Black Sun

Chapter 20

After a bit of searching, Ruby and the Marked One finally found an area that seemed promising. There was a large wall that surrounded a big part of Yantar; following the wall for a bit took them to an open gate, inside of which there were several buildings. The two of them hunkered down a short ways away, the Marked One peering through a pair of binoculars to get a closer look.

"See anything?" Ruby asked.

"Zombies," he said, a scowl of displeasure crossing his face. After a moment, he lowered the binoculars, placing them back into a pouch at his side before hefting his AK. "Come on, we're going to have to search there."

"You're sure?"

He nodded. "One thing I've learned from my brief time in the Zone – the Soviets loved to put top-secret facilities underneath something mundane-looking as a front. This place looks like some kind of mill… nobody would think twice about heavy machinery being moved here, or loud noises in the dead of night. If there's anywhere in Yantar we'll be able to find a lead, my guess is it'll be here. We just need to get through the Zombies first."

Ruby nodded along with his explanation. "Okay… lead the way."

The Marked One offered no arguments, and together, him and Ruby pushed out of cover and began to advance towards the open gate, weapons at the ready. Through small gaps in the wall, Ruby could see that the mill was full of several buildings, some large and some small, and a shiver went down her spine at the knowledge that they might have to clear all of them before finding anything relating to X-16.

The Marked One suddenly shouldered his rifle and began to take shots at some of the Zombies that had started to emerge from behind the gate, his movements slowing as he aimed his weapon and fired. Of the three Zombies that had come out, the lead one jerked as his body was riddled with bullets; after a few shots directly to his torso, he fell to the ground and began to writhe in agony, moans of pain escaping from him. The other Zombies simply raised their weapons, holding them in one-handed grips, and started to sporadically fire at the two of them as they advanced. Bullets and buckshot pellets struck the ground all around them, but Ruby stayed calm, instead pressing up behind a nearby tree for cover and shouldering her AS VAL. After a moment to align the sights with the head of one of the Zombies, she pulled the trigger, and her weapon chattered away for a moment as it let loose a burst of two rounds that reduced the Zombie's head to little more than paste. Ruby watched the nearly-decapitated body fall to the ground, then turned towards the one remaining Zombie, only to find that the Marked One had taken care of him already with a series of shots to the chest. Instead, she looked back to the other Zombie still writhing on the ground, and put him out of his misery with a single shot to the head.

And then, silence. Ruby exhaled, lowering her weapon. The Marked One came running over to her, swapping magazines as he did so.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she said. She hesitated, then after a moment, quietly added, "Not hurt, at least…"

The Marked One nodded, then motioned for her to follow him. "Let's keep moving," he said, "the helmets are only good for so long, after all."

That snapped Ruby out of it, fear pulsing through her in the process. Sakharov had promised them that the helmets would only offer sufficient protection for about an hour, and they'd already wasted several minutes just trying to fight their way to the entrance. At the rate things were going, they were liable to be Zombified themselves if they didn't pick up the pace. Suddenly numb, she nodded, and then followed after the Marked One as he took off towards the open gate.

"We'll have to split up," he said. "There's no way we'll be able to cover enough ground to find the entrance in time if we don't. Watch your back, and if you find anything, call me. Got it?"

"Got it," Ruby replied. "Good luck."

"And to you as well."

With that, the two of them broke apart, both heading in opposite directions. The Marked One took off towards the mill itself, while Ruby decided to search a large multi-story building of some kind. She advanced inside with caution, her heart hammering away in her chest as she breached through the entrance, rifle in hand. The building appeared to be empty, bereft of even furniture; parts of the roof appeared to have caved in, if the debris scattered around was any indication. In typical Zone fashion, the building was run-down, dilapidated, and in a dire state of disrepair. But most importantly, there didn't seem to be any threats inside.

Off in the distance, Ruby heard gunfire; from the sound of things, it was the Marked One's rifle. Her heart skipped a beat, and she thought about running out to try and help him, only to remind herself that they didn't have the time. Reluctantly, she turned away from the gunfire and advanced towards the stairs, deciding to check the upper floors first.

As she moved up the stairs, the distant gunfire suddenly stopped. Her mouth went dry, and Ruby sent up a silent prayer that the Marked One was okay.

She didn't want him to die, of course, but even more than that, selfish as it may have been… she was terrified of the prospect of having to go into X-16 and shut off the Brain Scorcher by herself.

Her hands suddenly began to shake, and her vision blurred. Ruby blinked away the tears and continued on, eventually reaching the upper floors. She swept the various rooms, but they were all clear, with not even Zombies there waiting for her. Heaving a shaky breath, she turned and began to make her way downstairs again, only for footsteps to catch her attention.

"Ruby?" she heard the Marked One call. "Are you in here?"

"Y-yes!" she shouted back. "Yes, I'm upstairs! It's clear, you can come up!"

The Marked One didn't wait for her to say anything else, instead bounding up the stairs. Ruby noticed a fresh blood-soaked bandage wrapped around his shoulder, and immediately went for her medkit, only for him to grunt and shake his head.

"We don't have the time," he insisted. "And besides, it's a through-and-through."

"I can't just let you bleed!" she insisted.

"You'll have to, we need to keep searching. We've only got another forty-five minutes or so before the helmets wear off, and we haven't even found the entrance to the lab yet."

