The village of Antechamber is in many ways similar to the dozens other villages in the Zone. Abandoned, empty houses, rusting vehicles, convenience stores with barren shelves. The dream of an urban explorer, and that of a bandit leader seeking refuge for his men. The Black Slugs had arrived here before the humiliating defeat in the hands of Dimuha and his Redemption forces, but only after this failure did they arrive en masse. This had been their stronghold, with even a bar they had fashioned in an abandoned bunker at the village's outskirts, drilled for some purpose in the strong cliffs there. It was a natural defensible location, located in a small valley with varying geometry, small tunnels circling the bunker. It would have taken a company to dislodge the dozens of Black Slugs located in this village.

But as Dimka pushed into the village, DVL held high for any enemies, he only encountered corpses. Men torn to pieces, others still locked in a struggle with their knives locked in each others' chests. It was like some madness had gripped the men here and driven them to fratricide. Dimka found himself musing that perhaps here it was better to call it "bratricide", but the sheer ferocity of the scene soon turned all humour sour. There were dead bodies everywhere, in repainted CS suits possibly freshly looted from Clear Sky, trenchcoats, LC suits and leather jackets. The height of the butchery was in the bar, which Dimka found by following a trail of corpses. The trail ended with a Black Slug corpse in an trenchcoat-exo, his machine gun half-loaded and his skull broken with what looked like a mace-blow.

Inside the bar, Dimka passed the mace-wielder in improvised exoskeleton, having been shredded by buckshot. The corridor had other corpses similarly smashed to pieces, looked like the guy did not go down without a fight. The bar reminded Dimka of 100 Rads, except, well, this one was covered in dead men in slime-coloured suits. The bartender, a fat man with a shotgun, had clearly put on a fight, but his own kitchen knives were now embedded in his torso. Dimka began to wonder if it would be best to simply get the hell out of this slaughterhouse, but the need to find out what had caused this kept him going.

There was a backdoor in the bar which led to a complex behind the main area. There, in the corridor, couple Black Slugs had perished, and in the final room with a large table and a safe, the biggest rogue bandit he had seen in proper, green exoskeleton sat, head blown up. Looked like even the Black Slug commander had bit the bullet. Death of the Black Slugs, by their very own hands. Dimka was exasperated that no explanation to this murder frenzy seemed apparent, and out of frustration, he kicked one of the chairs down. It sent the papers on the table flying. This revealed a small hand-drawn map of the area.

Dimka decided to check it while waiting for rest of Redemption to appear. On it, the place with the military base was mentioned to be off limits by the orders of the "mercs", who Dimka presumed to be UNISG. There was also mention of a cave near the Tuzla tunnel entrance, a village on the other side of the hill and a factory behind the military base. This place was much larger than it first appeared to be, Dimka thought to himself. Near the map was the leader's notebook, and Dimka checked some of the notes on it. It was mostly unusable stuff, lists of artefacts, weapons and suits in the use of Black Slugs, notions on who to promote in their organization and crudely drawn pictures of genitalia. However, there was a couple mentions of lost patrols near the other village and cave, and orders from UNISG "mercs" to stay away from the northern town.

"Could be that the cave is the answer to this. Or the military base. Either way, this may be just what we need. Just a bit more recon and we'll be wiser.", Dimka muttered to himself.

"Dimka, we're at the edge of the village. Where are you, over?", Boris' voice echoed in the radio.

"At the bar. Wait there, I think I've got a lead. I'm coming over... uh, over.", Dimka replied, taking the the map and note before heading out.

The rest of his squad was at the convenience store by the village edge. It had been the local community's weapon shop by the looks, with many of the guns and ammo crates still in place. The squad was inside, checking the goods and resupplying from the ammunition pool. Dimka entered the room just as Sanyok was checking a Maxim machine gun with a crudely attached stock to it.

"This is the most cursed gun design I've ever seen, and I lived with renegades for years.", Felka said and made a gagging sound.

"I kind of like it. But I'm not going to lug it around, and besides, big bulky weapons are more of Boris' jam.", Sanyok laughed.

"Hiram Maxim is rolling in his grave.", Dima groaned.

"We're in a village full of butchered corpses and you lot are talking of some janky gun?", Dimka butted in.

"Ah, good evening to you too, Dimka. Mind telling us what you've learned so we may have something else to do than just argue about weird guns?", Boris asked, clearly not interested in gun discussion today.

