Artyom is missing!

“Where is he?” I ask Smirnov, grabbing his chest. “Where is Artyom?”

“I don’t know.”

“You were with him!”

“I lost track of him, barely got away myself.”

I push him and let go of his coat.

“We have to go back for him!”

“Don’t waste your time. He’s probably dead.”

“I’m not going to leave him behind!” I growl at Smirnov, before turning and taking off into the forest.

“What the hell are you doing?” Dadonov shouts and begins to chase after me. “Get back here!”

I am determined to find Artyom and make sure he’s okay, and leave Dadonov’s old, out of breath ass in the dust. My heart races as I retrace our steps, looking everywhere for him. Surely he made it out of the village!

There’s a set of footprints on the ground, it looks like a Russian boot! I follow the footprints, which become more rough the further I follow them. It looks like they were dragging their feet.

I gasp and cover my mouth with my fingertips when I start to see drops of blood on the snow. I follow them, and look up to see the trunk of a tree smeared with it.

“Oh no….” I mutter when I see Artyom staggering through the forest. “No!”

I rush to his side and grab him by his arm.

“Tatya.” He says wearily. “You have to get out of here.”

“Not without you! Come on!” I try to pull him along but he falls to his knees. I sling my PPSh and pull him back to his feet. Chills run through me when I see his wound.

“You’re going to be okay.” I tell him, but the wavering of my voice and the tears running down my face tell a different story. “Let’s get you out of here.”

I drag him along, and he falls again on his face, dropping his rifle in the snow. I grab him again and pull him back to his feet again.

“No, I’m not.” He groans, his feet dragging. At this point, I’m nearly carrying him.

Artyom collapses again, this time bringing me to the ground with him. He crawls up to his elbows, then rolls onto his back, sitting against a tree. He holds his bloodied midsection, a grimace on his pale face.

“You have to get out of here!” He urges me. “They’ll kill you if you stay!”

“I can’t leave you!”

“You have to! You can’t let them catch you!”

“But what about you?”

“Leave me! I don’t want them to get you! You have to go!”

“I can’t!”

“Please!” He begs me. “Go! I don’t want you to see me die!”