Zhukov's Dogs

by Amanda Cyr

  Lee scowled and gestured at the ruined building. “Are you crazy? Look at that thing! It could all come crashing down on us!”

  “It won’t fall any further unless a big storm hits it,” I told them.

  We waited as Lee pulled up the weather forecast on her tablet. Flurries overnight and into tomorrow morning, followed by partially cloudy skies. Val studied the forecast for a moment, tapping his fingers against his jaw as he weighed the options. “All right. Let’s get in there.”

  Flashlights were handed out, and Val took the lead. We stepped through the revolving doors, their glass panels completely shattered. The lobby, or at least what was left of it, was pitch black. Towering mountains of steel and debris were precariously piled, turning the space into an industrial obstacle course and keeping us from exploring too far.

  “This is a terrible idea.” Lee whined somewhere in the darkness behind me. I didn’t bother to tell her otherwise.

  Slowly, we made our way through the lobby. Every time a board of wood groaned underfoot, we all froze and looked up to see if the building was ready to come down on us. And then, halfway over the remains of a coffee shop, it wasn’t the groan of wood that made us panic. It was the crack. Val’s foot had gone through a weak piece of drywall. He was already trying to pull himself free by the time I was warning him not to.

  “Stay still!” I yelled.

  It was too late. The drywall splintered in all directions and disintegrated into nothing. I dropped my flashlight and dove for Val, but the drywall began caving under my feet. Val disappeared from sight. Cursing out loud, I threw my weight backwards in hopes of escaping the same fate.

  Fritzi lunged forward and hooked her arms under my own, heaving me away from the collapsing floor. The ground gave an awful screech as we fell back on it. A split-second later, the ground was gone, and weightlessness took over. My stomach jumped into my throat, Fritzi screaming in my ear, as we plummeted into darkness.

  A sickening, paralyzing panic barely lasted for a second. My mind raced, and body responded. We needed to stop. We needed to stop before we hit the ground. Light from somewhere beneath me bounced off a jagged surface to my right. I couldn’t make out what it was, but I reached out, determined to grab onto something. Anything.

  Suddenly, my feet hit an uneven surface. I rolled with the impact as trained, my back striking hard, then my knee. The surface was too steep; I was tumbling too fast. I threw my hands out in search of something to grab. My fingers hooked around a sharp object, which cut through my gloves and deep into my hands.

  I saw Fritzi’s faint outline overhead. Quickly, I wedged my shoes into the uneven wall, not caring what I clung to, and reached a hand out toward her. “Grab on!” I shouted.

  Fritzi’s hand missed mine, but I managed to snag the hood of her coat. She jerked to a stop with a choked gag and scrambled back against the rubble I’d wedged my shoes into. I could hear her panting out shaky bits of German.

  Something beneath us moved. I looked down at the flashlight Val had dropped. Someone another story below had picked it up, and they pointed it right at us.

  “You guys all right?” Val called.

  “Still in one piece,” Fritzi replied.

  “Nik?”

  “Fine.”

  That wasn’t necessarily true. Whatever I held onto still sliced into my fingers, and my gloves were soaked with blood. Val’s flashlight revealed I’d grabbed onto a shattered windshield of an old car crushed between a chunk of cement and two other cars. The flashlight scanned over the rest of the slant, and the three of us stared in awe at the destruction.

  From the ledge we’d all fallen from, Lee called down, “Now what?”

  Nobody answered. I was still too worked up to think clearly, let alone plan the next step. I heard a grunt below and looked down at Val. It suddenly occurred to me that he’d fallen much further than us.

  “You okay down there, Val?” I asked.

  “Yeah, fine.”

  Too quick of a response. He’s been hurt. At least I wasn’t the only one lying about being okay.

  Val pointed his flashlight back at us and asked, “What do you think? Can we climb back up?”

  I looked up the wall of cars, cement, warped metal, and glass. It was scalable, but we certainly didn’t have the right equipment for it. “Over there along the wall maybe,” Fritzi suggested, pointing to her right.

  Val turned the flashlight toward the corner. It was mostly uneven chunks of cement piled next to the smooth dividing wall. It would be a rough climb but not an impossible one.

