The Vagabond War

by EnigmaticSerpent

Metro DLC Sam's Story Natasha is a bandit living in Vladivostok at the time when Sam is trying to get home. She enlists his help in the bloody clan war that her brother's clan is fighting with the other bandits. She has her own ideas. She is tired of losing her people and plots revenge on those who have wronged them, but she could have never predicted the consequences of her plans.

14. Guerillas

Chapter 14 Guerillas (rev.)

The wind from the storm out to sea howled. I pulled my still damp hood around my face as I scanned the ruined buildings, looking for anything that might indicate someone was there. It had been the better part of an hour since Danila had fired his flare, and still there was no sign of his so-called friends. The grimy, white-washed buildings appeared quiet, desolate, and abandoned, half reclaimed by the vegetation, the walls covered by a veneer of olive green vines and gangly trees. Several large drops of rain splashed on my face and I swiped them away, glaring at the storm darkened sky just as it became a torrent. I growled in frustration, a shiver running over my already freezing skin.

"Are you sure they're here?" Nikita asked, raising his voice over the sudden rush of rain, glaring at the buildings.

"They should be." Danila answered, uncertainly. "They always had scouts up here before."

Nikita growled, starting up the hill towards the eerie apartment. "Well, I'm getting out of this rain."

Danila glanced back at Sam and I, uncertain, and I narrowed my eyes at him as irritation swelled inside me to the point I thought my chest would burst. Where were his friends? Sam was in a bad way, and we were just sitting around doing nothing. I glared at the apartment looming over us, its windows dark and empty. Another shiver ran over my skin, but not from the icy rain. This was a perfect place for an ambush. We wouldn't be able to see threats hiding inside until they were right on top of us. But what choice did we have? We couldn't stay in the rain. I suspected I already had hypothermia, and Sam couldn't afford to suffer anything else.

I furrowed my brow at his pallid face. His eyes were closed, so I tapped his shoulder gently to get his attention. I gave him a weak smile, pointing at the open doorway where Nikita disappeared as he opened his eyes. "Let's get out of the rain."

He nodded weakly, and I gestured to Danila to help get him to his feet. Danila took his other shoulder, and we supported him as he stood, his face contorting into a grimace of pain that speared my heart. We stumbled through the dense strip of bushy shrubs at the edge of the marsh, slowly making our way up the hill to the door. The building loomed over us, forlorn and eerie, sending a spike of unease down my spine as we approached. The heavy gloom inside was unappealing, and I ignored the powerful urge to turn around. Sam needed somewhere dry, so I took a deep breath and stepped inside. We eased him to the grimy concrete floor, and I settled next to him, eyeing the open, debris strewn foyer and the crumbling stairs to the next level, expecting something to come charging down at us while we were vulnerable. Danila gestured to Nikita, and they stalked off to check the adjoining ground-floor rooms.

The howling wind and torrent of rain pelted the apartment, masking all other sounds, making it impossible to listen for an ambush. My eyes darted between the splintered shelves, the old reception desk, the door, and the stairs vigilantly, tapping my revolver in agitation. Where the hell were these guys? I was quickly losing hope that this elusive clan would help us. Why the hell would they? Despite Danila's previous help, there was no guarantee they would come to our aid now, especially as we were unknown to them. I wouldn't help some random group. It wasn't a good survival tactic, and if they were from the navy like Danila said they were, they would definitely know better.

I glanced at Sam, who had his eyes shut again, and a fresh wave of concern washed over me. I hated this feeling. Powerless, vulnerable, uncertain, with people I didn't like. Danila was right though, we had no choice but to stay together, and we had nowhere else to turn. Sam had no choice.

Heavy boots scraped the concrete to the right, and I wheeled around, sighting down my revolver.

"Whoa!" Danila gasped, taking a quick step back.

I lowered my gun with a growl. "Do you want me to shoot you?"

"Not really," he said with a frown, walking into the foyer, eyeing me.

"Then don't fucking sneak up on me."

"Jumpy, aren't you?" Nikita sneered as he slipped past Danila and walked over to the shelves.

"Don't fucking start with me. I'm looking for a reason to shoot something."

Danila tentatively stepped up to stand in front of me, probably trying to draw my attention from Nikita. "Well, I might as well finish my story while we wait." He sighed.

I shrugged, not really caring now. "I guess."

"Ah, well, the officer in charge, Captain-Lieutenant Matvei, was thankful for our help and offered to let me stay with them, but I wanted to find my family." He paused, staring outside, and I guessed he didn't find his family. None of us had a happy ending here. He continued with a sigh. "So he gave me some of their flares saying they used them to signal distress and they would come to help if I ever needed it. They gave me one of their undamaged life boats and went to Russky Island to regroup. Alina and her baby stayed with them, and when we crossed paths again a few years later, they were still together, and she had become attached to the Senior Lieutenant." I eyed him. His tone was reflective, but edged with envy, and I suspected he had some latent feelings for this Alina. He shrugged, turning to me then. "Well, that's it."

"Your turn," Nikita said from across the foyer, where he sifted through some shelves by the wall. I glared at him, but Danila was watching me expectantly. I guess I wasn't getting out of it this time.

"Well, I might as well start at the beginning," I huffed, throwing my hands up. Beside me, Sam opened his eyes. I explained how frustrated I was with Yuri's lack of action against Tom, and how when I saw Sam arrive in Vladivostok and get captured and then recruited by Tom, I realized an opportunity to get insider information. "So, I tracked him down and negotiated for his reluctant help in exchange for the location of the submarine captain he was looking for. After helping the captain-his name was Ed- fight off some fuglies, we followed him to his hideout, where we discussed the plan to stop Tom."

"Behind my back, I might add," Sam retorted with a raised brow.

I shot him a dose of side eye.

"What was the plan?" Danila asked.

"They needed fuel rods for the Mayflower, and Ed's plan was to attach a detonator on them to destroy the sub and stop them from leaving. I assume you know what he wanted to do with the warheads."

Danila grimaced and nodded. "I always disliked the way he ran things. It was just the most convenient place to live, and I admit there were some perks."

I grunted. "Right, anyway, the only place in the area where they could find them was the naval base, but it was contaminated with radiation. They needed radiation suits to even get near the place, and the only ones Ed knew about were at the old fire depot out past our base in the marshes. So, we agreed to go to the swamp. We were low on supplies anyway, and I had gotten injured because I had fallen into the sewers after the ground caved in." I speared Nikita with a glare. "That's why I was in the sewers. I wasn't skulking, thank you very much." He sneered back over his shoulder. I ignored him and glanced back at Danila. "But that is irrelevant. We had a couple of scouts escort us back to the swamp, where we stayed the night to rest. Upon waking before dawn the next morning, I found out that Sam had killed a couple of gate guards who tried to stop him from entering the marshes beyond our base without me." I eyed Sam.

He heaved a sigh and shut his eyes. "They attacked me first, you know that."

"Doesn't matter. You still killed them. If I have to do this, you're getting the blame you deserve. Anyway, me and a close friend—"

"Oh, is that all he was?" Sam cut me off with a frown. "Friends with benefits?"

"It doesn't matter what he was." I shot back, irritated.

"Well, maybe it does." Nikita added with a growl.

I glared back at him. "It's definitely none of your business who he was. He's someone I've known since the bombs. That's all you need to know."

