Check back in with the others

The shock and horror are still overwhelming, Maxim’s body laying in front of us. Nikolai remains on top of me.

“I can’t look at him anymore!” I tell him, and try to get up but he pins me.

“Stay down!” He hisses and grabs me tighter.

I turn my head away from Maxim. I can’t bear it any longer. Even though I hated him, I never wanted this.

“We need to warn the others!” I tell Nikolai. “Before he gets them too!”

“Okay, okay.” He agrees. “You go down to Anton and Alyona and get them back. I’ll go run to the other building and get the others. Don’t. Leave. Stay here, we’ll come for you, or send somebody. Just take cover and stay safe, okay?”

“Safe.” I laugh nervously. “Okay.”

“We need to get out of this room first. Low crawl.”

I nod, and turn back towards the exit. I get one last sickening look at Maxim’s remains before I cautiously begin to inch my way towards the door, flat as a piece of paper. It takes forever, but I reach the safety of the hallway and wait for Nikolai. He comes out after me.

“Fuck.” He says, exhaling, and leaning his back against the wall. “My nerves are fried.”

I sit next to him, put my helmet in my lap, and lay my head on his shoulder.

“We need to get to the others before somebody else gets killed.” He mutters.

“I don’t want you going out there.” I tell him.

“I have to.” He says. “I’ll go behind the lines. Don’t worry about me, just get Anton and Alyona, then wait.”

“Okay.” I sigh. “Just please, please be careful.” I look into his eyes.

“I will. I promise.” He says, cupping my chin and cheek in his hand, then leaning in to kiss me, closing his eyes. I kiss him, and we hold it for a long time, squeezing each other’s bodies, before we separate.

“Right here.” Nikolai reminds me, getting up and starting down the stairs. “Go, be quick before something happens to them!”

I nod quickly, in approval and turn, starting down the hallway as fast as my legs can carry me. We wasted a lot of time. My heart is racing with the fear that I could walk into that room to find one of my dear friends dead. Reaching the entrance, I stop to take a deep breath before ducking down and darting through the doorway. I dive into cover next to Alyona.

“Tatya!” She gasps. “What’s wrong?” She can see the fear and distress in my eyes.

“Anton!” I hiss. “Anton! Are you okay?”

“I’m over here.” I hear a whisper back.

“Get out of view, now!” I hiss. “Now!”

“Alright, alright! Fuck!” He grumbles and crawls back behind the table. “What happened?”

I **** on my words.

“Tatya, what happened?”

“Maxim.”

“What about him?” Anton asks. “Is he okay?”

“He’s dead.”

“Dead?” He asks. “Chyort!”

“What happened?” Alyona asks me.

“It was a trick.”I whisper. “Fake helmet. Maxim took the bait and fired. And then….”

“Then what?” Anton asks. I start to tear up.

“He shot him in the face” I ****. “It was terrible!” My voice falters. “He shot him right through his scope, just a second after he popped up to take a look.”

“Fuck….” Anton mutters.

“I hated him.” I cry through snot and tears. “I hated him but I didn’t want this. I didn’t want him to die. He was still my comrade. To think of all the times I joked about wishing for this to happen, and now I can’t even describe how terrible I feel.”

Alyona pulls me into her and holds me. “I understand, okay?” I nod with a sniffle. “Don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry?” I ask. “Ha! Don’t worry! Don’t worry about the highly skilled maniac that’s hunting us, on top of all the other shit we have to deal with!”

“Hey, it’s alright. Just let your mental breakdown take its course and you’ll be better later.” Anton encourages me.

“Really?”

“I had one last night. It happens to the best of us.”

“So I’ll be alright?” I ask.

“I didn’t say that, I said you’ll be better. Better than you are now.”

“Great.” I mutter. “That’s encouraging.”

“Take a deep breath.” Anton tells me. “Is Nikolai okay?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, that’s a good thing.” Anton says. “Now, where is he?”

“He went to warn the others.” I tell him, wiping my eyes. “He told me to come tell you what happened, and get you out of view.”

“Thanks for that. So what do we do now?”

“He told me that he’d come for us, or they’d send somebody. We should just sit tight.”

“Alright, we’ll stand by.” Anton agrees. “But first, let’s get out of this room, and find somewhere safer to wait for further instruction.”