Prip'Yat: The Beast of Chernobyl Read online

  Prip’Yat

  The Beast of Chernobyl

  By

  Mike Kraus

  Bestselling Author of the

  Final Dawn Series

  © 2012, Mike Kraus

  [email protected]

  www.mikekrausbooks.com

  Other Books by Mike Kraus:

  Final Dawn: Episode 1

  Final Dawn: Episode 2

  Final Dawn: Episode 3

  Final Dawn: Episode 4

  Final Dawn: Episode 5

  Final Dawn: Season 1 (Kindle Edition)

  Final Dawn: Season 1 (Paperback)

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, without permission in writing from the author.

  To my readers:

  Thank you.

  Without you, these books wouldn’t be possible.

  Sincerely,

  Mike Kraus

  A Note from the Author

  Chernobyl and the nearby town of Prip’Yat (more commonly spelled as Pripyat or Pripiat, though I prefer the alternate spelling) have always held a special interest for me, and in researching and writing this book I pulled on firsthand photos, videos and satellite imagery of the area.

  You can actually trace the path the characters take through the city, as I’ve only taken a few artistic liberties with the geography to help move the story along. Some of the locations have been changed or removed to help guide the story, but in general, I kept Prip’Yat as close as possible to how it exists in reality.

  Wikimapia.org was especially helpful in this regard, providing both satellite and ground photography of the city that I consulted throughout my research and writing phases. Numerous reference and government sites were also invaluable in providing hard facts about the day of the Chernobyl disaster and the events surrounding the weeks and months afterward.

  I've also kept as faithful to the scientific, military and other issues as much as possible, though - again - a few minor liberties have been taken to ensure that the story stays on track.

  Table of Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Introduction

  On April 26, 1986, at approximately 1:23 AM Moscow time, reactor number four of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. The explosion was devastating enough that it utterly destroyed the reactor casing and caused chains of explosions throughout the building, decimating all hopes of containment. When compared with the radioactive material released by the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, the explosion at Chernobyl released four hundred times more radioactive material into the atmosphere.

  Caused by a critical overload of the reactor core due in part to human error and design flaws, the Chernobyl accident was by far the largest nuclear power disaster in history. Direct death estimates from the explosion and short-term extreme radiation exposure range from thirty-one to sixty-four, with tens of thousands more expected to die from cancer caused by exposure to radiation. These individuals include workers at the plant at the time of the explosion and residents of the nearby city of Prip’Yat, located just a few kilometers from Chernobyl.

  Designed and built as a home for the thousands of workers at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Prip’Yat stands as one of the foremost examples of a true ghost town on the planet. The initial evacuation did not start until the day after the disaster, after many residents were already experiencing symptoms of severe radiation exposure. Buses arrived and evacuated the fifty thousand residents over a period of just a few hours on April 27. The evacuation was only supposed to be temporary at first as the authorities tried to downplay the severity of the explosion. It quickly became apparent that the situation was more serious, though, and the evacuation became permanent.

  Because the evacuation was originally only supposed to last for a few days, most residents left all of their personal belongings in their homes. Traces of these belongings still exist throughout the city to this day. A great deal of the area has been torn apart and stolen away by thieves and vandals, but most of it still stands as a contaminated monument to the scale of the disaster.

  Prip’Yat has also stood as a source of fear, inspiring stories that tell of mutants, ghosts, and the undead that still walk its streets. A combination of radiation, animal mutations, nearby deaths, and the restlessness of the human imagination all fuel these rumors. Overnight journeys into the city are prohibited and daytime tours are limited in duration to protect visitors. Officially, the reasons for these prohibitions are to prevent tourists from being exposed to radiation and the danger of collapsing buildings.

  Unofficially, rumors are still spoken about the monsters of Prip’Yat that supposedly roam the streets at night, preying on the few unfortunates who dare trespass on their domain. Of the few vagabonds and miscreants who have entered the city under the cover of darkness to steal what valuables still remain, few ever make a second trip. Their stories are not easily extracted, and they spend the rest of their days living in mortal fear of the darkness. Whether they are better off or worse off than the ones who never return from the city, though, is up for debate.

  Chapter One

  Yuri Volkov | Dimitri Alexeiev

  Dimitri and Yuri hurried through the woods, using the cover of twilight to advance. Their flashlights were off and their skin was covered with dark clothing, hiding all but their hands and faces. They whispered to each other as they knelt in the soft grass, catching their breath as their pants were dampened by the dew on the ground.

  “We need to move, Dimitri. The air in this field is foul and I swear that I can feel the radiation seeping into my bones!”