Ruby froze at that realization, and after a moment, she slowly nodded. "...Okay. Let's keep looking. I haven't had a chance to check downstairs yet – maybe there's something there?"

"It's worth as much a shot as anything else," the Marked One admitted. "I'll go, you watch behind me. I'm sure there are still Zombies around."

Ruby nodded, then followed after the Marked One once again as he began to advance down the stairs. As they reached the bottom, the lights suddenly began to dim, and the two of them were forced to resort to their weapon-mounted lights. As they switched them on, Ruby's heart skipped a beat when she saw a large opening in front of them, the heavy steel door that once covered it lying on the ground several feet away in a rusted heap. Seeing it, she couldn't help but swallow nervously.

"Wonder what was able to get through the-"

That was as far as she got before shots started to ring out from inside the doorway. Ruby pulled her head back just in time, gritting her teeth as rounds impacted against the door frame. Next to her, the Marked One raised his weapon and began to return fire, the gunshots almost deafening in the confines of the underground; the only thing that saved Ruby's hearing was the set of ear protection she was wearing under her helmet.

After a few seconds, the gunfire from inside the next room stopped. The Marked One stood there, smoke curling up from the barrel of his rifle, then after a moment, he reloaded and went to check on Ruby.

"You okay?" he asked. She nodded, and he let out a breath. "Let's keep going."

She swallowed nervously, but followed after him all the same, the two of them filing into the room the gunfire had just been emanating from. It was almost pitch black inside, with the only light coming from a small spinning orange emergency light on the ceiling. It was some kind of control room, no doubt for the door they had just passed by. A single Zombie was slumped over the controls, blood and brains leaking out from what remained of his head. Ruby let out a small shiver as she passed by, following after the Marked One. There was an elevator at the end of the room, with two bodies inside; the elevator itself didn't appear to be functional, but there was a series ladder nearby that led down further into the shaft. The two of them began to descend, only for a low growl to catch them by surprise as they did. Ruby paused at the top of the final ladder, instantly snapping her weapon's stock to her shoulder as she looked around for the source of the noise in the darkness, her weapon-mounted light dancing across the walls. Finally, it landed on two Snorks; Ruby's heart skipped a beat, but she put rounds into each regardless, taking them down with the better part of a magazine.

Once she was sure the Snorks were dead, Ruby hastily swapped magazines, her hands shaking the entire time.

"Ruby!" the Marked One called.

"I'm fine!" she replied. "Just… I really hate Snorks, almost as much as Bloodsuckers…"

She brought a hand up to touch the scar on her face, shuddering as she did so. After a moment to collect herself, she descended the final ladder, joining the Marked One on the ground floor.

The room opened up here, leading to what looked like some kind of large tunnel, or a bunker with multiple branching paths. It was still just as dark as the first room had been, with the only illumination coming from their flashlights.

And then, through the darkness, Ruby saw several other beams of light suddenly flash on towards them.

"Look out!" she called.

The Marked One hit the deck just in time to avoid a string of rounds that passed right through where he had been standing. He rolled behind cover while Ruby sidled up to the edge of a nearby wall and began to put rounds downrange towards the beams of light. From the pained moans that greeted her, she could tell their assailants were Zombies. Muzzle flashes cut through the blackness downrange, each one giving a brief glimpse of the shooter's face; Ruby used them as a reference point, focusing her fire as best as she could in the dark. The Marked One joined her, and soon enough, the incoming fire was no more, with only the sound of pained moans filling the room.

Ruby and the Marked One immediately pushed out from behind cover as soon as rounds stopped striking nearby, the two of them closing in on the downed Zombies and finishing them off with a shot to the head each. The Marked One paused for a moment to take some spare AK magazines from one of the downed Zombies, sliding them into the pouches on his plate carrier, and then the two of them continued on.

"How's your ammo?" he asked.

Ruby gave her ammo pouches a quick pat down, trying to gauge how much she had left. "I think I've got five mags left," she said. "Plus I've still got my Glock 34, and a few mags for that. How about you?"

"Don't worry about me," the Marked One said, hefting his Kalashnikov. "My ammo type is more common than yours. I'll be fine."

Ruby nodded. "Okay… then let's keep moving. I'll take point."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. You've been in the lead the entire time, let me take over for now."

The Marked One pursed his lips, but didn't argue, instead letting her take the lead. They both continued through the room, Ruby keeping an eye out for mutants the entire time, but to her relief, there didn't seem to be any there, at least at the moment. Still, that didn't stop her from being on-edge the entire time – her experience in the earlier underground labs had shown her that it paid to be more cautious than not.

Behind her, a small alarm began to chime, making her jump. She turned towards the Marked One, only to find him examining his PDA. Ruby leveled a glare at him.

"A little warning would be nice next time," she hissed. "You nearly made me jump out of my skin."

"Sorry," he offered. "And I don't mean to alarm you, but that was a signal I set to tell us when we've only got thirty minutes left. We'll need to pick up the pace; we've barely even entered the lab."

Ruby bit her lip, suddenly concerned. Slowly, she nodded. "Okay…"

With that in mind, the two of them kept moving, eventually finding a side hallway to turn down. Thankfully, Ruby caught the telltale shimmering before either of them could step too far into it, and immediately held out a hand to stop the Marked One.

"Anomalies," she warned.

"I see them," he confirmed. "Do you have any bolts?"

