled over to the opening, and after a moment's hesitation, rolled out of it.

She fell two stories, landing on her side with a painful thud that drove the air from her lungs. Winded, she took a few moments to catch her breath, the whole time giving thanks that nothing was broken. A moment later, Nimble came after her, hitting the ground in much the same way. She helped him up, and the two of them shouldered their weapons as they rose to their feet.

The fighting had intensified now, with what was left of the Military's forces converging on all the houses. Ruby saw two soldiers trying to kick in a door, but she took them down with a quick burst of 9mm ammo from her submachine gun. Quietly thanking her lucky stars that not all of the soldiers had body armor, she swapped magazines and followed after Nimble as he ducked behind the corner of the house they'd just escaped from.

"Where'd everybody go?!" Nimble shouted, his voice barely audible over the sounds of combat.

"I have no idea!" Ruby called back. "They must still be in the houses!"

A burst of machine gun fire from atop the hill cut her off, and she pressed herself against the wall of the house, grimacing the entire time. When the burst ended, she looked over to Nimble.

"That machine gun is gonna tear us apart!" she said. "We've gotta take care of it!"

Nimble nodded in agreement. "Okay. What should we do?!"

"Follow me!" Ruby said.

Then she took off from cover, praying the machine gunner wasn't focused on them. Thankfully, he was too busy pouring fire onto the other side of town to notice them. She raced for the edge of town, speeding between trees as impromptu cover, steadily inching her way closer to the gunner. She made it about halfway when the man on the machine gun finally noticed her and began to send bursts her way. Ruby ducked back behind a thick tree with a scream as a burst of tracer ammo tore through the spot she'd just been peeking out of. Desperate, she looked around for Nimble, and found him prone on the ground behind a tree farther back, taking aim through his rifle.

A shot tore through the air, and Ruby watched as the machine gunner's weapon took a bullet clean through the receiver. With his machine gun now disabled, the gunner stood up and drew what looked like a short-barreled Kalshnikov up from the ground next to him, where it must have been resting. He angled the gun over towards Nimble and yanked the trigger back, sending a spray of rounds into the tree he'd been using as cover. Ruby hurriedly spun out of cover and shouldered her Vityaz, then took several semi-automatic shots at his legs. The man stumbled as each 9mm bullet struck his unprotected legs, and Nimble took his chance, coming out from behind cover with his Simonov in hand. He fired two shots, both of which hit the man square between the eyes and brought him down.

With the machine gun down, it was like a switch had been flipped. The others in town rallied, and the sounds of combat intensified for a moment before suddenly dying down. Ruby waited with bated breath to see what was coming, and was relieved when the doors to the buildings finally opened and her fellow Stalkers came out. Some of them were nursing wounds, and a few were carrying injured or fallen comrades, but it looked good to her, at least until she noticed something.

Wolf wasn't among them.

Ruby sped over to where the Stalkers were beginning to congregate, and started shouting.

"Wolf! Wolf, where are you?! Wolf?!"

She rushed from house to house, searching for him, but didn't find anything in any of them. Finally, she approached the last house before the road, and cautiously stepped inside.

"Wolf…?"

She received no answer at first, and her heart began to pound from the anticipation. After a moment, though, she heard it – a faint groan of pain, coming from one of the back rooms. She pulled her Vityaz's stock into her shoulder and pushed into her room, and was immediately assaulted by the stench of fresh blood. The smell was so strong that it made her choke and recoil in shock, but she recovered quickly when she saw him there, leaning against the wall.

"Wolf!"

She rushed over to him, letting her submachine gun dangle by its sling. Wolf looked over to her, his face pale and painted with a pained grimace. As she drew closer, it was easy to see why – Wolf had several bullet holes in his chest and stomach, each one pouring blood.

"Ruby…" he breathed. "You have to go push to the checkpoint."

"I can't just leave you!" Ruby insisted.

"You have to," Wolf implored her. "If the Military calls in reinforcements, it's all over for us. You need to take whoever's still standing and take out the outpost before it's too late."