  Dimitri punched his younger cousin lightly in the shoulder and whispered in return. “Will you shut up already? You’re always going on about the doom and gloom, never positive about anything! We’ll be just fine. Check your radiation meter and let’s get going.”

  Yuri looked down at his chest, verifying that his disposable radiation measurement tag was still within the safe levels. He shook his head as Dimitri sprinted off, wishing that he had never listened to his cousin. It was Dimitri’s idea to go on this silly trip, of course. Everything they did was Dimitri’s idea. This adventure was so much more different than the others, though. Their parents thought they were at a school camp, gone for three nights, when they were actually sneaking through a forbidden forest and past military checkpoints.

  Come on cousin! It’ll be fun! We’ll camp for one night and be back home before anyone thinks to check with the school! Dimitri’s confident voice still rung in Yuri’s ears as he ran after his cousin, bounding through the thick grass of the open field just past the wooded area.

  Prip’Yat had been abandoned for years, but there were always stories and rumors, urban legends of people who had stayed past the evacuation, living with the radiation until it changed them, mutating them into something both less
and more than human. For the two cousins, it had always been a source of midnight whisperings and late night talk about what creatures could be lurking in the dark, waiting to feast upon any travelers who ventured too far into the Exclusion Zone.

  The stories were all myths, or so people had insisted. Tourists had been traveling into the Exclusion Zone for years, starting in 2002 after the government decided that the city’s radiation levels were low enough that it could be opened for tourism purposes. Tour operators popped up all throughout Kiev once this policy was put into place, and within a few years hundreds of tourists were traveling back and forth to Prip’Yat, gazing upon the city frozen irrevocably in time.

  The boys were not convinced, though. The rumors had still persisted. Every tourist who was injured, every mysterious sighting and every disappearing face in a window all served to fuel the boys’ imaginations. Once they grew to be seventeen and eighteen, most of their peers had moved on from the stories of Prip’Yat, focusing instead on girls and vodka, but Dimitri and Yuri continued to be fascinated. Every night they would meet at one of their families’ homes, whispering late into the night about new things they had found out about the city, both real and imagined.

  The arrival of the chance to see Prip’Yat by themselves without being burdened by a tour group came in the early fall, when their school traditionally held camping retreats for the students. Dimitri and Yuri found out that the retreats in the final year of school had been canceled, but their parents hadn’t been informed, and were fully expecting their children to attend camp just like they always had. Seizing this opportunity, Dimitri spent a full week convincing Yuri to travel with him into the Exclusion Zone, taking an overnight trip into a place they had spent most of their childhood dreaming about.

  Residents who grew up in the cities near Prip’Yat were not often the ones to visit. In fact, Dimitri and Yuri’s parents were strongly opposed to the idea of venturing into the area, thinking it foolhardy that anyone would wish to put themselves in danger by traveling to such a place. Radiation was not the only danger, after all. Wild animals, buildings in danger of collapse and the checkpoints full of guards with itchy trigger fingers were all a concern. A full week of cajoling finally wore Yuri down, though, and he relented, agreeing to travel with Dimitri into the Exclusion Zone.

  They decided that they would leave late in the afternoon, take a friend’s car to the edge of the forest, then hike the rest of the way in. They would spend the night and following day in the city, then hike out early the next afternoon, returning before they were missed. Dimitri had planned everything out, going so far as to smuggle a Kalash out of his uncle’s house a few nights before they left. Both boys had shot the Kalash a few times, but Yuri thought Dimitri was crazy for bringing it.

  The most produced rifle in the world, the Avtomat Kalashnikova was as simple as it was elegant. Due to its low manufacturing cost and foolproof design, dozens of imitations of the AK-47 had been made by a variety of countries. There was still some pride in owning one of the original AK’s that was produced, though. Designed to be incredibly durable, the Kalash could fire in the heat, cold, rain, mud, sand and just about any other condition on earth.

  While most other guns on the battlefield would seize up under bad conditions, the AK-47 thrived in them, requiring virtually no maintenance even after being used and abused. This durability contributed to its popularity, and it quickly became the most illicitly trafficked gun in the entire world. Countries from Albania to China to Venezuela all made their own Kalashnikova variants, some legally and some not. The popularity of the AK-47 was no different in the Ukraine, where many of the ten million firearms in the nation consisted of various AK variants.

  “What if the guards catch us with it?” he hissed upon seeing the weapon.

  “And what if we run into the wild dogs without it, cousin?”

