Toris sat in the floor, his legs curled up to his chest, arms wrapped around them. He had been sitting this way for at least two hours, rocking back and forth, his eyes closed tightly. He could feel his head spinning, no matter how many cups of water he drank. What if he really did have radiation poisoning? The Lithuanian started to fear for the worse, burying his head into his arms and rocking faster. The spots that had been drifting in and out of his vision were gone now, but he still felt his skin tingling.

"I'm poisoned… I know I am… I'm…" He scraped his nails over his bare arms, wrapped only in a towel, his hair still sopping wet. Toris had taken at least seven showers, though the tingling and stinging had gotten worse with each. He had given up now, slumping over beside the sink, his back pressed up against the tile of the wall. The bathroom was fairly small, though the lights illuminated the room well, causing a bright reflection off of each individual tile.

Toris' mind ran through each scattered thought quickly, his eyes shooting open to stare blankly in terror at the wall in front of him. He was muttering to himself, though he had no idea what he was saying.

A soft knock came at the door once, then again when Toris did not answer. This jarred him out of his trance. He crawled over to the door, stood shakily, and opened the door a crack to look outside. Raivis stood in front of the door, trembling. "Wh… What's the matter, Raivis?" The smaller boy looked up at him shakily, tears forming at the sides of his eyes.

"E-Eduard is missing… I haven't seen him in hours… A-and I don't know what to do! Usually he comes to check on me, b-but he hasn't been around the house in a while… H-he's not in his room either… I checked." Toris' expression turned into even more of a panic.

"Give me a second, I'll be right out."

Ivan sat in a dark room, his chair sitting against the wall. He was twiddling his thumbs together and picking at the hems of his coat. The Russian had left earlier and was now sitting in a shed deep in the woods behind his house. It was hardly small enough to call a shed, but he used it to store his weapons and gardening equipment. The walls were made of thin, plain wood, the windows loosely placed, the ceiling leaking. However, this was only in this room. The other parts of the shed were in great condition, constantly kept up.

"You're being weak, Eduard." Ivan kept his eyes downcast, staring at a half-empty bottle of vodka. "Usually, you fight back. Now you're being frail and innocent." He blinked and looked up through the window, watching a limb bend with snow and snap. "I didn't want to do this, but you know Toris. He never means to hurt anyone, though he has been lying a lot recently." The air started to get heavier, the room silent with the sound of labored breathing in the background. Ivan reached up with the back of his sleeve and wiped away a smudge on his face, staring at the mark left on the light tan fabric. He had changed into his outside clothes before he left, his long military coat draping itself over the seat of the chair and dangling closely to the ground.

"Eduard? Why aren't you talking? You're acting childish." Ivan took another swig from his vodka bottle and set it to the side. The light was shining in through the dirty window, making orange-brown patterns on the back wall. Small pieces of lint and hairs floated freely in the light coming in, disappearing out of sight once they escaped the light. "You never talk anymore, Eduard. Well, you screamed enough before, but now you're silent." He looked over his shoulder to a twisted lump in the corner. "That's okay, though. You won't need your voice for very much longer."

Ivan turned back around and stood, picking up the bottle as he did so. He let out a small chuckle and cracked his back, yawning rather loudly. "It looks like it's getting late. I'll be inside if you need me. Don't hesitate to call my name."

The Russian stepped out of the shed, closing the door tightly behind him and placing a metal pole on the outside latches. He turned and shielded his eyes as the final beams of sunlight began to disappear behind a mountain range in the distance. Ivan let his arm drop down to his side as he let out a large sigh. "The days are starting to get warmer… Maybe I should have one last walk around the forest before the morning comes." With a satisfied grin on his face, he turned and walked into the cold, icy forest.

Toris bolted out of the back door, his hands cupped around his mouth, a small Latvian clinging to his coat. "Eduard! Where are you! Eduard!" He held an extremely worried look on his face, his hands shaking. The last time something like this happened, it was him instead. It had nearly been too late, though Eduard had found him face-down in the snow in the middle of the forest with wounds lining his back and deep bruises covering his body. "We need to find him… Where was the last place you saw him again?"

"I… I saw him in his room napping. Though, when I went to check on him again, he was gone…" Raivis sniffled, wiping at his eyes with the backs of his hands. "That's all I remember…"

"I need you to go wash your face, okay? Calm down, we're going to find him. I won't let anything happen, I promise." Toris planted his hands firmly on the small boy's shoulders and looked him in the eyes. The small blonde nodded, fighting back the urge to start crying again, trembling. "Now go on, I'll take a look in the woods. That's where he usually takes us… Don't worry; I'll be back, okay?"

"Y-yeah… Okay. I'll wait here." The Lithuanian turned and walked towards the woods, stopping by the back corner of the house and brushing a thick layer of snow off of the ground. He bent over and picked up a rusted machete, looking it over before nodding and continuing on his way.

Ivan was nearly a quarter of the way into the forest. He sat on a tree that had fallen during the previous storm and kicked the mud off of his boots. Scratching his head, he stood and stretched. "Just a little further." Turning, he headed towards a thinning of trees, aware of the further he went, the deeper they would get if he kept going in the direction he was previously heading.

A thick layer of mist and snow blew across his path, causing the ground ahead of him to become nearly invisible. The feeling in the air was somewhat calm but also eerie. Narrowing his eyes, he squinted in front of him. There was the figure of another small house in the distance. He blinked and continued on until he reached its front door. It was slightly ajar, but he looked in through one of the broken windows before entering. There was a large sign of struggle, and the old wooden floor looked wetted by some dark liquid. Arching an eyebrow, he stepped through the door and looked around. Nothing too out of the ordinary…

A whispering sound came from behind him. The Russian turned around with wide eyes, seeing a dark figure standing in the corner. "Who's there?"

"—er… ther… ou…" He took a step closer and leaned forward to see who was making the noise, when he stumbled backwards and ran out the door. He ran over the embankment of snow and slid the rest of the way down, rolling once or twice. Ivan didn't stop until he reached another small abandoned house which he barged into. He sat in a back room and peered out the window.

"Oh, no… No, no, no… Not good, not good…" He was breathing heavily as he watched a figure cross over the embankment and head straight for the house. "I need to run…"