Chapter Four: The Captain

I lead the way down the set of dilapidated, wooden stairs, stepping over some gaping holes where parts of it had rotted away. Carefully avoiding the rotting hand rails, I stepped onto a narrow gangway, slick with green algae. The planks appeared to provide access to the lower levels of the apartment building.

The water all around us, was foul, stagnant and brackish. I wrinkled my nose at the stench, frowning at the blanket of algae on the surface. I forced myself to focus. As we passed some small dead trees beside the gangway, I peered up at the gaping rent in the side of the building that exposed the long abandoned rooms inside. I shifted my gaze to the front of the building, where a large boat was moored, partially hidden from view by more gangling, half dead trees.

"Good. That's his boat," I waved a hand at it.

As if in response to my words, two successive gunshots, reverberated from somewhere above us. It sounded like the Captain was in a spot of trouble. Another series of shots echoed off the surrounding buildings as we walked.

Sam doubled his pace, nudging past me. The narrow, algae covered planks that hugged the waterline beside the apartment, quivered with his heavy steps.

"Don't mind me," I glared after him, trying my best not slip on the algae.

I glanced back at Viktor, who met my gaze with a deep frown.

Reluctantly, I continued on, so that the American bastard couldn't get too far ahead.

Sam abruptly stopped, raising his weapon with lightning reflexes, blasting the head off a mutant that had sprung from the water. It happened so quickly that I didn't even know what had happened, until I saw the mutant lying on the plank, decapitated by the shot gun. Blood and brain matter painted the wood. The mutant's body, also green with algae, slipped into the black water and disappeared. Sam scowled at me over his shoulder, his dark gaze lingering on Viktor for a long moment, before he continued to the end of the gangway.

"In there," I gestured to a half submerged window into a down stairs apartment, with revulsion.
"No one said you have to follow," Sam frowned. "Actually I would prefer you didn't. I have enough to worry about without bandits at my back,"
"We're not going to kill you, if that's what you're worried about,"
"Excuse me if I don't believe you," he growled, as he ducked through the window.
"Suit yourself," I said, ignoring him.

I followed him in through the window and was rewarded by an audible sigh of disapproval.
"But we are not letting you out of our sight,"

We emerged into a flooded living room, waist deep in icy, sludge water.

Great.

I groaned as it soaked into my trousers, freezing my skin. I would smell of this crap for days. Viktor said nothing, stoic as usual, as he plunged in behind me.

There was a half decomposed corpse lying face down on a waterlogged couch which I tried to ignore. I waded quickly into the next room. The brick walls had gaping holes in them where they had partially collapsed and I could see into the adjoining rooms. Broken, half obscured furniture littered the labyrinth. I didn't really care about any of it, I just wanted to be out of the water.

I nearly fell over something hard, submerged in the water and ran into Sam, who shot me a dangerous look. He whipped the muzzle of his shotgun around to aim at me. I quickly held my hands up in submission.

"Damn you're jumpy," I frowned. "Calm down, I tripped on something,"

I gestured to Viktor, who had raised his own shotgun in reaction. He slowly lowered it, but kept his gaze locked on Sam.

Sam curled his lip in detestation and his disapproval lingered on me for a moment. He slowly turned away and stalked off down the flooded hall. I continued to frown after him. I watched as he paused to study a smear of yellow paint marking the bricks, indicating towards the left, down a short hallway.

Just as I took a reluctant step to follow him, something beneath the sludgy water, clamped around my ankle and yanked me off my feet. Before I knew what was happening, the freezing water closed in around me, filling my vision, my mouth and lungs.

As I clawed my way back up to take a breath, I was aware of something coming at me, holding me down and dragging me to the flooded floor. The humanoid silhouette reached a gangling arm towards me through the murky water, ripping at me with bony fingers, gnashing at me with horrendous teeth. I struggled to pull myself from its grip so I could breathe, but it held me down like a lead weight. My heart hammered against my rib cage as darkness pressed in at the edges of my vision. My lungs screamed for air and I fought the insistent urge to take a breath.

Pain shot up my arm and blood billowed around me in the murky water as the mutant bit down hard on my wrist. I involuntarily screamed, taking in a lungful of water, while the mutant sunk its teeth into my arm for the second time. I kicked furiously at its mutated head, desperation giving me strength.

Finally, its grip broke and I pushed off the floor, exploding out of the water. I stumbled against the wall, choking and retching on filthy water, trying to breathe. The mutant inevitably followed, coming at me while my back was to it. I knew it was coming, but I was so focused on breathing that its attack didn't register until it was on top of me again.

