They have already been trudging though the knee deep sewage for a good hour, but the sewer seemed to go on forever. Rats scurried on the narrow ledges and across small side streams attaching the city to the main sewer. The streams all ended with a short waterfall, having Timur and Afanasei try to avoid the splash area when they walked by. Stained bricks that held it all together began to crack and chip away from the stress given from the earth surrounding it. Afanasei didn't seem to be affected at all by the smell, but Timur was a different story.
"I'm starting to think being captured was a better idea." Timur complained though his babushka. He held it in front of his face to filter out the stench, but it only help in the slightest.
"Not with the loyalist being the captors." Afanasei assured, "The way you guys treated us was a picnic at the beach compared to what they have to offer."
Timur shuddered at the sheer thought of being treated worse then the way they ran the gulag. Then he began to wonder how, having his fear turn into confusion. While he thought, he groaned from every step. Afanasei heard him, the groans muffled through Timur's babushka.
"Stop groaning." He demanded, "It's distracting."
"I can't. The water is so icky."
Afanasei rolled his eyes, "You're a grown man, Conscript. Don't use such childish words."
"Fine. Then I'll say it's gross as crap!"
"It is crap."
"Don't remind me! How can you stand it?"
"I've lived in a gulag all my life, a little dirty water doesn't affect me. Try waking up to a corpse covered in flies next to your bed. And that's on a good day!"
"Eww, I even tucked my pants into my stockings and I can still feel it all seep through!"
"At least your wearing socks and boots. Try walking bare foot."
After a couple of minutes with pleasant silence, Timur broke it again. "I'm hungry." he said out loud, "Do you have any food on you?"
Afanasei stopped and turned around. He just gave him a cold stare for a moment and resumed walking.
"Boy it's cold in here," Timur held himself and shivered, "Aren't you cold?"
"I'm used to it."
"All this walking is making me sleepy. My face hurts for some reason." He rubbed his red cheek and moved his hand over to his ear, "Hey! Someone took part of my ear! I think it was one of these rats."
"You have the attention span of a fish." Afanasei grumbled.
"I'm a Conscript, what do you expect?"
"I expect you to stop talking so much."
"What do you want to do to pass the time then?"
"I don't care."
"Want to sing?"
"I don't sing."
"I do!" Timur started snapping his fingers rhythmically, "What's new pussy cat? Whoa, whoa whoa, whoa. What's new kitty cat-"
Afanasei's eye started twitching as Timur sang. He looked at the Nagant Revolver in his hand and got an idea. "Here," he said handing Timur his revolver, "Why don't you play Russian Roulette?"
"Okay!" He took the gun happily, "I've always wanted to win at this game. Wait, is it loaded?" He looked down the barrel and saw a round in the chamber. "Oh, it is!"
With a swift swipe on the cylinder, he gave it a good spin and pressed the barrel against his temple. Afanasei took a quick look back to see Timur about to pull the trigger. "What are you doing, are you crazy? You're going to waste my ammo!"
"Take it easy gulager, the chances of a bullet being in the top chamber is only one out of fourteen. That's only 30%. I bet you that it's an empty chamber, see." He pointed the gun randomly in front of him and pulled the trigger. The bullet fired out and ricocheted against the brick wall, landing into the sewage before Afanasei.
"Are you trying to shot my foot off?" Afanasei shouted, "I ought to blow your knee caps off right now and leave you here for the Loyalist to find your bloated corpse in the river!" Timur handed him the gun back, Afanasei snatching it furiously.
"I wonder why they attacked us." Timur said not caring, "Maybe they wanted to control it for building space. Or maybe they wanted gulag prisoners to fuel their Flak Trooper divisions."
"I know what they wanted. It was that thing."
"What thing?"
"The thing that devastated your Twinblades. It was kept somewhere on the grounds. All I know is that they called it Germes. The only reason I even know that is because I'm a light sleeper. Those so called scientist used us gulagers as test toys. By the looks of it, Germes never lost in battle. Every night some soldiers that were different from the gulag guards would come into our sleeping quarters and take someone, not before chloroforming them first. They carried the gulager out and about an hour later you could feel it. Not hear it, but feel the screams through the floor. The screams, always followed by laughter. I would wake up from nightmares just thinking about what happened during the night, just to wake up to the horrible reality."
"Okay, I'm back. Did you say something?"
"Back? Where did you go?"
"I had to go to the bathroom."
"What bathroom?"
"Uh hello! We're in a sewer, I just cut off the middle man."
Afanasei grabbed Timur by the collar, lifting his feet out of the sewage. "Is this because I didn't wash my hands?" Timur asked.
"I'll cut off you middle man if you screw around like that again." Afanasei threatened. He lowered Timur back to the floor and continued his march through the sewer.