Dimka showed the squad his findings, and they held a quick discussion on which lead to follow. Boris suggested that they send two groups to both locations, in the hopes of finishing this quicker. Sevka objected, feeling like this would only leave them vulnerable in case UNISG was here in force. Dimka proposed that he and Sevka would go to observe the UNISG base and see how strong they were.

"I actually recommend Dima for that. Sevka's shotgun may prove useful in the cave, while Dima is stealthiest guy we have. That task requires stealth above all else.", Sanyok chimed in.

"Good point. I'm on board unless Sevka wants to go?", Dima asked, and Sevka shook his head.

"Sanyok has a point, I agree, and besides, I liked cave diving back home.", Sevka said with a short smile.

"I can't for the life of me imagine you having fun, but alright. Shall we, Dima?", Dimka asked, and the Redemption leader nodded.

The scout patrol left the store, and Boris took the lead of the remaining men. They checked their gear, took a bite of food and set out for the cave on the hillside. On the way, Sanyok distributed psi-pills for the squad, theorizing that it would require a psi-emitter or psi-creature to cause such havoc. Each men took their own pill, feeling the typical nausea and weariness set in afterwards. The meadow they travelled through was far too open for Boris' liking, but thankfully no enemies were in sight. On the cliffside below, an overgrown pond had three boars using to quench their thirst, but other than that, there were few mutants to speak of.

"Is it normal for the Zone to be so... empty? I know I've been here far less than you guys, but it feels like the outside world, with even no wild dogs around.", Sevka spoke out.

"It may be because of the distance from the centre of the Zone, or the relatively new nature of this area inside the borders of the Zone. After all, this has been part of the Zone for less than a year. If you squint, you can even see the old border fence in the distance.", Sanyok pondered.

"Or it may be that there is something so horrifying here that even mutants want to stay out.", Stepukha said in a steel-cold tone.

"That too. I hope we do not meet any Alpha Karliks or Veles part 2's out here, blyat.", Boris sighed.

The group fell back to silence with everyone wondering the cause of this lack of mutants and the fate of the Black Slugs. Soon enough, they made it back to the rock face that they had emerged from, but this part of the hillside was thankfully climbable. The group made their way up, Felka, Stepukha and Boris easily making it to the top first in their exoskeletons and Sanyok and Sevka coming behind, cursing and panting. The cave was right in front of them, a gaping maw emerging from the solid rock. On the other side of this rocky outcrop was a small camp with a tent and campfire, albeit the fire had gone out days before. It was probably where the lost patrol of Black Slugs had camped in.

Boris took the lead as they stepped into the tunnel, their flashlight powering up to combat the darkness. There was a chamber not too long from the entrance, where another campfire was located. Next to it were two stuffed mutants, a bloodsucker and a pseudodog. Boris looked at them in confusion, which almost cost him his life when three bullets struck his armour. Sevka pushed him out of the way, a remarkable feat given the weight of Boris and the Absolver, and the Spaniard's shotgun fired thrice into a Black Slug hiding in the corner. Another jumped into the room from a hole in the ground and fired his AK carbine wildly.

"Coppers! Get to the van brothers, this jig is a bust!", he yelled as bullets from Felka and Sanyok struck him down.

"What the hell was he on about?", Felka asked when the gunshots echoed out.

"No idea, how could you mistake us for a policeman?", Stepukha laughed.

"Keep your guns at the ready, looks like there is more to this place than just this chamber.", Boris ordered, nodding towards the hole the Black Slug ambusher had emerged from.

The squad descended through it to a cavernous space, lit by numerous campfires. The fires danced in the darkness, casting ominous shapes on the walls of the large cave structure. There were more stuffed mutants here, bloodsuckers, controllers, burers, karliks, even some Boris did not recognize. One ape-like mutant, with human-like face but gorilla-esque body structure. Large ball-like mutant with bulbous eyes, hooked into the ceiling with ropes. Volks, cats, dogs, tarks, chimeras. A gigantic spider. A bear the size of a tank. And in the very other side of the room was the most bizarre creature. It was very tall, with a bulbous, enormous head, but it was otherwise very thin. It reminded Boris of concentration camp survivors, so weak was its overall build. And its face was equally tiny in the otherwise huge head, with a small nose and tightly-lipped mouth.

"What the hell have we stumbled upon?", Boris managed to say.

But there was no reply. His comrades behind him had fallen to the floor, holding their heads, guns lodged into the dirt. And just as Boris was about to react, in the corner of his eye he saw the large humanoid mutant in the very end of the room move. He had assumed it to be stuffed as well, but as he turned the machine gun to face it, his legs collapsed under him and darkness engulfed the cave.