《Lost One》 Prologue: Accident ¡°It is humiliating to remain with our hands folded while others write history.¡± Benito Mussolini Polish People''s Republic. Near GDR border. 14.12.2014 19:30 Once more¡­ we need to visit them once more. I know that this is our family, but it''s not our fault that they wanted to stay, furthermore, why should we risk our freedom to bring them money? Why my father decided to do this?... Because rest of our family wanted to help them? Then why THEY didn''t go through Berlin Wall to help them¡­ And now we were 30 minutes from our destination, our house, or what remains of it¡­ If there was still something left behind. We wanted to see what happened to it, and speaking the truth, we weren''t expecting much. ¡°Hey, wake up!¡± Dad said. ¡°Yea, I''m up, what do you want?¡± I replied, while stretching my arms. ¡°We will take a break, your mom needs to go to bathroom. You want to go too, or will you stay in a car?¡± He asked. ¡°Nah, I''m good.¡± I responded, yawning slightly. ¡°I need to take a break, can you change me? Mom doesn''t want to, I think she is accustomed to automatic gearbox too much.¡± He said while looking at his wife, giving her a teasing smile. ¡°It is much more complicated to drive without it¡­¡± Mom replied. ¡°Heh¡± Dad chuckled in response. We stopped by the nearest petrol station, small one, but there should be a toilet. At least we hoped there is. We waited for her, watching as snow falls on our car. I was sitting behind my father. Suddenly, door on the opposite side of me, was brutally opened. Before I could react, I got knocked out. Last thing I saw was my mom crying, with a revolver pointed at her head. I woke up with a massive headache. For a while I thought I was blind, but I could feel a cloth touching my face. I tried to take it off, but I have been stopped by someone gripping my hand hard. ¡°Don''t even think about it, I''ll make a nice hole in your mom''s head if you try doing something stupid!¡± It was a low, male voice. ¡°Please, we can give you everything!¡± My mom cried. Hearing her voice trembling from fear was heartbreaking. ¡°Just do what I say, and everything will be fine.¡± He replied. ¡°But, we will get ki...¡± My dad tried to say something. ¡°Shut up, and drive! I can kill you right now! I think you should memorize your last moments!¡± He shouts out. I didn''t even try to do anything, paralyzed by fear and headache. We rode a good few minutes. Our hijacker sat near me. Whenever I tried to move, I could feel cold gun barrel being pressed to my head, or at least I thought it was a gun barrel. ¡°We are close.¡± He said quietly. ¡°Faster! Drive faster!¡± Dad didn''t say anything, but I could feel our car accelerate. ¡°Ram the gate!¡± Hijacker shouted. ¡°We will get killed if¡­¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. My eardrums rang before I even realized he''d pulled the trigger. Right after that I went flying in the air and lost consciousness. When I regained my senses, I heard shouting, a lot of shouting. I could hear English, some words in Russian and German, but oddly nothing sounded like Polish. I could finally see, cloth covering my face must have been lost somewhere. But what I saw wasn''t anything pleasant to see. First thing I noticed was my hijacker. He was staring on me with his dead eyes. I wanted to shout but I couldn¡¯t, my throat refused. I was still in shock. I looked around. I saw my car, turned up on the roof. My parents were still in there, trying to unbuckle seat belts. I was lying near to a wall, on concrete floor. I got up, surprisingly without any pain, and went to help them. When my dad saw me, he responded with ear piercing shout: ¡°Denis! RUN! They will kill you! RUN!¡± I stood there motionless, trying to comprehend what he said. I saw guards running, with rifles in their hands. My brain froze, but my body took over without my mind. When I heard gunshots, I tried hiding behind a container. Those bullets, didn¡¯t fly near me. I refused to look at what was happened behind me. I finally hid myself, trying to calm my thoughts. Why? Why was this happening to me? WHY!? What did I do wrong?!... No¡­ it won¡¯t change anything. My¡­ My parents were dead¡­ They were in their prime. My dad just got promoted, mom finally could maintain decent conversation in English¡­ She was so cheerful¡­ NO! This is not a time to cry. ¡°Hey! We have another one here!