The freezing water closed in a second time. Water filled my lungs again, somehow burning and freezing at the same time. Darkness pressed in and I was certain I was going to drown and be eaten by a damned fugly.

Then something wrenched against me, pulling me upwards. My head broke the surface and I could breathe again. A shotgun blast snapped me out of my disorientation. I pulled myself together in time to see the mutant's head explode in a red mist, spattering everything around it.

Viktor lowered his shotgun and peered at the bite wounds on my lower arm. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm good. Thank you," I replied breathlessly, wiping a hand over my face to remove mutant brain matter.

I suddenly realized that Sam had disappeared. "Where's the American?"
"He ran when you were attacked,"
"Bastard! He won't get far, come on!"
"You should take a look at that wound first. You will bleed out before you find him,"

I sighed. He was right of course. The mutant had ripped a large chunk of flesh from my arm and both wounds bled profusely. Even as I thought about it, I felt light headed and I knew I would not last long chasing Sam like this. I groaned. It would need stitches later.

I hurriedly pulled some strips of cloth from my sodden pack, and Viktor offered me a handful of his own. We all carried these strips, as makeshift bandages, because real bandages were scarce. They were torn from old clothing and were better than nothing.

I sat down on an old, moldy couch by the wall and begun soaking up the blood on my arm.

I winced at the flash of pain. Clenching my teeth, I wadded up a few pieces and laid them over the first wound. Viktor tightly bound it with several more. We repeated this with the second wound, and only just had enough strips to cover it. It would do for now. It would need to be thoroughly cleaned soon though, to stop infection.

I flexed my fingers, hoping the bite on my wrist hadn't damaged any nerves or tendons. It hurt like hell, but I had all, albeit stiff movement. It would be fine and I could hold a weapon.

When the wounds were bound as best we could, I pulled myself from the couch, wading as fast as I could through the water. The yellow arrow painted on the wall, pointed the way down the hall.

We passed an algae encrusted bathroom and at the end of the hall, there was a stick and rope ladder suspended from a gaping, two meter wide hole in the ceiling. I peered up into the apartment above and begun climbing, careful to avoid the reinforcement bars protruding from the concrete. Viktor followed close behind.

Some rats scurried past as we emerged into the narrow, debris littered room. There were two dead mutants on the floor and another lifelessly draped over a ruined cabinet. Blood pooled on the floorboards between an old coffee table and the cabinet and there were several buck shot casings left behind.

I eyed the corpses as I moved through the room, taking note of the slender wound in the back of the closest mutant's skull. It could have only been from a knife. Sam must have taken this one by surprise. It was glaringly obvious how he dealt with the other two.

"He can handle himself," Viktor noted, prodding one of the bodies with the toe of his boot.
"He's a Marine, so yes, he can," I replied, as I walked through an open doorway into a grimy kitchen.

"Before you ask, I want him on our side, because he is in Tom's inner circle and will be very useful to us if we can get him to trust us enough. Tom has always been one step ahead of us. If we have someone on the inside, we can level the playing field,"
"You don't need to explain that to me, I'm not Yuri," Viktor grunted. "I'm just as frustrated with his inaction as you are, but I assume he holds back out if fear of losing more of our people. They are also dangerous, but you know that already,"

I stopped and glanced at him over my shoulder. "I know it well. That's why we need to take the fight to them on our terms. We lose our people anyway," I frowned, feeling the hot mass of anger flare up in my stomach.
"They pick us off like fuglies, torture us,"

I paused again, finding sudden interest in the pile of concrete rubble by the metal stove.
"If we don't act soon, it will be too late to make them pay for what they did to our guys. I found out that most of them are planning on leaving in that sub of theirs, when they get the fuel rods needed to fuel it,"

"If they are leaving, then why bother with all of this?"
"No doubt some will stay behind and continue to cause trouble for us. We can't lose sight of our goal, but I fear Yuri doesn't want to do what it takes. I want to, so that we may live in peace. Tom Cat and his mice should be first,"
"We should just let them leave," Victor retorted.

I closed my eyes in frustration. "You sound just like Yuri,"
"Because it is the smart thing to do,"

I had to bite down on the sudden anger that flashed inside me. He was right, they were both right, but I just couldn't let it go.

"How can you look at how broken Mikhail is and not want to do the same to those monsters? How do you not want to kill them, after they so horribly killed Senya? He was your friend after all,"

Viktor sighed. "I know you loved him, Natasha, but revenge will not bring him back,"
"No, but doing nothing, while we let those bastards continue hurting us, is tearing me apart," I replied bleakly, turning away from him and continuing through the apartment.
I could feel his gaze on my back as I passed another pair of dead fuglies, disfigured by buck shot.