  “Who’s there?” came an unfamiliar voice.

  The light spun around and locked onto a petite girl. She threw both hands up to shield her eyes, hissing like a cat. “Christ! Out of my eyes!”

  “Gemma?” Val asked.

  The girl dropped her hands and rushed forward. She leapt at Val, clinging to him like a friendly koala would to an unsuspecting eucalyptus tree, with all four limbs wrapped around him. Val spun her around on the spot.

  “You’re alive!” he shouted.

  “Of course I’m alive.” Gemma laughed. “Did you think you could get rid of me?”

  Val stopped spinning and set her down so he could speak with her face-to-face. “The others, are they down here too? Are they okay?”

  I couldn’t see Gemma clearly, but the silence that followed Val’s question wasn’t a good sign. She stepped back from Val and looked downward. They were too far away for me to make out what she told him next.

  “Hooray for happy reunions and stuff. Now, how about you aim that light this way so we can get down?” Fritzi called to them impatiently. Val pointed the light back at us, and we spent the next several minutes working our way down. As soon as we were on solid ground, Gemma ran to embrace Fritzi, and I got a better look at the newcomer.

  She was tiny, maybe ninety pounds when soaking wet. Her short, black hair spiked out in all directions, bangs hanging in her eyes and set of silver goggles resting over top of them. The edge of a feather tattoo poked out from underneath her collar, along the side of her neck. When she released Fritzi, Gemma turned to me and quirked her head to one side. “And who’s this?” she asked, smiling bright despite our surroundings.

  “New recruit,” Val said. He waved a hand between the two of us. “Gemma, meet Nik. Nik, Gemma.”

  I held my hand out. Gemma threw her arms open and latched onto me. It wasn’t quite a koala hug, for which I was grateful, but she squeezed me tightly and put her tiny chin on my chest to look up at my surprised face. She was hands-down the friendliest of the revolutionaries I’d met so far.

  “You’re tall,” she said.

  “You’re just short, Gemma,” Val replied.

  Gemma released me to retaliate, but Val quickly suggested we join the others and explain our plan of escape. He called up to Lee and told her to wait there until we figured things out. Gemma led us through the parking garage, and soon, we saw a light pooling around a corner ahead. As we rounded the corner, we were greeted by a chorus of excited noise.

  There were three boys gathered around a single heat lamp. A freckle-faced boy with dark red hair and a heavier build; a young boy, no more than thirteen, with crooked teeth and short blond hair; and an older boy almost the size of Tibbs, with dark eyes, hair buzzed close to his head, and a square jaw. The first two boys looked much happier to see us than the third.

  “Val! You came to rescue us!” cheered the young boy. There was the utmost sense of admiration in his eyes as he stared up at Val. Apparently my boss had a fan club.

  When the square-jawed boy scoffed, I learned my boss had an enemy, too. “Or,” he began, turning his head to spit, “He’s trapped down here like us.”

  Val’s little fan turned on the boy several times his size and balled his fists. “Shut up, Jayne!”

  Gemma swiftly intervened. “Guys, cool it. We found a spot along the wall where we might be able to climb up.”

  “That’s great news,” the redheaded
boy chimed in.

  “What’s so great about it, Finn?” Jayne asked. “How are you going to climb out with that shoulder all messed up?”

  Finn’s hand shot up to his cover his left shoulder, which hung at an awkward angle. Val stepped forward to defend him. “We’ll pull him. There’s enough extra clothing on us to make some kind of rope. It’ll make the climb safer for us all.”

  “Great idea,” Gemma and the younger boy said perfect unison.

  Then Val made the mistake of asking a question which was anything but appropriate, given the ordeal his team had been through. “What about the wine? Any make it this far?”

  Jayne spat again. I grimaced.

  “You really think that shit matters?” Jayne asked.

  “That’s a no then.”

  Jayne laughed. “That’s a hell no, you rotten shit.”

  Leave it at that. Just leave it at that.