¡± One of the soldiers shouted. There was only thing on my mind. RUN! Few bullets nearly hit me. I ran into a huge hangar full of armed vehicles and ammunition. I saw stairs near the end of the hangar. Soldiers behind me were shouting, but no bullets flew at me this time. They didn¡¯t want to hit anything vulnerable? When I was right next to them, I saw a guard coming up the stairs. Due to the momentum, I fell on him and we tumbled down the stairs. His gun, AK of some sort was in my reach. I grabbed it, but in the same moment, I felt a strong grip on my throat. I started to choke. He didn¡¯t leave me a choice. With big effort, I managed to hit him with a stock. Slightly dazed, he fell on the ground. In the next moment I had him at a gunpoint. I pulled the trigger but nothing happened. Safety was on! I quickly reached the safety lever and switched it off. ¡°Die, you Motherfucker!¡± DOES HE LOOK LIKE A BITCH? SAY WHAT ONE MORE TIME. I DARE YOU MOTHERFUCKER, I DOUBLE DARE YOU MOTHERFUCKER. I aimed at his head and once again pulled trigger. A loud bang of the firing rifle stunned me for a second. In the same time a loud alarm started to ring all around me. I¡­ I just killed him¡­ I just killed someone! Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!... I¡­ I need to move. Quick! I went down the stairs, trying to find a place to hide. I need to catch a breath. I''m not athletic at ALL. It¡¯s a miracle that I¡¯m still running. An adrenalin miracle... HA! An air vent! And even an opened one! Like in a Hollywood movie! I grabbed it and tossed it behind me, and dived straight into the darkness of the vents. A bad idea¡­ It was vertical! Falling down, I tried to grab anything my hands could reach. This fall wasn¡¯t long enough to do any damage. Landing was painful but bearable. I started to crawl slowly through vents, searching for a way out. Then I heard noises. Someone was speaking right under me. I tried to look who it was through a vent. ¡°Say what?! We have intruders? Right fucking now?! We can¡¯t stop the countdown! It¡¯s now or never!¡± Said one of them. He was wearing a white coat. Scientist if I had to guess. ¡°God fucking dammit! Guards! Secure the fucking perimeter! No one can go in or out! Do you FUCKING understand, you lazy cocksuckers!¡± Said a military looking guy. ¡°Professor, you need to delay the damn launch. Can you do it?¡± ¡°Um¡­ Yes¡­ I think I can.¡± Said the Professor. ¡°Hey! You! Come and help me!¡± A launch you say? Hmmm¡­ Maybe I can try to sneak out of this place while they were¡­ whatever they were doing. But how? I don¡¯t even¡­ Oh fuck! The vent is detaching! Oh for fucks sake! I fell down with grill on some machinery, my AK was left behind in the vents. That fall was freaking painful. ¡°Kill him¡± ¡°NO! You could destroy something important!¡± Well too late¡­ Several shots echoed in the room. Few nearly hit me, but one of them found its target. I got shot in my left arm. Now I have a freaking hole in my arm. Fuck! Luckily, bullet pushed me back and I fell behind those machines. In the same time, those bullets that missed me, hit something important. You could see the smoke and sparks coming out of destroyed machinery. ¡°I said, DO NOT shoot!¡± While trying to stand the pain, I stood up and tried sneak out of here before it will explode or something. My mind was racing. The only exit was near those guards... I can''t just rush out there. It would simply be a suicide. I leaned out from my cover to check what were they doing, but I couldn¡¯t hear them anymore. A loud explosion behind me. There''s no time to think about where should I go! If I stay here I will be doomed! I jumped out of my hiding place. I checked what''s around me. I saw that scientists were quickly typing something on keyboards and guards tried to extinguish flames. Did they think I died out there or are they that undisciplined to forget about me? Not that I''m complaining! Only place free of anyone or anything that could hurt me was, tube like, platform. I rushed to it, in hope of another exit. Then everything went fucking south. One more huge explosion. Guards were sent flying. Two shrapnel hit me in the same arm already shot. Horrified by what is happening around me I didn¡¯t even feel it. Suddenly, on the edge of the platform on which I stood glass appeared and started to rise, blocking everything from getting inside. Last thing I heard before it fully closed were cries of people being burned alive and smell of burning flesh, Then I lost consciousness once more. I was awakened by a strong, sharp pain. Lying on the floor I saw that there was no one in the room and the fire disappeared. Not even a single corpse remained. Only thing reminding that moment ago there were people burning here, was their scent and guns lying on ground. ¡°What the fucking fuck?