The cold dagger of loss that I had been working hard to suppress, ever since news of Senya's death all those months ago, surfaced again. It's bite was still as sharp as it had been then and it only fueled my anger. I could not just stand by any longer and watch that bastard leave, while he escaped what he deserved. I felt like setting that damned port ablaze, to burn like the anger inside me.

"Senya wasn't just a friend," Viktor commented after a prolonged silence.
I was so deep in thought that it took me several moments to realize he had spoken.
"He was my partner for eight years. Believe me, I know what you are saying. I would gladly kill them, given the chance. So, whatever scheme you have brewing up in that head of yours, you have my support and my discretion,"

I was so taken aback by his words, all I could do was stare at him blankly, until gunfire up ahead, reminded me what we were supposed to be doing. If we wanted to do anything, first we had to catch up to Sam.

"Thank you," I said to Viktor, before I turned and scrambled over a splintered bookshelf to climb up to the third level.

We emerged into some sort of office space, with a splintered writing desk and tall bookshelves lined with blackened books. Some blood and smoking mutant remains met us on the floor, telling me that Sam was very close. We could hear intermittent gunfire and mutant howls up ahead. I doubled my pace. He was not getting away.

As we continued, I saw another fugly skitter past a hole in the wall and I scrambled to follow. It was running towards something; towards Sam most likely.

We followed into an adjacent apartment. There was another dead fugly draped over an old television cabinet with a hatchet buried in the back of its skull, and spatters of blood stained the floor and walls. Judging by the color of the blood, this had happened some time ago, so I guessed it was the Captain rather than Sam who killed it. It was like a damn game of cat and mouse.

We moved through another room and slipped outside to a narrow balcony, overlooking the floodwater and some more buildings in the distance. The body of a dead fugly fell grotesquely from a few stories above, crashing into the water with a sickening, meaty slap. I craned my head up, trying to see where it came from, but saw nothing. I jogged on through the seemingly endless chain of identical apartments, gunfire and squeals from the mutants, urging me on. How many fuglies were there?

We eventually found another smear of yellow paint and another dead mutant, lying over a half eaten corpse. I forced myself to ignore the overwhelming stench of decaying flesh, hurriedly moving on towards the now loud gunshots. They sounded as if they were coming from the next room.

Finally.

Sam was engaged in a fight with several fuglies that had been smashing at a closed door. I guessed that was where the Captain was. Sam blasted two of the monsters with his shot gun, but he must have ran out of shells. He had no time to reload as two fuglies advanced on him. He pulled out a shiny, black handgun, finishing them off in short order.

As the last one fell, he noticed us watching him. He glared between us, his eyes pausing on Victor's shotgun that he had aimed at him. I saw his eyes flicker down to my injured arm.

"You were hoping I would get finished off by the fugly, eh? Nice try. Too bad it takes more than that to kill me," I said icily.
I stepped towards him, my own shotgun relaxed, but ready in my hands.
"Shall we?" I swung open the door.

The Captain was inside struggling with another fugly.
"Dumb beast!" He grunted, hacking the mutant with an axe. He drove the weapon deep into the skull of the abomination and it crumpled in a heap to the floor.
"Watch out!" He suddenly yelled, right before he threw the axe he had pulled from the mutant, past my head.

I spun around just in time to see another mutant behind us, fall to the floor with the axe wedged into its face.
"Damn," I said out loud, immensely impressed.

In the next heartbeat, Sam wrenched that same axe out of the dead mutant and hurled it back into the room, striking another that had just climbed in through the open window behind the Captain. The old man had been fumbling with his jammed Kalash and if not for Sam's quick reflexes, would have been in trouble.

I stood in shock for a few seconds, before I composed myself, and gave him a sideways glance that he returned with a glare. He shouldered past me and walked over to the Captain.

I had never actually met the old man, so it was the first time I got a good look at him He wore a long, navy blue coat and a neat, white Captain's hat over his shaved head. He was weathered, but carried himself proudly and honorably. He also appeared to be injured in the fight.

