Barricade

by Lindsey Black

  ‘Put down the gun!’ The first speaker’s voice, Sasha was sure of it.

  ‘I can’t do that,’ Sasha made sure his voice was calm and steady, easily heard and sincere. ‘It’s against regulations. But I promise you, I won’t shoot first. We just want to speak to someone.’

  ‘You’re speaking to us now.’

  ‘This isn’t getting us anywhere,’ Matti hissed under his breath and Sasha had to agree. These people sounded angry and resentful, and not like the kind of people who had a plan. They were followers, not leaders.

  Checking his armour was in place and that Matti was ready to follow his lead, Sasha lurched forward, sprinting out of the alley and into the vague morning light in the main street. Matti was right on his heels and they came to a stop in the middle of the open area, back to back, guns up. It felt better immediately, knowing Enzo could see them and would be looking for people to shoot if everything went south.

  ‘That was stupid,’ Matti said calmly, and he was right it had been. But it was necessary.

  The shadows shifted, more people coming out to see what was going on. Sasha was counting on more ears listening, and the hope that the right ears would hear that someone wanted to listen to what they had to say.

  ‘I am Sasha Stepanova!’ He bellowed. ‘Sergeant of District Six-Six-Six of the Barricade of the Northern Russian Empire. We wish no harm on you or your people! I would like to speak with someone in charge!’

  Awkward silence.

  ‘Maybe if you repeated yourself,’ Matti suggested sarcastically. ‘Perhaps add a few more titles, like Biggest Barricade Badass, Lord of the Wall, Demon of the North, District Devil. That sort of thing.’

  ‘You’re not helping,’ Sasha grumbled, watching for any movement that could be considered perfunctory to violence but so far people were just milling in dark corners. So he sighed, took a deep breath, and repeated himself.

  ‘My name is Sergeant Stepanova of District Six-Six-Six of the Barricade of the Northern Russian Empire. We wish you no harm. I would like to speak with someone in charge.’

  Nothing.

  ‘No really, third time’s the charm, or so they say.’ Matti sounded like he was having a great time. At least someone was.

  ‘Do you have a better idea?’

  ‘Definitely not. I really would like to hear it a third time though. Maybe they’ll try and shoot you then and we can have some real fun.’

  ‘Not exactly what I’m trying for here,’ Sasha grumbled, though the thought appealed. He just didn’t fancy standing in the middle of an empty street while people shot at him. He started backing up toward the Barricade, because if no-one came to talk to them they were eventually going to have to go home and it was in that direction. Besides, the closer to home, the better chance Enzo had of shooting anyone who needed shooting.

  ‘Looks like Nieminen’s come out to help,’ Matti pointed to the Barricade walkway above where there were now four figures on over-watch.

  ‘Reckon he sent two out here to help us?’

  ‘It would be smart,’ Matti agreed. ‘So it’s likely. Probably Gleba and Paraklov.’

  ‘You just want it to be Paraklov because he’s sneaky as fuck,’ Sasha muttered, though he shared the desire. He would have preferred Blanter, but he’d take what he could get. With any luck Paraklov would carve them a way out before anyone even knew he was there. The guy was weird, and mostly kept to himself but if Sasha had to select anyone from the Barricade to join his team Paraklov would have been high on his list. Top five, definitely.

  ‘This is getting tedious,’ Matti mock yawned. ‘You wanna announce your presence again? It’s so manly, I bet Jett would get all flustered hearing it over and over …’

  ‘Shut up!’ Sasha did not need to be teased about his personal life while he was in an extremely un-Mexican standoff. But he also knew Matti was right and they weren’t getting anywhere. Yet. So he tried again. And again.

  ‘My name is Stepanova, Sergeant in charge of District Six-Six-Six. We mean no harm here. We would like to speak to someone in charge.’

  ‘Is it the Sergeant thing that you like saying most?’ Matti pondered, amusement clear in his voice. ‘Does it make you feel all powerful? Or do you like saying Northern Russian Empire?’

  Fine, if he wanted it that way. He was happy to introduce whoever the hell was on hand.

  ‘This is Conscripted Acquired Citizen Private Raikkinen of District Six-Six-Six. He’s a douche, but he means you no harm! We would like to speak to someone in charge!’

