History Literature / TheAreal

* AllMenArePerverts: Nearly all men with whom Volodina interacts sees her as the lust object at best, or outright threats to rape her at worst.
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Ras's weird theory about relations between anomalies and metamorphites finally proves that it indeed works, when he, after checking positions of just three anomalies, quickly finds a good quality "Firefly" met.

-->'''Moneybag''': I have few clients left, they prefer to avoid our settlement. Globe is batshit crazy, and grabs his gun at slightest provocation. And his men are no better, half of the settlement consists of maniacs with few brain cells and lots of ammo. People who join us generally consist of those who were rejected or kicked out by the Mercenaries. Us, or Shoehorn. But Shoehorn is completely insane. We still wonder how Globe and Shoehorn still maintain their alliance, instead of killing each other just for fun.
* BatmanGambit: Merkulov, remembering how Aybolit saved wounded bandit over everyone's objections, decides to exploit his inability to leave injured people in peril as part o his (not yet entirely known) plan, by giving him another patient to work on -- Volodina; and indeed, the medic insists on leaving her on the base so he may finish treating her, instead of just moving her to the settlement after giving her first aid, and just supplying her with medicaments afterwards. While Tatiana isn't a spy ''yet'', Merkulov already works on that.
* DudeNotFunny: Ras reacts badly on the pretty harmless joke about Areal water (not even directed at him), due to his father being zombified after contact with water.
* EurekaMoment: If Magnet anomaly requires a lot of free space (like a bear road) to spawn and move, and there's barely enough place to spawn one, let alone ''four'' in the short time spawn, it means that firstly, the SOT was pursued by the same anomaly all along, which was trapped here after cataclysm, since its current location obviously would never produce that type of anomaly (each anomaly has special "requirements"); secondly, the secret entrance the SOT is looking for must be nearby, since it may be the only place where it initially spawned, before being trapped; thirdly, there are only few roads the Magnet can move through, so they only need to search for them, not the entire forest. With that in mind, the SOT is very close to find the lost research complex and all the mets and shards it contains.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Not even Obshyak would assault trading caravans: since trading is so crucial for everyone's survival, it would put absolutely everyone at your throat (attacking people anywhere else is the fair game, but even then they would rather take them alive). The sole person who doesn't care about this is [[TheUnfettered Merkulov]], who has ''no'' standards whatsoever. In fact, his shameless attempt to attack Vodyanoy right during trading was yet another clue which pointed Quartz to him.
* FalseFlagOperation: Merkulov causes Rasp a lot of troubles by attacking Oil-Miners (who were protected by Mercs at the time) while masked as Obshyak's gangsters.

* HeroWithBadPublicity: They were outlaws even prior to this, but now people believes that Bear and his men are outright maniacs, zombies or both. While obviously not ''everyone'' believes in this, this creates a lot of problems with dealing with the other people, especially since they only survives via trading.

* KaizoTrap: Serious problem when fighting a moose; if it manages to accumulate enough speed, it may still hit you even posthumously, which, considering it weights half-a-ton, wouldn't end well no matter how good your gear is. For that reason, when encountering a ''whole pack'' of them, Bear decides to just avoid them entirely.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: "President Crabsky" is an obvious reference to Vladimir Putin's infamous nickname "Crab", [[labelnote:Explanation]] One of Putin's speeches (where he compared himself to the "[[{{Workaholic}} slave on a ship]]") was misheard for him calling himself "crab" ("crab" sounds similar to the word "rab" – slave)[[/labelnote]] which also means that [[PuppetKing his weak-willed predecessor Vorobiev]] likely represents Dmitry Medvedev.

* SlaveryIsaSpecialKindOfEvil: Even Nikolaeva, who has not exactly good history with Prokopenko, gets shocked by him being involved in the women trafficking, previously thinking that [[EvenEvilHasStandards not even him would step so low]].
* PrivateMilitaryContractors: One of the groups is explicitly called "Mercenaries", and can be hired to protect anyone (though their prices aren't cheap); as additional bonus, any wandering mercs would gladly help you if you encounter them in the Zones, while being protected by one of their friends.

* SomeoneHasToDie: {{Subverted|Trope}}. After long run while under various mets, everyone were exhausted to the point of barely resisting falling asleep right here and now. Aybolit volunteers for the first watch, and continues using mets, despite being perfectly aware that this can outright kill him. When Bear awakes prematurely and forces him to go to sleep, Aybolit was already on the brink of coma, requiring first aid (in the form of chocolate) just to survive removing the mets. His justification for this was that better one than the whole team.

* UnreliableExpositor: It's impossible to separate truth from presumption in regards to Grey, since [[DoesNotLikeMen Anna is obviously biased against him]], and always expects worst from him, often at no provocation whatsoever.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Grey's original plan ([[UnreliableExpositor at least, in according to Anna]]) involved bringing people to collect X-type, then backstab everyone, so he may (with the help of mercs he hired beforehand) sell it all by himself. Plan changed after they were attacked by the bandits and then immediately by the zombies as well, only to be rescued by said mercs, after which trying anything like this was out of question -- especially since Anna learned about this plan, and threatened him with a gun to force him into following official plan (bring X-type to the Neutral zone, sell it, divide the money).

* TheAlliance: {{Inverted|Trope}}; it's the bad guys (represented by Prokopenko) who unites with Mercenaries and Oil-Diggers to form the Alliance, with [[TheMafiya Obshyak and Townsfolk]] being invited, but refusing (Rasp insists on maintaining independence, while Merkulov either wants to remain secret, or just doesn't care), with only good guys remaining out (not counting so-called Free people, who are not even considered to be a political power, and expected to submit by themselves sooner or later).

* BlessedWithSuck: Turns out that Vodyanoy's abilities were caused by botched zombification. He can't become a zombie, but the process never stopped and now slowly destroys his brain instead. It ''can'' be postponed by consuming water, but resumes instantly the moment he stops drinking, making it impossible to stop completely.
* BlobMonster: Bolt gets ambushed by the new kind of monsters while at the Epicentre, whom the calls the "Amebas" for their weird look.
* TheBusCameBack: Bolt finally gets brought back into Areal from Moscow where he was kept captive in the hospital in futile attempts to determine how he avoids Addiction ever since book three.

* CreepyChild: We finally learns why "Nonals" prefer to staying away from "civilised" settlements -- their mutant children (often called "monkeys" for their weird look). "Monkeys" are not hostile, but often acts weirdly; it's highly implied that they are somehow connect to the local psi-field (at the very least, they are empaths), which may explain why their screams may provoke mutants to attack. Their talons are poisonous, leaving ugly wounds which would take several weeks to heal. They also produces weird chemicals into air, which are also poisonous, though non-fatally (and after prolonged exposure, humans gradually becomes immune to them). They have very limited speech capabilities, but can recognise their parents, and can feel gratitude for being helped (like Bear giving one such child, the girl called Asya, painkillers).

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The whole situation with "Nonals" and their mutant children (having to care for sick and crippled from birth children without much resources for it, while facing constant prejudice, fear and outright hate) is very similar to what the real-world parents of "wrong" children face all the time (with common reaction being "why you didn't abort them / put them in the orphanage?"). Considering Tarmashev's love for using his fiction as metaphor for the real world and its problems, it's very likely intentional.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Everyone can see that Tatiana (who by now received nickname "Bambi", thanks to Quartz) feels attraction to Bear, and now making bets when it would become mutual. The sole person in denial is Bear himself, and even he quickly accepts that there's ''something'' between them. This, however, results in him facing dilemma: either allow feelings to overthrow him, or reject them, and potentially risk the rest of the team starting competing over Tatiana.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Rasp rejects an offer to join newly formed Alliance, because no self-respecting criminal would ever work for -- or align with -- government, no matter how dire the situation is.

* FightingFromTheInside: Ras meets his zombified father (who now leads the squad of zombies); he picks up the Sixth Sense, and then looks his son directly into the eyes. When Ras, losing any sense of self-control, rushes to his father, every zombie starts shooting him... every one, except for his father, which may mean that there's still some hope for him left.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Moneybag is the valuable ally for Bear, but he's shameless merchant who only cares about money, which is exactly the type of people Bear hates. When asked whether their plan (smuggle Tatiana's letter through him) would endanger Moneybag, Bear outright states that he doesn't care.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: The moment Prokopenko learns about Volodina's whereabouts, he starts planning assassination mission, since she and Bear knows too much about his, Lozinsky's and Belov's crimes to being left alive. This is his only chance, because if he screws up, he would be terminated himself for endangering his boss yet another time.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[YouAreAlreadyDead Time-delayed one]]. Having no other way to deal with bandits, Bear shrugs Cobweb, and walks through it to attack bandits from behind. It works perfectly because no one expected that someone would be so suicidal, but now Bear is doomed to die within following six months.
* HopeSpot: So, Tatiana successfully delivered the letter to her boss Abramov, and now all they have to do is to wait for Prokopenko being arrested. Except... Abramov actually ''works for'' Prokopenko, and just gives him the letter at first opportunity.
* HumansAreBastards: Bear gives Bambi speech why Areal is a such CrapsackWorld -- humans themselves; instead of standing up and doing something -- confronting {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s, demanding continuation of researches, ''anything'', they do nothing, caring only about prices for food and water.
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: {{Downplayed|Trope}}; experiments Bolt suffered in futile attempts to exploit him for curing Lozinsky and Belov did damage his lungs to the point he would've likely died shortly after, but he reunites with SOT in time to take some cure, though it still takes him time to rehabilitate completely.

* TheMillstone: Failure of the operation to apprehend Bear and his team during Nail's extraction gets attributed solely to Hunter. What little success that operation actually had (capturing Nail herself) was only due to his much more competent subordinate.

** Attempt to recruit doctor Volkonsky to help with researches attracts attention of security service. While Hunter is [[TheLoad just as stupid and incompetent as always]], his subordinates are smarter. This results in Volkonsky being revealed the moment he returned from the SOT base, Nail being captured and interrogated (which, in turn, revealed everyone not yet on the wanted list, including Ras, and gave Corporation info how to make detectors work in the Yellow zone), and Mantrap being seriously injured, while everyone else barely escapes with their lives. This also indirectly leads to Bear being forced to [[HeroicSacrifice crossing the Cobweb]] to survive an ambush.
* NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow: When Ras blindly rushes to his (zombified) father and receives thirty three bullets (with last two actually piercing through his armour and injuring him), Vodyanoy manages to take him out and run almost all the way to the base with him, with the help of four stamina-boosting mets. The problem is, all of them consumes body's internal resources, and even one would be potentially fatal after such marathon; Vodyanoy used ''four'', yet he still survived, since the water he consumes actually gives him enough resources to counter energy losses. And even then, he eventually loses conscience and falls into coma, with Aybolit barely taking him out of it.