"You were fucking him," Nikita guessed with a snort. "Oh, good. So, he will be highly motivated to find you, then." He curled his lip and shrugged. "You would have been a kid twenty years ago, right?"

"So?" I spat, very much over this conversation.

"And this guy was also a kid back then?"

"No, he was one of the Spetsnaz guys I told you about, but what relevance is that?"

"Like older men, do you?" He sneered, glancing between Sam and I, likely judging our age difference.

"That's none of your damn business!" I bared my teeth at him. "Older men were all I had, and no, I won't say more about that."

Danila cleared his throat. "No, that's not relevant. Nikita shut up. Please go on, Natasha."

I glared at Nikita's stupid face. "Where the hell was I even up to?"

"You and Viktor came to kill me," Sam supplied.

"Right." I took a deep breath. "After Sam killed our gate guards, we chased him to a fish farm we had set up in the marshes where we found him amongst a bunch of dead fishermen."

"They were hardly fishermen, and they attacked me. We've been over this."

"So then, why are you two together right now? You should want each other dead," Danila asked, frowning at us.

I huffed. "I'm getting to that, although I'm not sure myself." I went to explain our boat chase through the marshes. "Oh, yeah, I almost drowned trying to get to you," I added to Sam.

"What, how?" He asked, surprised.

"A worm destroyed our boat, and I hit my head on something underwater. Viktor saved me." I paused, fighting the guilt, the hurt and the despair that flashed through me at mentioning his name. After everything we'd been through, after all the pain of Senya's death, the nights spent in his tower. We were enemies now. He would kill me if he saw me again. The thought of that stole my breath.

Sam's voice broke through my thoughts. "You never told me that."

Finally, I turned to meet his gaze, and the concern there helped to distract me. "I was a little preoccupied trying not to be killed by the batwing and the massive pack of watchmen that wanted to eat me." Clenching my jaw, I flicked my gaze back to him. "And I didn't think you'd care."

"Well, I care now," he said quietly and my chest flamed. "I was wondering why you didn't come after me."

"Okay, okay," Danila cut in. "I still don't understand how both of you are alive."

Damn, you are impatient. I scoffed. "Let me get there. This is a long story, and you wanted all of it."

He held his hands up in apology and I continued to summarize, catching up to Sam and then teaming up to kill the batwing. "I was supposed to kill him," I paused, eyeing him with sudden affection. "But well, we'd just taken down this terrible demon together, and I had already grown to like him, so I couldn't, and I stood in front of him to stop Viktor from killing him." I broke off and peered at the weather-worn, remnants of a carpet over the concrete floor, guilt gnawing my stomach. I'd betrayed him. "Then he left me there to be dinner for the massive pack of watchmen on our asses."

Nikita chuckled derisively. "Oh, yeah, you'd just been fucking this guy, and you were siding with another man over him. I would too."

"Nikita," Danila warned, shooting him a glare.

I gave him one of my own before continuing. "Then Tom radioed Sam, saying they were going to attack the swamp, and everyone blamed us for it. Sam left to meet the Captain and get the fuel rods and I was alone, running for my life."

"Can't say I'm sorry. They should have finished you," Nikita said. This time, Sam joined us in glaring at him. This guy really was an asshole, and I wouldn't mind putting my knife through his ugly face. I stared at the fork of lightning streaking across the sky over the marshes. "They almost did. I was done, cornered in a warehouse, out of ammo. The only reason I'm alive right now is because Sam came back to help me. After everything." I peered at him and gave him a weak smile, which he returned, adding more heat to the wildfire in my chest.

"Why? I would have left her there." Nikita drawled.

"Because he's not an asshole like you." I hissed.

Sam shifted. "It wasn't right. Tom didn't need to attack them, and well, I admit, you weren't the only one who had some complicated feelings." He flicked his eyes over me quickly, as if embarrassed. My eyebrows shot up, and Nikita groaned.

"Yes, we gathered that, but what happened next?" Danila prompted. I explained the attack on the swamp, the guys that died defending it, and the plan to infiltrate the port in retaliation, concluding with the threat of exile if I didn't kill Sam.

"Ah, there we go, finally." Danila said, rubbing his neck. "They only threatened exile. What made them come after you?"

"I abandoned our plan to storm the sub to help Sam deal with Klim, because the guy I was with tried to kill me after I refused to kill Sam. He shot me," I gestured at my heel. "Then, after we dealt with Klim, instead of handing Sam over to them, we ran. And, well, shooting them with a flare didn't exactly help matters." I heaved a sigh and slumped against the wall. "There. That's the whole fucked up, convoluted story."

"Damn, that is complicated," Danila said. "And I understand why you didn't want to talk about it. It must be hard. One last question though, that guy in the warehouse giving the orders. Who is he to you?"

I should have expected that question. I shut my eyes and inhaled slowly. "Yuri is the leader, and my brother."

"Oh, that's fantastic," Nikita said, throwing his arms up. He crossed the foyer to loom over me. "You know what? We should leave you here. No, we should shoot you and throw your body in the marshes. You're a fucking liability. We should have never helped them, Danila."

Reacting to his threat, I sprang to my feet so that I was face to face with him. He tried to use his height to intimidate me, and I loathe the way men do this, so I didn't step back like he wanted me to, but glared at him defiantly, holding my ground. Sam shifted behind me as if he wanted to help, but we all knew he was in no shape to fight anyone. Nikita sneered at him and I pulled my knife, flipping it to catch its sharp blade, ready to throw as he lifted his bastard gun.

"Go ahead, you'll be dead before it leaves your hand," Nikita growled, his finger brushing the trigger.

"Nat." Sam warned behind me, but I ignored him, eyes fixed on Nikita. If he was going to threaten me, I would put this knife straight through his ugly face. I didn't care about him. I hated him and his snarky comments. The muscles in my knife arm tensed.

"Nat!" Sam said again with an urgency that made me turn to face him. That's when I saw we weren't alone.

I froze, an icy shiver of fear surging down my spine. On the edge of the marsh, where the water met the bushes, three figures clad entirely in grass and foliage, rose out of the shrubs as if the plants had suddenly sprouted arms and legs. I blinked in surprise. They had no faces, instead black voids stared eyeless through curtains of foliage, giving them an eldritch, demonic appearance. What the hell?

My eyes flared as three more emerged from the trees and formed a semicircle around the front of the apartment. Danila muttered a quiet prayer as he stepped back away from the door, spinning when boots scraped the concrete on the stairs, where two more were descending from the second floor.

Oh, shit. Demons surrounded us.

I remembered old folk tales my mother used to tell, of Kikimora, evil swamp spirits that kidnap and drown people, instilling fear in any that saw them. These certainly resembled a nightmare.

I stepped back next to Sam, my knife still in my hand, ready to throw. I shook my head as Danila backed toward us. In the tales I heard, the Kikimora never had weapons, and these entities were all armed with sleek black rifles I recognised from lessons with Senya, as AK-12s, a slightly shorter variant of Kalashnikov used by the navy.

Wait. The group Danila spoke of belonged to the navy. I shook off my momentary irrational fear. It was them, and they had been here this whole time. Despite our predicament, I seethed with anger. They wasted an entire hour when we clearly needed help, reaffirming my suspicion they wouldn't help us, but instead be a threat to us. My fingers closed tighter around my knife.

