After rinsing my face with cold water in the washbasin and having a quick bite, as the meeting promised to be long, I headed to Valerian's office. Coming out of the adjacent building, I noticed familiar faces of stalkers from Barmaley's group. Apparently, they had managed to arrive while I was away on my own business. They didn't notice me, and I didn't approach them. We'll talk later.
"Come in!" Valerian's loud voice boomed from the group leader's office after my brief knock. "Oh, and I was just about to write to you, Executioner. Come in, sit down."
I glanced around the room, surveying the arrived stalker captains, and greeted them all with a nod. There were familiar faces here, like Yakut and Barmaley. The latter was particularly surprised by my presence; his long, red mustache bristled comically, and his eyes bulged.
"This is the Executioner, commander of the second field squad," Valerian introduced me, then turned his attention to the red-haired stalker. "What's wrong, mustachioed one? Stomach ache?"
"Says the mustachioed one!" he exclaimed, eliciting a few quiet chuckles, and then addressed me. "Glad to see you, son. Although it's unexpected..."
"Do you know each other?" asked the bald and plump stalker, whose face was now covered in sweat. "And what do you think of him, Barmaley?"
"He helped us with a certain matter," the red-haired stalker nodded. "A capable and lucky guy, can be trusted."
"That's good," the bald one replied, taking a crumpled dark handkerchief from his breast pocket and wiping the sweat from his face. "Nice to meet you, Executioner. My name is Puzo."
"Vasily," a outwardly unremarkable stalker of about thirty, sitting in the corner of the wide table, briefly introduced himself.
After greeting everyone, I walked to Valerian's table and took the free chair to Yakut's left. A large mug filled with aromatic black tea immediately appeared before me. I cast a glance in search of the trophy I had obtained, but it was in Barmaley's hands, who was stroking it with his fingertips along the smooth bone.
"Valerian, this is not serious," Puzo said with feigned indignation, raising his mug and looking into it. "We're going to discuss serious matters, and you're pouring children's drinks."
"It will be, it will all be," Valerian replied with a slight chuckle, standing up from the table.
The stalker leader walks to one of the cabinets in his office and opens the door, taking out a rolled-up map. Unrolling it, Valerian hangs it on a hook driven into one of the office walls. Then, taking a red marker from a desk drawer, he draws a huge red circle around a large hangar in the Dump, after which he marks several paths leading there with crosses.
"Now that everyone is finally gathered, we can start our meeting," Valerian says, putting the marker aside and beginning to pace slowly back and forth in the office.
"And what about Kosoy? Where is he?" asks Puzo, draining a mug of hot drink in a couple of gulps.
"After the recent emissions, the path he wanted to take has been flooded with anomalies," he replies, crossing his arms over his chest. "When he can get out is unknown, so we'll have to do without him."
"And do we know anything else about the bandits, besides the fact that they've holed up in the hangar?" asks Vasily. "Their numbers, armament..."
"Nothing," Valerian shrugs.
"And the diggers there?" asks Barmaley this time. "Is there any contact with them?"
"There isn't any either, the bandits have a firm grip on the Dump."
"Damn it," Puzo whistles. "And how are we supposed to fight them if we know nothing?"
"That's why we're all here," Valerian sighs loudly, returning to his place at the table. "We'll think."
"What's there to think about," Puzo continues. "Gather a strong detachment and send them there for reconnaissance. They'll see what's what, then report back to us. And then we'll decide how to crush those bastards."
"How many people will we send, and who will lead them?" Vasily asks him, taking a sip from his mug. "I have few people, and they're not suitable for this."
"Scared?"
"I'm assessing the situation soberly, Puzo, that's all."
"Enough, no time for bickering now," the office owner stops them with a loud clap of his palm on the table. "As for reconnaissance, I have one person in mind. Executioner, what do you say?"
"Are you serious, Valerian?" Barmaley asks in surprise, raising his eyebrows. "The guy's only been in the Zone for a couple of months, and..."
"You haven't seen him in action, Barmaley," he cuts off, glaring at the red-haired stalker, and then addresses me. "So? What do you say?"
"Getting past the bandit posts won't be much trouble," I reply after a moment's thought. "So... Yes, I agree. Just give me more provisions and ammo."
"There won't be any problems with that," Valerian smiles. "So, you'll gather people tomorrow and..."
