Leshy. Echo of Worlds

Chapter 4. Calm

The bar was called "Calm" — without irony, just a name. Inside was anything but calm: the hum of voices, smoke, the smell of fried meat and cheap beer, music from speakers that nobody listened to. Tables packed close, lighting dim — just enough to see the person across from you and not see anything extra.

It was a stalker place. Not in the sense that they checked you at the door — the crowd here was simply their own. People with a certain look, a certain way of sitting at a table, a habit of keeping their backs to the wall. Civilians came in too, but not for long — the atmosphere wasn't conducive to relaxing unless you understood that it was normal.

Lika came in and stopped at the entrance — looked around.

Vint sat at a table by the far wall. Next to him — a woman.

* * *

Gaika was one of those people you remember at once and for good — not because of looks, but because of the way they take up space. Compact, collected, with a short haircut and the gaze of someone used to assessing a situation quickly and without sentiment. On the table in front of her lay a tablet, beside it a mug she barely touched.

When Lika approached, Gaika raised her eyes.

A second.

Then — quietly, almost to herself:

"Well, how about that."

Vint was looking off to the side.

"Sit," said Gaika. Her voice was even, professional — she had already pulled herself together. "My name is Gaika. We'll be working together."

Lika sat. Gaika looked at her for another second — not rudely, just noting — then lowered her eyes to the tablet.

"So. Leshy was last seen in the deep Zone, northeastern sector. No exact address — he never had an exact address. But there's a logic to his movements, there are indirect traces, there are a couple of points where he's been seen over the last year." She turned the tablet toward Lika. "An approximate route. Three days there in normal conditions. Anomalous activity along this corridor is moderate, but there are stretches we'll have to go around. That lengthens the trip."

"What does 'normal conditions' mean?" asked Lika.

"It means nobody's shooting and the weather doesn't spring surprises." Gaika gave a slight shake of her head. "In the Zone, normal conditions are already a good thing."

"On gear," Vint cut in. "What do you have?"

Lika took out a notebook. She had been compiling the list for the last two weeks — methodically, from the sources she'd been able to find. Gaika took the notebook, read it. Nodded several times — sparingly, approvingly.

"Not bad for someone with no field experience." She picked up a pen. "We'll add this and this. Expand the first-aid kit, gas-mask filters — double the supply, there's chemicals in that sector sometimes. And the detector — not the one you wrote down, it's outdated, we'll take another."

"Where do I get all this?"

"I'll order it myself. At normal prices, not tourist ones."

From the depths of the bar, from the far table by the counter, three men stood up.

* * *

The first one you saw at once — not because he was trying, it was simply that a man of that size takes up a separate area in any room. Tall, broad in the shoulders, with that particular monumentality of people whose body is a working tool, not a thing to be proud of. He moved lightly, almost soundlessly — which at his size looked unexpected. On his face — a smile. Open, good-natured, wholly at odds with the biography that could be easily guessed behind the bearing and the gaze.

The second was his opposite — stocky, short, with the face of a man who had long ago seen everything and had long ago grown tired of pretending it didn't irritate him. He moved with a rolling gait, without hurry. Tobacco came off him — stubbornly, thoroughly, as if the smell had become part of his kit. His default expression was displeased, but without aggression. That's just life.

The third walked slightly behind. Medium height, lean — the kind you don't notice right away, until you realize he has already noticed you while you were looking around. His eyes never stopped — they slid over the room continuously, in short quick movements, like a man who can't switch off working mode. Young — noticeably younger than the others. A faint smile stayed on his lips, whose nature was unclear: either he was pleased with life, or his face was simply built that way.

They came up to the table. The big one nodded to Gaika.

"Everyone's here."

"Lika," said Gaika, "this is my team. Get acquainted." A nod at the big man: "Kit." At the stocky one: "Dub." At the young one: "Lis."

Kit smiled wider — warmly, without affectation.

Dub looked at Lika, then at Gaika.

"Has she even been in the Zone?"

"No, she hasn't," Gaika answered evenly.

"Great," said Dub, in the tone of a man who was neither surprised by this in the least nor pleased in the least.

Lis kept studying the room.

* * *

They discussed the gear for about an hour.

Kit spoke little, to the point — clarified the route, asked about the anomalous background on specific stretches. Dub grumbled, but the grumbling was to the point: not the right type of first-aid kit, not the right cartridges for his system, the tool mount needed to be different. Gaika nodded, wrote it down, sometimes argued — briefly and without extra words.

