Hey guys and welcome to another chapter of "Pups At Chernobyl". Well, there's no hiding it now. The Christmas feeling is right around the corner.
So anyways, at the fullest honesty I can put it, I have nothing else to say.
So, as always, enjoy the eighth chapter if you can.
Chapter 8 – Liquidation of Chernobyl
While darkness still loomed across the land, the lights of Adventure Bay kept the seaside town illuminated. Ryder and Igor had walked across the bridge and were outside Katie's parlour. After hearing from the girl's unfortunate news, Ryder was keen to go inside and ask her if she was doing well. Not a single light shone down on the shop floor as Ryder could see through the windows. But Ryder had something else on his thoughts, specifically what Katie said she was diagnosed with. Whilst keeping his eyes on the parlour, he noticed Igor coming into reflection in one of the windows. Ryder knew Igor was a scientist. He prayed that he would know what Katie's condition would do. Feeling like he had no other option, he breathed in his confidence and turned to the professor.
"What does ARS do to you?" Ryder questioned. Igor knew that Ryder thought it was a sensitive question. A question he never thought a boy of his age would ask, not when there's a nuclear meltdown going on. Ryder had a question, and it needed answering.
"Acute Radiation Syndrome, or 'ARS' for short, occurs when ionising radioactive particles have enough energy to rip electrons from atoms. As this happens, the skin begins blisters, turns red like blood, then swells to a dark look. Then there's nausea, dizziness, fever, loss of consciousness." Igor explained. "All of this is followed by the latency period. A state where the patient seems to be recovering and shows to be getting healthier; they're not. This lasts for a day or more, then the cellular damage begins to manifest. The bone marrow dies, the immune system fails, and the soft tissue and organs begin to decompose. The arteries and veins spill open like sieves, to the point where you can't even administer the morphine for the pain which is quite unimaginable. And very unbearable. Within a couple of days after exposure to a high dose, you are dead."
Every word he took in only made the boy think even more that he had it. Then suddenly an assumed theory came to his mind. Not only he, Chase, Rubble and Skye was present at the power plant after the explosion, Marshall had been there since the explosion. Ryder's haunting images shot back to his eyes in the blink of an eye. He had nearly lost his mind with the same thoughts and visions coming back to him like they were glued to him for eternity.
In a split second flash, Ryder had caught a third concrete burial. Hoping Igor didn't see, Ryder jolted backwards and regained his focus. He shook off his thinking and reminded himself of his state. "What about us?" Ryder asked, ready to hear his own fate. Igor turned to him and kept steady eye contact with him. As the professor asked how long the boy had been out and about for, Ryder didn't want to believe that the third concrete burial was for him. A simple flashback brought him back to when he, Chase and Marshall drove around the damaged reactor block. A quick glance at the intimidating towering smoke climbing to the sky was enough to make the boy believe he had received a high dosage.
Once he gathered his words, Ryder remade eye contact and delivered his sentence. "We were at the power plant after the reactor blew up, but nowhere near the danger." Igor nodded. "In that case, the state yours isn't strongly fatal," the professor spoke. "Just like me and Edmund, you've been exposed to a steady dose. Not strong enough to kill, but consist of doing enough damage to the DNA. In time, you'll either develop cancer or aplastic Anemia. Either way, fateful." As he gulped down his anxiety, Ryder knew his fate was sealed.
Then he noticed that Igor's eyes were off in a different direction. The look on the professor's face was a sign of a temper slightly increasing its state. "Don't stare, but look over your right shoulder." Igor said. Ryder turned around and saw a man under a streetlamp. The boy couldn't tell of his face due to the face he wore a black fedora and donned what seemed to be a suit that mobsters wore.
"Don't stare." Igor whispered aloud whilst looking away from the figure. Ryder shot his back to the professor.
"Who is he?" Ryder asked.
Igor made another glimpse of the man. "KGB. Secret police of main security agency for the Soviet Union. Or as I call them, the boogiemen." Igor described. Ryder made another glance back at the man.
