Напряжение / Voltage: Глава 20

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Camrad_RIP 07.04.23 в 08:27

We entered the city from the northeast, through the old city cemetery. The only road into the place went out on the road up to the roadblocks and the large inscription 'Bagiyevo'. It ended here without linking the young forest that had grown over the abandoned burial ground with the suburbs - a gully two dozen meters deep was in the way. And no one lived there. That is why the new masters of the town did not bother to close the traffic in this direction. It's not easy to transport cargo, and it's not easy for people to get through. If not for the uncle's skills, we would have gotten stuck in the swampy lowland, at the bank of the muddy river at the very bottom of the crevasse. But with his help, it was as if we were climbing steps. In the end, we had to climb the stairs, clinging to the roots of bushes and grass. Uncle Wolf advised finishing the "stairs" early so it could not be seen from afar. Only who was to be seen was unclear - it was as if everything around had died out. There was more life even on the other side of the ravine. Birds sang, and a fox's clever face peered from afar.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 10:27

//Had everyone left the city already? - I felt a tickle in my heart. - No, they shouldn't have," I reassured myself as I remembered the bustle of the city from which we had come. The train stations were jammed with departing people, the line of buses weaving mournfully down the road in long columns. It could not all have ended so suddenly for a city of two hundred thousand people.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 10:38

We drove along the edge of the road, littered with the rubble of a collapsed house. I can't imagine what must have happened to the massive stone on the ground floor of the collapsed building to turn all its other floors into melted rubble, covered in places with a yellow glaze of glass and a black glaze of metal.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 10:39

"You look too confident for a burnout."

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 10:39

It so happened that I was two steps ahead, choosing our way at every turn. I had learned the map by heart, so it was easy to navigate. The uncle, on the other hand, was confused without street signs and signposts - somehow, there were none on the ruined houses...

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 11:33

"Shouldn't I know the city I live in?"

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 11:33

"That's not the point. Your expression is... Too calm."

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 11:33

"Do you think so?"

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 11:34

I glanced through the surviving window of the house, carefully assessing the image I had conjured up at the last stop. Slippers, worn after conquering the ravine but already dirty enough from the journey through the ruined streets. Shorts - I hadn't even changed them, so once beige, they were now painted with leaves and dirt. Short-sleeved shirt with no pockets - grey from the dust, white only on the underside. The red bowtie is unchanged and perfect, though the oldest of the set.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 11:35

According to the legend, I left the house when it all happened. I woke up in the ruins with a pain in my head and the world swinging before my eyes. In the pockets of my shorts, there was only a memory card. A memory of the past with no names or dates and a bit of money left over. No pockets at all on my shirt - nowhere to put my documents. Everything is left where it was burned. My face is tired and a little shabby after three days without any sleep or proper food. Only my eyes really give it all away - indifferent to everything.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 11:38

"Hold this," I decided, taking the bowtie off myself and handing it to the uncle.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 11:39

I closed my eyes and imagined the bowtie was lost on the road, disappearing on a long journey. Maybe caught on a sharp branch? Left at the bottom of a ravine, in the sand, under a muddy glass of water? Anxiety came from the depths of my soul, an aching and panicky feeling, a desire to run back and search, and with it, the hopelessness of knowing that all was lost.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 11:44

"Now, that's different..." a satisfied voice broke through to the panicked consciousness.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 11:45

I opened my eyes again and didn't recognize the man himself in the reflection. The clothes were the same, but the look... This is what Tolik looked like on his first day at boarding school.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 11:46

"Have you thought of where you live yet? Street, house, neighbors, friends, school, teachers?"

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 11:48

"The house on Yamasha-Murza Street, we passed it ten minutes ago. Do you remember the restaurant sign still lying on the floor, in crumbs of glass? We had to go around?"

