Chapter Text
It might be the end of the world, but at least that isn’t as bad as having to be in the same room as Ivan Braginsky for weeks on end.
Actually, for all he knows, it might not even be the end of the world at all. The reason he’s stuck down here could have all been a false alarm: Tolys was cleaning the kitchen when he was unceremoniously dragged out of the apartment building into some secret bunker under the sidewalk. According to Ivan it was something about a disease outbreak and imminent danger.
Tolys still had his suspicions about it. Ivan does seem like the type to make some grand excuse just so he can watch those close to him suffer. It didn’t help that the man seems oddly chipper considering the circumstances.
But what Tolys does know for certain is that he would rather be six feet under than the 138 feet beneath the surface he currently is.
That isn’t to say he’s not grateful to be alive right now, but he would be infinitely more grateful if he wasn’t stuck in a cramped bunker with the devil himself.
But, of course, he’s used to it by now. He’s been working for the Braginskys for over two years at this point.
Looking back, he should have known the job offer was too good to be true: a visa to America, free food, a roof over his head, and a good paycheck with no required past experience or education.
The first red flag was how willingly they let some kid fresh out of high school not only live in, but also manage and maintain their decadent New York City apartment.
The second red flag was how little he actually knew about the family he was about to work for. He knew they were a family of five and that they were from east Europe. Imagine his surprise when he first arrived at his new place of residence, only to find out said family of five didn’t include a mother or a father, or even a grandparent. Well, technically, there was a mother—if she could even be called that. She’s more of a mommy than a mom, Tolys would say. Lord knows how she got accepted as an adoptive mother for two teenagers that aren’t even 10 years younger than her.
The third red flag was how those adopted teenagers were treated. They were adopted at around the same time Tolys first started working for the Braginskys. Eduard was fifteen and Raivis was thirteen. When Tolys applied for a job as a family butler, he was told he would be the only one. He wasn’t told, however, that he would have two honorary-coworkers in the form of Eduard and Raivis. They didn’t do as much work as Tolys, but he still couldn’t help but feel bad at how much work the boys did for nothing in return, while Tolys at least has a paycheck as a thanks for his labor.
Had a paycheck, that is.
Tolys was almost certainly not getting paid for the last five weeks of sitting down in a bunker waiting for help to arrive alongside Ivan, Raivis, and Iryna. What’s worse, the one silver lining to this god-forsaken job has been gone for the past two weeks. Or more—he’s kind of lost track of time. Eduard’s gone, too.
Right now, Raivis is sleeping next to him while sitting on the floor, Ivan is watering a couple of plants, and Iryna is stress-exercising on the pedal generator again. But who he doesn’t see is her. And Eduard.
Every time Tolys looks around the room, he’s met with disappointment when his eyes don’t catch the presence of the beautiful Natalia. He still has no idea how someone as pure and angelic as her could be siblings with Ivan. Tolys still remembers the look of betrayal in her innocent stunning eyes when her own older brother told her she was the one who had to retrieve drinking water from outside the bunker. And Eduard, too.
Tolys tried his darnedest to convince Ivan to let him go in Natalia’s place. Or at least to send him instead of Eduard so if he does end up dying, the last thing he sees will be the blessed image of the Braginsky’s youngest daughter. Which sounds really pathetic now that he’s thinking about it. But in his defense, it’s the end of the world and the only women he’s seen on a regular basis in the past two years are her and Iryna. Though the pay is good, he practically never goes outside unless it’s to do grocery shopping. He knows it’s not healthy, but hobbies are expensive and he was planning on saving up for college, anyway.
If he could ever go to college with how things are going now.
Water was starting to run low, even with two less people there to drink it. It certainly doesn’t help that Ivan seems hell-bent on keeping those potted plants he brought alive. Luckily for them, food wasn’t a problem. Yet. The bunker was filled with nothing but a couple of water bottle cases and an excess supply of MREs supplied by the Russian Military of all things. In fact, they were surrounded by boxes filled with MREs on all sides except for the cold concrete of the actual wall behind them. He has his suspicions as to why and how Ivan has such an absurd amount of military food.