** Another radiation-related metamorphite, "Dosimeter", which becomes warmer as radiation level increases. It was considered to be completely useless, similarly to Warmer, until "[[NukeEm Disinfection]]" caused massive nuclear pollution, instantly making it into one of the most desirable mets; unfortunately, by now, they became just as rare as any other mets, since most of their supplies were either lost or delivered to now defunct Institute.

* OnlySaneMan: Mercenaries, of all people, particularly colonel Liman (who's the [=PoV=] character for the first chapter, and stands out even amongst them; for example, he's one of the few mercs who refused to trust Prokopenko, seeing him for [[CorruptCorporateExecutive who he is]]) are the only people outside of SOT and their friends, who understands that "Areal" corporation has stopped doing any meaningful researches of the Areal, right when everyone needs them most. Why mutants just keep and keep reproducing, no matter how many of them dies? Why they becomes more and more dangerous and blood-hungry? Why old, time-proven methods suddenly stopped working, and new dangers have emerged? All of this must be found out to prevent even more deaths, yet no one cares about anything aside from earning more money! Mercenaries even plans to set up their own research base just to do ''something''. Unfortunately, even within them, not everyone agrees on this. Mercs also generally understands that they shouldn't trust anti-SOT propaganda all that much, because SOT is just ''that'' useful for everyone else.

* TheReveal: While Vodyanoy's anomalous ability to consume water in ridiculous amounts was known for the long time, we finally learns (through Aybolit's attempts to revive him) just what his body does with it, and where all that water goes, if stomach normally just has not enough place to put it in; turns out, Vodyanoy's entire body somehow sucks out water he consumes just as he drinks it, but just ''where'' it goes, he doesn't know, tough he has a theory that it's somehow related to his brain (Vodyanoy often drinks water when he starts complaining about brain "burning", particularly near anomalies).
* SecretKeeper: Only three people knows about Bear's condition -- Aybolit, Quartz and Bolt; first two learned from Bear himself (Aybolit was told this because otherwise he would blame himself for Bear's death, and Bear knows this; while Quartz knows how important it is to keep secrets), while Bolt noticed by himself through his bolt, but agreed to keep quiet about it.

* UselessUsefulSpell: Detectors, upgraded with meteorite shards, can work in the Yellow zone... but with the radius reduced to pathetic two meters (for example, Solenoid hits for three). Since his guards are unable to notice any danger until they literally walks up close, and many other people are trying to ambush them on every step, Bolt [[LampshadeHanging outright suggests]] them to not even bother, since these detectors makes more harm than good.
* YourDaysAreNumbered: After crossing the Cobweb in order to save himself and injured friend, Bear is now doomed to die from Cobweb, and he knows it; even luckies ones lived for six months at best after doing this, and he crossed Cobweb twice in a row. By the time Bolt learns about this, he confirms that Bear has only two months left.
* ZergRush: Mercs' Blue-harvesting plantation regularly gets attacked by mutants in so ridiculous numbers, by all logic they are supposed to go exstinct by now, yet they reproduces absurdly fast, ensuring that there always would be enough for another round. Mercs' commander, colonel Liman, finds that to be weird even by the Areal standards.

** Basalt loses his arm to machine gun fire during last battle.
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: By analysing what small information he has, Merkulov comes to conclusion that cataclysm was caused by the Corporation -- and that SOT wants to reveal their crimes to the world, with the Bolt's help. He also (correctly) guesses that X-Ray is still alive, and was in league with Bear all along. Now, he plans to become first to obtain that information for his superiors, to not just redeem himself for his failure, but actually become their favourite.
* AxCrazy: The moment she shows her true colours, Anna, overloaded with hatred, goes into murderous rage against her former friend (whom she beats up) and comatose Rustle, whom she injures further and nearly kills.

** Remember "Toxy", which was introduced all the way back into the fourth book, and was swiftly forgotten about? It allows Baykal to sneak out of the base undetected. It also forces the enemy to retreat several times, assisting Bear.

** Remember that Bald which manifested near the secret entrance, and the plan to just jump over it? Well, the plan actually works when tried.

* DelayingAction: Mantrap's last action during LastStand is to try and provide cover fire to ensure that scientists would make it alive, while he and the rest of SOT are doomed. [[SenselessSacrifice He dies for nothing]], as they gets ambushed.

* DepartmentOfChildDisservices: Lozinsky and Belov deciding to use Vodyanoy's daughter to blackmail him, by staging the excuse for taking her away from grandparents for "negligence" and putting her into orphanage (as parents would be relived of their duty as her guardians for "gross neglect"). Things don't go as planned, because, as we already know, Vlad's father is Afghan war veteran, who reacted to this by straight up abducting his granddaughter and going on the run, with guards being too scared to intervene.

* DownerEnding: Bear and the rest of SOT dies, [[LastStand fighting hopeless battle]]; [[UngratefulBastard no one comes to help]], despite all the benefits the SOT provided them with. Evacuation fails, with scientists likely perishing. The only characters still alive are Mist (who's stuck in Epicentre with zombified and aggressive X-Ray), Quartz and Vodyanoy (who are stuck in the Satellite, on the brink of being revealed and without water for Vodyanoy), and Ras.
* DyingDeclarationOfLove: Just before dying, Tatiana tells Bear that she loves him. They even tries to kiss each other, which works rather clumsy due to their injuries.
* EmptyShell: Ever since meeting his father, Ras (who used to be the soul of the company) feels nothing but sadness -- and this sadness transfers to everyone around him. Vodyanoy (whose wife is kept captive in the Satellite) and Tatiana (heartbroken over Bear) feels no better. Bear knows that this is wrong, but not the way how to fix that.
* EnemyMine: Merkulov secretly cooperates with Corporation against the SOT, which helps them to set up the final assault.

* EvilAllAlong: Anna states that she never was Tatiana's friend to begin with, only playing that role because Grey had some plans for her. Given her [[AxCrazy condition]] at the time, it's unclear whether it's the truth, or her trying to justify the betrayal for herself.
* GhostTown: Olenegorsk (another city hit by the cataclysm, which Rasp has made into his base of operation) gets completely consumed by the Yellow zone, with bandits evacuating to the smaller nearby settlements, which are still in the Green zone).
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: PlayedWith. On the one hand, attempt to summon zombies results in them killing Bear himself after dealing with everyone else. On the other hand, without zombies, battle would've ended much earlier, with Bear being killed by someone else anyway.

* InternalReveal: Before sending Tatian to evacuate with scientists, Bear explains to her how "Ariadne" works. As result, she notices the signs of the Cobweb's influence, and learns the [[YourDaysAreNumbered real reason]] why he was so cold with her -- to [[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim protect her]]... She can't help but cry.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Bear sees most of the Areal's inhabitants as lazy egoistical bastards. They always expect the best treatment, free food, water and shelter, but wouldn't do ''anything'' to at least try and improve the overall quality of their lives; and the moment something goes wrong, they would blame everyone but themselves. Make a mistake of helping them, and they would start thinking that you ''must'' do so again and again, thinking that you have betrayed them once you stop or fail to continue, but they ''never'' would repay you for your help, preferring to continue existing as parasites. Despite this, Bear still keeps believing that not all of them like this, and they ''can'' convince at least some people to change their ways if they continue their work (in contrast with Quartz, with whom he had an argument about that earlier, and Ras, who outright suggested to exploit the Epicentre's time-conversion effect to "skip" ten years and return once everyone forget about them). Naturally, no one comes to help in the end.

* TheLoad: Amongst the other people who answered to the call for volunteers for upcoming battle were some pretty useless guys, who didn't bother to bring either food or ammo, or brought bare minimum, either expecting to see that everything would be provided for them (never noticing that SOT is essentially a partisan team by this point, and has not that many resources by itself), or never thinking just what they are getting themselves into. They all leaves before it could have resulted in the bloodbath.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Another appearance of the president Crabsky (pretty obviously based on Vladimir Putin, with surnamed taken from his infamous internet nickname), this time in person; he's the one whom Lord Brindelberg forces to go down on X-Ray and stop his investigation by force, under threat of cutting Russia away from the global resource market.
* NominalHero: One of the last five "volunteers" still there by the point Bear meets them asks Bear why they didn't just negotiated with the Corporation (instead of giving shelter to the outlaws, because who cares about these guys?), setting up some peaceful coexistence until they can accumulate enough power to betray them. He also presumes that their plan was to capture Satellite, execute Corporation's leaders and set up their own rule over it (he would gladly join in). After hearing him out, Bear just [[GetOut tells him that he would provide food and water, and escort them out]].

** Grey actually managed to survive the attack on his caravan (though it's unclear whether he was in league with attackers, or just was lucky enough to escape), with Vortex acting as a perfect coverup. He's the one who sent Anna to abduct Tatiana.

* PayEvilUntoEvil: Turns out that two years ago the Fragment actually managed to finish the evacuation (and leaved Earth itself) -- but, just as it warned, to buy time and energy for evacuation, it switched Areal into its current mode. With more time, it ''was'' possible to deactivate and set remutation in motion, but with nuclear strike incoming, Fragment had neither time nor motivation to do so. The second Fragment (yes, there were two surviving Fragments) was abandoned due to the time restraint, and still operates the Areal's growth.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Lozinsky's people didn't check Vlad's father (who, unknowingly to them, turns out to be Afghan war vet), because whatever info they have, was received from Belov -- an actual general of special service here. The kicker? All info they have was taken as granted from ''X-Ray'', of all people, and never re-checked afterwards. By the point they stopped arguing who's fault it is, it was already too late to prevent the guy from escaping with Vlad's daughter (whom they wanted to use for blackmail). Belov has plan "B" in order, but it still would be much harder (and longer) than their original plan.
* PunchClockHero: Amongst other people who answered to the call for volunteers for upcoming battle were some often rather... questionable guys, who clearly expected that Bear hires mercenaries. When it turns out that he isn't, all such people leaved on the spot without caring for the cause.

* SecretlyDying: While we were already aware [[BlessedWithSuck how Vodyanoy received his abilities]], we only now learn just how bad his condition truly is; turns out that not only he's dependant on water to postpone his death -- as time goes on, more and more water is required just to survive on a regular basis. His death is not just inevitable -- process gradually ''speeds up''.

* ShaggyDogStory: Entire plot about revealing Corporation's crimes to the world completely fails, with X-Ray himself being captured and framed for the very crimes he wanted to uncover. The sole positive result is Prokopenko's conviction, but even this is not so much his success, as Prokopenko's superiors being tired of his screwups.

* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: Quartz tells Bear that while they can (and must) convict the Corporation's leaders, it wouldn't miraculously solve all world's problems, because there would still remain some other villains (they always do) -- not in the last turn because people just allows them by being so apathetic.

* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: We finally learns what "the Dud" met is supposed to do; it gives you... the perfect underwater vision (even in murky or dark water). [[UselessUsefulSpell The problem]]? The only water in the Areal is the water you absolutely don't want to be close to. However, it just so happened that the guy who agreed to smuggle Mist, X-Ray and Firz out of Areal acts as his settlement's designated smuggler, and uses combination of "the Dud" and aqualung to pass the river underwater without being spotted.
* TogetherInDeath: Tatiana refuses evacuating, and returns to fight alongside Bear, who by that point was too injured to even reload by himself. They goes out fighting, admitting their feelings at the last moment.

** Vodyanoy refuses to go, since he still must find his daughter and father (who are desperate enough to attempt to enter Areal), and save Ras, who became a zombie to save him (fortunately, he has two Living Waters, taken from X-Ray and Lavender who no longer needs them, so he can save not only Ras, but his father as well). Nail wouldn't leave her husband, so she stays, too.
* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: Ras becomes zombified himself after contact with Areal water, just like his father years ago, and runs to the Epicentre. Vodyanoy volunteers to find both him and his father, and bring them back, since now he can visit the Red zone an Epicentre with no risk.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: Almost entire main cast (with exception for Ras and the scientists) receives an offer from the aliens to join them and continue fighting enemies of their kind, just on... different battlefields. It's also highly implied that Kugelstein received a similar offer, alongside his entire team, since his clinic was clearly visited right before he had a chance to treat Lozinsky and Belov.

* BookEnd: Ras' history as a stalker started when, at his tenth birthday, his father gave him the Source met, in hope that it would help his family to survive -- [[HeroicSacrifice at the cost of his own zombification]], due to contact with Areal water. Ras' history as a stalker (and human being, for that matter) ends with him becoming a zombie himself in the similar manner, this time to save Vodyanoy.

** Asya, due to her Areal-granted sensitivity, was able to feel Lavender being in trouble, and arrive just in time to hide her, and then lead to (still dying) Aybolit to give him more medicine.

** That same bandit whom Aybolit saved couple of books ago drags him out of the battle zone, hides him as much as he can, and gives him the first aid (as repayment for being save before). Thanks to him, Aybolit survives.

* DarkestHour: By the start of the book, everything seems to be lost for the heroes. The SOT is essentially wiped out, with only Mist and Aybolit still alive, with the former being stuck with the zombified (and ready to fight to the death) X-Ray, while the latter is on the brink of death from his injuries. Scientists were killed during evacuation, with Lavender barely surviving almost by accident. X-Ray's mission ended in fiasco, with very trace of the evidence against Corporation being destroyed and X-Ray himself being framed as Prokopenko's coconspirator. Quartz, Ras and Vodyanoy are still stuck in the Satellite, without any meaningful chance to save Nail or, by this point, even themselves. Things wouldn't go any better from here.

* DespairEventHorizon: Quartz sees no hope for winning, and by this point he basically lost any will to struggle anymore, or do anything, for that matter, just lying here and waiting death (he doesn't even bother to undress before going to sleep). He still suggests plans when asked, but makes it clear that he doesn't believe in their success; it's just that if they are gonna die anyway, may as well die fighting, they have nothing left to lose.
-->'''Quartz''': I'm tired. The ending is always the same. There's no justice. The laws serve those who make them. The flame of those willing to fight always gets extinguished by the endless swamp of those who don't give a damn. No one cares. Everyone is satisfied with how things are, and wouldn't go beyond the empty words. You spend your whole life doing something you believe to be right and just, only to realise that you're one of the marionettes who holds up the thrones of the scoundrels.

* GhostTown: Rasp and Merkulov abandons Sosnogorsk and Ukhta, respectively, due to them being fully consumed by the Yellow zone, thus rendering them completely uninhabited.

* HumansAreBastards: The aliens are willing to help us with what we can't manage, but doing entire work in our place (like destroying the Areal) is out of question. Most humans are perfectly fine with living in such crappy conditions, perfectly fine with being ruled by the corrupt tyrants, and perfectly fine with killing the ones who wants to help them. People like these don't deserve to be saved.

** The scientists were killed by Belov's men during evacuation from the base, then their corpses were thrown into an anomaly. Lavender, who escorted them, barely survived thanks to the Living Water still attached to her body, and even then, only because she fell too close to the water, making it impossible to come close to her, which convinced the assaulters that they may check up later, and allowed Asya to go and drag her out.
** We learn that Anna was killed after the battle, when Veteran and his Dog investigated the ruins; Dog bit her in half.

*** Merkulov made a mistake when he attacked Belov's men in (futile) attempt to capture Vodyanoy, giving his enemy enough information to know where to hunt for him. Soon afterwards, Fixa backstabbed him, brought his head (what was left of it) to receive a reward, and usurped the gang.
*** Volkonskiy was assassinated on Belov's orders, when he stepped into the [[BlatantLies "accidentally"]] unmarked anomaly. His team was set on the various missions, and were killed en-route because Belov sabotaged detectors on their buses, allowing them to run into an anomaly.

* LaserGuidedKarma: When, after main events, emission finally hit, it was unusually strong (though not nearly the Cataclysm level); the people, grown accustomed to receiving warnings about upcoming emissions, were caught off-guard, causing massive casualties, with only one third being due to emission itself, the rest were killed by resulting zombies, who started hunting for their former teammates. It's entirely their fault that it ended like this: they used Bear's help for so long, yet when ''he'' asked for help, they let him die; now, there's no one to warn them anymore.
* LivingMacGuffin: With Vodyanoy being the sole remnant of the SOT's "miracles", he becomes the main prey for essentially everyone -- Satellite, Obshyak, Townsfolk... The sole good point is that they can't risk killing him, so they would be more careful with their shots.

* OffWithHisHead: After Merkulov made a mistake and revealed himself as "the Master", Belov put such high price for his head, that Merkulov got betrayed Fixa, who tricked him into going close to the Solenoid, which beheaded him, and then brought his mutilated head to Belov for reward.
* RayOfHopeEnding: Otherwise [[DownerEnding bleak ending]] has many light spots which tones down or negates most negative moments. Sure, most heroes are dead... but the aliens gave them another life off-world -- and a chance to fight for humanity somewhere where they ''can'' actually change things. With Nikita and Ludmila being dead, it's impossible to remutate the Areal, but with the Fragment being destroyed, it can't expand past its current borders either. Ras is zombified, and Vlad's father is stuck in Areal along with Vlad's young daughter, but thanks to his new abilities, Vodyanoy has a chance to save them. Meanwhile, Prokopenko and Merkulov were killed, the former assassinated by Belov who wants him to keep his mouth shut, the latter backstabbed by Fixa; and then Belov himself, along with Lozinsky, [[AssholeVictim dies from the Itch]], because doctor Kugelstain is nowhere to be seen (''very'' likely also taken away by the aliens, which means that he would finally help someone else other than amoral moneybags).

* RefugeInAudacity: Quartz's plan how to rescue Nail: just grab her under their noses, and run. To buy some time, he [[HeroicSacrifice would mask himself as her]]. Plan gets rejected by Vodyanoy, who's not fine with any of them sacrificing themselves.

* SecretSecretKeeper: Fixa and Mute already realised that their "Master" and foreign spy Merkulov are the same person, but chose to keep that info to themselves, since for now, "the Master" with his skills is more useful than whatever reward they can get for Merkulov's head. That [[TheStarscream doesn't last long]], however.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: Merkulov won nothing from his alliance with the Corporation; with scientists being killed on Belov's orders, all their researches being destroyed during assault on the SOT base, and secret of producing electricity in the Yellow zone no longer being a secret, he has nothing to offer to his old bosses, and, judging by them doing nothing to prevent Belov from hunting for him, he's essentially sacrificed by this point. Then he gets backstabbed by Fixa, and dies in very gruesome manner.
* SoleSurvivor: Turns out that Aybolit was injured, but not killed during the SOT's LastStand in the previous book, making him the sole survivor of the final battle, and one of the last three alive members of the original SOT (the other ones being Mist and Firz, with the last one being doomed anyway).

* {{Troll}}: After being resurrected and before going onto the next mission in another world, Bear takes his last opportunity and mocks [[SweetTooth Rustle]] that there would be no chocolate.

** They prevents Areal from (permanently) shifting the border of the Red zone past the railroad, shifting it back right after the latest emission, shocking Lavender when she discovered it: it must be something ''truly'' powerful if it can defy the rules of Areal. Because any Zone other than Epicentre always has exactly same size, other zones can't expand as well. This effect turns out to be permanent, with any subsequent emissions going the same way.
** They managed to stale the emission for entire book, to allow the plot to unfold, and only ''then'' Areal was ''allowed'' to continue functioning as usual.

* YouHaveFailedMe: Even if [[TheMillstone Crunch]] makes it back alive from his engagement with Mercs, Fixa would still execute him for this failure, especially because he volunteered to lead his group for this mission in the first place. Because betraying your people like this is [[EvenEvilHasStandards frowned upon even amongst bandits]], he lies to his men that Crunch [[HeroicSacrifice volunteered to distract the Mercs]].
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Merkulov's bosses no longer have any use for him; and because of Itch, they can't even take him out of the Areal. All this, combined with him being hunted for by the Russian government, makes it much easier to just let him die. Capturing scientists was his last chance, but their death at Belov's hands ruined even that.

* TookALevelInKindness: When Mist proves himself different from local guards with  "soldier sees, soldier kills" mindset and points her own flaws which she can't deny, [[InsufferableGenius Lavender]] changes her behaviour to the best, not just to him (with whom she, presumably, fell in love), but in general.

* ApocalypseHow: Class X-3; the galaxy from which Fragment's ship evacuated, was utterly annihilated almost momentarily by unknown cataclysm, with not even local physics surviving intact; knowing that Mist can't comprehend it, the Fragment doesn't go into details, but it involved such concepts as space and time switching over.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Some seemingly minor moments are actually set up for revelations in subsequent books:
** The Fragment's mentions some unknown alien force, whose genes are still present amongst humanity; it considers them to be extremely dangerous, but refuses to elaborate upon them. That information would come in play much later.

* GhostTown: [[NukeEm Operation "Disinfection"]] was done in such haste that barely anyone managed to evacuate Ukhta in time (if anyone at all), especially taking into account how poorly the evacuation was organised; whoever was caught in the following emission, was either killed or zombified, with only those who were in any shelter surviving -- only to find themselves in the middle of the Green zone, surrounded by zombies, anomalies with no knowledge and, in most cases, weapons to protect themselves (not that they help much).