  ‘I am perfectly capable of introducing myself!’ Matti protested, elbowing him in the side. ‘I am Conscript Private Raikkinen, Medical Officer of District Six-Six-Six, and I am the greatest chemist north of the Barricade! I would like to say in the world, but that’s a pretty hard call to make, since our propaganda machine doesn’t allow us any information from south of the Barricade, so I’m being conservative with my gloating! I don’t mean you any harm! I just want to speak to someone in charge so I can go back to the cellar and try to make some more vodka, since my friends drank most of our supply painting the Pollack painting over there!’

  Sasha turned to glare at him, but Matti was smirking and all around them they could hear faint laughter. It was certainly not textbook, but apparently Matti knew how to get a response, and in the end that was all that mattered.

  ‘I am Sergeant Stepanova,’ he tried again. ‘And this is Private Raikkinen. We just want to speak to someone in charge. Please!’ Maybe manners would help.

  ‘Up on the wall behind us,’ Matti started in again, ‘we have Immigrant Acquired Citizen Private Angelo. He’s thinks his home brew is better than mine, but his can’t fuel a rocket so there’s just no way! He doesn’t want to hurt anyone, but it’s his job to make sure our Sergeant here stays in one piece, so don’t make his job hard, okay? His head hurts from yesterday…’

  More laughter, louder this time.

  ‘It’s working, I think …’ Though there was no-one coming out to talk to them, he saw many of the hands of people watching them had put their weapons down. That had to be a good thing.

  ‘As you know, every district has four lovely members of staff, but we recently lost our beloved Immigrant Acquired Citizen Private Montegro! It was a sad day, but he was an idiot and got jumped by a kid with a pocket knife. Kids, if you’ve got pocket knives please put them away! We’re not here to hurt you, we just want to talk.’

  They were not even trying to smother their laughter now. Sasha was grateful Enzo couldn’t hear them, he wouldn’t have appreciated any joke at Ines’s expense, but their current audience certainly seemed to find his death amusing.

  ‘We did get a very lovely replacement, though! We now have Acquired Prisoner of War Citizen Private Ioane, and he is just the friendliest little guy! Emphasis on little!’

  The entire street fell into a deafening silence. No more laughter, not so much as a scrape of a shoe. It was as if the world held its breath, their audience lingering on the edge of a cliff Matti hadn’t meant to walk them to.

  ‘Was it something I said?’ Matti muttered, scanning for signs of trouble.

  ‘Well, it certainly wasn’t me doing the talking,’ Sasha reminded him, but to Matti’s left he saw the shadows shift and a large man took one step into the street. Just far enough that Enzo would be able to kill him if he had the right angle, which he did, but close enough to safety that he could just step back and disappear.

  ‘Come closer!’ The man had a deep, booming voice, accustomed to being listened to and obeyed. ‘I refuse to bellow at you down the street.’

  They conformed, staying in close formation, side by side, letting Enzo watch their backs, but Sasha didn’t think they were about to be killed. Still, they didn’t step out of the street, staying within clear sight of the Barricade, halting a few meters from where the man stood on the shadows.

  He was a monstrous man, of equal height with Matti but twice as wide, swaddled in layers of heavy black cloth that only
added to his bulk. He had dark skin, though his face was mostly hidden behind a thick black scarf looped several times around his neck and jaw and a pair of dark tinted ski goggles.

  Standing there, staring at one another, was getting them nowhere. Sasha was growing tired of awkward silences.

  ‘I am Sasha Stepanova.’

  ‘I know who you are,’ the man held up a gloved hand and then spread his arm wide to indicate the street. ‘We all heard you. At least ten times. And now I’m here. What do you want?’

  ‘You’re in charge?’ Of course he was, but Sasha felt the need to antagonise. He’d kept them waiting, after all. It seemed to do the trick. The man crossed his arms over his chest and widened his stance, clear signs he was irritated.

  ‘I do not have all day,’ the man groused when Sasha continued to just wait for an answer.

  ‘It looks like we’re all going to be spending the winter together,’ Sasha reasoned. ‘I thought it best we get to know each other, rather than throw stones.’ He nodded to one of the anti-Russian slogans scrawled on a nearby wall.

