An experienced stalker, Jager, never even imagined that the squad he led through the Empty Lands would cowardly leave him to die in the Zone—mutilated, with a broken leg, without a weapon and without any means of survival. But his spirit was stronger than death. Jager tries to get out of the Empty Lands, and only burning hatred and a thirst for revenge against those who doomed him to a monstrous death make him cling desperately to life. Yet the path to salvation won’t be easy: helpless prey in the infected territory is waiting for the vicious spawn of the Zone—bloodsuckers, pseudo-giants, bürers, zombies… And even if Jager manages to break through the anomalous fields and escape the Zone alive, will he remain the same, or will the unimaginable suffering he has endured turn him into someone completely different?