"My damned rifle jammed," he breathed, yanking on the bolt of his Kalash. He glanced over at us.
"You again," he said to Sam.
"Yeah, Lance Corporal Samuel Taylor, US Marine Corps,"

"Well, thank you, Uncle Sam. Eduard Baranov...ex Captain," he gestured to where Viktor and I stood. "And your friends here?"
Sam glowered. "They're not my friends," he replied dismissively.
"Don't be so offended," I growled indignantly. "You would be lucky to have friends like us,"

Ignoring him, I turned to Eduard. "I'm Natasha, and this is Viktor. We are not so formal as our American here. We are just locals," I extended my hand in friendly greeting.
The old man took it in a surprisingly strong grip.
"You are bandits," Sam sneered, turning back to Eduard. "It's nice to meet you Ed. How'd you get into this mess?"

The Captain glanced between us questioningly, but didn't press for details.
"I can usually take them easily, but then my rifle jammed," he explained frowning down at the Kalash. "This is one of my ports. Usually, the traps downstairs are enough. The fuglies here know well enough to stay away," he turned towards a hole in the wall where a section had collapsed. It was now barricaded by a waist high cabinet, which he tried to shift without success.
"Stupid beasts, you kill a bunch and they just keep coming. Let's go before more arrive,"

I watched him struggle with the cabinet for a moment, before hurrying over to aid him in pushing it through the hole. It dropped down to the level below us with a loud thud, providing us with a convenient step down.
"Ah, thank you. Damn, I hurt all over, which I suppose is a good sign," he gave me a smile.
"What happened to your leg?" I asked in genuine concern.
"Ah, I think my knee is dislocated. One of the fuglies jumped me and I must have landed on it wrong. I hate being old,"

Despite the obvious pain he was in, he doggedly climbed down to the lower apartment. I watched as Sam followed, before I climbed down myself. Viktor's heavy boots came behind me.

"Ah, yes. Where were we?" Ed mused, picking up his earlier train of thought, as he lead the way around a sharp corner into the adjoining hallway.

"The bandits over at the cinema decided to throw a party for the local gang bosses, and they think far enough ahead to chase a pack of fuglies away from the ruins next door for extra security. So, the poor beasts arrived here and got sandwiched between the bandits and the other packs in the vicinity. The only way open for them was up. I usually have no trouble, but that jam,"

"You're welcome," Sam replied. "I've been looking for you,"
"You talked to Tom?" Ed asked, as he stopped before another fugly that was wedged between the wall and a heavy support beam that had broken away from the ceiling.
"Yeah, he suggests a deal,"
"Yes, he's fond of those," Ed sighed, watching the fugly flail wildly as he approached, trying to claw at him.

The old man casually swung his axe into the fugly's skull and it fell silent, its arms hanging morbidly.
"Here, help me move this, Sam,"

Sam moved past me and they both shifted the beam sideways. It crashed to the floor in a puff of dust.

"Well, you don't have to worry about the bandits at the cinema anymore," I said smugly when they finished. "I took care of them. Go and see for yourself if you don't believe me," this was directed at Sam, who pointedly ignored me.
"I did hear gunfire over there," Ed replied. "I just thought they were killing more fuglies,"
"That was me having a bit of fun," I grinned.

"Good riddance," Said Ed. He turned to me. "You did that by yourselves? Just the two of you? How many were over there?"
"There were at least ten, or more, and no, not the two of us. Just me,"
Victor nodded in confirmation.

"Well, that is impressive. How did you manage that?"
I shrugged, considering my words. I did not want to mention that I had a pet watchman.
"I took them by surprise,"
"Remind me not to get on your bad side then," Ed raised his eye brows and continued on.

After a few minutes of navigating through the labyrinths of rooms, we arrived again on the lower floor, to where Ed's boat was moored. I gazed at it in awe. It was about ten metres long and big enough to live in comfortably. It had a wide, flat, metal roof and a spacious interior, with some shelves and a wooden platform bolted to the hull that Ed was obviously using as a table. There were several fish strung up along thin wires at the stern and a coil of barbed wire lashed to the gunwales as protection from aquatic mutants. It was the closest thing to luxury that I had seen since the bombs fell.

"All right, my own personal saviors, come aboard. Let's set sail. We have a long way to go,"

"That's a nice boat," I replied, staring at it.
"Thank you, it serves me well. Welcome aboard,"

As I went to step on, Sam stopped in front of me like an angry roadblock.
"Excuse me," I frowned at him.
"Okay, we found him. You can leave now,"
I exhaled sharply. "No, we've been over this haven't we?" I'm not leaving until you make good on your side of the bargain. Now let me pass,"

Of course he didn't move. He glared at me, before shifting his gaze to Viktor who glowered back.
"Then, he leaves," Sam demanded. "No need for both of you to be here,"
I turned to Viktor and he met my eyes. I slowly nodded.
"It'll be fine Viktor," I said.

