"Why did you do something like this? Are you crazy? Do you know how many days we've been on the road? How many days have you had water or food? You've led us down a shitty path. You don't even know where you are, and you keep stubbornly driving through these barren lands, hoping you'll reach somewhere. I wish I had never gotten involved in this."
"Shut up," Viktor said. Mykola wasn't entirely wrong in his outburst. They had been driving on these damned roads for exactly three days, they hadn't had a decent sleep, and they had to spend the nights listening to wolf howls. The worst part was that Mykola could feel his lips drying and cracking from thirst. His face had become quite pale and thin. His beard and hair were tangled and dirty. Viktor was in the same state, but he didn't care much. The only thing he cared about was to keep going somehow. The situation was getting increasingly dire, and Viktor was aware of it. Returning to the city was out of the question; they'd be immediately caught by the police. He wasn't even sure where he was driving, but somewhere out there, the dreams he'd had at night seemed to show he was on the right track.
"Where the hell is the map?" Viktor asked, slamming the brakes. The old model UAZ seemed to struggle with commands. Who knows what difficulties that dead man lying in the back had faced while he was alive. Anyway, it didn't matter now. Viktor seemed to be dozing off. He had his head down, leaned back against the seat, and soft snoring sounds could be heard from him. "Damn it, wake up!" Viktor shouted, giving Mykola a hard jab on the shoulder to wake him up. Mykola looked at him with sleepy eyes. He hadn't enjoyed being woken up like this, but who would? To smell the stench of the corpse filling the car's interior again…
"What's the matter? WHAT'S THE MATTER?" Mykola replied, adjusting his glasses. Although his eyes were fixed on Viktor, they kept unconsciously drifting toward the corpse lying in the back seat, and when he turned back to Viktor, it was as if he was begging. He covered his nose with his hand, then Mykola. He was fed up with the smell and desperately wanted this problem to be resolved quickly, but Viktor was in charge here. And Viktor was somewhat reluctant to abandon the corpse. Viktor sighed again without caring about any problems. And asked again.
"Where's the map?" Viktor asked, looking quite annoyed as usual. He always maintained a serious demeanor. It was very easy and ordinary for him to get irritated even by small things. Mykola looked around carefully. Then he quickly scanned every place to search, but to no avail.
"The map… the map…"
"The map? WHERE IS IT?" Viktor shouted. This time it was impossible to ignore the fiery look in his eyes. Mykola was trying to figure out where the map was. For a while, silence and the awful smell completely dominated the car. Then Mykola spoke in a shaky voice, constantly avoiding eye contact.
"We must have lost it while camping near the gas station."
"Must have? You were the one who never parted with that map! How could you lose it? Now what the hell are we going to do?" Viktor swore repeatedly. He didn't know any of the routes to the area; after all, it had been many years. He was pretty much a stranger to it now. He could have easily managed things with the help of the map, but… Mykola had ruined everything for him. When Mykola realized how big his mistake was, tears welled up in his eyes, and he repeatedly told himself he couldn't handle it anymore. It all seemed too much, he didn't deserve all this, and all he wanted was to secure enough money for temporary troubles and his household, but now it seemed quite impossible to do so. He was crying. He tried to open the car door. Yes, he even struggled while doing that.
"Damn door, open!" he said with a tearful voice, his words choking in his throat. That's why every sentence he uttered was broken and hard to understand. When he finally managed to open the door, he immediately collapsed on the ground, leaned against the car, and listened to the soft breeze on his face. This made him feel a bit better, and he felt refreshed. The tears on his skin had dried in the wind. He ignored Viktor, who quietly came over. Viktor's face had not changed in the slightest; he was looking down at him with his usual pale expression. Mykola, while wiping his tears with the back of his hand, looked up at him.
"I need to pee," Viktor said, and disappeared among the trees. Mykola watched the setting sun as if his life was coming to an end. He was starving, and even a rat seemed like the sweetest food to him. After staying still for a while, he realized Viktor still hadn't returned and started to move. He quickly got up and began searching the interior of the car with quick steps.
