Author's note: and I'm back! Sorry it took so long to update this story but hey I've finally done it. I somehow found my motivation back to write another chapter so have no fear stalkers, this story will continue. Also, I made a few changes in the previous chapters for reasons I'm too busy to explain. A special thanks to Von Rhettenstien for the reviews! Hope you enjoy!

P.S: please review so I can get better at my English skills.

Death is the Zone's Best Friend

10:06 AM

22 May 2012

"Buzz off, merc. Assholes aren't allowed here." said the warrant officer, waving his double-barreled shotgun at Crow.

"I have business here, let me through." Crow answered curtly with the Duty officers piercing their eyes at him.

"Really now? Well then, state your business."

"I'm looking for a guy named Flash. Have you heard him?"

"No, now buzz off."

"I need to see that stalker."

"Oi! He already told you to leave didn't he?" shouted Bullet with great contempt, for a friend of the bandits is always an enemy of Duty, or so he thought. Unbeknownst to them, Crow wasn't a mercenary anymore and shares the exact same ideals as Duty. If the black and crimson armored stalkers weren't so quick to judge the loner, they would have been instant allies working alongside as a formidable force.

"See as in kill him right?" the warrant officer smirked, ignoring Bullet's comment.

"That's just stupid. You know what? Here, take my gun." Crow handed the Kalashnikov to the warrant officer.

"How bout your knife?" the skeptical officer examined the loaded AKm 74/2U and grinned to himself. I'm gonna keep this.

"Don't have one, can I get in now?" Crow replied, his patience growing thin.

"Sure, go ahead and look for your boyfriend…" The officer sneered. "…but just remember, don't be an asshole eh?"

The Duty soldiers burst out laughing behind Crow as he went ahead to meet the already deceased stalker.

Feeling somehow naked and completely vulnerable without a gun, the Rostok's residence recognized Crow immediately thanks to his generic mercenary suit. The bar was obviously not his favorite place to hang out, not since he has connections with Freedom and his ex-affiliation with the mercenaries. Hell, he even spotted a stalker turning the safety off from his M16. Crow never felt so lost, he felt like the only thing he could do was to find this Flash dude. Maybe he didn't come to the Hundred Rads to find him, maybe he just needs a drink.

…

After a very close encounter with the Spetsnaz and almost getting fried by an Electro anomaly, Tolik peered behind the coniferous tree, wary of anyone or anything nearby. He lifted up his leather jacket and T-shirt, took out one of those elastic roller bandages and wrapped it around his bleeding waist. His clothes were stained with blood and his face had dried flesh bits from Flash's head. He threw up his breakfast and laid himself against the tree, shivering with fright and terribly out of breath. The survivor took a moment to relax, cursing to himself and to the military. He took a handful of dirt from the ground and just smashed it to his head, asking why again and again to the air.

"Snap out of it!" he said to himself and glanced again behind the tree. No one was there. He took out his PDA and opens his email.

"Hacky, I'm so sorry but Flash got killed by the Spetsnaz. We didn't see them coming! They were all over the pla-"

The stalker hesitates and erased the whole message:

"We got your stash and your PDA, but Flash is dead. He was kille-" Tolik pressed the backspace button again and typed. "Got your PDA." was all that needed to be said. He stood up and headed back to the fallen loner.

The Spetsnaz were nowhere in sight and Flash's body was still there, along with his VSS Vintorez. The blood made the soil red and his body was stiff and cold, facing the ground.

"Just another day in the zone hey Flash?" Tolik said feebly and turned his corpse around, revealing a pair of green eyes gazing lifelessly at the sky and a scar of an untold story. Tolik closed them and laid his sniper rifle by his side, rested his head to a rock. He then collects some branches from a nearby tree and made a cross by wrapping it with a spare bandage and stuck it on the ground behind the deceased loner. Normally, any stalker would just loot from the dead indiscriminatingly, whether friend or foe. Tolik was no exception.

He took everything except the Vintar rifle and found a glowing bright-blue artifact, Flash.

"I'm sorry bro, but it's not like you need this stuff anyway..." assured Tolik, placing the artifact in his belt. Some other stuff he snatched was a yoyo, a medical kit, some ammo, a Timex watch, and a wallet that pocketed four grand of cash.

"Andrew Borysko." Tolik read out the name from Flash's ID card. "Rest in peace Andrew, you were a good stalker…even though I never knew you that much." The stalker added an honorary salute before making his way back to the bar.

…

"I never thought I'd see you again Yadviga." admitted Ivantsov, pouring his colleague a shot of vodka. Roskana watched the two men mingled while she again felt alone but intrigued at the same time. What was most intriguing for her was the exoskeleton suit that Ivantsov was wearing, which somehow reminded her of Darth Vader.

"What can I say Ivan. Even the zone can't take me!" snorted Hacky.

"Don't say that, you never know…you might have just jinxed yourself." The veteran shook his head.

Yadviga laughed out loud and turned to Roksana. "Same old Ivan, always superstitious! Say, how long have you been in Duty brother?"

"Almost a year now, ten…wait, eleven months perhaps? Well, back then I was still like you Yad, a prick that the zone couldn't get rid off. So I got tired of wandering aimlessly in this bloody zone, it started to be like when I was back at Kiev. No fucking purpose whatsoever."

"What made being in Duty so different?" scoffed Hacky, chucking down the vodka.

"I get told what to do…I don't care about their ethics or rules or their ideology. Just give me a gun and tell me what to shoot! And the pay is not bad."

The men chuckled to themselves, while Roksana just threw a discomfited smile. Ivantsov turned to the quiet red-head.

"So what made you come here dear? You know the zone is not the place for little girls." said the master stalker condescendingly.

"Ahahaha your funny, I think I'm going to like you too." Roksana retorted sarcastically.

Ivantsov just stared at her with that gas-mask of his, not giving out any expression but a blank soulless stare and then said.

"I'm surprised you even made it this far…" suddenly his PDA buzzed.

"Hey Ivan, guess what?" interrupted his friend, sounding somewhat excited.

"What is it Drifter?" Ivan sighed.

"There was this mercenary at the bar right? His name was Crow or something and he was looking for a guy called Flash. So he started asking the barman some questions and then there's this OTHER guy Shev just walked in. Apparently that Shev fella was an old friend of Crow's but then he sold him out to a couple of bandits…you should have seen Shev's face-"

"So? Did they kill each other or what?"

"No they didn't, the merc was empty so he started beating the crap out of that 'friend' of his…and then Garik stopped the two men and reported them both to Plichko."

"What happened then?" Ivan asked as the three stalkers were getting more and more interested.

"They were both sent into the arena…"

"To fight each other?"

Drifter chortled sinisterly, "no, something way better…Bloodsuckers."