Lis listened, looked around and said nothing. Then he held out his part of the list to Gaika.

Gaika took it. Read it. Raised her eyes.

"Don't get cocky." Her voice was calm, with no raise in tone. "You'll run around with your popgun. But the cartridges you wrote down — rewrite them for the modification of your barrel. These ones will do, cross out the rest."

Lis put the list away without objection. The smile hadn't gone anywhere.

"Mischief not managed." A pause. "But it was worth trying. Luck loves the bold."

Dub looked at him with the expression of a man who is hearing this not for the first time.

"Luck loves the quiet."

"That's just you getting old."

"That's just you being young."

Kit went on smiling. Gaika made a note in the tablet.

* * *

By the end of the evening the details had come together.

Departure — in five days. The route was agreed, the gear assigned person by person, the rest stops marked with backup options. Dub took on the tech and explosives — "just in case, and in the Zone a just-in-case happens often." Kit — fire support. Lis — sniper, in charge of reconnaissance and long-range combat. In the Zone, the danger came not only from mutants and anomalies. People were far more treacherous than the Zone itself.

Gaika led.

"Documents," said Vint. "Ekaterina Sergeyevna will arrange the trip officially. She'll write up the objectives of the outing so that formally everything is clean. No violations on paper."

Gaika nodded — that suited her.

Lika looked at the people around the table. Two weeks ago she hadn't known any of them. In five days they would go with her into the Zone to look for a man who for two years hadn't wanted to be found.

"Questions?" asked Gaika.

There were no questions.

"Then that's all. I expect confirmation on gear from each of you the day after tomorrow."

The company began to disperse. Dub left first — taking a cigarette out as he went, unhurried. Kit said goodbye with a nod, broad and good-natured, like everything about him. Lis disappeared somehow unnoticed — he was there a moment ago, and now he wasn't.

Gaika closed the tablet. Looked at Lika.

"Five days," she said. "Use them well. Get some sleep, stock up, put your affairs in order. In the Zone there won't be time for that."

Lika nodded.

Gaika stood and left.

Lika and Vint remained at the table. The bar hummed around them — voices, the clatter of mugs, smoke.

"Any questions?" asked Vint.

"No."

He nodded. Stood.

"Five days."

Chapter 5. The Perimeter

They met the dawn at the checkpoint.

Officially — a field expedition of the research center, the objectives of the outing spelled out, documents in order, Ekaterina Sergeyevna had seen to it. The border guard at the crossing point leafed through the papers longer than necessary — not because he was looking for violations, he was just used to dragging it out. Dub stood beside him and said nothing, but said nothing in such a way that the guard sped up on his own.

The barrier rose.

"Welcome," said Lis quietly, addressing no one in particular.

Dub glanced at him.

"Shut up."

"I'm just solemnly marking the moment."

"There's nothing to mark. Go ahead."

Lis smiled and went ahead.

* * *

The Zone didn't begin all at once.

First — an ordinary landscape. A field, a windbreak of trees, an old road with broken asphalt, a rusty sign on which nothing could be read anymore. Then the air began to change. Not abruptly — gradually, the way pressure changes before a thunderstorm. The smell became different: denser, with a metallic taste on the tongue, with that particular tang there's nothing to compare to if you haven't smelled it before.

Lika walked third — behind Kit, in front of Dub. Gaika led. Lis had gone ahead to scout.

She felt the first real breath of the Zone at the twentieth minute.

The wind changed direction and brought with it a smell that made something clench in her chest — not from fear, from recognition. As if she already knew this place and just didn't remember from where. Ozone. Wet earth. Something heavy, pressing, like the air in a closed room where candles had burned for a long time. And right after it — a light pressure on the temples, barely perceptible, as if the space around had become a few millimeters denser, creating a sense of uncomfortable tightness

Lika stopped.

Kit looked back.

"First time?" he asked.

"Yes."

"You'll get used to it." A pause. "Or you won't. But it's normal either way."

He walked on. Lika followed him.

She walked and felt the Zone studying her — slowly, unhurriedly, the way you study something unfamiliar when it's still unclear whether it's a threat or not. The sensation was strange. Not hostile. Just — alive. As if the place she was walking through had its own opinion about her presence here and hadn't yet decided what to do about it.

"Keep the detector in your hand, not in your pocket," Gaika threw over her shoulder. "It's quiet here for now, but get used to it right away. You need a reflex, not a thought."

Lika took out the detector.