The big marksman gave Sam a long, hard stare and they stood there, eyes locked in a silent challenge. Ed observed the scene with narrowed eyes while he leaned on his boat's gunwale.

Finally, I broke the uncomfortable stalemate.
"It's fine, Viktor," I repeated. "I doubt he'll try anything now,"
"I would not be so sure," he grunted.
"There isn't a lot of choice. Go, I'll be fine,"
"What do I tell Yuri? He is expecting you back there,"
"Let me deal with Yuri, but please do not tell him about any of this," I urged.
"I told you, you have my discretion," he replied sincerely.
"Thank you,"

I watched him turn to go back inside, offering a last hostile stare in Sam's direction; a warning, that if anything happened to me, he would kill him.

I allowed myself a small smile at that. I had a soft spot for the brute. He was certainly one of the better bandits around the place. If it was any other situation, I might even say I loved him, but I wasn't even sure I knew what that was any more. Maybe dependence was a better term. I didn't want to admit it and I would never admit it to him, but Viktor had been a constant and a regular source of comfort after Senya was killed. I was pleased to see that something similar existed for Viktor.

"What was that about?" Ed asked me suspiciously when Viktor disappeared inside.
"It's nothing Ed, I'm sorry,"
"Anything I should be worried about?"
I flicked Sam a quick glance, waiting for him to say something incriminating, but to my surprise he said nothing, just turned away and boarded the boat.
"No, nothing to be worried about," I assured him.

The Captain seemed alright with that. Either that, or he was confident he could handle any trouble I might cause. I didn't doubt that in the least. From what I have seen, he knows how to survive.

I watched him pull in the lines mooring the boat to the building and make his way to the helm. I boarded and the engine rumbled to life. The hull beneath my feet reverberated as the boat pulled away down the narrow channel.

I walked over to the other side, leaning on the rusted railings, watching the black water slide by the hull. I wasn't expecting this right now, but I would take it. I was contemplating my next move when I heard Sam speak to the Captain.

"So, Ed, tell me. What happened here during the war? It doesn't look like it took any direct hits, so why is it in such a state?"

I turned to watch him, finally taking a proper look at him. I judged him to be around Viktor's age, maybe slightly younger, with dark brown eyes that held just as much experience, with a formidable amount of cunning and resourcefulness. He would have to be, to survive out here on his own.

"Yeah, there were no direct hits," Ed replied, throttling the boat forwards. "The warheads fell into the sea, all in a neat little line. My sub didn't even shoot. All the targets were destroyed without our help. We called the base for orders, but there was no reply, of course. The base was hit naturally, so we sailed here. That's where the HQ was. When we reached the city we couldn't recognize it. It was even worse back then of course, just the smell alone," he frowned, not taking his eyes off the channel that was strewn with dead trees and other debris that could easily punch a hole in the boat's hull.

I stared down at my feet as he continued, meanwhile my own memories of that time, returned in a torrent.

"There were very few survivors. And frankly, we were surprised to find any. We picked them up from the roofs and ended up settling in the dock. The place ended up pretty cozy. At least we had no problems with electricity with the reactors running and by the time they ran out of fuel, we had a floating power-station ready. All this luxury, ended up generating rumors, so the bandits started coming by to check us out. Finally, one day, Tom arrives, with an offer of uniting our forces and setting up an effective defensive perimeter. That bastard,"

"Indeed," I agreed. They both turned to look at me for the first time since leaving the apartment block.
"What's that?" Ed asked, as he eased the boat out into open water.

The sun suddenly flashed from behind another rundown concrete building and glinted harshly off the rippling water as the boat left its shadow. It reminded me of the bombs.

I squinted and dropped my eyes again. "I was there," I said quietly. "A survivor. I watched those bombs fall, like seven suns exploding one by one. At least, that's what it seemed like to a child's eyes. I just stood there watching, not understanding, while my Mother screamed and my brother pulled me off my feet. We ran for so long, my Mother, brother and I still didn't know what was happening. There were so many people, just running and I couldn't stop staring at the bright exploding suns, over the sea. And then, just like that, Mum was gone, pulled away from us by the crowd. Yuri carried me into a basement, and we never saw her again,"

"We found some other people already hiding there; Viktor and a few others, so we stayed together. Then the tsunami came, this great wall of water. I had never seen so much before. We hurried up into the building, as high as we could go and the water just kept coming, sweeping through, deafening. I thought we would all drown," I paused, staring out over the vast expanse of water that at some point had been a wide street, or park, or something else. I don't know what. Whatever it had been was lost. Now it was part of the sea.

