Truck Cemetery, 11:30 am

"I don't know how you can still convince me to get into these holes," Yuri was already impatient, exhausted and understandably irritated. Even before the sun arise in the Zone, he received a message from his old comrade, Vasili. A Freedom sentinel, Vasili helped Yuri when he arrived in the Zone, despite already being a veteran and good explorer, Vasili has a bad habit of accepting sometimes risky contracts, usually dragging Yuri along to help him.

"Yuri, I swear to you, we will be rich if we can get to those coordinates" said Vasili, always in a good mood despite being equally tired

"An army officer hid a haversack with valuable artifacts in that area before he died, and we will be able to keep some as part of the payment for our services"

"If only I can cover the ammunition costs with those blind dogs that attacked us, we will make a profit already"

"If you trained more your aim would not spend so much ammo"

Yuri was silent for a moment. His colleague was quite right, Yuri, despite being no longer a rookie, still leaves a lot to be desired in handling weapons, especially under pressure, when they were attacked, he spent two whole magazines of his AK and barely killed 4 dogs, while Vasili with only half of the magazine of his M4 have managed to kill 10, and he considers himself an average shooter. However, a doubt arises in Yuri's mind, freeing him from this subject.

"By the way, where did you get this job? Did it happen to be with Sidorovich?"

"Negative, but it was with a colleague of yours from Cordon's camp, a rookie" Vasili takes Yuri by surprise with the answer

"SAY WHAT!? HOW WILL HE PAY FOR THE SERVICE? THE MAJORITY OF THEM BARELY HAVE THE MONEY TO SUSTAIN THEMSELVES!"

"He can pay, yes. He found the PDA with the coordinates in the pockets of a dead bandit, according to the boy, there seemed to be a disagreement between them and they ended up killing each other and he just went there and took their stuff. However, he is unable to come here looking for it, that's where we come in "

"You're the one who got into it!"

"But you agreed to go along"

"And what also guarantees you that it is not a…" * beep *

"What happened?"

Yuri started to hear his artifact detector beeping in his pocket, signaling that they were probably close to their goal. Vasili with a smug smile under the mask says:

"What you said?"

"..."

"Hehehe, say the direction! According to the coordinates, we are practically already in place "

Kind of jaded, Yuri replies

"Right here, it must be inside that truck"

"Nice. Go search inside it, I'll climb up the truck and keep watch"

Without wasting time, Vasili climbed on top of the truck, took his binoculars and loaded his sniper, his main weapon after his carbine. There he watched the perimeter. Yuri searched the vehicle for any sign of their treasure. After a few minutes the watchman breaks the silence

"How are the things there? Did find something "

"Nothing. I'll look below "

"Don't forget the dump too"

Yuri scans under the truck, as he enters his detector starts to beep repeatedly louder, until

"I found it! Vas, we did it"

"YURI, DON'T LEAVE THE TRUCK! GET DOWN!"

Before Yuri could question the cause of his partner's panic he sees the feet of the translucent-skinned being from where he is, his blood instantly froze in the presence of that strange mutant whom looked like had came out of a sci-fi film. The creature made grotesque sounds, only making the less experienced stalker even more uncomfortable. Completely paralyzed by fear, Yuri did not realize that the creature left his field of view, before he could even think about it, he felt a hand grab him by the hood and pull him out of his hiding. Then he was able to see in detail the creature that was once almost invisible to his eyes. It was taller than him, it's almost transparent skin became dark, apparently necrotic by radiation, empty and lifeless white eyes complementing it's face filled with tentacle-like appendages, with fresh blood still dripping from them. He couldn't react, even reaching for his pistol in the holster, his arm didn't respond, he knew it was his end...

* BANG *

"YURI!"

Shouted Vasili as he descended from his post.

"Dude, react! Say something!"

"AAAAAHH!"

"Calm down, he's dead. It's OK…"

"That… What was ...?"

"Bloodsucker, you almost became his lunch"

"I ... I don't ..." Yuri tried to explain, still shaken

"What happened to you? Did you froze?"

"... I thought about getting my gun, but... my body... I froze"

Yuri was very upset about what just happened, he had time to react, but fear took over his body. Were not for Vasili, he would be another life lost to the Zone. After the shock, he got up, but his comrade was still worried

"Hey, hold on a sec, you get some rest"

"I'm fine" insisted

"Nonsense, lean over there. Here, take a sip"

Vasili gave him the rest of the vodka he kept

"Aren't you going to drink too?"

"You'll need it more than me..." Vasili then changes the subject "So, where did you found the stuff?"

"It's right there, close to where that thing fell, towards his head"

Vasili picked up the bag and put it on his shoulder, but before leaving the place, he took his knife and cut off some parts of the recently slaughtered mutant

"Okay, if you can afford it, we can make a detour to Yantar and sell the pieces of it, before heading back to camp."

