“An ordinary blind dog would never let anyone put a collar on it,” whispered Salzman. “But I can’t imagine who managed it. There’s probably no one in the entire Zone who could tame a cunning beast like that.”

  “We’ll find out soon enough,” muttered Radiant. He didn’t want to make unnecessary noise, so he put his pistol away. The dog suddenly stopped, pricked up its ears. The wind blew from their direction. Radiant pulled the knife from his boot. The handle fit into his palm as though it belonged there, as though he’d held it a thousand times and wielded it as deftly as a butcher. And now, it felt like the power of the artifact in his forearms made his vision sharper, and his movements more precise.

  He rose slightly, made a short swing, straightened sharply, and threw the knife, taking the truest aim—and hit dead on. The blade sank into the creature’s throat just above the collar as if into butter; a short stream of blood splashed across the fur. The beast only gurgled and collapsed heavily onto its side in a heap of fallen leaves; it didn’t even twitch.

  Salzman exhaled. Radiant slowly and carefully descended into the narrow hollow, walked between the trees, pulled the knife from the blind dog’s neck, and wiped it on his pants. He examined the corpse. The others approached, looking at his kill. Silence reigned. The thicket stood still, sullen and watchful, as always. Radiant clicked the buckle, unfastening the black collar with iron spikes, and looked closer, noticing a tiny letter “W.”

  “Worms,” muttered Salzman. “Should’ve guessed we didn’t kill all of them at that cliff.”

  His guess was confirmed immediately.

  A furious, rasping bark rang out, and from above, from the direction of the forest, four more dogs leapt out at once—huge, grey, wearing the same metal collars. Radiant and Salzman reacted instantly. Abdellah grabbed Inny’s hand, pulling her toward the ravine, while the two men opened fire, shooting at the snarling muzzles charging toward them. Radiant dropped the first dog with three shots; the creature crashed down, rolling several meters from momentum. A second fell dead seconds later from Salzman’s well-aimed burst. The remaining two skidded to a halt, circling, preparing to leap. That was their mistake. Radiant crouched low, muscles tensed, and as soon as one of them sprang at him, he swung the knife. Blood sprayed in a hot fountain, drenching his face, his jumpsuit, the trees around him. The dog flipped midair and fell to the ground with an agonized shriek. The last one went down under a burst from the Uzi, its skull shredded by explosive rounds.

  And then they came…

  First, the barking of the dogs. Unleashed from their handlers, the beasts crashed through the thickets, snapping branches, already scenting the nearness of prey, the very quarry they’d been ordered to tear apart, following the smell of humans, of lead, and of blood. Radiant raised his pistol, barely managing to reload, slammed a fresh magazine in, and opened fire—cold-blooded, unpanicked, careful not to waste precious bullets. But there were too many of them, at least a dozen. Salzman gripped the Uzi tightly and took a step back. The dogs, as if sensing their advantage, didn’t attack right away. Instead, they were surrounding the people, herding them toward the edge of the ravine.

  Inny bolted down the slope. Abdellah managed to shoot one of the dogs that leapt after her, and then… he lacked only a single second to reload. Two massive beasts tackled him, knocked him down, and his desperate scream, turning into a shrill wail, was drowned out by the snarling, the snapping of jaws, and the sickening crunch of bones.

  “Inny, run!” shouted Salzman, backing away. The dogs encircled them. Several broke off to chase the girl deeper into the woods. And then the Worms appeared over the ridges. There were many of them: a whole squad, twenty or so, in black hooded cloaks, their rifles aimed forward.

  Radiant snatched up his knife, flung it in a single motion at the first dog that lunged toward him. Salzman had a grenade in his hand. The scientist swung and threw it, then dashed toward the edge of the ravine, stumbling down the rocky slope, hoping to hide among the fallen trees. Radiant ducked and sprinted after him, clamping his hands over his ears, occasionally turning to shoot at the pursuing blind dogs, drawing them away from Inny’s path.

  The Worms weren’t so easily fooled. A harsh burst of gunfire cracked, leaves and twigs exploding around them in a hail of lead. Salzman’s grenade went off—it was a fragmentation one. Half a dozen dogs dropped, whining and howling in agony, three more were blown apart.

  The Worms were everywhere, their flashlights flickering through the forest. Radiant circled around the ravine and ran south along its edge. Just another kilometer through the woods, and there would be the road… A Worm appeared from nowhere, lunging at him. Radiant barely had time to fire, hitting the cultist in the temple. He froze, horrified, because his enemy kept shooting, as if unaware of the wound. Radiant stumbled back, dodged a burst, fired again, then jumped into the ravine, ducking behind a mossy boulder. Another explosion roared behind him; answering gunfire crackled from the hills. The Worm appeared again, and this time, Radiant didn’t make a mistake. He leapt from cover, drove the knife into the man’s throat, twisted, kicked the gun from his hands, and slashed so hard the man’s head flew off in a spray of blood. The body crumpled to its knees.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Radiant!”

  He heard the shout from several directions at once. Saw Inny retreating deeper into the woods. Salzman appeared, his vest slashed, his clothes torn, his face cut and bloody. He yelled and opened fire, dropping one cultist into a pile of leaves. Two more appeared, one raised his weapon, and Salzman, with a desperate cry, hurled himself down toward Inny, who was surrounded by four attackers trying to seize her alive.

