Chapter Twenty-Four - It Might be Alive

Koschei didn't have an answer for them. None that really satisfied, at least. "There are rumours," he said. "And superstition. But soldiers are always superstitious, it isn't anything new. Sometimes though...."

Crystal skipped along next to Alice, both of them were a few steps behind Koschei, who was moving at a bit of a snail's pace. Mostly because he was flicking little metal bolts ahead of him in the tunnel and pausing to pick them up as he went. It made for a very stutter-stop movement that was very much the opposite of fast.

"So, what kind of superstitions?" Crystal asked.

Koschei hummed. "There are a lot. If your gun misfires, then it is cursed, and sure to be the gun that will end your life. If you find something, you must see if it casts a shadow."

Alice snorted. "Most things cast shadows," she said. She'd know.

"Some things do not, not in the Zone. But yes, the things that don't are usually very obvious. Checking for shadows is a rather foolish superstition. You'll still see some Stalkers take out a light and flick it on around things that they'll pick up, just to make sure."

"There's probably some... uh, validity to that," Crystal said. "I mean, not so much the shadow part, but if it makes sure that people are checking things twice before picking them up, then it probably saved a few lives, right? Some of the anomalies we've seen are linked to normal items, right?"

Koschei nodded. "There are some that are valid, as you say. But we were talking about the Zone having emotions, yes? And to that I say that I really don't know. But some Stalkers believe it."

"How much do you believe in it?" Alice asked.

Koschei brought a hand up level, then tilted it to the side and back. "Not so much," he said. "This is a place where you must learn to trust your instincts and believe in what you see while knowing that even that doesn't mean that it is true. The Zone is a place where men learn to believe in god, or learn that god has given up on man a long time ago. This is not a good place for the scientifically-minded, or the kind of person that likes it when things are just so."

"Neat," Crystal said. "I'm more of an... Alice, what am I?"

Alice blinked. "How would I know?" she asked. "I don't recall you being overly religious."

"Nah, I'm not. Hard to believe in a higher power when you're the higherest power," Crystal said. "But I guess I could see it being real."

"Agnostic, then," Alice said.

"Yeah, that's the word!" Crystal cheered.

"Not so loud," Koschei said. "That explosion will have been seen for some distance, and the gunshots will have echoed. We might be noticed."

"Oops, sorry," Crystal hissed in a whisper. "I get excited, then I forget to use my indoor voice. Uh, how about you tell us about other superstitions?"

Koschei nodded. "There's the ritual of entry. Some Stalkers do it when entering the Zone. They'll bow to the centre of the Zone, ask for its permission and time, and sometimes leave an offering of food and water."

"I guess that's a bit much," Crystal said.

"Some are worse, they do the same on entering every building and every area in the Zone," Koschei sniffed. "I don't like dealing with those, but there are more and more of them."

"More people are turning to superstition?" Alice asked.

"No. Those who do these rituals don't die as often. It's less so that there are more of them, and more that their rate of attrition is lower."

Alice blinked. "Wouldn't that be pretty solid evidence that what they're doing works?"

"Which is what they'll tell you too," he said. "Until you listen and soon they are asking you to donate to their cause. Money and time and effort and supplies. Make no mistake, they might have something with their Ritual of Entry and Exit, but it's only worth so much."

"Are those the only superstitions?" Crystal asked.

Koschei shook his head. "No, they're the ones I find interesting because they might be valid. There's the Whispering Birch, which is a tree you'll sometimes find in the Zone. If you do, walk up to it and whisper your fears, the tree will keep you from running into those."

"Does that one work?" Alice asked.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"No," he said with certainty and no elaboration. "There's a rumour that carrying the handkerchief of the girl or woman you love will help you make it home. Then there are places that have superstitions tied to them."

"Like what?" Crystal asked.

"The ten ruble toll is a toll-booth crossroad that will appear on some roads after a storm. If you cross it without paying ten rubles, you are cursed with ill luck. There is old lady Baba Yaga's house. I have met her twice. She is a kind old lady whose home was overtaken by the Zone. It is often displaced. She is never harmed by it, and her home is considered a safe space. Even two Stalkers who hate each other's blood will not fight at the threshold of her home."

"That just seems polite," Crystal said.

He shrugged. "If you help her and are polite, she often has pryaniki," he said. At their confused look, he clarified. "Spiced cookies. They last a long time. Sometimes she puts jam in them."

"Well now, that's just cute," Crystal said. "And that's not a superstition, that's just a nice old granny."

Koschei shrugged. "Her house will appear all over the Zone, untouched and unbothered by it. She is... cryptic as well, acting as if nothing is ever amiss. A lot of Stalkers spread rumours about her. But we all know her to be harmless. Hmm, other superstitions... a drop in temperature means you need fire. That one might just be common sense as well."

"Why's that?" Alice asked.

"Because Stalkers aren't the only thing in the Zone, and the old lady is not the only old resident around. She is the kindest. The most predictable. Others are less so. Some are questionably human."

"That... doesn't sound great," Crystal said. "Are there like, monsters or something?"

"There are things in the Zone. Whether they are monsters or not is not something that I'm the one to decide. The Zone changes things. Animals, people. Turns them into something new and sometimes horrific."

"Danger doggos," Crystal said.

"No," Alice replied. "There's no such thing as... danger dogs."

Crystal grinned. "Doggos," she corrected.

"I categorically refuse to use that word," Alice said. "In any case, there's no such thing." This was an argument they'd had before. In fact, it was an argument that split their group in half. Danger Doggos was the term that someone had come up with to describe a villainous dog. It was not only immature and useless as far as terminology went, it was also dangerous in its own right.

Making a snarling, angry dog-like monster sound cute was not conducive to anything. That led to their group's members hesitating before taking the actions they needed to take.

Alice didn't care how impervious they were, when the gates of hell opened up, they couldn't stop the fighting to pet every hellhound and cerberus-like monster that crawled out of them.

"You continue to be no fun," Crystal said.

Koschei cleared his throat. "We're going to have to be quiet and quick," he said. "From here, we can run across the yard. There's a train track area, with space to unload cargo, then a dip. Usually there's a gas station beyond that. It's a common meeting ground." He turned to Alice and Crystal. "Can you sense anyone?"

Alice shot her senses ahead, then nodded. "A few people, yes," she said. "The person that was following us has gone... that way." She pointed.

"There's a forest that way," he replied. "Anyone close?"

"Three that way, four in that direction, a lone person on the second floor of a building that way," Alice said as she pointed in a few directions.

He followed her finger, then nodded. "Three in the direction of the station. They might not be hostile. Let's move quick regardless."

Koschei led the way, his movements now more deliberate as they navigated through the dimly lit tunnel, his earlier methodical pace replaced with a swift, silent tread. Crystal and Alice followed close.

They emerged in the unfinished basement of a building's skeleton, and Alice blinked quick to readjust her vision for the morning sunlight.

"I don't know if the Zone is alive," Koschei said, surprising Alice, she thought he'd be insistent on moving and keeping quiet. "But if it is, then I don't want it to notice me. So let's be respectful like mice in a pantry."

***