"Yeah. Let me just-"

Before she could reach for her bolts, rounds began to fly downrange from the darkened room at the end of the hallway. Ruby bit back a curse as she and the Marked One retreated, pressing their backs against a nearby wall around the corner they'd just come from. Bullets continued to pass by, leaving behind a supersonic crack as they came within inches and tore chunks away from the concrete walls. Ruby took a moment to calm herself, then dropped down into a crouch and began to return fire. Several Zombies were shambling down the other end of the hallway, their weapons barking as they moved. One of them drew too close to the Anomaly, and a jet of flame suddenly spouted up from the ground, engulfing him. The Zombie did nothing but moan in agony at first, but the flames eventually proved to be too much, and he fell to the ground, one last dying gasp escaping from between his lips.

Ruby winced as the scent of burning flesh hit her nose, but tried not to let it affect her too much as she continued to pour fire downrange into the Zombies that were still advancing. Together, her and the Marked One managed to cut them down, and as soon as the way forward was clear, they ran for it, sprinting through the hallway, taking care to avoid the spot where the Zombie had set off the Anomaly. Ruby's hair stood up on end as she passed by, and she swore she could feel the heat engulf her in the process, but no fire came to greet her, much to her relief.

Her and the Marked One stopped in the next room, which thankfully seemed to now be clear. She swapped mags, then beckoned for the Marked One to keep moving, which he did. They were in some kind of storage room now, if the crates and barrels that lined the floor were any indication; had they not been in a hurry, Ruby would have been tempted to open some of them up, but she quickly pushed that thought aside in favor of the mission.

As they advanced through the storage room, Ruby heard distant gunfire echoing through the facility. She immediately dropped down, her eyes widening as she snapped her rifle to her shoulder, only for the Marked One to put a hand on her shoulder.

"Easy," he said. "Whatever's doing the fighting, we're not involved, at least not yet."

She let out a shaky sigh, then lowered her weapon. "Right… sorry, I'm just on-edge."

He gave her a sympathetic look, but said nothing, instead continuing to move through the storage room. As they approached a set of stairs leading down, Ruby saw something moving in the darkness, and turned towards it. A pair of Snorks came barreling towards them out of the blackness, and her and the Marked One wasted no time in cutting them down. There was no time to relax, however; the gunfire drew more Snorks in from further down the hallway, and to Ruby's dismay, her rifle ran dry right as the next three Snorks began to run towards them. Desperate, she dropped her weapon, letting it hang by its sling as she drew her Glock 34. Next to her, the Marked One did the same, dropping his Kalashnikov in favor of some blocky-looking handgun she didn't recognize.

They both started firing, Ruby's grip shaking so badly out of fear that her shots went wide. The Marked One, meanwhile, was able to hit round after round, the Snorks stumbling as he laid into them. It wasn't enough, though – while one of the Snorks took a round to the head and collapsed, the other two continued running towards them, and one they got close enough, they leaped. Ruby let out a pained shout as one of the Snorks collided with her, the two of them falling to the ground in a heap. She just barely managed to keep a hand on her Glock 34, even as the weapon discharged a round into the ceiling when she struck the ground.

Then, she felt blinding pain in her leg. Ruby screamed, tears stinging at her eyes, and almost without thinking, she jammed the barrel of her Glock flush with the Snork and kept pulling the trigger, firing off whatever was left in her magazine at point-blank range directly into the mutant. Just as her weapon's slide locked back on empty, the mutant stiffened, then fell on top of her, leaking blood from a dozen bullet holes across its body. Ruby hurriedly threw the dead Snork off of herself, then scrambled to her feet, biting back a scream as she did so. She fumbled with her weapon for a moment, desperately changing mags, before looking over to the Marked One, who was in the midst of picking himself up off the ground. With alarm, she noticed that his shoulder had started bleeding heavily again, and holstered her pistol before limping over to him.

"Are you alright?" she asked, only for him to wave her off.

"I'm fine," he hissed. "Bandages tore, though… we'll have to rest here for a minute."

His gaze traveled down her body, resting on her leg. Ruby froze as he stared at her wound.

"...I can't look," she muttered, beginning to tremble out of fear as she finally became acutely aware of the blood running down her leg. "How is it?"

"It looks worse than it is," the Marked One said. "Come here, I'll get you fixed up."

Reluctantly, Ruby moved closer to him, and he motioned for her to lie on the ground. "Don't look at it," he warned. She nodded, and looked away as he rolled up what was left of her pant leg. Ruby sucked in a breath as she felt him poke and prod around the gash in her leg, and he finally let out a sigh.

"We'll need to get you looked at by the Ecologists once we're back," he said. "But it's like I said – it looks worse than it is. At least, that's the good news."

"And the bad news?" Ruby asked tentatively.

"You're going to have to deal with the pain for now," he said, reluctantly. "I'm sorry, but I can't give you painkillers right now; all I have on me is morphine, and I still need you to shoot straight. Best I can do is bandage you up."

"That's… that's fine," Ruby said quietly. "Just… hurry up, would you? We can't afford to waste any more time."

He nodded, then pulled out a roll of medical gauze from his pack. After a few minutes to wrap her wound, he offered the gauze to Ruby.

"Now me," he said. "Just stuff it in the wound; we don't have time for me to take everything off and put it back on again."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Hurry up."

Ruby did as she was told, wincing at every hiss the Marked One made as she worked. Her hands shook the entire time, and it only got worse at the knowledge that she was causing him more pain, but she did it anyway, and after a few more minutes, she was done. At the very least, it had slowed his bleeding, though just like her, he was going to need medical attention at the first opportunity they got.