"Don't worry about me" said Yuri, still visibly shaken

"...Ok, let's get out of here"

Army Warehouses, Freedom Base, 12:52

After yet another long, but fortunetely peaceful walk, the two stalkers arrived at one of Freedom's bases of operation at the former Ukrainian Army Warehouses, the faction under Kostyan's command took over the place, gaining a strategic position to prevent dangerous mutants and the fanatical stalkers from Monolith to spread further across the Zone. The two stalkers arrived in one piece, but moods were no better. The two decided to stop a little next to a fire in the courtyard and then continue their journey. Yuri was still very shaken and couldn't stop thinking about what happened, but Vasili ended up breaking the silence

"It was my fault, Yuri" said Vasili, surprising his partner

"I letted him get too close, if I had seen him before I would have killed him before it got to you, but I was too late, when I realized I could already hear him sniffing for you"

"No Vas, even if you were very attentive, you wouldn't see him, I don't blame you. The fault was entirely mine "

"Yuri, it wasn't your fault, it would happen to anyone"

"No! It's not just the Bloodsucker..." says Yuri " It's also what happened earlier with the dogs, that time also with the bandits attacking the camp… what shit of a stalker am I? At the worst possible time, fear ends up taking over my being… and this last encounter proved that even to save myself I'm useless"

"BULLSHIT!"

"Vas..."

"Boyo, It took you courage enough to have risked to come in this hostile zone in first place. And you are not a coward, in all these situations you still managed to react, it was only this last one that really went bad" Vas continues

"Look, I was also scared to death when I saw that freak, god damn it, always in situations like this I almost shit myself! But at those times, we have to keep our heads together. You see, we gotta accept the fear, you can't get rid of it, but you can learn to live on with it... and see if you manage shoot more often, even my grandma shoots better than you" Yuri laughs with the last comment, already smiling

"Thanks for the encouragement, and yes, I will shoot more often... and you will be the target next time" he says in a mocking tone

"Hahaha, even if you had me in point blank range you wouldn't hit one"

The conversation is interrupted when Vasili receives a message on his PDA

"Hmm, we won't have to go to Yantar anymore. There is an ecologist offering a good price for the tentacles of that Squidward wannabe. The guy is called Danya, we'll meet him at the base entrance and sell the things, then you'll go your way through the Bar "

"What the fuck! Didn't you guys kept those Monolith fanatics at bay for whatever much time already, and still they don't let you get in there?" Asked Yuri, indignant

"Nevermind that, personally I don't care anymore. Next, for safety, I will leave the cargo and money with you" explained Vasili

"Oh, take my sniper too, you get pass the Bar and I'll meet you on the other side, understood?"

"Okay, I know that detour is a fuck..." before concluding, Yuri takes a can out of his pocket "But let's eat something first, we have only eaten stale bread in the morning" said the hungry stalker

"Oh yes. After this whole shitshow I even forgot to lunch, well minded" laughed Vasili while taking a piece of sausage from the backpack

Garbage, 13:57

Yuri had just left the Bar, waiting for Vasili. Since Duty personnel took care of the place, Vasili and other members of his faction were not allowed to set foot near it, forcing him to take a detour in order to access the places beyond. However, Vasili was already taking too long, Yuri knew about the difficulties of this detour, but his friend has already made this journey several times, and without issues. Something was wrong...

"Boy, are you by any chance waiting for someone?" asked one of the guards watching the entrance to the Bar, Yuri replies

"Ah yes. I was supposed to find my partner in this- "

"Well, you try to wait somewhere else, having to see you for more than half an hour walking in circles and looking at this PDA, it's getting on my nerves!" Exclaimed the guard.

Yuri, surprised by the sudden change of mood, he decided not to contradict.

"Ok, I'm leaving now"

Moving further away, Yuri then decides to look for Vasili himself. He already knew the route, Vasili commented that he had a way to get there through the Dark Valley, once the location of Freedom's command base, lost to the bandits. Even after Borov's death, a few gangs are still established there. If Yuri's suspicions are correct, probably Vasili got into trouble with some of them. He followed the path, passing cautiously through the anomalies until before going further, Yuri sees a group coming from a distance. Quickly getting out of sight, he picks up his binoculars and watches from a distance. He finally finds out why his friend took so long

"Fuck ..." thought Yuri noticing that Vasili was handcuffed and surrendered by a gang, there were six, but two separated from the group together with the hostage, while the rest returned towards the valley. Yuri snuck up with them at a distance, still thinking about how to act to rescue his comrade, but at the moment he could only observe the distance

"Guys, I already said, my debt to your boss is paid already!" Vasili was still trying to explain

"Shut the fuck up! You didn't pay the interest, you deadbeat "

"Even the bank did not treated me like that for gambling debt- OUCH!" with a hit from the bandit's rifle stock in his back, his captor retorts

"The deal was 190,000 rubles"

"And I paid, in less than two weeks, damn it!"

"PLUS…" added the other "… 50% interest per day"

"What? Are you smoking the boars' shit?" Before he even completes his reasoning, he takes another hit in the back.

