Taking Lives

Chapter 2. Baptism by Fire (4)

The scouts looked exhausted, dirty, and probably hungry, but their eyes shone with pride at the mission they'd accomplished and the joy of returning home. Behind them trudged four men and a woman, likely villagers who'd volunteered to join the new gang. One of them seemed familiar to Andrey; he took a closer look at the face, poorly concealed by the hood of an old cloak, while the gray eyes from beneath the hood peered intently at him. The exchange of glances lasted for a few seconds, and then the cloaked man strode decisively toward him.

"You f*****g son of a b***h!" he yelled, throwing his fists at Andrey. "I begged you, you i***t, not to shoot! I begged you, damn it! We could both have died! You f*****g i***t!"

The people around stared in bewilderment at the strange man in the cloak who was trying to punch Andrei in the face, but he deftly dodged his clumsy attempts. Perhaps many would have rushed to Andrei's aid, if not for the strange, blissful i***t's expression frozen on his face, making those around him even more perplexed by the scene.

"Arrgh!" the man in the cloak growled, throwing back his hood, revealing a shock of unwashed blond hair, and tears streaming from his eyes. "You're alive, you bastard, damn it! I hate you!"

He stopped flapping his arms and reached out to hug Andrey. It turned out to be Igor, his brother. Despite all the misfortunes, they had both escaped the clutches of the "wolves" alive and, what's more, had been reunited, and that was no small feat.

After a few seconds of hugging, Igor finally managed to land a punch on Andrey's cheekbone. He recoiled and looked at his brother in shock.

"And you're still an asshole," Igor justified his actions. "Never, do you hear me? Never risk my life again! Just because you, you i***t, don't care about me, doesn't mean I'm just as much of an idiot."

At first, Andrei wanted to hit his brother back, but quickly changed his mind and hugged him again instead. He couldn't believe it was really him, that he was alive, that they were together again.

“I thought you were already in the next world,” Andrey said, hugging his brother tightly.

“You almost sent me there,” Igor answered sadly.

They took a step away from each other to get a better look, still not believing their eyes.

- Stop whining, we're alive! Instead, tell me how you ended up here.

The scouts left almost immediately. The surrounding crowd also began to disperse, having seen their fill of the brothers' meeting and regretfully realizing that the expected fight would not take place after all. Only a few onlookers remained, eager to hear Igor's story.

"He came here on foot, like. With these," Igor said, pointing to a worn-out boot with torn, knotted laces.

"That trinity..." He looked around, searching for the scouts. "Oh, where are they? Oh, never mind. Anyway, I ran into them in Ogark. They were quietly trying to persuade the village elder to join the new gang, but, damn it, they weren't revealing any details. They only said that if anyone didn't want to fight, people of peaceful professions were always welcome. I overheard them, thought about it, and decided to take a chance—what was there to lose? Sit in Ogark or somewhere else and wait for those bastard "wolves" to come after me again? Well, no, I figured, April Fool's Day is over, I won't screw up like that again. I joined them and came here, and then, lo and behold, you."

Igor looked around and, sticking out his lip, nodded his head approvingly.

“You’ve settled in quite well, I see,” he remarked.

"It's a long story," Andrey waved his hand. "I'll share my impressions a little later. Better yet, tell me how you got to Ogark?"

Igor sighed. A shadow crossed his face.

"They must have been chasing you," he said, "because there was no one behind me. I ran maybe a kilometer and then ran out of breath. I had to lie down in a grove of trees to catch my breath. You know, those were some of the most terrifying moments of my life... I had no strength to run, and I was afraid to hide—what if they were looking for me? What if I just didn't notice them? Oh, oh, I shudder just thinking about it... Anyway, I lay there for about two hours, calmed down a bit, and started thinking about what to do next. I thought and thought, and then decided to go back to Prokhorovka. Don't ask me what exactly I was thinking or how I even decided to do it, but for some reason it seemed like a good idea to me at the time.

Andrei waited, looking at his brother questioningly and anxiously. He guessed what he would hear, but he still wanted to know. Prokhorovka had been his home for many years, and the people who lived there were his family. Especially Akim, about whom nothing was known now. Andrei had already lost his parents once, and now he felt abandoned again. Parents are a source of support, someone you can always turn to for help or advice, people who are always happy to see you, but in his and Igor's short lives, this was the second time they had lost that opportunity.

"So, I got there in the evening," Igor answered the silent question, "and found a fire. There was still smoke here and there, but it was all over. The remains of houses and a few charred bodies... If you could smell the smell... Oh, my God... It's terrible, Andryukha, disgusting, vile. Why did they do this?"

"I don't know, Igor," Andrey agreed, lowering his head, "but we will take revenge. For everyone. For Masha, for Sergei Pavlovich, for Svistun—we will take revenge for everyone."

Igor didn't answer. He just stood there, silent, his head bowed low so Andrey couldn't see the tears welling up in his eyes again.