“The suit fits good, yeah?” the Rebekah said as she tapped at her datapad. She tossed her shoulder-length hair to the side as she stared at the scrolling data.

“It is weird. It fits very well, but I can’t feel it,” I said as I twisted my torso back and forth. The suit didn’t seem to register on my body despite its thickness. I could feel the extra compression when I poked myself, however.

The new hazard suit by Ming Heavy Industries looked like a cross between a surfer’s wet-suit, and winter clothing. Thick, but form-fitting.

Though it did feel odd to the touch, every poke and every millimeter felt as if it was my own nervous system. The neural linkup was flawless. I didn’t register any problems as I moved about.

The tenth generation hazard suit was amazing.

I stared down at my hands, at the carbon fiber skin, and touched the two multi-tools on the table. The multi-tool for physical interactions. From wrench to a screwdriver, to drill. It did it all!

Its inert shape was a ring. A wristband that could form into an arm brace if needed. I felt the smooth metal against my fingers, and it reacted by sliding across, and through my fingers before solidifying around my wrists.

I then touched the two guns. Provided by the world military, these prototypes were escorted by their own personal guards. These fine boys and girls would also accompany me into the new danger zone.

The two, heavy cases open showcased a large, metal brick that shined like gold.

I touched the first one closest to me.

My internal systems registered the foreign device, but nothing happened.

Rebekah nodded as she tapped at her datapad again. She quickly found the prepared section for this part, and I saw a prompt pop up. It was a mystery invite to install an unknown application.

I blinked at the notice, and Rebekah huffed at my hesitation.

Hey, you grow up with wet work systems, go through school where every teacher told you the same thing. Never install unknown programs!

I shook my head and mentally tapped yes.

The large, heavy encrypted key was then buried into my subconscious and the app itself vanished as my system unregistered its existence.

When I tapped at the steel brick again, it registered and moved. Much like the multi-tool, these special forces armaments moved up my arms and settled around my forearms. It created a thick, and heavy plate.

The second brick moved around my entire body, encasing mine in a matte black suit of armor. It looked like the original film of carbon fiber.

Rebekah frowned as she held up a plastic tool. It looked like a mini satellite dish mounted onto a gunstock. This was the only tool I would be physically holding in my hands.

The prototype radiation reader that was miniaturized from probes to a handheld for humans. It felt like a plastic toy, despite its robust nature.

I tapped at the display screen, and my internal system accepted the offered program that was signed by Ming Heavy Industries. The company that did everything.

Rebekah held a small silver sphere in her hands and held it against my face. The ball liquefied and wrapped me in a cold chokehold. My system connected with the higher grade camera system I had tested yesterday.

“You are good to go. The simulation has been optimized, and even with twice the predicted radiation, you will be safe,” Rebekah said as her usually hard eyes softened.

I nodded back at my partner of ten years and nodded. For all of her bluster, Rebekah could be a sweetheart… even if it only meant that she would rather break in a new partner if I died.

I hopped from foot to foot, making no sound as the insole of the suit made no sound. The exoskeleton would also allow me to fluidly move around. I could power skip, prancing around in meters per step.

At full tilt, I could ‘run’ at a sustainable 110km/h.

I settled down, as I didn't want to run into the wall again. That was an embarrassing first day. Rebekah never did let me live it down, and that was a decade ago. I carefully proceeded to walk out of my fitting room, and I found the special forces waiting for me.

The dozen men and women looked exactly like I did. Matte black, and overly large. We were like mannequins given life considering that we reflected little light, and had no discernible features that would be associated with humanity.

“Ready when you are,” Leader One said as she greeted me. My Internal system had her call sign in letters, while everyone else was regulated to numbers.

“Good to go, captain!” I chirped as I began walking to the APC.

“Don’t worry kid, you are in safe hands!” soldier 3 said with a laugh. His massive frame towered over me, and he slapped my back. Even with my suits armor and its impressive counter system to force, I was pushed forward by nearly 20cm.

Central’s elite task force.

