by Staci Parker
I shut down the communication and I sat back and hugged my body. My breasts were form fitting inside the sweater. Had I walked out like this, I probably would have a lot of guys gawking at me like I was an expensive streetwalker offering her goods. It didn’t hurt that my tight jeans molded to my ass like a second skin.
My breath could be seen inside the enclosed space of my bachelor apartment. I don’t even know why it was called that. There was no bedroom to speak of. It was mostly a closet and I decided to make myself at home in the living room. I had to go down to the local store and I just hoped that there was still something left after everybody had finished hoarding supplies for the storm. I didn’t need much and my pantry was pretty much full, but there were some necessities like fresh water and bread that I needed.
I pulled my dark hair up over my head and then I attached the dark blue scarf and wrapped it, so that it was covering not only my head, but my neck as well. It was kind of sickening to see the bland colors and you couldn’t find something flamboyant if your life depended on it. This government didn’t want anybody to stand out in a crowd. They wanted us to be complacent and to live our lives by their rules. The curfew kept crime down, but it was what happened after curfew that made people start to cock an eyebrow.
I was thankful that I was a little handy and I was able to make sure that my apartment had a lock that worked. That was a far cry from what other people had in this building, but I was doing everything I could to make sure that everybody was safe and secure from those that wanted to take advantage. I had become the resident den mother. If they needed something, I could get it through regular channels or from the black market.
I grabbed my black parka, zipping it up and feeling like I was in some sort of cocoon. It was not very flattering, but the chilling bite of the cold was a good incentive to try and not to come down with the death of cold. I’d seen too many fall victim to hypothermia. The elderly were more susceptible, but they weren’t the only ones.
I went out into the hallway to see the peeling wallpaper and the holes in the wall where there was no doubt an infestation inside the building. I heard the click of a door and I looked up to see Tamara. Her blonde hair was disheveled and her makeup was fucked up. She looked like she was drinking heavily and most likely just finished one of her Johns.
“You know that it’s dangerous out there. You don’t see me out in that peddling my wares. Be careful, Sofia, or this weather is going to be the death of us.”
She was blonde, but it was from a bottle and she wanted her clients to see her as something special and unique. She was not like all the others and she prided herself on giving a service that was worth coming back for over and over again. I’d heard screams of approval inside my apartment through a wall that was pretty much paper thin.
“I’m glad to see that you are staying in. It wouldn’t hurt you to take today off, recharge and wait, until this storm passes. The brunt of it is not going to hit until later today, but it has already started. Do yourself a favor, bundle up and make sure that your windows are closed and covered with a blanket or some very thick sheet.”
She nodded her head, her red blouse ripped at the shoulder from an overanxious lover. The black skirt and the spider web stockings were not exactly conducive to staving off this weather.
Chapter two
“I think that you might be my final customer of the day.” The walk over here was a little slippery and the snow had started to fall just a little bit harder than it was already. The flakes were huge, but at least it was fluffy and it probably wouldn’t take much to clear off it off. The streets were virtually deserted and those who had ventured out were not staying out for long. “I think that I’m going to close up early today. Nobody should be out in this.”
I passed him the last of the money that I had received from my last assignment from Anthony. He was nice enough to convert the American money into Russian currency, so it wouldn’t look suspicious.
“I don’t think that you’re going to see too many people out. I just needed a few things.”
I left the proprietor and as I did it occurred to me that I didn’t know him by name. I’d always seen him here and we had talked like we were friends, but we never knew that much about each other. Perhaps, I should take the time to get to know him and maybe there was something there that would be interesting to write about. I could see the lines around his eyes and that look of vacancy that comes from knowing that there is no escape.
I walked with my head down, with my bag of goodies inside my jacket to protect it from the elements. The wind had picked up and you could see the swirls in the street. I heard what sounded like brakes squealing to a stop. It was in the distance, but I couldn’t understand why anybody would risk their lives to come out in this. I heard an engine. I looked over my shoulder to see one of the freelance taxis taking home a fare. Those of us who lived in this neighborhood knew that they were considered to be pirates, jacking up their prices to extremes. If they were caught, they could probably be held against their will for days on end. Repeat offenders could find themselves disappearing altogether.
The soles of my boots were thin and I slipped a few times, but was able to stop myself from falling by grabbing onto the first available thing that I saw.
When I came up to the building I noticed all these black cars parked out front and I decided to take the back stairs. Seeing them gave me a sense of dread. I wasn’t sure, but I had a feeling that they weren’t here to see Tamara. It couldn’t be for me. I’d been too careful.
One government vehicle would have sufficed for a clandestine romance, but there were four of them clustered around each other. Two very burly young men stood at the ready by the vehicles.
