“What are you doing in the Forest?”

  “I can’t speak about the research,” she said, lowering her head. “Uncle Albert forbade me. But we are from the Institute.”

  “The Institute?”

  “You don’t know?”

  He shook his head. A genuine surprise flickered in her eyes. She brushed away a lock of hair from her forehead, looking at him intently, as if trying to see whether he was joking.

  “It’s nearby,” she finally said. “Strange that you don’t know. It’s been there for many years already.”

  “I’ve met some specs, but they always came from the outside. I thought your folk did not like staying in the Forest. That you’re afraid.”

  “Most are,” she agreed. “But Albert is an exception. I think he likes the Zone, actually. If you listen to the way he talks about it…”

  Adrian shivered.

  “Then he’s crazy. Such people don’t last long here.”

  “He’s been here since the Accident.”

  He looked with disbelief, but decided not to ask the details.

  “And you? How old are you, actually?”

  “Seventeen. Why does it matter?”

  “Means you were also born after the Accident. So are you a—”

  “Child of therizers? No… Not really. No, I was born outside.” He noticed an ever so slight hesitance in her voice, as if she had to think for a fraction of a second before giving an answer.

  “How long are you in the Zone, then?”

  “Half a year.”

  “You seem very confident for such a short term,” he admitted. “The way you walked the Ghost Trail, and then to here…”

  “I learn fast.”

  “Could you do that?” He turned his gaze to the creek.

  They lay in the grass, Adrian holding Inny’s binocular. He brought the eyepieces to his eyes again and swept his gaze over the rusty, half-disintegrated helicopter, tilted to the side, lying across the stream that flowed down from a small hill. The helicopter’s giant propeller blades sank deep into the earth on one side, surging heaps of soil. Shards of broken glass flickered like dense dew all around the dead carcass of the once flying leviathan.

  From their vantage point, Adrian saw its tail gate open like a dropped jaw of a giant predator's mouth, and inside that mouth the darkness crept. The creek was rusty too; it purled faintly, disappearing into the depths of the valley, surrounded by the thicket. The sun was already blazing almost from the zenith, colouring the tops of black, crooked pines into dim yellow.

  About fifty meters of distance between the hill they lay on and the creek was a gentle slope, crossed by a few writhing ditches, covered by grass and sparse thorny bushes. To anyone from outside, this space would be nothing but a mundane part of a forest landscape.

  Adrian knew that in front of them lay a deadly, dangerous invisible maze.

  “If I could, why would Albert need you?” Inny snorted.

  “I’m wondering why it crashed,” Adrian muttered, talking more to himself than to Inny. “It’s the military one. It could have even happened right after the Accident, right?”

  Inny only shrugged.

  “What do you know about the Accident?” he suddenly asked.

  “Same as what everyone knows, I guess.”

  “But your Institute, was it here from before? Or it was built specifically to study the Zone?”

  “You’re asking the right questions,” she smiled. “But I can’t tell you, just yet. Maybe later. When you return.”

  “If I return.”

  “Bullshit. You will. You’re protected. You have the gun. Just do what you always do, and it will be alright.”

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  “If it’s so easy, why don’t you or Albert do it yourselves?” he asked, barely holding the anger.

  “Are you going to get on with it, or are you going to lie here all day, chatting?” she asked, her eyes glittering with amusement. “I thought your friend was in danger?”

  “Shut up. I’m trying to make a plan.”

  In fact, he already came up with one, but was still doubting about the options. The first option was to take a long path and try to circumnavigate the helicopter from the hills upstream. But even from here, he could distinguish some signs that the path was completely blocked with anomalies. Some intuition told him that the chances of finding a safe passage there were no higher than if taking a shortcut and trying to go straight.

  Adrian swore under his breath, returned the binoculars to her, and slowly stood up. Took off the thick gloves from the protective suit and pulled on his own, with cut fingertips.

  “I thought you were afraid of radiation,” Inny said.

  “I am. But I need to be able to scan. I’ll rely on this thing to protect me,” he clapped his shoulder, dressed in the tight new protection suit, flickering with LED lights.

  She kept silent, but he could feel her gaze on his back. Slowly crossed the first ten meters of the descent. The grass was dry and prickly. The air smelled of ozone, as it always did when an electrical anomaly was nearby. Adrian felt cold tentacles of fear stirring in his stomach. He doubted anyone from the orphanage had ever crossed the creek.

  He stopped, for the last time weighing his chances. Pulled on the respirator mask and sealed the suit, given by Salzman. Turned his head for the last time. Inny was watching him from the hilltop.