  Val seemed willing to let it go, but Jayne stepped toward him, indicating he was far from finished. Val nudged the younger boy in Fritzi’s direction as Jayne raised his voice. “That’s all you care about, isn’t it? You only came out here because you thought you’d be able to bring all that wine back, too. Well here’s news for you, Val. The damn brewery was empty. Bone dry. Another one of your reliable tips. We risked our lives, and the only thing you care about is the lost profit!”

  “We came out here to find you, with or without the wine,” Val insisted, temper flaring to match Jayne’s. “You think I’d just leave any of you to die?”

  “I sure do! Don’t pretend you’re some kind of noble hero, coming here to rescue us. I know you, Val. I know what you care about.”

  Val stood his ground even with Jayne stepping closer to him. I had to give him credit for being brave, but there was a point in every fight where it was best to hold one’s tongue. Val didn’t seem to know such a point even existed.

  “You don’t know anything,” Val snapped at Jayne.

  “I know I could break your neck right now and wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep over it.”

  Finn shrank against the wall. Fritzi wrapped her arms around the younger boy’s shoulders, holding him back as he called Jayne all sorts of hateful names. “Guys, don’t fight,” Gemma said in a quiet plea.

  It didn’t look like anyone was going to intervene, meaning it was up to me. I stepped forward between Jayne and Val and put my hands out to separate them. “All right, both of you calm down. We’re all stuck here, remember?”

  Jayne glowered at me, his eyes narrowing into slits. I hoped he wasn’t thinking about trying to break me in half so he could get to Val. I’d really hate to make a mess out of him in front of his friends. Instead, Jayne said something which did more damage than brute force ever could.

  “Screwing this one now, eh, Val?”

  Val shoved past me and punched Jayne square in the jaw. I heard bones crunching, but Jayne didn’t seem fazed. He lunged to wrap his hands around Val’s throat. I rushed between them before Jayne could get a good grip and pushed the two apart again. With one hand on Jayne’s chest, I shoved him away, drew a fist back and socked him in the gut. Jayne wheezed but recovered almost instantly. He seized the front of my coat with both hands, and the next thing I knew, I flew across the room. My head struck concrete, and my ears filled with a shrill ringing.

  Gemma appeared above me, asking a question I couldn’t hear. With some help from her, I sat upright to see Jayne and Val tumbling on the concrete exchanging loud words and even louder blows. The ringing in my ears faded as I rose to my feet. I was sick of their fighting, so I reached for my gun.

  “Jayne!” I shouted to get his attention.

  Jayne had Val on his back, one hand on his collar with the other drawn back in mid-swing. There were deep scratches on his cheeks, blood seeping from his nose and mouth. Val didn’t look to be in any better condition, with the blond hair on the side of his head matted by blood, and dark red marks on his neck where Jayne had been choking him. When he saw the gun in my hand, Jayne released Val and raised both of his hands up.

  “Now then,” I said. “What do you say we work on getting out of here?”

  Gemma was the first to move. She snatched the heat lamp, helped Finn to his feet, and urged the others to follow her back to the cave-in site. I nodded after Gemma, and Jayne took that as his signal to follow. Slowly, he got to his feet, but I didn’t lower my gun until he and the others were several yards off.

  When they were on their way, I tucked the gun under the waistband of my jeans, keeping it close enough that I could easily stop Jayne if he tried to pick a fight again. Val had sat up by then. With his knit hat in one hand, he dabbed at the blood on the side of his head, grimacing with every touch.

  I walked over to Val and held out a hand. He ignored it and stared at the ground like I wasn’t even there. I tried to imagine what he was feeling, tried to think of what to say to him. A joke? An apology? What did he need to hear to feel better? Before I could figure it out, Val got to his feet. I tried to steady him when he swayed, but Val shoved me away and walked off without a word or so much as a glance in my direction.

  Solitary Box 1, Eisenhower Building—Washington, D.C.

  Wednesday, November 25th, 2076—4:00 p.m.

  hat’s when I knew I was in trouble.”

  It was hard to stop the memories from replaying once Dr. Halliburton got them going. Pent up in my own head, not having anyone to regale the details to out loud, made them more difficult to deal with. I lasted two hours before the silence made me crack. Since I was alone anyway, I didn’t see the harm in talking to myself.