None of them have said a single word in the past four days, and Tolys yearns for communication, but also dreads it. He loathes to admit it, but he’s gotten used to doing and saying nothing. A sigh comes from Raivis before Tolys feels the weight of the sleeping boy's head resting against his shoulder. He really did feel for the kid, because that’s exactly what he is; a kid. He looks miserable, his skin a sickly pale, hair matted, and his eyes so tired it made the man he was leaning against let out an involuntary wince in sympathy, though it seems the boy is too out of it to process or acknowledge the noise.
Raivis still looks the same as when he was thirteen. He hadn’t grown a centimeter in all the time they’ve known each other, Tolys realizes, and he knows he has better things to worry about, but it still makes him concerned for the boy.
Time is moving painstakingly slow, yet in hindsight it all seems like a blur. Tolys has had nothing to do but think and eat, and at this point, he’s running out of things to think about, so he takes it as his queue to sleep, or at least try. Theories of what could possibly be happening on the surface right now pass through his mind in what could be considered his own weird version of a lullaby: Maybe everything's gone back to normal by now and they’re just waiting down here for no reason. Maybe there’s nobody up there to save them and they’re all that's left of humanity.
His mind fades in and out of consciousness, his mind blanking every time, never truly awake but never asleep. God, he felt disgusting. His hair was a level of greasy he could have lived his entire life without the feeling against his cheeks and scalp. It must smell terrible, too, but his nose has dulled to the point where he can’t smell a thing anymore, and that’s probably a good thing at this point. He can only assume it smells like a mixture of body odor and human waste. The closest thing to a toilet there is a hole in the ground with a curtain separating it from the rest of the bunker for a modicum of privacy.
Just as he was finally about to close his eyes and get a proper rest, a screech of rusted metal followed by a loud thunk from above startled everyone awake. That thunk was the loudest thing anybody in that bunker has heard in 2 weeks; the sound of the bunker hatch opening. So loud that Tolys could barely hear a woman’s voice echoing down the spiral staircase over the sound of his ears ringing.
“Big Brother! Sister! I have come to save you!”
Tolys would have cried tears of joy if he wasn’t so tired.
The first to respond to the voice was Iryna, tears already streaming down her face, who all but yelled—no, wailed, “Natasha! Is that you!?”
A few seconds passed before the ethereal and familiar voice responded, “Yes, big sister, I am here!”
Said big sister immediately got up from where she was pedalling and ran straight to the claustrophobic stairwell that led to the surface, “Hold on, Natasha! I’m coming!”
Rather than immediately following his older sister, Ivan instead looked up and thoughtfully listened to the metallic thunking of Iryna’s footsteps as she ascended to the surface. Once the sound faded, he stood up and stretched with a couple of hefty grunts before looking down at Tolys and the boy leaning up against him, “You two will be coming up as well, yes?”
Tolys panicked a bit. It’s been so long since he’s said a word he honestly forgot how to speak for a moment. After he gathered his bearings, he cleared his throat and responded with a hasty yet unsure, “Yes.”
At this response, Ivan walked over to the two and held out a hand.
Tolys knew the hand was to help him get up, he just really didn’t want to take Ivan’s hand, lest he had something nefarious planned. The man never did anything out of the kindness of his own heart, and Tolys wouldn’t be surprised if a couple years down the line he all of a sudden owed Ivan for this singular act of kindness.
But, at the same time, it might also upset the man standing above him if he didn’t take his hand. It would be rather rude if he just ignored him.
So, Tolys braved himself and took the hand offered to him. This seemed to make Ivan happy at least, as he assisted the younger man into standing.
Once he was done, he held his hand out to Raivis as well, though the boy only blankly stared up at him. This only caused Ivan to pout before he decided to take matters into his own hands by picking the boy up by the armpits and manhandling him into standing. That didn’t last for long though, because the boy almost immediately collapsed back onto the ground atop his now trembling legs once he was let go.
Ivan simply stared at the teenager for a moment. “Oh dear,” he mused lightly, like the boy collapsing was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
They stayed in silence for a couple more moments before Ivan started heading to the stairwell and up the stairs.
Before he could think better of it, Tolys raised his voice in frustration, “So you’re just gonna leave him there?”