"I was terrified. Then came the horrible silence, almost as deafening as the water had been. So unnatural, like time had just stopped. When we looked outside, well, I imagine you can guess what we saw, because it's the same as what we are looking at now, only it was brand new,"

No one spoke, the hum of the engines droning through the silence. I dragged my head up to look at them. Ed was still staring straight ahead, his brow creased, but Sam was staring at me with an unreadable expression. For once it was not hostile.

Finally, Ed broke the tension. "Why did you not come to the port with the other survivors?"

I thought for a moment, trying to recall the events that happened once the damned water had settled.

"I'm not sure Yuri was even aware there were other survivors at first. We didn't see anyone for days afterwards. I don't remember much of what happened after that, but I do remember that when we did find out others had survived, they were hostile. I guess they were the other bandit jerks that now give us so much trouble,"

I shrugged. "I don't know, maybe Yuri decided it was best to stay just as we were, but we did pick up a few more strays along the way. There were more survivors than we first thought and some were willing to join us. We just tried to stay alive best we could. Then, Tom Cat arrived and muscled his way in, so we knew we had to be just as cunning as he was to stay alive. Between him and the other bandit clans, we had our work cut out for us. And well, you know the rest,"

"I see," Ed replied simply when I had finished, but offered nothing else.

I sighed. There really wasn't anything else to say. It was what it was, and we all had to accept that.

As the boat crawled through the avenue of building carcasses, dead trees and black water, I lost myself deep in thought for I don't know how long, until I noticed a small glowing red dot next to me on the wall and Sam's urgent voice, yanked me back to the present.

"Sniper, get down!"

Half a heartbeat later, the whip crack cut through the fetid air. The bullet pinged off the metal wall and Sam and the Captain immediately threw themselves to the deck. I crouched below the gunwale, breathing heavily.

"Did he get you?" Sam asked Ed.
"I'm fine, keep your head down," Ed half crouched in front of the wheel and steered the boat towards a squat, two story building encrusted with ivy, in the shadow of the ruined suspension bridge that loomed above.

As the boat drew up beside the building, Ed stood. "Looks like we are safe. Did anyone see where he was shooting from? We can't hit him from the water,"
"He was in that window across the pier. I'll handle him. You stay here," Sam said, checking his shot gun and pulling his Kalash off his shoulder.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Sam nodded.
"Go get him then,"

I readied my own weapon with relish. "I'll come with you,"
"You will stay here," Sam objected, striding off towards the stern.
"I'll cover you," I said, as if he hadn't spoken.

My heart hammered with the anticipation of a fight as I hurried after him. I loved the feeling. I wasn't about to miss out because he didn't approve.

Sam left the boat at a jog, leaping onto some rotting planking beside the building that were almost submerged by the slimy water. I briefly considered following him as he slipped around the corner of the building and took cover behind some crates nearby, but I knew my strength was as a sniper. Instead, I cut through into the dank building in front of me, pushing aside a thick curtain of cascading ivy that clung to the crumbling facade. I ran through the dark rooms, listening to the exchange of gunfire outside. I searched for a way up to the next floor, but there was no apparent option as the stairwell had collapsed. I backtracked outside and glanced around, noticing the low balconies at the side. They could be just low enough for me to climb.

I waded as quickly as I could through the scummy water to the closest balcony, pulling myself up onto its waist high concrete wall, while trying to ignore the water that sloshed around in my boots. After taking a brief moment to gather myself, I jumped up so that my fingers hooked over the bottom of the upper balcony. When I had a good grip, I hauled myself up with some effort, legs flailing inelegantly in the air as I scrambled over the wall.

As I ran inside to find a window adjacent to the target, someone started yelling loudly outside, and I thought I recognized the voice. "So, you thought you could fucking hide?"

The report of a sniper's rifle followed, chorused by Kalash fire that reverberated off the buildings in the area. I stopped at a window that still had some grimy glass left in its frame. I couldn't see through, but a quick kick soon changed that. Finally I was able to see below me.

The whole area between the two buildings was about the size of a football field. By the looks of it, some old pier had been repurposed and extended by wooden planks into a long gangway that connected the two sides of the channel. There were wooden railings that enclosed the walkways and old rusted barrels and other debris littering the area. Half a dozen large shrimp cages were scattered around and the monsters were thrashing around in their little prisons in irritation at the interruption.

I considered them for a moment. The beasts made good fighters if they could be trained, and lots of bandits used them for protection and trading, including ourselves. Perhaps I could shoot open one of the cages and let it rampage. Worth a shot.