"What's he doing?" Ryder asked. Igor kept his eyes on Ryder, but would occasionally make one quick look at the agent before taking his eyes away. "Watching us. Following us," Igor pointed out. "They always follow you. To parks, workspaces, public toilets, even your home; I should know. The KGB has been following me for years, but they couldn't catch me." Ryder couldn't find the right expression or feelings for his face. Not only he's on the verge of death, but he's also now being watched by an agent who's following him.
"We've got to keep our heads down, and start to focus on making Chernobyl safe." Igor spoke. "What happens then? After we make it safer again?" Ryder asked.
"We go into an inquiry. Gather up all the facts, place points in time, all the way to when the core exploded." Igor suggested. Ryder nodded and looked over his shoulder to see if the KGB agent had gone. To his dissatisfaction, the agent never left his spot. Igor saw the worried look on his face then made a glance at the agent himself.
"They never leave you. They just stay there. Watching. Observing. Following. That's why I call them the boogiemen." Igor described. "But why is he there and not hidden." Ryder asked. "Because they want us to know. It's a message: Мы наблюдаем за тобой." Igor spoke. Ryder faced Igor, not understanding the Russian he spoke in. It wasn't 'til the translation Igor made sent shivers down his spine, and every hair on his body sticking out like a cactus.
"We're watching you."
The following day had brought mist and a moist atmosphere to Adventure Bay. Buses convoyed into a checkpoint between Adventure Bay and Foggy Bottom. Just like the Adventure Bay's people, Foggy Bottom residents had already been evacuated. At first, a majority (including Mayor Humdinger) believed the situation was a hoax. It didn't take a single case of radiation poisoning of one individual to persuade the public of the devastating effects of the nuclear accident. Until Ustinov step in, Humdinger informed his citizens and the population vacated out.
Men in full grey biohazard suits roamed through the abandoned streets of both Adventure Bay and Foggy Bottom, carrying canisters on their back labelled 'Cleaning Solution' and spraying the solution on every wall, every window, every pavement block, including soil, roots and bark. Gardens flopped over and agricultural land inverting its appearance. Everything that made Adventure Bay Adventure Bay, began to fade away. Another set of buses charged into the perimeter of the nuclear power plant. Edmund, hiding away alone in a small tent, started pacing himself. The way others started treating him thrusted him onto a roller coaster. The Chief General got a knife and examined how sharp the blade was. Whatever idea he was getting, the thought vanished into thin air as a voice stopped him in his thought process.
"That's not going to help the situation," Edmund turned around and saw the professor, standing in shock and what seemed to the Chief General, disappointed. Richardson put the knife away but kept it close. "The miners are here. Adventure Bay is being sanitized. Every structure, every street, everything is being decontaminated." Igor reported.
"You should go and report to them. I'm nothing in this situation now." Edmund said as he felt he had been defeated. Crashing down on a nearby chair, Igor walked slowly but firmly toward Richardson.
"Chief General Edmund Richardson, you were made Chief General for a reason, but right now you're making yourself look like your bosses made a blunder." Igor spoke. Edmund shot his eyes up to the professor, eyelids widened to their fullest ability.
"I'm done, professor." Edmund rejected.
"You may be down, but I can guarantee, you are not out." Igor fired back. Edmund sat quietly, thinking Igor was trying to make him feel even more worse. But the professor had something in mind. "I'm putting you in charge of an inquiry that I want you to carry out," Igor declared. Edmund raised his head, wondering what the professor had in store for him.
"There's a hospital. That treats patients that have Acute Radiation Syndrome. In that hospital, you'll find the men that were in the control room on that very night of the explosion." Igor reached into his pocket, and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Edmund. "Akimov, Toptunov, and Dyatlov. Talk to them. Get every detail out of them as you can. We need every moment by moment, decision by decision. No little detail." Igor explained.
"But how do I get out?" Edmund asked. "Every half an hour, there's a convoy that brings men in and out of the exclusion zone. You can ride on one of the SUVs in the trunk. If you leave now, then we have a better chance of getting to all three of them while they're alive." Igor explained. Edmund looked at his list. All three names that Igor mentioned were written in plain English as the scientist knew Edmund could not read nor understand Russian.
