I was leaving the Agroprom fully loaded. Not really a wise decision not to have the ability to be able to sprint a good distance to attack or escape danger. No excuse other than the greed of a backpack full of plundered supplies, better weapons and found artifacts. I traveled the road eastward towards Garbage as dusk set. As I entered the Garbage level it was night and not the best place to linger in indecision. Do I go north to see if Duty will now let me pass to Rostok or south to the safety of the Cordon where Sidorovich awaits me? A safe path was known going south but the way north was more difficult. Just once had I taken a shortcut behind the Hanger cutting along the edge of a wooded area with a rock abutment to keep my back to for safety. I had heard some mutant dogs but had not seen them.
Now it was pitch black and I quickly left the road and scambled up the steep hill at the edge of a barbed-wire fence. I reached the top and the trees became thicker. I heard dogs at the bottom and decided not to turn on my headlamp and give myself away. I went as far as I could until I came to the edge of a vertical drop and had no choice but to carefully walk along the edge descending now east to the wooded area below. This was the most dangerous point. To be able to slip past the mutants and then back north. I stumbled along and then darted around the crevice to horizontal ground. No sooner had I changed my direction when I heard the growl of a creature that was not a dog. I whipped around to face 2 huge white crescent-shaped eyes just a meter from me. My AKS-74U was ready and I blasted away at point blank range. I turned on my headlamp and saw the lifeless body of a Chimera before me. This is not what I was expecting and terror quickly filled my mind as I knew they rarely traveled alone. I immediately extinguished my headlamp and briskly continued northward with my gun facing to the rear as I walked. The seconds passed like minutes and the minutes like an hour as I made it back to the Hanger. Never again would I use this path like this at night.