  ‘You are not welcome here,’ the man shrugged. ‘I don’t think we could have made it any clearer.’

  ‘And yet, we have to live here,’ Sasha tried to be reasonable. He needed the man to listen, and he needed him to talk if he was ever going to figure out what was going on and if he should have been doing something about it. ‘Together,’ he added, just to remind them that they too were stuck.

  ‘You said you would like to talk.’

  ‘Isn’t that what we’re doing? We don’t want to hurt any of you. We’re here to guard the Barricade and remove any threat of the Infection, that’s all. I would think you would want the same thing.’

  The man was quiet, contemplating, watching them from behind his dark goggles. Sasha wished he could see his eyes, to better know what he was thinking, but then that was the whole point of the goggles. Obviously.

  ‘I would discuss it with you in private,’ the man finally decided. ‘In your tower.’

  ‘We aren’t permitted to allow any access to the tower,’ Sasha argued immediately. ‘Acts of terror and all that, you understand.’

  ‘I will come alone,’ the man suggested. ‘And I will stay in your cage. Naked if that’s what you’d prefer.’

  ‘Why would you do that?’ Matti interrupted. ‘What can you say there that you can’t say here?’

  ‘It’s more what I can see there,’ the man grinned. He had full lips, dark purple in the cold. It made his grin more sinister and Sasha suspected that was the point of grinning.

  ‘You want to see in our tower,’ Sasha clarified, not sure he liked that at all. To what end? He shared a look with Matti, but he also seemed to be at a loss.

  ‘I very much want to see,’ the man agreed. ‘Name whatever terms you like. But I will come, and we will talk. I’m sure we can come to a peaceful arrangement.’

  Sasha was sure of no such thing, but it was what he’d come looking for so he held up a hand and turned away, toward the Barricade, huddling with Matti so he could talk softly into their radios and not be overheard.

  ‘If he’s naked we’ll know he has no weapons.’ That was the primary reason for not allowing people in. Guns, bombs and knives had all been smuggled into the cages at different times in the Barricade’s short history, but the reinforced steel doors and engineered plastics used to construct the Barricade had stood firm against attacks.

  ‘What if he is the weapon?’

  ‘You think he’s infected?’ Sasha looked over at the man and frowned. It was always a possibility. Just because he wasn’t sick yet, didn’t mean he wouldn’t be soon. ‘If he’s in the cage, we’re fine, right?’

  ‘True,’ Matti agreed. ‘But why’s he suggesting it? What does he want to see?’

  ‘I can’t see a negative. He’s willing to talk and his terms make it easy to control. What do you think?’

  ‘I can’t see how it could go wrong for us,’ Matti shrugged. ‘Which means it’s probably going to go wrong.’

  ‘Agreed,’ Sasha nodded and they turned together to face the man.

  ‘When will you come?’ Sasha asked, keeping his voice firm, not wanting anyone to know he was nervous. If it was the wrong decision, he could go down as one of the dumbest Sergeants in the Barricade’s history and he’d really prefer that didn’t happen.

  ‘Now,’ the man stepped forward, hands raised so they would know he meant no harm, but they stepped back from him anyway. ‘I swear, I mean no harm. I would just like to talk, as you suggested.’

  ‘Right.’ Sasha was starting to think it had been a stupid idea, but since he couldn’t figure out why just yet, he let Matti lead the way up the street toward the looming shadow of the Barricade. The man smiled as he walked by Sasha to meander between them, letting Sasha bring up the rear.

  They were almost to the base of the Barricade when Matti halted and moved forward to where Gleba was waiting, gun up and trained on their new friend. Sasha could only hear Matti’s side of the conversation, but he got the gist that Gleba thought they were morons and was happy to wait by their door for them. Matti said no, which was interesting since it wasn’t a terrible idea. Gleba didn’t hang around, moving back into the shadows and disappearing, hurrying off to wherever Paraklov was watching over him.

  The walk back to the gates always seemed to be much faster than the walk away from the gates. They had taken the long way into town, true, but always felt quicker on the way home. Sasha knew it was a childish belief in the safety of the Barricade, that once he was inside he was out of danger. But while it seemed quicker still, the sense of a weight being lifted from his shoulders didn’t come. Instead, the closer they drew to the gates the heavier his boots felt.