"Guys, how about some help! There's a crazy fucker here, I can't handle him alone!" The same guy yelled. I realized it was the sniper, and this time, I was certain I knew his voice.
"Korzh, you bastard!" I growled through clenched teeth. "I wondered where you crawled off to,"

I needed no more encouragement. I carefully lined up my sight on the lock of the nearest shrimp cage and held my breath as I fired. There was a metallic ping as my bullet hit the lock. It exploded and the shrimp crashed out of the cage in a rage, thundering down the pier towards one of the bandits.

Sam ducked out of the way as soon as he saw what I had done and I watched as he waited behind the crates for the shrimp to rip through the bandits. It had killed about four of them before the sniper...Korzh, put it down.

"Fucker!" Korzh yelled, taking a shot in Sam's direction.
"Fuck you, you bastard," I hissed, as I squeezed off a shot at Korzh's window.

His form receded from the window as my bullet struck the wall of his building.
"The bastard has help! Ambush him in the building!" Korzh boomed and at his command, the remaining few bandits retreated inside.

Sam stepped over the corpse of the mutant and flashed a glance in my direction. I couldn't see his expression, but I could imagine the disapproval and it made me smile. I could get used to working with him like this.

With the way clear, Sam pushed on down the gangway towards Korzh's refuge. I kept my sight on his back until he vanished through the open doorway directly below Korzh's window. Time to move.

I retraced my steps back to the balcony and not wanting to have to jump into the foul water, I carefully lowered myself down to the ground floor balcony below. The toe of my boots caught the edge of the concrete wall and I nearly slipped off, but I was just able to stop myself from falling into the water by throwing myself towards the building. I landed heavily on the abrasive concrete and scraped several layers of skin off my hands, just to add to the bite wound from earlier.

Dusting myself off as dignified as the situation allowed, I hopped over the balcony wall into the knee deep sludge, careful not to step off the narrow ledge by the building, into the deeper water. After the short wade back to the gangway, I hastened across to the opposite building, glancing at the dead bandits and shrimp. The mutant had made short work of them, and quite a mess. Blood pooled over the planks from the mangled bodies, dripping into the water. They were certainly effective killing machines.

Instead of wasting time following Sam through the building, I used some stacked crates to climb on to a corrugated iron lean-to, erected against the wall that provided a way to a second floor window. Once inside, I paused to listen, waiting for any sign to indicate Sam's progress.

It was quiet, so I switched to my shot gun and ventured out of the cramped room into a narrow hallway littered with rubbish and debris. I quickly found a few dead bandits, blown apart by buckshot. It seemed they offered little resistance. Not that I expected they would. Sam was very capable. I was immensely relieved that for the moment at least, we were on friendly-ish terms.

After several more minutes of winding through empty rooms and stepping over dead bandits, I heard a heavy crash and splintering of wood, as a door was kicked in near by. I doubled my pace. I didn't want Sam to finish that weasel Korzh off before I got to him.

I quickly found the splintered door, following the sounds of brawling, down another short hallway. By the time I found him, Sam had the chubby Korzh, held firmly against the door frame. Korzh had a knife grasped in his hand and was struggling to keep a hold of it. Sam drove his fist into the jerk's ugly face and blood erupted from his nose.

"Easy, man, I give up!" Korzh grunted through the blood.
"Of course you do," I cut in as I stopped next to them.
The cretin peered at me over his meaty shoulder and his eyes widened in shock.
"Yeah, hi. So you do remember me?"

"Oh, Natasha! It is...good to see you," Korzh stammered.
"Yeah, I bet it is,"
"He is a friend of yours?" Sam asked disapprovingly, eyeing me.
"Not in any way," I promptly kicked the weasel in his bulging stomach.

His foul breath whooshed from his lungs and if Sam hadn't been gripping him tightly by his shirt, he would have crumpled in a heap like the spineless worm he was.

"This bastard was once part of our clan," I spat in derision. "But the fool didn't like Yuri being in command and tried to take it for himself by killing him, but he is a weak worm and he couldn't do it. So, Yuri kicked him out and he took some of our shrimp when he went," I pinched him again for that.

"Now, Natasha that was all a big misunderstanding. I can see you are serious people, going about your business. So, I won't give you any more trouble,"
"No, you won't," I hissed, pulling out my revolver. "And the only misunderstanding here, was allowing you to walk away in the first place. I won't make that mistake again,"

I flicked off the safety and squeezed the trigger. Sam stepped back to avoid the spray of red mist that followed. He gave me a dark look as he let the body fall to the floor.

