A Shephard- ZoC Main Story Vol 1 Chapter 8

Part 8: Junk People

That same, terrible dream again. The ocean of glass shards slicing into you once more, and once more you are helpless. But something is dragging you now, across the ocean waves. Your paralysis prevents you from looking, but it’s there. You’re not sure how you can tell, but you don’t sense any malicious intent. Between the pain, being pulled adds no more discomfort onto the monumental suffering you feel. You just wish it would be over, someday.

And you bolt again, awake.

The dream confusing you even further.

And that’s before you even look around. A tunnel? How the hell

Your head begins to hurt, just for a moment, and then the thoughts gone.

Taking a few deep breaths, you try to remember just what is going on lately.

You were headed north. Check.

Ran into some bandits. Check.

Somehow won a firefight with said bandits. Check.

Dealt with the realization of murder and wound yourself into an infinite circle of self deprecation. Check.

Your stalker showed up and talked to you? Check.

They were a woman. In The Zone.

What.

You stand up and look around. It’s still dark out; probably shouldn’t have knocked out so soon. You really did need that rest though. You find your rifle sitting at the end of the tunnel. Dammit, Lucy shouldn’t keep moving it.

Wait, her name was Lucy?

So was this her rifle?

Their- Her, excuse you, motivations makes even less sense. She’s never appeared armed; an insane concept this last month has made you understand. She follows you around, seemingly constructed of the very concept of stealth itself, and does… what, exactly?
She only takes the rifle when you’re not paying attention, usually sleeping at night. Which means she obvious believes in the security of a gun.

You can’t even begin to comprehend this now. You thought actually meeting her would clarify things, but now it’s even worse.

You shake your head, slap your cheeks a few times, and get your items together.

You grab the rifle, a familiar comfort in your hands once more. And don those NVGs. Walking The Zone at night is not a good idea, even in familiar territory. Even more so alone. Well, you’re not quite alone, but you’re not sure what to make of Lucy. Better not count on an unknown.

So you elect to just sit and watch. Your newer pda you bought off of Sidorovich says it should be dawn soon. Watching a sunrise not from a basement cot sounds like a good idea.

“You know, I’d appreciate the company, if you don’t mind.” You voice aloud. The answer of silence makes you grasp the rifle tightly. Nope, she’s still not up to it, you guess.

Whatever, you’ll just use this time to process yesterday.

Yes, you killed some people. And you still feel pretty shitty about it, to be honest. But there isn’t really much you could have done, or can do now. If a court ever manages to sort this entire mess out, you feel pretty confident you won’t be worrying about witnesses, let alone justifications for self defense. But legalities aside, there wouldn’t really be anywhere else to go. You’ve already settled in, or as much as someone who is constantly moving can. There's no turning back at this point. What waits for you back outside? More unemployment, that beater car, and a longing sense of mystery about your brother?

Nah, you’ll just take on the horrors of The Zone instead.

“Fuck it. “ you declare, as you hop off the burnt out truck and remove the nvgs, watching the first morning light creep over the northern hills.

You’re going north, no matter how long it takes. No matter how many weirdos you seems to attract, mutants after your blood, and blowouts you get caught up in.

You don’t believe in fate, not really. But you’re still alive, somehow. That has to count for something.

Gasmask on once more, you start walking north. To that gigantic scrapheap of trash many stalker call “The Garbage.”

You hope there are less bandits, at least.

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With your early start, you arrive much sooner than you though, shortly around noon. You didn’t need any signs to tell you, as the gigantic heaps of soviet-era trash littered the area. What was more surprising was the lack of stalkers. You had expected, with how frequently you traded supplies from Sidorovich to stalkers from this area, that this would be an abundant hub of activity. But alas, you see no one. The only sign of life is the occasional groan from a distant mutant beast. You nervously look down at your Geiger counter, it going off wildly every time you approached anything in this area.