"How much time do we have?" she asked as they both picked themselves off the ground.

"Fifteen minutes," the Marked One told her as he checked his PDA. "Come on, we have to hurry."

She didn't argue, and the two of them kept moving once more.

Thankfully, no more mutants came to greet them as they advanced through the underground facility, and eventually, they came to a hallway. At the end, Ruby saw a few different sources of light – muzzle flashes, if the noise was any indication, though thankfully the rounds weren't being directed towards them, but also a large amount of spinning emergency lights, as well as headlamps that bobbed up and down as their owners moved. And from the sheer number of them, she could tell there was about to be a lot of fighting.

She was about to make a remark about how they were likely going to be facing a veritable wave of Zombies, when suddenly pain lanced through her head, strong enough to make her double over, grasping at her temples as she winced. It only lasted for a moment, but it was enough to leave her reeling for several seconds afterwards. Still, she picked herself up, then turned towards the Marked One.

"What… was that?" she managed to get out.

"It felt like a psi-emission," he said. "We must be close. Come on, we don't have time to waste."

Ruby swallowed nervously, then chased after the Marked One as he began to move once more, heading for the opening at the end of the hallway. As they approached, Ruby caught sight of something that instantly made her pause.

"What the hell…?" she muttered out of sheer shock as she stared at it. "What is that…?"

The two of them were now standing in a large, circular atrium, filled with spiral staircases and walkways that lined the walls. But that wasn't what caught her attention – rather, that was the object in the center of the room, which to her appeared to be a large glass tube filled with a giant brain. Wires throughout the room were connected to the tube, all of them seeming to lead back to some unidentifiable machines.

Next to her, the Marked One shook his head. "Worry about what it is later," he hissed. "Those wires seem important – perhaps if we can shut down whatever they're connected to, we'll have made some progress."

Ruby winced, her mind suddenly filled with small whispers, saying things she couldn't identify. They were definitely there, however – she could hear them as clearly as she could hear the Marked One speaking to her.

Whatever this room was, there wasn't a doubt in her mind that it was important. And that meant that the Marked One had a point.

Far-off gunshots suddenly pierced through the darkness, sparking as they impacted against the corrugated steel walkway around them. Ruby and the Marked One immediately dropped down and began to return fire, aiming blindly at the muzzle flashes across the way.

"Move!" the Marked One called. "I'll be right behind you, just get to those control panels and shut them down!"

"Right!" Ruby called, taking off running as the Marked One let off a long burst from his AK.

The walkway they were on twisted up into the blackness, a circle of rusted steel stairways that led further into the laboratory. Ruby's heart pounded in her chest as she began to ascend the stairs, following along with the wires attached to the giant brain in the center of the room. As she came to the top of the first staircase, two Zombies came lumbering out of the darkness, and she didn't hesitate, putting each one down with a burst from her AS VAL. The Zombies laid on the ground, twitching and moaning, dying but not quite dead; Ruby didn't spare them any more thought, instead pressing on.

She reached the first control panel even as the Marked One continued to exchange gunfire with the Zombies further along the walkway. His attempt to draw their fire had worked, but she could only hope that was capable of surviving the incoming onslaught without her. Pushing those thoughts from her mind, Ruby stared down at the control panel before her. It was little more than an impressive-looking array of dimly-lit buttons stretched out across a rusted pane of steel. The symbols on the buttons were all written in cyrillic; she couldn't make sense of them. Part of her debated on waiting for the Marked One, hoping that he'd be able to decipher them, but that thought died as another pulse suddenly lanced through her mind, the pain threatening to split it in half; Ruby grit her teeth in agony, tears stinging at the corners of her eyes as she endured the pain.

It only lasted for a moment, but that was enough for her. The instant the pain had receded, she angled her AS VAL towards the control panel and let off a long burst into it. The machine sparked and popped with electricity as the heavy 9x39mm bullets tore through it, tearing fist-sized exit holes through it and stripping it of its electrical guts and wiring in the blink of an eye. Her weapon clicked empty, and the exact moment it did, she could have sworn that something in the room let out a large groan of displeasure. Again, there was no time to dwell on that, however, as the pain in her head returned, though somehow, it was far lesser this time, feeling merely more like a very bad migraine than anything.

The voices in her head returned, and Ruby's vision began to swim as she stumbled away from the control panel, taking hold of the nearby guardrail on the walkway to steady herself. She shook her head, doing her best to clear it of the haze that had settled over her thoughts. A few seconds ticked by, and she took a breath, then stood up straight.

And not a moment too soon, as a series of groans from off to the side caught her attention.

Ruby immediately dropped her AS VAL by its sling and ripped her Glock 34 from its holster, then turned and began to fire at the approaching three Zombies. Her Glock's pistol rounds were nowhere near as effective as the armor-piercing rounds the AS VAL used, but it proved its worth in a pinch when a series of quick snapshot headshots cut down two of the three Zombies. The third, however, raised his weapon – a shotgun of some kind – towards her and fired off a blast. Ruby screamed as she felt several pellets rip through her right shoulder, and fell onto her back, blood spattering the walkway behind her as she did so. The Zombie continued to advance towards her, pumping the shotgun as he went; in one final, desperate move before the Zombified Stalker ended her, Ruby brought her pistol up and hurriedly squeezed off what was left in the magazine, going for sheer volume of fire more than accuracy, the slide on her pistol locking back on empty on the last shot. The Zombie didn't even flinch as small 9mm pinpricks blossomed across his front, and Ruby could only watch in horror as he finished pumping his shotgun and angled it towards her.

