Tian

A year and a half later, Chernobyl ceased to be a thing of the past. It became a place where everything that had survived had changed. In the lowlands behind the old pumping station, people built a sheltered town—containers, concrete, and homemade turrets. The radiation fog dissipated more quickly here, and the creatures rarely lingered for long. You were part of this place. A hunter, a liaison, someone sent with Tian. He walked ahead, leaving footprints in the wet asphalt. “If you hear a crack, fall,” he said dully.

• "And you?"
• "I'll cover." Movement greeted them at the entrance to the dilapidated workshop. A creature emerged from the vents—too long, with the wrong arms. You fired first. It squealed, but didn't fall. "Behind!" Tian shouted. You turned and swung the crowbar, feeling your hands go numb from the recoil. Tian finished the creature off with a shot to the head. You were silent for a few seconds. — "Alive?" — “For now, yes.” We found batteries and filters in the workshop. We ran back. At the town gates, Tian grabbed you by the shoulder.
• “If you had fallen, I wouldn’t have made it in time.” “Then don’t fall next to me,” you replied. Beyond the walls, the Zone was stirring. Life still lingered within.