Give me a sign

– Chapter 3-

Thorns without roses

Opening her eyes with difficulty, in the first second the girl was frightened of pitch darkness. And only when I got used to the dim lighting did I realize that I was at the bottom of the well.

“I thought you wouldn’t wake up,” a voice said dryly in the darkness.

– Who is there? – the girl jumped in surprise and a second later noticed Vlad sitting on the ground.

– We are in the well, – the guy ignored the attack and looked up sadly. – Five or six meters.

Lilia looked around and only now realized why she did not immediately see her classmate – at the bottom of the well there were two recesses to the side, in one of which she herself lay, and in the second Vlad freely settled down. Under her head, the girl found a half-empty backpack. Rising from the ground, Lily stretched, feeling all her bones ache. A fire shot through her neck and gasping, the girl touched the skin where it hurt. But suddenly she discovered a strange chip, as if implanted in the body. Small, the size of a two-ruble coin, it was in close contact with the skin, giving off unpleasant sensations. The girl winced and cursed softly. It remained to enjoy their own fairly comfortable clothes: jeans, a T-shirt and a light autumn jacket. Vlad was also in jeans and a thick dark-colored sweatshirt, comfortable sneakers on his feet.

– Look what you have in your backpack. Maybe there is our chance for salvation, “Vlad calmly asked, who seemed not to be bothered by the situation at all.

Nodding, Lily obediently peered inside. The content did not please with the variety: two translucent modern respirators, a flask of water and a pack of bandages. Looking at the guy, the girl noticed that exactly the same backpack was next to him.

– What do you have? she asked, looking at the rough concrete walls.

“Water, rope, camping matches and a flare,” he shrugged. – The rope is short, in any case, you have to climb.

– Climb?! Lily looked up doubtfully. The gray gloomy sky did not add optimism.

– Yes.

– Forward, – she waved her hand, giving way to the championship.

– Why?

– Are you laughing? I can not.

– Have to. I figured out the options, so and so it’s better for you to crawl first, if you suddenly break loose, I can catch you. I once watched a video from a blogger, you need to rest your hands and feet on the walls like this and move forward, – he easily rested his back against the wall and the opposite with his feet at different heights, and seemed to maintain the correct position with his hands. – The more we delay, the less chance of survival. I’ll take out my backpacks. Come on, – the boy jumped to the ground and clapped his hands, shaking them from dust and crumbs.

Deciding not to argue, Lilia stepped into the center of the well, which now seemed too small in diameter. Lifting a classmate by the waist, Vlad helped her to stand up, correctly resting against the walls. The girl seemed to weigh nothing, but Vlad noticed how her pupils dilated when her consciousness turned on.

“When you get to the top, give me a sign if there’s something wrong,” he added softly, as if it was of the utmost importance. Lily nodded and exhaled slowly as she began to rise. Each movement was difficult, the legs slid on the concrete, and small irregularities always came across under the palms, painfully digging into the skin. With each new step, freedom seemed closer. Her heart was beating wildly, drowning out all other sounds.

She’s used to it. I got used to being inconspicuous and unnecessary. There was no justice in life. At the age of seven, Lilia was returning with her parents by car from the village, where they stayed with her grandmother for a whole summer. A terrible accident divided life into before and after. The car jumped into the oncoming lane, crushing the “Ten”. The girl came to her senses only in the hospital, where she almost immediately found out that it was only by a miracle that she survived… only she. Relatives fought for the inheritance with pleasure, not remembering the child, in whom, before that incident, they did not have a soul. But as soon as the question of guardianship arose, no one wanted to take responsibility. Only the class teacher helped to solve some problems. Having moved to a hostel, the girl rented an apartment, not wanting to return to where she was once happy. With the money from the state, which was paid after the loss of a breadwinner, she paid for art school and her existence, and put aside for renting an apartment, hoping one day to get to Moscow and conquer it. Living in a small town was unbearable, happy memories of the past were constantly returning, which were not destined to come true, and the future was even worse than the present, and there was nothing to cling to. Sitting in it is like living on old, filthy, arsenic-laden toilet paper. In addition, there were no people around with whom one could spend the evening. Each new day brought pain. But one day everything changed, as if something inside burned out, leaving only ashes. Inner emptiness filled consciousness. Mandatory trips to the school psychologist were a little annoying, and advice to see a psychiatrist was amused. Can he get his parents back? Will it fix the inevitable?

