Warning: This chapter is a bit gory at the beginning.

Russia lay on his back on the floor, pale hair plastered to his sweaty face. When the light from Lithuania's flashlight shone in his eyes, he made no move to look away. "Litvaaa," he rasped.

Shuddering, Lithuania knelt on the ground next to Russia, shining his flashlight on the Russian's body. His stomach heaved when he saw the hideous injuries, yet he couldn't pull his eyes away.

Russia was covered with burns. Bloody red blisters flecked his arms and legs, and angry raised scars had sprung up all over the his body. His skin was red and flaky, as if it had been sunburned.

Pressing a shaking hand to his mouth, Lithuania swallowed hard against the bile rising steadily in his throat. But he retched and the vomit spilled out in a rush, making a sick splattering sound on the ground.

Russia groaned and inched slightly away from the pool of vomit slowly spreading on the floor. Lithuania stood up and wiped his mouth with his hand, hot tears running down his face. Why did he have to do this? He was used to gruesome injuries from having to clean the other Baltics' wounds after Russia's "punishments", but this was nothing like he had ever seen before.

These burns were the injuries of the Russian people - radiation poisoning and flash burns all mixed into one. And...it was basically pointless for Lithuania to help Russia, because, as a country, he wouldn't heal until his citizens did.

Anger rose up inside Lithuania as he looked down at the prone Russian, trying not to throw up again. His hands balled into fists. Why should he help him? It's not like Russia could do anything to him when he was this weak!

He glanced over his shoulder and saw a flashlight bobbing on the other side of the room - Estonia and Latvia, looking around the fallout shelter. And here he was, stuck tending the very nation who held him captive!

Maybe he should walk away; escape. Get as far away as he could. Lithuania snapped his eyes away from Russia's bloody burns and took a trembling step back, glancing nervously at the Russian. Russia wouldn't notice...would he?

Yes. A hand shot out before Lithuania could get any farther and grabbed his ankle roughly, rendering him immobile. "Stay," Russia's pained voice hissed, "or Estonia and Latvia will die."

The fallout shelter smelled like mildew. That's the first thing that went through Estonia's head as his flashlight illuminated a small, gray room with cinderblock walls and a concrete floor. Wooden shelves lined the walls, and two bunk beds with simple mattresses and blankets stood in a corner.

He wrinkled his nose, and his gaze fell on a little table and a couple of chairs that took up an area in the middle of the room slightly to the right of where Russia lay. The table was covered by a faded red tablecloth, and the chairs looked rickety and unstable. Estonia made up his mind never to sit in them.

A chain hung from the ceiling connected to a lightbulb, but when Estonia pulled it, he found that he had been right - there was no electricity in the bomb shelter. He knew it was because the bomb had severed all the power lines in the area, but he couldn't help feeling a small spasm of fear in his stomach. Were they the only survivors? What had happened to the world outside?

Shaking his head to clear it, Estonia moved on to the wooden shelves, Latvia trailing dutifully behind him. All the typical survival equipment was there - flashlights, batteries, a small radio - but something seemed a bit...off about the shelves of food.

There was food there, of course - canned goods like fruit and soup, beans and rice, cereal and crackers - but Estonia had the strange impulse to check just to make sure. With a trembling finger, he began counting in Estonian. "Üks, kaks, kolm…"

Something wasn't right. Estonia squinted and looked closer at the food. His heart pounded in his chest, and he gripped his flashlight hard, knuckles turning white with the force of his grasp. Of course there's enough food, he thought. Why wouldn't there be?

But after counting two more times and doing the math in his head, there was no reason left for him to doubt what he saw - the food stocked on the shelves would only last four people about one month.

Estonia felt dizzy. His mind raced. One month...that's barely enough time for the radiation dust in the air to settle! If our food runs out, there will be no escape, no way out except through the painful death of radiation poisoning- His breathing got faster; for some reason, he couldn't get enough air. There was this...terrible suffocating sensation that just wouldn't go away. What will happen to us when there's no food? Will we...will we all die?

Now Estonia was gasping for air, black spots dancing in front of his eyes as he took narrow, shuddering breaths. His hands went limp and the flashlight dropped to the ground, switching off as soon as it hit the floor. The room plunged into darkness other than the dim circle of light from Lithuania's flashlight.

We could be dead in one month one month one month-

A faint voice yelled, "Estonia! E-estonia!" Estonia turned clumsily towards the sound, but everything just seemed to blur together. He felt himself sway, clutching for something to hold on to but finding nothing but air...