"Drop it and come outside so we can see you!" A young, masculine voice shouted from beside the door. Definitely not Kikimora, as the tales always depicted them as feminine.

Danila gestured to us to do as he said and immediately dropped his Kalash and flare gun. He stared at the three wide eyed, as Nikita dropped his bastard, a satisfying expression of terror etched into his face. The two figures on the stairs descended and stopped before Sam and I, gesturing to our weapons. I let go of my knife, letting it slide between my fingers to drop next to my boot. Sam dropped his shotgun and Kalash beside him and one of the figures slid them towards them with a boot and scoped them up.

"And the AK," the other ordered, his obscured face turned toward me and my skin crawled. Reluctantly, I pulled the strap over my head, dropping my Kalash and revolver next to my knife. His companion grabbed those too. They herded us outside, glancing at Sam, but leaving him there. They clearly knew he wasn't a threat to them.

The first demon who had spoken stepped forward as the two behind us pushed outside. "Where did you get that flare?" He barked at Danila, stopping a few feet from him.

Danila opened and shut his mouth.

"Speak!" The walking pile of foliage yelled.

"Ah, Captain-Lieutenant Matvei gave it to me after I helped his crew escape the wreck of their ship." The grassy demon hesitated, turning to the demon on his left, who lowered their gun.

"Danila? Is that you?" A feminine voice asked behind the hood of vegetation. I swiveled my stunned gaze to Danila, who stood frozen to the spot, eyes wide.

The third demon, taller than the other two, patted the first on the shoulder. "Great job. We'll take it from here." He stepped forward to stand before a bewildered Danila. His companions behind them stayed unmoving, standing guard with their rifles fixed on us. One wrong move and we would be dead.

The one on the left, a woman apparently, relaxed her gun and reached up to throw off her hood. A round, middle-aged, but attractive face with a light dusting of freckles and bright blue eyes stared out. She brushed away a strand of sandy blonde hair that had fallen loose of her bun.

Danila sucked in a breath, recognition lighting his eyes. "Alina."

The doctor from his story. I understood his attraction to her. She was pretty. The third figure, who was easily over six feet, moved to stand next to her, slipping off his hood as well. He had dark coffee colored hair streaked with gray, in a short military cut and a firm, angular jawline. I arched my brow, enjoying his good looks.

"It's good to see you again," he said to Danila, a friendly smile spreading over his face.

Danila exhaled in relief, his shoulders relaxing. "Aleksander! It's good to see you, too. Both of you."

I froze, my heart skipping a beat, my chest burning. People in Russia often had two names, one formal, one informal diminutive that their family and close friends called them. The name Senya was a diminutive, and that's what everyone called him, but his real name had been Aleksander. Only once had someone called him that, when we first met after the bombs, but it was a slap in the face to meet someone else with the same name, bringing my focus back to the void his death had created within.

Why that name?

My gaze fixed on this stranger before me, but my memory of Senya dissolved everything and suddenly this man's face became Senya's. I blinked, inhaling sharply. Aleksander turned to face me with a puzzled expression and I forced myself to look away, chest heaving as if I'd run a mile.

Danila glanced nervously at Aleksander's companions, rubbing his neck. "Ah, you gave us quite the scare. I wasn't expecting this." Aleksander turned back to him as anger boiled inside me. I fought the urge to bolt.

"It's an effective ruse," Aleksander said. "It usually keeps people away from the island. They believe it's haunted by demons." He grinned.

"I can see why," Danila nodded at their suits.

As his smile faded, Aleksander glanced between Nikita and I, his deep brown eyes falling on me again. "Who are your friends?"

"Nikita, Natasha, and Sam, inside is the reason we need your help. He's badly wounded."

"What's wrong with him?" Alina asked beside Aleksander with a furrowed brow.

I tore my eyes away from him and appraised her suspiciously, shifting my weight. "He was stabbed."

"Oh, good lord," she gasped. "That doesn't sound good. Can I take a look at him?" Danila nodded, and I took a step forward, narrowing my eyes at her. She hesitated, glancing uncertainly at Aleksander, while the other guy tensed and raised his rifle.

Aleksander shook his head and gestured for him to stand down, before turning to me. "Natasha, is it?" Despite his amicable tone, his eyes revealed an edge of suspicion. I nodded reluctantly, as my skin crawled, flicking my eyes between him and the cloaked man, who had not relaxed his weapon. "I understand you're on edge, but we won't attack you unless you do so first. Alina is our doctor and your friend needs help. Let her."

"It's alright, Natasha," Danila assured. "She won't hurt him." I glanced back at Sam through the doorway. His face was deathly pale and sweat beaded off his forehead, looking worse than he had before. I furrowed my brow, concern sweeping over me. But I had sewn the wound up. He must have lost more blood than I thought.

Slowly, I nodded, and Alina gave me an unsure look as she walked inside to kneel beside Sam. Her two shadows moved up either side of her, the one that still had his face obscured, stood between me and Alina. I had to work hard to avoid staring at Aleksander across from her, shuffling my feet uncomfortably.

Alina eyed the blood stain and tear in Sam's shirt with a grimace. "Sam, my name is Alina. Can I see your wound?" He nodded weakly, and she gently lifted his shirt. "Oh," she said in surprise. "It's sutured. Who did this?"

Frowning at the line of stitches, surrounded by angry inflamed red and mottled bruising and I said, "I did, but that doesn't look good. I thought I did the right thing."

"You did. This is very neat. You saved his life by suturing it, but it's still bleeding internally, judging by the bruising. It's also infected."

My eyes flared. Natasha, you idiot. Internal bleeding! "Infected? But I sterilized it with alcohol. I—" I broke off, pacing anxiously.

"I'm sure it's not your fault," Alina assured. "The infection could have come from anywhere, but I will need to reopen it." She looked up at Aleksander. "We have to take him back to the fort."

The tall man shifted his gaze across to Sam, then over to me. They narrowed on me again, as I quickly glanced away, looking anywhere but at him. His lack of resemblance didn't stop me from being reminded of Senya. I kept my eyes on the mud under my feet.

Aleksander sighed. "We rarely open ourselves up to strangers, but you helped us when we needed it, Danila and Vladimir promised to do the same. He'd want us to keep that promise."

"Vladimir?" Danila asked, confused.

"Captain Lieutenant Matvei."

"Oh, you speak as though he's no longer here."

Aleksander shook his head sadly. "He's not."

Danila sighed and dropped his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"So am I. He was a good leader."

"We don't have time to play catch up." I snapped just as Sam suddenly hunched over and coughed violently, spitting blood. "Sam!" I knelt at his shoulder, laying my hand on his back.

"Nikolai! Get the van!" Aleksander called over his shoulder. One of the cloaked figures immediately broke from their semi circle and darted up a muddy track behind them.

"Aleks, we really shouldn't take them back to the fort." A new, gruff voice said from their line. "I don't like the look of them."

"The feeling is more than mutual," I retorted. The guy turned his veiled face toward me and I suppressed a shudder. Even knowing they were human, they still unsettled me. More anger flooded through me. I did not want to be anywhere near these people.

Aleksander held up a hand, swiveling his gaze to me, then to the man who had spoken. "I get things are tense, but we owe Danila a favour and we always settle our debts. This man needs our help."