  Matti stepped into the cage first, up against the door with his gun fixed on their guest, who stopped a few metres short of the gates and obediently stripped off. It had to be at least minus ten degrees in the wall’s shadow, but the man showed no signs of being uncomfortable. He peeled back several heavy layers of leather and wool until he stood naked in front of them. Unease bloomed in Sasha’s gut. The man was a dark mocha colour all over and was built like a human tank, muscles rippling as he stood tall. He had long, black, heavy dreadlocks that hung half way down his back, tied back in a fat tail high on his crown. His brows were thick on a wide brow and were drawn low over equally dark eyes. He had a long, flat nose with flared nostrils that hovered perfectly over his wide mouth, still in a perpetual smirk. He was Islander.

  ‘Oh I think we’re being played so hard,’ Sasha hissed and Matti grunted. He had to be playing his own game of connect the dots, but he didn’t lower his weapon or hesitate, flagging the man into the cage. Sasha waited until he was in before following and closing the huge steel doors behind them, sealing them inside. He’d never wondered what it felt like to be a sardine before, and now he didn’t have to.

  As soon as Sasha had his weapon drawn up again, Matti opened the cage and left. Sasha waited until Matti was in position outside the cage, weapon on their guest before exiting and locking the cage behind him. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief when the man continued to just stand in the cage, watching them.

  ‘Talk.’

  ‘I don’t think that’s quite fair, do you?’ The man chuckled. ‘I’m completely naked and you’re toasty warm in your quarantine suits. I’d like to see the faces of the men I’m speaking to.’

  That was fair, weirdly. Sasha started taking off his suit and Matti soon followed his example. They put them carefully aside, aware of the man’s scrutiny. Sasha stood in front of him, only the cage between them while Matti dropped a blanket into the hatch. The man stepped over and took it out, his smile a touch more genuine as he draped it around his shoulders and pulled it closer, weirdly inhaling the scent on it.

  ‘Satisfied?’

  ‘For now,’ the man agreed. He was looking at them again, his gaze flicking between them, raking up and down, taking in details.

  ‘You are
different to what I expected,’ he admitted. ‘You have quite the reputation, Sergeant Stepanova.’

  ‘Really?’ He knew he was highly regarded by his peers, but he’d never stopped to consider what those south of the wall had to say about anything.

  ‘Yes. They compare you to a wolf. Always with your pack, stalking people and using tricks to get your way. They call you the devil.’

  ‘I think you mean Paraklov,’ Matti snickered at the disgruntled look on Sasha’s face.

  ‘No, you,’ the man shook his head, pointing to Sasha. ‘Yours is the name I hear the most. Always Stepanova and Dyogtin. I expected you to be old, like me. Like him.’

  ‘You don’t look that old,’ Sasha disagreed. The man had to be in his forties, at best guess.

  ‘By modern standards old is an adult.’ There was a lot of anguish in those words.

  ‘Well, then, I apologize. You’re ancient.’ It was disturbing, to earn a laugh for such a comment. More disturbing to realise he was relieved to earn it. He felt uncomfortable with the situation, and that was a bad sign. He needed to be in control.

  ‘I expected you to be cruel and unreasonable,’ the man shrugged. ‘Most Sergeants on the Barricade are.’

  ‘You have a lot of experience with us, then,’ Sasha reasoned, though really he had to agree. He was lucky in that the turnover for the Ukraine districts was relatively low, and those in charge of Eastern Ukraine had incredibly low casualty rates. Sasha knew that had a lot to do with the people in charge and he was grateful that he’d had the likes of Dyogtin and Kuznetsov to guide him when he first arrived. He was a good leader, but he knew that was because he followed the example of very good men. Other places were not so lucky.

  ‘I have travelled the wall for as long as you have lived, I would think,’ the man agreed sadly. Sasha recalculated and estimated the man was in his fifties. He didn’t look it.

  ‘Looking for a tunnel?’ Sasha queried, watching for any response but the man just looked weary and like he’d expected it.

  ‘Of what use would a tunnel be?’