You soon notice another stalker. The profile of his green suit contrasting brightly with the sky behind him as he brazenly picks atop a pile of radioactive rubble. If your counter is to be believed, something that should have already dropped him dead in minutes. He doesn’t even seem to be armed, the crazy bastard.

Deciding to move on, you turn from the spectacle when you hear a muffled cry. Turning around, the man in the green suit has noticed you, and is waving eagerly as he stumbles his way down the gigantic entanglement of steel.
He doesn’t seem threatening, you decide, and keep your rifle lowered but ready as he clears the last bit of debris at the bottom of the heap, and starts walking towards you. Electing to meet halfway, you do the same.
“Hello!” he greets eagerly though his mask. “I don’t see many new faces around here anymore.”

You pause, not sure what his angle is.

He continues “Well, you don’t ever see faces though the gas masks, but that’s besides the point. Most stalkers believe this is all junk, but not me. There’s just so much fascinating history here! Old Soviet vehicles, still with pristine parts, electronic equipment, sometimes some uniforms and memorabilia, it’s amazing! I could stay up there for days and keep finding great stuff! Don’t you think so?”

He is now leaning towards you, eyes pouring over you.

“Uh, sure. But how can you stay up there will all that radiation?” you feel compelled to ask.

“My sunrise suit takes care of some of the residual radiation, but I lucked out and found an artifact that takes care of the rest!”

He motions towards one of his pockets. Opening up the pouch, he takes out a small clump of twisted metal. It vaguely resembles an elongated mushroom cap, but is mostly hollow with thin spindles that form the shape from one end to the other. Curious, you take out your detector and it’s green led beeps towards it.

“I was really lucky to have a Jellyfish artifact! Let’s me spend most of my days here.”

Still very curiously looking at, you ask “Why then search these scrap heaps for old junk? Aren’t artifacts valuable?”

“Excuse you!” He interrupts, suddenly taking back the artifact and putting it back into his suit. “This is HISTORY here! Can’t you see? The fallen remains of an old empire! The fascinating technology they once used? It’s amazing that’s it's been sitting here for nearly 30 years, undisturbed! Why, I don’t get other stalker like you that can’t see the amazing treasure right before them!” he finishes, pointing accusingly at you.
You quickly apologize, and he seemingly resets. The next hour is spent at his small encampment at the base of one of the junk piles. While you two eat, he further explains, in fervent detail, about all the amazing things that lie within these piles that you can still only see as junk. You use this opportunity to ask him a bit about the region, hoping to learn anything. Rusty, as you learn his name is, talks a little bit about the history of this place. How unaffiliated stalkers, bandits, and duty had once fought over it. But with all of them gone now, it left it wide open for him to tread and live out his scrap diving fantasies.

“So where can I get one of those?” you point to the pouch that withholds his artifacts. Maybe he has a secret or a spot you could try looking around?

“I got this early on, up north. I was originally assigned to a small science team. All they wanted to do was sit in their lab, poke and prod at things, and learn about The Zone from the safety of their bunker. But I KNEW the real treasure was out there! So I nicked some of the more useful artifacts, and set off! These things are utterly useless except to help me further explore, anyways.”

You withhold the need to correct him, mentally noting the whole reason people are here are for artifacts like the one he’s holding with low regard.

“The only people who hang around here are bandits. Just the other day I saw some of them heading south. Mean guys, that Gregorian trio. Lucky you missed them!”

Missed wouldn’t really described your lead filled interaction with them, but again you withhold comment.

“So you really don’t want to explore the treasures here with me? I”ll let you keep the next thing I find!”

You politely decline, explaining your goal lies further north.

“You got all the right stuff for that kinda trek? You look kinda new.”

Almost boasting, you explain all the equipment and supplies you bought and were gifted by Sidorovich. If anyone was ready to take on the north, you felt it was you.

“Alright, but if you find anything particularly shiny on your way up, just let me know! I’ll be around here for a while. I still got those useless artifacts from the science team I could give you for it!”

That peaked your interest, and you affirmed you would.

Getting up now, you ask if there are good spots to spend the night.