"We owe Danila, yes, but these people could be anyone. At least take them somewhere else."

Alina felt Sam's forehead with the back of her hand and winced. "No, he needs surgery and everything is back at the fort. There's no other option."

"Then take him back and leave the others here." The guy suggested firmly.

"I'm not letting him out of my sight." I protested, staring him down.

"You're not exactly in the position to make demands," he spat back.

Aleksander held up a hand again, and the guy fell silent, shifting his feet irritably. "It's fine, Vadim," Aleksander said.

We all snapped our attention to the faded grey van hurtling down the track between the buildings as it crashed through the bushes. It sped onto the grass and Aleksander's men opened a path through their line to let it through. It skidded to an abrupt halt, spattering mud, and the driver, Nikolai, who had taken his hood off, jumped out and slid the door open into the back. He pushed his jet black hair out of his face as he kicked a duffel bag of gear under one of the bench seats.

"Can you walk?" Alina asked Sam gently.

"I think so," he replied weakly.

Alina gestured to me, and I gently slid my arm around Sam. She nodded from his other side and we carefully lifted him. He grunted and his face contorted in pain.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly, helping him towards the van.

"It's alright," he managed, leaning heavily on me. No, it wasn't. It was so far from being alright I could scream. Nikolai and Aleksander helped maneuver Sam into the back of the van.

"Lie down on the seats," Alina gestured to a bench seat along the opposite side. The van appeared to have been a cargo carrier that had seats squeezed in and roughly bolted to the floor to accommodate multiple people at once. We helped Sam onto the seats and I sat by his head, while Alina took a seat within reach.

Facing towards the dense strip of shrubs to the right of us, Aleksander held up his hand, making a circular motion, and I gasped as two more guys broke from the vegetation to join him, both with scopes attached to their Aks. Shit. I had no idea they were there, their suits making them invisible.

I flinched at Aleksander's voice as he addressed his men. "Vadim, Yevgeniy, you're with me. Kolya consolidate with Pyotr and Stepan and stay here. Valeri, Vasily, head back to the battery." The gun battery we'd seen on the cliffs on our way in. So, they had been there. I breathed through another flash of rage.
Aleksander turned to the van while the men split into two groups, one heading back inside the apartment, the other towards the shrubs, where they quickly vanished like ghosts again. My brows shot up. Damn.

When Aleksander climbed in, he must have caught my expression, as he chuckled and said, "I know. That's the reason we wear these suits. They make us all but invisible, and it's a convenient bonus that people think we're demons." He grinned.

"They're certainly effective," Danila agreed from the other side of Alina. Now that I could see the suits up close, I noticed pieces from the local vegetation woven into strips of green and brown fabric along with strands of grass and sheets of moss, everything including the stems and branches. They were incredibly detailed, but probably would have been tedious to make.

To my dismay, the guy who had protested, Vadim, climbed in behind Aleksander, taking a seat as far from us as he could, his face still obscured by his hood. I gave him an unfriendly stare. I didn't like this any more than he did. I glanced at the other guy, who took a seat behind Alina. He had the same blue eyes and sandy hair as she did, and I would bet all the rounds I had left that he was Alina's son. He looked to be in his early twenties, which made sense if he had been a baby when the bombs fell.

As the van sped back up the track out into an overgrown car park, I brushed my hand over Sam's forehead, sucking in a breath, surprised by the heat of his skin. I turned to Alina, concern flooding through me again. "He's burning up."

She nodded solemnly. "Yes, that infection is quite serious, and he has lost too much blood. I'm honestly surprised he's still alive and I'm afraid he may not be for much longer."

"No, that can't happen. Danila said you can help him."

"I said they might try," Danila glanced at me with helpless sympathy. My heart sank. No. He couldn't die. I clenched my jaw as anger flared again, remembering the two that had vanished back upstairs. They had been there the whole time. They would have seen our boat get stuck in the swamp, and would have definitely seen the flare. And they just watched and did nothing while Sam was dying. My face twisted into a glare. Alina looked taken aback.
Aleksander frowned at me."Is there a problem?" He asked carefully. Everyone looked at me. Even the driver glanced at his mirror.

I barely stopped myself from screaming at him. "Yes, there's a problem. Your people were at that post the entire time. They must have seen our boat. They definitely would have seen our flare. Doesn't it mean distress? Why didn't you help us?"

"Do you think we'd just wander down to any random flare?" Vadim growled from the back of the van.

"That's what Danila said you'd do."

"No, I didn't," Danila protested. "I told you I wasn't sure if they'd help us."

"Nope, you said their superior gave you a flare so you could call for help and they would come, or something, along those lines."

"Perhaps Vladimir would have, but he's no longer around. We learned from his mistakes," Vadim said coldly.

"Vadim." Aleksander warned.

"Well, we have."

"This is not the place or time."

"I don't care about your skeletons," I cut in, seething. "Sam is badly wounded, and you ignored our flare for over an hour, an hour where you could have helped him. And now he —" I stopped myself, unable to speak the truth.

"I'm sorry." She said so sincerely, I almost believed it.

"No, we didn't ignore it," Aleksander said sternly, reaching over to lay a hand on Alina's leg. "Our scouts saw your boat get stranded in the marsh, and they immediately called in for orders. They know what the flare means, but I told them to stay put and watch you until we got there. I wasn't about to let them walk into an ambush on my orders. I'm sorry your friend is hurt, and we will do everything we can for him, but we've been burned by our generosity before. I won't let it happen again."

I scowled at him, but he stared me down, a warning in his grey eyes and the urge to look away overcame me, seeing Senya there instead. They even had the same colored eyes. Fuck.

He sat back, his arm draped protectively around Alina's shoulders. "You should count yourselves lucky we were at the centre outpost and not at fort nine on the far side of the island when you fired the flare. We would have been an extra hour."

As the van sped onto an overgrown, rubble strewn highway, wipers batting frantically at the sheets of rain, we lapsed into uncomfortable silence and I glowered out the window at the fog wreathed, densely wooded hills around us. This was a perfect hiding place. There was certainly plenty to obscure someone who didn't want to be seen, and I had to admit it was clever of them to pretend to be demons, something I would have never considered. Clever or not, I wanted nothing to do with them.

I glanced down at Sam again, laying my hand on his shoulder. He was the only reason. If he died, someone else would too. I was ready to shoot everyone here, but that would mean I'd soon follow. Somehow, I didn't care. I would have nothing left, anyway

.
After a long, uncomfortable half hour, the van left the highway, turning onto a rutted dirt road that wound uphill, onto a plateau high above the sea. The rain had eased and a watery sun peeked out from behind a bank of clouds, bars of light glowing against the steel grey. Despite my burning anger, I found myself captivated by the spectacular view of the shimmering blue-grey water and the vibrant green islands further south. There weren't many vistas like this back in Vladivostok. Danila exhaled in approval as he leaned over to peer out the window.

Aleksander smiled, "yeah, it's beautiful here, and relatively safe. The isolation worked in our favour. There is the occasional lobster, and there's something giant with lots of tentacles living near one of the islands, but it's never bothered us. And with us being the only predators, the deer and rabbit populations have exploded, so we have an abundance of food."

"It seems like a decent place to live," Danila agreed.

"We actually got lucky. It could have been much worse. I don't envy those living on the mainland." He flicked his eyes towards me.

