From the Zone with love

Ever since he turned off the Brain Scorcher and destroyed the C-Consciousness, after he started piecing his life together, sometimes Strelok would remember small fragments from his past. From before waking up in Sidorovich's bunker.

They usually were random events, unimportant pieces of information. Like a week ago, when he'd remembered how he literally fell into the Agroprom Underground complex and badly sprained his ankle the first time he went there. Or when he'd been eating some dried up diet sausage and remembered that one time he fed one to Doc's pseudo-dog, and then the beast followed him around all day long like an overgrown, murderous puppy begging for more scraps. In a sense they weren't overly interesting memories, but Strelok treasured them all the same. Any connection to his past, to that life he didn't remember, was important to him.

The last one, like all the others, sneaked up on him completely unexpected. Strelok had been holed up in a small building that night, patching himself up after a surprise encounter with a burer, when the memory hit him like a freight train.

##

He hurt all over. It was getting difficult to stay awake, even breathing was painful. Someone was shaking him, calling his name. Why were they doing that? It made the pain worse.

"Strelok! Damn it Strelok, stay awake." A very familiar voice said in desperation.

"He's bleeding too much. I think he has serious internal damage." Another familiar voice said, slightly shaky. "He's going to die."

"Fang, we can't just leave him like that." The first voice argued.

"Just leave him, there is nothing we can do for him. The blowout is minutes away and we won't get through with him."

"No, Fang. I'm not leaving him!"

"Do you think I like this? He's also my friend Ghost, but we..." Strelok felt the voices grow dimmer, quickly fading away as blackness claimed him.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes again was the figure of a man tending a small fire. The brightness of the flames hurt his eyes. He wanted to ask where he was, but all he managed was a pitiful groan.

"Strelok, you're awake!" The man was overjoyed. Ghost. He sounded like Ghost, he even looked like Ghost, but something wasn't right. Ghost always wore his special suit, not a simple tan leather coat. "Don't worry, Doc will be here soon. Everything will be fine."

He tried to move again, to get a better look at him. Something was indeed wrong; Ghost only spoke with that sort of forced cheer every time he was trying to hide something from them. And Ghost was a terrible liar.

"Keep still, let the suit work its healing magic." Huh, so he was wearing his friend's suit? "You took a nasty fall. We thought you..."

Ghost appeared unable to finish that thought. Strelok moved his fingers, trying to get Ghost's attention. His friend caught on it and grabbed his hand, squeezing it lightly.

"Wait till I tell Fang, he was... distressed. He went to check the entrance, needed some time alone." Ghost intended to get up and go fetch Fang, he could tell. He also knew his friends well enough to suspect what happened.

"Stay?" Strelok managed to croak with considerable effort. He would love to have Fang here as well, but above all he didn't really want to be alone right now.

"Yes, of course." Ghost's voice was thick with emotion. Ghost stayed by his side, still grabbing his hand. It meant the world to Strelok.

##

He already knew part of that, but only a small fragment. It left a bittersweet smile on Strelok's lips. It seemed like they had been good friends, the kind he always yearned for, yet he barely remembered them. He didn't think he had ever seen Fang nor Ghost again. He hoped Fang knew he wasn't mad at him. He understood.

It was useless to dwell on such morose thoughts, there was nothing he could do about it. Fang was dead, he'd seen his grave. It was ironic he knew so much about himself because of what he discovered during his stint as Marked One, unknowingly chasing after himself and his friends... Oh God. He made another morbid discovery during that time. So much had happened to him that he completely forgot about it until now, but he'd seen Ghost's remains before. Strelok was horrified, he ransacked his best friend's body and left him down there to rot!

He didn't stop to think about it. No friend of his deserved to be left on a creepy underground lab, having his bones gnawed by mutants. He picked up all his stuff and set way to Yantar. He would retrieve his friend's corpse and give him the proper burial he deserved.