* * *

Lis came back about twenty minutes later — stepped out of the bushes at the side, soundlessly, as if he had materialized. Took his place beside Lika and immediately started talking.

"Ahead is clear. No anomalies, no fresh tracks, haven't seen any mutants. About three hours to the little village at a normal pace." A short pause, exactly one step long. "You're in the Zone for the first time?"

"Yes."

"It's obvious right away. You walk like you're in a city park. In the Zone you need it different — look at your feet, then at the horizon, then at your feet again. That's the rhythm, it has to become automatic. Otherwise you'll walk into an Electra and not even understand what happened. An Electra, by the way, doesn't hurt. In the sense that there won't be any pain anymore. At all."

"Got it."

"Another piece of advice — don't touch anything with your hands without a command. Nothing at all. Even if it looks pretty. Especially if it looks pretty. In the Zone, pretty kills faster than ugly. That's not a metaphor, that's an observation."

"Got it."

"One more —"

"Lis," said Gaika, without turning around.

"What?"

"Let the person listen to the Zone."

Lis was silent for four seconds.

"I'm instructing. It's useful."

"You're chattering. It's tiring."

"Maybe I'm nervous."

"You're never nervous."

"Maybe I've started."

Dub, walking behind, said nothing. He simply exhaled — slowly, with that particular expression of people who have long since made peace with the inevitable.

The silence held for about ten minutes. Exactly until Lis was beside her again.

"Listen. What's your name? Well, I mean call sign."

"I don't have a call sign."

Lis looked at her from the side — quickly, keenly, the way a man looks whose assessment happens faster than awareness.

"Soika."

"Why?"

"Just because. And because jays are clever birds, they notice everything, remember everything, and they have a sweet voice. It's all exactly about you — you look the right way, not like a tourist, and you have a pleasant voice."

Lika thought for a second.

"Let it be Soika."

"Excellent choice, sis," said Lis. "You agree easily with good ideas in general. That's a valuable quality."

"She just agreed with your idea," Dub said from behind. "Don't generalize."

"Dub, you're just jealous that your call sign is boring."

"I've had my call sign for twelve years."

"Exactly. Twelve years — Dub. No imagination."

"But alive for twelve years."

"That's an argument," Lis agreed.

Kit walked ahead and smiled. Silently.

* * *

The little village appeared toward evening.

A few houses behind a flimsy fence, a tower with a floodlight, the smell of smoke and heated tinned food. A place for breaking in newcomers — the first run, the first night beyond the perimeter, the first real acquaintance with the fact that the Zone has no days off.

Gaika talked with the duty officer — briefly, documents, a nod.

"We spend the night here. Departure at six."

Dub first of all found a spot by the wall, sat down, lit a cigarette. Kit helped with the settling in — silently, methodically, as he did everything. Lis immediately struck up a conversation with someone among the locals, and within five minutes they were both laughing at something Lika couldn't hear.

She sat by the window and looked outside.

Beyond the little village was darkness. Alive — with rare distant lights of anomalies, with that slow movement of air that wasn't wind. The Zone breathed out there in the dark, patiently and evenly. It didn't care who had come or why.

Dad walked like this. Every time he went out there.

Lika closed her eyes for a second. Then took out the notebook and began to write — not because there was anything that needed writing, her hands were simply looking for something to do.

"Can't switch your head off?" Lis sat down next to her, without asking, the way people sit who don't realize it might be inopportune.

"No."

"Normal." He was silent for a moment — a rarity for him, but the pause was real, without any wish to fill it. "On the first night beyond the perimeter your head never switches off. That's the Zone getting acquainted. Looking at who you are."

"And who am I?"

"Don't know yet." He stood. "I'll ask her tomorrow."

Lika looked at his back and thought that she didn't understand this man. Then decided that maybe she didn't need to.

Outside the window the darkness didn't move. It simply was.

Chapter 6. The Zone

The route drifted off on the second day.

Gaika stopped at a fork, checked her handheld, looked ahead. Where according to the old data there should have been an open road to the Marshes, there was something else — the ground heaved up, trees felled at wrong angles, the air over the area trembling finely and badly.

"A surge came through recently. This wasn't here."

"So what now?" asked Lika.

"We go around." Gaika was working her handheld. "A detour of about three hours. But we'll be in one piece."

Dub spat to the side.

"I said we needed a backup route through the plant."

"We're going through the plant."

"I said that back in the bar."

"I remember. Good for you."

Dub looked at her. Understood that continuing was pointless. Lit a cigarette.