And then, just as his finger was about to stroke the weapon's trigger, three bullets came lancing through the darkness, impacting against the Zombie's head and turning it to little more than paste.

Ruby watched the Zombie fall like a puppet with its strings cut. Her ears were ringing from a combination of the gunshots and the psi-damage she'd no doubt taken simply from entering this room. She could feel her shoulder leaking blood, and the wound on her leg continued to scream at her with every stray movement. She was numb with pain and terror – so numb, in fact, that she almost didn't react when the Marked One pulled her to her feet.

It took her a moment to realize he was yelling at her.

"-by! Ruby!"

She blinked, then shook her head. "...Sorry," she offered bluntly. With a few quick hand movements, she reloaded both her weapons, then motioned for them to keep moving. The Marked One stared at her in surprise for a moment, but ultimately nodded and followed after her as she started to limp ahead.

"We only have a few minutes left," he hurriedly explained as they continued along the walkway. "There are two control panels left, judging from the series of wires connected to that thing. Whatever you did earlier, it seems to have done something beneficial to us."

"All I did was put holes in the control panel until it stopped working."

"Then I suppose we know what to do." The Marked One stopped for a moment, looking ahead. More gunshots suddenly cut through the darkness, and he let out a low growl. "We'll have to split up, we won't have time to make it to both panels if we don't. Can you manage-"

"Yes," she interrupted. "I'll manage."

The Marked One let out a low exhale, then nodded. "...Okay. Go, now!"

With that, he laid down more suppressive fire for her, and Ruby took off running as fast as her wounded leg would allow her.

The Zombies were once again focused on the Marked One, his unsuppressed muzzle flashes working to draw their fire as she moved. Ruby felt a small pang of guilt at leaving him to take the brunt of the assault by herself, but at the same time, she knew there wasn't much choice otherwise. Instead, she quickened her pace, even as her wounded leg screamed at her with every movement.

Ruby sprinted along the walkway, eventually stopping at the next control panel and laying into it with several bursts from her AS VAL until she once again saw the panel begin to spark, followed shortly after by those same voices coming back to her head, speaking in indecipherable tongues. They were still there, whispering away in the confines of her mind, but they were much quieter now, and while the pain was still there, it was also lessened. Still, Ruby finally found herself forced to bring a hand up to wipe blood away from her nose and ears.

In any case, with the second control panel now offline, Ruby hastily reloaded, then doubled back to where she had last seen the Marked One. A quick jolt of panic ripped through her when she realized she couldn't see him there, but after looking around for a bit, she saw him higher up in the room, inside of a small steel bunker of some kind. Several Zombies were lumbering after him; she hurriedly shouldered her weapon and began to pour fire into them, cutting them down from a distance as the Marked One smashed the control panel, bashing it with his rifle's stock over and over again until finally, it was done.

For a moment, there was nothing but silence and the ringing in her ears. Ruby went to let out a short exhale of relief, but in that moment, something happened – the pain suddenly came back, far worse than before. Ruby's weapon fell to the floor, and she sank to her knees, clutching at her head as a ragged scream forced its way from her throat. Blood poured from her eyes, ears, and nose, the ringing in her ears intensifying as black danced on the edges of her vision and her stomach roiled with sickness, the bile eventually forcing its way out of her despite her feeble resistance.

The unconsciousness that followed shortly after was a mercy to her.

Before her stood a castle, blanketed by a darkened horizon full of nightmares. It was early in the afternoon, and yet that didn't matter – in this place, it was always night.

That would change in due time, however.

The lone figure shifted, taking her weapon into her hands as she did so. From her spot on the distant hilltop, she could see the monstrous creatures lumbering below, forcing their way out of the spawning pools, awaiting orders from their master. Her brow furrowed at the sight of it. Ultimately, none of them were worth dealing with – the real enemy laid within the castle, waiting for her.

Salem knew she was coming at this point. There was no point in pretending otherwise. In all likelihood, this was going to be a fight to the death, for both of them. She'd known that when she'd set out from home, and had accepted that reality the closer she'd gotten to the castle. But if her death was what it took for her children and husband to live, then so be it.

With that in mind, Summer adjusted her flowing white cloak and checked her weapon one final time, then began to head for the castle. No matter what happened, this was for her family.

She just hoped they'd understand that when she didn't come home.

A low groan of sheer agony escaped her as Ruby blearily tried to crack both eyes open. She was unable to, however; something was encrusting them, keeping them shut. Blindly, she fumbled around, desperate to grab hold of something as panic set in. Footsteps from nearby caught her attention, and her breath caught in her throat as she immediately went for her Glock, still thankfully holstered at her side. Before she could blindly pull it from its holster, however, a hand clamped over her arm, holding it in place.

"Easy," the Marked One softly said to her. "I'm here. Let me help you."

Ruby swallowed nervously, her heart still hammering against her ribs even as she heard the Marked One uncap his canteen and then pour its contents over her face. He then began to gently wipe away with a rag of some kind, and before long, she was able to see, the dried blood and bile that had covered her face having been wiped away by him. Ruby watched as he tossed the blood-covered rag away, giving a small sniffle as she did so.