Thankfully, Ivan didn’t seem to mind much that he was being yelled at. Being able to finally leave the bunker must have put him in a good enough mood not to immediately clap back at Tolys thrice as hard. He just stopped where he was on the first steps of stairs, and turned his neck to cheerily answer, “He is smart boy. There is food and water. Surely he can nurse himself back to health, right?”
No, he really can’t.
But Tolys wasn’t going to say that out loud. He was honestly speechless and had no way to reply to what he was just told without the risk of angering Ivan out of his good mood.
Carrying the boy was most certainly not an option; Tolys might have been able to carry Raivis up three or four flights of stairs two months ago, but right now he needed to be carried up three times as many. It surely didn’t help that the most exercise he’s gotten in the past month has been using the toilet.
But since Natalia is here, surely she can help; she would never let a child in need suffer.
With that idea in mind, he strolled up to the stairwell and yelled out, “We need help getting Raivis out of here!”
And for a few moments the only thing that answered his call for help was the echoing of his own voice through the concrete stairwell.
Eventually, though, someone—a man whose voice he couldn’t recognise—responded, “All right, I’m coming down!”
Tolys couldn’t help but sigh in relief as he looked over at the boy still sitting on the ground.
Yet when he heard the footsteps against the metal staircases grow louder, he went from relieved to anxious.
This will be the first person he has spoken to besides one of the Braginskys in over a month.
And when the person finally got to the bottom of the stairs, Tolys was met with what looked like an armored hazmat suit complete with a camouflage exterior and a couple of weapon holsters. It stunned him a bit; he was expecting to see a new face, not his reflection in a pair of goggles on a gasmask. It all accumulated into a very frightening appearance.
“Hoo boy, that was a lot of steps,” the masked man mused, taking his time to look around the bunker. “Holy crap, it’s cramped in here!”
Tolys felt himself relax; the man sure looked scary, but at least he didn’t sound scary. Tolys just said, “Yeah,” and he mentally facepalmed. He couldn’t think of anything else to say.
The wandering attention of the masked man soon focused in on Raivis, promptly stomping his booted feet over to the boy on the ground, “Hey kid, you all right?”
His question was met with silence.
The man waved his gloved hand in front of the boy’s eyesight a couple of times then seemingly gave up with a sigh, turning to Tolys, “Is this the kid that needs help?”
“Yeah,” he probably sounded like a broken record. A thumbs up was given to him, and soon enough Raivis was hauled over a broad shoulder and was being moved up the stairs by the man, Tolys right behind them.
At some point during the ascent, they were met with a gasping and heaving Ivan.
“You want me to carry you too, big guy?” This man cannot be serious right now.
“No, thank you,” Ivan wheezed, “I’m just having bad side cramp.”
“Okay, dude. Suit yourself.” He then continues past the out-of-breath man, boy in tow.
Tolys wants to go past Ivan as well, but there's a chance it will anger him if his former employee just walks past without even asking if he needs help. But at the same time, Ivan declined the stranger’s offer for help, so maybe it would offend him if Tolys offered to help, too.
What’s the worst that could come from offering some help? It’s only the kind thing to do.
Tolys sputters a little before collecting what he wants to say, “S-sir… Would you like some help, sir?”
“I’m fine, thank you,” was the exhausted response he got. Ivan seemed pleased at the offer, smiling a still very creepy, but not the usual threatening, smile, “You can go ahead.”
That went surprisingly well. Though Tolys still felt bad about leaving Ivan behind, but the call of fresh air was oh so tempting he went ahead without him.
When he finally reached the surface, he was greeted by cool January air. The temperature caused him to let out a shiver, but he couldn’t care less; it was infinitely better than that stuffy concrete box he’s grown accustomed to in the past month.
He was also greeted by Iryna and the same man—still carrying Raivis—as well as another person wearing the same sort-of hazmat suit.
Though that person didn’t really greet him, perse. Instead they immediately asked, “Where is Big Brother?”
Oh, Natalia. It was just like her to be concerned for others’ well being during even the end of the world. She was truly a blessing.
“Dude’s struggling to get up the stairs,” the man laughed and walked a few feet to where a large SUV was parked, seating Raivis down in the backseat and buckling the boy in.
“Not funny. Go help him.”