"What did I do?" Timur asked himself out loud, then shrugged the question off and hurried to catch up with Afanasei, "Fine I'll just pee in my imaginary vodka bottle that I don't have and use it as a Molotov Cocktail!"
"Hey," Afanasei exclaimed, "shut up! Look!" He pointed to a short latter to the left side of the sewer and rushed to it. "I'm free!"
"Wait up! I'm the one with the gun, remember?"
Afanasei excitedly rubbed his hands together once he approached the iron bars used for steps as Timur struggled to get out of the sewage. His feet plopped onto the small brick ledge that kept the latter away from the water.
"Hey, what's up with your legs?" Afanasei asked pointing down to the Conscript's feet.
Timur looked down to see his pants filled with the raw wet slime they've been walking though for the pass hour and a half. On both legs he saw a split on the cloth right above the knee.
"Oh no! I must of ripped my pants at the knees when I slid into the rocks earlier."
"Whatever, lets go. Anywhere's better then in here."
Timur stopped Afanasei's progress, "Oh no you don't. I don't trust you enough yet after that little threat back there. I'm going first." he got ready to climb up, but one of his hands was holding the ADK, "Here hold this." He handed the assault rifle to Afanasei. He grasped onto the loops firmly and climbed up to the manhole covering. He got up to the top and looked to his left to see Afanasei face-to-face. "Hey, how did you get up here?"
"I didn't, those bars are for climbing up not down."
"Well excuse me Mr. Rocket Scientist!" He pushed on the covering with one hand. It lifted a few inches, allowing a break of sunlight to pass thorough the opening. But on the surface, people waiting at the intersection crossed the busy street. Their feet slammed down on the covering, nearly knocking Timur into the sewage.
"What's the hold up?" Afanasei asked impatiently.
Timur tried to open it again, this time with both hands. He moved his feet away from the steps to get extra footing. But even with that the people walking above him were too heavy to budge it, the covering getting more and more difficult to move after each of their steps.
"Let me do it pipsqueak." Afanasei ordered, pulling him away from the exit. After handing the ADK back to Timur and dropping his Flak Cannon onto the mostly clean ledge, he got a hand on the iron bar to be ready to leap out. With the other, he flung the manhole covering clean into the air, along with the man walking over it. It flipped over next to the manhole, the snowy sky plainly visible to the two. Afanasei picked up his Flak Cannon and tossed it outside. He then climbed out of the sewer with Timur trailing him closely behind.
"Air!" Timur shouted with joy as Afanasei closed the manhole and picked his Flak Cannon back up, "Sweet breath of Mother Russia! Come to me my invisible friend!" He breathed in deeply, giving pleased sighs with each breathe. "Finally we are out of that horrible place. Now to witness the beauty that is Russia."
The two came to witness a city of rubble. Nearly each building around them where totaled or missing the majority of their structure. The only buildings still standing were soon to burn down from the intense flames burning within them. Statues and monuments where nothing but empty granite stands covered with bullet holes and craters. The peasants that occupied the city crossed the streets franticly, fleeing from riot control Sickles and Conscripts firing into the crowds.
"Timur, what city are we in?" Afanasei asked.
"Let's see, we just passed the Volga River and we were heading East. I think we are in Stalingrad."
Instantly, a Sickle leaped over an abandoned video store and landed on a few cars. The metal crunched under its mechanical legs as the Sickle leaned forward to have the front turret take aim at Timur at point blank range. He pant leggings flew from his socks, the gallons of chunky brown sewage flowing on and around the road beneath him. "Crap." He squeaked out.
Afanasei took aim with his Flak Cannon, "Run Timur!"
The Sickle fired its PKX 12.7mm rounds as Timur ducted and dodged to avoid being hit. The rounds trailed his feet as he ran away from the Sickle to get into an open car on the side of the street. He closed the door behind him and scooted to the passenger seat, all while bullets shattered the glass windows and plowed though the metal frame. He fought with the passenger door; pulling on it first, then pushing. He fell to the sidewalk and hurried a narrow alleyway between a barber shop and a tailor.
With Afanasei on the opposite side of the Sickle he was about to fire when the left side turret fired upon him. He quickly rushed out of the line of fire, towards the Sickle. He used the sewage and snow as a lubricant to slid under the Sickle, using it's height against it to get beyond the turret's arc of fire. Before he fired he closed his eyes and put a finger in his right ear. With a clear shot of the Sickle's highly vulnerable underbelly, he let the flak fly straight into it's center.
The damage caused enough force to send each of the four legs flying into their own direction. The majority of the Sickle's hull was blasted into the air from the explosion. Timur peeked behind the barber shop to have one of the lower half of the legs fly towards him. The narrow stilt leg got caught on his coat and skewered into the tailor shop, taking him along with it. He smacked into the brick wall, his feet dangling in the air as he struggled to be freed from the part of the leg still outside with him.