** X-Ray is indeed aware of Prokopenko's involvement, but can't prove it without Firz's documents. He fears to show his knowledge in any way, because Prokopenko is also involved with Lozinsky's own schemes, and if ''he'' starts suspecting something, he would just terminate Prokopenko as a dangerous witness by sending Belov after him, thus cutting off the best thread leading to Merkulov and potentially Corporation's corrupt executives..

** The moment Belov learns about what's goes on in the Epicentre and that Firz is still alive, he tries to kill Mist and X-Ray (who already learned too much about what's goes on in the "Areal" to let him alive) before they reach it.
** When [[TokenGoodTeammate Vorontsov]] learns about the crimes of the rest of board of executives from X-Ray, he tries contact with Moscow. While blatantly assassinating him is out of question, Lozinsky tries to arrest him and pass him as either zombie or psychically unstable, to justify locking him up. Belov later outright orders to kill him on sight.
** One guy overheard the information about[[NukeEm operation "Disinfection"]], and warned several other people so they hid in shelter during it, allowing them to survive when the building was entirely destroyed. Later Belov sent a helicopter to kill that guy and [[LeaveNoWitnesses whoever was nearby]] just to ensure that this information wouldn't come out. They kills more than a hundred people, but it's too late to prevent him from telling this to the other people, who were ''not'' caught in the massacre.

* InsignificantLittleBluePlanet: Meteorite which nearly wiped us out years ago was actually an alien spacecraft. Its sudden explosion was a self-destruct sequence, which it only initiated because scans showed that Earth is one of the rare planet suitable for most living forms, which are prohibited from being destroyed like this; before that, its AI was perfectly fine with wiping out all life on the planed during crash landing: humans lives worths nothing, and aliens aren't interested in this planet, at all; for the same reason, the aliens are willing to shut down the Areal if assisted in evacuating.
* InsufferableGenius: Fragment just '''can't shut up''' about its creators' superiority to humans, repeating things like "[[FantasticRacism half-sapient animals of mediocre level of organisation]]", "[[MasterRace sapient life is sacred]]", "[[PunyEarthlings on your level of evolution]]", or [[HumansAreInsects bringing up the comparison of it talking with Mist to humans talking with ants]], so often, Mist soon starts finishing the sentences for it. Fragment completely misses obvious mockery.

** The reason why "Disinfection" was called in the first place? They feared that aliens may give X-Ray enough evidences to convince them. ''That'' was their first and only concern.
** To provoke president into allowing the "Disinfection", as additional argument they hacked the detectors of several rangers in order to lure them close to water (leading to them being zombified), and set it up as a "zombie assault".

* JekyllAndHyde: We finally learn why Swell and Liker anomalies looks so similar, yet act so differently -- they are the two forms of the same anomaly; first form is a defensive mechanism, while the second [[{{Teleportation}} may act like a teleport]] when required. They switch between modes depending on what Fragment currently needs from them.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Despite all [[InsufferableGenius toxicity]], Fragment is still right at some points. Most humans out there are too corrupt, greedy and selfish to even try to interact with them, people [[TooDumbToLive just keep going into the Red zone and becoming zombies over their greed]], and humans indeed tries to nuke the Epicentre into oblivion the second they learns about what's going on here. It's [[{{Jerkass}} the choice of words]] which nullifies all sympathy either Mist or readers may have.

* LethallyStupid: Some dumbass from "Areal" personnel thought it would be good idea to brink vodka in his flask on the work. As even dumbest crooks know, alcohol smell attracts Areal animals and zombies -- and [[EverythingTryingToKillYou you don't want to attract Areal animals and zombies]]... This guy didn't survive the emission, but his flask was later found by Bear who searched for some water for injured Stepanov -- and was nearly killed by zombies when he opened it without knowing what's inside.

** X-Ray ''really'' should've listened to Mist when he asked him to turn off a microphone. He realises that he had a very good reason for that too late to comply, resulting in Belov becoming aware of what goes on and trying to kill them both, at which he nearly succeeds. To his credit, his men ''almost'' managed to prevent Belov from obtaining the recording, but "almost" never amounts to anything.
** Attempt to nuke the Epicentre only makes things worse, since AI in charge of it took it as hostile act, and reacted appropriately, causing ''massive'' emission, strong enough to consume Ukhta by the Green zone, killing and/or zombifying countless people. And Areal became more hostile than ever.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Runaways businessman Podberezovsky and imprisoned Pokhodorkosky are obviously based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Berezovsky_(businessman) Boris Berezovsky]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Khodorkovsky Mikhail Khodorkovsky]].

** As response to info about what's really goes on in the Areal, Belov and Lozinsky convinces the president to nuke it. It leads to [[NiceJobBreakingItHero horrible catastrophe, which makes Areal and life in it even worse for absolutely everyone, including Lozinsky and his people]].

* TakingYouWithMe: Fragment warns Mist that if humans would attempt to nuke the Epicentre, which likely would result in death of the children Fragment tries to protect, it would use the blast energy to fuel ''catastrophic'' emission which would wipe out Ukhta and everyone in "Areal" for good. Humans tries this anyway, and it turns out that this was not an empty threat; survivors of "Disinfection" suddenly found themselves in the Areal, surrounded by anomalies and zombies... those who survived at all, that is.

* UncertainDoom: Just what happened with Mist, X-Ray and Lavender during "[[NukeEm Disinfection]]"? Did they survive, or did they perish? We have no way to know; the last quarter of the book follows Bear.

* AllForNothing: Ras and Vodyanoy barely infiltrates into the ruins of the research center, avoiding bandits and anomalies, and almost gets killed by a Swell (fortunately, they don't agitate it), all in hope to find documentation which would show the secret (safe) passage here. Turns out that the scheme they need is in the same room with swell, right on the wall... with a part about passage being destroyed with paint which someone just threw at it right above the swell.

** Three members of board of executives ([[SacrificialLamb least established ones]]) died during TimeSkip between third and fourth books for various reasons related to them now being Addicted:

* CannonFodder: Rasp's favourite tactic is to send forwards expandable newbies to dangerous locations, like former institute, in hope that at least some of them would make it back with valuable loot.

* CompanyTown: Corporation creates UndergroundCity "Satellite", specifically for its workers (and high-ups) stuck in the Areal. In return for staying here with living conditions as good as possible within Areal, people must become employees.

* ForbiddenZone: So-called "neutral territory" around Areal is off-limits for outsiders, unless they coordinate everything with Federal Security Service and cross it officially. It's still more freedom than before.

* FromBadToWorse: Post-"Disinfection" Areal is now as deadly as never before. Mutants somehow became ''even more'' aggressive to humans. Entire Green zone is now "infested" with bandits who attacks everyone on sight and fights with each other over resources and clear places to live. Green zone is partially contaminated with lethal radiation. Emissions are now much weaker (in terms of how much land they consume), but occurs ''much'' more often, and now would instantly zombify you if you didn't hide. And worst of all, anyone who ever contacted with Areal in any way (mets, meteorite shards, [[DrugsAreBad certain byproducts]]) or crossed its border, now feel ever growing Itch whenever they are outside of it, which gradually becomes pain, then ''insufferable pain'', and then you just die in agony. Treatment exists, but it's ''extremely'' painful, very expensive, can be done in only one place on Earth (in Germany -- which is a... little to far away from Siberia) and lasts for very limited time, after which you must wait at least a month to take another dose. And then there's "poltergeist" effect, when near such people bad things occurs so often and with so destructive effects, they becomes the outcasts.
* HehHehYouSaidX: Russian word for "member", depending on context, may be used as euphemist for dick. One of characters, [[TheDitz the girl named Julia]], makes fun of Prokopenko being called "Member" (capital letter is intended, which, for Julia, only adds up the fun.

** Quartz, SoleSurvivor of X-Ray's team (everyone else perished during attempt to escape from what was left of the base), joined Bear's team in part because he knows that he ''would be'' assassinated to ensure that X-Ray's investigation would die out with every participant.

* HoistByTheirOwnPetard: All surviving members of the board of executives ended up with Addiction. Linder, the one who came up with the plan in the first place, [[BusCrash died]] while [[KarmicDeath trying to deal with it]].
* HopeSpot: Group of stalker runs away from bandits. They almost manages to escape, only to gets shot at the last moment. One of them survives and starts going through anomalies, easily avoiding them... and then he misses Magnet, and explodes into a red mist.

* InSeriesNickname: While Ras, Quartz and former SOT members still uses their old callsigns out of habit, Vodyanoy (who isn't even military) received his "callsign" after Ras (meaning his [[BigEater enormous water consumption habits) jokingly suggested him to start working as vodyanoy (Slavic water spirit) in some water reservoir. It sticks.
* TheLoad: One of the bandits who're trying to attack the SOT is armed with SVD sniper rifle which he likely looted from someone. He is ''abysmal'' with it, missing every shot, and then flat out breaking it. Baykal just shoots him out of "pity".
* LudicrousGibs: Sole surviving stalker from the squad wiped out by zombies almost makes it out alive, successfully avoiding several anomalies... and then he gets himself sucked into Magnet and explodes into the red mist.
* MistakenForRacist: Kugelstein's (a German) comment about Itch treatment failing on Linder (a jew) due to genetic incompatibility gets mistaken by Lozinsky (a jew himself) for antisemitism (he only resisted to call him a nazi due to him being the sole source of treatment). Considering Tarmashev's heavy use of genetic memory in nearly every his work (including villainy -- and heroism -- being InTheBlood, regardless of other factors), it's very likely that Kugelstein meant something else besides Linder being a jew (especially since that same formula worked on Lozinsky and the others, with sole difference being anaesthetics used).
* MythologyGag: Bear thinks "truth is eternal", then starts wondering why he even had such weirdly-worded thought. "Areal" originally was supposed to share universe with Tarmashev's earlier series, ''The Ancient One'', which had these words as CatchPhrase of the one of "good" alien races.

* NotGoodWithRejection: As if we need additional reasons to hate Prokopenko, we now learn that he has connections to Rasp's gang (who now, amongst other things, like drugs, deals with women trafficking with intentions to use them as {{Sex Slave}}s); he uses that connection to smuggle the one woman who refused his advances into Areal (meaning [[YouCantGoHomeAgain she is doomed to stay here forever]]), to either break her to become his concubine, or give her away to bandits to be raped, possibly to death, like many others they dealt with.
* NotSoStoic: When Bear shoots [[EliteZombie Professor]] with an RPG, forcing it to blindly run out screaming, [[ColdSniper usually cold, composed and not exactly talkative]] Baykal was so shocked when it run just past him (death missed him by that much), he goes into long and passionate "holy shit, what was that?!" speech -- much longer than everything he said prior to that, combined.