"What? It's not like I chose where I ended up," I glowered at him.

"Of course, I didn't mean anything by it," he shrugged. "Although, I am curious. We did see a significant explosion shortly before you arrived. You don't happen to know anything about it, do you?"

I clenched my jaw. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vadim gazing intently at me. Was he making a connection? It wouldn't be good for us if they knew the truth, not with them already being wary of us. If they knew we'd caused that and suspected someone was looking for us, we'd be in trouble. I glanced quickly between Danila and Nikita. Nikita narrowed his eyes at me, but made no move to clarify.

"Oh, yeah," Danila said cautiously. "That was at the port. There was a fight between our group and another, and they took the port. The attack destroyed the submarine, and they forced us out." I blinked at him. He lied, implying I was part of Tom's group that was displaced after Yuri took over. He and Nikita shared a look, clearly understanding the stakes. So, Danila didn't entirely trust these people. Good. We needed to be careful.

"So that's how he was stabbed?" Aleksander asked, gesturing to Sam. Danila nodded solemnly.

"Were you followed?" Vadim sat forward, taping his trigger finger on his AK.

"No," Danila said quickly. "No one saw us leave." Another lie. While Yuri's men hadn't followed us, they definitely saw us leave, and there weren't a lot of places for us to go, heading south. They would have a rough idea of where we went, and if they were serious about making me an enemy, they would come after us.

My eyes flicked briefly over to Danila before darting away again. I hoped no one saw it, but Vadim watched me closely, like a fucking eagle. Did he know it was a lie? Branches scraped against the van, grating at my frayed nerves, as Nikolai steered us through a narrow alley of trees and shrubs, starling a deer that disappeared back into the undergrowth. I forced myself to relax. It was fine. Nothing was going to happen.

After a long, tense pause, Vadim looked away from me to eye Nikita, who challenged his stare. "Why were you two fighting?"

I curled my lip. "That's none of your business."

"If you bring trouble with you, it definitely is my business," Vadim argued.

"We're not exactly friends," Nikita said. "We just got stuck with each other when we were forced to leave in a hurry."

Vadim shifted. "You both need to be careful. We won't tolerate trouble."

"No, no trouble," Danila pleaded, holding up his hands. "We just need help, and if we can help you in any way, then we will be more than happy to."
Vadim tapped his finger again, but sat back in his seat.

"Well, extra hands are always useful these days," Aleksander said, shooting a pointed glance at Vadim. I sensed some tension between the two.
Desperation swept over me as I lay my hand on Sam's shoulder, feeling the shallow rise and fall of his breathing. At least he was still alive. Could he hold on until we got to their base? He had to.

We lapsed into another tense silence as Nikolai steered us around a stand of gnarled birch trees and out into the open. I'd lost track of how long we'd been traveling, definitely over an hour, probably closer to two. The van sputtered over the crest of the hill and I gasped as a long, zigzagging concrete wall, half buried in the mountain, loomed ahead.

Aleksander glanced at me with a smug expression. "Welcome to fort nine."

No. Not a wall, a fort. This was their base then. It was massive, at least a few hundred metres long and partially obscured by wild vines, trees, and bushes. It stretched beyond my range of vision. Danila whistled.

"I know, impressive, right?" Aleksander grinned.

"Yeah, but why are these here?" Danila asked, peering curiously out the window. "They seem too old to be from the most recent war."

"No, way older than that," Aleksander said, shaking his head. "They were constructed back in the late 1800s, through the Russian -Japanese war, until the first world war, to defend from enemy invasion, but they were abandoned after supplies were diverted to the front lines and stripped for equipment to cover the costs of construction. They were tourist attractions after that, and one fort in the centre of the island became a museum."

"You certainly know your history," Danila observed, as the van made its way towards the front of the fort along a dirt track.

"Yeah, I'm something of a history buff," Aleksander grinned widely.

"It can be tedious at times," Alina laughed, giving him a fond smile. "He's always telling us useless facts like this."

"They're not useless facts. History is never useless." He gave her a broad smile and winked, and she smiled back.

I scowled at them. How could they be laughing and giving history lectures right now? Was I the only one taking this seriously?

Nikolai drove alongside the thick front wall of the fort, carefully peering at the trees. "Ah ha! There you are," he suddenly said in an enthusiastic voice, twisting the wheel so the van slipped between two trees with canopies that overlapped, making a narrow gap just wide enough for the van to fit. Green-brown mottled gloom swallowed us and I realised we were under an arch within the wall, perfectly hidden from the outside. No one would know we were here unless they had followed us. Clever. Nikolai switched off the engine, and silence hung heavy around us. Aleksander jumped up and slid open the door, tapping a black device in his ear, and called for a stretcher. A hands free radio. Damn, that would be useful. I wished we had those. They would have made things a lot easier. I winced as I remembered that there was no we, any more. I was clanless. A new spike of pain ripped into my heart, so I forced myself to focus on getting Sam inside.

He cracked open his eyes as I brushed a hand over his burning forehead. "We're here, Sam. You'll be okay," I said, hoping it was true.

"We'll do whatever we can," Alina added sympathetically.

You'd better. It took all my strength not to say it, but as the heavy metal door to the fort swung open and two armed guys wearing drab grey camouflage stepped out, I thought better of it. Best not to threaten her when her friends were right there. They parted to let another guy, wearing a grey jumpsuit with a canvas stretcher, through.

Aleksander waved him over. "Here, Maksim."

The new guy, Maksim, a stout, but well-built man with pale brown hair, also in a military cut, eyed me warily as he climbed into the van. He set the stretcher on the floor, helping Alina get Sam onto it. He and Aleksander took opposite ends and hurried towards the fort. I rushed to keep up, not wanting to let Sam out of my sight. Alina and her son followed close behind.

As we approached the door, movement through narrow slits in the concrete above caught my attention. I narrowed my eyes, and after a pause, I realised what I was looking at. There was someone up there, watching us, probably armed. My skin prickled uncomfortably as I eyed them. They stared back.
"It's alright," Alina said from behind me. "That's Arkady, he's there to protect us." I glowered at the sentry. Yeah, to protect you from threats, but what the hell were we? The back of my neck prickled as Danila and Nikita followed, with Vadim bringing up the rear like a prison guard.

Dull, yellow light washed over me once I stepped inside and I squinted while my eyes adjusted, peering down the long utilitarian concrete corridor that spread out before me. The air was damp and musty, mildew mixed with damp earth, but surprisingly warm compared to outside; the benefits of being partially in the mountain.

My tension built as I hurried after Sam, glancing back over my shoulder at the sentry watching me from a wooden platform that allowed him to see through the slits in the wall. He narrowed his dark eyes at me before turning to have a silent, hand signal conversation with Vadim, who had finally thrown back his hood. He had a shaved head, dusted with receding grey stubble and a trimmed mustache. I wondered what they were…saying, probably something about us and I felt even more vulnerable. I didn't like this at all.

After a moment, Vadim made a sharp cutting motion across his throat and the sentry smirked and waved him off, reaching for a flask on a small table at the end of the platform. Vadim spotted me and pressed his lips into a tight line, his long legs closing the distance between us quickly as he caught up. He fell in beside Alina, his dark, mistrusting eyes burning into my back as I turned around.

