Save The Provision

“Save the provisions! Cut your palms to lure the Upyrs!” Cries Natalya as the Zmei closes in, this time seeking to snatch away one of the wagons and all the treasures they hold.

Her voice manages to carry across the road, orders to prioritize the food and water being received as several guards carry out her order, the scent of so much fresh blood in the air doing wonders to entice the ghoulish pack mules to pull their cart a little bit further, just in time to avoid the monster as it catches the munitions cart in its claws and begins to carry it away, Upyrs included as they dangle from their respective harnesses and ropes.

Following Damir’s directions, a portion of the wagon train distance themselves from the carnage on the road, finding refuge in a small cave, just barely large enough to fit the wagon, Upyrs and guards comfortably, confirming Natalya’s suspicions that only one cart could ever be saved.

Of the 20 guards who had departed on this cursed journey, only 8 of them yet live, attempting to quickly cover up the scent of their blooded palms to avoid sending the remaining pack mules into a feeding frenzy in these enclosed, darkened environs.

“Fuck. Fuck, FUCK! I didn’t sign up for this shit!” Shouts one of the guards, pacing back and forth, hands on his head as he tries to think of a way out of this.

“Pull yourself together, we’re in here and it’s out there, it’ll leave eventually…” replies another man, however the way he watches the cave entrance speaks to his true feelings.

“Oh yeah? And what if it saw us come in? What if it decides to flush us out with flame, or just brings the whole cave down on us?!”

“There’s a chance it didn’t see us, but you’re going to ruin it if you keep screaming so just… chill the fuck out.”

Outside, the survivors can hear the sounds of screams accompanied by ferocious roars only for the screams to tragically be cut short.

When the noise quiets down the group sends forth a solitary scout ahead, and with trembling limbs the young woman peeks out from the caves mouth, then steps a little further out and then a little further still, with bated breath they watch her disappear from sight, waiting for the screams and roars to pick up at any moment but they don’t.

The woman returns unharmed, informing the group that both carts are not missing, along with the dead.

What she failed to mention was the lack of anything at all, upon returning to the scene of the attack, there isn’t a drop of blood to be found, the snow looks undisturbed, nothing remains to indicate that an attack ever took place here.

“We must get moving… Novosibirsk awaits…” says Natalya, bidding what remains of the caravan to proceed, leaving the scene behind and continuing on to Novosibirsk, the floating city.

———————————————————————

Novosibirsk is a perplexing sight, divided into two half’s, the center of the city that hangs thousands of feet in the air and the outskirts, outer edges of the city, those neighborhoods and districts not caught in the gravitational pull.

Further up, suspended above the city is a tear, undoubtedly the source of this anomaly and the primary reason for the settlements survival.

Had the city been left on the ground it would have become as dangerous as anywhere else in the taiga, ridden with monsters and lunatics.

Natalya had only visited the city a scant few times but each had been memorable, to enter the city, one must step upon one of the orbiting patches of ground as it descends to the earth below before it inevitably returns to the bulk of the floating land mass. This process serving much the same as an old world elevator.

The caravan approaches one such gravitational lift, a chunk of pavement that slowly descends down from the sky and locks into place in the spot it had been ripped from the earth so many years ago, prompting them to step upon the platform if reluctantly.

With a rumble the chunk of pavement lifts, becoming divided from the road below as the group is carried up into the sky, up to Novosibirsk.

As the platform reaches the seemingly pre-designated docking point on the floating city, fortifications come into view, piled up sandbags, guard towers built from cinder blocks, wooden pallets and welded together sheets of scrap metal. Guns are leveled in the direction of the group, accompanied by shouts.

“Identify yourselves!” A man shouts, the sun positioned behind him making it difficult to look up at him, to try to identify him in kind.

“I am Natalya Dyatlov, a merchant..! I come offering food and water for sale! Or is canned soup considered contraband now?” She shouts, prompting a long silence, finally what little can be seen of the shape shows him lowering his weapon silently.

With no other option the caravan presses on, passing through the makeshift gates of the checkpoint, the fortifications giving way to the proper city of Novosibirsk.

Remarkably, much of that old world infrastructure still stands, towering buildings that stretch well into the clouds above, streets that while cracked and pockmarked with small divots in the roads still remain largely intact.

After taking in this small snippet of the old world for the first time in years, Natalya sets off deeper within the depths of the city, traveling to merchants square.

It is time to cut some deals.

Built out of the old Novosibirsk Zoo, the animals that once called it home have long since disappeared, leaving the previous enclosures open for enterprising merchants that value strong steel walls and one door in or out.

While all the enclosures have been claimed already, the many pathways remain open for carts and makeshift stands to populate in between the more established traders.

Many faces file along the pathways of the merchant square, most uninterested in purchasing food from anywhere but The Cage, a bar not far from Natalya’s position.

Then coming down the road she makes her next customers, wearing road leathers and a mix mash of various pieces of armor, some scavenged and other seemingly homemade, more then a few scars decorate the stern faces of these men and women. A mercenary company.

Surveying her stock, she scoops up a can of chicken soup and strides out into their path.

“My friends! Have I got a treat for you!” She begins sizing up the leader of the pack while displaying her most grandmotherly and fake smile.

“Out of the way babushka, we have a reward to collect..” says the grizzled, road weary man, it’s only then Natalya spots what the man holds, the head of some strange mutant beast, gripping it by the tentacle like growths that seem to be its hair.