“I already asked and he said no.” That earned the man a stare from Natalia so unimpressed that it could be felt even with her face covered. “Fine. I’ll ask him again,” he muttered as he closed the car door before heading to the bunker’s entrance. He then kneeled and yelled down the tunnel that was the stairwell, “Hey, dude! Are you sure you don’t want me to carry you?”
Natalia promptly intercepted, “You will not be carrying my brother, Jones.”
It took a few moments before they heard back from Ivan. “No thank you, I’m good,” echoed the breathy reply. He sounded like he’s made some progress, at least.
“I told you,” the man—Jones, apparently—shrugged.
Silence followed. Tolys would have felt awkward just standing there and saying nothing if Iryna weren’t also there doing the exact same thing. The silence at least gave him the chance to observe his surroundings.
The same buildings he’d grown so familiar with in the past two years still stood tall, though notably there were some patches of graffiti he doesn’t remember. Most of it was hyper-stylized tag art that was impossible to decipher, but there was a portion written in print. Several of them were an assortment of bible verses Tolys couldn’t recognize—which didn’t say much because there was very little he could cite from the bible to begin with. Some that could be read were proclamations of either God’s arrival, God’s death, or that there was no higher-being to speak of.
Each building has changed drastically on the ground and second floor; every window either bolted shut or broken, and there were glass shards everywhere. Looking above, there were a couple of broken windows on the higher floors as well, but the majority of the upper floor windows stayed intact. Tolys doesn’t want to look at the ground below where some windows were flat-out missing from the frames and find out the potential reason why they became that way, so instead he raised his gaze higher.
Was the sky always this blue? It might honestly be the most vibrant color he’s ever witnessed. Or maybe spending that time in the bunker was messing with his perception.
He does know that New York City isn’t usually this peaceful. Besides the four of them standing on the sidewalk, there was no one else around.
Apparently Ivan’s decision to hide in the bunker wasn’t a complete false alarm. It might not have been the complete end of the world—they’re still here, afterall—but something definitely happened. There’s no way nothing happened to have the streets so barren.
Despite the null noise and movement, he couldn’t help but feel unsafe. The two people who were actually caught up on how the state of the world was were both completely covered, while Tolys and Iryna both stood there in civilian clothes. At least Raivis had the protection of being inside the SUV. This thought was the one thing stopping Tolys from fully taking in the fresh air of the outdoors; how could he truly savor it if he didn’t even know if it was safe to breathe at all?
Iryna seemed irked by the prolonged silence and eventually spoke up, “Uh. What happened?” Her voice was unsteady. She was perpetually fidgeting with the ends of her sleeves as she shifted both her weight and her eyes from side to side.
“We will wait for Brother first,” her younger sister responded. She was all about efficiency and assuring everyone’s safety first; Natalia truly is such an intelligent and sympathetic young lady.
That seemed to only heighten the older woman’s anxiety, though, who whimpered in worry.
Jones seemed to notice this as well, quickly working to quell Iryna’s worries, “Basically, we’re in a zombie apocalypse!”
This only caused the woman to practically scrunch up into herself and whine, tears building up in the corner of her eyes. Clearly comforting people is not Jones’ specialty.
Natalia poked Jones in the side, who in turn winced and clutched where she poked, “Hey! What was that for?”
“That was for worrying my big sister.”
The man was quick to defend himself, “But she asked!”
Natalia shot back, “She asked because she’s worried, not because she’s curious!” Tolys couldn’t have worded it better himself. At least the bickering seemed to help settle Iryna’s nerves.
When the conversation died down, sounds of footsteps could be heard coming from the bunker entrance. Ivan was almost to the surface.
Tolys heard the jingle of keys and looked over to the source of the noise. “I’m gonna go let the engine start runnin’! Feel free to join me in the car,” Jones said, waving casually as he walked to the SUV. He opened the door to the driver’s seat and sat down. Before the door closed, Tolys was able to catch the man saying, “Man, is it cold out there or what!”
Was he trying to engage in small talk with Raivis? Tolys felt a slight smile adorn his face; that was kind of Jones. Raivis was never a talkative kid, and when he did talk, he always managed to say the perfect things to anger Ivan. As a result, he never really spoke at all in the bunker, probably too afraid of angering the tall man he was stuck with. The most the boy did to communicate during that time were simple nods or shaking his head. Surely some small talk will somewhat bring the boy’s spirits up.
