After stuffing themselves until they could hardly move, it was time to move on.
“That was good. I feel much better now,” Matryona said, pushing herself up off the floor where they had eaten.
“I agree. I feel better too. It is getting dark fast now. We should start out.”
“Do we have to? I mean, is there a big rush? You already know what we are going to find. It will ...Oh, I am sorry. I forgot that your wife and children are in Moscow. Please forgive me. Let’s go on,” she said touching his arm gently.
“It is all right. I have already prepared myself for what we will find. I suspect that they will have perished like everyone else. Look around this place. No one is here and we haven’t seen one single person all day. Matryona, I fear it will be the same no matter where we go with few exceptions,” Yegor told her.
“But it was still insensitive of me not to think about your feelings.”
“It is done. Over. We move on. I am tired too. Maybe it is best if we stay some place around here for the night. We can eat in the morning and pack some food for the trip. Siphoning gas at night is not exactly what I want to do anyway.”
“If you are absolutely sure. I can sleep in the car. I can even spell you if you like.”
“No, your idea is a better one. We will find a place to stay and start fresh in the morning.”
They walked out of the store and down the street and found a small hotel.
“How about this? I’m pretty sure they will have plenty of rooms available.”
“I should think so. I would prefer one that is clean and didn’t have any of that green stuff on the bed.”
“Yes, that would be preferable. I’ll speak to the management about that,” he said, smiling.
The sun was setting swiftly and Yegor found an oil lamp and lit it. He searched the rooms, Matryona not letting him get out of her sight.
“How about this one? It has a nice big bed and looks unused. You can have this one and I’ll find one close by.”
“No. I don’t want to be alone. It is too strange. Yegor, I hate to admit it but I am frightened,” she said.
“I will leave the light with you and take the room next door. They connect, see? You can even leave the door open if it will make you feel safer,” he said.
“I am going to have to get tougher am I not? It is not going to get any better as you said earlier.”
“It will be fine. I think you have done very well under the circumstances. I will be right there,” he said, pointing to the bed in the next room, “If you get frightened just yell. It will be all right, I promise,” he said trying to reassure her.
In fact he wasn’t sure of anything but this was not the time to say it. He went into the next room and climbed into bed. What in the world would they do next? It was almost two thousand miles to Yamantau. Anything could happen along the way. If he was really smart he would forget about Moscow and save having to backtrack all that way but he had to be certain about his family. He felt guilty for accepting their demise so calmly. He could have done nothing to protect them even if he had been in Moscow. It was all a matter of luck. If Matryona hadn’t insisted on seeing the silo they would have decomposed like all the others. It was nothing more than pure luck.
He lay there thinking about all of the possible scenarios that could have caused such a catastrophic event. Nothing he could think of could have done this much damage. It struck him that it may be even more widespread than just Russia. He tried to fall asleep but something was not right.
“Yegor, are you asleep?”
“No, not yet.”
“Why is there no sound? Nothing at all?”
“Ah, that is it. I was just thinking that something was missing. It is the lack of sound. No noise of any kind. I guess that makes it seem even more strange.”
“Do you think it killed every living thing?”
“I do not know but it is a real possibility,” he admitted.
“I don’t like having no noise. It is spooky,” she said.
“If I can fall asleep, you will have more than enough. I have been told that I snore.”
“That would be a welcome sound. Go to sleep soon,” she said and giggled.
~~
They ate quickly the next morning and Matryona packed bread, syr and frookty while Yegor put gas in the car. She also added a bottle of wine in with the cheese and fruit. She considered vodka but she really didn’t like to drink it straight out of a bottle.
They were on the road, such as it was, by 8:00 A.M. Yegor was still tired. He had slept very restlessly during the night and woke up several times.
“How did you sleep?” he asked her as they were driving along.
“Fine after a while. You do not snore very loudly. I was expecting much more.”
“Glad to have been of service,” he said and smiled. He was amazed at how she could look so fresh and alive considering all that had happened.
They drove along and talked about what it was like growing up in the towns they were born in. Yegor had come from a small village outside of Kiev. His father had been a mechanic and he always thought he would do the same. It all changed when he took a state aptitude test and suddenly he found himself being directed toward a military career.
With the cold war at its height he soon found himself in the intercontinental retaliation forces. He was considered one of the rising stars until it became apparent that his tactical abilities were matched by his bluntness. It led to his eventual downfall from meteoric rise to just another Major General. He found it easy to talk to Matryona because she never made a judgment. She just listened intently.
“So you see, I was going no place fast, as they say.”
“Tell me about that night,” she said.
“Ah, I was wondering when you would ask about that. After all, I did shoot your husband and send him off to a rather unpleasant place. I know you must think I am a terrible person. I guess you could even say I was responsible for his death,” Yegor said.
“I will say this about you Yegor, you are blunt,” she said and laughed, “Why did you shoot him?”