* TheRemnant: Bear and his team are essentially what is left from SOT; everyone else are dead, zombified or MIA.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Prokopenko was always a jerk, especially when he needs not to hide his ugly personality (like casinos' personnel, who are forced to tolerate him because casinos are technically illegal in Russia), but post-"Disinfection", with all the "nice" Addiction-related additions to his life, he became ''even more'' of a jerk than before, openly antagonising everyone and mocking their fear of "poltergeist", even after someone actually got hurt.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: When human rights activist Ilya Abramov tried to use interview with Prokopenko (who was sent to represent "Areal") to put "Areal" and its leadership in a bad light, Prokopenko actually manages to reverse the situation, making himself look like just yet another victim, who's undeservedly insulted. He even mentions his family, who perished in the ""Disinfection"" (his wife lived in Ukhta).

* WelcomeBackTraitor: Even taking into account that he's in dare need of people, Lozinsky let Prokopenko go away with his scheming surprisingly easy, with bare minimum of punishment. Of course, for Prokopenko being stripped of access to dirty money is NotSoHarmlessPunishment, but still.
* YouAreInCommandNow: With three members of board of executives dying, Lozinsky is in dare need of people, so he promoted Prokopenko, effectively leaving him in charge of newly founded Satellite.

** In general, any people with Addiction must stay within Areal, or ever growing Itch would kill them when it reaches the life-threatening (or sanity-ruining) level. Treatment exists, but is extremely expensive and is highly impractical. And any such person is constantly pursued by weird effect called "poltergeist", which [[DoomMagnet causes disasters constantly occurring around them at random]], so soon people started recognising them, and trying to force them to leave, if not outright lynching them. Combination of Itch, "poltergeist" and near universal hatred forced all such people to move closer and closer to Areal, and eventually even staying inside. Lucky ones now lives within [[UndergroundCity "Satellite"]], others must build their own shelter right in the Zones and hope for the best.

** As was revealed in the latter novels, several anomalies are only 1-2 dimensional (humans considered to be 4-dimensional), which is exactly the reason why they are so lethal -- this verse follows the rules that contact of the higher-dimensional entities with the lower-dimensional ones would be fatal for the former, assuming they are alive to begin with.
*** The Cobweb anomaly is only 1-dimensional, which is why it has so weird properties.
*** The Bald is 2-dimensional, which makes it absolutely flat.
** [[UpgradeArtifact Metamorphites]] have more than four dimensions, with the "Ariadne" specifically being twelve-dimensional.
* AlienSky: Amongst the other things being wrong with the Yellow zone, it has a green sky with blue sun, while grass suddenly becomes blue. It becomes even worse in the Red zone and especially the Epicentre, but only few people evern managed to see them, given that entering the Red zone means instant zombification.
* AlternateHistory: The meteorite which caused the Areal to appear fell in Siberia all the way back into Nineties, right when USSR started falling apart. Eventually, the Russian government realised that the Areal ''significantly'' improves the quality of oil, and started exploiting it. They also managed to obtain the other resources, giving them major advancements in developing both weapons and protecting equipment. This, of course, did nothing to improve the quality of life for common people.

* BearsAreBadNews: Mutated bears are amongst the most dangerous creatures in Areal, second only to Epicentre monsters like giant dogs and [[UndeadChild unks]]. One bear is fully capable of singlehandedly wiping out the whole boar pack (and boars are not exactly safe to walk around either), and ''very'' hard to put down. No one risks to fight them head on. They are so tough and dangerous, people use [=RPGs=] against them, and even then it's not always enough. When in the Green zone, the SOT may even send ''attack helicopters'' against them -- they're just ''that'' dangerous.

* BlackSite: "Areal" is a government-controlled area, any humans there either works for it, or are illegals seeking some profit (either stalkers or bandits). [[spoiler: It becomes more complicated once the "Disinfection" permanently changes the way Areal behaves]].
* BoringButPractical: Several [[UpgradeArtifact mets]] have rather utilitarian functions, often essentially replacing various tool you can't normally use in Areal, and wouldn't even make you good money if you sell them, but while in Areal, they are no less (if not [[AwesomeButImpractical more]]) valuable than more exotic and "cool" ones:

** The Compass just tells you direction towards the Epicentre. Since normal compass wouldn't work here, and there were cases when people crossed the border between zones purely by accident, it can be very useful.

* CentralTheme: Apathy. The main reason why the world is a such hellhole is because we do nothing to improve it. The villains are allowed to thrive because no one bothers to stop them. We have everything we need to save our world, but chose to just sit on our ass and whine about "injustice", rather than stand up and spread justice ourselves. ''No one'' would fix everything for us if we wouldn't.

** The Green zone at the first glimpse looks almost normal, if not counting for the weird blue spots on the local plants. The Yellow zone has blue grass (with yellow spots) and green sky and blue sun. The Red zone recolours many things into orange and purple (even Blue, omnipresent insect from the first two zones, suddenly becomes purple). The Epicentre mixes black soils and grass (what's left of it) with red skies and sick white sun which can't even blind you if you look directly at it, being too pale.

* CompanyTown: The Satellite was build by the Corporation, and every people living here works for the Corporation. In return, the Corporation gives them living conditions as close to that outside of Areal as possible.

* CorruptChurch: One of the main tools Lozinsky and his friends uses for money laundering. Church isn't required to pay taxes, has great reputation, and no one can just go and check them without looking like an asshole. The main base has one church right on its territory, with a local priest Eulanthius being part of the scheme. The scheme died out with Eulanthius himself in the third book.
* CreepyChild: Every child born from the Addicted people (or, at least, within Areal) would resemble some human/monkey hybrid (fur included); people even call them "monkeys", with sole exception being their parents. They have uncanny ability to sense various Areal-related things, but it varies greatly (some can sense Emissions, others managed to get themselves killed in the anomaly, which no mutant or zombie would do), and often acts rather weird because of that; some can even run away towards the Epicentre. They secrete some unknown substance which often causes minor poisoning; people regularly living nearby gradually develops resistance to it, but it certainly does not add to their popularity. Parents of such children seems to have some unknown connection with them; exact nature o this connection isn't elaborated upon, but it's made clear that it wouldn't allow them to separate from their "monkeys", even if it would force them to lay low (which "nonals" actually do).

* DeadlyGas: Amongst the other things, there are gas anomalies. They work like invisible, concentrated mist of toxic gas which somehow maintains its form even during movement. The one and only clue that you must put on a gas mask is the quiet "pshh" sound; miss it, and you would die in extreme agony -- depending on anomaly type, either from suffocation, or from being dissolved alive; that last one would also kill anyone unfortunate enough to have holes in their equipment, like bullet holes.
* DeathWorld: Simply put it -- while you are in Areal, you would always be at danger. Deadly anomalies comes in great varieties, and regularly change their location, disappearing in one places and appearing in others. Local fauna has heavily mutated and became extremely hostile. If you get caught during emission, you likely would die from internal organs being destroyed by extreme vibrations, unless you find a shelter quickly (and it must be the ''underground'' shelter, or at least some deep hole, or you may mutate), and if you get caught by emission while in so called "step" (estimated area which would be consumed by the next zone), you have a great chance to being killed by new anomaly which just spawns right under your feet. Plus, stalkers, bandits and soldiers are constantly at each other's throats, so no matter on which side you are, you ''would'' have enemies. And then there are zombies, who shoot them all on sight. The further into zones you go, the worse it becomes, with new anomalies and mutants, new restrictions, and new rules; the Yellow zone disables any electrics, including detectors, and adds ''mobile'' anomalies into mix. The Red zone, assuming you even manage to resist its attempt to brainwash you (there were only "[[AnArmAndALeg 3,5]]" documented cases of people doing so), makes anomalies not just moving, but actively ''pursuing'' intruders. It somehow became ''even worse'' post-"[[WhamEpisode Disinfection]]".
* DoomMagnet: When people with Addiction are too far away from Areal, weird -- and dangerous things starting occurring near them, with something constantly breaking, malfunctioning, etc, often with fatal consequences for anyone around. People soon started noticing that all of this occurs near those who returned from Areal, and started forcing them to leave -- if not outright lynching.

** The Veteran. No one knows who he is -- a zombie, an anomaly, or something else, but everyone knows that when he shows up, there would be blood. A lot of blood was spilled before it was deduced that he only gets attracted by groups of thirty or more people, so ever since then the SOT only operates by groups of exactly 29 men.
** Amongst the anomalies, the one universally considered to be ''the'' most dangerous (and competition is strong) is the Swell. It's very hard to notice until it's too late, it can exploit any breaches in your hideout to reach you and fill it in its entirety, it's very hard to run away from, and it can dissolve a fully geared man in a matter of seconds.

* EnforcedTechnologyLevels: Electronic tech starts working worse while in the Green zone, and shuts down completely while in the Yellow one. So, no transport or detectors. And anything working during emission would be destroyed beyond repair.

* EverythingTryingToKillYou: And we mean "everything". Any animal, no matter how small, had mutated into a killing machine and became ''extremely'' hostile to any outsider. Even ''sparrows'' developed razor-sharp poisoned talons and attacks [[ZergRush en masse]], to the point that people started taking shotguns with them ''specifically'' to deal with the birds, because nothing else would work. And then the anomalies comes in, in great variations: gravity anomalies, heat anomalies, gas anomalies, acidic anomalies, "[[RealityIsOutForLunch just-what-the-hell-is-that]]" anomalies, and so on. The deeper into the Areal you are, the more dangerous it becomes. Starting from the Yellow zone, anomalies becomes mobile (while your precious detector no longer works), and in the Red zone they are ''actively pursuing'' you, though most people wouldn't experience that, since they would be zombified the moment they cross the border, or soon afterwards... but don't worry, you would become zombified long before you meet them. As if that's not enough, there are periodical Emissions, which spreads the Areal further while wiping out anyone caught in the open and creating new anomalies. This became ''even worse'' post-"Disinfection", with many things being changed to purposely harm people, and even animals close to Areal (but not yet inside it) starting acting aggressive, probably being already assimilated into its psi-field.
* EvilSmellsBad: Some anomalies have specific smell associated with them, which can warn experienced stalkers that they're dangerously close to an anomaly:
** The Grava has very specific smell of ozone, which instantly tells you about its presence. It became much weaker post-"Disinfection".
** The Solenoid has heavy salty stench, which can be noticed ''just'' before you enter its area of effect; that smell is the source of its name, actually.

** {{Inverted|Trope}} with the Licker, one of the few non-hostile anomalies, which smells like buns. The problem is, it looks just like the Swell (''the'' deadliest anomaly), and by the time you can smell it, it would be too late to run.