"Not our problem, you didn't read the small letters in the contract"

"That rag full of scribbles? Neither you could… Oh wait, you didn't even finish the kindergarten, right?" The other thug loses his temper and drops him to the ground and points his shotgun at the prisoner's head

"What do we got here? A fucking comedian, huh? What do you think of us popping your fucking head right here"

"Vanko! Calm down, we are already close to the place"

"... Take the opportunity to say your last prayers" said the thug in a threatening and slightly angry tone

"Now get up!"

Yuri from afar was watching the commotion, luckily no one had yet noticed his presence. His heart was restless, anxiety and fear taking over his body quickly, but he couldn't succumb now. The young stalker prepared his comrade's sniper, he had no way with her, but it was his best chance to save him without ending up dead too.

Garbage, place of execution, 14:13

"Dig!" the criminal said to his prisoner as he threw a shovel at him

"Are you going to make me dig my own grave? Cliché..."

"I'm not going to repeat myself..." replies the thug, pointing the rifle at him with his finger on the trigger

Vasili simply picked up the shovel and started digging, struggling with the handcuffs

"Can't you take the handcuffs off? It's difficult to dig like this "

"I don't have the key, but if you want, Vanko can get rid of them with a shotgun blast"

Realizing the implication, Vasili decides that it would be wiser to stop trying to delay his death

"Nevermind..." and proceeded to dig

"Yeah, I think I'm finally done for... I just hope Yuri has returned safely to Cordon" thought the stalker, accepting his fate. Without knowing that his comrade had not abandoned him yet.

"Anton, please let me kill this mutant-jerker" insisted Vanko to his partner

"You already killed the last one" replied Anton

"Oh come on, Anton! You heard what he called us, right? "

"I'm not fucking deaf. You let him get into your mind too easily, I will not risk you fucking it up and opening a gap for him to escape"

"Sigh... fine" in frustration Vanko ends up accidentally kicking a stone into a vortex anomaly, which flies and just barely hits someone

"WOW!"

"What the fuck was that?"

"Anton, there's a new anomaly here, watch out"

"It must have sprouted from the last emission" he said, clarifying the event to his colleague

"So, have you finished your grave, funny man?" referring to the already kneeling and exhausted Vasili

"It's still a little shallow..."

"It will do" said the bandit, already pointing his pistol at Vasili's head.

"I'm done with this-" *BANG!*

"... what...?" Anton falls to the ground, spitting blood

"ANTON!" Screams Vanko in despair. Wielding his shotgun and shooting in the bushes around

"SHOW YOURSELF, YOU COWAR- AARGH!" Another shot hits Vanko in the shoulder, taking advantage of the cue, Vasili gets up and pushes the bandit into the anomaly.

"AAAAAH AAAAAARGH!" screams Vanko before being chopped up by the anomaly in front of Vasili, covering his face with blood and gibs

"Urgh!" exclaimed Vasili, while spitting blood and wiping his face, until...

*BANG*

"HEY, I SURRENDER!" screamed Vasili scared

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!" answered the voice from a distance, Vasili quickly identified the voice

"Yuri? YURI, WHERE ARE YOU? "

"IN FRONT OF YOU!" Yuri comes out of his hiding, waving the distance, Vasili could not contain the excitement

"NOW THAT'S HOW YOU SUPPOSED TO SHOOT. FROM NOW ON, THAT'S HOW YOU SHOOT. WOOOO!" celebrates Vasili while walking to meeting Yuri

Before Yuri says anything, Vasili hugs him, suspending him in the air, laughing and full of pride. "GREAT SHOT, COMRADE!" he exclaimed, still covered in blood and accidentally soiling Yuri. After putting Yuri on the floor, he calms down and says: "Thank you very much, man. A little more and I would be worm food"

"It was nothing" said Yuri wiping the blood off the balaclava and laughing "Dude, my hands are still shaking as hell! "

"You soiled yourself, ain't you?" joked Vasili

"FUCK YEAH!"

"And you still hit two great shots"

Yuri then realizes his prowess. "Yeah... I HIT, I REACTED, ALL SOILED BUT I REACTED!" laughed excited

"Now, please, let me go of these handcuffs and return my gun, I'm already jealous"

Yuri picks up his knife while Vasili put the handcuff's chains on a rock. After a few hits, Vasili is free

"Here is your girlfriend" says Yuri returning the gun

"Have some respect, boyo. She's my wife!" and the two laugh

Proceeding towards Cordon, to finally finish the job. Yuri speaks to Vasili

"Vas, I think that in the end I am the one who should thank you"

"Excuse me?" said Vasili without understanding

"You gave me the confidence I didn't have in myself, and I am grateful for that"

"Nonsense, that was all your work, All I did was to give you a little push"

"Thank you anyway"

"You're welcome..." Vasili then remembers of an important detail "Yuri, I think I'll not be able to go back to my base for a while, if those guys friends find out I'm alive, they'll want to skin me"

"Holy shit…"