After several moments of walking in silence, Iosif spoke again. “I’ve got another one here.”
Lucas pulled up his scope and zeroed in on Iosif’s location ahead of him. Enlarged in the scope, the object was difficult to make out at first, though it quickly became apparent that it was the same substance that Lucas had become trapped in earlier. Lucas moved up next to Iosif who had crouched down next to the substance, viewing it from mere inches away.
“Don’t touch it. Just watch.” Iosif motioned for Lucas to stand back, then pulled out his knife again. The knife blade was clean, unlike Lucas’s boot, which still had remnants of the hard substance on it. Iosif slid the knife into the substance quickly, slicing it from side to side. The substance quivered like gelatin as the knife moved through it, and Lucas could hear the same squishing sound he’d heard when he’d stepped in it earlier.
Within seconds the substance started to change. The color darkened, going from clear to opaque. The consistency changed as well and it turned from being soft and malleable to hard and rock-like, freezing the knife in place and holding it firmly upright. Iosif let go of the knife and shook his head, watching the substance finish its rapid transformation.
Lucas said nothing as he watched, and he kept checking the area around them for signs of trouble. With a grunt, Iosif grabbed the knife and pulled hard on it, flexing it from side to side. The blade finally came loose and Iosif held out his hand to Lucas. “Give me your knife.”
Lucas pulled out his knife and handed it to Iosif, who used it to scrape dried chunks of the strange substance off of his own knife. Once his blade was clean again, he passed back Lucas’s knife and they both sheathed their blades. Iosif gave Lucas a look before turning around and continuing down the road. Once again Lucas was overwhelmed with questions, but Iosif’s look was enough to keep him quiet. Later. I can find out later.
As the pair moved forward, Lucas was grateful that they didn’t run into any more patches of the strange material either on or off the road. This gratitude was tempered by the new phenomenon that reared its head once the pair entered the main square of the city.
With several large buildings and a tall, decorative arch surrounding the city square, it was the official hub of the city of Prip’Yat before the disaster. It was also one of the loudest parts of the city, with sounds easily reflecting off the long patches of pavement and the walls of the surrounding buildings. On a quiet night the square would be relatively peaceful, though that was not the case on this night.
A soft scraping echoed out across the square, barely audible to the soldiers. Microphones implanted in their masks picked up and amplified external sounds, though even with this advantage it still took a few seconds for Iosif and Lucas to realize that a sound was even present. Iosif noticed the sound first and immediately threw himself to the ground, bringing the scope of his rifle up to his eye as he scanned the area in front of them.
Upon seeing Iosif dive to the ground, Lucas moved back into the shadow of some nearby trees, unsure of what was going on but reacting with swiftness to his partner’s movements. He whispered as he tapped the microphone button. “What do you have?”
“Shut up and listen!” Iosif whispered back angrily, causing Lucas to grow quiet and hold his breath. He, too, began to hear the noise echoing around them. It was strange and out of place, and Lucas couldn’t think of what might be causing it. He popped up his thermal and night vision scopes, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary in their immediate vicinity. Lucas was just about to key his microphone when Iosif charged forward, speaking to him at the same time.
“It’s got to be in there! Move!”
Lucas waited until Iosif was in the middle of the square before following him in. The two men raced up a set of stairs into a squat building, with Lucas trailing behind to provide cover from the rear. Iosif slowed his ascent as he moved through the door of the building, keeping his rifle scope to one eye to take advantage of the infrared sight. Both soldiers shuffled into the building, entering a large foyer with a greeting desk and the remnants of dozens of chairs scattered about. Iosif pointed to the left side of the desk, motioning for Lucas to move in that direction. The pair kept to opposite sides of the building, stepping around slowly and deliberately while they breathed as softly as possible, trying to pick up on any trace of the noise they heard outside.
Chapter Eleven
Dimitri and Yuri were both more frightened than they had been before in their lives. Fearful glances back at the building as they stumbled along didn’t reveal any pursuers, though they weren’t about to take any chances by slowing down. Trees whipped by, slapping them in the face as they raced through a wooded area, running directly away from the children’s clinic. Out of nowhere, the trees ended and the road began, along with the introduction of more moonlight that was no longer blocked by the woods.
Yuri nearly tripped as they ran into the road, catching his foot on the edge of the pavement as he jumped a few inches. Dimitri wasn’t so lucky, though, and caught his toes on the cement. He slammed into the ground, rolling as he went. The sleeve of his jacket was jerked up his arm by the friction of the road surface, scraping his bare arm on the pavement as his leftover momentum propelled him forward.
Yuri hurried back to Dimitri and helped him up and they took off again. Dimitri held his injured arm as he ran, fighting to keep his Kalash on his shoulder. He didn’t feel any major pain from the fall aside from the long scrapes on his arm and the flow of adrenaline kept him from noticing more than a slight twinge from that.
The cousins stayed on the road as they ran, still heading away from the clinic. It was a major road with buildings alongside it. Apartments were on the right while a market and other consumer shops were on the left, marked by their tall glassless windows. These stores, similar to the others scattered around the city, were once full of pharmaceuticals, groceries, and household goods that were sold to the residents of the city. None of the windows remained in the stores, though the remnants of scattered shopping carts spoke to the once bustling area.
After several minutes of silent running, Dimitri began to slow down, prompting Yuri to slow as well. “What’s the matter?” Yuri whispered to his cousin, still fearful of whatever might be behind them.
Dimitri said nothing as he raised his injured arm, pointing ahead down the road. A small field lay at the end of the paved road, with a dirt path leading from the road to a structure just beyond the field. Though it was difficult to make out in the darkness, as the cousins crossed through the field it quickly became apparent that the structure was a greenhouse.
Like the windows on the shops and other buildings in the city, the glass on the greenhouse had suffered the same fate. Large and small pieces lay scattered inside and outside the steel structure which was itself covered in vines and creeping plants that had overtaken it. Most of the equipment from inside the greenhouse had been stolen or damaged by vandals, but a few rows of planting containers still remained as a confirmation of what the building had been used for.
Working with a catalyst like the greenhouse, nature had moved more swiftly in this area than it had in the rest of the city. Nearly three hundred yards long by seventy-five yards wide, it was a massive structure, though all that was left of it was the metal frame. Spray paint adorned the metal poles of the greenhouse, giving evidence of the vandals that had been through countless times.