Freedom
Chapter 13
I didn't know what I'd just seen. It was dark, I was still hurting from the fall, and my curiosity wasn't nearly as strong as my desire to get out of there. I could still hear the things below as I struggled to my feet and found my way to the edge of the drain. It took some fumbling, but Sagaris managed to help me to the top.
I leaned on him for a second, relieved, then tried to orient myself, searching for that sliver of light we'd spotted before my fall. Now I was really hurting, but I wasn't going to relax until we were outside.
Something moved. Not the things in the tunnel beneath, something else, and it was in the room with us. Sagaris must have heard it too, because he tensed. Seconds went by. We didn't move.
"Blood drinker," Sagaris whispered.
I blindly scanned the darkness. "Does he know we're here?"
"He's stalking us." There was a slight rustling as he readied his rifle. "Trying to decide if he wants to attack two men. Don't look afraid."
"Can he see us?"
"Yes."
I bit my lip and thought fast. A blood drinker was bad news at the best of times; I didn't see how this could end well. The stars were clearing from my eyes, and I spotted the way out. I was pretty sure it was a wooden shutter; if so, we could break through easily.
Trying to shoot at something in the dark is never a good idea. I eased my AK down, letting it hang on its harness and clearing my hands. Then I closed my eyes. "Don't move," I told Sagaris in a normal tone.
He must have obeyed, because when my words ended, there was perfect silence.
The thing in the room was not of the oversized variety that we'd seen in the shower. It wasn't making enough noise to be that big. There was another sound, but I couldn't get more than a vague direction out of it. It was cold, but I was sweating. I thought maybe we'd have a better chance if we just hosed the room with everything we had. We might hit it, right?
No, you had to figure any blood drinker worth its salt would have seen that one before. These things were supposed to be skilled hunters. But they were still humanoid – and that gave me an idea.
Concentration didn't come easily, not under the circumstances. I wasn't even thinking about the blood drinker; I was thinking about what I'd glimpsed moments ago. Something told me I desperately didn't want to know the truth about that – yet I couldn't get it out of my mind.
I felt sweat beading and turning icy on my face. The air in the room didn't move. Then it did. I shoved Sagaris out of the way and intercepted the grab, locking the creature's arm and swinging it around on its own momentum. I flung it as hard as I could toward where I knew the drainage pit had to be. It fell with an undignified hiss, and I hoped the impact hadn't sounded like that when I landed down there – but I was already running for the light, jerking my Glock out of its holster and firing at it, punching three neat holes. Daylight streamed in. I slammed my shoulder into the wood, and the hinges burst, letting in a whole window's worth of light. I got my hands on the sill and vaulted out. Sagaris was right behind me, but was abruptly yanked back before he was halfway out the window. I caught him, but it was immediately clear this was a losing battle. I guess there are plenty of vitamins in all that blood those things drink. I shoved my Glock past Sagaris' head and fired about five times. The grip on him vanished, and we both tumbled to the grass.
I rolled over, aiming at the window – but I doubted it would chase us into the light. It wouldn't have been too bad to lie there for a while, but we weren't very far from where we'd been ambushed in the first place. Sagaris felt the same way; he was already getting to his feet.
It wasn't until Rostov was the better part of a kilometer behind us that we dared to stop. I couldn't help but feel like I was spending a lot of time running away from things. Despite everything that had happened, we were both thinking about the same thing.
"You ever hear about anything like that?" I asked, panting.
"No."
I thought back to the creature, the enormous blood drinker in the web. It was the sort of thing people mentioned. The only thing I could think of was that no one had ever seen one and lived to talk about it.
"I didn't know blood drinkers came in different flavors," I said.
Sagaris shook his head. "That was no blood drinker."
"The hell it wasn't. It was – at least to begin with. And that isn't all."
He looked over sharply. "What?"
"There's something else down there."
"What are you talking about?"
"Something in the tunnels under the yard. There have to be a couple dozen of them."
"Mutants?"
"I don't know. I guess it could have been people. I didn't get a clear look. All I know is there were a lot of them."
Looking troubled, Sagaris turned away and ran a hand through his hair.
"Is that normal? Was any of that normal?" I demanded.
"Things have been getting strange for a while. It's getting worse."
"How bad does it have to get?"
The Zone was already a strange place. Everybody knew that. Was it getting so strange that even stalkers no longer knew what to make of it? Was it because there's a reduced stalker presence? Isn't there supposed to be balance? Doesn't the Zone keep stalkers from getting too far, and stalkers keep the Zone from expanding too quickly? Maybe the Zone had a power play after all those stalkers were killed by Duty and the Military – just like Duty's had one now.
Sagaris looked over his shoulder at me, expression unreadable. "It's Duty's problem. There's no one else."
"You don't look thrilled." I couldn't help myself; I hadn't come here for the politics, but considering the details of my assignment, there was no avoiding them.
"Everyone worries. The Zone getting stronger, Duty unchallenged."
"Where's Freedom when you need it?"
He didn't reply, instead studying his PDA. "Do you need to rest?"
"No, we can walk."
So we did. Mention of Freedom seemed to have killed Sagaris' desire for conversation. I wasn't sure what to think of him. I hadn't forgotten the feeling he'd given me when I'd been watching him. I couldn't trust him, but I also couldn't help but like him. He'd handled himself pretty well in there, and that was a relief. If I'd been in there with the Americans – well, I didn't even want to think about how that would have gone.
Trying to take a blood drinker with an open hand probably wasn't a good idea – and yet, they were humanoid. And I had a feeling that for all their animal strength, they were lousy martial artists. Any animal can see you telegraphing a knife swipe – but can they handle the intricacies of hand to hand combat if you take them on different terms? It was something to think about – but just because it had worked for me once didn't mean it was a good strategy. Maybe I'd gotten lucky.
It still gave me confidence. I'd done everything I could to prepare for the Zone – but there hadn't been any way to know if it was enough. I still didn't know, but it was Day 3 and I was still alive. That had to count for something.
I walked behind Sagaris, staring at his back. The events of the yard were behind me, though I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep without being reminded of them. All I could do was hope that my dreams were all they would haunt.
We were in the open. There was nothing between me and the Zone. I knew the place had a way of affecting people, but I didn't think this was normal. I felt aware like I never had before, as though the very air here was some kind of spiritual conductor. Still watching Sagaris, I eased a knife out of my sleeve, balancing it on my finger as I walked. I had practiced a variety of tricks. This wasn't one of them. I couldn't account for it.
I had considered the options. The list of outcomes was short, but the Zone has been known to surprise people. Nothing was certain – except that Sagaris and I were exactly the same. Neither one of us was who we said we were.