"...Thanks," she offered. There was a heavy pause between them, before she finally said, "...Did you dream, too?"

Slowly, he nodded. "I did."

"Then… you saw the castle, too?"

"Castle?" He shook his head. "No… no, I dreamed of something else entirely…"

Ruby was about to inquire further, when a thought suddenly occurred to her. She looked around in shock. "...Did we do it?"

Again, the Marked One gave her a slow nod. "Judging by how we aren't dead or Zombies, I'd say we succeeded. The Brain Scorcher is off."

"Good… that's good…" Ruby let out a heavy sigh. "Okay… let's get the hell out of here."

The Marked One didn't argue. He helped her to her feet and offered her the AS VAL she'd dropped earlier, which she gratefully accepted. After a quick ammo check, Ruby grimaced.

"I'm almost out of ammo," she said. "Gonna have to buy more once we're back…"

They both began to ascend the nearby set of stairs, the Marked One looking around with a grimace as he did so. "I'd say to take one of the weapons the Zombies dropped earlier, but they're all in really shit condition."

"Damn… plan B it is, then."

Ruby slung her rifle across her chest, instead drawing her Glock. The Marked One watched her, then nodded in understanding before they both continued.

They reached the top of the stairs, moving past the small control room the Marked One had ended up in to smash the last panel. Zombie corpses littered the area; silently, Ruby sent up a small thanks to whichever gods were present that no other Zombies had come to find them when they were both unconscious.

Another small flight of stairs led further into the lab, though thankfully, there was a light at the end of the room – quite literally, at that; the room that opened up was bright enough for them to mostly see without using their weapon lights, which Ruby couldn't help but give a sigh of relief about.

Of course, her relief faded the moment an all-too-familiar ringing in her ears came to greet her. Immediately, Ruby knew what was happening, and a scowl of sheer malice crossed her face as she turned to the Marked One.

"Keep me covered," she said as she checked to make sure her pistol had a round chambered.

"What?" he asked, surprised. "What the hell are you-"

"Just do it. I'm too sick and tired to deal with this right now."

The Marked One blinked, but nodded nonetheless, shouldering his rifle as he peered around the corner and began to fire off rounds. As he did so, Ruby sprinted out, taking care to stay low to the ground as she ran. Off in the distance, the Controller in the back of the room raised his hand to her, but a few stray shots from the Marked One knocked it off-balance, preventing it from attacking her.

With a feral yell, Ruby closed the last of the distance and leaped at the Controller, tackling it to the ground. She pressed the barrel of her handgun flush with the mutant's head and squeezed off round after round, only stopping when her weapon clicked empty. The moment it did, she looked down, her chest still heaving with exertion; the Controller's head had been reduced to little more than a puree of blood and gray matter on the floor. In the past, the mere sight of it would have made her sick to her stomach, but not anymore.

Now, she just felt tired.

Ruby rose to her feet, swaying a bit from exhaustion as she did so. The Marked One ran over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder for support.

"I've got you," he said. "What were you thinking?!"

"I just… I'm so done with this stupid fucking lab…" Ruby muttered. "If I never see another one of these, it'll be too soon."

"Regardless, promise me you won't do anything that stupid again," the Marked One said sternly.

"Yeah…" Ruby offered.

The Marked One didn't seem quite satisfied with that, but something suddenly caught his eye behind her. Ruby whipped around, one hand already reaching for a spare pistol mag, only for her to pause when she saw what he was looking at.

There was a single dead body in this room right at the back, his hand still clutched around a folder full of documents.

The Marked One suddenly stood up and marched over to the corpse, then knelt down and carefully pried the documents from his body, taking care not to disturb the dead man out of some kind of sense of respect. Ruby stared, perplexed, before finally reloading her weapon and joining the Marked One.

"Hey," she said softly, getting his attention. "Is that him?"

The Marked One gave her another slow nod. "It was."

"Ghost… you seem like you know him."

"Because I did. He was a member of Strelok's group."

Ruby blinked, only growing more confused as the seconds passed. The Marked One's brow furrowed. "...I'll explain everything once we're back. Safe to say, Strelok isn't who I thought he was."

"And why is that?"

"Because, as my dream just showed me, I am Strelok."

Ruby's eyes widened in surprise. The Marked One let out a low sigh, then turned his attention back to Ghost.

"...I remember parts of it now," he said. "There were a few of us, Ghost among them. We were trying to get to the center of the Zone… and there was this woman…"

"Woman…?" Ruby echoed, her heart suddenly skipping a beat.

Strelok nodded. "Yeah. Short, with black-and-red hair, and with a white cloak…"

That did it. Ruby collapsed to her knees, a choked sob escaping her. Strelok was at her side in an instant, helping her up.

"That was your mother," he surmised.

Ruby sniffled, then gave him a nod. "Yes… she disappeared about twelve years ago. We all thought she was dead, but I guess, somehow, she ended up here…" Her eyes widened. "...She could still be alive," Ruby breathed.

"Ruby-"

"I know it's a longshot," Ruby emphasized. "But… there's at least a chance – a better one than any of us initially thought. If she's here, then I need to find her before we make it back to Remnant."

Strelok blinked, then nodded. "Very well. But first, we need to get the hell out of this lab."

"You're right about that." Ruby dusted herself off, grimacing at the sheer amount of blood that coated her gear. She was a mess, to say the least – between her torn leg, the shotgun pellets in her shoulder, and the psi damage she'd taken, the Ecologists were going to have a hell of a time patching her back up. But it was almost over, thankfully.

