Freedom

Chapter 41

The next order of business was to check on Velvet as the Biker had requested. In daylight, the walk to her little camp was even less threatening – but it still felt good to be armed. This time I wasn't lucky enough to catch Velvet half-dressed. In fact, she wasn't even there, and I had to wait around for a little while before she showed up.

I'd bought back her weapons, and brought along some supplies for her – maybe she was a competent survivalist, but the Zone just isn't the healthiest place to be foraging in. Her reaction was about what I expected: looking very melancholy, she thanked me. And I shrugged it off, because I was trying to be a cool guy.

"Two days at least," she said, briefly checking over her MPL and wiping it down with a cloth. "But it could be three or four before he gets back."

"So do we just wait around?"

"We can. Or we can go and try to finish the mission."

"Just the two of us? Is this a date?"

That got a laugh out of her, but not the kind I was going for. "Hey," I said. "You guys never really filled me in on the guy we're looking for."

"We need him. Let's leave it at that."

I sighed. All this and they still didn't trust me. "Let's do it."

She looked me up and down. "Normally it would be suicide. But something tells me that with you along, we have a chance. You're just full of surprises."

"I'm just getting warmed up. It can't be much fun hanging around out here by yourself."

"It's calming."

Well, this was an odd situation. The Zone's only female stalker and the Zone's only Canadian/Asian Street Fighter champ on a daring mission that I still didn't fully understand. But I assumed it was daring. I mean, going around with only two people is daring in general, right?

"Can we leave the girls?"

"Yes." Velvet wasn't wasting any time. She was strapping on equipment, packing her bag, and getting ready to travel. Well, I was ready when she was, though I didn't know where we were going. I vaguely remember her and the Biker poking the screen of a PDA, but I couldn't recall the locations they'd indicated. Besides, our original mission plan had been all messed up by the debacle with the cultists. Here was hoping we didn't run into any more of them for a while.

There was nothing to do, no preparations to make. All we had to do was start walking. The Zone has never even heard of red tape, and there's something refreshing about that. We contacted the Biker's PDA and sent him a message. He immediately replied, but Velvet refused to answer. I wasn't sure what to make of that, but we were on the move, and I wasn't sure how to feel.

My right hand was all for it; getting away from Kevorich meant danger and action. My mind was a little more practical, and I was concerned about going into the heart of it with only the two of us. The rest of me didn't mind the chance to be alone with Velvet, but I knew better than to get my hopes up. Velvet was deadly serious about her work.

She wanted Freedom back, not because she gave a damn – because I wasn't convinced she did – but because when she said Duty couldn't go unchallenged, she meant it. And if she was going to lead, that meant she had to be professional.

"I thought you were left-handed," she noted as we walked.

I glanced down. Lunch Box was holstered on my right side. I hadn't even noticed. "So did I," I said, puzzled.

She looked curious. "Desert Eagle?"

"I believe the technical term is just Deagle," I said.

"Oh."

"But this one's called Lunch Box."

"You Americans really are crazy."

"I'm not American," I said defensively. "I'm Chinese-Canadian."

"You sound American."

Funny she should mention the way I sounded, because I could listen to her accent all day. Embarrassingly, this was probably the best date I'd ever been on. But before I could sink all the way back to having the mind of a high school kid, there was something I had to know.

"Where are we going?"

Velvet got out her PDA and called up her map. "Even without satellite updates, it still shows more or less how things are, okay?"

"Sure."

She bit her lip and looked down at the map. "I wish we had coverage," she sighed. "Anything could be going on out there."

"But where are we going?"

"The Red Forest."

"Oh." That was a place I'd heard and read quite a bit about it. None of it had made me want to visit. "What are we doing there?"

"Searching. The man we wanted to see on the boat – he was going to be our guide. Without him, we'll just have to try our luck."

"In the Forest?"

"Yes."

"Do you know how much land that covers?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. Or I did, before this." She scowled at her PDA and put it away. "Though I've hardly been this far north. It'll be a learning experience. Wandering around the Forest with no map and no guide, and just the two of us – it'll be magical. I can hardly wait."

She wasn't fooling anybody – she was still as tense as she had been before, and she was probably just as scared as I was. But she was making an effort for my sake, and I appreciated it. It still didn't feel right. Gender roles, man.

The trees thinned out, and we had a couple of kilometers of open ground to cross before we hit the real Forest. Hilly ground, by the looks of it – soon we were climbing.

"Still going to go through with your year?" I asked.

"I will. You?"

"I don't know."

"Take the girls. Help them in the real world. It's what you're thinking, isn't it?"

"No comment."

"It's a good idea."

"You don't think I'm a wimp for wanting to go?"

Velvet slipped, and I reached back to help her, but she ignored my hand and continued to climb.

"Not really. Whatever point you needed to make to yourself, you've probably already made, just in these past few days. But the girls won't go."

"What?" That stopped me in my tracks. "Why not?"

"Because the Zone has its hooks in the young one. You could drag her out, but she'd just come back. And the sister won't leave her."

"You really think so?"

"I've seen it before." Velvet was perspiring. So was I. It was actually warm. Pleasantly warm – but the climb was good exercise without being dangerous. The grass was dry, so we just had to watch out for loose rocks. I brushed off my hands and started again. Velvet had pulled ahead, but what she said bothered me so much I couldn't enjoy the view.

"But why?" I asked. "Why would she want to stay?"

"Why wouldn't she?" Velvet called back as she crested the hill. She sat down, breathing heavily. I reached her, coming into view of the valley below.

A gargantuan anomaly dominated it, a pit larger than a football field, surrounded by protrusions of earth that curled into the air as though someone had reached down and taken a scoop out of the world. The grassy slopes were dotted with blinking anomalies, making the entire valley shimmer in the sunlight. A couple of fluffy clouds decorated the sky overhead. In the distance, a herd of dark shapes was rolling playfully through the hills. In the other direction, a group of stalkers was walking through waist-high grass, heading south.

Ahead lay the Forest. In this light it didn't look dark. Or particularly red, for that matter. Beyond, I could see the real darkness on the horizon – but today, even the perpetual clouds over Chernobyl NPP looked small and unimportant against the blue of the sky. The only sound was the wind.

I got the message, but it takes more than nice scenery to make you want to spend your year in the most dangerous place on earth. As beautiful – and mysteriously magnetic – as the Zone was, I knew perfectly well there were places I'd rather be. I looked over at Velvet, framed against the scene. You know – blue eyes, rosy cheeks, blonde hair in the breeze. I sighed. It wasn't fair. The Zone cheats.