Only drawing distracted me for some time, allowing me to plunge into the world of illusions and magic. In such situations, despair in the soul was replaced by real delight. Not much, but still. But, alas, this was only the outer side of the coin – the objects themselves did not answer questions. More precisely, there was no practical need for this. Yes, nice fun. Sometimes it was interesting to look at the fabric or carpet, if they were even remotely similar to reality. All these petty questions did not make sense – before us was only one facet of many realities, and it meant nothing.

The sole of the sneakers treacherously slipped. Clenching her teeth, Lilia leaned her back against the wall even more, helping herself with her hands and again took a step, approaching the exit. When her hand finally touched the edge of the concrete structure, the girl caught her breath for a brief moment and pushed herself up. Gently rolling to the side, Lily fell to the ground and tiredly regained her breath. After a couple of moments, the girl looked around. Clear field, no buildings, no hint of civilization. Convinced that her life was no longer in danger, she looked into the well, where Vlad was waiting for her sign.

– Can you try to throw me backpacks? I’ll let you down the rope – she offered.

The classmate nodded and tossed her things one by one. Finding a small pin of protruding reinforcement, the girl deftly tied the rope and, making sure of its reliability, threw the other end into the well. As Vlad said, the rope turned out to be short and did not reach the bottom of two meters. But even from a height, now the distance felt differently, much more than it was originally supposed. Six meters clearly did not correspond to reality, here it was about fifteen, maybe more. I got dizzy.

Vlad crawled deftly, as if doing a similar trick, if not every day, then every other day for sure. Having reached the rope, the guy accelerated and after a minute he got out, standing next to the girl.

– Six meters, smart guy? she quipped, fighting the fear that had only now formed in her, chilling her soul.

“If I had given a different number, you wouldn’t have climbed,” he assured, not denying his own deceit. Winding the rope, Vlad looked around.

– Well, where are we? – she only now noticed exactly the same chip on Vlad’s neck. The black matte surface of the round “coin” looked intimidating.

It was rapidly getting dark, and occasionally the crows flying across the sky were frightening to the point of horror.

– Let’s go there, – Vlad nodded at the road leading into the distance. – Most likely, if there is a road, there are some settlements.

– Doesn’t that sign bother you? The girl pointed her fingers at the sign of radiation danger.

– They’re everywhere. Or do you have other suggestions? He turned to his classmate in annoyance.

“There are no options,” she admitted.

Throwing backpacks on their shoulders, they walked forward towards the unknown with a friendly step. Vlad looked confident, boldly looking ahead. But was it really so?

– Another approach.

“I can’t,” the guy breathed out tiredly, not feeling his hands.

– There is no word “I can’t”, there is “I don’t want” and “I won’t”. Another approach.

– Don’t want.

“What are you doing like a girl,” my father shouted sternly. If you want to be a leader, you have to work. Another approach.

Push-ups were hard, the muscles were clogged up for a long time and did not hold the weight of the body, which is why the body tried to bend, but the loud commands of the father were forced to follow the execution technique. Sweat dripped down his face, settling in large drops on the rubberized mat, and his mouth, on the contrary, was dry. I wanted to drink, I wanted to fall and lie motionless. But you can’t! There is a goal – there are no obstacles!

After the gym, they, as always, went to the shower and briskly returned home, where they were waiting for a healthy protein dinner and a glass of kefir before bed. It remains to solve two problems in algebra and learn a paragraph in history.