  “Val was too up and down to get a good read on. Pretty early, I’d accepted that the most I’d get on him was a few background details and some field data,” I mumbled into the darkness. I imagined the part where Dr. Halliburton would say something sarcastic and ask a question about what happened next.

  “I don’t know. Since the whole thing on the porch, I’d kind of been waiting for something. Another advance or, I don’t know, something other than the way he pretended like it didn’t happen.”

  Why?

  “I was… curious, I guess.”

  Curious?

  “I like getting in people’s heads. Kind of like you do,” I said, now freely addressing my imaginary version of the doctor. “I’d never been hit on by another guy before, so it was all new to me. I wanted to know more. I wanted to feel things out.”

  Oh, how perverse.

  “Not like that.”

  My version of the doctor had a dirty mind, it seemed. She smiled, adjusted her glasses, and asked me what I meant instead. I didn’t answer, so she changed the question. She asked about the moment Val shoved me away. How I knew that was when I was in trouble.

  “Because,” I chuckled, “I felt sad.”

  Isn’t sad a normal emotion? Don’t normal teenagers feel sad? You’ve never been normal, though, have you? A military dog doesn’t feel anything. At least, a good dog wouldn’t feel anything. You’ve managed to fail both as a dog and as a friend.

  I didn’t like my doctor anymore. Pressing my head back to the wall, I forced myself to focus on the silence until she was gone. The ringing had just settled in when the latch outside my solitary block clanked. The door slid aside to reveal Dr. Halliburton, flanked by a Grey Man on either side.

  “Welcome. Please, come in and make yourselves comfortable,” I said, waving my bound hands to beckon them inside. The light silhouetting the three of them made my eyes burn as they struggled to readjust. One of the Grey’s stepped into the cell sideways, too large to fit in straight on. He pulled me to my feet and into the hall.

  Nobody said a word to me as I was led to the same interrogation room as earlier. The papers had been picked up and the table put back upright. There was a small change to the layout, I noticed. A metal loop had been bolted to the floor beneath my chair, a chain attached. Dr. Halliburton sat herself down in the chair opposite mine as one of the Grey Men shoved me into my seat and af
fixed the chain to my handcuffs. He gave them a solid tug to make sure they were secure before going to join the other Grey Man in the corner.

  Two Grey Men and a short leash, I thought, tugging at the chain myself. They were finally starting to take me seriously. I looked up at the doctor, smirked, and asked, “Miss me?”

  “So, you were curious.”

  My chest tightened. I was back in my dark solitary cell with my imaginary doctor all over again, only now she was very real. “Anyone ever tell you it’s rude to eavesdrop?”

  “Yes. Did anyone ever tell you only crazy people talk to themselves?”

  “Crazy is one of the job requirements around here.”

  The doctor laughed, almost politely. She reset the table to the way it was earlier. Tablet, profiles of my friends, only this time she kept her cell phone in plain sight, right on top of Val’s profile. “Tell me about this being curious business.”

  I said nothing. I still had trouble accepting she’d listened to everything I’d said in solitary. All the private memories I’d replayed which, if she asked about in this setting, I would have skimped over.

  “Come, now. After your little outburst earlier, I really don’t think there’s any point in denying you have feelings for him anymore,” Dr. Halliburton said.

  “Dirty tricks usually produce the desired result,” I replied, pulling my elbows in close to my sides and sitting up straight.

  “That they do,” was all she said before steering us back on topic. “So, this curiosity, it only surfaced when you met Val?”

  “Correct.”

  “What about with Brigadier McKee?”

  I threw my head back and laughed so hard my ribs ached. Dr. Halliburton looked confused, and slightly offended, by my outburst. As I calmed down, I imagined how Aiden was probably watching the feed and laughing at the ridiculousness of the question, too.

  “Me and Aiden? Hah! No, no, not even close. I mean, there was this one time when we almost froze to death in the Sahara, but that was just very, very resentful cuddling.”

  “So, how would you describe your relationship?”

  “He’s my best friend. Like a brother, really. The guy’s risked his life for me in and out of the field, which is more than anyone else here can say.”