“I was enraged by what I saw from the moment I got off the plane. Protocol demanded that he be there to greet the arriving replacement officer. I suppose I felt snubbed. After all I did outrank him and that was an affront as well. I could live with that but when he wasn’t at the base and I saw the condition it was in, well, I guess I became a little upset.”
“If you shoot people when you are a little upset, I don’t think I want to see you really angry,” she said.
“When I found out why he wasn’t there, I became angry and then when he just strolled in still putting on his uniform I decided everyone in the room needed to know what I was all about. I shot him. I knew it wasn’t going to be a big deal. I am a very good shot. It was a lesson to the others,” Yegor said.
“Where did he say he was?” she asked.
“At an important meeting.”
“Yes. I know all about his important meetings. He shamed me in front of everyone. He could not even have the decency to be discrete,” she said bitterly.
“Let us talk of something else, shall we?”
“Let’s eat instead,” she said.
Yegor pulled the car over to the side of the road and they spread out a blanket that Matryona had put in the car when they stopped for the night.
“Ah..a feast. Bread, cheese, fruit and wine. This is wonderful,” Yegor said looking at the food she had brought.
“Not too much wine. We still have to drive you know.”
“Yes. Just one glass,” Yegor said, pouring the wine into the two glasses she had also packed from the hotel.
“What about you? Where are you from?”
“Poltava.”
“The Ukraine. Yes I know of it. I passed through there once. I was traveling by train and walked from the station to the October Park and Savior Church. That is where Peter the Great celebrated his victory over the Swedish I think. There was
a large cross there I seem to remember.”
“Yes, the Exaltation of the Cross. It is breathtaking. I still go there when I get back occasionally,” she said.
“Cossack country,” Yegor said.
“What do you expect in Russia?” she said laughing and finishing off her glass of wine.
“Maybe just one more glass,” she said and refilled it again.
“Why not? It is a beautiful day and we will get there when we get there,” Yegor said.
Yegor made sure not to drink as much as Matryona. He still had to drive even if she fell asleep. It was well after 2:00 P.M. when they packed everything back in the car and started off again.
They had driven only a few miles when she was fast asleep, her head resting on the back of the seat. When Yegor had to steer around a car, her head fell over on his shoulder. He decided to leave it there. Yegor drove until it was almost dark before he stopped the car.
“What?” Matryona said, waking up startled.
“It’s alright. It is getting dark and I need to go relieve myself. We need gas again as well.”
“God, how long have I been asleep?’
“Ever since we got in the car,” he told her.
“Did I snore?”
“Like a pig,” he said and laughed.
She hit him on the arm.
“This is no time to be honest you big lug. No wonder they booted your butt out of Moscow,” she said.
“Touché,” Yegor said.
“Anyway, I do not snore,” she said as she got out of the car.
“I am starved.”
“Me too. I could eat a horse,” she said.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“Where are we anyway?”
“Lytkarino. There is a restaurant and bar over there,” he said pointing across the square.
“First order of business is to use the bathroom and then we eat,” she said.
They walked over to the small restaurant and she went to the bathroom while Yegor scrounged around and found some potatoes and eggs. The stove used propane gas so lighting it was no problem.
“Eggs and potatoes all right?” he asked when she came out of the bathroom.
“Wonderful,” she said, “Are you actually going to cook?”
“Why not?”
“You cook and I’ll find some wine,” she said.
~~
They sat back in their chairs, content after consuming Yegor’s cooking.
“That was excellent. My compliments to the chef,” she said.
“Not only that but we have sladkoye,” Yegor said.
“What kind of dessert?”
“Cake. Look what I found in the cooler,” he said and presented a cake several layers high and topped with fruit.
“This is too much. You really know how to spoil a woman,” she said and then stopped.
“It’s okay. I didn’t take it like that. I know how you meant it.”
“Thank you. Anyway, I want dessert,” she said, happy again.
Yegor cut a large slice and gave it to her with a fork.
“I can’t eat all of that,” she protested.
“We will see,” was all he said.
She finished it all and the rest he left on his plate. How does she do it, he wondered? She can eat more than me and still has the figure of a young girl. It didn’t seem fair somehow. All he had to do was think about food and his weight would go up.
They returned to the car and drove on.
~~
“This it too bizarre,” Matryona said as she stood by the car looking at Krasnaya Ploschad, Russia’s famous ‘Red Square’. Across the large open spans of cobblestones was the Kremlin. The deafening silence and total emptiness was mesmerizing and strange. Never in her life had she seen the entire area void of all people. Even in the early morning hours, people were always about.
“Kind of eerie isn’t it?”
“More like frightening. Have you ever been here when it was totally without people?”
“Never. Even in the worst weather, someone is around. I guess we should at least check inside to be sure,” Yegor said.