¡± - I said confused. I got up and walked through the room, checking everything, listening to every sound. And I didn¡¯t hear anything, even the alarm stopped ringing. Complete silence. An utterly terrifying silence. I walked quietly through the halls, I went to the same stairs on which I previously killed a soldier from whom I took an AK¡­ I still don''t know what type of Kalashnikov was that. Or was that even a Kalashnikov? What the fuck I¡¯m thinking about? My parents are dead and I killed a man. And now I¡¯m wondering about guns? Seriously?! What type of sick bastard am I?! I finally reached the top of the stairs. Everything in the hangar was exactly as I last saw it. Of course, apart from the people trying to murder me. But then I looked at what was outside the hangar. There were fucking mountains around whole facility that with ease reached a height of 5 km. As long as I can remember, there were no goddamn Everest''s in western Poland! My jaw hit the floor and I''ve begun to shiver. ¡°Ha¡­ HAHAHAHAHA¡­ So... So I lost my parents, my family, and now.... now I even lost my WORLD?! What type of sick joke is that?! - I cried out and immediately after, started to cry like I never did before.
Chapter 1: Conscript "Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory." George S. Patton Jr. Liten village. Verten Kingdom. 5 chils from Kingdom of Bren. 13th of Balandi, 966th Primus year. I¡¯m¡­ I was a scribe at the court. Now I¡¯m a recruit, forcibly conscripted into the army. Our king, Karol The Third, has been brutally assassinated. Unfortunately he had no offspring. Now monarchs from our kingdom are trying to seize the throne, while the King of Bren, Edmund Per, his brother-in-law, is marching with his armies at our capital. Fate of this country is sealed, it will cease to exist. My fate is pretty much the same, without proper training, with my rusty armament which for sure was done by a goblin blacksmith, I will definitely die in upcoming battle. And it¡¯s not like I even care about this country anymore. I would love to live somewhere else, furthermore I have family here, that I need to take care off. Foster family to be precise, but we love each other more than your typical family. I was assigned to a team commanded to face the vanguard of Bran¡¯s army. Pff, our commander has a good sense of humor... they will slaughter us when we meet them¡­ there will be no battle¡­ we will just delay them, kill one peasant or something like that. This just shows how arrogant local monarchs are. They think they are unstoppable. Fools! ¡°Stop reflecting about how small is your dick! Move! Move! Move!¡± Said one of officers. So I moved on, trying to catch up with my squad. ¡°Where the fuck were you?! You want to die now, even before the battle? HAH, you can only dream about it! You will stay with us and die like a real man!¡± A bald soldier carrying a warhammer said. Probably, he purposely doesn¡¯t wear any headgear, just to show his bald head. If someone wouldn¡¯t know how a brute looks like, I would show him this guy. He looks exactly like a one, and behaves like one too. When we were resupplying in this village I even saw him raping a young girl and killing her father, who had tried to stop him. I don¡¯t want to imagine how she felt when her father¡¯s head was lying next to her while his murderer was trying to satisfy himself with her body. Her corpse has been found few hours later in the river.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Fuck off! I don''t want to have anything in common with something like you!¡± I yelled at him, giving myself to emotions. ¡°OH, little pussy wants to bite his papa. Come to me, you little cocksucker, Papa want¡¯s to taste your fuckhole!¡± He yelled as I started to back off. ¡°Get back in the line! Move your fat asses ladies!¡± Commander Adam Alfson, or as they called him ¡°Twat¡±, yelled, organizing whole squad once again. This time for good. We were marching again. Tiveden Woods were only a chil away. Dust was rising in the distance. Our scouts have returned, I presumed. And their haste wasn¡¯t a good sign. ¡°Everyone, take a quick break.¡± Alfson informed us, when he passed near us. There was someone I knew among those scouts. A girl, If I remember correctly her name is Enola. She was tall and had a long blond hair falling on her back. Her lightly tanned face composed perfectly with her hair. I owe her so much. When our king had fallen, riots broke out in our capital. My family lived in Lund district, where riots had begun. When I was in the palace, saving my own life, she protected my family, risking her own life for them. I¡¯m in debt, but now I know I won¡¯t be able to repay it. But why she was gagged? What did she do? ¡°Get on your knees, you goddamn traitor!¡± The officer said, pushing her forward. She stumbled and fell on the ground ¡°We will end your miserable life here and now. Who wants to do the honors?¡± He asked us, lifting her brutally by her hair. ¡°Let me do it!¡± Baldhead shouted eagerly. ¡°I would love to end this bitch¡¯s life.¡± ¡°Such a readiness! I¡¯m really pleased.¡± He said while kicking her. She fell down once more. Tears were forming in her eyes. ¡°She is not a traitor!¡± I yelled at top of my lungs. ¡°She saved lives of my whole family. I do not believe that someone so righteous as her could be a traitor!