In the darkness, the group traveled, it was silent as a grave, there was no breeze that wafted through the area, only the sound of subtle footsteps, and nothing else.

Wilhelm taped a torchlight to Vera, despite the hesitation he had with using it, it was better than fumbling in the darkness.

He remained uneasy about every movement, their shadows frightened him more than once, not for the reasons one expected, instead he fretted the possibility that their shadows could very well be the death of them.

The Zone might control everything within her borders, but Wilhelm didn't survive this long not to think of the possibilities that she might not be able to control her powers like Edgar says she can.

Maybe not even her, something the Soviets did when they came to the Zone for their experiments, even more frightening, maybe not even them.

If the ground can turn them into flattened pancakes, throw them into the air, turn them into pink mist, who knows what else can happen to something innocuous like shadows!

He didn't realise they travelled so far, it only felt like they were out in the field for thirty-minutes, though in the darkness, it was hard to tell.

Instantly he stopped in his tracks as he heard familiar popping noises and screams in the distance.

"Poor bastards," Wilhelm showed sympathy for them.

A common occurrence in the Zone, but it wasn't the scientist's soldiers getting mauled, people who were caught outside at the wrong time, and the beasts taking advantage of this, as he heard their faint screams and pleas.

If this was the average person in the Zone, it'll be significantly worse for the soldiers, since they'll be weighed down by their gear and weapons, that it'll be difficult to fight back against the horde of creatures sent after them by the Zone.

Feeling Edgar poking him, Wilhelm blinks as he moved forward with the group following behind him.

Subtly turning his head, Wilhelm sees through the darkness how uncomfortable the three were hearing the distant screaming.

He and Edgar been in the Zone long enough that it's just ambiance to them, something normal, and it's been so long since he saw the outside that Wilhelm forgotten how traumatic it can be hearing it.

"They won't get used to it," Edgar says to him.

And they won't, either.

It took weeks, months, for either man to finally sleep at night despite the sounds piercing the darkness.

They had no choice, it was adapted or go mad from the sounds of men dying at the hands of others or the creatures that roamed the Zone.

Pushing forward into the darkness, the group stopped when Edgar pointed towards a hidden dome in a destroyed wheat field.

Going up to it, Wilhelm sees it's a cover, and with Paul's help they were able to open it, revealing a ladder leading down below.

"You can't be serious…" Anya winces when Edgar urged them to go down the ladder.

Edgar insisted and Anya remained reluctant until the sounds of screaming pierced through the darkness, the horrifying wails of someone being mangled and killed by something forced her to swallow her fears as she went down the ladder with the others.

"What do you think this used to be?" Taylor questioned where they're heading into as she went down the ladder with the others.

Wilhelm mustered that he would assume this was a former bomb shelter, since things were tense back in the day, that having one available and readied for occupying at a moment's notice didn't surprise him.

Then again, he's been enlightened to the Zone and the Soviets, so he can't say for certain, but Edgar seemed to know more than them, that he deferred to him.

Taking over, Edgar said that it started off as a bomb shelter, but there's a hidden passageway hidden behind the false wall.

"Oi, this isn't taking us into a lab, is it?" Wilhelm questioned where the passageway led into, causing Edgar to remark that the Zone can't keep track of every Soviet compound, but he wouldn't be surprised if it took them through a lab.

Though it wasn't something Edgar found pleasant either, he insisted they go through it, anyway, since it'll take them through the underground channels that will lead them to where the scientists are hiding.

"What about those things?" Anya raised questions about encountering something dangerous in the lab.

Scratching the side of his face, Edgar responded that the Zone can't be sure, she's trying to keep track of them and keep the soldiers busied until she unleashes another storm upon them.

Something she wants to wait since it'll knock Edgar and Anya out cold, put them at a disadvantage.

Reaching the bottom of the ladder, there's insulated lights giving the bomb shelter a sickly white hue as the group moved around, more propaganda posters on the walls.

There's nothing left in the bomb shelter, no crates, but Edgar didn't think anybody reached the bomb shelter since its creation from the topside, instead gaining access through the hidden passageway.

"The scientists," Paul sums.

Weakly shrugging, Edgar says he couldn't know for sure, but it wouldn't pass him that the scientists scavenged for supplies when they took a foothold in the Zone.

"What if it's one of those loners?" Wilhelm brought up a chance that a loner found the hidden bomb shelter by chance and took what they could get, probably told someone else about it, either by their own admission or force.

With plenty of horror stories circulating about the Soviet labs, even if someone were to find the hidden passageway, they would refuse to go near it, flee for their lives.

Edgar couldn't confirm or deny, since the Zone can't keep track of every person who ventured through her lands, but it wouldn't surprise him.

"Eep!" Anya squeaked as there's a groaning noise coming from the back area of the bomb shelter.

Reaching out to touch her, Paul calmed her as he tells her that it was the pipes.

Going to the back area, Edgar reached out to touch a bare wall, his wrinkled hands moving around until it stopped short of a corner.

He requested Paul's aid and he went over to push the wall inward, exposing a humid tunnel with lights sporadically winding through the tunnel.

"From this point on, she cannot help us. She knows not what lies beyond," Edgar warns that after they enter the tunnel, the Zone won't be able to help, this was one of her blind spots.

Tugging on his coat, Paul assures him, "We've worse odds, Edgar, I think we can handle a science experiment."

Overhead, Wilhelm muttered under his breath as he wielded his Vespa, braving going through the opened doorway with the others into the humid tunnel.

Humid, it had an unusual smell, everything looked immaculate for an abandoned tunnel.

With only one direction, the group went through the tunnel.

Sprawling, wide enough for them to comfortably walk side-by-side, the tunnel went on, and periodically, Paul would look behind, making sure nothing snuck through.

"Hold up!" Wilhelm called out as he hoisted his Vespa.

Everyone stopped in their spot as Wilhelm went ahead to something slumped against the wall.

Slowly, Wilhelm went up to it, controlling his breathing, and when he stopped, he knelt to look at it.

It was a solider.

Wore tactical gear down to the gas mask, but it wasn't one of the scientists' soldiers.

From looking at the arm patch, Wilhelm concludes it was a soldier from Belgium.

Suppose someone on the outside grew curious and sent a team into the Zone to find out what happened and this was the result of that task.

"He must have been dead for a least a while," Wilhelm looked at the body closely.

The environment it was in gave the right conditions for the body not to decompose hastily like it would above ground, however what killed the soldier, Wilhelm didn't know until he turned the head slightly.

He heard liquid sloshing behind the protective glass of the gas mask.

No visible wounds.

And he wasn't about to undress a corpse to see just how the soldier died.

Given the direction of the feet, Wilhelm concludes the soldier was coming from the direction they're heading towards, fleeing, he either dropped his weapon in panic or it jammed, and whatever injury he sustained finally took.

"Rest easy, brother, your fight is over," Wilhelm gestures with his hand as he said a prayer for the deceased soldier.

Seeing the body, only made Anya antsy as she questioned what could've killed the solider, wanting to turn back before they make the same mistake as the soldier, but Edgar tells her that they needed to see it through.

The Zone's counting on them.

"What do you think?" Taylor whispers to Paul.

Looking at the body, Paul replied, "I have a feeling we won't be alone. Remember what I taught you, luv?"

Since they been together, Paul taught Taylor everything he knew, including how to quickly reload different firearms.

Nodding, her ruby hair with strands of blond shimmering, Taylor musters that she remembers every time the hammer pinched her finger to the point of bruising and even bleeding.

"We're going to see just what the Soviets were doing down here," Paul warily looked towards the direction they headed in.