Maksim and Aleksander carried Sam through an arched doorway into a small chamber lined with shelves and crates stacked neatly against the walls. This opened out into a larger common room with wooden tables where a few men clustered around playing poker, a metal fireplace glowing with burning embers, and a couch in the far corner where someone was napping. He stirred as Maksim and Aleksander rushed past, giving us a startled look. The men at the table followed me with their eyes as I hurried through the room.

My eyes swept over everything, apprehension clenching my chest, feeling like a deer amongst wolves. This was the worst imaginable situation and I couldn't escape. Despite our difficulties, I wanted to stay close to Danila, to have some kind of backup if things got ugly, but I still didn't like my odds. Danila's uncertain gaze found mine as we hurried after the stretcher into another corridor, this time lined with shelves of ancient, rust coated guns of various types like a museum display. I only had a moment to take them in, as I wasn't about to let Sam out of my sight for some junk guns.

Maksim and Aleksander disappeared around a sharp bend in the corridor and I tore my eyes away to follow. The corridor continued, but the stark walls here were embellished with... chalk drawings? I frowned as I focused on the nearest one of trees, and a deer with asymmetric proportions. Wait, was there a kid here? The drawings continued along the entire stretch of wall below waist height and there were more on the floor and a box of multi colored chalk lay abandoned by the wall. Definitely a child. I curled my lip. Who the hell would want to raise a child in this shithole?

We followed the stretcher through what looked to be a bunk room, lit by gas lanterns, with an array of bunks, hammocks, and bedrolls laid out on the floor, some of which were occupied by sleeping men. Sam coughed again, and I tried to glimpse him, but I couldn't see him past Aleksander and another flash of anger swelled inside me.

A small round face, framed by golden brown, braided hair, peeked out from another chamber off the corridor just down from the bunks, and I blinked. The child. She was around five or six, and she watched us with curious blue eyes.

As Aleksander passed her, he gestured to the room behind her. "Katerina, back inside now." She stared after him, but made no move to obey, turning to peer at me. I scowled back, but she didn't appear intimidated, her eyes wide with interest.

"Yevgeni, get your sister, please," Alina said behind me. The lanky twenty-year-old jogged over and scooped the girl up in his arms, enduring a cry of protest.

"The Kikimora will come and take you away if you don't pick up your toys," he told her, sweeping her back into the room.

"I'm not scared of the Kikimora," the girl announced loudly, tugging on his suit of leaves. "You're the Kikimora!"

Their words faded as we passed through an open door into a galley, then a corridor splitting in two. I scowled at Aleksander's back, another wave of strange, irrational anger flashing through me. I didn't know these people, didn't care about them. Then why would I care that they had been stupid enough to have a child in this hellscape? It made little sense, but a flaming knot the size of my fist seized my chest and made me want to scream. As soon as Sam was strong enough, we would leave. I knew we would be alone, but I'd rather take my chances out there.

Maksim led the way to the left, where we finally stopped in a small, dim room set up with a pair of beds with curtains around them, a chair in a corner and stainless steel shelves and cupboards with medical equipment. They quickly, but carefully, transferred Sam to a stainless steel table covered in a sheet in the centre of the room, while Alina hurried to a cupboard against the right wall, unlocking it with a key she pulled from her pocket. I backed up against the bed on the right wall as Danila and Nikita filed into the room with their armed guard.

Aleksander gestured to him. "We've got it handled, Vadim, stand down."

Vadim glanced between us, finally stopping on me. "With all due respect, I think I should—"

"We've got it handled," Aleksander repeated. "They're unarmed."

At least that's what you think. I tried to keep my face passive as the weight of my second knife on my hip gave me a shred of comfort. It wouldn't help much against their AKs, but I could use it to threaten one of them and bargain my way out. Of course, this was only a passing thought. I knew I wouldn't get far, and I wasn't going to leave Sam here.

Alina glanced up from the metal tray she focused on from the bench along the wall. "No, I could use your help please, Vadim."

Vadim glanced reluctantly between me and Alina. "With what?"

"Maksim and I need to focus on Sam right now, but the others may have wounds as well." Nikita and I shared a disdainful look, but neither of us admitted to our injuries. There was no way that man was coming near me, even if it was to treat my injuries.

"Do it, Vadim," Aleksander ordered authoritatively from Sam's side.

Vadim scowled at him, but reluctantly pulled his gun strap over his head, propping it by the door. My eyes tracked him as he moved to the bench and washed his hands in something that poured from a small plastic tank by the sink in the bench.

"Thank you," Alina said as she drew a clear liquid from a small glass vial into a syringe. She set it down on a waist high trolley next to an array of surgical instruments and a second syringe, before pushing it to the centre of the room. "Sam, do you know your blood type?" She asked as she uncapped one syringe.

"A positive." Sam grunted.

"You are very sure?"

"Yeah, everyone was tested in basic training." He groaned, and I took a step toward him.

Aleksander grabbed my arm, and I recoiled from his touch. "It's alright, she knows what she's doing. It's best to stay out of the way." He gave me a forced smile despite the full force of my glare. "Why don't you take a seat there behind you, and Vadim will take a look at your wounds?"

I stayed where I was, my eyes unflinching. "He's not touching me."

Vadim eyed me over his shoulder, where he was examining the bullet wound in Nikita's shoulder.

Aleksander stifled a sigh. "Well, then just take a seat."

Behind him, Alina injected whatever was in that syringe into Sam's arm and panic gripped my chest.

"What the hell did you just give him?" I tried to push past Aleksander, but he grabbed me and forced me back onto the bed.

"You want your friend to live? Then give her space." He said in a hard voice.

"It's okay, Natasha," Danila said from the other side of the room. Vadim speared me with a glare as he cleaned Nikita's wound.

No, it fucking wasn't! My chest heaved as my blood heated with anger and panic. "What did she give him?" I repeated.

"Morphine," Alina said sharply. "He's in a lot of pain."

My heart stuttered and fear replaced some of my anger. I tried to calm myself, but my pulse still raced.

Vadim made a move in my direction but Aleksander waved him off. "Just finish over there."

"Aleks, come here, please," Alina said from Sam's side as Maksim hung an IV bag beside Sam and prepared a cannula.

Aleksander nodded and turned to me. "Just stay here." Vadim watched me over his shoulder again as he wrapped Nikita's wound. Aleksander hurried across the room, sliding a chair next to the table before rolling up his sleeve. Maksim secured a strap tightly around Aleksander's bicep and pressed firmly beneath the crease of his elbow, while Alina grabbed the other syringe and stepped up beside Sam.

I frowned, shaking my head in confusion, panic flaring hot again. "Wait, what's happening?"

"Sam needs blood. Aleksander is O positive," Alina said as she paused.

My frown deepened. "I don't know what that means."

"The O blood group is compatible with all other blood groups. He's donating some of his to Sam."

My eyes flared. But why would he give his blood to someone he didn't know? "Why can't I donate mine?" I asked quickly. I didn't like the idea of some stranger giving blood to Sam.

"Do you know your blood type?" Alina asked uncertainly.

I shook my head. "No. Until now, I didn't know this was even a problem."

"That's why," she replied. "Giving him incompatible blood will kill him."

I gasped. "Well, how do I find out what it is?"