  Gunfire rattled. Salzman stumbled, as if tripping over a root. He immediately rose again, pressed the gun butt against his shoulder, fired. Muzzle flashes flickered between the trees, and for a moment, Radiant thought the scientist would kill them all and come to rescue Inny. And then he saw nothing, falling back, retreating from the ravine into which several Worms were driving him. They were closing in, and he had no choice but to duck behind a tree, leaving Salzman and Inny behind.

  Catching his breath, he peeked out, fired again and again, swapped out the empty magazine. One Worm kept advancing, his face mangled and oozing, and watching him, Radiant felt a superstitious terror. Someone screamed behind the trees. Radiant turned, barely managing to shoot a blind dog charging him. A second one tackled him. He snarled, animal-like, stabbing wildly until he could shove it off and finish it with a shot. But more came. Smoke swallowed everything. The forest drowned in haze and chaos.

  “Hey, therizer!”

  The dogs halted, growling. Radiant slowly wiped blood and sweat from his face, squinted at the figure standing a few meters away, aiming an assault rifle. The man’s face was hidden under a hood, but his eyes glowed, commanding the beasts without a word.

  “Do you want to live? I don’t know why Aquilles hunts you. But I’m not him. Don’t resist. We only need the girl.”

  Radiant didn’t answer. Breathing hard, he raised his weapon. He thought he saw the Worm smirk, the unshaven chin under the hood twitching slightly. Radiant fired first, throwing himself to the ground. The enemy shot back, staggering under the impacts of Radiant’s bullets yet not falling. A mutant, Radiant thought. Unbelievable regeneration.

  Then the gunfire stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Radiant lifted his head. He saw the Worm wave at him, turn, and vanish among the trees—literally vanish. Shouts echoed through the forest: “That’s it! Enough! They’ve had their share, we’ve got the girl! Move out!” Discipline was perfect; the Worms’ squad calmly withdrew, as if nothing had happened. The dogs backed away, howled, and fled into the woods. Their barking and the voices faded, and then silence returned.

  Radiant rose slowly. He rolled up his sleeve and checked the readouts on the Transcender’s display. Pulse stabilizing, blood pressure normalizing; the small screen indicated the body had taken minimal damage. The Diavant bar had dropped by a quarter.

  He limped forward, reloading his pistol as he went, pulling spare rounds from his pack. The ravine below, where Inny had been moments ago, was now empty. Only a few corpses remained, human and beast alike.

  He descended, crouched, turned one body over. A Worm, like a vulture draped in black feathers, limbs twisted, bullet holes in his neck, arms, and skull. The vest was shredded but had spared him some damage. Radiant stared at the dead man’s face, fishlike eyes glassy and wet, drugged and vacant, dark bags under them, grey skin, mutilated cheeks, flesh and bone shards mangled together. His body was pulled taut in leather. In his coat pockets were rifle magazines, ampules of anti-rad, and dirty vials filled with some narcotic concoction. Radiant rose again. He wondered how such a body could still function moments after its brain was destroyed.

  He looked around. Corpses of Worms and blind dogs lay everywhere, though fewer than one might expect. What could one scientist, Salzman, do against an army of armed, half-mutant fanatics warped by radiation and blessed with regeneration? But on the damp carpet of fallen leaves and mud, Radiant saw deep bootprints. The iron soles used by the Worms, and the patterned treads of Salzman’s military boots, leading toward the edge of the ravine. On the tree trunks were brown, fresh stains; broken branches marked the struggle. Blood prints marked the stones. Radiant could picture Salzman running, firing as he fought off those surrounding Inny, tripping, grappling one of the zealots, the two of them rolling on the ground, both falling down the rocky slope into the tangle of dead, spiny trees below.

  Radiant didn’t climb down to look for the bodies. Something told him there was no point. Better to keep moving, to reach the outer boundary of the Zone as soon as possible. The Zone was calling him.

  His mind was clear now, and the distant goal was taking shape in it. Before, he could only faintly imagine himself venturing into the Zone and looking for a sign of what to do next. Now, somehow, he knew what the most important thing was. Salzman and the others were dead, but Inny was alive, and he had to find her. He would return only with her.

  You must protect her at all costs. Her survival is your mission now. That was what Basilisse told him.

  Her rescue, and the pursuit of the Worms—that was his mission now. The hunt had begun.

  He sighed, reloaded the pistol, slung the rifle and backpack more comfortably over his shoulders, took a sip from his flask, pulled his cloak tighter, and walked south through the forest toward the faint lights of the highway.

  It was cold. The forest was silent. The starless sky was silent too, veiled in its eternal clouds.

  Several kilometers from the ravine where the Worm dead lay, crows circled in the black sky. They cawed, flocking over the edge of the cliff, beneath which, in the shadow of the bare, tangled trees, lay a half-dead body. The crows sensed death’s breath near, but they also saw that death was retreating, further and further. For even death held no dominion over the Zone.

  Tendons reknit themselves; nerve clusters and blood vessels rejoined; the tortured regeneration of organs neared completion. The man was still mangled, but alive. Blood once again coursed through his veins, and once again his mind wound like a clockwork. He was thinking of only one thing: when the healing was complete, he would move on. He would catch up with Albert Salzman and Adrian Thorne very soon. And then, he would make them pay.

  It was cold.