"I-"

"Ruby," Wolf all but demanded. He looked her in the eyes. "I'll be okay. Go."

Ruby hesitated for a second, but then nodded. She reached for her Vityaz, holding it in a low ready position, and then ran out of the building. The other Stalkers were already gathered towards the front of town, having been rallied by Fanatic.

"There she is," Fanatic confirmed. "C'mon, let's go while we still have time!"

There were four of them – Ruby, Nimble, Fanatic, and another Stalker she didn't recognize. Together, they set off at a dead sprint for the nearby outpost.

It only took them a few minutes to get there, and when they did, Ruby's first impression was just how empty it was. The Military must have sent most of their troops to try and take the town, and were obviously still expecting them to come back. They didn't know that their force had already been wiped out.

"Okay…" Fanatic breathed. "...Move."

They broke cover, rushing towards the outpost. A guard in the tower shouted something in Ukrainian, and then gunfire erupted out of the windows and tower. The unnamed fourth Stalker fell, a bullet hole bored through his skull; the rest of them kept moving.

Ruby reached what looked like the headquarters, which was a brick building off to the side of the road. She flattened herself against the bricks and cautiously crept towards the nearest window. From inside, she could hear men calling to each other in Ukrainian. She flipped her weapon's fire selector to full-auto, then stuck the muzzle through the window and laid on the trigger. The calls turned to panicked screams, and once her weapon ran dry, the screams turned to gurgles of pain and death rattles. Ruby ripped the spent magazine from her gun and dumped it on the ground, then inserted a fresh one and racked the bolt.

Now reloaded, she carefully peered into the building, but found that her quick burst had felled most of the soldiers inside. A man disappeared around a nearby corner just as she looked inside, and for a moment she considered carefully breaching, but he didn't give her the chance – she heard him key a radio, and knew she had to move now. So she did, climbing through the window with her weapon at the ready. She crept into the backroom he had fled to, and found him facing away from her, keying the radio with one hand and holding a pistol with his other.

"Don't move," she warned.

Instantly, the man froze. Someone on the other end of the radio asked him something in Ukrainian, but he didn't respond. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder, his eyes widening when he saw the barrel of Ruby's gun leveled at him.

He looked like an officer, she realized. He wasn't wearing a rank insignia on his uniform, but he wasn't carrying any gun aside from his pistol, and his uniform was slightly different from the other soldiers she'd encountered so far. He also wasn't wearing body armor, at least from what she could see.
The man's eyes fell to the radio, and Ruby scowled. "Don't even think about it. Put the gun down, slowly."

The soldier hesitated, but then complied, bending down and dropping the pistol on the floor, then standing back up. Ruby motioned towards the radio.

"Now tell them it was just a mistake, and that your men were actually wiped out by mutants."

The Ukrainian soldier just stared at her, and Ruby grit her teeth. "Do it!"

The man nodded, then keyed the radio and said something in Ukrainian. There was shouting from the other end, and he winced, but after some more communication between him and the other radio operator, that was the end of it. The radio went dead, and he took his finger off the transceiver. Ruby motioned with her gun.

"Move."

He complied, stepping out in front of her with his hands raised. She walked behind him, keeping her gun trained on his back. Together, they emerged back out into the Zone, where Ruby saw the other Stalkers she'd come with standing together, talking in hushed tones. As she approached, Nimble turned towards her.

"Ruby," he said, sounding on-edge.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Nimble hesitated for a moment. "...It's Wolf. We just heard over our radios. He… he's gone, Ruby. They couldn't save him."

Instantly, Ruby's eyes went wide with shock. Her hands began to tremble, and tears stung at her eyes. She opened her mouth to argue, but no words came out – she could see just by looking at Nimble and Fanatic that there was no lie.

She swallowed the lump in her throat, then turned towards the Ukrainian military officer with a scowl on her face. "You're the one who ordered this operation."

The man's eyes widened. "N-no, I-"

"Liar. You're the commanding officer, so it had to be you. Even if it wasn't, you signed off on it. That means you're responsible for my friend's death."