"At this point, Edmund, the many lives that are at risk of dying from this disaster are in your hands, not just ours." Igor stated. Edmund rose up and walked up to Igor. "Thank you, sir." He spoke as he raised his right hand to his forehead. Igor sensed the sadness coming out of the Chief General's eyes. He could see that Richardson was truly believing that he was starting to feel useless. Before he had the chance to leave, Edmund felt two sets of arms wrapping around him and was caught by surprise to see who it was. "Don't tell anyone about this." The embarrassed professor requested. Edmund broke away and nodded toward Igor before leaving the tent.
"And Edmund…" Igor spoke. Edmund stopped and turned around to Legasov. "Be careful." Igor warned. Edmund nodded and disappeared into the dark. Left alone, Igor stood in the tent feeling isolated from the actions he had just taken. Meanwhile, the miners got off the buses and got changed into full white uniforms with leather boots and white hats. One of them, leader of the pack, meets up with Ustinov and Legasov. A soldier states his name as Andrei Glukhov.
Igor, feeling nervous about his duty to inform at this moment, rolls out a plan of what he and his men had to do. "We need to install a liquid-nitrogen heat exchanger under the concrete pad. There's no way to get to it from the interior. You'll have to get to it underground." Igor explained.
"And what's underneath the concrete pad?" Glukhov asked. "The core of the reactor, which is melting down." Igor answered.
"Is it going to drop on top of us?" Glukhov asked. "Not if you're dumb as a rock by six weeks time." Igor pointed out. Ustinov made no sudden movements, no changes on his face. A simple observation was all he made. "And the tunnel must be twelve meters down deep." Igor stated. Glukhov looked at him in disbelief.
"It's to shield you from much of the radiation from on top," Igor justified. "And we must keep disruption at a minimum, so you'll have to dig it by hand, no machinery." From the look on his face, Glukhov wasn't pleased about it. He reached into his pocket and grabbed a hand-rolled cigarette. Ustinov took out his lighter and lit the cigarette for the lead miner. Igor stared at Glukhov for what seemed like hours as he awaited for an answer. During that time, Ustinov took out one of his Cuban cigars.
"I'm going to need more men," he finally spoke. "About four hundred more. We'll have to work around the clock." Igor breathed in relief. He refocused his mind back on the task at hand. "We already have equipment on-site, more will be delivered by midnight. You'll start now." Ustinov stated.
"I think we will. I don't want my men being here one second more without being bored to fuck." Glukhov said as he then he left with no other word. Igor sighed in horror. He turned around to the Commander. Ustinov placed the Cuban cigar back into his mouth and pointed toward the door. Without making any other word sign, Igor left the Commander and watched the miners getting to work. His eyes then shifted up to the chimney of the fourth reactor. He could only wonder how the miners had until their time was done.
A silent stream blew through the surrounding environment of the Lookout. From the observation balcony, Ryder oversaw the massive concrete block in the ground. Since the pups went to do their own things to help with their stability after the deaths of Rocky and Rubble, Ryder was alone wondering how much longer until his heart came to a stop. The boy couldn't help but think which side Rocky or Rubble was on. All he ever remembers was both pups being lowered into their coffins and taken to the burial site. Both coffins were identical; nothing to indicate which coffin had who. His eyes kept switching back to both ends of the concrete ground. Ryder vaguely remembers what Igor said just before the remaining team members saw their fallen comrades being laid to rest in their resting places. Believing they had to be marked and credited, Ryder went down to his bedroom and grabbed a bucket of coloured chalks. As he rode down the elevator, a single tear seeped through his eyelid and fell onto his shoe. The memory of him first finding Rubble was strong and fresh in his mind, but he felt bad for the former recycling pup as he couldn't remember when he first found him. Upon approach to the concrete burial ground, he saw a small, black-spotted pup sitting by the site. Ryder swallowed his fear down and slowly approached the isolated Dalmatian.
"I should've been in their place," Ryder heard the pup speak. The ten-year-old boy froze in his track and gently placed the bucket of chalk down. A few sounds of sobs flying into his ears made him want to decrease his distance from the pup. Ryder sat on the grass and stretched out his legs, whilst gently stroking the deprived Dalmatian. "I was more exposed to the reactor than anyone." He continued.