Afanasei opened his eyes and pulled his finger out of his ear. His left ear had gone deaf a long time ago, and he intended to take care of the other as long as he wanted to hear still. He dropped the vertical Flak Cannon, reveling a small slit of soot around his eyes from the sight opening on the cannon's shield. Before he could relax, he quickly reached under his pants between his legs. "Oh, oh thank Father Frost they're all intact."
"Afanasei help me get down from here!" Timur cried out.
Afanasei groaned as he had to us the Flak Cannon for support to get off the ground. He headed to Timur, not taking the cannon with him. The weight would just make his body in a worse condition then it already is in. He stumbled over to Timur, Timur still trying to swing his body pass the smoking metal leg.
"Good, you're here," Timur said happily excited as Afanasei got near, "Please be careful with my coat. It's my favorite and-"
Afanasei pulled Timur down, tearing the coat's shoulder with a loud rip. The coat tore right off, having the back of the collar still stuck to the metal. Timur gave Afanasei an displeased glare. "Sorry, my hand slipped." Afanasei lied, giving a mischievous smirk.
More gunfire from the car packed streets as Conscripts found there way to Afanasei and Timur. Afanasei whipped out his revolver and opened fire as he headed farther into the alleyway. Timur did the same with his ADK-45, not even aiming as he ran with the gun firing wildly behind him. The Conscripts took cover behind the walls creating the alley as some rushing in between the buildings. Timur took down a few before the gun clicked empty. He swung around the end of the tailor shop to reload while Afanasei kept on running. A Conscript ran past Timur, giving him a perfect opportunity to shoot him from behind. He hopped over the fallen soldier and continued to fire wildly behind himself.
Timur was about to enter the sidewalk of the next block when he saw Afanasei enter a nearby gas station across the street. He used the last bit of his energy to sprint over to him. The bullets from the enemy's rifles desperately searched for their target as he ran pass the empty gas pumps and leapt into the convenient store. Bullets sparked against the gas pumps and shattered the large glass window of the store as he closed the door and took cover behind the wall next to it.
"Took you long enough," A deep, gruff voice said behind one of the aisles.
Timur huffed and wheezed for air, "I haven't ran this much since I was in middle school."
"Problem with bullies?" Afanasei mocked as he rummaged around the back.
"No," Timur explained as he walked to the back to Afanasei, "bear outbreak! I live in the country and the school was near a forest. Every day a bear would smell food during lunchtime and bam! It was every boy for himself." He saw Afanasei gathering bottles of the stores finest vodka, "What are you doing, looting? Hey booze! Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie!"
"Look." Afanasei said pointing the broken window. They saw dozens of Conscripts garrison a Burger Kong directly across the street from the gas station. The troops poured into the restaurant, keeping up the suppressing fire. The bullets continued to shred the store up, bags of chips and bottles exploding from the impact.
"What are we going to do?" Timur asked, keeping his head down.
"Way ahead of you." Afanasei said shaking a vodka bottle in front of Timur's face.
"Afanasei that's genius! We'll drink ourselves silly to die peacefully. That's using the old noggin." He tapped his head with a finger.
"Proves that you don't use your's. We're going to use these bottles as Molotov Cocktails."
"Oh, even better!" Timur agreed.
Afanasei motioned him to move to the side door leading to the garage. They crawled on the ground Once they got in they eased their worries of being shot or hit by shrapnel. Afanasei dropped the bottles he carried gentle as he crouched behind the wall of he garage's entrance. "I'll get the supplies to make the cocktails," Afanasei commanded, "You stay here and empty the bottles out. They need a flammable liquid to burn constantly this time. The one you used with alcohol only needed enough to set the tree on fire."
"Yes gulager." Timur saluted.
Afanasei took off and looked around the garage for rags. He found a few in a mechanic's supply cabinet and filled his pockets with them. He searched some more for a fuel to fill the bottles with. The gas pumps were off, and a death trap if he did try to turn them on. On spark and the whole place will be blown to smithereens.
On the other side of the car inside of the garage, a large red gas can was filled with petrol, a long clear hose hanging out of the car's gas tank. The body of the thief laid filled with bullet holes. Afanasei picked up the gas can with the hose hanging out, "I'd shake your hand if you weren't so dead. Oh, what the hell." He lifted the bodies limp arm and shook his hand, then hurried back to the other side of the garage.
"Almost done gulager," Timur said slurring, "Only a few more bottles." He put another bottle to his mouth and tilted his head back to glug the vodka down.
"You idiot, you don't drink it all. You were suppose to pour it on the ground!"
Timur popped the bottle out of his mouth and gasped, "I would never do that to vodka!"