I slipped out of sight and down an alley way, until I came to the back stairs. The door was ajar; somebody had used a crowbar a long time ago to break in and nobody had done anything to fix it. I was able to fashion a steel bar over the inside. I was the only one that was able to loosen it enough to squeeze through to the other side. It was by my own design. The stairs were littered with garbage and a drunk named Owen was sitting with a bottle at the top of the stairs. This was really the only place in the building that had any heat.
“You know what, Owen? I think you may be the only sane one around here after all. If I had any brains, I would come out here with you.”
He smiled with one tooth missing and raised his bottle. I took it and had myself a slug and it warmed my insides. I did wipe the top of the bottle first to make sure that I didn’t catch anything. I need to keep up appearances, but I wasn’t stupid. I handed it back to him and he gave me this smirk and went back to talking to himself.
I opened the door and made my way over to the stairs that would lead to my floor. I was going to take the elevator, but I had this feeling that I should keep myself incognito. I climbed the stairs two at a time, feeling the cans of pasta sauce slamming up against me. I took care of myself and I ran every day. It wasn’t that I wanted to have a nice figure, but it was something to do when I didn’t have anything else on my plate.
I had my hand poised on the door leading to my hallway, but I stopped and decided to press my ear against it instead. There was nothing but silence. I took a few steps forward and opened the door, gritting my teeth and hoping to God that it wasn’t going to make a noise that would attract anybody’s attention.
I walked cautiously down the hallway towards my apartment and I saw that Tamara had come out at the end of the hall and had begun to shake her head vehemently. I wasn’t sure, but I think that she was trying to warn me away. I was standing at the threshold and I heard somebody inside my apartment. The door was wide open and splintered from somebody using more force than necessary.
“I want everything. Tear this place apart and make sure that there isn’t any place that she could hide from us. Tell the boys downstairs to give us a heads up when she returns.”
I heard pounding and the crashing of glass. I was terrified. For the first tim
e, I was stunned into immobility. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t talk, and the only thing I could do was watch these men in trench coats tear my place apart.
I must have gasped, because the man inside my bathroom came out and saw me standing there. He grabbed for his pistol and suddenly my legs came back to life. It was my natural instinct to survive that made me run like I’ve never run before. The bag of supplies that I had been carrying fell from my jacket and landed on the floor with the two cans of pasta sauce rolling.
I heard a gun go off and I heard the hot lead pass by my ear and embed itself into the wall. I turned to see that the man that was chasing me had stumbled over the cans. He was now face down with his gun out of his hand and at my feet. I picked it up and waved it around with shaky hands, while the man lifted his face from the carpet to see that I was the one in control now.
“You don’t want to do that. Put the gun down and let me take you into custody.”
I didn’t want to know what that could possibly mean. I had no desire to be tortured for what I believed, like my mother and father were. “Did you really think that you could talk back against the government and we wouldn’t find out?”
Two more men came from my apartment wielding similar weapons. I pulled the trigger and fired indiscriminately. The man that had been talking to me ducked down and held his hands over his head. Those that were coming out of my apartment had decided to rethink that decision, and dove back within the cover of the doorway.
I backed up and I stayed vigilant, but I needed to get out of here pronto. I got back to the stairwell and opened it up, deciding that taking one stair at a time was not going to give me the head start that I needed. I leaped the entire landing, landing heavily on my boots and feeling the impact all the way up my legs and spine. I leapt three more times, until I got into the hallway on the first floor. I went towards the stairs and I found that drunk still sitting there, but this time he was passed out and snoring heavily.
Thinking quickly, I took off his jacket and I replaced it with my own. This very thin piece of fabric was not going to keep me warm, but maybe it would keep me safe. I had taken the bottle out of his hands.
I got on the street and I walked out of the alley, stumbling and waving the bottle around. With the snow that was heavy, it was hard to see anything and I was hoping that they would take me for a drunk and not try to accost me. I had my disguise, but I had no idea how long it would stand up to scrutiny.
“God bless Putin… God bless Putin… God bless Putin.” I had replaced the lyrics to one of my favorite songs with that of a drunken mantra.
“Hey…come back here.” Apparently, my ruse was not that convincing. It wasn’t like I was a trained professional that could disappear at a moment’s notice. I was a freelance journalist in a country that really didn’t take kindly to people speaking out.
“Don’t move.”
I should’ve known that those inside would have called down to tell them that they should look out for anybody leaving the building. If I was thinking clearly, I could’ve probably taken refuge in Tamara’s apartment to ride this out. They didn’t have the resources to stick around for too long and the storm was going to hamper any kind of campaign against me.
I ran away from them, hearing their footsteps getting closer and knowing that my life was on the line. I was trying to lose them in the storm and for once I was thankful that the wind was getting stronger by the second. I was frozen to the bone, but the adrenaline pumping through my veins was enough of an incentive to keep me going. I was heading into a nearby park and I could still hear their boots gaining traction. They were closing the distance between us.