I smiled as I knew that if the radiation did get really bad, they could pull me back out as well. Unlike my squishy mortal bodies, their cybernetic enhancements would definitely work well enough even if mine failed.

The Helio-APC landed with a whisper, and two of the squad stayed to guard the vehicle. They could move as needed, and provide support in case the ‘monster’ of Chernobyl popped up.

The Helio-APC would also act as a secure line of communication with the outpost a few clicks out. The mishmash of a government operation was stamped everywhere.

Scientific outpost. Military presence. Supply lines, and eager masses tuning in for the upcoming streams of data.

The community was debated on what the creature was. The current leading hypothesis was a mutant bear that somehow survived a tense encounter with something very radioactive, and thus able to not only survive the environment but actually thrive inside the power station itself.

“Radiation is… 0.714?” I reported as I raised the tool up higher in case I was somehow using it wrong. We tested this. This tool worked fine when we used it last week. Hell Rebekah told me she tested it earlier today on the calibration samples.

“What do you mean 0.714?” Rebekah said as she observed my feed. She could see what I was seeing.

I huffed at her tone. We both knew that the average natural background radiation on earth was roughly 0.62 rems.

“Let's move in deeper. The radiation could have weakened across the last few hundred years?” soldier 6 said as she rotated her wrists.

I blinked and nodded. Yeah, that's not how radiation works, but let's go with it. I certainly didn’t have a better answer.

“Just beware of the Monster!” soldier 3 whispered out, and I heard chuckles across the channel.

We made our way in. I was now regretting stopping off so far away, but the council had wanted to see the effects of the disaster now that we could really focus on it.

The infamous redwood forest was all around us. Majestic trees untouched by industry filled the world… and not a lick of unnatural radiation was detected.

I frowned as we moved in. I checked my weapon systems just in case.

The houses were obviously abandoned. They looked like they were in good shape as well. Unless they weren’t.

Some buildings were definitely savaged by either a bomb or a monster.

The buildings lined the streets of what was one of a self-made community. Protected by the trees, we didn’t find it as they had purposefully built-in underneath the canopy of the forest.

The soldiers went silent as they switched to their private channels.

I simply meandered about, moving the radiation reader like an idiot. Almost nothing. I had microspikes on some of the firewood inside two of the broken buildings… but nothing else.

This was a predicted scenario, but Rebekah informed me of the various debates as the community lit up in flames. Thereof course was known decay of the various isotopes released by the accident… but this normalcy felt abnormal.

I examined the shattered shell of the house. It looked like it was shelled considering the large fragments I detected even a hundred meters away. Either a bomb went off, or they were playing with something explosive… which also meant bomb…

“The community is going crazy,” Rebekah observed as she watched the various polls wiggle as the various scientists voted on their favorite theory of why this unknown village was abandoned.

There where no corpses in the open, but we did find the local cemetery. An emptied cemetery.

No radiation… but there was also no corpses. Someone had dug them all up and took everything away.

The community was currently favoring the monster. I didn’t know if they were joking, or they believed it was real.

In the communication sub-chats, they were voting on a mega bear. Something that was eating radioactive things, and eating them whole.

I definitely did not want to find out, but I was also one of the few who could operate all of the required sensors with my own wet works. Their military hardware was nice, but more robust then scientifically broad spectrum.

“Well. The good news is we got nothing. The bad news is that we found nothing,” Leader One said as she popped up beside me.

I jumped. Rebekah laughed. I assume the community joined her.

I nodded and stared at the three dozen homes. Cheaply made from lumber, and where still in good condition for the most part. Which meant that they were here perhaps a few years ago.

I marked the various location where I found outhouses. The samples there and the cemetery would give great insight into their lifestyles. Unless we found a living villager that is.

I stared at Leader One and nodded.

It was time to move on.

We passed nearly three more villages before we hit Pripyat. The small city that once housed nearly 50,000 people was in rough shape.

The lack of maintenance had brought down all the buildings, and nature had reclaimed the land.

The rubble shifted, and occasionally crunched as we moved over the land, and through the various streets that were not overtaken by the trees.