Tolys looked back at the two sisters, who were both anxiously huddled around the missing patch of sidewalk where the bunker’s entrance was. Jones’ offer to join him in the car was rather tempting; though Tolys wasn’t particularly cold, it felt like he would be encroaching if he stayed around for the Braginsky siblings’ reunion. His feet and legs were aching from climbing the stairs, anyway.
He also wanted to go as long as possible without having to see Ivan again.
So, to the car he went. The first thing he noticed when he sat in the back right seat was the division between the back seats and the front of the car. It was reminiscent of a cop car or a limousine. Other than that, it seemed to be a standard car; two front seats, three back seats, and three more far-back seats.
“Hey, is the little dude doing okay?”
Being directly spoken to caught Tolys off guard, even though he knew it shouldn’t have. “Huh? Oh, I’m not sure,” he fumbled and closed the door, trying to make himself comfortable.
Jones hummed in acknowledgment before speaking again, “You’re Tolys, right?”
Tolys felt himself preen; did Natalia talk about him often or something? He simply nodded in response, fearing he would be unable to contain his excitement if he spoke out loud.
“It’s great to finally meet you, man! Eduard told me all about you,” Jones said. Tolys felt himself deflate; he was ashamed to admit Eduard completely slipped his mind. This didn’t affect the man in the driver’s seat though, who just continued, “The name’s Jones, Alfred F. Jones.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Jones,” was the only thing Tolys could think of to say.
“No need to call me mister. That’s way too formal, dude.”
Tolys was about to correct himself, but the car door suddenly opened. He may or may not have screamed a little when he was met with the face of Ivan looking down at him.
“Ha ha, it is funny when you scream,” Ivan smiled. “It seems there are only three seats but there are four people. Looks like either I sit on you or you sit on me. I will let you choose,” he said like it was much of a choice at all.
“There’s another row of backseats. You can go ahead and climb in there,” Jones pointed out.
Tolys felt like he might have hallucinated the disappointed pout that appeared on Ivan’s face after hearing that. But just as fast as it appeared, it was soon replaced by his usual smile, accompanied by a twinge of the brow that indicated he was irritated, “Okay. You can climb in the far back seat, Tolys.”
And so he did just that, grunting a little as he did so.
Jones apparently found this hilarious, because that caused him to burst into laughter. Once he calmed down, Ivan was already seated where Tolys was previously and Raivis was moved to be seated in the middle, sandwiched in between both of the Braginsky siblings.
“When I said you could climb in the backseats, I meant you could push in the seat in front of it then climb in through there, not climb over the back of the seat,” Jones was still letting out a few giggles.
Once Natalia was seated in the passenger seat and everyone was buckled, the car started moving.
Almost immediately after, Ivan spoke up. “If you do not mind me asking,” it almost sounded like he hesitated for a moment, “what happened while we were away?”
“Zombies,” Natalia simply states.
Her brother hummed, paused, then continued, “Could you elaborate, please?”
“‘Kay, so,” Jones hastily interjected, “I’m no expert, but it’s kinda like the virus from the first Resident Evil game, ‘cause the infected are technically still alive and it doesn’t affect just humans. It spreads from bites, scratches, n’ stuff.” He briefly stops his explanation, probably to recount information, “The first outbreak was in northwest Indiana; I forgot which town, I wanna say it was somewhere really close to Chicago. Anyway, it spread because it basically has no immediate signs—besides being bitten n’ scratched n’ stuff—so people just lived on as usual, unknowingly infecting others, until one day BOOM: like a hundred people are suddenly super friggin’ dumb and aggressive!”
“How did it go unnoticed if caused by bites and scratches? Would they not get them checked out by a doctor?” Ivan made a good point, even if Tolys hated to admit it.
“Uh, I dunno,” said Jones bluntly. “Like I said, I’m no expert. But there are some experts where we’re heading, so go ask them or something.”
“Where is it that we are going, exactly?” Iryna questioned, desperate to find something different to talk about.
Jones answered cheerfully, “We will be heading to a community along the Hudson River!"
Natalia assured her sister, “They will take good care of you.” Jones nodded in agreement.