* FantasticDrug: Goldenlocks, mutated Areal cannabis (called that due to its weird look, which resembles, well, golden hairs), became popular after "Disinfection". It has no harsh post-high effects, and is "stronger" than heroin, but has 100% addiction rate, and has one small, but unpleasant side effect -- each time it's used, there's a random chance that its user would feel sudden impulse to go into Areal, only realising what's going on after crossing the barrier and becoming Addicted. Since it happens at random, and due to junkies being, well, not the sanest people alive, it never stops anyone.

* ForbiddenZone: The Areal by itself is a restricted area, where stalkers go illegally, but within Areal itself there's also the Red zone -- territory where no one can go, due to the risk of immediate zombification, which would happen to you even before you have a chance to being killed by the ''even more lethal'' anomalies than before. Through all history, only 3,5 people made it out of it alive, and this [[AnArmAndALeg isn't a figure of speech]]. So much was said about it being inaccessible (with some exceptions), that it was inevitable that it ''would be'' visited sooner or later. Most of restrictions were lifted after "[[WhamEpisode Disinfection]]", as it became impossible to maintain them anyway.

** The Red zone rejuvenates anyone going here, to the point that the old people becomes young again. It also can quickly (though not immediately) regenerate most injuries. It may even bring back recently deceased, at least as long as the head is not damaged. It somehow works for the broken equipment, too, at least for the more primitive one, like suits or gas masks. While normal humans usually can't visit it, the zombies actively uses it to cure their injuries mid-battles.

** The closer to Epicentre, the more dangerous anomalies becomes, and not just in power. In the Green zone, they are static. in the Yellow zone, they may react to you when you are too close and move a little. In the Red zone, assuming you survive even crossing the border, they would actively pursue you.

* GhostTown: Post-"Disinfection", both Ukhta and Olenegorsk are now in ruins, inhabited solely by bandits (Merkulov's and Rasp's gangs, respectively) who set up underground shelters here, but even they only occupy small portions of the cities.

** There are two anomalies, the Swell and the Licker, which looks very similar at the first glance. The first one is large, fast (if it catches you off-guard and attacks, you can't outrun it) all-consuming mist of acidic gas, while the second one is one of the few non-hostile anomalies in the Areal, which smells like fresh buns and acts weirdly similar to little puppy ("licks" you and plays with you by gently throwing things back). By the time you realise the difference between the two, it would be too late. Mist presumes that whoever discovered the Licker, was already prepared to die when he encountered it for the first time. [[spoiler: There's actually a good reason why they look so similarly: they are actually two different forms of the same anomaly.]]
** The only difference between rangers and stalkers is that rangers works for the Corporation, helping collecting mets and acting as pathfinders for the field squads, while stalkers work only for themselves (selling mets on the black market) or for the bandits. In fact, some rangers are the former stalkers, while some stalkers are rangers gone rogue. It stopped mattering after "[[WhamEpisode Disinfection]]", as government stopped prosecuting stalkers.

** The Shackle, instead of flat-out killing you, like nearly any other anomalies would do, pins you to the ground (with enough force to knock you out if its catch you on the move). Unless you have a Lockpick met (which disables it), or at least two friends who are ready to drag you out of it, you are doomed to die from starvation, the local fauna or from the Emission.

* ImpartialPurposeDrivenFaction: Non-aligned ("Nonals" for short) refused to join any group, even become Free Ones (who, while not a part of specific group, still abide established "rules", like paying bandits, or, more or less, enslaving their women, and at times only differentiate from bandits by being less violent and chaotic). As result, while they are "free", they now have the worst lives out of everyone: they live in the middle of the Yellow zone, with bare minimum of... well, pretty much anything, and are in constant danger of being wiped out. They are often considered to be the greatest losers in the whole Areal, and this is saying something. We later learn just why they chose such life: they are the only people who refused to abandon their mutated children (Addicted always give birth to mutants), which also put them in danger, since [[WouldHurtAChild many people would take their children away, by force]], in hope that they would predict the Emissions, despite their ability to sense Areal being ''very'' unreliable; some can sense Emissions... from time to time, while others can't even sense anomalies, resulting in their deaths.

* LastNameBasis: Most villains are consistently referred to by their last names (except in personal discussions), namely, the Corporation's leadership, Merkulov, Levin (also known as Hunter or "Darkwing") and Salmatsky (also known as Firz). The good guys usually calls themselves by [[FirstNameBasis first names]] or callsigns.

** Lieutenant Hunter is actually Belov's nephew (and, as we later learn, the son of security team's colonel, though by that point his father would be [[PosthumousCharacter already dead]]); the only reason he is here to begin with is because his uncle plans to set him as his successor, and place like the Areal would be great for his career, even if he wouldn't make it past main base.
* TheMafiya: Local gangsters are the constant source of problems for everyone within Areal and near it.

** "Zombies" isn't the official term, it's how stalkers (and later "Areal" personnel) chose to call them. The same applies to all anomalies and mets.

** The Cloud alter between two states, distinguishable by colour. The black cloud is perfectly safe, while the green cloud would zap anything going too close to it. Unlike the Solenoid, it's not so picky in choosing location.

** So-called "doggy" -- an empty shell with a string attached -- allows to navigate within the Yellow zone, by throwing the shell to check for anomalies, and just pulling it back when it misses. It saved more lives than all detectors combined, especially if taking into account that they can't work in the Yellow zone.

* SuddenlySignificantCity: Ukhta was relatively small, little-known town in Siberia, but due to close proximity to Areal, it suddenly attracted countless new people interested in trying to earn some money by becoming stalkers. Of course, it's illegal, but when it stopped Russians from doing anything?
* SummonBiggerFish: The mutants can smell alcohol, tea, coffee or tobacco (''especially'' alcohol) from a far away, and instantly drop whatever they're doing and attack. This was eventually weaponised, albeit this tactic is risky.

* TheTeetotaler: No one who works in the Zones drinks before, or especially during their stay in the Areal, not even criminals. {{Justified|Trope}}, since the local fauna (and zombies) somehow smells alcohol from the very large distance (they also smell tobacco, coffee and tea, but effect is particularly strong with alcohol), and, given how aggressive the locals are, results of doing so would be [[TooDumbToLive not very pleasant]].

* ThisIsNotAFloor: Strong enough anomalies possess so-called "Call" -- a mental attack which gradually brainwashes people to go closer and closer to the anomaly, to their death. Only two people are known to be immune to it, Bolt ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane for not entirely clear reasons]]), and Mist (due to [[CursedWithAwesome his head trauma]]).

* UndeadChild: Unks are result of newborn babies dying during the first Emission in what is now Epicentre, and being reanimated and mutated by the Areal.
* UndergroundCity: Since Addicted can't survive outside Areal for long due to ever growing Itch, Lozinsky (who is Addicted himself) financed creation of small underground city right in the Green zone -- "Satellite". It has everything people need to live, down to and including internet, while also remains perfectly safe due to being deeply underground.

** The Energiser works by amplifying one's stamina. As the side effect, it consumes user's internal resources, so it must be used with caution. Another similar met, Adrenaline, is weaker, but wouldn't lose its powers outside of Areal.
** There are several "medical" mets, though only three were mention: the Leech, the Nurse and the Cups. Leech speeds up one's metabolism, allowing to quicker get rid of negative elements at the cost of consuming more body resources; the other two were not described.
** The Owl gives perfect night vision when attached to the back of your head (it requires contact with skin specifically, not the hair). It was quickly adapted as the element of the new night vision googles, but just strapping it to your head would work too. As additional bonus, it can see Jelly regardless of time of the day, and completely counters effects of the other met, the Stealth.
** The Stealth hides you from ''any'' optics, scanners, radars, etc (there are even rumours that it protects from animal smelling you) -- pretty much anything, except from being spotted visually. For this reason, people use it during night, when it's not exactly a problem. It has limited power, so large object must be covered with several such mets, but for personal use one would be just enough.

** The Spring (somehow) feeds its wielder with water while worn, essentially removing any need to drink. Only known met of this type was brought by Ras' (now zombified) father in his last expedition, and was subsequently sold, because without him, the family had no income.
** The Living Water, so rare that it's ambiguous whether it's even real, or just an urban legend, gives its wielder complete immunity to zombification or the Call. The only catch is that it slowly dies out outside of Areal, requiring "recharging" it with the Areal's water -- something which normally causes the instant zombification just by going close.

** The Prospector met has one use -- it can sense gold. Outside of the Areal it's perfectly useful, but in the Areal you would rather take something which actually helps with survival.

* TheUsualAdversaries: Blue is the local insect called that for, well, being blue. Blue are too small to cause major damage, but they sure as hell would try to make you suffer: they have ''extremely'' painful bite, biting out the small pieces of your skin each time (all Areal's fauna is hostile to humans, and insects are not an exception) and causing the wound which would take ''a lot'' to heal afterwards, leaving ugly, swollen scars. They are omnipresent in the Green and especially in the Yellow zone, and are universally hated by anyone who ever went into the zones. They can be collected to be used as the material for various technologies, but are ''very'' easy to accidentally kill, and, when they reach the critical mass, would start emit psi-signals (like any other local animals), causing every other (much more dangerous) mutants to go out of their way to attack you while you are struggling to escape the Areal, so most people prefer to not even bother; only mercs (who somehow organised the entire plantations) and "nonals" knows how to, more or less, safely deal with them.
* WalkingTechbane: Amongst other effects of the Addiction is so-called Poltergeist -- invisible aura which increases chances of various incidents (''especially'' if any tech is presented) to absurd levels, to the point what things just breaks out of nowhere. Common test to bust any Addicted [[ItsAllAboutMe trying to sneak on board of plains or trains, endangering other people]] is to force people to wait two hours between registration and going on board, in a room full of tech ([=TVs=], cameras, etc) -- if at least one Addicted is presented, something ''would'' break before long.
* YouAreAlreadyDead:
** The Cobweb would outright kill anyone rushing through it, but if you shrug it off with a stick, then nothing would happen when you cross it... at first. Then you would suddenly drop dead due to a heart attack at unpredictable moment; no one has ever survived for more than six months -- including one guy who was actually reanimated after initial heart attack right in the Green zone. This is because you can't really destroy the Cobweb (it just becomes invisible) -- only reduce its strength, but not nearly enough to make it harmless.

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: The Addiction not only makes the people into DoomMagnet, but also causes them so-called "itch" -- the never-ending pain which gradually increases when outside of Areal, which would eventually kill them.

