"Opa!" Maksim yelled as he emptied his magazine into a nearby tree. The air was cold considering how late in the day it was.

"Mr Vol-"

"'Maksim'. Call me 'Maksim'."

"Err, of course, Maksim. Anyway I have decided to accompany you on your journey."

"Journey?"

"Don't play dumb with me. I do not like it when people screw around and waste time lying. I know why you're here, I know where you're trying to go and I know you have no intention of returning, so like it or not, I'm coming with you."

"Very well ser, but this changes nothing, you don't know me, if you did then perhaps you'd let me go alone, I'm not worth knowing, trust me."

"I will be the judge of that and call me 'Wolf'. If we are gonna be travelling together we might as well be friendly. Now find somewhere to settle down for now, the sun will set soon, we head out in the morning."

Wolf silently walked past Maksim and through the entrance to the encampment, Maksim followed him back into the crumbling sanctuary, it may not be homely but the village sure as hell was safer than being outside. Outside one of the old sorry excuses for a home was the campfire he had passed earlier, Maksim went to join the group huddled around it.

"Privyet! Welcome my friend!" said one of the stalkers, addressing him.

"Hello, is there space for one more?" Maksim enquired.

"Course man, have a seat."

Maksim sat on the hard cold ground and opened his new backpack. He found inside it a sleeping bag and a loaf of bread, he was hungry already so he proceeded to eat it quickly.

"Ha! You'll have to get used to the hunger my friend," said one of the stalkers.

"How long have you been here?" asked Maksim,

"Long enough, that's for sure!" said the stalker.

"You must have some tails to tell then!" said Maksim with some enthusiasm.

"Let me see..." the stalker replied.

The group talked and exchanged stories for hours until the sun had completely set across the Cordon, the howls and groans of animals and mutants could be heard drifting like ghosts through the dark night's sky, the air was cold and Maksim shivered as a breeze passed by.

"What about you, Maksim? What's your story?" asked one of the stalkers,

"It's late, let's get some sleep," said Maksim quietly. He took off some of his extra layers of clothing and rolled out his sleeping bag, he then snuggled up inside it, away from the darkness of the Zone but left with the darkness of his own mind and with that thought, he drifted into a deep sleep.

"Wakey wakey, Maksim."

"Huh," Maksim yawned. He looked up to see Wolf standing over him, his gun slung over his back.

"Get moving!" demanded Wolf.

Groggily, Maksim climbed out of his sleeping bag and got his things together. The morning was cold and Maksim smelt the last bit of smoke from the dying fire. The sun stabbed through the sky filling the Cordon, there was dew on grass and th-

"Attention! You are approaching the border of an ecological disaster zone..." The loudspeaker cut the peace and the Zone came to life, creatures howled and barked and gunshots could already be heard.

"Davai," said Wolf, we must get going, it is important that we make as much progress as possible before nightfall."

"Yes, yes I'm up" complained Maksim as he checked over his rifle.

"Got everything?" asked Wolf,

"Yeah. You're right, let's get moving." Maksim replied.

The pair set out and left the camp. They joined the track again as the loudspeaker droned in their ears. Soon the track became a road covered in tarmac and the land ditched down either side of it. They crossed a small bridge before reaching an old concrete construction by the side of the road.

"What's that?" Maksim enquired.

"An old bus stop. But you better be careful," Wolf said as he produced a metal bolt from his pocket and threw it towards the bus stop. A pocket of air shifted, it seemed to compress on itself and very suddenly, it expanded back again.

"What the hell..."

"It's an anomaly, you'd best avoid them. You really don't want to be standing in one of those my friend," said Wolf with harsh seriousness. They moved on and Maksim very carefully edged around the anomaly, staring at it with worry the whole time.

Wolf led Maksim further along the crusty road. They passed an old factory. The building made of a combination of rotting wood and rusted peeling metal. The roof full of holes, panels falling from the walls, the whole place looked like it was on the verge of collapsing into one big mass of radioactive rubble. Beyond the factory was an embankment with an old railway line running across it's top. There was a large rusted bridge running over a gap in the embankment which formed an exit to the valley. Below the bridge were several crashed vehicles, all bedraggled, all dead, all teaming with radiation. Between these was the remains of a fire. This appeared to have been a makeshift camp. Maksim noticed an animal tugging at something, it growled like a wild mongrel, which Maksim suddenly realised, was exactly what the beast was. It looked up and stared him down, snarling at him, ready to pounce at any moment. Wolf slowly drew his pistol. Maksim's heart raced and he froze still. Wolf raised his pistol. Maksim sweated as the beast took a few confident steps towards him. Wolf cocked his pistol. The beast sprang at him and Wolf fired, the beast yelped and bit Wolf's leg who proceeded to fire again. It slumped back and Wolf gritted his teeth and put it out of it's misery.

