"Dmitry," Konrad gritted out. "The voices. You hear 'em, too?"
He focused so hard on shielding his mind that his head already hurt.
Until now, the parallel brain could at least help out, and for a while, he had a proper Psyonic Shield, too. But now—with all the chaos unfolding around them—he struggled pretty hard.
"What voices?" the Captain asked, wrestling one of the rescued soldiers.
So he didn't even notice them?!
"If I had to guess," Sokolov grunted as well, "he means the ones that are driving these guys nuts."
And by the way, the old Corporal working for those scientists had proper protection, too.
Why did his dampener melt when disabling the Brain Scorcher?!
"Oh, right. No, nothing like that," Dmitry said, shaking his head and pinning the oldest crew member to the ground. "But I've been wondering what got into them."
Well, Konrad knew, and almost succumbed, too.
'Come, if you want all your dreams to come true. Hurry. Here.'
And unlike the brain, which had been annoying at best, these voices were more like commands.
It took a lot out of him to resist and to also hold the flailing Yuri back.
The grumpy Major and Sokolov had each handled a soldier as well, and now—
Their entire group was kinda stuck.
In a dark corridor. Deep underground. And the radiation levels were getting crazy high.
"So what now?" Degtyarev demanded, pinning his poor soldier. "We didn't let those bastards restore the Brain Scorcher, but—is this how they'll turn into zombies? Or will this thing pass?"
"No clue," the Corporal grunted back. "This one's like a whisper. More articulated, but—"
The solid concrete corridor rumbled around them again.
Because, right, the entire place seemed like it was trying to shake itself apart.
"Anyway, we have to move," Konrad gritted out as Yuri tried to slip out of his arms.
Before they could pin them down, the four without protection ran forward. And if it weren't for their jittery movements on the cluttered ground, they'd never catch up to them, either.
No idea where they were going—and no idea where they were in the first place.
The PDAs were dead, and the parallel brain offered no explanation or a clear path.
Even Konrad, who battled these voices with everything he got—
Couldn't tell where they came from, or where they tried to lure them away.
Was it the Monolith's way of keeping their captives under control?
But then, the voices should have told them to stay put.
Instead, they made them run like some madmen into uncharted territory and—
No. It didn't look like those scientists or soldiers ever used these corridors, either.
If it were his parallel brain gone rogue and messing with them, he'd at least recognize that. But big no to that as well. This was a softer voice, albeit more demanding and—
Chewed its way through his improvised defenses like a worm.
"If memory serves," Sokolov muttered. "This corridor goes right below the exploded Block 4. Not that I've ever been there, but the scientists always wanted to explore this place, so—"
"Yeah, I saw the floor plan as well," Degtyarev nodded, his knee digging into a soldier's back.
"So any idea where they might want to go?" Konrad panted, fighting with the slippery leader of the Wolves. "Or better yet—somewhere we could go to avoid this voice?"
No response, only a telling silence until the concrete walls started rumbling again.
"This must be the Blowout, right?" Dmitry muttered. "You think it's only on the outside, or, like, is there a storm between the Sarcophagus and the Dome as well?"
Hah. If only Konrad had the capacity to ponder such things.
But right now, he was fighting a mental battle against the voice and a physical one to keep Yuri in line, too. The Captain had it easy with his aircrew already passed out.
The tiny Stalker below him was kicking and snarling, trying to claw his arm through his jacket.
No reaction to anything they said, either, and if he was to let go—
"Makes me wonder if Strelok's all right up there?" Dmitry continued, lost in his petty concerns.
Although now that he thought about it—
"Well, this thing corrupts mana, but he never had any, so," Konrad gritted out. "Luckily, he has the strongest Artifacts to counter any other effects. I'm sure he's fine."
But if someone told him how to snap that almost feral Stalker out of this madness—
'Don't resist. You all want to come here. This is where your dreams come true.'
Ugh. Did the voice become louder?
It was still only a whisper, but somehow, it filled his entire head.
"Oh. Okay. I heard that, too," the Captain noted, blinking in surprise. "Did it ever say where?"
"Here's a wild guess, kid," Sokolov grunted. "It's where this aircrew has been trying to go."
And now the Corporal's arms were twitching, too.
It seemed like even those with the dampeners started to feel the effects now.
And if that wasn't enough—
"What if we let them go and see what happens?" Dmitry suggested, his grip already loosening on his men. "Like, we want to find their lab or something anyway, right?"
"If that feels like a good idea," Degtyarev grunted. "You're already under their influence."
Crap. And here Konrad was trying to fight it from the start.
He thought that bringing some help along would make things easier, but no.
Yuri finally managed to yank up the sleeve of his jacket and bite down hard on his forearm.
"Oh, for fucks sake, stop it," he cried out, trying to push the miniature Stalker away. "I don't even care if it's a bad idea anymore. I'm with the Captain on this one. Let's see where they would go."
And no. It wasn't the voice taking over his mind.
It was his frustration speaking, as someone always tried to worm their way in, no matter what.
He missed the happy times when only his Haremettes had private conversations in his head.
Heck, even when the parallel brain was messing with them, that was so much better.
Konrad had had enough.
Enough of voices, of control, or of trying to pin Yuri for his own good, only to get his arm bitten by him in return. He prepared to face the heart of the Zone, not his own allies.
And if the voice tried to lure them somewhere dangerous—
He'd destroy the source as well.
"Is this where you try to vote on what to do next, then I announce that I outrank you all?" Major Degtyarev asked, rolling his eyes. Somehow, he handled this situation better than the rest.
But that didn't make him Konrad's friend.
"This is not a military mission," he pointed out. "I came here for a reason. You can follow me and help out—or you can stay out of my way, and we're all good."
Yeah. It should have been that simple, but—
"What if I stop you right here and now?" the officer snickered. The twitching had finally caught up to him, too, and it seemed like the last of them was about to fold to the voices as well.
Their sanity was slipping away. Konrad was no exception.
And the odd thing was that he didn't even consider following those whispers.
But like the Major, reaching for his sidearm—
He felt like he could explode from his anger.