"We're all exposed to the radiation, even if we weren't at the power plant." Ryder reassured him. Marshall turned around to reveal to his owner that his eyes had swollen with tears. "I don't think there's anything we can do about it." The boy added. He pulled the saddened fire pup closer for a hug and massaged his fur. Marshall stuttered with his breathing for a while but managed to calm himself down. Ryder looked back at his bucket and reached a hand for it whilst trying to not disturb Marshall.
"I brought these so we know where abouts they're buried." Ryder spoke as he presented Marshall with the bucket of colouring chalks. After why he wanted to do it, Marshall was happy to join Ryder with the drawing. On the left, they drew Rocky's badge the size of a small car. As they were midway through Rubble's badge, a thought occurred to Marshall. A thought that made him realise how close he was. A few weeks after the team had accepted Skye, Chase and Marshall were driving Skye to Adventure Beach when the dally spotted a starving mix-breed Terrier by the road.
"He looks like he was dying," Marshall uttered. Ryder froze his hand in place and looked up at the paralyzed Dalmatian with a titled head. "On the roadside, whilst we were heading toward Adventure Beach, Rocky was homeless. No blanket, no food, no water. The only thing to shelter him was a small cardboard box. I stopped Chase and asked him, 'was that pup okay'? Chase looked at him and replied, 'He doesn't seem to be'. We went over to him and Rocky told us everything. He was scared that another family might take him in and neglect him as his previous ones did." Marshall continued as he raised his eyes to the boy.
Ryder felt his ears vibrating with terror. Ryder dropped his yellow chalk and stared at the Dalmatian. "Is that how we first found him?" Ryder asked as he stuttered. Marshall nodded his head and Ryder collapsed onto the ground in a mix of emotions.
Then he felt his pup pad vibrate. After picking himself off the ground, he got out his pup pad and his eyes widened in fear after seeing the same name over ten times. He pressed the most recent one and a voice message played. "Ryder, it's Katie," the message played. Marshall shot his ears up and froze his paw in place. "Where are you? My con…condition is getting…is…getting…is getting worse. I…I…I lo-" Katie spoke as he coughed and gagged in the middle of her sentences.
After her last line, a loud crash was heard and immediately Ryder shot off. Marshall tried crying out his owner's name but was too alarmed to hear. The boy raced toward his workshop and opened the garage door with his pup pad as he barely missed slipping onto the tarmac. He hoped onto his ATV and charged out as soon as he ignited the engine. Ryder slammed onto the breaks as hard as he could. He felt the ATV nearly throwing him into the window. Not the kind of entrance he needed. He raced inside and his legs instantly gasped the floor the moment he saw the interior. The desk was covered in vomit and what seemed to the boy as a runny yellow liquid. As he followed the trail to one of the rooms in the back, Ryder tried his best to hold back his stomach contents. He felt his chest bouncing in and out. Eventually, he found Katie lying on her bed motionless. Ryder sprinted to the fallen girl and rolled her onto her back. He moved his fingers up her neck and started feeling for a pulse. As he felt for something, Ryder heard no breathing.
"Come on, Katie," Ryder begged quietly. After some time, nothing. Ryder had lost hope. He drew his head closer to hers and landed his lips on hers, then broke away for a breath and rested his forehead against hers whilst the tears ran down his face. He ceased his crying as he heard a low tone coming from nearby. Ryder heard the sound coming from the telephone. He must've thought that the girl had called him several times but never heard the phone. Feeling like he sinned on his action of not hearing Katie's SOS calls, he took out his pup pad and slammed it against the wall. Shards of the screen snapped out; a few missed the boy himself. The pad fell with an open gap in the screen and a few chips and parts of the cover broke apart.
Ryder exhaled his anger out as he reset his eyes on the girl. He picked her up and carried her all the way to the Lookout. He dug up a hole next to Rocky and Rubble's grave and placed her in a lead coffin as well. Each step in the process was Déjà vu for the young leader, only this time he watched the cement cover the entire hole. As he noted his absence, Ryder was glad Marshall hadn't remained to watch another funeral. The cement mixer had poured the last litre and the substance settled in. Feeling ashamed and guilty for his actions, Ryder reached into his pocket and pulled out a bracelet with a rainbow pattern. He knelt down and carefully straightened it out, then laid it in front of her newly formed grave. Outside, he showed nothing on his face; inside, his heart was breaking.
