Chapter Thirty-Two - Quiet

Koschei was strangely quiet as he led them to the administration building at the back of the campus. Alice eyed him from the corner of her vision. Was he having regrets? No, she knew he was, the scent of it was wafting off of him.

Which begged the question, why?

They stepped into the admit building, and Alice took a moment to look around. There were more Stalkers here, but also men in slacks and button-up shirts. They might have been normal office workers if all of them weren't carrying at least a handgun by their hip and if they weren't moving with the furtive quick motions of a spooked animal.

This wasn't a normal office environment, though Alice did notice a few cubicles and computers set up in a room off to one side.

"Wow, even in the post apocalypse, the humble accountant survives," Crystal said. "My dad always said that death and taxes were the only two certainties in life, and I guess the taxes need a taxman to be done."

Koschei hummed, a noise that Alice only knew was his version of laughter because of the time they'd spent together. "This way," he said. He moved towards the back of the room where a kitchen was set up. There were a few tables there, and a stainless divider with platters for food. A single cook was in the back, smoking a cigarette while watching a pot full of noodles come to a boil.

It looked like a self-serve cafeteria. Koschei moved past that, however, and towards a wide set of stairs leading down. A sign hung above the stairs that just read "The Bar."

"Not the most imaginative name," Crystal said as she paused to read it.

"It's accurate," Koschei said. "Now come on, this is our last sto--"

"Koschei!"

Alice and the others froze for just a moment before turning to the source of the scream. It was a man, tall and with a wide smile on. He was dressed like an officer, clean, recently-pressed shirt, neat pants, bulletproof vest under a long leather coat. He could have passed for a Stalker, but he was too clean, too put-together compared to the rag-tag bunch they kept finding. He had followers too, a pair of Stalkers in rougher gear who both looked like they knew how to handle the rifles strapped to their backs.

"Shit," Koschei said under his breath. "Hello, Kuzma."

"What kind of welcome is that?" Kuzma said as he walked over. He extended a hand, and Koschei shook it. "The legend himself, yes? I haven't seen you in a storm or two. How goes it?"

"Well enough," Koschei said. "Haven't lost a limb."

Kuzma's grin, if anything, widened. "I can see that. And your two...." He looked at Alice, then at Crystal. There was something in his eyes, a flash of dark emotion that he immediately masked. It wasn't enough that Alice couldn't sense it.

A little bit of anger, some amount of lust--which really, Alice expected from most men--and most of all, sadness. The kind of sadness that someone felt when they had to bring their dog out back and put it out of its misery. Sadness, but for something that needed doing.

It made all of Alice's hackles rise.

"Who are these two young ladies, Koschei?" Kuzma asked.

"They're not what you think," Koschei said.

"Oh? They're not two sweet young ladies playing at being Stalkers?" Kuzma asked. He chuckled and turned towards them. "I kid, it's a joke, see? My name is Kuzma, I practically run this place."

"Hello, Kuzma," Alice said. "I'm Alice, this is Crystal, my friend."

"Best friend," Crystal said with a firm nod.

"Best friend," Alice agreed. Technically, with the others all gone and missing, she supposed that Crystal had no competition for the title.

"Well, it's nice to meet you," Kuzma said. "Go on down to the bar, or grab something to eat. Koschei, mind if we have a word?"

Koschei nodded sternly, and the two men stepped away. Kuzma's two friends, or bodyguards, kept with them, only sparing Alice and Crystal a glance. "We're totally listening in, right?" Crystal asked once they were out of earshot.

"Oh, definitely," Alice agreed. "Let's head down anyway?" She gestured down the stairs, and Crystal nodded before following her down. The bar was a dingy little watering hole. A few tables, poor lighting, the persistent stink of alcohol and cigarette smoke and sweat.

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Crystal made a face before they both moved to the far back of the room. They found some free seats there under one of those narrow basement windows, one so stained by dirt and grime that it was only letting a glow in.

Crystal opened a hand, and there was a small crystalline earpiece in her palm. Alice took it and easily fit it into her ear. It wasn't rubber or something moldable and soft, but it was shaped well enough that she didn't mind its presence in her ear.

There was a moment of static before sound came in, sharp and accurate. At the same time, Alice reached across the room and made both of them the least interesting people here to anyone looking their way. It would keep attention off of them for now.

"Koschei, Koschei, Koschei. Aren't you the very one who refused to do the deal?" Kuzma asked. Alice sensed them walking up a short flight of steps towards the back, they were heading towards an office with large windows, likely Kuzma's.

"This isn't that," Koschei said.

"Isn't it?" Kuzma asked.

"For one, there's two of them. For another, they're not the sort."

"The sort? You know there is no sort. It's a woman, a girl, always, and that's all. Innocent, cute, doe-eyed, blabbing on about this and that. You know what it is, Koschei."

Koschei sniffed. "Those two aren't innocent. One of them destroyed a tower with a marksman in it a few days ago. The other just dealt with a time bear with ease. If you try--"

"I don't try. I do. I do the hard things that no one wants to do, and it's what earns me this nice office chair and these two goons over here and the respect of the people in the know," Kuzma said. "You know as well as I that it needs to happen. It doesn't need to be painful."

"It will be for you," Koschei replied.

"You were never able to do it, big bad Koschei," Kuzma said with a tsk. "You're very soft for such a hard man."

"Try me," Koschei said with a growl.

Kuzma shook his head. "I won't, because at the end of the day, I like you, and we need good Stalkers like you. Like I said, I do the hard choices. This will be just as hard, but it won't be painful. Isn't that a mercy, at least?"

"Your ancestors weep, Kuzma, at the shit that their progeny turned into."

"Not very honourable," Kuzma said with a laugh.

"My boots have more honour than you."

Kuzma shook his head, then gestured to his boys. There was a tense moment as Koschei's hand rose and gripped onto the handle of the knife Crystal and Alice had just given him, but it passed as the two touched his shoulders without issue. "Take him out the back, make sure he's got food for a few days, gear. Do you need ammo? No, good good, it's getting scarce these days. But good food isn't. Take a few days, go stalk around the Zone, then come back when it's all said and done."

Koschei growled, then spun around on a heel and pushed through the guards. After a moment's pause and another gesture from Kuzma, one of them followed after him.

"So," Crystal said, stretching the word out. "What was that all about?"

"I have the impression that Kuzma wants us dead," Alice said.

Crystal smiled. "I'm sure we can interpret that in another way if we try."

"I'm not sure I'm willing to do that," Alice said. She tugged the earpiece out and dropped it onto the table. It turned into crystalline dust a moment later and she dropped the no-interruption field. She was still aware of Koschei and Kuzma and most of the Stalkers in the area moving about, but nothing seemed too out of the ordinary for the moment. "Did that whole thing sound a little, how do I put this, prophetic to you?"

"Oh, prophetic? I was thinking it was some dark ritual, maybe?" Crystal said. "Do you think we'll be sacrificed to some dark god? Or to the Zone?"

"I hope not," Alice said. "Let's explore a little? I want to scout around for something that would point to that."

"What about Koschei?"

"He's heading out, and I think that might be for the best. Let's not get in his way if we don't have to. I think we might have caused him enough trouble as it is."

***