Alina sighed. "Look, I appreciate your concern, but Aleksander is very healthy. Sam doesn't have time right now." She gestured to Maksim to begin the transfusion.

Vadim walked reluctantly towards me now that he had finished with Nikita.

"Don't touch me." I growled.

He bared his teeth and picked up his gun from the door. "Don't worry, I wasn't going to, but I am going to make sure you don't do anything stupid." He shouldered his AK and fixed his unsettling dark gaze on me. After shooting him a glare, I turned my attention back to the middle of the room as Alina spoke to Sam, telling him she would do what she could for him and that she was ready to begin. He nodded weakly and pain squeezed my heart. Ignoring Vadim's eagle eyed stare, I jumped to my feet and darted to Sam's side.

"Hey!" Vadim yelled as he rushed to follow.

Sam turned his eyes on me as I took his hand. They were unfocused and half closed and I guessed the morphine had kicked in. At least he wouldn't be in pain.

Aleksander held up his free arm to stop Vadim from grabbing me. "Leave her," he said.

I squeezed Sam's hand as dread overtook me. "Don't you dare leave me here with these people." I said. He reached over with his other hand and wrapped his fingers around mine.

"I'll do everything I can," Alina said with sympathy. She uncapped the second syringe. "Okay, Sam, I will sedate you now."

He nodded and met my eyes as Vadim gestured with his gun for me to back off. I stared back at Sam with wide eyes, allowing Vadim to push me back. In a daze, I sat on the edge of the bed, never taking my eyes off Alina as she injected the sedative into Sam's arm. Dread took hold and I feared he wouldn't wake up.

A moment later, Maksim walked over, giving me a tight smile and handing me a thick woolen blanket. "You shouldn't watch this," he said before closing the curtain, blocking my view. I stared blankly at the pale green curtain, listening to Alina's voice as she waited for the sedative to take hold.

Time passed excruciatingly slowly. One hour became two and all I could do was sit there, listening to Alina's voice and wondering how Sam was doing. Maksim may have stopped me from being able to watch, but there was nothing anyone could do about their voices. Alina asking for the scalpel, the clamp, asking Maksim to take a pulse rate. Pulse rate too low, losing too much blood. Internal bleeding. How is he still alive? The words were like a hammer blow. At any moment, I expected something to go wrong and Sam would die. I pulled my knees up to my chest solemnly as I sat on the bed, shivering under the scratchy blanket Maksim had given me. My clothes were still damp, cold against my skin, so the blanket did very little, but it was better than nothing. All the while, Vadim diligently stood guard nearby, but honestly, the fight had drained out of me and I had no intention of doing anything. All I wanted was for Sam to live. Even so, I still didn't understand why they were so concerned about a man they didn't know. No one helped anyone these days. Everyone looked out for themselves. It's how we survived, but here they were doing all they could to save Sam's life, Aleksander even giving Sam blood from his own veins. I didn't know how to feel about that. My chest tightened again, and I pulled the blanket higher over my shoulders, shutting my eyes.

I must have drifted off as I flinched awake from a dream of mutants in a mountain of corpses, as Alina spoke again. Vadim eyed me as I blinked and glanced around, disorientated, my heart thundering uncomfortably. How long was I asleep? Idiot! Anything could have happened. I sat up, pushing the blanket off my shoulders, still too cold, focusing on what Alina was saying.

"Okay, that's it." Something metallic was set down on the tray. "Maksim, please give him the penicillin."

There was a quick grunt of acknowledgement. I slid off the bed to peek around the curtains, ignoring Vadim's unwavering gaze following me. Maksim was at Sam's side, injecting something into the IV bag beside the table. My heart raced even though I just heard Alina say it was antibiotics. I shook my head. Calm down. They wouldn't poison him right after saving his life. Would they?

"How are you doing, Aleks?" Alina asked, as Maksim moved over to check Aleksander's IV bag.

"I'm alright," he replied tiredly.

"You have given enough. He should be okay now." She removed the bag of fresh blood hanging beside him and handed it to Maksim, who then hung it beside Sam's IV bag. "Get some soup and rest." She trailed her hand across his shoulders.

Ignoring Vadim, I edged toward the table where Sam was lying, peering at him with concern. "Is he okay?" I glanced at Maksim, who was checking Sam's pulse rate while staring at his watch.

"Oh, hello," Alina said, looking up from the iodine she had just wiped over the sutures. She set the bottle on the tray beside her, glancing at Maksim expectantly.

"Pulse 55 bpm," Maksim supplied.

"Is that normal?" I asked as my own pulse raced. It sounded a little low to me.

"Yes, in someone who is fit, it is a good rate." She gave me a friendly smile. "He is okay. Everything went well, but he will still be asleep for a while. We had to give him another dose of the sedative to make sure he stayed asleep."

"Will he be in pain when he wakes up?" I asked, running my fingers over his hand.

"We gave him some more morphine, so he should be okay, but I will keep an eye on him. But now he's all done, I need to check you. You have blood on the back of your legs."

I had almost forgotten they were there. Pain was a constant, and I'd pushed it to the back of my mind with everything that happened. But now Alina drew my attention to them again, they stung like hell. Maybe she should look at them. I nodded reluctantly.

"Okay, take a seat for a moment. We will just move Sam to the other bed," Alina said.

I glanced at the second bed, where Danila and Nikita had been, but not anymore. I frowned. "Where's Danila and Nikita?"

"They were taken to the mess hall to get something to eat," Alina said as Maksim wheeled the second bed over, parking it next to the table.

"Taken? What like prisoners?"

"No, not like prisoners," Aleksander cut in, rubbing his face. "They'll be taken care of, but we need to take some precautions. I'm sure you won't blame us for that." I clenched my jaw. Fine, he had a point. They must have left when I was napping.

Vadim sauntered over to stand between me and Alina, his eyes locked on me.

"It's okay, Vadim," Alina said. "She's just concerned for her friend." He stayed where he was, and Alina sighed. "Please, give us some space."

Aleksander nodded to him and he reluctantly withdrew to the side of the room, tracking me with his vigilant gaze as I walked back to the bed to sit down. I ignored him, watching them wheel Sam over to the far wall. He looked better, though still pale. Despite this, I still expected him to not wake up, even though Alina said he would be alright. I couldn't bring myself to trust her word, not after everything I'd been through.

After checking everything was as it should be, and stopping briefly to speak to Aleksander, Alina headed towards me with a leather bag which she set on the bed next to me. "Okay. Do you have wounds apart from your legs?" She asked, pulling a bottle of iodine from the bag and rubbing it over her hands.

I held up my right arm, rolling back the sleeve. "I have a graze from some rocks on my arm, and this bite wound that someone closed already."

"Can I see?" Alina asked, pulling on a pair of latex gloves.

My eyes involuntarily tracked Aleksander as he left the room, thinking about the many supply trips I had gone on with Senya that had become intimate. I clenched my jaw, remembering how well we worked together. After years of him training me, I had basically become a mirror of him.

"Natasha?" Alina said, snapping me out of my daydream. "Are you alright?"

I nodded. "Yeah." She frowned at me, unconvinced, and I sighed. "This is just a lot."