"You don't understand!"

"I understand plenty," Ruby growled. She raised her gun towards him, and he recoiled at the sight of the barrel pointing to his unarmored chest. Her finger trembled on the trigger, dripping with sweat underneath the thick wool gloves she was wearing. Every fiber of her being was screaming at her not to do this, but she pushed it away.

This man had led to Wolf's death, and he had to pay for it.

"Goodbye."

With that, Ruby laid on her submachine gun's trigger, emptying the entire thirty-round magazine into the soldier's chest. The man stumbled from each shot, before eventually falling to the ground, dead. Ruby stared at his lifeless body, her eyes wide with shock. Numb, she let go of her weapon, leaving it to dangle from its sling. Then she turned and marched out of the military outpost, as if in a trance.

She had just murdered a man in cold blood. No matter how terrible of a person he'd been, that didn't change the fact that he had been defenseless, and she had gunned him down anyway.

Ruby didn't even pay attention as she walked, her mind still focused on the man's wide, panicked eyes. She was surprised when she eventually found her way back to the Village. She swallowed nervously, then moved back over to the house Wolf had been posted up at and stepped inside.

There were others already there, but they gave her a wide berth as she moved. Eventually, she saw him, and like Nimble said, he was gone – his eyes stared up lifelessly at the ceiling, his face frozen in a contorted expression of pain. Tears blurred Ruby's vision as she stared at him, and she turned and stumbled out of the house.

Ruby marched out of the Village, found a tree to lean up against, and let herself fall to pieces as rain began to pour all around her.

And here's the next chapter. Doing my best to get these out as fast as I can, but also trying to take my time on them, if that makes sense. I really like writing this fic so I'm doing everything I can to make sure the chapters are coming out as best as I can possibly make them.

Also, I do need to say something real quick - I'm trying my best to avoid inconsistencies with the STALKER games, but there are inevitably going to be some things that don't quite match up, because my memory isn't that good. I did play through SOC again in preparation for writing this fic, but that was awhile ago, and I unfortunately do not have the time to go through it again at the moment. There are other things I'm going to have to change for the sake of artistic license, such as certain Artifacts having different abilities than they do in SOC, since some of them don't make sense outside of a video game (How would you quantify a 5% increase in bulletproof cap outside of a game without making a LitRPG, for example? I don't think it can be done).

Basically, if there are some things here that don't match up with the games, it's either because my memory isn't that good, or because I'm purposely changing them to make them work better for a written story rather than a video game. I'm going to try and keep as much of it intact as I reasonably can (without completely retreading canon, of course) but there are unfortunately going to be some places I fall flat in, and that's on me. I figured I'd bring this up now because we're getting to the point where inconsistencies are probably going to start becoming more noticeable, and I'd like to address them now before they become a bigger problem.

That's about the only story-related thing I had to bring up now, though. The only other announcement I have is... I finally caved and bought a Kalashnikov of my own, so hopefully if the situation ever arises where I need to describe a detailed disassembly and cleaning of one, I'll actually know what I'm talking about now. Granted, mine is made in Serbia and is chambered in 5.56 instead of being Russian and chambered in 7.62x39 or 5.45, but an AK is an AK. I do have to say that I actually really like it so far, it's been very low-drama for the few hundred rounds I've got through it so far. Damn thing also flings brass into the stratosphere - I took it to a beginner high-power match and it was throwing cheap PMC .223 casings out like thirty feet across the range. Despite that, it doesn't feel overgassed at all and is actually quite comfortable to shoot, probably because it came stock with an adjustable gas system and the Serbs built it tough (IIRC they build their AKs off of RPK-spec receivers). It's a heavy bitch of a rifle but it also feels completely bulletproof, and it's been surprisingly accurate so far once I got the sights zeroed. Just need to remember that you need to aim low with AK sights, since they were designed for a belt-buckle hold or something, IDK. Still learning how to use the thing.

Anyway, that's pretty much all I've got. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you next time!

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