¡± ¡°She tried to desert. How such behavior is not treacherous?¡± One of the scouts said calmly. ¡°If you conscripted us with force and sent to die, why would we want to fight for you¡­¡± I mumbled under my nose. ¡°What the fuck did you say!? Shouted the same officer that was near her. ¡°Bring him here! He will struck this bitch down.¡± I stood there for a brief moment, shocked by what he said. I¡¯ve never killed anyone in my life, and my first victim is going to be a person that saved my family? They dragged me near her and pulled my sword from sheath, handing it to me. My hands were shaking. ¡°I¡­ I won¡¯t¡­ I won''t do it.¡± My whole body was shaking. ¡°So you say¡­ Hmm, what should we do with you?... How about we burn you both alive? It should be sufficient enough for our little lover and his traitorous mistress.¡± When he finished speaking, at the exact same moment, his hand had launched forward, disarming me. His subordinates then stunned me. When I regained my senses I was tied down to a sacrificial pole, my mouth was gagged and hands were tied behind my back. When I tried to look up, I met frightened gaze of Enola, she was also tied to a sacrificial pole. Her tanned skin paled significantly. Her expression revealed completely how scared she was. Soldiers around were watching us with a sadistic grin on their faces, few of them were placing dry stalks under our feet. Shivers went down my spine. I wanted to puke, my mouth was still stuffed with some cloth. I started to sweat. My heart was beating like crazy. Then someone hit my left arm. The pain was enormous. I couldn¡¯t feel it anymore, it went completely numb! ¡°Did you miss me, you little fucker?¡± Baldhead said, showing up before my eyes. ¡°I will ask if they can give me your crispy corpse, I would want to¡­¡± ¡°Alarm! Alarm! Enemy is approaching!¡± Chapter 2: Reconnaissance "A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week." George S. Patton Jr. Location: Unknown. Date: Unknown. 12:00am. First, I cried. Constantly, nonstop. I couldn¡¯t control my emotions. I tried to do something, get myself together. But I couldn¡¯t do that. I was terrified, felt defeated. I couldn¡¯t comprehend how it all happened. So fast, so drastically, so¡­ unpredictably. I lied there, in the pool of my own tears for hours. My mind shut. I was beginning to think how suicide would be a solution to everything. The easy, yet cowardly way to end this life. I didn¡¯t care anymore. Why should I? There wasn¡¯t anything for me to live anymore. Even revenge was out of question now. And EVEN IF there was any way for me to come back, who was to blame? Soldiers? They thought we were the intruders. Hijacker? He died first¡­ Lost in my thoughts, a loud howl threw me back into the living world. Wolves? I don¡¯t know. Pretty much everyone had heard a howl in documentaries or movies. But how many heard it in real life? I wasn¡¯t one of them. When I heard it I knew there is something dangerous out there, something hunting me. My heart started to beat faster and faster. I heard the howl once more. I got up quickly and started running to the hangar. While closing the distance to it, I tried to spot these animals. And I saw them. In the distance, 3 wolf like creatures emerged from the tree line. Wargs? Direwolves? Whatever these things were, they were enormous and fast. When I reached the first APC¡¯s (Armored Personnel Carrier) hid in the hangar, these wolves were at most 80 m from me. I knew that I won¡¯t reach the stairs in time and trying to hide in vehicles was also a futile effort. I didn¡¯t know how to open their hatches, and before I would figure it out, these jaws would rip me apart. It was pure luck that I found a rifle lying near a APC tire. It looked like one of those held by soldiers, whose remains laid all around. In a rush I picked up the gun and nearly dropped it because my left arm was aching as hell. I crawled on the APC. I aimed at the hangar entrance, then I saw them. They were right next to me! I pressed the trigger when my iron sight lined up with the nearest beast. My eardrums rang. First round hit its leg, next two followed the first one making clean holes in the beast head. By the time I heard the shells bounce off the floor, first wolf was lying on the ground. Others scattered around, hiding behind vehicles. I double tapped the lying one, just to be sure. For a few seconds there was nothing but silence. I knew they were somewhere there, sneaking up on me. I could hear they growl. For a second I saw a black fur behind the nearest APC, but it was enough for me to prepare for their attack. Two of them leaped at me simultaneously, one from the front, other one from my left. I started shooting at the front one, whilst leaning forward. My rounds penetrated his abdomen killing