“I just do it in the scrap heap, nobody bothers me there!” he says excitedly. “But you probably don’t have one of these radiation reducing artifacts. Uhhh, there’s the crumbling science center on the other side of these scrap heaps? More rubble than building at this point, but there’s some good junk in it. And place to find shelter, if that’s more your thing.”

You thank him, telling him that if he sees the other stalker, to say hello to them.

“What?” he responds, a bit more startled than the simple comment should have solicited.

“Just trust me, they’ll be shortly behind me. Take care.”

Crazy man, he’ll get himself killed either by that junk or by somebody who's more eager to exploit the fact that he’s unarmed.
On your way, you noticed a large warehouse, surrounded by a brick wall. It’s large imposing structure making you wary of exploration, so you continue north.

It’s late afternoon now, the sun setting the Zone in a pleasant orange haze. Shafts of light peak through the piles of scrap as you make you way into the science center. Well, "in" is too generous of a word to use. That would imply there was still a roof, walls, and anything else that would constitute a structure. Still, there was a bit of a corner left, some concrete stairway, and parts of some of the floors. You climb up to the highest level, out of the reach of potential mutants and other stalkers.

Plus, it would factor into your plan.

As you look around the surrounding area through your scope, you think more on your idea. You had to climb up some dilapidated metal vent to get this high. There’s only one way your stalker could come up and follow you. And you’ll be staying up all night to make sure you catch them.

The 10 car pileup of questions in your head only got worse every time you two met. If you couldn’t get answers soon, you’re not sure there’d be room left in your head to process much else.

So you’ll wait. Sit here, relax with your nvgs. The loud pipe should be a dead give away for when they pop up.

You kill time by twiddling the bullet that hangs around your neck, checking the pda map and planning your route north to the bar, and staring as the last rays of light disappear behind the wasteland around you. You look back south, curious if you could find Rusty. But he’s farther back there, and no amount of bored searching could find him.
On your way, you noticed a large warehouse, surrounded by a brick wall. It’s large imposing structure making you wary of exploration, so you continue north.

It’s late afternoon now, the sun setting the Zone in a pleasant orange haze. Shafts of light peak through the piles of scrap as you make you way into the science center. Well, "in" is too generous of a word to use. That would imply there was still a roof, walls, and anything else that would constitute a structure. Still, there was a bit of a corner left, some concrete stairway, and parts of some of the floors. You climb up to the highest level, out of the reach of potential mutants and other stalkers.

Plus, it would factor into your plan.

As you look around the surrounding area through your scope, you think more on your idea. You had to climb up some dilapidated metal vent to get this high. There’s only one way your stalker could come up and follow you. And you’ll be staying up all night to make sure you catch them.

The 10 car pileup of questions in your head only got worse every time you two met. If you couldn’t get answers soon, you’re not sure there’d be room left in your head to process much else.

So you’ll wait. Sit here, relax with your nvgs. The loud pipe should be a dead give away for when they pop up.

You kill time by twiddling the bullet that hangs around your neck, checking the pda map and planning your route north to the bar, and staring as the last rays of light disappear behind the wasteland around you. You look back south, curious if you could find Rusty. But he’s farther back there, and no amount of bored searching could find him.
The occasional growl of a boar keeping you alert, but otherwise you felt just as safe as in a cot back in The Cordon. It had only been two days, but it already felt like a lifetime ago.

North. You’ll get answers from this stalker, and then go north. To find your brother.

It’s late now. You try to stifle another yawn as you continue to wait. But you haven’t heard anything. The occasional peak around the side of the building showing nothing but continued washed out green.

Once again you yawn. The clock says it’s around 3 AM, your eyelids, heavy as lead sheet, struggling to remain open.

You’re a light sleeper, right? A quick nap. You won’t miss her, you’re sure.

You close your eyelids for just a moment, clutching your rifle in your arms.

Just a moment.

And the next thing you wake up to is a loud metal groan as a shape lunges at you in the midday sun.