Although the face filter was bulky and made it difficult to breathe, the mask did offer one additional advantage. Due to its construction, it was able to withstand severe blows, including rounds up into a 9mm caliber. Larger rounds would penetrate the mask, but their penetration power was vastly reduced, meaning that even if you were shot in the face, you had a much higher chance of surviving than if you weren’t wearing it.
Slight negative pressure generated by a small pump on the mask ensured that it always had an airtight seal over the wearer’s face, which was reinforced by the pair of heavy-duty rubber straps that encircled Iosif’s and Lucas’s heads. In addition to providing impact protection and keeping the wearer safe from radiation, the masks also filtered out chemical and biological contaminants. Though the pair didn’t expect to need their masks for those particular use cases, they both had enough experience dealing with the unknown to appreciate the protection even if it wasn’t absolutely essential.
Passing through a thicket of trees, Lucas slowed as he neared the spot where he had caught the movement. He scanned the ground and the surrounding buildings, road, and vegetation with his rifle scope, but nothing was visible. Iosif had finally caught up next to him and crouched nearby, breathing heavily as he spoke.
“What did you see?”
Lucas continued to scan the area as he replied, switching between his thermal and infrared scopes. “Not sure. It was big, though, and moving fast. It disappeared here, between the buildings.”
“Did it show up on the scopes?”
“Negative. I had finished a scan when I saw it whip past and I took off after it.”
Iosif held his radiation meter aloft, waving it around them to scan the air and the ground. “Radiation levels seem normal here. Got anything on the thermal?”
Lucas’s thermal scanner on his scope was sensitive enough that it could pick up trace amounts of heat left in the footprints of animals for a few moments after they had passed. He had checked the ground several times since stopping, though, and had found no evidence of any residual heat.
“Nothing.”
Iosif sighed and looked around, getting his bearings. “This is the first sign of anything we’ve had tonight, so let’s stay on top of it. It was heading north, right?”
Lucas nodded. “Affirmative. Rapidly, too.”
“Okay, let’s head to the next checkpoint since it’s north of here. We’ll hit the hospital on our way out.”
Iosif ran past Lucas, breaking from cover on the east side of the main road and moving to the west side. Lucas continued striding up on the east side of the road, keeping close to the buildings as he moved. He trailed behind Iosif’s position by several yards as before, maintaining a close eye on the rooftops of the buildings as they moved past, alert for any signs of movement.
The road was empty and devoid of heat signatures or movement, though Lucas couldn’t deny feeling nervous as they worked their way north into the city. In past missions, when they had been alone in the darkness, they had always known who their enemy was and that he was out there somewhere, hiding in the dark. Pursuing an unknown enemy in a territory that was completely devoid of life was a new experience, one that Lucas didn’t appreciate.
Chapter Nine
Once Dimitri and Yuri finally stopped running, Yuri had to brace himself against the wall to keep from toppling over. His heart was beating hard in his chest, feeling like it was about to burst from pumping so much blood, making him light-headed and dizzy. Dimitri held onto Yuri with one arm, pushing his other arm against his side as he arched his back and looked at the ceiling, panting with exhaustion.
“You know,” Dimitri finally wheezed, “We’re just a couple of babies. That was nothing but animal shit and the wind!” Yuri glanced up at Dimitri, seeing the hesitation in his cousin’s eyes as he spoke. Dimitri didn’t believe what he said and neither did Yuri, but Yuri felt obligated to agree with his cousin, if only to try and bring calm to the situation.
He nodded slowly as he regained control of his breathing. “Yeah, that’s all it was.” Yuri’s voice was shaking, but he put on a brave smile, trying to make the best of the situation. “At least we didn’t meet the bear that left it, right?”
Dimitri’s grin was genuine as he laughed at Yuri, punching him lightly in the shoulder.
“Come on, let’s stop being such children.” He shined his flashlight around the room they were in, trying to figure out what building they had run into. “Might as well explore this place, whatever it is.”
Yuri flicked on his light as well and moved it slowly over the interior walls and columns, squinting through the dust and reflections from the light. “It’s big. Maybe a market?”
Dimitri shook his head. “We came down two flights of stairs, remember? I don’t think a market would have that many steps.”
Yuri waved a hand in front of his face, shooing away the dust motes that swirled as he walked through the cavernous room. The walls were a pale pink in color, though the paint was cracked and fading. Thick pillars were covered in elaborate and colorful paintings, remnants of the decorations that once adorned the walls. Small wheelchairs and beds were overturned in the basement, lending a sad tone to the room. As Yuri’s flashlight beam passed over these items, he suddenly realized where they were. This must be the children’s clinic, he thought.
As the only children’s hospital in the area, any child with an injury would have been sent here instead of to the main hospital, staying for as little as a few hours or as long as a few months. When the disaster occurred, though, all of the children in the clinic had to be immediately evacuated despite their various ailments and conditions. While there was no proof, Dimitri and Yuri had often spoken of the children who might have died during the evacuation, either too wounded to survive the trip out of the city or simply forgotten. The thought of being in a building that may have contained those exact children was enough to spook the both of them more than the strange puddle in the apartment building, though they each tried their best not to show their apprehension.
Yuri looked back at the footprints his boots left in the dust, doing his best to breathe shallowly, not wanting to inhale any more radiation than he already was. “Come on, cousin. Let’s get out of here. We should find someplace a little less ominous to explore.”
Dimitri grunted in response, crouching over a broken picture frame on the floor. A small child in a dress who was carrying a flower in her hands was faded and torn under the broken glass. Dimitri found himself lost in the photograph, wondering who the little girl was and what her life was like before the disaster.
“Those poor souls.” Dimitri mumbled, momentarily forgetting his adventurer spirit. Yuri pressed a hand on Dimitri’s shoulder, making him jump in surprise.
“Yes, sorry. You’re right. Let’s go. This place is far too disturbing to stay in for long.”
“What about the noise we heard?” Yuri motioned upwards, referring to the cracks and rustles they had heard earlier.
“Just the wind, remember?” Dimitri smiled, trying his best to appear brave to his cousin.
Yuri began to nod in agreement when a noise from the upstairs level of the clinic stopped both cousins in their tracks. The noise was quiet at first, like the light scraping of two pieces of wood against each other. It came in spurts, stopping for several seconds, starting up and then stopping again.