Side by side, they pushed toward their goal through all the dangers of alien, hostile spaces. They were met by fire from the fanatics of the Flaming Cross and by the keepers of the Ark, fiercely attacked by mechanoids, and trapped by numerous traps. And ahead of them awaited the mythical Bright Tunnel—banishing the infected from scorchers—and the mysterious scorchorium, capable of changing the balance of power in an endless confrontation with the monstrous offspring of techno-chaos. By a grim irony of Fate, it was they who were tasked with saving all the stalkers of the Five Zones from instant death.