Chapter Twenty-Five - Zone Friends and Factions

Past the far end of the construction zone was a wall. Across from that wall, and really, the only break in that wall, were a few railroad tracks leading out into the distant Zone.

Koschei knelt next to one of these, then tapped the rail with a bolt on the end of a piece of string. "No current," he muttered. "We're clear of storms for at least a few hours. Let's go check out the gas station."

The gas station was past the wall. There was another dip in the terrain, and the train tracks ran on for a while on a bridge that had room for a road beneath. The station was plopped right there, with a highway exit next to it. Anyone driving to the construction site would be passing right by it.

It seemed like a quiet little station, except that it was very much occupied.

Alice glanced at Crystal who shrugged. "They might be friendly," Crystal said.

"You sense people," Koschei said. "How many, and where."

"Two in the main building of the station, another is standing a little ways in front. He's looking at that." Alice half-turned, pointing to the space where the marksman had been sitting before she took care of him.

Koschei hummed. "They might not be enemies," he said. "Let's move in. Quietly."

Alice nodded along, then looked to Crystal to see if she felt like agreeing, or if she could even manage to, but Crystal had been pretty good lately about keeping to an indoor voice even if they were technically outside.

There was a gap in the wall for the tracks to pass through, and that was the only space to cross into the gas station, though it required going down a steep hill whose bottom was muddy with collected rainwater and covered in thistley bushes.

They moved down the hill fairly quietly, coming up onto the side of the station. There was a window within facing their direction, but it was covered in soot and grime and the two within weren't looking that way in any case. The third member was out front, smoking under a no-smoking sign nailed to the post of a gas pump. He had their back to them as they moved up to hide behind the station.

"Hippies," Koschei muttered.

"Wait, really?" Crystal asked.

She and Alice both tilted forwards to see around the corner. The man on a smoke break was wearing a faded green army jacket over some cargo pants that were tucked into standard-issue boots with the laces undone. He looked dishevelled and a little dirty, but not how Alice envisioned a hippie looking.

"Are you, uh, sure?" Crystal asked.

"It's what some call this faction. Look at the patches," Koschei explained.

Alice squinted. The smoker had some army patches on his shoulder, and space for some that had been ripped out. The flag that should have been on his arm was replaced by a round, pinkish flower.

"A local faction?" Alice guessed.

Koschei nodded. He shifted so that his rifle was slung over his shoulder, then he grabbed a small handgun and tucked it into his pocket with his finger on the trigger. To anyone looking, he'd be relaxed and unready to fire.

"Hey!" Koschei called out.

The man started, spinning around so quick that the embers on the end of his cigarette flew out in an arc. He scrambled to pick up a gun, then hesitated on seeing Koschei. "Stalker?" he asked.

"Yeah," Koschei said. "Freeman?"

The guy nodded, then reached up and pinched his cigarette out of his mouth. "Aye. That's me. What are you doing here, stalker?"

"Getting away from trouble," Koschei said. "I saw you, and thought I'd say hi rather than get shot in the ass."

The man chuckled. "I'm Cornflower," he said.

"Koschei," Koschei replied with a nod.

Cornflower's eyebrows shot up. "No shit?"

"None," Koschei said. "Are your friends in there going to come out to say hello?"

The station's door squeaked open and the two within stepped out. They were in the same kind of gear. Ex-army standard. Dirty, and maybe a little worn out, but still serviceable. "Hey, Corn, out here making friends?" the taller of the two asked. Next to him was a very short man who squinted at everything through a pair of thick spectacles.

"Looks like it," Cornflower said. "Koschei here looks like he was just passing through."

"Could use some news," Koschei admitted. "What's good in the Zone, that kind of thing."

The tallest crossed his arms, and Alice pegged him as the boss. "Yeah, yeah. Are you alone?"

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"No," Koschei admitted easily.

The tensions rose at that, then rose more when Crystal grumbled and stepped out from around the corner. "Hello!"

A shot went off and everyone but Alice and Crystal flinched.

They all paused, then turned to the man with the thick glasses who had fumbled a small pistol from a thigh holster and fired in Crystal's direction in a blink. He'd missed by about two metres. She was barely two metres away from him, but Alice was impressed by the speed of the draw.

"You take that gun out of your pal's hands before I drop him and the gun," Koschei said. His voice was low, a dangerous growl.

"Tulip, go inside," the big guy said, and the shorter one only hesitated for a moment before running in. "Sorry. He's been twitchy. New to the Zone, and the cause."

"I see," Koschei said.

"It's fine, he missed!" Crystal said.

"Noise might attract trouble," Cornflower said. "As if there wasn't enough around here."

Koschei hummed. "It's the Zone. There's trouble enough for everyone. Miss Crystal, Miss Alice, come."

Alice rolled her eyes at being ordered, but she stepped out nonetheless. She was keenly aware of eyes on her, though the two men were distracted by Crystal as well.

"What are two women doing in the zone?" the big guy asked.

"I'm escorting them," Koschei said. "Further in. What they do is their business." He carefully moved a hand around to his back, then into a side pocket on his backpack, then he pulled out a small pack of cigarettes and shook it at eye-height.

"Just a half-pack?" Cornflower said with a laugh in his voice.

"After what your friend pulled?"

The big guy waved Cornflower down. "That's plenty generous, friend. What do you and your misses want to know?"

"News, sightings, dispositions," Koschei said. "We entered the Zone yesterday. I've got news from Stalkers that left in the last week or so, but you know how reliable that can be."

The big guy grunted. "News travels slow in here, true." He rubbed at his face, which was not clean-shaven, but had been shaved recently enough. There were old marks in his skin from wearing a mask for so long. "Freemen are doing okay in this area. Fewer deep patrols. Lots of new thieves though. The new blood are cowards, but eventually they go hungry."

Koschei nodded, as if that meant something to him.

"The greenies are tense about something deeper in. But that's nothing new either. Forecast calls for more storms lately. No one knows why."

"There hasn't been a pattern shift," Koschei said. "They're pretty regular."

"Yeah, but the forecast calls for more of them anyway," he said with a shrug of a massive shoulder. "Who am I to disagree?"

"Fair," Koschei said. He glanced at Cornflower who had opened the half-pack and had slipped a cigarette out already. "What about you? Anything?"

"That tower over there exploded today. That was exciting. It'll have the locals riled up for a bit. The guy up there was a right piece of shit though," Cornflower said. "Took a few potshots at me in the evening when I came out to smoke."

"Was he part of any group?" Alice asked.

She felt eyes on her again and was tempted to glare back. "Hmm, just a dick with a gun. Might have played lookout for some of the thieves and scavengers around here. Never shot us in the day. Probably knew better."

"Anything noisy out north?" Koschei asked. He gestured vaguely in the direction they were travelling in.

The two looked at each other, then shook their heads. "Some gunshots, one very loud scream the other day. You might catch our replacements coming down tomorrow on the main road, but it's been quiet as usual," Cornflower said.

"Hmm, thank you. Enjoy the evening boys." Koschei nodded to both, then gestured down the road.

Alice and Crystal followed after. "So, who were they?"

"Ex-soldiers. They quit. Didn't become stalkers, but instead something in-between. They think themselves peacekeepers. They aren't, but they're reasonable," Koschei said. "I have a few that I'd share a drink with, some who I'd call a friend if it came to it. Most are empty-headed idiots or cowards."

"You think highly of them," Alice said with a nice dose of sarcasm.

"They are one of the better factions in the Zone. Which I think says much," Koschei replied. "Come, this next part should be moved through quickly."

***