A small hand grabbed his and pulled him down to the floor. Estonia sat on the cold ground, trembling and shivering, and the room eventually swam into focus.

Latvia stood peering down at him with worry in his eyes. "E-estonia," he stuttered, voice quaking.

Estonia glanced around, trying to get his bearings. He was half-sitting, half-lying next to the shelves of food, flashlight lying smashed beside him. His heart pounded One month one month one month one month.

"Wh-what happened to you?" Latvia asked. "You...you were doing something with the food - c-counting it, maybe? And then you t-turned pale and s-started gasping and it was really, really s-scary!" His voice rose in pitch as he spoke.

Estonia sat up slowly. His heart was still beating much too quickly, but his breathing had slowed. "Did...did I p-pass out?" he asked, voice thick.

"N-no," said Latvia, "But you were a-about to, if you had been standing for j-just a second longer." Latvia sat down and gazed at Estonia with concern. "You d-don't usually...act like this, you know," he observed bluntly.

Estonia raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What do you mean - 'like this?'"

"W-well, it's like you h-had a panic attack or something. That's n-never happened to you before."

How would Latvia know that? And why did he care? Estonia shrugged and drew his brows together.

"Something m-must have been really wrong for you to a-almost pass out," Latvia continued, completely oblivious to Estonia's frowning expression.

"Yeah." Estonia shut his eyes for a moment. Yes, something is wrong. Running out of food in one month? That's pretty bad. He opened his eyes and sighed when he saw the inquisitive look on Latvia's face. He really didn't want to tell Latvia about the food; the young Baltic shouldn't have to worry himself with it right now.

"So, wh-what's wrong?" Latvia asked.

Curse Latvia and his stupid blunt questions! "Uh, just something about the fallout shelter," Estonia said without looking up. He pressed his palms into his eyes and sighed.

Latvia shivered; obviously Estonia didn't want to tell him. "Does L-lithuania know?"

"No." But Estonia probably should tell Lithuania. The oldest Baltic would definitely be able to come up with a solution in no time...or at least break the news to Latvia without making him have a heart attack.

Estonia stood up abruptly. "Latvia, you know what?" The room spun, and he held an arm out for balance before getting his bearings again.

"Wh-what?" Latvia asked, eyes widening in trepidation.

"I think I'll go tell Lithuania what's going on, and then h-he'll tell you! Got that?"

Latvia shook his head vigorously. "N-nē!" he yelled.

"Why not?" pleaded Estonia in frustration.

Latvia's face scrunched up, as if he was about to cry. "Because...b-because I want to go with y-you, and I w-want to know what's going on! Don't leave me by myself h-here, p-please!" he whined.

Estonia sighed. "Fine," he grumbled, "you can come with me. Just...d-don't pass out when you hear what I'm going to say."

"I w-won't, I promise!" said Latvia. He grabbed a flashlight and switched it on, pointing it in the direction of Russia and Lithuania. "Come on, E-estonia, iesim!"

Lithuania stood in a very precarious position, teetering and off-balance. Russia's large hand had gripped his ankle tightly and pulled his leg so much to the side that he could barely stand straight.

His face was pale and sweaty, and the Lithuanian shook uncontrollably. A nasty-looking stain from his vomit spread down the front of his green uniform, and on top of that, he had a horrible taste in his mouth.

Russia squeezed his ankle harder, fingernails cutting into his skin. Tears welled up in Lithuania's eyes. "R-russia, p-please-"

The Russian's clothes and body were caked with dried blood and he lay flat on the ground, but that didn't stop him from giggling, his laughter dark and sadistic. "Nyet, Litva, you will stay with me forever and ever!"

Tears ran silently down Lithuania's face, and he tilted his head up in a hopeless attempt to stop them from falling. That was when Lithuania saw Estonia and Latvia approaching, their jaws dropped in stunned surprise.

Russia saw them, too.

Translations:

Litva: Lithuania (Russian)

Üks, kaks, kolm: One, two, three (Estonian)

Nē: No (Latvian)

Iesim: Let's go (Latvian)

Nyet: No (Russian)

Hehe, I wrote this faster than I thought I would! I hope you liked this chapter. All your reviews, follows, and favorites make me feel so happy!

And special thanks to my guest reviewers! I really loved reading your reviews, and as I can't reply to you through private messaging, I'm just going to have to thank you here. :)