Tolys gulped, a pit forming in his stomach. Those words resonated within him, reminding him not to get his hopes up that he is now safe, for those were the words spoken to him by his mother before he left for a life in America. His mother whom he hadn’t seen in years, his mother whom he loves. And here Natalia was, saying those same words. Would this be the last time he saw Natalia, as well? He can’t even see her face behind the gasmask.
The god awful, condescendingly gentle voice of Ivan snapped him out of his stupor, and for once he was glad to hear it, lest he spiral down further into the dread swallowing him.
“Will they be charging us a bill for the hospital?” Of course Ivan was concerned with that.
This only made Jones laugh, though, “Hah! Imagine that! Nah, you don’t gotta worry about that, bro. Money might as well be used as toilet paper right now, haha.” He let out a sigh, “But for real, just so you know, they’re probably gonna make you work in exchange for the… hospital-ity!”
Tolys would have found it funny if he hadn’t just learned that his last two years of suffering were all for naught. Worse yet, he would probably be going back to servitude, except the only payment he was getting this time around was survival.
At least he didn’t have to work for Ivan.
“May I ask what sort of work?” Ivan asked yet another question.
“Jeez, dude! I feel like I’m in a job interview or something,” the driver joked. “Well, there’s scouting and expeditions; that’s what me n’ Talia do!”
Talia?
“Never call me that again,” Natalia scoffed. She even managed to make something as ugly as a scoff sound beautiful.
“And then there’s border security.” He simply carried on, “Y’know, secure the premises n’ stuff, make sure there’s no intruders or zombies. There’s farm-work, too; can never have too many hands when it comes to that. Being a doctor or nurse is an option,” he trailed off for a bit. “There’s a couple more but I can’t remember, haha.”
Natalia picks up where he left off, "Maintenance, heavy lifter, textile worker, and meal prep.”
“Yeah, those!”
Maybe it wouldn’t be the last time he saw Natalia, and he could even work with her in scouting and expeditions!
Ivan asked another question, “Is this under some sort of company or organization?”
Why was the Russian man acting so suspicious? Tolys, for one, knows that Natalia would never lead them astray, as she is smart enough to acknowledge red flags when she sees them, and far too kind to even think of deceiving anyone.
“Nope,” Jones replied. “I mean, we have overseers n’ stuff, but there’s no single person or company responsible, if that’s what you’re asking.”
This seemed to satiate Ivan’s curiosity for now, the car falling into silence.
It’s kind of strange; Tolys has never seen the streets of New York City so empty, and he’s sure as hell never travelled in a car so fast near downtown. The traffic lights were now futile, all the towering sky scrapers whirred past at a speed Tolys had never experienced.
He decided it was a beautiful kind of strange. A sense of awe at how far humanity managed to build itself up, and at just how fast something so small—smaller than the eye could see—knocked all that progress down. And soon enough, those passing sky scrapers became no more, replaced with the landscape of quaint apartment buildings and run down small businesses that were looted of all their belongings. There were abandoned cars littering the street parking, either pillaged as well or overturned onto the sidewalk to clear the roads.
Jones was going at least fifteen above the speed limit. Well, now that Tolys thought about it; was he really? The speed limit signs were now just as futile as the still-standing traffic lights. It’s not like it’s enforced anymore. The driver could probably go a lot faster if he wanted to.
The landscape of apartment buildings was soon transitioning to suburban housing. It was a never-ending sea of houses all following a rotating pattern of five or-so templates. The roads were making Tolys dizzy, winding and curved, never following a straight path.
He could only guess why they weren’t just taking the freeway as opposed to this nauseating maze.
At some point their journey hits a wall. Literally.
A giant concrete brick wall spanning several blocks and about 16 feet high abruptly came up from the skyline. There was no gate for the car to enter.
Jones stopped a couple feet from the wall, “Alrighty, guys! We’re heading out, follow my lead.”
They got out of the car; Tolys took a little bit of trouble, being in the far-back seat, but he got out eventually.
Just as he said, Jones led the way. Following him was Iryna, Tolys, and Ivan who was carrying Raivis like a baby. At the end was Natalia, who was practically stepping on her brother’s heels every-other step with how close she lingered. They trekked off the road onto the sticky snow of what used to be several peoples’ yards until they reached a metal door.