Relatives had long been sleeping, and Vlad was cramming the hateful lessons that did not want to be stored in memory, flying out of his head immediately after reading. Gotta be strong! He was always told and convinced that he could bend the world for himself, create his own destiny, history. No weakness!

He went to bed at about one in the morning, exhausted. But early in the morning, like a bayonet, you need to get up. Make the bed, a few push-ups, press, then water procedures and the main charge. After breakfast and walking to school, listening to an audiobook about motivation on the way. The whole day is scheduled by the minute, clearly and inexorably. Vlad is used to living according to a schedule and for some time he thought that everyone lived like that. Rigid discipline prevented from thinking sensibly and making independent decisions, and eternal control destroyed personal boundaries. It is useless to argue, and only going to the competition, the boy could breathe a breath of freedom. He was forbidden to take places below the first, because his parents claimed that he must be a winner and nothing else.

Friends admired his achievements, but Vlad himself did not experience the joy of numerous awards. Once he became interested in playing chess and for the first time asked his parents to send him to a special club to learn this “art”. Deep down, the guy hoped that there would be less training, but no. Chess has also been added to the regular schedule. Over time, he noticed that he wanted nothing more in life, and made decisions only when he was in the chess club. Everything else is on schedule – strictly and inexorably.

Lily tossed her head. She sniffed and quietly asked:

– Don’t you think it smells like burning?!

“There’s smoke rising over there,” Vlad waved his hand.

Do you think there are people there?

He shrugged.

– I do not know.

They were silent for a while. The road is overgrown. Passing the field, they entered the forest belt. A gloomy impression was created around and a suspiciously dead silence pressed, making the heart skip a beat with every step that was surprisingly light and confident – it was like teenagers trying to disguise their fear of something and could not get rid of obsession. From time to time, slender thujas and needle pines floated by. Sparse hay grass and small oak bushes flashed along the sides of the road. There was nothing alive to be seen. Everything around him breathed death, something obscene was felt in the air.

“It’s all strange,” Vlad spoke first. – Do you remember what was written in the contract that we signed for participation?

“Mmmm,” Lily thought, rolling her eyes. “Something about us being responsible for dangerous situations, the winner gets a cash prize, some tests and medical intervention at the discretion of the doctors.” She unconsciously touched the chip on her neck.

– I tried to pull it out, but it was implanted, – Vlad intercepted the glance of a classmate. – I don’t understand anything. And what is the purpose? Do we have to go somewhere?

– It seems like we ourselves have to find out the collection point, – the girl recalled. “Nothing was actually written. Nothing has been written about the venue or dates. Where do you think we are?

– Maybe some area. These confuse me, – he pointed at another sign of radiation danger. Maybe they are fake?

– How to check? she shrugged. – If at least there was a dosimeter or clarification of the location.

– Didn’t you pay attention? In some places the inscription is in Ukrainian.

“But it could be a fake,” Lilia remarked reasonably. – Styling type. More interested in what kind of chips and why those injections were made. Did they all make them? Where are the others then?

“Everyone,” Vlad confirmed. We will address issues as they come up. Nothing else remains.

Conversations distracted, forced fear to recede. It started to rain. The clouds crept across the sky quickly, it became difficult to walk along the muddy road, the sneakers got wet, squelching with every step. Now the road is already dark, and the rain is still pouring. Water on the face turns into a real mirror. You see your deathly pale skin, you see the shadow that someone talked about before. The world trembles around you, like the floor under your feet: nothing happens in it, but your world has changed now. He is not the same – not the same as he was in your memory.

“Uh-huh,” she nodded sadly and asked softly. – Why did you apply?

– There were reasons.

Suddenly, barely noticeable reddish lights flashed among the trees, the smoke grew closer, and the smell of burning intensified. The black trees seemed to move closer to a small clearing beside the road. Through the noise of the wind, the clang of iron crowbar was heard, coming from the opposite side. Near the lights was a long log wall, built of thick logs. It blew rotten, the walls smelled disgustingly like a swamp. A minute later, the fire stopped, a tremor went through the wall, and deep and winding cracks appeared on it.