  Adrian forced himself to focus and slowly took a step, feeling more and more strongly the proximity of the anomalies. The ringing started in his head. A second later, he realized it was the sound of the Geiger counter.

  He shifted his weight onto one leg and moved his hands slightly, probing the air, feeling familiar streams of energy manifest as tingling at his fingertips. His mind was quickly converting the touch perception into a map of the maze. Okay, what do we have here?.. The “Stingrays”, several in a row, lined up almost back to back.

  He took out the satchel with nuts, his indispensable companion. Threw the first one, then another, trying to outline the safe passage. When trespassed, anomalies reacted. He noticed tiny sparks flashing in the air, heard a dry rattle of static.

  Toss a nut. Step forward. Collect the nut. Another step.

  A dead end. Passage blocked. Calm down, easy, he repeated to himself. A step back, following his tracks precisely. Nothing bad has happened yet. Okay, let’s try this little ditch leading to the right. Narrow, but there is a pass. Toss a nut. Step forward. Collect the nut. Another step. Toss a—

  The blast shook the ground, and the bit of metal was shredded to molecules—it had landed right in the epicenter of the nearest “funnel”. The anomaly was within arm’s reach; the counter’s ringing was getting louder and more frequent in his pocket, and Adrian knew that if he stretched out his hand, it would be torn right off. He froze, lingering on the edge of an unfinished step.

  Calm down. Breathe out.

  He turned, squinted, listened, wet a finger, and lifted it, sensing the movement of the air, then calmly threw another nut. A hit. He breathed easier—professional instinct rarely failed him, and yet his heart always stopped for a moment while the nut flew and dropped into the grass. He passed through cleanly. Threw another, from the other side, and hit again. The “funnels” stayed calm, like boas after a meal.

  Carefully, with jeweler’s precision, Adrian tossed four more nuts, marking the front and side edges of the anomaly. The number sufficed, there was no sense in wasting supplies. He studied the ground. The grass worried him. Something was wrong with it.

  Then he noticed: there, where he was walking, a barely noticeable hollow appeared, curving toward the stream, as if left by human footsteps. His predecessor?

  He moved on. Sideways, squeezing between “trampolines”, immediately spotting ahead a faint whirl of a “carousel”. Throwing a nut to the right was the last thing he wanted. Something there made his skin crawl. To the left—no problem. He threw, and flinched when the nut, caught by the “carousel”’s field, spun and was hurled far to the side. Another throw. The invisible labyrinth was being charted. A new path. Adrian stepped forward slowly, paused, lifted his leg, set it down on one of his own nuts, pulled up the other, and stood still once more. The creak was getting closer.

  It was akin to crossing an abyss along an invisible rope.

  He crouched a little, sensing a horizontal airflow. A shadow passed over him. Something unseen drifted overhead. He felt cold sweat run down his back.

  The shadow passed him by. He took another step. The hollow guided him reliably; with three more bolts, he managed to mark the boundaries of another ”funnel”. It became easier. The labyrinth wasn’t that complicated, and each successful move gave him a chance to be glad for himself and once again give thanks to the Zone. Adrian spread his arms slightly for balance, winced at the sudden hot gust. A fire anomaly, straight ahead. He sidestepped. The creak—very close, right there. The helicopter was almost within arm’s reach.

  Another step. How much time had passed? He relied again on his intuition, which clearly told him to go a bit to the right, gradually curving toward the creek. There was the hollow. A good, small depression in the ground. He was convinced now that it was the track of his predecessor. That guy made it to the helicopter. That meant he could too.

  Adrian caught his breath. The swift current to the left indicated an area of altered gravity. The light whirl in front spoke of warped space, and the gushing pillar to the right—of a fiery vortex, a “frying pan”. Now dozens of streams swirled around, touching his fingertips, reminding him of more distant anomalies.

  He stopped again. Looked carefully at the grass. To the right, it was calm; in front, by the stream, it bent slightly toward the ground. He confidently stepped to the right—the stream gurgled at his feet, splashes touched his pants. Adrian looked around. A lightning bolt slid behind a snag blocking the current, the water bubbled and swirled. The anomalies curved to form a narrow passage, straight into the torn-open hull of the helicopter.

  He stepped, lowering his foot into the current. Blood pounded in his temples. The Geiger counter exploded with ringing. All Adrian’s organs seemed to leap, and he realized he had blundered into something.

  He lurched to the right across the shallow water, twisted, and fell, feeling something invisible tug his clothes from behind. He pulled his legs up and scrambled onto the iron floor of the helicopter. His heart was ready to burst from his chest.

  He lay there for a long time, recovering from the fear. The barrier was very strong. But he had broken through the first shield.