Now, they just needed to make it out of the lab.

Together, Ruby and Strelok searched through the room, looking for a way out. Heading back the way they came was out of the question – the broken ladder in the elevator shaft would stop them from advancing that way. They were going to have to find another way.

Thankfully, it was only a few minutes before Strelok called out to her. Ruby came limping over to him, curious.

"Find something?"

He nodded. "There's a hole in the floor here. Looks like it leads to a drainage system."

"You mean like a sewer?"

"Possibly."

Ruby shuddered. "...The idea isn't appealing to me, obviously, but if that's what we're stuck with…"

Strelok nodded, then unslung his weapon and activated the light mounted to its handguard. He shined the light through the hole, using it to look around.

"I think it's mostly dry down there," he informed her. "It is dark, though, as you'd probably expect."

"What else is new…?" Ruby muttered. She shook her head. "Alright, not like we have another option. Let's do it."

With that, the two of them jumped down the hole, landing in the center of the underground drainage pipe. Strelok signaled for her to follow him, and the two of them began to carefully move through the underground, heading the twisting, mazelike pathways as they searched for an exit.

After just a few minutes of walking, Ruby paused, standing up a bit straighter as the sound of far-off machine gun fire and explosions reached her ears.

"Hear that?" she asked.

Strelok nodded. "Yes. We must be close."

Ruby was about to respond in the affirmative when the ground began to shake. Her eyes went wide with terror right as a loud, bestial roar echoed through the underground.

"Run!" she shouted. "Follow the sound of the gunshots!"

With that, she took off running, Strelok right behind her, right as the Pseudogiant came barreling at them out of the darkness. Ruby and Strelok sprinted as fast as they could, with her willing herself to go faster even with her injured leg. The entire time, she could feel the Pseudogiant hot on her heels – its warm breath was just about at her back, and flecks of its saliva spattered against her as they all moved.

As they ran through the twisting paths, they were able to put a bit of distance between themselves and the mutant, but it wasn't going to be enough if they didn't find something soon. With their weapons, there was no hope of fighting it here.

"There!" Strelok suddenly called out. "There's an opening in the grate ahead! Jump for it!"

Ruby did as he asked, leaping for the hole in the grate right as the Pseudogiant was about to reach her. The mutant lunged, gnashing its teeth to try and catch her, and very nearly caught the end of her boot as she sailed through the hole. Strelok followed not long after, the two of them landing in a heap on the other side. As soon as she hit the ground, Ruby picked herself up and rounded on the mutant, fully expecting to have to fight to her last bullet at this point. But to her relief, it was stuck on the other side of the grate, the thick layer of pointed rebar keeping it from bursting through. The mutant stared at them, then let out a loud groan before turning and heading back the way it came.

Ruby stood there for a moment, rooted to the spot with her heart pounding. Finally, she let out a shaky breath, then offered Strelok a hand, pulling him to his feet.

"You okay?" he asked. "That mutant almost had you."

"I'm fine," Ruby answered tiredly. "Just… we need to get out of here before our luck runs out."

"You're right. Come on."

They continued on through the underground, eventually reaching a ladder that led up. Up top, through a half-open manhole cover, Ruby was able to see the barest hint of a night sky. A wave of relief passed through her, even as the machine gun fire intensified.

Between staying in the underground lab for even another minute or taking her chances with whatever was firing up top, she knew what she preferred. And judging by how Strelok followed after her, he had the same opinion she did.

Thankfully, the gunfire turned out to be a Military chopper, and it was focused on something in the distance rather than them. Ruby didn't care to look too deeply at it at the moment; all that mattered to her was that whatever fighting was going on, it didn't involve the two of them. For just a moment, she stood at the top of the ladder, breathing in the air around her with a deep sigh.

"Finally…" she muttered as Strelok joined her. "We're out of that hellhole. Okay, let's start working our way back to-"

"Ruby?"

At the sudden voice, Ruby looked down, a wide grin splitting her face. Tears of relief filled her eyes, and it took everything she had not to jump down from her position right then and there.

"Pyrrha!" she called.

"You both made it!" Pyrrha shouted back, mirroring Ruby's smile with one of her own. "Thank the Gods, I was so worried!"

"We made it," Strelok informed her. "But we're going to need medical attention right away, especially her."

"She does?" Pyrrha asked, instantly concerned. "How bad is it?"

Ruby bit her lip. "It's not good. Hold on, we're coming down."

Carefully, Ruby dropped from the platform the two of them were standing on, Strelok following after her. The moment she touched the ground, Pyrrha was upon her, looking her injuries over. She went white when she reached Ruby's leg, and immediately threw Ruby's arm over her shoulders and began to walk with her back to the Ecologist's dome.

"Come on, let's get you both back," Pyrrha stated. "The others must have been worried sick. Don't be afraid, Ruby – the Ecologists will get you fixed up in no time. You're safe now."

Again, Ruby felt tears of relief come to her eyes, and this time, she didn't bother holding them back.

"Outta the way!" Pyrrha called as she came bursting through the door to the Ecologist's dome, still supporting Ruby the entire time. "Sakharov, Ruby and the Marked One are hurt!"

"Bring them here," Sakharov ordered.