** Instructor who teaches newcomers about the dangers of Areal was one of the people working on Perimeter back when it was not yet established that so-called "step" of Emission exists (an area which gets consumed by the next Zone when it expands). As result, he failed to escape before the Emission started (you can't outrun it if you're in the open), and Jelly has formed right under his feet, with predictable results. He was saved, but uses prosthesis ever since.
** Stalker Semyoma Sniff somehow managed to avoid being zombified in the Red zone, but lost two legs to Jelly, and one arm to Sieve. He survived only because he found the Ariadna somewhere and managed to keep it in his teeth. Just ''how'' he survived all this is a mystery. And yes, the "joke" about "3,5 people" making it out of the Red zone [[BlackComedy refers to him]].
* AudienceSurrogate: Mist is a complete newbie in Areal, so the book introduces the readers to how things works in the Areal through his actions and interactions with other characters: Mist browsing through internet in futile attempt to find useful information about Areal before starting working here; rather large part dedicated to briefings, both about anomalies and about local fauna; Mist's interactions with Bolt while already in Areal; etc.

** When Areal has reached the old graveyards, it reanimated corpses as slow, half-decayed zombies (called "walkers") who, well, walk around (not even Areal can restore tissues which are too decayed). They are too slow and weak to be of real danger, though if one tries to catch them "alive" (scientists are always in need of live specimen), they may cause problems due to risks of catching infection when scratched or bitten.

* CameFromTheSky: Everything started when a meteorite (huge enough to wipe out all life on Earth) almost crushed in Moscow, but suddenly exploded in the air while under Siberia. Then all kinds of crazy things started to occur around place now known as Epicentre, with weird injuries, pieces of rock with anomalous properties, and people running away to taiga soon after finding weird yellow rash, never to be seen again (that rash later gets revealed to be the sign of you being about to zombify). While no one knows exactly ''what'' is going on, everyone are certain that it's somehow related to meteorite.
* CareerEndingInjury: First post-prologue chapter depicts protagonist, Mist, participating in [[HostageSituation operation to save hostages]] (several women and children) from a group of islamists who threatened to blow them up. The last surviving one blew himself up, with Mist caught in the blast. While Mist survived, the head trauma he received forced him to retire from "Alpha" (elite spetsnaz team). Fortunately, he was recommended as a new recruit for "Areal".

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the idea of using bolts to check for anomalies, like it was done in both ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' and ''Literature/RoadsidePicnic'', on which ''Areal'' is based upon. Mist asks how people checks for anomalies when in the Yellow zone, where detectors are unavailable, and presumes that they are throwing bolts. Ras says that at first, some "morons who read too much Sci-Fi" have indeed tried to use bolts, but soon stopped (those who survived), after realising that several anomalies works by throwing objects back into the sender with lethal force. Not to mention, bolts are too heavy to take a large supplies of them (more weight means more energy spent, and thus more risks). In the Areal, people use shells instead: still painful, but it's not gonna kill you, and you're highly unlikely to run out of them.
* DistantPrologue: Prologues takes place back in the days of USSR's fracturing, in early nineties. Main plot starts in 2008.

** [[AuthorAvatar Thirteenth]] somehow makes it out of the Red zone, bringing back zombified counterintelligence agent (now un-brainwashed), and the important databank from a fallen satellite. He refuses to tell Bolt any details about what and how he did there, and never appears in the story afterwards.

** After owner of "Metronom Plus" reacted with utter disgust to revelations that, despite all claims, "Areal" is just as corrupt as any other structure in Russia, and refused to cooperate even if it means losing contract, Prokopenko realised that this guy may be dangerous, and organised for his assassination; he made it look like an accident -- guy's personal driver had a heart attack and car crushed into the truck -- but it still attracted unwanted attention. The new owner, Merkulov, is much easier to work with -- and even harder at the same time, due to having his own agenda.
** Operation to apprehend the stalker named Lame Ashot was failed on purpose (resulting in Ashot "accidentally" falling into Meatgrinder with [[LudicrousGibs predictable results]]), since Ashot was aware that Firz and Prokopenko are involved in the whole story with bandits.
* HonestCorporateExecutive: Owner of "Metronom Plus" reacts with utter disgust when Prokopenko offers him to participate in a money laundry scheme, and angrily refuses, despite all the possible benefits it may give him.

* SchmuckBait: While crawling past the anomalies, both Bolt and Mist feels the weird call deep in their mind which tries to convince them to stand up and run, which they resists. Bolt then explains that it's how the Call of anomalies works: it attacks your mind, trying to make you go right to your death; Bolt is protected from it by unknown force (presumably his grandmother's magic), while Mist [[CursedWithAwesome can thank his brain trauma]]. Later similar things happens to Grishka, who actually falls for the illusion and dies.

* ThisIsNotAFloor: Stalker Grishka, who assisted bandits during stealing Type X oil, dies by jumping into the large anomaly, demonstrating how Call actually works. In his delusions, he believed that he was perfectly safe and not in Areal at all.
* TooDumbToLive: Ras believes that whoever tries to use bolts to check for anomalies are "idiots who watch too much Sci-Fi", and calls them "bolt-lovers". Despite the fact that throwing them into a wrong anomaly can result in you being killed, some particularly dim-witted ones sometimes still tries to use them.

** Remember that story about stalker Syoma Sniff who made it out of the Red zone with only one hand left and with Ariadne in his teeth? Well, that met was taken by bandits, and now belongs to Merkulov.

* ConvectionSchmonvection: {{Inverted|Trope}}. When Mist gets ''briefly'' caught by (very border of) Heat anomaly, he feels so much heat, he thinks that his gear would melt, and his body with it (and it's even worse in the epicentre, where no gear would protect you -- it would just boil your brain)... yet grass and even insects on it remains perfectly intact. Turns out that the Heat anomaly specifically affects only complex life forms, like humans, and their gear, and makes no harm to "lesser" beings. How it works, never gets explained.

* DragonInChief: Prokopenko starts realising that he relies on Firz a bit too much, and that it's him who needs Firz, not the other way around. Now, Firz is perfectly able to destroy everyone related to the lab, Prokopenko included, while Prokopenko is powerless to do anything but to ask Merkulov for help. He can't even involve Belov, since Firz is technically ''his'' underling, not Prokopenko's. After attempt to assassinate Firz resulted in nearly all bandits being wiped out without achieving anything, the rest of the book is dedicated to conflict between Mist and Firz, without further Prokopenko's involvement.

* EarlyInstalmentWeirdness: This is the only book to claim that Bald is a "specific variation of Grava"; subsequent books showed that Bald isn't even a gravitational anomaly -- it just annihilates whatever comes in contact with it.

* HateAtFirstSight: Bear immediately recognised that Firz is no better than his [[GeneralFailure first commander]]. He is certainly smarter, but he is no less of asshole to his men. Firz immediately realised that he can't trust Bear, too, and used his team as a "dump" for any other people he can't rely on.

* HeKnowsTooMuch: Book's title is rather meaningful, since people just keeps backstabbing each other due to them knowing too much about their actions, and putting them in danger of being revealed as criminals. All of this is over secret lab (and money which can be earned through it).
** When Mist learns about secret lab, Firz and his subordinate (who was part of the plan) tries to kill him by putting him into the Shackle anomaly, with Sixth Sense attached to his hand (making him a living beacon for any local monsters). They also kills the second person presented, Wind, since he was not part of their plan, and frames Mist for the killing, and plans to frame Bolt as Mist's collaborator, since he is the second one who knows about the lab.
** One of subordinates of the local SinisterMinister learns too much about schemes of his boss, who steals most of the money which were supposed to be used to help people. Thanks to Firz, he didn't make it out alive from his latest visit to the zones.
** X-Ray's group still insists on investigating secret lab further, now when it was proven that it ''was'' inhabited after all, so Firz decides to terminate everyone related to it, including Semyon Rasp, Anatoly Nanai and even Merkulov. Prokopenko has no problems with it (he would only miss Merkulov's money), but he fears that after killing these three, Firz would kill ''him'' as well, so he unites with Merkulov to kill Firz instead... after he kills everyone else. This completely fails due to sudden Veteran's intervention, with Merkulov's men being wiped out almost entirely, and Firz losing almost two dozens people, but surviving himself thanks to the new experimental armour. After that, Prokopenko tries to deal with Firz "legally", by falsifying evidences against him (real evidences would incriminate Prokopenko himself), and set Hunter (who technically represents Federal Security Service) to do it, knowing that someone else, like X-Ray, wouldn't fall for his schemes.
** When Ducat gets wounded by Mist during final shootout, Lemur finishes him off to ensure that he wouldn't be caught alive and interrogated. Without witnesses, X-Ray can't prove anything.
* HostageSituation: When the hidden cameras which he installed reveals that Mist is alive, Firz takes two his [[CoDragons trusted underlings]], abducts Lavender (he lied to her that he knows where to find Mist, and that they need her help) and escapes to the Yellow zone (he dropped the heigh to ensure that they would survive the crush when crossing borders). He later used her to ensure that he can escape alive into the Red zone.
* InfoDump: Several pages-long explanation for how church ended up as a part of Lozinsky's scheme, including backstory of otherwise extremely minor character, [[SinisterMinister crooked priest Eulantius]].

* ISurrenderSuckers: When Mist offers Firz to surrender (he has no chance anyway, but this way at least he would be caught without crippling injuries), Firz pretends to accept... and then tries to kill Mist the moment he opens the door. He misses, and then Mist shoots him couple of times; unfortunately, he hits Ducat instead (who was then shot several times more by Lemur to ensure that he wouldn't be caught alive and interrogated), and then Firz detonates the bomb he hid in the wall (killing Lemur and knocking out Mist), and escapes.

* KarmicDeath: Veteran and his dog suddenly attacks the group of Rasp's bandits, killing nearly everyone. One of surviving thugs backstabs the stalker for his Owl, and tries to run away. He almost makes it... and drops dead due to his heart suddenly stopping working. Why? Because he [[TooDumbToLive blindly run through a Cobweb]] -- something which was completely preventable had he was more careful -- or, you know, didn't backstab the guy who actually knows how everything works here.

* TheMillstone: Nikolaeva and Stepanov are relying on Prokopenko to aid them in their research, and fix countless problems they experience. Unknowingly to them, ''all'' their problems were caused by either Prokopenko himself, or his men (Firz and later Hunter). And they intentionally waste as much time as they can get away with to fix any problem, whatever small. Many of the "problems" they allegedly encountered were in fact [[BlatantLies completely and obviously fake]], like "lack of free personnel during the emission" (emission is, in fact, the time when they ''certainly'' would be free, due to inability to go outside for safety reasons).