"Wolf!" yelled Maksim, who ran to assist him, "Are you okay!?"

"Fine..." grunted Wolf, "I've had worse. I'll look at it when we stop for the night."

"But it looks-"

"I'm fine!" insisted Wolf. "We'll stop in the Garbage."

"The what?"

"Old scrap heaps of abandoned soviet tech, diggers search there all the time."

"Oh. Anyway, what was that thing after?"

"Easy answer my friend." Said Wolf pointing. Maksim looked to see a corpse lying on it's back next to the ashes of the old fire. He appeared to be a soldier; a few other bodies lay near him. Bullet wounds were visible on most of them.

"These men used to guard this passage," said Wolf, "They took bribes and killed innocent men on sight, I dare say they deserved what they got. Come on, no time to waste here, let's go." Wolf growled, clearly he didn't think much of these men.

Coming out of the other side of the embankment Maksim noticed an old farm to the left of the track, a few stalkers seemed to be hanging around it as though unsure what to do.

"Stalkers are everywhere. It is important to remember that we must look after each other here, Maksim. Bandits, mutants, beasts, the military and mercenary groups are the enemy, not each other." Wolf told Maksim with a sense of pride for the small impossible community that had been built in the Zone. Watching the stalkers with Wolf's words in mind, Maksim continued along the road.

The cracking road stretched out ahead as Wolf and Maksim followed it past the half dead grass and trees. They passed the odd ruin standing solid and still, staring at them with keen interest.

*Click*

Maksim thought he heard something but decided it was probably best not to question it.

*Click*

*Click*

*Click*

It was coming from Wolf.

"Err, Wolf? Why are you clicking?"

"Oh! Ah, that'll be my Geiger Counter. Actually, take my spare PDA. It'll click if you're nearing radiation and beep for an anomaly."

"Thanks, sounds useful." Said Maksim before stopping and realising, "So we're near radiation then?"

"Yep, better detour off the road for a few paces, just to be safe."

Passing the pocket of radiation very cautiously, the pair wandered along the road until they reached a road barrier accompanied by a watch tower, concrete walls, two destroyed military vehicles and a brick building, which, as Maksim suspected, was old and crumbling like just about everything else within 20 miles of him. Wolf gestured for Maksim to walk around the barrier across the road, paint flacking off of it and riddled with radiation. Walking around it, Maksim noticed a group of bodies scattered outside the building. He went forward to inspect the scene, many of the bodies were dressed in grimy leather jackets like most of the stalkers Maksim had encountered. However, some of the bodies were clothed with black hoodies and tracksuit bottoms.

"Bandits," proclaimed Wolf, "We better be careful my friend, the garbage is full of their kind."

"And when do we reach the garbage?" enquired Maksim.

"We're at the border to it now." explained Wolf.

The pair passed the building and followed the road onward towards the garbage.

A few minutes down the road they came to a collection of smashed up and burnt cars filling the road ahead. They meandered through the rusted mess and then they saw them. Mounds of metal, machinery, furniture, cars and old bits of now useless soviet technology. The sound of gunfire came from behind one of the mounds of junk.

"AAY MLYAAAA!" Came a faint yell from the area of the gunfire.

"Yo, Makism. Try to ignore the gunfire unless it's close to you, da?"

"Sorry Wolf. What are we gonna do? It looks like we'll lose light soon and we need to take care of your leg." Maksim said with worry clear in his voice.

"Okay, you see those blocks and pipes over there?" Wolf pointed to a pile of cinder blocks and large pipes that created a small enclosed area containing a few charred bits of wood.

"As you can tell it would make a good camp, it has been used before so there'll probably be some firewood nearby and the concrete would provide good cover if we had to defend it." Wolf explained. Maksim nodded.

"I'll start a fire, you need to get some rest Wolf. That dog got you pretty bad."

"Okay but don't wander to far, a young princess- i mean stalker won't last long alone." Teased Wolf.

"Idi nahui!" Laughed Maksim as he wandered past the camp in search of firewood. The sun began to set and Maksim realised that there were fewer trees around than he would've liked, he would have to travel a little further away from the camp. A minute or two of walking passed, he came to some trees and looked behind him, the camp was far away, but still visable. Suddenly, Maksim heard a growl coming from the undergrowth, sweating and tense with fear, he drew his pistol.