She nodded. "Of course. Can I see the wound on your arm?" I nodded, even though the thought of her touching me for any reason unsettled me. I had to fight to keep my body from flinching. "That looks okay. Whoever did it knew what they were doing. It's a little infected, though." I groaned. It wasn't surprising, given the shit I'd just been through, literally. Alina dabbed the wound and graze up my arm with a swab soaked in iodine and I winced at the stinging bite. "I will give you some antibiotics for that. Can I see your legs?"

I sighed. Not like I had a choice. They were really hurting now and after the sewers... both times; I was sure there would be an infection. The memory of almost losing my hand to the infection I got from Seraph's bite was incentive enough, so I rolled up my wet, mud spattered trouser legs. Alina sucked in a breath as she saw the state of the wraps plastered to my skin by mud and congealed blood.

"That's all I had available at the time. I had little choice." I said, as she frowned at them.

"Hmm, I can imagine the state of the wounds. I need to take these off." She glanced at me. "It's probably going to hurt."

"What doesn't hurt these days?" I huffed.

Her face softened with sympathy, and I fidgeted restlessly, unfamiliar with any sort of kindness. If anything, it made me more suspicious of her. In my experience, people weren't kind unless it was beneficial to them. But what benefit could they get from helping us? I didn't understand.

"Your skin is like ice," she gasped. "I had better take your temperature as well. You might have hypothermia."

I groaned. "Just add it to the list."

"But first, let's take a look at these." She gingerly pulled back the wrap on my left calf and I bit my lip to stop myself from screaming as the congealed blood tore away with the fabric. Fresh blood oozed down my leg, and she wiped it away with some gauze.

"Good lord. What happened here?"

"I fell into the sewers and got slashed by a rat. The wound on my other leg is the same. And I was shot in my heel, but I think that was only a graze because I've been walking on it fine."

"I will check that in a moment." She clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "Oh, dear, they are very infected, and not surprising. A rat did this?"

"Giant mutant rats," I mumbled, curling my lip.

"Good lord. How did you fall into the sewers?"

I scowled at the inflamed skin around the wound. "The ground caved in and I got trapped inside their damned lair. There were…lots." I shuddered as images of the mountain of rotting corpses filled my head. I would be seeing that in my sleep again, I was sure. My stomach roiled at the thought. Such foul abominations.

"Are you alright?" Alina asked.

I shook my head. "Ah, yeah. There were just things down there I'd rather not remember."

"It's not healthy to keep those things to yourself," she said.

I grunted. "You can treat my wounds with antibiotics, though, right?"

Alina sighed and dropped her gaze to the wound. "This will require more than antibiotics, I'm afraid." She shook her head. "And we have to be careful. Our supply is running low."

I frowned at her, panic spiking again. "Wait. What do you mean it will require more than antibiotics?"

"I will need to cut away some of this infected flesh and probably stitch them."

I shook my head, eyes flaring. "You're not doing that."

"I'm sorry, but it will have to happen. Blood poisoning is very possible here."

My eyes flared. Blood poisoning. But I didn't trust these people. They could do anything to me while I was out.

Something must have shown on my face, because she sighed and said, "I know you don't trust me, and I don't blame you, but I'm trying to help and I just saved your friend." Her voice was too kind, and it set me on edge for reasons I couldn't explain.

"No, I can't," I said quickly as panic built, shying away from her as if she was a fugly about to attack me.

Alina held up her hands. "Calm down. I won't harm you."

Maksim glanced up from the bench by the wall and Vadim narrowed his eyes. I felt like a caged animal under their gazes.

"Will it make you feel better if one of your other friends was here when I did it?" Alina asked, waving at Vadim to stand down.

I hated Nikita, and I barely knew Danila. No. I didn't trust them either. The only one I even remotely trusted was Sam, and he was out. I stared at him, sleeping like nothing happened. Could I trust her? She did just save his life. But as I glanced at Vadim, at Maksim and listened to the sounds of people moving around nearby, my unease only grew. I didn't know what they would do, and I suddenly understood how Sam must have felt when we were at the swamp, why he would kill the guards. He would have been tense, eager to distance himself from the swamp. It's how I felt now, damn near jumping out of my skin. I didn't want to be here. I wanted to run, but I couldn't, not without Sam. He was all I had left.

"Natasha?" Alina prompted.

I shook my head, not taking my eyes off Sam. "No. They're not my friends. I don't want them here. I want to wait until Sam wakes up."

Alina sighed. "Those wounds should really be taken care of now."

"No, I've waited this long. They can wait some more."

"Fine," she relented. "But I at least need to wrap them properly and I need to take your temperature. You need dry clothes too."

"I don't have any dry clothes. If you haven't noticed, I don't have much of anything."

"I'll give you some of mine," she said. "In the meantime, you can stay in the furnace room just down the corridor. We need to get your body temperature back up."

I narrowed my eyes at her, shaking my head. "I told you already. I'm not letting Sam out of my sight."

"I assure you, he is safe here."

My eyes flicked towards Vadim, who watched me too closely. "Excuse me if I don't believe you."

"No one will hurt him," Alina said, exasperated.

"Don't waste your breath, Alina," Vadim growled, leaning back against the wall, looking as though he wanted to be anywhere else.

"Listen, Vadim," Maksim said, washing his hands in the sink. "Maybe you should go get some chow, give our guest here some space. You aren't giving her much reason to trust us."

"She doesn't need to trust us and I'm not going to just let her wander around here on her own."

Maksim frowned, turning to him. "She is not wandering anywhere. She's injured and this isn't a prison."

"Someone needs to watch her! She could do anything," Vadim argued.

"Yeah, but we're here," Maksim flicked his hand between Alina and himself. "We're more than capable of handling an injured woman, unless you want to argue with that, too."

I bristled at that. "You don't know what I'm capable of. I'm not like other women," I glowered between them, feeling as though I was in the middle of an old argument. What was Vadim's deal?

Maksim sighed. "Okay, but maybe don't give him extra ammunition right now."

"Watch yourself," Vadim said dangerously, running a finger across the metal above his gun's trigger.

"Just leave, Vadim," Maksim said. "You're not needed right now. Get some rest."

"I don't take orders from you, medic," Vadim growled.

What the hell?

"Excuse me, this is the sick bay. Medics are in charge here, junior lieutenant." He emphasized the word junior.

"Stop that!" Alina interjected. "This isn't the navy. There are no ranks here! Katerina behaves better than you two are."

"Well, clearly everyone here still thinks there is a chain of command. Why would they follow Vasiliev otherwise?"

"Are you serious?" Maksim sneered, taking a step forward.

Alina's face twisted into a mask of rage. "You will not insult Aleks in front of me! They listen to him because he is a good leader."

Vadim barked a laugh that made me jump. "Bullshit, they listen to him because he is the Senior Lieutenant, and they all cling to the old ways."

"You jealous of that?" Maksim asked, glaring at the other man.

"Get out of my sick bay!" Alina yelled. "I don't want to see you in here again. Perhaps it's time you went on outpost rotation."

Huh. I had to admit, I was a little impressed. She might not be the pushover I assumed. That didn't mean I trusted her, though.

Vadim's face flushed as Alina and Maksim stared him down. Finally, his jaw tightened, and he stormed out of the room.

Maksim lay a hand on her shoulder as she took a steadying breath. What the hell was that about? I glanced between them, the unease within me growing. Something was definitely happening here. Something insidious and dread settled in my stomach. I stared nervously at Sam, willing him to wake.