In the distance, wolves suddenly howled. Lily cringed. Her eyes met Vlad’s eyes for a moment, and he read in them… It’s hard to say what exactly. Carefully moving forward, they finally saw the source of light – a minibus with the Ouroboros emblem was on fire. The huge emblem was written on a black enamel background in purple spirals and white lettering, stretched almost invisible in a flickering electric light. Several people stood in front of the burning minibus, two more lay in dark uniforms, showing no signs of life.

– Chapter 4-

Without hope

The second hour Denis spent in the company of an excellent student Irina and beauty Maria. They woke up while still in the car, when they were being driven somewhere along the road by two armed officers with the Ouroboros emblem.

– Where are you taking us? – Masha was indignant, hysterically hitting the partition separating the driver and employee from schoolchildren with an expensive bag.

– Open! Release us! Irina demanded, but languidly, more pretending to support the “noble” impulse, sitting on the seat and rubbing her neck, in the area of \u200b\u200bthe strange round chip.

Denis sat up, feeling his whole body numb from the uncomfortable lying. My head ached, and my stomach rumbled hoarsely, demanding food. Nearby lay three small bags with the emblem.

– Where are we going? Will we be fed? – the guy clarified, which attracted the attention of the girls.

– Are you thinking about the zhrachka again? You need to lose weight! – Maria threw angrily and again continued to drum on the partition.

– Exactly, fat, – Irina supported, throwing a contemptuous glance at her classmate. – It would be better if you studied like that, otherwise your brains are already swollen. Do you not mind yourself?

A small window in the partition parted, and the menacing voice of the driver said:

– Shut up.

– But the fact that? Do you even know who you’re dealing with, who is my father? Maria did not calm down. Grabbing a lying bottle, the girl unscrewed the cap and splashed water in the face of the driver by force.

– What are you doing? The officer turned around angrily, looking away from the road for a few moments. This became the deciding factor. The moose appeared out of nowhere, a second and he had already flown into the windshield. The steering wheel jerked to the side, and the car crashed into a tree on the side of the road.

The silence was deafening. As if nothing had happened, the moose slid off the hood and limped into the woods. Denis watched the car smoke and slowly turned his head to the side, feeling something sticky on his temple. Touching the skin, he realized that he had cut the skin on his forehead, near the hair, hitting during the accident.

– We’re on fire! – Ira screamed in a panic, the first on wobbly legs rushed to the door. Unsuccessfully pulling the handle, the girl tried to get out, feeling how terrible the smell of burning fills the minibus.

– Fat, why are you sitting! Maria roughly pushed the guy. – Help!

Denis slowly approached the door and, leaning with his whole body, tried to open it. The shutter reluctantly moved aside, letting the schoolchildren out into the street. Leaving the girls ahead, the guy looked back at the backpacks and, thinking, threw them out of the car. Leaving the salon, Denis pulled two employees out of the already burning minibus, but the men showed no signs of life. Black uniforms, face masks, body armor…

And now they were sitting on a log and could not decide what to do next. For cursing, they did not notice how dark it was and the sense to go somewhere was completely gone. Masha froze in her short skirt and increasingly approached the burning car. Ira, leaning her shoulder against a tree, dozed quietly, feeling weak.

Denis studied the contents of the backpacks and there was not a lot. Three canteens of water, a knife, a tactical flashlight, two dry rations and hydrogen peroxide.

– Can we eat? – the guy suggested, but under the contemptuous glances of the girls he stopped short.

– Fat! Fat! You need to lose weight! You’re eating again!

These taunts were constant. Every day, several times. He was embarrassed to eat in the school canteen, but the feeling of hunger rose, forcing him to go and get his portion. In addition, I always took a few buns. At the common table there were always those who mocked, talked about a diet or a hunger strike. School has become torture. Nobody wanted to communicate with Denis – he is fat. He’s dumb because he’s fat. He’s boring because he’s fat. Adolescents can be cruel, putting up labels and not realizing that they hurt the feelings of others.