"You have some interesting friends," he said, turning away towards a door made of welded metal reinforcement bars.
"I told you, he wasn't my friend. He was a weasel,"
"You're all weasels,"

I watched him shoot the lock off the door and step outside.
"How nice of you for saying so," I retorted, following him.

Unsurprisingly, he ignored me, pulling out his radio.
"Ed, Sam here. Sniper neutralized,"
"Great work, Sam. Get down to the gantry, I'll pick you up from there,"
"Copy," he clicked off and headed down a metal staircase to the waterline.

"Oh, thank you Natasha. Thank you so much for killing that bastard for me," I added sarcastically.
He shot me another dark glance. "Grow up,"

Ed was waiting for us with his boat at the end of another long gangway surrounded by steel framework. He nodded in greeting as we boarded.

"They were the bandits I told you about," he said. "They tried to make a profit by robbing the settlement at the dock, but it didn't pan out. I must give credit where credit is due. That bastard, Tom, did bolster the defences all right. These losers have long since stopped raiding. They did make one last attempt a few years back, but Klim taught them a lesson. They were so terrified that they didn't even stop to cut down their pals he hung up all over the ruins,"

"Klim is a monster," I growled. "He loves to torment,"
"I will not argue with that, but he sure is effective," Ed replied.

I leaned back into the gunwale darkly, glaring out into the waterlogged city.

"Anyway, they couldn't raid and had no place to go, so they turned to trapping. They catch mutants in the ruins, the human-like ones and those shrimp. The beasts are dumb and shrewd, but strong. Good for pulling carts or boats on the water, turning wheels and stuff,"

"The shrimp are good at fighting too," I added. "They don't eat much either, so using them saves a bunch on resources,"
"Yes, so the bandits catch them, train them and sell them to the traders that come from the South. They pay in ammo, weapons and rice, anything needed to make a decent life out in the wild,"

The boat slid gently through the open water, as I listened to Ed speak. He could really talk, I'd give him that. I wondered how long he had been on his own. It must be very lonely for him. He likely enjoyed the opportunity to talk to another human being.

I glanced up at the channel before us. It had opened out into a wide expanse, as vast a lake Baikal, but with buildings lining the banks instead of trees. Our boat seemed to be heading towards a tall, creepy looking ruin that had no resemblance to anything I could think of. It had several stories and half of one side had collapsed, leaving exposed framework. Several other husks of buildings, dominated the immediate space around it. Something about the place sent a shiver up my spine, but I guessed that's why he chose it as a base.

"So, that is the story of the region, in a nut shell," Ed explained, guiding his boat closer to the imposing ruin with an expert hand. He idled the throttle, as the boat reached the opening of a dark, cavernous space beneath the ruin. I glanced around, feeling the boat glide easily inside. I guessed it used to be a basement at some point, but now lost underwater, was where Ed moored his boat. Darkness engulfed us. I had the feeling we had just been swallowed by some gargantuan mutant.

"So why did those trappers shoot at us?" Sam's voice echoed off the close walls as he surveyed them.
"The whole city is divided between them. There was a lot of fighting to determine the boarders and they defend them vigorously, so they open fire on everyone," Ed shut off the engines.
"I get it, turf wars; primeval edition," He shot a side ways glance at me. "I guess you would know all about that,"

"We just do what we need to to survive. Like anyone," I frowned, feeling suddenly claustrophobic.
"Right, that's why you want them all dead," Sam retorted as he stepped off the boat after Ed.
"We would be doing everyone here, a favor," I followed at a safe distance.
"All for the greater good, I expect?" Sam snorted over his shoulder.
"If it helps, then what does it matter if it is or not?" I argued. "Besides, we don't just shoot at anyone we see,"

"Just most,"
"Well, I didn't shoot you when I could have, many times," I countered.
"You obviously want something from me. We've already established that,"
"You know what I want," I snapped, glaring at him. Why did he have to be so argumentative? I didn't want this.

"Do I? Because I'm not so sure,"
"Yes, you do," I replied quickly in irritation.

"Well, as long as there is no trouble caused here, things will be fine," Ed warned.
"Don't worry Ed. I have no reason to cause trouble for you. You have my word. We are all friends. At least for my part," I glanced at Sam. "I'm not even sure if I would want to cause trouble for you, Ed, you know how to take care of yourself,"
"Well, good. Now that is sorted out, come on in,"

Sam didn't seem convinced, but reluctantly followed. I could feel his gaze on my back as I followed the Captain. I knew he would keep a close eye on me from now on.