him instantly. Its corpse pushed me off the APC. I landed on my back, wolf¡¯s body near me. I prayed that I still have some bullets left in the magazine, not having time to check it. The last beast wasted no time, jumping from behind the corpse. I tried to roll forward, and thanks to that, it missed me. Giving no time to the beast I fired until I heard the click, indicating that the magazine is empty. I survived¡­ I survived once again. Hah¡­ Looks like something wants me to live. Few minutes ago I wanted to kill myself. No! How could I even think about such a thing. My parents for sure would want me to live. They despised those who committed suicide. I need to get myself together. I have to find food and shelter, only then maybe explore this land. So the best thing I can do right now is to search the facility. Two days had passed. I can say two things about this facility. Firstly: It''s big. Like really BIG. Freaking huge! 4 big hangars full of aircraft. 5 smaller hangars with APC¡¯s, IFV¡¯s (Infantry Fighting Vehicle) and tanks in them. 6 garage like structures with MRAP¡¯s (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) and IMV¡¯s (Infantry Mobility Vehicles). 2 runways and dozens of helipads. It''s a whole military base! And there also is the main building. You could compare it to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center. But that''s not the whole truth. I don''t think NASA has ever had any need to build underground. But those who had commissioned the construction of this facility wanted to make it big. I think the underground part of it is 3, maybe 4 times bigger than what¡¯s on the surface. You could arm a whole army in here! Secondly: It is highly advanced, nearly sci-fi. Floors of those hangars and garage like structures were only lifts, elevators for vehicles. Near the entrance, there was a console allowing you to do almost everything, from ordering a vehicle to hiding the whole hangar. I still don¡¯t quite get how does it all work. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if there was an AI hidden somewhere in the lower layers of this facility. But that''s not all. Those things didn¡¯t even surprise me that much. No¡­ Something else was more surprising. Why there was NATO and Warsaw pact armaments in the same place?! In last years there wasn¡¯t any major accidents but also any mutual understandings were futile. Yea, the cold war is over but I wouldn¡¯t call those international relationships friendly. Either they want to end this conflict, or there is something bigger going in the world, at a scale larger than I can think of. Either way I stepped in a big pile of shit. I¡¯m nearly happy that I¡¯m not in my world anymore. I would be a criminal, chased by all countries in the world. Now at least my family, or more likely what remains from it, will be safe. There¡¯s kitchen and canteen, containing enough food and water for me to live at least 300 years here. Electricity comes from the solar panels and the wind turbines placed around the whole base, or at least I think it comes from them. Hell, maybe there¡¯s hidden nuclear reactor somewhere under my feet. For now it¡¯s enough for me to know that everything works. I thought that I should map what¡¯s around my base, find water, maybe civilization if there¡¯s any. I went to one of those console¡¯s and ordered an MRAP, the Oshkosh M-ATV to be precise. I thought about something heavier, maybe I would have more firepower but: 1. I wanted to be fast. 2. I didn¡¯t know how to drive and operate them. So no tank¡¯s and IFV¡¯s for now. I drove near the main building and started to pack things that I prepared before. I put box of MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) and 45 liters of water in three 15 L tanks first. Then my weapons. M110 with Leupold mark 4 6.5-20x50mm scope and suppressor, 10 mags, 20 bullets per mag. M249 Para with ACOG and 3 belts, 200 bullets per belt. M136 launcher for small, packed explosion and SMAW if things turned really bad. I carry M-21A with mounted picatinny rail for Su 230 scope and 8 mags on me, 7 left in car. I wear m10 ttsko uniform, 6B23 vest, 6B7-M1 headgear and USMC Molle backpack. All of them have forest camouflage. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. When I packed everything, I got into the MRAP. Tossing my rifle in front of the front passenger seat, I closed the door. I started the engine, and slowly drove to east, where mountain chain surrounding my base ended. 