Tantal stepped forward, and Pyrrha let him take Ruby, then lead her into one of the back rooms. The Marked One followed after under his own power, the two of them disappearing into what Pyrrha could only assume was a small operating room of some kind. The moment the doors closed, Pyrrha leaned against a nearby wall, a sigh escaping her as she brought a hand up to rub at her face.

Ruby and the Marked One were back, at least. Their mission had been successful, and the Brain Scorcher had been turned off. That meant they were one big step closer to getting back to Remnant.

Now all they had to do was find the Wish Granter in the center of the Zone.

That was easier said than done, of course, but at this point, they had no choice. They'd made it this far already.

With that in mind, Pyrrha peeled herself off the wall, then went to look around. Her gaze landed on Jaune and Cinder in the sleeping area, and she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when she saw they were both in the same bed. At the sight of it, her gaze narrowed, and she turned away, grimacing.

She hadn't missed the way the two of them looked at each other, and the one-on-one talks they'd both had. And while had recognized her feelings for Jaune weren't genuine, that didn't mean she was willing to support him getting with Cinder Fall, of all people. Especially since Cinder was the reason they were all here in the first place.

They were going to have to have words about that at some point, but she supposed it didn't matter too much in the end – Cinder had openly stated she'd be staying in the Zone, and Pyrrha knew that Jaune wasn't willing to do the same. If the two of them wanted to have a small fling before they parted ways forever, then who was she to deny them that?

That didn't stop her gaze from lingering on the two of them for a moment, though.

Finally, Pyrrha let out a sigh, then went to step outside for some fresh air. It was night, and yet she wasn't even remotely tired – all the excitement of waiting for Ruby and the Marked One to come back had rejuvenated her, somehow.

Off in the distance, the Military chopper that Sakharov had called in was still putting in work, clearing out a nearby infestation of Zombies. Pyrrha watched the muzzle flashes from its machine guns and missile pods light up the night, leaning against the Ecologist's dome as she did so.

She only had a moment to relax before her radio came to life.

"Attention all Freedom members and friends of Freedom," the radio announcer said. "There is a large Monolith incursion at the barrier! We need everyone who's available to get there now, we can't hold them forever! Hurry!"

Pyrrha's blood went cold as the line abruptly went dead. She didn't wait to hear more, instead rushing back inside the bunker.

She wasn't a part of Freedom anymore, but if Monolith were making a move like that, it was cause for concern.

Something big was about to happen in the Zone. She didn't know exactly what, but she knew it was coming.

Wanna know what the best part of this chapter is? I never have to call him the Marked One again, lol.

Anyway, what's going on, my dudes? Hope you've all been well. I'm doing okay, myself. No real complaints, at least, aside from the usual.

Sorry this one took so fucking long to get out, by the way. I'm not writing my fanfics on weekends only since I'm so busy with other stuff during the week at this point. Generally, I can get a chapter done a weekend for a single fanfic, unless they're really big chapters... or unless I have stuff going on over that weekend that prevents me from writing. That's what happened with this one, basically; I've had a lot going on. I went on vacation for a few weeks back in April, and past that, I've just had a lot of shit that I've needed to take care of over the weekends that has prevented me from writing fanfic-related stuff as much as I want to. But I finally got this chapter posted, which is excellent, because I've been dying to post this one, I just haven't been able to until now.

I will say that writing the underground lab segments of this story has been a lot of fun, which is actually pretty funny because I find exploring the actual underground labs in STALKER to be somewhat tedious compared to roaming above-ground. I will say that the labs are probably the most action you'll see in a STALKER game until it gets to the end of the game and turns into a shooting gallery, and they make for a great change of pace from the majority of the game for that reason, but sometimes I just feel like wandering the Zone a bunch and taking odd jobs from shady people, and having to explore the labs can sometimes distract from that. IDK, maybe that's just me. I still like the labs, all things considered, I just prefer wandering above-ground a bit more.

What else, what else... I guess I bought my own HK Mark 23. I figure I'm putting it into my stories enough that I should probably go ahead and pick one up just so I kinda know what I'm talking about with it. And I must say, despite how fucking expensive it was (and I got mine on a great deal, even!), I don't regret it at all, and it's quickly become one of my favorite pistols to shoot. I'm probably going to pick up some .45 Super ammo just to try with it, because I'm curious to see how it feels to shoot that. I've heard that properly-loaded .45 Super feels really similar to shooting a hot-loaded 10mm, but I have no idea how true that is, and I'm very curious to see what it's like.

Past that, I don't have much else. Have fun, be safe, stay dangerous, and I'll talk to you all next time!

I have recently launched two new original web serials, Ballistic Coefficient and The Vampire's Apprentice. Both can be read at the following links; if you're a fan of mine, I'd really appreciate it if you would check them out. Both are on r/HFY, Spacebattles, and Royal Road under the same name I use for FFN, or if you'd prefer a direct link to them, that can be found here (remove the spaces):

ww w . royalroad fiction / 84568 / ballistic-coefficient

ww w . royalroad fiction / 84566 / the-vampires-apprentice

In addition, I have also launched a "P" "Atr eon" for these stories, which can be found at the link below. If you want to support me and also get a little something in exchange for your money, ten bucks a month will get you twelve additional chapters for both of these original stories - that's 24 chapters total, or 6 weeks of additional content each for these stories. That link can be found here (again, remove the spaces):

ww w. p atr eon user / posts?u=112496374

Thanks so much, and I hope you enjoy the stories!