“Do we have to?”
“You can stay in the car, I’ll go check.”
“Not on your life. You are not leaving me here alone. I’ll go with you. Just the sight of the cars and busses with no one in them is enough to give me shivers up my spine,” she replied.
“We won’t take long, just a quick look around.”
As anticipated, they found nothing. Not a living soul.
“Can we get out of here now?” Matryona asked as her heels clattered on the marble floor.
“Absolutely. We are going to find nothing in this city,” he said.
As they started back to the car Matryona said, “Will you come with me to the GUM? I don’t want to stay dressed in these same clothes.”
“We can certainly do that. I could stand a change also.”
They walked across the square and into the huge GUM department store. Much like a shopping mall, it was unlit so they were totally taken by surprise when a man suddenly appeared in front of them.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
“I have a better question. Who are you?” Yegor asked.
“What do you want here?”
“I will tell you this just once. I am a Major General in the USSR Armed Forces. I want to know who you are and why you are here. Perhaps more importantly, how you happened to survive.”
“My name is Mikil Stolivich. I am here because everything I need is here. We are all here because we do not have to go out for food or shelter.”
“We?”
“Twelve of us.”
“Twelve? Where were you when this happened?”
“In Kaluga.”
“Yes, yes. Where were you physically?”
“In Kaluga.”
Yegor sighed, “I mean were you in a house? Barn? Perhaps a factory?”
"In a tunnel. We were doing construction work when we were knocked to the ground. Some say they saw a flash of very bright light like the sun. I did not see it however. I was walking down the center of the tunnel. I thought an explosion may have taken place.”
“A tunnel? What kind of tunnel is in Kaluga? I have been to Kaluga many times and know of no tunnels in that area,” Matryona said.
“Then you have not been there recently. We are building a tunnel under the Oka River. The bridges are in a sorry state and it was determined that a tunnel would be more efficient and require less cost in the long run. I do not really care as long as I have a job,” he said.
“Where are the others?” Yegor asked.
“Hiding. They were afraid. We have no knowledge of who did this thing.”
“I can certainly understand that,” Matryona said.
“General, how did you survive? Were you in a tunnel also?
“I happened to be in an underground bunker at the time,” Yegor said.
The man looked at the General and back at Matryona and smiled slightly. He didn’t ask how she survived.
“We are not here to disturb you. I think that you will soon find others joining you here. How did you get here so fast?” Yegor asked.
“The old rail line. We had handcarts. We used them in the tunnel to haul things in and out from time to time. We simply put them on the track and pumped our way here. I will tell you, it is no fun trying to come this far by using just your arms.”
“No, I would imagine not. We need to get some clothes and food and then we will be on our way.”
“You are leaving? Where will you go?”
“I need to check on some things in various places. Now, we really must be going. We will get what we need and be on our way.”
“Here,” the man said, handing them each a flashlight.
“It isn’t much but it will help some. Do you know your way around?”
“Not at all,” Yegor answered.
“Some,” Matryona replied.
“Nina
,” he shouted and in a few moments a frail, thin woman appeared out of the darkness.
“Nina, would you show the General’s lady where the women’s clothes are.”
“Of course,” she replied and motioned for Matryona to follow her. She was hesitant at first but Yegor shook his head and she followed the woman into the darkness.
“I will show you where the men’s clothes are. They have an excellent selection of fishing goods and camping equipment as well.”
“Good. That may come in handy. I did not think of that.”
“Come, I will show you.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
RUSSIA
It was nearly two hours later when Matryona and Yegor were finished and had the car loaded. She had changed into jeans and a sweater.
“Those are American jeans,” Yegor noted.
“Yes. They certainly fit better than the ones made in this country,” she said.
“How unpatriotic,” he said laughing.
“A woman does not put patriotism before looking nice,” she shot back.
“How did you get them?”
“The woman took me into the back of the store. They have all kinds of American goods. I guess they have them for special customers.”
“They are running a very big risk.”
“I doubt it. She showed me some of the names that the clothes were being held for. Most are over at the Kremlin or they are for their wives.”
“Ah yes. That should come as no surprise. I did expect you to have more clothes with you,” Yegor said.
“Why? Is there a dance coming up soon that I don’t know about?”
“Very funny. I just thought...”
“Yes that all women want to have lots of clothes. I got what I thought was important. I couldn’t see dragging a lot of useless things along and besides if I did then you would have said something derogatory about it,” she replied.
“Okay, you win. I just meant that we still have a little more room if you wanted to get anything else. The heavy coat was a good idea. I am sure we will need that where we are going.”
“I know. Your great coat in the trunk is what reminded me. Tell me, why the tent and camping gear?”
“There are stretches where there are no towns for hundreds of miles. I thought we should have a backup system if we get stuck someplace.”
THE BEGINNING Book Two (THE EVENT) Page 13