3 hours later I drove mostly through flat terrain with gentle slopes covered in light rumble and occasionally grass. I encountered some animals, but they looked pretty much like on earth. If anything in them was different, then it was too small change to notice from a car. Nothing, that would be like those monsters that attacked me. I¡¯m not a biologist but flora also looked decently enough, like my old world. I was driving near the edge of a cliff. The view was breathtaking. I especially stopped here to admire the scenery. I could see what was 20 km from here, thanks to clear sky. And I confirmed something. There are humans here! Or at least sentient creatures. There are few small settlements, and a single big one, far from the base. You also could see some type of roads, winding through forests and fields. One of those roads was ending at the base of the cliff. I thought I would make my next stop there but something caught my eye. Around 4 km away from me, to the south a big cloud of dust was ascending to the sky. I couldn¡¯t see exactly what was going out there, forest between this place and me was blocking the view. I packed myself and drove there. When I finally reached the path, it surprised me how it looked like. It was a road, a stone road, pretty much like Roman roads, but it was a little more random, it resembled a Swiss cheese. It looked like this due to its degradation perhaps? I¡¯ll have to check other roads to make an opinion. Thanks to that my ride was full of ups and downs. Not a pleasant experience if you ask me. I parked the car near the end of a forest and camouflaged it as best as I could. I could hear shouting in the distance. Leaving behind few leads for myself, in case I forgot where I left my vehicle, I once more ensured that I have everything that I need. Switching the safety off, I started to go in the direction of the noise. When I got closer, I finally understood why the dust cloud appeared and why I heard those shouts. Looks like I stumbled upon a battle. Trying to stay hidden, I observed the battlefield. Thanks to that I can confirm two things. Firstly, they are humans, or at least resemble humans. Secondly, I could be wrong but I think their level of technology is around our late medieval era, maybe slightly renaissance, but for sure there are none gunpowder based weapons used here. Mostly swords and halberds. Then I saw something disturbing. For a moment I saw two people tied to a pole, like some type of sacrifice. Man and women in their early 20¡¯s at best. I saw them struggling to get out of there, their effort was futile. What did they do? What was the purpose of this? Some type of religious ritual? I don¡¯t know. I tried to find any clues in my proximity. But not finding anything, I looked at them once again. They were gone, or to be exact, the pole was nowhere to be found. Someone destroyed it or what? I spotted them a moment after. They were running away from the battlefield, the girl supporting the man. Was he injured? But was a problem. They were headed in my direction. I need to hide myself, I mean no harm to them but how can they know that? So I started to look for a good hiding place. By the time I found a suitable place, they were at the line of the forest. Leaning down I waited for them to pass me and followed after them secretly. 10 minutes later she finally got tired and put him near a stone. I have to give her that she really gave all she got. She nearly collapsed when she stopped. I was waiting, trying to find a good time to approach them. I wanted to help them, and in exchange they could provide me with information. Now I could perfectly see how they looked like. She was tall, and had dirt mixed in her blonde hair. Her tanned skin and muscles pointed out that she worked as a soldier or a mercenary. On the other side the guy was short, even shorter than me. His short black hair and pale skin enhanced how pathetic his look was compared to her. He doesn¡¯t look like a soldier to me. Is he someone else? Then why is he here? Are recruiters here more desperate? ¡°Commou du is?¡± She said. I have never heard a language like that before. It sounds like English with a something from French? I can¡¯t exactly say. Her breath started to calm down. ¡°... Zis.¡± He replied with a struggle. Why didn¡¯t I think about a language barrier? It¡¯s not like people would speak polish or English in another universe ¡­ But it doesn¡¯t change what I wanted to do, it just makes it more difficult. So with that in mind I started to get up. However, I saw someone approaching them at a fast pace. It was a huge, bald soldier, armed with a big war hammer. He looked like he escaped from a psychiatric wing. Their friend or their foe? I waited, whilst in hiding, to see how things will play out. When he reached them the girl wanted to get up, but he just pushed her back. The soldier started to grin when he watched how the boy wanted to get away from him crawling. I think it''s enough to know where this is going. Calming my breath I aimed at the soldier¡¯s head, when he started to rise his weapon over his head. Loud sound of my gun echoed in the forest. The soldier, now with a hole in the back of his head, started