The radiation was at 1.256-2.156!

Which meant it was above normal, but well below dangerous.

Hell if you went up to space via the orbital elevator, you were exposed to nearly 5.0 rems of radiation. A very safe limit considering that Central deemed anything under 100 to be completely safe.

Modern medicine could cure basic cancers. Unless you were hit with an extreme amount of radiation in a short period of time and had no access to a modern medical capsule.

The soldiers fanned out but kept a loose group as we made out way through various streets.

The next part of the plan would be to mark a safe landing zone and call in the Helio-APC. This would have been ignored if the radiation was still intense.

Instead, it seemed that we could just mark the position and set up a second outpost right here in the city.

The modular buildings could be dropped off, and the rest of the cleanup finished up within a year.

“No interference, and safe radiation readings…” Rebekah said as the line remained crystal clear. “I have sent over the Helio-APC, please head over to Pripyat zone A to check if it is suitable for the next stage.”

“Roger,” I replied as Leader One followed suit.

We began the fairly quick trek over.

I stared at the readings as I moved on. I was missing something here. It was on the tip of my tongue…

I huffed as I simply moved forward.

“What's wrong?” Rebekah asked as she heard me. I was stressed, and she could read and understand my readings better then I could.

“I am forgetting something. Something I wanted to do or say…” I said as I frowned. “I’ll remember in time. It was probably something stupid.”

“Knowing you… yes, it is stupid,” Rebekah lightly huffed back at me. I could feel her smile despite the lack of my visual to visual connection.

—

“The site is Secure. Pripyat Zone A is safe and suitable for stage 2 operations,” Leader One informed.

I was staring at the buildings. It was a shame that none of the structures had survived, but that's how the world went. I doubted that they even had high construction expectations as the time period was lax with quality control.

Today everything was printed with a dozen safety points of inspections. There hadn’t been a manufacturing-related death in decades, outside of external forces like natural disasters.

“What's bugging you,” soldier 2 asked as she walked up to me.

“I am forgetting something. Its really bugging me,” I confessed as I moved my radar gun around. There was no real change. There was a minor spike of rems of radiation.

The new high score was 2.668!

“Heh. I am sure you going to remember at 1 am. I know I do when I am about to go to sleep,” she replied as she tapped my shoulder.

“Haha. Yeah. I am sure its something stupid,” I answered as I heard an odd zippy noise. My reader dinged, as it finally registered something.

I moved the reader around, but what did I pick up?

“Movement detected! 6 O’Clock!” soldier 5 hissed.

I moved my reader and stopped. The zipping sound increased as I felt as if lightning had struck my body.

I knew what I forgot.

“Leader ONE!” I screamed.

“Busy!” she replied. Her voice was terse but professional.

“Is this the first sign of movement from something other than us!?” I hollered back, ignoring her answer.

“Yes! This is the first…” she snapped back, and then immediately stopped. Realization dawning on her as it did me.

We were in a forest. Untouched by civilization for the longest time.

Where was all of the fauna!?

Chernobyl had become something of a wilderness sanctuary since the disaster in 1986, and the government deficit of 2025 pushed it back in priority. They never bothered with it again as turmoil would plague the government until 2110 when Central took over.

Central was busy with off-world expansion, and Chernobyl was put on the back burner. For a very long time.

Hundreds of years of verified sightings. Carefully cataloged species.

“All units, arms up! Verify, and if it is hostile, shoot to kill!” Leader One screamed out as she switched channels.

“Don’t worry. We got you covered,” soldier 2 said as she commanded her armaments to activate. They molded out of her forearms and revealed an elegant single-barreled gun.

I looked at my arms and activated the program.

The same weapon formed, and targeting reticles popped up.

A helpful tutorial informed me of how to use it.

Point barrel. Reticle follows. Put some oomph into the will to kill. Fill the target up with nanite rounds that would pierce flesh, and dissolve the target before returned to me. Then fire again.

I pointed my radiation reader at the designated mover, and my readings began to spike.

