Roadside Picnic

The protagonist of the novel, Redrick Schuhart begins the narrative as a 23-year-old lab assistant at the International Institute of Extraterrestrial Cultures. A tough and seasoned stalker with red hair, Redrick spends six months in prison for smuggling alien artifacts out of the Zone. In the two years since his release, Redrick stays out of trouble with police but continues to moonlight as a stalker. Following the death of his friend and boss Kirill Panov during a trip to the Zone, Redrick quits the Institute and returns to stalking full time. Around this same time, Redrick’s girlfriend Guta announces she is pregnant. Despite the prevalence of mutations in the children of stalkers, Guta plans to carry the baby to term. Five years later, Redrick and Guta are married. They have a child named Maria whom they nickname “the Monkey.” Aside from the Monkey’s completely black eyes and the layer of yellow fur all over her body, she is a healthy, intelligent, and normal little girl.

Despite his hard exterior, Redrick exhibits a strong moral compass on multiple occasions. For example, he saves the Vulture Burbridge’s life despite the fact that the Vulture himself is notorious for leaving comrades behind to die in the Zone.