"That won't work," I shake my head. "If I need to sneak into the Dump and scout what's going on there, I should go alone. A detachment will have a harder time moving in occupied territory."
The group leader looked at me with a heavy, long gaze, frowning. The other stalkers also stared at me, and Valerian's jaw muscles twitched. He understood I was right, but he really didn't like the idea of letting me go alone, and I understood why. But the other stalkers don't have the System or stealth skills, so they would only get in the way.
"The guy's right, Valerian," Puzo says loudly, wiping the sweat from his forehead again.
"You yourself suggested gathering a detachment not long ago, and now you've changed your mind?" Vasily asks the fat stalker, raising an eyebrow.
"Are you sure?" Valerian asks me, to which I nod silently.
Then we discussed a few more issues regarding the placement of the arrived detachments and their sustenance, after which the stalker drinking spree began. Although I was asked to stay, I left. After all, a long and difficult journey awaits tomorrow, for which I need to prepare well.
I leave Valerian's office and almost immediately run into Sledak and Zhuk, who were quietly talking about something to the right of the office door. The sound of the slamming door attracted their attention, and they looked in my direction.
"Oh, look who it is," Sledak smiles slightly, shaking my hand. "Well, hello, man. How are you doing here?"
"Taking it easy, brothers," I reply to their greeting, smiling back. "How are you guys?"
"What's going to happen to us, everything's fine," the bald stalker replies. "We finally got the technician, oh, he's a real bitch, of course, but he knows his stuff. We obeyed and gathered for a raid, and then Valerian asked for help. We'll help you here and move on to the North."
"So, did you get a new name or are you still walking around nameless?" Zhuk asks in turn.
"It's even awkward to say, but yes. They call me Executioner now."
"A formidable name," Sledak whistles, patting my shoulder lightly. "Come on, let's sit by the fire, you can tell us about your adventures."
"Sorry, guys," I shake my head. "I can't talk right now, I'm going on a raid early in the morning, I need to prepare. When we meet again, the clearing is on me."
"Deal," Sledak replies with a smile, Zhuk nods. "Good luck to you, Executioner."
"Take care, guys."
The same place, after the Executioner left.
Watching the amazing newcomer leave, Sledak noticed that nothing of the newcomer in the Zone remained in him. His gestures, his gait, the way he carried himself, absolutely everything had changed. Not long ago, he looked at everyone like a wolf, but now his gaze held undisguised self-confidence. And he's only been in the Zone for a short time, just two months, yet some stalkers can't adapt even in twice that time.
"I wonder what he was doing in Valerian's office?" Zhuk asked.
"He got a mission, I bet," the bald stalker shrugs. "You heard about the raid yourself."
"For an ordinary stalker to get a mission from several detachment leaders at once?" the broad-shouldered stalker says, scratching the back of his head. "That guy will go far."
"Ah-ha-ha," someone laughed behind them. Turning sharply, they saw a scrawny stalker from Valerian's clan sitting on the second tier of one of the bunks.
"Did we say something funny?" Zhuk frowned, crossing his arms menacingly on his chest and taking a couple of steps towards the laughing man.
"No offense, guys," the stalker apologized, having barely stopped laughing. "It's just funny..."
"What's funny?" Sledak asked, puzzled by such behavior.
"It's funny that you think the Executioner is an ordinary stalker," he replies, jumping off the bunk and approaching them. "Even though he's only been in the Zone for a short time, he's already the commander of his own detachment. And here, on the Cordon, many respect him. There was an incident in the Dark Hollow not long ago..."
Morning, a hollow, slightly north of the stalkers' camp.
Looking through the binoculars, I notice several stalkers in black leather jackets and cloaks in the distance. Bandits. And they weren't afraid to set up camp so close to our base. I carefully put the binoculars down and pick up my rifle.
As far as I remember from the game, they quite readily let ordinary stalkers pass to the Dump if they paid them. But this isn't the Dump, and I'm not going to pay them. Considering
that according to game logic, there should be a similar post on the other side of the path, they'll charge me double for a normal passage. Tough luck for those guys.
Several loud shots follow one after another, and the bandits, not even having time to understand what happened, fall to the ground as if mowed down. I pick up the binoculars, step out from behind the bush where I was hiding, and head towards the corpses lying on the ground. After a brief search, I became richer by a couple of thousand and four PDAs, which, unfortunately, contained nothing interesting.
And now it's time to go to the Dump.