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 11:49

"I do," Valentine nodded.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 11:49

"I came with my family from Upper Novgorod. We rented a flat here. There are a lot of people renting in that house. I haven't made any friends yet. I don't have to go to school until September. I've been out on my own. I've managed to get around half the city, but I only know my block well. I am borrowing family from a good acquaintance. His father and mother died in a car accident. He told me a lot about them. About his former school and friends, too."

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 12:58

"That'll be fine," the man agreed. "Who am I then?"

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 11:49

"Fellow traveller."

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 12:58

"Just like that, without a story?" He looked at me sideways.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 13:11

"Will you tell me about yourself?" I wondered, hoping for a life story.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 13:11

"I don't think so," Valentine discouraged.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 13:45

"So we just go together until you have to go about your business, and I have to go about mine."

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 13:45

"What about the contract?" He patted his hand on his right pocket.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 13:46

"If anyone asks, you'll show them."

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 13:46

"Who's going to ask here?"

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 13:46

"And there's the glass blinking in the sun," I pointed with my chin at the dilapidated high-rise with what looked like a bitten-off side. "Just under the roof. No windows there, so binoculars, I guess."

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 13:48

"Waiting for the guests," Valentine scrambled up in one wide stride. He outpaced me, shielding me from the high rise with his body.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 13:49

A trio of humanoid creatures in dirty grey armor slid through the broken stained-glass window of the ground floor of the skyscraper. Tall as I was, they looked like grasshoppers, with the angular articulation of their legs turned backward, the oval of their chest plate, and the narrow slits of their red eyes. Only the weapons in their hands were reminiscent of humans - the rifle was not alien, except that it was huge, to the size of its owners. Despite all this, the visitors made little noise, striding with the sound of a newspaper hitting a nimble mosquito - as if they were hovering and touching the ground to guide their movement.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 13:55

"Don't move. I'll do the talking," Valentine said clearly, hovering over his right shoulder. "We not going to be able to lie with this one."

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 14:06

Two stopped five meters to our right and left, pointing their rifles at the ground; the third stood thirty paces away, drawing a red light from his laser sight in circles at our feet.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 14:09

"Sergeant Teterin, Internal Troops Patrol," it sounded like a drainpipe from the right. "We are observing the transfer of the city. Are there any wounded among you?"

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 14:10

"No," the uncle responds.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 14:10

"Have you been attacked? Have you witnessed crime, violence, looting?"

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 14:11

"No."

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 14:11

"Do you have an application that needs to be dealt with immediately?"

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 14:17

"I got it. Are you a bug or another insect?" I asked, looking up from below - even at this distance, I had to hold my head up.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 14:18

"Maxim," Valentine hissed.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 14:18

"I'm human," the monster seemed to reply with a chuckle.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 14:50

The mechanism on the creature's head clicked, unhooking the top part, and a tired man, heavily tanned and almost hairless, smiled at me. He appeared to be sitting in the mechanism, as if on a chair, and somehow controlling the whole thing. I want one of those too.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 14:53

His partner also decided to give us a smile - his mask opened following, revealing a broken nose and a tired look.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 15:00

"Whoa!" I marveled at the design and lunged forward, but the uncle held my shoulder back in time, pointing with his chin at the last man in the group, now aiming at me - the light of the scope dazzled for a moment as I jerked to wonder, but now a scarlet blob settled on my chest.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 15:01

"Don't come any closer," the man asked in a slightly stricter tone. "Is this your son?"

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 15:02

"The employer." Valentine tilted his head slightly, tensely watching the reaction to his words.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 15:03

"So..." said the sergeant thoughtfully, looking only at me.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 15:03

"The papers are in my right pocket," said the uncle, and only then took his time pulling out the rectangles of papers.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 15:04

He opened each document in front of him, flipped through the pages, and replaced the next until he reached the rectangle of the treaty on the stamped sheet.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 15:05

"He's under my protection," Valentine summed up, putting everything back together.

Camrad_RIP 09.04.23 в 15:06