He set the gas can down and started filling up a bottle. Once it was about half way full he put the hose into another bottle, ""Fine, at least fill the empty ones with petrol while I get them ready to use." He set a rag half way into the bottle and plugged the mouth with a cork to keep it in place.
Timur kept the vodka bottle in his mouth tilted up with his lower jaw as took the hose out of the other bottle and set into another. He took the one in his mouth out once it was empty and set it down next to him. He took another bottle without looking to empty it out into his mouth.
"No, Timur. That one has petrol!" Afanasei shouted, "Get that out of your mouth."
Timur already took a few gulps but spit whatever was in his mouth back into the bottle, "Oh, sorry." He said as he handed it to Afanasei.
After a few minutes of effort, they had around five Molotov Cocktails ready for use. Afanasei lit four of them so they can each use two. With both of them hold one in each hand, they ran out of the garage to get within throwing distance. Afanasei lobbed them straight at the Burger Kong, while Timur's cocktails flew off course. The conscripts in the restaurant centered their fire on the two as they scurried back behind the garage's wall.
The Molotovs Timur tossed landed on the road and on a car in the restaurant's parking lot. Luckily, Afanasei's landed right on the roof and into the doorway. Screams could be heard behind the growing flames. The ball of fire crawled up the doorframe and into the wallpaper, filling the Burger Kong with fire. Soldiers jumped out of the broken windows and ran out the doorway in flames.
Timur and Afanasei saw it as a chance to escape. Quickly got out of cover and headed into the street. They saw a man, a woman, and a young boy run out of a building, all heading to the same destination. A Conscript ran out of the building after them. He stopped and took aim.
"Hey!" Timur shouted. The Conscript looked at Timur and turned his body to fire. Without think, Timur shot from the hip, hitting the Conscript all around.
A balding man in his forties stopped and looked at the two. "Come on, before they find us!" He shouted urging them to follow the crowd.
"What's going on in this city? Why are they attacking civilians?" Timur asked as they caught up to the man.
"You don't know? The leader of Stalingrad has declared the city as it's own country. Some people started a riot, and now they're killing all of the citizens. Follow us, my family is heading for a place with resistance fighters."
"Is it far?" Timur asked.
"No, it's nearby. There's bound to be others but this one is close by."
The two followed the man's family down the streets to a three story tavern on the lower east side of Stalingrad. They were already in that area, so the run only took a few minutes. The tavern had the windows boarded up and barb wire surrounding the roof. The sandbags around windows increased it's fortification.
"Quickly!" A voice shouted from the tavern, "Get in!"
They group hurried in, the militia soldiers closing it up right away.
"More people are here Fedir." One of the guards told a man tending to the bar.
"Good, send them here." The man said. He was in his late fifties, with a long white bread and short white hair under a babushka. He had a ADK-45 strapped over his shoulder and pouches of ammo around his waist.
"I see you two are armed." He commented about Timur and Afanasei. "Planning a little vigilantly justice? Or are you here to tell us the revolt is over?"
"Neither," Afanasei answered, "We just stumbled upon some weapons and fought our way through.
Fedir sniffed the air and made a disgusted face, "What is that smell? Did you walk in the sewer?"
"Uh no," Timur interrupted, "We're plumbers. We were fixing a clog and it just had a mind of it's own."
"Get a nurse ready to tend to the mother." He ordered. "And open up two showers, right now. Any long and the walls will start to peel back."
A few men guarding the stairs helped the balding man's wife who had cuts and bruises scattered around her. The man was about to follow them but turned back to Timur. "Thank you kind sir. My family and I probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."
"No problem." The young boy approached Timur and held out a closed hand. "Oh, do you want to say thank you too?"
The boy opened his hand to present Timur a large button. "Do you want me to sew it to your shirt?"
The father laughed, "No, he wants you to have it. It's his good luck charm."
"Oh, okay." Timur took it out of the boy's hand and smiled, "Thank you mister boy."
The boy smiled back and ran off to catch up with his mother.
"A button." Afanasei scoffed, "What can you buy with a button?"
"What do you mean?" Timur asked.
"You save their lives and instead of money or anything of value, you get a useless button."
"It's not useless, it's good luck. I think that's more than a ruble could get me."
Afanasei coughed out a laugh, "Ha, you might as we as believe in magic it you think luck exists."
"Gentlemen, your bath tubs are ready." A militia soldier said from the top of the stairs.
"Okay Mr. Rocket Scientist, what is real then?" Timur challenged as they got on the steps.
Afanasei looked down and let out a sigh, "The war. The war that this planet will never get out of."
Timur waited a little bit for Afanasei to continue. "Is that all?" He asked, expecting more explanation.
"You'll never get it." Afanasei said shaking his head, "Come on, we've got bathtubs that need a new color."