Returning home to his mother and grandmother, the boy was immediately fed. Grandmother loved to cook a lot and made it delicious, but she didn’t let go of the table until the plate was empty. It started from childhood, when Denis was forcibly forced to eat, not letting go for a walk, because adults know better what a growing body needs. Yes, and at home they never talked about being overweight, everything was prepared useful, from which, supposedly, it was impossible to get fat. So imperceptibly, Denis gained and gained until he approached a hundred kilograms, but his relatives did not see any problems, because the transitional age, and indeed, the boy was of normal build.

Food has become the only thing that gives pleasure. She saved from sadness and depression, cheered up and became indispensable. If the score is good, you need to reward yourself with an extra piece of fragrant pie. If something didn’t work out, you need to cheer up with chips and chocolate. Denis began to experience a constant feeling of hunger, not knowing how to deal with it. Classmates laughed, said that he had no willpower, and the boy simply became addicted to food.

– How are things at school? Grandma asked.

– Fine.

Have you found a bride yet?

– Nu-u ba, – the teenager blushed.

– Oh, okay. What kind of girl? Good? – she sat opposite, taking an interest in amorous affairs.

– Ira, our excellent student, – the guy surrendered, knowing that his grandmother would not back down and it would be easier to answer right away. She is beautiful and very smart.

– Take care of her, sit at the same desk, share chocolates.

She doesn’t even look at me.

It was painful for Denis to admit that Irina not only was not interested in him, but joined the persecution, considering him the lowest grade. The girl perceived any tackles with mockery, exposing her classmate’s love for all to see and mocking him in every possible way. Why did Denis again eat his anguish and pain, feeling that no one in this world understands him.

Masha returned to the fallen tree and indignantly clarified:

– Are we going to sit here? – it was uncomfortable to walk in heels, but beauty, as you know, requires sacrifice and never focuses on brains.

– Well, they are probably looking for us, – Denis muttered quietly, looking at the dry rations and feeling his mouth fill with saliva. I wanted to eat incredibly.

– Will they find it and what will happen to us next? – the excellent student was reasonably indignant. We are in the forest! Where will we go? The darker it gets. And here wild animals walk. We’ve got strange chips on us, they’re probably tracking wherever we go.

– Smart such!? Maria said with a sneer. “So we’re going to vegetate here?”

The branch cracked. The teenagers fell silent, staring fearfully into the darkness. The pale moon provided poor illumination, and angry shadows flickered among the dark silhouettes of the trees. Or is it wild imagination? Denis looked around and, noticing that one of the Ouroboros employees accompanying them had a machine gun, picked it up from the ground and pointed it into the darkness.

– Wait! We will shoot! – the guy said in a trembling voice, realizing that he did not even know how to pull the shutter.

The footsteps stopped.

Ira put down her textbook, rested for five minutes and moved on to the next subject. She had an excellent memory, perseverance and the ability to memorize everything, even if there was no understanding of the subject. Red diploma has become the meaning of life. After all, grades matter. Excellent students are always forgiven a lot, they will have the opportunity to enter any university in the world, and then work, career…

She could do nothing but study, study and study again. But sometimes I wanted to do something, so when urging the Losers on any boil, the girl was not worried. The teachers won’t believe she’s capable of doing nasty things or supporting something like that. Irina considered herself better than other people. Despised those who are unable to learn. She hated beauties like Masha, who achieved everything thanks to money, connections and a pretty appearance. Only study, only hardcore!

Therefore, Irina chose strict suits for herself, actively participated in school life, and joined the club of human rights activists. Everything where study was needed interested the girl. She did not have any feelings for people below her in “internal” rank, and curry favor with those who could influence her “promotion”. She denied the “excellent student syndrome”, considering this nothing more than an excuse, and continued to cram, doing her homework in full and thrilled only with praise, again looking down on her classmates.