Freedom

Chapter 20

I did, of course, manage to grab something – if I hadn't, I wouldn't be talking to you now. My vision swung wildly, and I saw the body of the bandit, and my five companions. It didn't seem like he'd flattened any of them, but I didn't get to look for long, because my hand was tingling something fierce.

The vine I was gripping did not look healthy. I was wearing gloves, but that didn't matter. I could feel the plant through them, though I wasn't sure how. It was warm, and wrong. The sensation defied description, and it was all I could do not to just let go and fall. The panic from touching that anomalous vine was much worse than what I'd felt going over the edge, and it let me forget all about how my body was way past its limits. I got to solid rock handholds and managed to clamber over the top. Only then did my exhaustion catch up with me.

I collapsed onto the stone lip of the cliff, breathing raggedly. I pulled down my mask for more air, and tried to put my thoughts in order. No – no time. I sat up and tore off my glove to examine my hand. The skin of my palm, just a patch in the center, was discolored – right where my contact with the vine had been tightest. I didn't feel anything now – nothing out of the ordinary, at any rate. I probed at the patch of affected skin, but it didn't hurt. It wasn't even tender. It felt normal, but it was darkening visibly.

I swallowed. This couldn't be good.

But I had a job to do. I used an alcohol swab to try to clean my hand, but the stain wasn't going anywhere. I wasn't surprised. I used some sanitizing gel, then pulled my glove back on. Leaving my carbine leaning against a rock, I found a boulder with a suitable outcropping and tied the line to it. After making sure it was secure, I flung the line over, and went to the edge to wave down. That done, I picked up my AK and stood watch. I could hear the line whisper along the stone, so I knew someone was climbing up.

It turned out to be the Biker. "You're such a drama queen," he said as he came over the top. I ignored that. He set his feet and grasped the line. I saw it go taut, and he began to help the next person by pulling them up.

"I killed two people today," I said without turning around. "Is that normal?"

A long pause. The Biker continued to pull. "Yeah. I guess."

I sighed.

Velvet came over next. They tied a loop into the line and lowered it so that the women could, one at a time, step into it and be hauled up by the Biker and Sagaris. It took less time to get them all up than it had for me to climb it. My world for a Batman-style grappler gun.

Once we were all assembled, Velvet gave me the eye. "Did you aim that guy at me?"

"No."

"You'd better not have. I suppose it couldn't be helped."

"He wasn't responding to diplomacy."

Velvet yawned. "That will happen," she said. "Nicely done."

"I hope our friends weren't too traumatized."

"I got the younger one to look away in time." Velvet shrugged. "They're still in shock from the ambush. They're sheep for now. Tomorrow they'll be a handful."

"I can hardly wait," Sagaris said dryly.

"Is it really safer up here?" I asked Velvet.

"A little," she replied. "But it's not about safety. We're going across."

"Oh." I turned to look south, out over the bluffs. Easy trails, by the look of things. Walking across some rocks I could handle. I wouldn't have minded a little time to meditate, but Velvet didn't seem interested in taking a rest.

Walking through the grass in the Zone could never be entirely relaxing. The grass could be hiding anything from anomalies to bandits to mutants – but up here that wasn't an issue. We were exposed, sure – but this was the closest to a casual stroll I'd had in a while. Hopping lightly from rock to rock came easily to me, even as tired as I was, but the girls were having some trouble. Sagaris looked chagrined; Velvet was covered in shapeless fatigues, and the voluminous bandit coats took all the fun out of seeing women jump around. I felt the same way, but I could meditate to put it in its place; Sagaris had nothing to do but be irritated.

But even the bluffs weren't totally safe. Our Geiger counters occasionally clicked, and at one point I saw a line of ants that looked entirely too large. Something like fifteen minutes later, Velvet let out a cry of alarm and dodged back from a crack in the rocks, her pistol in her hand so fast I could hardly believe it. It's a little known fact that Velvet has faster draw than I do, even faster than the Biker's. Now that gun was trained on the crack below.

"What is it?" The Biker racked his shotgun and joined her.

"I don't know." She didn't look away, instead taking out her flashlight and moving forward to crouch, shining it down. We gathered around. I couldn't see anything down there but rock and lichen. "Take this." She handed her MPL to the Biker, putting the flashlight in her mouth and reaching up to tie back her hair.

I had a flash of intense foreboding. "No," I reached out to grab her shoulder. Velvet knocked my hand so savagely that I had to take a step back. I was looking at the muzzle of her 9mm Steyr. She'd had the trigger half-pulled before she caught herself. A long moment passed before she looked away. "I'm not asking you to do it," she muttered around the flashlight, lowering herself into the crevice.

There was no helping it; she was determined. Grimacing, I watched her worm her way down. It would have been a fascinating sight if not for the frustratingly loose fatigue trousers. I wasn't sure how far she'd get; she was smaller than we were, but there wasn't a lot of room to work with. That was just as well; I was convinced there was something dangerous down there with her. I was glad she hadn't asked me to do it. I can do tight spaces, but it's not my first choice.

The Biker was thinking similar thoughts. He looked grim as he leaned the MPL on his shoulder, jerking his chin at Sagaris, who hefted his rifle and moved off to stand watch. I checked on the girls; they were looking on detachedly. They were in shock, but they were coming out of it. Velvet's prediction that we wouldn't have to worry about them until tomorrow might have been optimistic.

"Got anything down there?"

"I don't know." Velvet was wiggling her way back out. She looked troubled as she lifted herself out of the crevice. "I don't like this."

"Well, what did you see?" the Biker pressed.

"I told you , I don't know!"

They glared at each other. I cleared my throat. Velvet scowled and looked at her watch. "We're behind schedule," she said, and snatched back her MPL before stalking off south. I raised an eyebrow, and the Biker gave me a look. I was glad he couldn't see my smile behind my mask.

I was relieved. Something told me that Velvet's little excursion into the rock could have ended very differently. I didn't know what was going on, and I didn't want to – but it didn't alter the fact that something was happening in the Zone. I was only on my fourth day, but I could see that much clearly. The Blood Demon. The statuettes. Now things that even seasoned stalkers couldn't identify. Stalkers don't give a lot of thought to what's happening underneath their feet when they walk the Zone's roads – maybe because they have other things on their minds, or maybe because they don't want to.

Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it isn't there. The Zone was no stranger to change. But were these oddities really just a normal part of its evolution?