I heard the squawking of a walkie talkie and I was a little worried that they were calling for reinforcements. I heard them screaming something at me, but it was lost in the wind like some kind of whisper that only Mother Nature could hear.
I don’t know what compelled me to go into the park; there was nothing there that was going to give me any kind of help. There were no structures to hide behind – the only options were trees. Once they zeroed in on my location, they would scour the area and cordon it off, until they were able to drag me out kicking and screaming.
I resigned myself to my own fate, sitting down at one of the benches and looking out over the lake. This was my moment of reprieve until they took ahold of me and made me accountable for what I’d done. I didn’t know what else to do and I had no phone to call anybody. Even if I did, I’m not sure that anybody would want to get involved. Jensen might be convinced, but even he was jittery and a little nervous about going against the natural order of things.
“You’re not alone. My team and I came as soon as we could. By Presidential order, you are being taken back to the United States in protective custody.”
I looked up to see this man with a blue jacket and black pants. He had this air of superiority. It must’ve come from some kind of military background. “My name is Liam Heisman and I am a navy seal. I’ve been sent in to retrieve you, but we needed to make sure that you were not being watched.”
I was defeated, but now he had given me the one thing that I thought was lost…hope.
Chapter three
I stared at him for some time. He sat down and took my hands in his. “I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that this is going to be easy. This is going to be the hardest thing that you’ve ever done in your life. I need you to be fully aware of your surroundings. I need you to take my advice and follow my orders to the letter. If you want to survive, then we need to work together and get back to the extraction site.”
I was still a little floored that a Navy Seal and the United States government had taken an interest in little old me.
“I’m not saying that I’m not grateful, but I do question the reason why you would come here.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t really ask those questions. I’ve been asked to do a job and to get you out of Russia and that is what I’m going to do. I lost two men already. I’m not going to lose any more on my watch.”
It was comforting to know that I wasn’t alone, but he was really not here for anything more than just a duty to his country. He had no connection to me and my death would not keep him up at night. Having him as my guardian angel was something that I wasn’t expecting, and I was going to grab onto him as my own personal lifeline.
“I still don’t understand any of this. It’s not like I’ve got my hands on state secrets.” I then remembered some of the articles that I had written. Those who would read those articles would think that I had knowledge of various instances of government corruption. I was only given that information by an unknown source within my alliance. There were no names bandied about and I really didn’t want to get anybody else into trouble. I took the responsibility on my own shoulders. I was now regretting that decision.
I couldn’t help but to look at this soldier and feel bad that he had gotten caught up in all of this. This was not his business and my life was not his responsibility; however, I was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If he was going to save me, then I may as well take any help I could get.
“We’re really going to have to move. They are coming and they know that you went in here. They also know that you have a gun and that’s the only reason why they haven’t come in here with force. They are waiting for certain individuals that have ice water in their veins.”
If he was talking about what I thought that he was talking about, then we were both in serious trouble. This was the secret police, or at least that is what those of us in the know had begun to call them. They were shadow figures that were called in to take care of those that had become too much to handle by conventional means.
“I would tell you that I’m not scared, but I don’t think that you would believe me. Lead the way.” He got up and suddenly he sniffed the air like he sensed something was coming.
I looked at him and I heard the growl in the pit of his stomach. It sounded like some kind of anima
l. “What is it?” I wanted to know what I was getting myself into, but I had a feeling that maybe I had jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think that we’re alone…”
He didn’t get a chance to finish his thought, as an arrow embedded itself in his shoulder from a distance that seemed like it came out of nowhere. He grimaced, but he did not scream like a normal person would have. He reached back and pulled it out like it was a common occurrence. “I should’ve known that they would send the hunters. That must mean that they know that I’m here. That is only bad news for the both of us.”
The arrow had literally gone through to the other side. He had snapped it off and pulled it from his body like it was nothing.
“Are you even human?” The words were barely out of my mouth before we were surrounded. These men didn’t look like they were in the mood to talk this thing out.
I turned to Liam for any kind of support, only to see something that would forever change the way that I viewed the world as a whole. His body began to grow and his clothes shredded from his frame like they were just a nuisance. His back arched and I heard his bones breaking and then shifting into something that wasn’t normal. Those men that had surrounded us were now looking at each other, but they did not scream or run the other way.
“Run and don’t look back.” His voice had changed and lowered a few octaves. He certainly didn’t look like the same person he was when he first approached. “I mean it. I don’t want you to stay here and see this.”
I was shaking like a leaf, but I was also quite fascinated by what I was seeing. It wasn’t possible, but this man was now turning into something that was even more deadly than his navy seal training.
Hair began to sprout out of his body, and I thought that he was intimidating before but it paled in comparison to what he was now. This bear-like form emerged and attacked these men with a vengeance. I ran away, hearing screams and stopping long enough to glance over my shoulder and see the massacre. Those men tried to use knives, but they were useless against this man, or should I say beast. He had become something of a nightmare for all of them.