  “That’s just another good reason to stay home, Dimitri.” Yuri’s cousin had simply smiled at this as he wrapped the assault rifle back up in a thick piece of cloth and stashed it under his bed for safekeeping.

  Huffing and puffing as he ascended the hill, Yuri had to admit that he was glad they had brought the gun that was currently strapped tight to his cousin’s back. Dimitri was very much the soldier, wanting to emulate everything a soldier did, from what they wore to how they walked. Being out on an adventure such as this made this attribute even worse, and Yuri had already forced himself to keep from rolling his eyes at his cousin several times that night.

  “There, cousin, do you see?” Dimitri pointed out into the distance, a few miles away, to where the power station was silhouetted against the edge of the rising moon. “We’re but an hour away, now!” Yuri hurried down the hill after Dimitri who was practically running at this point, hurrying to reach the city before nightfall.

  Chapter Two

  Iosif Seleznev | Lucas Pokrov

  Iosif and Lucas ran noiselessly down the pavement, scanning to their left and right as they jogged along. Their military boots had received special treatment with a material that reduced their sound in an effort to make them as stealthy as possible. Spread out a few dozen yards from each other, the men breathed heavily as they ran, sweat pouring down their faces. They had been running for over an hour already, and still had another half hour to go before they could stop.

  The sun had finally started to set when the helicopter carrying the two Spetsnaz officers had dropped them off near the border of Ukraine and Belarus. Though both officers were Russian, the Ukrainian government had made a special plea for their country’s assistance. After a few months of negotiations, the Russian government agreed that it was in the best interest of both countries to send in the covert operatives instead of relying on the local militia, and the top-secret operation began in earnest.

  The briefing that Iosif and Lucas received before they left was lacking in detail, as usual, but this particular mission had an air of mysteriousness about it that Lucas was not used to. At 34 years old, Iosif Seleznev was the older of the two officers, with Lucas Pokrov being a mere 27. They had worked together for three years, honing their skills and learning how each other thought so that they could become more effective in combat.

  Most of their work had consisted of up front and undercover warfare. Defusing hostage situations, performing anti-terrorism operations, fighting in secret wars overseas and taking on the types of jobs that no other military outfit in their country was capable of handling. This job, however, was different than those.

  Your orders are to infiltrate the city of Prip’Yat, which has been emptied of visitors for the next seventy-two hours. You are to cross through the city and the Chernobyl power plant, looking for any signs of strange disturbances roaming the area. Lucas could still hear the briefing they had received, remembering how they had glanced at each other, rolling their eyes at the phrase “strange disturbances.” Their orders were clear, though, and they had deployed just two days later, in the midafternoon via a small helicopter that dumped them in a field near the northern road leading into the city.

  Once their boots hit the ground, the pair ceased their whispered mocking of the mission description and fell into silence. Regardless of how absurd they thought their mission to be, it was their job to carry out their orders, no matter how they personally felt about them.

  When the moon just started to peek over the horizon, the two men stopped, kneeling on the pavement as they reviewed their GPS trackers and radiation detectors.

  “Rads in the green.” Lucas scanned the ground and the surrounding air with the radiation detector.

  “We’re on course,” Iosif whispered back. “Switch to your filters once we hit the grass.”

  Lucas nodded and unconsciously felt his chest to make sure his face mask filter was still in place. Though the dangers of radiation in Prip’Yat were somewhat exaggerated, there were still hot patches of radiation where you could get a potentially lethal dose if you stood still for too long. Along with moving quickly through foliage, th
e two would wear their face masks at all times to keep from inhaling radioactive particles.

  Iosif slid the GPS unit back into a pouch on his vest and motioned for them to continue forward. Lucas waited until Iosif was several paces ahead before he stood up and began jogging along as well. They were within sight of the bridge on the north end of the city. Once the bridge was crossed, they would go into full tactical mode, shouldering their weapons and preparing to combat any threats they faced.

  Chapter Three

  Yuri Volkov | Dimitri Alexeiev

  The silence of the city of Prip’Yat was unique and deafening, a constant reminder of the emptiness of the area. Once a bustling metropolis, home to fifty thousand residents, it was but a ghost town now, one of the only true ghost towns still left in the world. Completely abandoned with naught but a few hours’ notice, the residents of the city had only enough time to carry themselves out during the evacuation. There was no time to grab anything beyond a few personal possessions, but most of the residents – believing they would only be evacuated for a few days – didn’t even take those. Apartment buildings that once held thousands of people were now empty, towering into the sky, their windows and doors broken from the vandals and looters who were foolish enough to enter the city.