8.011

45.586

147.437

1,248.144

“Whatever it is, it is highly radioactive!” I screamed out.

Rebekah said something, but I missed it as I watched the readings spike.

[Pew]

A soft sound of a nanite round discharging caught my attention. I saw my readier spike over 2,000 but I was more interested in why someone fired.

Then I saw it.

[Pew][Pew][Pew][Pew][Pew][Pew][Pew]

[Pew][Pew][Pew][Pew][Pew][Pew][Pew]

The soldiers all unleashed into it.

It stood tall. Five solid meters. That was with it hunched over.

It was both withered, but also bloated. I could clearly see its skeletal structure, but its stomach sagged with… stuff…

Its muscles looked like melted tar. Its roar however was very real.

The sudden loping form had us bouncing back. The group zig zagged as they kept firing.

I raised my left arm and began to fire, letting the targeting system help as I eyeballed the radiation info.

18,145.448

What the hell!?

“Why isn’t the nanites working?” Leader One finally pipped in. The monster was supposed to be melting!

Everything else she had fired against eventually melted! From organics to freaking lead-filled barriers. Only intense temperatures stopped them.

“Its probably the extremely lethal levels of radiation it is giving off,” Rebekah replied. Her eyes were nearly having a seizure as it was taking in a flood of new information.

The community feeds were going supernova as every scientist was now screaming at each other in fascination, horror, and detached analytical statements.

134,887.477

My suit was now giving me warnings as I had somehow entered the predicted number for what was supposed to be the building of the nuclear reactor. This was just a crazy monster.

How was it giving off radiation!?

Was this the red hulk!?

The monster fully hit soldier 8. A think lanky man I never saw talk.

The oddly human hand and overly thick nails simply sliced into, and out of soldier 8. The man slumped to the floor, blood pooling as the medical systems did absolutely nothing.

3,877,124.448

The little yellow warning for radiation had turned orange. Then to a deep red color as we continued to fire.

[RATATATATATATATTATATATATA]

The heavy stream of armor-piercing rounds slammed into the ground. It centered and the monster was under a constant stream of anti-material rounds.

Which was extra scary, since it only swayed back and forth. It raised a hand and rounds began to tear away at the thinner, and finer limbs of its fingers.

It screeched. An echoing pulse before it looked at us. Dull gray eye sockets that bubbled with that tar-like liquid. Its blood was equally gray.

It turned around and began to hustle away.

I immediately ran up to soldier 8. The man wasn’t moving. His system was unresponsive. His wounds were registering over 1,000,000 rems.

I pulled out the special med kit I was briefed on two days ago. Choose the color. Green for light. Yellow for emergencies. Red for absolutely critical conditions.

I jabbed all three in and the medical solution went to work. I then sprayed the wound close with the medical fiber foam.

“WHAT WAS THAT!?” Soldier 3 screamed. It immediately triggered everyone to start talking at once.

“Stop,” Leader One said. They obeyed.

I raised an eyebrow. Special forces indeed.

“Whatever it is, it is heading towards Chernobyl. We are landing,” pilot 1 informed. The Helio-APC hissed as its anti-gravity system adjusted for the sudden drop.

“Load up 8. We are leaving. Now,” Leader One ordered.

I pointed the radiation reader towards the battlefield.

134,789.444

The residual radiation was decaying at a notable rate. Though as I moved the reader towards its escape route…

44,370.001

“It can adjust its output… and potentially. Somehow. Consume radiation?” Rebekah theorized as it was obviously roaming about. Yet the land seemed clean.

Someone clapped my shoulder and I jumped.

It was only the built-in IFF that I didn’t accidentally shoot Leader One.

She stared at my weapon, then at me.

I sheepishly deactivated the weapon.

“We need to go. Now. Or you are walking back,” she said as she turned and walked away.

I followed.

I sat beside the door, and it closed as we lifted off and sped back to base.

A medical team and capsule would be ready for us.

In the distance, along with the setting sun, I stared at the shadow of Chernobyl.

Bear my ass.