"Where is it? Where… where. WHERE DID YOU HIDE IT?" he searched as best as he could. Finally, he turned to the corpse. "Yes," he smiled, a desperate grin spreading across his face as his eyes filled with tears again. He searched the corpse thoroughly from head to toe and eventually found it. Laughing out loud, he stood in the middle of the road, grinning. He had placed the gun to his forehead, his finger trembling on the trigger, unable to control his tears. His eyes had turned red, with the blood vessels clearly visible. He started crying louder, shouting, his finger pressing harder, slowly descending. Slowly…
Finally, he gathered his courage and pulled the trigger.
"Idiot, if it were loaded, I'd have shot you already, you whining brat," Viktor said, laughing. Mykola, writhing on the ground and crying, tried to get up while sobbing. After Viktor helped him up, he grabbed the gun and frowned, clearly fed up with everything. Meanwhile, Mykola was still writhing on the ground, tears dripping between his fingers. His shoulders kept rising and falling with his sobs.
"Still not done?" Viktor asked, twirling the revolver in his hand like a toy. As Mykola began to pull himself together, Viktor walked calmly towards the car. As soon as he opened the car door, his eyes widened in surprise. "Tell me, Mykola, have you ever looked underneath?" Viktor asked, Mykola didn't understand. Then Viktor showed him the map, and Mykola's eyebrows went up, his mouth hanging open. I looked everywhere, he thought to himself.
"How is that possible…"
"I have no idea. I don't care. I want to get the hell out of here immediately. Hurry up."
"Where will you go?" Mykola asked. Viktor's lips formed a straight line.
"To the nearest settlement," he said, tracing his finger on the map, grinning. "We're going to the Zone," he said, and Mykola stood up with a look of exhaustion on his face.
"What are you going to eat in the Zone? There are bandits, hunters, and government troops there. Why would I want to go to such a hell?"
"Look, no one will find us in the Zone, okay? I've heard that the hunters and travelers there make quite a bit of money. They apparently find and sell some valuable stones. The police won't bother us there. Besides, you're already a criminal. Your options are quite limited, and you have no other place to go right now."
"Are we really going to a place with bandits? A region with an extremely high risk of death?"
"Yes, exactly. We're going there. If you don't want to go, you can walk 50 kilometers on this concrete road. No one is stopping you. Go ahead." Viktor said, and of course, Mykola wasn't going to leave. He had no other choice right now. In fact, this conversation had already gone on for quite a while.
"Can we at least get rid of the corpse now? It smells awful," Viktor said, assuming that there was no point in worrying anymore and thinking it was time to dispose of the corpse. Viktor grabbed it, and Mykola clung to its legs. They threw the corpse onto the concrete road. Then they decided to pull the vehicle to the side of the road and sleep for a few hours. By the early morning, they would be ready to hit the road.
As the sun blazed overhead, Viktor squinted his eyes. The lies he told yesterday passed through his mind again. He didn't know why, but he wanted to reach the Zone so badly that if Mykola tried to stop him there, he might go as far as to fight him. The car's fuel was also running quite low, but it wasn't a major problem for now. Even if they got stuck on the road, they would continue on foot.
On wide, empty roads, you didn't need to brake at all. Viktor was sure there were no cars on these roads, and he wasn't bothered by driving at full speed accordingly. Viktor's eyes were constantly on the road; even if they had to deviate from the concrete road and drive through the forest's dirt paths, it was no trouble. Mykola held the map and continuously helped him find the right and shortest route.
The scenery kept changing, empty fields disappearing one after another. The vast fields stretched out without crops, which was a normal situation. The blue mountains in the distance were pleasant to the eye.
As soothing as these green landscapes were, Viktor didn't think he'd ever feel this relaxed in the Zone. The risk of death would always be present. They would need to stay alert at all times, and without answering the question marks in his mind, Viktor wasn't eager to die. The beauty that soothed his soul suddenly faded, and a great discomfort began to envelop his entire body. Grass sprouting from cracks in the road, grass falling onto the roads, and a strange smell—this was the scent of the Zone.