Edmund found himself in Bellingham in the state of Washington. He snuck out of the trunk of an SUV he was travelling in and found Bellingham hospital in front of him. He kept his head low as there were Soviet soldiers from the exclusion zone patrolling around the area. The courtyard itself was barricaded from the public streets so no curious soul would be infected. Edmund went inside and asked reception for Leonid Toptunov. The Chief General was covered in a plastic apron, wore plastic gloves and hat and a mask. A nurse lead him to Toptunov's room walked inside. From his first thoughts as he went in, Edmund saw the room had a massive plastic curtain separating him and the engineer. He slowly approached the curtain and had a notebook out ready.
"Leonid Toptunov?" Edmund spoke. Toptunov turned his head, revealing the other side of his face. Edmund froze in his step. The other side of Toptunov's face was completely burned and half unrecognisable. Edmund stared in horror, but shook off his shock and got his focus back. "My name is Edmund Richardson. I'm here on building up an inquiry on the events that led up to the night of the explosion," Edmund explained as he sat down next to the engineer.
"I want you to explain everything that happened on the night of the explosion. Is that okay?" Toptunov laid there, nodding his head in agony.
"Yes. I want to tell." He spoke, with pain in his voice. Edmund had his pen ready and opened a fresh page.
"Firstly, please state your full name, age and occupation." Edmund started him off.
"Leonid Fedorovych Toptunov. 25. Senior Reactor Control Chief Engineer at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant." Toptunov stated. Edmund stopped writing and raised his eyes up at the young engineer. At twenty-five years of age, the engineer looked young in Edmund's eyes. Toptunov explained everything to Edmund. The Chief General had no clue as to what the senior engineer meant but wrote everything he mentioned in his notebook. Every word he never heard, he just had to spell has he heard it.
"So the power jumped from 200 to 400 megawatts?" Edmund questioned. "Yes. Very fast." Toptunov answered.
"Isn't there a shutdown button? I may not be great with nuclear reactor knowledge, but was there a shutdown button?" Edmund asked, even though he did not know nuclear reactors as stated by himself.
"Yes. AZ-5. We pushed it. I reported the power surge to Akimov and he initiated the shutdown," Toptunov answered, losing every breath after each sentence he spoke. Edmund wrote every word down. "I swear he pushed it. Then it just exploded." Toptunov finished. Edmund stopped and slowly raised his eyes at Toptunov. "I wasn't supposed to be there. It wasn't supposed to happen to me." Toptunov repeated over as he had tears in his eyes.
"What's Akimov's forename?" Edmund asked. Then a nurse came into the room with a tray. "I'm sorry, but he needs rest now." She spoke.
"No problem. Do you know where Akimov is located?" Edmund asked as he rose up.
"Aleksandr," the two heard from a dying Toptunov. "Aleksandr Fyodorovich Akimov." Edmund turned around to the nurse who was listening to the patient. "Room 27." The nurse answered.
Edmund nodded and left the room. Edmund wandered the halls, looking for room 27. Still, he had to watch his six. Soviet guards wandered the halls. Richardson began to wonder why there were so many soldiers in a hospital. Either way, he wasn't getting an answer. Eventually, Edmund had found the room Akimov was in.
The first sight of Akimov's face brought sheer horror on Edmund's face. The Chief General wrote down what Akimov described, very similar to what Toptunov had mentioned. Richardson dared not to set an eye on his face. Edmund finished up writing up everything and left, but paused the very last words he heard Akimov utter was, 'we did everything right'. Edmund kept thinking about those words as he backed out of the room, then bumped into a man in normal clothing.
"Are you Chief General Edmund Richardson by any chance?" He asked. "Who are you?" Edmund asked. "Doesn't need to be important, bitch-ass motherfucker." The man said as two others surrounded him.
"Home's calling for you to come back." Edmund stood there in defeat.
I think my past self has really put a challenge for me right now with these chapters.
I hope you enjoyed that chapter and I'll be back again with chapter nine same time, same day, next week. Whilst it's still in my mind, after chapter ten's release there will be a week's break as I know some of you like to enjoy the holidays without any tears. But I'll properly explain it on chapter ten.
But from me, I'll see you next time, why did I waste my life making this chapter? Because I can...