She steps aside, not wishing to soar the sell before she calls out after them. “A foul beast indeed, surely you should treat yourself to a nice meal, they don’t sell chicken soup at The Cage..!”

Just as she fears she hadn’t been heard or worse, said the wrong thing, the man pauses in his tracks, turning and placing a hand on the pouch tied to his belt.

“How much, Babushka?”

“For you, only 25 rubles, child” says Natalya, milking her grandmotherly persona for all its worth, prompting the man to reach into his pouch and toss a few coins onto the wood floor of the cart before snatching up the canned soup and heading down the road soon after.

A few hours pass like this, Natalya picking out faces from the crowd and targeting them in particular, canned food goes a long way for most, a luxurious meal, untainted by mutation and more flavorful then most anything you can find out in the taiga.

However eventually, she runs out of nonperishables, necessitating her to pack up and continue onto the primary buyer for perishable good in the city.

In Novosibirsk, there’s but one reliable place to sell perishable goods, be it crop, fish or harvested berries and that is The Cage.

The one of the biggest brick and mortar bars in the area, its name being derived from its location, located in the Zoo, once upon a time The Cage was host to lions, fearsome creatures from the old world, now a large tarp is posted up over the pit that once held the lions, held aloft by massive iron bars embedded in the old soil.

Natalya ventures into the establishment, leaving her guards to protect the final wagon as she attempts to broker a deal with its proprietor.

Oleg Lebedev, the only man to ever own The Cage, and one of the few that yet live from before the collapse. At present he stands behind the bar, polishing an old glass as he surveys the room, eyes landing on Natalya as she approaches.

“Baba Yaga herself! I take it you’re here to cut a deal, eh?” He says, placing the glass aside and leaning in, hands laid flat across the bar.

Oleg is a great big bear of a man, the physique of a woodsman, much of his face obscured by a bushy white beard and the top of his head bald.

“You know me too well, Oleg; I’ve recently come into a shipment of food, vegetables, wild game and fish, everything you’d need to work some magic.”

“Hmm… you’ve not slighted me before but I would see what is on sale before purchase, yes?” He says, after a brief moment of consideration.

“Of course, I have the supplies just outside, I could show you right now.” Replies Natalya.

“Hm… alright, Svetlana! I’m stepping out a moment, man the bar, yes?” He shouts, causing one of the servers lean up from speaking with a customer.

“Right away, Oleg!” She says, bidding farewell to the customer before heading over and swapping places with Oleg who steps around the bar and follows Natalya outside.

The pair head outside, where Oleg begins to scrutinize the stock, leaning in, picking up the occasional product and checking for signs of mold or rot or something even more poisonous.

“Hm… yes… yes I think this will do nicely… assuming I wanted to buy everything on this cart, what would be your price?” This is an unprecedented windfall, Natalya had expected for him to purchase a portion or even half of the provisions not the entire inventory.

“Hm… for the sake of old times.. I could part with it all for 10,000 rubles…” an old sales trick, now she must see if he takes the bait.

“10,000?! That is outrageous! I will buy it for nothing more then 1,000, otherwise you will find another buyer!” Shouts Oleg, indignation clear in his voice.

“Hmm… fine.. fine..! But only because of our shared history, yes? The supplies are yours..” says Natalya, taking care to hide her grin as Oleg demands the price she always desired.

The transaction completes, Oleg hands over the money and with the help of the guards begins depositing the supplies inside, stocking the largely empty shelves of the pantry and leaving Natalya 1,000 rubles richer but not nearly what she had expected from this journey.

Now comes the inevitable reality, with 2/3rds of her original shipment now lost the prospect of being unable to pay her employees now stares Natalya in the face the only solace being the fact that not many of them remain to be paid.

“Alright, Baba Yaga, end of the road, you got paid, time we did too” says Alexey, one of the few surviving members of the caravan guard.

Each man was promised a flat rate as opposed to a percentage of sales which had been what made Natalya so desirable to guns for hire, but it also opens her up to great risk like say, if 2/3rds of the shipment gets stolen.

“Alright, fine, but this is where we part ways, I do not have the money to pay any of you for another trip..” with the money from this shipment, there should have been enough funds to pay guards, buy new stock and get back on the road, now it appears Natalya will be staying in Novosibirsk for a while longer.

Thankfully there’s just enough money to pay off the 8 remaining guards but it will be costly.

Money changed hands, from the money Natalya had, only a mere 200 rubles remain in her pocket.

As she turns to get the now empty wagon a place for storage she feels a hand on her shoulder, upon turning she sees Damir, the guard who had led the caravan to safety.

“Um.. Ms Natalya…? If you’ll have me, I would like to stay… I think I may by able to help get the rubles flowing..”

“Hm… And why would you want to stay in my service..? I would not be able to pay you for some time, child.” She states plainly.

“I.. well… I understand that, but with my help maybe it will not stay that way for long, and as for why I wish to stay… I’ve heard things about you, I’ve heard that you have been everywhere, that you always know where the money is… I think I could go far by supporting you!” His words seem earnest, or at least enough so to be believable.

“Very well, take the Upyrs to the stables, you’ll find them towards where we entered the city, I will meet you there in 3 hours, understood?”

“Yes ma’m! Right away ma’m!” Shouts Damir, standing at attention like an older world soldier before heading over to begin leading the beasts down the road. Leaving Natalya to look for opportunities.