* PayEvilUntoEvil: When Mist neutralises Firz's accomplice (that one who killed Wind), he makes sure to neutralise him by shooting through both his elbows, leaving him unable to use his hands. He states that this is payback for what he did to his "friend".
* PreMortemOneLiner: When Wind realises that something is wrong, Firz says that "Lemur would explain"... and then Lumur shoots Wind in the back.

* ReassignedToAntarctica: Bear's previous commander was [[GeneralFailure hopelessly moronic officer]] who led his men into the slaughter, from which they were only saved by reinforcements arriving, though they still lost many people. Bear reacted to it by beating him to the pulp. Instead of going to the jail, he was assigned to Areal.

* SpoilerCover: Book's cover spoils the fact that there would be non-hostile encounter with Veteran in this book, in one way or another.
* TookALevelInKindness: When Mist proves himself different from usual "soldier sees, soldier kills" local guards, [[InsufferableGenius Lavender]] changes her behaviour to the best, not just to him (with whom she, presumably, fell in love), but in general.
* TooDumbToLive: Licker anomaly is completely harmless, but has one interesting trait -- it throws back whatever you throw into it. Someone tries to kill Mist and his team, who are standing within Licker, with grenades -- with [[HoistByHisOwnPetard predictable results]].

** Merkulov is perfectly okay with letting all people who went with him, save for Fixa and Mute, to die. Even if the other two are not. They can always recruit new ones.
** Turns out that mutant attacks on Firz's group wasn't accidental; he intentionally used Sixth Sense to provoke attacks, all to scare off the counterintelligence group sent to investigate the illegal lab. The group suffers two casualties because of that, but it's just "collateral damage" for Firz.
* WideEyedIdealist: Firz believes that Wind was too naive and idealistic, due to his stubborn believe in the Corporation being incorruptible; for this reason, he didn't even try to recruit him, and set everything up to kill him alongside Mist.

** The Living Water, so rare that it's ambiguous wether it's even real, or just an urban legend, gives its wielder complete immunity to zombification or the Call. The only catch is that it slowly dies out outside of Areal, requiring "recharging" it with the Areal's water -- something which normally causes the instant zombification just by going close.

** Remember Mist's brain trauma from the first book which allegedly made him "immune to telepathy"? It's time to test wether it works or not, by going into the Red zone.

* DownerEnding: With lab and all documentations and people working in it being destroyed, and Firz's accomplices dying, there's no way to prove Mist's innocence. Firz himself escaped with the last trace of evidence, which he keeps only as the trump card against Prokopenko, but he chose the Red zone as escape route, with Lavender still being taken hostage. This stops just short of the [[TheBadGuyWins utter failure]] due to there being a ''slim'' chance that Mist can catch him and bring back.

* TheDreaded: Thanks to Firz, Bear has terrible reputation amongst local stalkers, because he allegedly never takes prisoners and is just bloodthirsty maniac in general. By the time the reader learns about this, it would be already obvious that this is BlatantLies, since his previous actions are anything but "maniacal" (with Mist pointing several cases directly contradicting those rumours).

* FountainOfYouth: It's not hard to recognise in Veteran, his dog and woman he talks to Bolt's grandparents from the first book's prologue, who got ''majorly'' rejuvenated by Areal.
* EarlyInstalmentWeirdness: Only book to claim that Bald is a "specific variation of Grava"; subsequent books showed that Bald isn't even gravitational anomaly -- it just annihilates whatever comes in contact with it.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Despite them never stating it officially, or going beyond friendly chatting or working together, Mist's friends (particularly [[{{Troll}} Bear]]) still jokes about them being "a couple" (Bear, particularly, goes beyond this, with his [[GetARoom humour]] becoming somewhat vulgar).
* EvilAllAlong: Suspecting that something is fishy, Mist revisits the "lab" without Firz to check wether it is as lethal as he claimed. When turns out that it isn't, and that someone still visits it, he tells his suspicions to Lemur, who not only confirms this, but also reveals that one of his trusted lieutenants, Wind, must be in league with him. Then it turns out that it was Lemur, not Wind, who was in alliance with Firz all along. When Mist comes too close to bust their scheme, Lemur betrays them both, kills Wind on Firz's orders and frames Mist, whom he leaves for death.

* LimitedLoadout: InUniverse. Only up to six mets can affect one person at a time, no matter what. The reason behind that is unknown.
* TheMillstone: Nikolaeva and Stepanov are relying on Prokopenko to aid them in their research, and fix countless problems they experience. Unknowingly to them, ''all'' their problems were caused by either Prokopenko himself, or his men (Firz and later Hunter). And they intentionally waste as much time as they can get away with to fix any problem, whatever small. Many of the "problems" they allegedly encountered were in fact [[BlatantLies completely and obviously fake]], like "lack of free personnel during emission" (emission is, in fact, the time when they ''certainly'' would be free, due to inability to go outside for safety reasons).

** After Tatiana Volodina refused his blatant advances, [[NotGoodWithRejection Prokopenko]] "punished" her by hiring bandits to abduct her and smuggle into Areal. Now, when she's Addicted, wether she survives or not, she can't return home ever again.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Moneybag is the valuable ally for Bear, but he's shameless merchant who only cares about money, which is exactly the type of people Bear hates. When asked wether their plan (smuggle Tatiana's letter through him) would endanger Moneybag, Bear outright states that he doesn't care.

* PleaseDumpMe: Bear intentionally acts like a jerk to Tatiana in hope that she would leave him alone, partially because he still isn't sure wether he can trust her, and partially to suppress his own feelings. He changes tactic and starts outright avoiding her after passing the Cobweb.

* ChekhovMIA: Anna started suspecting something shady going on early in the previous book, and run away into Areal halfway into it, when people started hunting for ''her'', thinking that she may lead them to Tatiana. She reappears in this book, now working for [[NotQuiteDead Grey]], and tasked with retrieving her former friend, wether she likes it or not.

* DownerEnding: Bear and the rest of SOT dies, [[LastStand fighting hopeless battle]] they have no chance to win. [[UngratefulBastard No one comes to help]], despite all the benefits SOT provided them with. Evacuation fails, with scientists likely perishing. The only characters still alive are Mist (who's stuck with zombified and aggressive X-Ray), Quartz and Vodyanoy (who are stuck in the Satellite, on the brink of being revealed and without water for Vodyanoy), and Ras.

* EnemyMine: Merkulov secretly cooperates with Corporation against SOT, which helps them to set up the final assault.

* EvilAllAlong: Anna states that she never was Tatiana's friend to begin with, only playing that role because Grey had some plans for her. Given her [[AxCrazy condition]] at the time, it's unclear wether it's the truth, or her trying to justify the betrayal for herself.

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: X-Rays was completely aware that he has almost no chance to survive his attempt to reveal the Corporation's crimes to the world, but he still must to at least try.

** Grey actually managed to survive the attack on his caravan (though it's unclear wether he was in league with attackers, or just was lucky enough to escape), with Vortex acting as a perfect coverup. He's the one who sent Anna to abduct Tatiana.

* SchmuckBait: It was rather clear right from the start that something is wrong with Anna, who stays here, alone, with the "Sixth Sense"; several characters even comments on it. On Tatiana's insistence, they still tries to bring her onto the base, to see wether she needs help... and turns out that she actually acted as a scout for the joint Satellite/bandits/mercs army which goes to wipe out the SOT (and now knows where to find them, because Anna managed to hide the ''second'' met... somewhere in her body).

* InsistentTerminology: When asked wether [[DeadAllAlong they are all dead]], one of the aliens answers that they were killed, but it was not "death"; most likely, she means "death" in a spiritual sense, rather than physical.

* RayOfHopeEnding: Otherwise [[DownerEnding mostly bleak ending]] has many light spots which tones down or negates most negative moments. Sure, most heroes are dead... but the aliens gave them another life off-world -- and a chance to fight for humanity somewhere where they ''can'' actually change things. With Nikita and Ludmila being dead, it's impossible to remutate the Areal, but with the Fragment being destroyed, it can't expand past its current borders either. Ras is zombified, and Vlad's fater is stuck in Areal along with Vlad's young daughter, but thanks to his new abilities, Vodyanoy has a chance to save them. Meanwhile, Prokopenko and Merkulov were killed, first assassinated by Belov who wants him to keep his mouth shut, the other backstabbed by Fixa; and then Belov himself, along with Lozinsky, [[AssholeVictim dies from the Itch]], because doctor Kugelstain is nowhere to be seen (''very'' likely also taken away by the aliens, which means that he would finally help someone else other than moneybags).

-->'''Ras''': I spent a long time walking through Zones, and have seen many things. Tress, bushes, grass, beasts and birds, even water... Everything mutates, indeed. But they still have the soul and brains, and only humans becomes zombies.

* AxCrazy: Half of the Globe's men consists of people [[EveryoneHasStandards rejected or kicked out by mercs]] due to being just that insane; Globe himself is not much better, being known for his HairTriggerTemper. And then there's Globe's ally Shoehorn (how they tolerates each other remains a mystery), who's ''even more'' unstable.
-->'''Moneybag''': I have few clients left, they prefer to avoid our settlement. Globe is batshit crazy, and grabs his gun at slightest provocation. And his men are no better, half of the settlement consists of maniacs with few brain cells and lots of ammo. People who joins us generally consists of those who were rejected or kicked out by the Mercenaries. Us, or Shoehorn. But Shoehorn is completely insane. We still wonder how Globe and Shoehorn still maintains their alliance, instead of killing each other just for fun.

-->'''Bear''': Gleb Zheglov once said, "thieve should rot in prison". He was wrong; thieve should rot in grave. If someone gives themselves the right to rob the other people, I give myself the right to send them to hell.

-->'''Quartz''': X-Ray is no more, and so is Mist. We are next.

* MakeMeWannaShout: [[UndeadChild Unks]] defends themselves by ultrasonic scream which may blow up your brain if you don't make necessary preparations, and damage your ears even if you do. Since they react with scream at first provocation, it's really best to just sit quietly and wait for them to leave. ''Don't'' try to kill them, this would scare them, with predictable results.

** It's presumed that Unks (from the word "'''Unk'''nown", in English) are infants who died during the very first emission, but were immediately resurrected, and subsequently developed into some weird and highly deformed kind of zombies. They normally don't leave Epicentre, but reacts to strong negative emotional emanations, particularly someone dying. This is ''very'' bad, since they are very hard to put down, and starts screaming at first provocation. And [[MakeMeWannaShout you really don't want them to scream]]... They are not violent, unlike the "normal" zombies -- they died at too young age to learn hatred; they reacts this way due to ''fear''.

* SenselessSacrifice: It seems that Mantrap's attempt to cover for escaping civilians was for nothing, because they were ambushed on the way out.

* ArmorPiercingSlap: Volodina slaps Prokopenko so hard, he falls on his back.