Meet my new comrades

"Nice rifle." A voice calls from behind me. I turn around to see two men carrying scoped rifles like mine and Evgeny's. "Nice face."

The one on the right leers at me. He has short, thick black hair and is unshaven.

"I've been looking for you." I tell them.

"My prayers must have been answered!" The annoying one jokes and jabs his buddy, who doesn't react.

"Who is in charge here?" I ask.

"That would be me." The annoying one declares.

"Would you shut up?" The other finally speaks, then turns to me. "Neither of us are in charge, but our captain should be back soon."

"We should take this time to get to know each other." The annoying one suggests. "What is your name?"

"Kulikova." I sigh.

"Not your familial." He says. "We use first names around here." He wags his eyebrows. "I'm Maxim."

"Tatyana."

"Cute name." Maxim says with a smirk. The other one lets out an exasperated sigh.

"I'm Anton." The other introduces himself. "We are happy to meet you."

"What do you have two rifles for?" Maxim asks me. "Are you so good that they gave you an extra?"

"This one is mine." I tell him. "The other is Evgeny's."

"Evgeny?" Anton asks. "I remember him. He was supposed to be due here any day now."

"He was." I tell Anton. "He was killed today, by a machine gunner."

"Where?"

"A little south of the chemical plant."

"Wow." Anton says. "I always thought that he was invincible. Everybody here looked up to him."

"He was my boyfriend." I tell him.

"I'm sorry." Anton tells me, and steps towards me. He gives me a small hug and pats my back.

Maxim is standing, waiting expectantly when I'm finished. I stand awkwardly in front of him, and reluctantly let him approach me and put his arms around me.

"I know you must be lonely now." Maxim whispers in my ear. "I can take care of you." His hand squeezes my ass and I jerk my body to break out of his grip.

Maxim tries to talk again but is cut off when I slap him in the face.

"Hey! What the fuck?" He cries, backing off and holding his cheek.

"Watch your hands." I growl at him.

"Just leave her alone." Anton tells him.

"Easy for you to say, getting pussy every night!" Maxim argues with him.

"Her boyfriend was just killed today."

"So?" Maxim asks. "That means she's single!"

"Just back off, okay? She looks like she's been through hell today."

"Welcome to Stalingrad." Maxim snorts.

"Just give her some time."

"No way!" Maxim belts. "I want to fuck her while she's still clean!"

"You suck, dude." Anton tells him.

"I ran circles around you today, Anton." Maxim snaps back. "Don't forget how you missed that guy earlier."

"I wouldn't have, if you didn't kick my fucking scope, idiot."

"Where is everybody else?" I ask. The two of them stop arguing for a moment.

"We'll show you." Anton says. "We take shelter in the basement of one of the worker's buildings."

The three of us head outside, and walk over to another building. Maxim holds the door for us, and grins at me when I pass by him. Anton leads us to a staircase, and we follow him down to a room which is lit by a lantern. Three snipers sit around a table, cleaning their weapons.

"Good evening, gentlemen." Anton says. The group turns to us. "Valentin, Nikolai, Oleg." Anton rattles off, each one of them raising their hand to me one after the other. "Meet Tatyana, our newest angel of ****."

Maxim glares at all of them when they acknowledge me.

"Where is the captain?" Anton asks.

"He's outside with Peter." Nikolai speaks up.

"You should talk to our captain." Anton tells me. "Peter too, he's second in command."

"I can take her up to him." Maxim volunteers.

"You should let her pick who to bring." Anton argues. He turns to the others, and they laugh. "Fair?"

"Fair." Valentin agrees.

"Can you take me?" I ask Anton.

"Sure." He agrees. Maxim scowls.

"Don't worry, Anton!" Oleg jokes. "We'll babysit him for you." The other two laugh.

"Dick!" Maxim yells up at Anton as he follows me up the stairs.

Anton gets in front of me and leads me outside, where two snipers stand engaged in a conversation.

"Sir." Anton says, leading our approach.

"Yes, Anton?" One asks. I presume that this is the captain.

"There is somebody that you should meet."

"My name is Zelensky, Ivan Ivanovich." The captain says, extending his hand to me. I shake it.

"Peter." The other says, and I shake his hand also. I can already see in his eyes that he doubts me. It's a look that I'm all too familiar with. I already know that I'm going to have to prove myself all over again.

"I am Kulikova, Tatyana Romanovna." I introduce myself. "I have been assigned to you, sir." I say to Ivan.

"We are glad to have you." Ivan assures me. "We need all the help we can get."

"We can barely get enough replacements to keep up." Peter adds.

"How did you get here?" Ivan asks.

"I crossed the river on a barge. I came from the hospital." I answer.

"Hospital? Did you come alone?"

"No. There was one man with me. Evgeny Vasilevsky."

"Evgeny?" Ivan asks, his eyes widening. "What happened? Is he alright?"

"I'm afraid not, sir. Evgeny was killed by a machine gunner today."

"Oh my god."

"Not Evgeny!"

The two of them seem shaken up by the news.

"I have his rifle here." I tell Ivan, unslinging Evgeny's rifle from my back and handing it over. He takes it and looks down at it.

"Evgeny was my partner, before he was wounded near the grain elevators." Ivan tells me. "He was the finest sniper that I ever knew."

"I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news." I console Ivan. "I was very fond of Evgeny too."

"We needed him back." Ivan mutters. He looks up at Anton.

"Where's Alyona?" He asks.

"She stopped by her apartment." Anton tells him. "Said she had to get something."

"I see."

"Actually, sir, I was hoping to go over there and get her."

"Alright." Ivan agrees. "It isn't far. Just bring somebody with you, okay?"

"I'll be right back, sir." Anton assures him. Ivan and Peter head inside.

"I'm going to go and get my girlfriend." Anton tells me. "Do you want to come and meet her?"