to lean forward and collapsed without any emotions in front of his prey. Next person murdered by me, huh? I can¡¯t say I¡¯m good with this, but I feel like it was a necessity. I can¡¯t change what I just did. Trying get myself out of this way of thinking I glanced at people whom I had just saved. They don¡¯t know what happened. They just lie there, looking at the corpse of their would-be killer. Their pupils dilated, mouths wide open. I started to walk, slowly and calmly. My M-21 on the back, was hanging on a sling. I was 10 meters from them when they finally noticed me. The girl got up immediately and reached for the war hammer. She tried to pick it up but she couldn¡¯t, either because she was too weak or just the weapon was too heavy. I raised my hands in the air and stopped, praying it will mean for them the same thing it means for me. They looked at me, their faces showing how weak and tired were they. ¡°Voule vad? Vous ?r?¡± She said, her lips were dry from dehydration and her voice was tense. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you said, but I don¡¯t want to hurt you¡± I said, still standing there, not willing to move. ¡°Du talar de notre?¡± She replied to me, this time calmly. ¡°Look, I don¡¯t know what you are saying but I want to help.¡± I said to her, while reaching for my backpack. I put my backpack on the grass, searching for my water bottle. I could see she was worried but she remained there, watching everything I did. I finally found it. I opened it and drank from it a little. I held the water bottle and handed it to her. She stood there, glancing at me. I wanted to say something, maybe it would help ease the tension. But she moved before I could say anything. She approached me slowly. She stopped 3 meters from me, our eyes met each other. ¡°Souhai je at jag.¡± She said while taking my canteen. She took a step back and took a small gulp from it, likely to confirm if it was water. When she was sure of it, she assisted the man with drinking. While they were busy with each other, I took out two MRE¡¯s from my backpack. I heated them, following the instructions. Luckily, I carried another water bottle with me. When they were done drinking, my MRE¡¯s were ready to eat. I slowly walked up to them and handed them MRE¡¯s and spoon to eat with. I opened them beforehand. This time it was easier for them to take something from me. I started to eat my MRE to encourage them to do the same, to convince them I didn''t give them anything poisonous. They didn¡¯t hesitate to dig in. MRE doesn¡¯t taste good, but it¡¯s not that bad as you could imagine. And considering how easy it is to prepare and how compact it is, it¡¯s definitely a good thing to carry along. When we had finished our meal, we just rested there. I could see they were curious about MRE¡¯s, but language barrier prevented them from asking. They just took a closer look on they own. I thought about what I should do now. The guy needs medical attention, and the girl isn¡¯t in better condition either. I could take them to my base, I saw a medical center there, but I know nothing about medicine. And I don¡¯t want to try my luck on a living being. So my only choice was to escort them to a village or a city, to a place where someone will take care of them. Gathering information can wait for now, saving theirs lives take the priority. And there¡¯s no way I can gather any knowledge without at least a superficial understanding of their language. Wondering about this I saw the girl getting up and approaching me. ¡°Vous remerci av hj?rt. Ir deman beau, myk hi?lp!¡± She said, bowing before me. I was slightly confused but guessed she thanks me for help. And then she started to gesture. She pointed at me and then at the young man, moving the hand like she wanted to lift something. She wants me to help him walk? She pointed at the forest. I looked at my compass, she wants us to move north. ¡°Ok, I think I get.¡± I got up and walked up to him. ¡°Hey, grab my hand. I will help you get up.¡± I said stretching my hand to him. He grabbed it and with struggle got up. He wrapped his hand around my neck, and used me as his support, he was a lame after all. We started to move through the forest, slowly but steadily. It wasn¡¯t long until we stumbled upon a road. It was fairly similar to the road that I drove on before, but this one was in much better condition. We didn¡¯t talk much, they just exchanged some words with each other. I was quiet, trying to understand what they were saying by listening their tone and modulation. I hope they know where they are going. ¡°Onstans!¡± She said pointing ahead. I raised my head to look where she pointed. And then I saw it. A majestic temple built-in the cliff, like a tomb. Its white color contrasted with grayish color of the stone. I slowly moved forward whilst gazing at it.