“So, this is where we’re gonna have to leave you guys. Gotta park the car somewhere safe n’ stuff, y’know?” Jones explained while digging in one of his numerous pockets, and when he finally retrieves a ring of keys, he switches his attention to finding a specific one. “Hopefully we see you guys around some time soon, but if not, it was nice meeting you.” Once he identified the key he was looking for, he reached over to unlock the door in front of him. Instead of opening the door himself, though, it was opened by another person from the inside wearing, yet again, a hazmat suit. This hazmat suit was more akin to what is expected compared to what Natalia and Jones wear; bright yellow with no extra armor.
Jones seemingly told the guy his name and a whole bunch of numbers following that, but Tolys didn’t really catch any of it. He was too busy focusing on the pistol the person was holding, pointed straight at Jones’ forehead. The person was remarkably tall, the gun being comfortably held at what was their shoulder height. Whatever Jones said to them resulted in the gun lowered and the door opened wider, but they never turned the safety of their pistol on.
Jones stepped out of the way, motioning for the rest of them to head inside, “This guy will lead you to the hospital.”
Tolys waited for Iryna to move first. To be honest, he was not only skeptical of everything happening, but also scared.
But that quickly went out the window when he remembered that Natalia would never bring them somewhere that was dangerous. He knew that much. So when Iryna started moving, he didn’t hesitate to follow her through the door in the wall.
Which turns out wasn’t really a wall. Inside was a long hallway, the interior bricks a boring cool grey. The lights were so bright he had to squint. It didn’t help that several hazmatted people were scattered around the hallway, the vast majority a highlighter yellow that practically glowed in the fluorescent light, firearms in hand.
He desperately wanted to go back outside: it was terrifying in here. Not seeing a single face besides the ones he’s been stuck with for five weeks was messing with him. It felt like nothing was real. For all he knew, these people in hazmat suits weren’t even people, they could be pumas walking on their hind legs. Or something. He might be losing it a little. And there wasn’t a single decoration throughout the desolate halls. It was all one shade of grey. It felt like he was back in the bunker, except the bunker expanded into some corridor to hell.
But turning around would also be against Natalia’s wishes. He could muster onward if not for his own sake, then for hers.
When all four of them were inside, a sprite, “Goodbye, Brother! Goodbye, Sister!” could be heard from where the door to outside was now closing.
Oh, Natalia. So full of life, beautiful like a weeping willow tree and sweet as saccharine.
Thinking back to what Jones had said about hopefully seeing them around, Tolys was excited that he might be able to see her face again after so long.
Might be able to.
That’s right. He shouldn’t get his hopes up.
They continued making their way down the hallway, passing a few doors along the way. After turning a couple corners they finally stop at what appears to be just another door in the neverending corridor.
Tolys gets a strange sense of deja vu watching the person fumble in his pocket for his keys and finding a specific one. The person opens the door to reveal yet another hallway. Unlike the depressing grey of the hallway they were in right now, this one was a clinical and blinding white with the same fluorescent lights on the ceiling. The one leading them doesn't go inside or move out of the way, taking up the doorway and any means to enter. The person feels around the wall on the other side. They seem to have found whatever they were looking for, because they soon awkwardly glued both their arms to their sides with posture straight as a rod, clearly in anticipation for something.
Footsteps could be heard quickly approaching, but with the hazmatted person blocking the doorway, Tolys couldn’t see the one making the sound. When the footsteps halted, a man’s voice echoed through the hallway, “Are those the ones Jones was tasked to find?” Tolys almost giggled because of how cartoonishly pompous his accent was.
The person blocking the door didn’t dignify that with a verbal response, giving the man only a nod.
An exhausted sigh could be heard from the end of the hall, “All right, then. Send them in.”
The doorway is no longer blocked, as the masked person gets out of the way to hold the door open.
Iryna, still in front of Tolys, doesn’t move. She just flits her gaze from where the gasmask of the tall hazmat suit lays to the new hallway awaiting them. Thankfully, Iryna isn’t so tall that she blocks the sight beyond the doorway. Standing a dozen meters down the hall is a man whose eyebrows could probably be seen from orbit. He wore scrubs with some sort of pattern on it, but he’s too far away to make out what the pattern actually is. Tolys internally cried for joy; at last he was able to see another human face, definitive proof that every new person around him weren’t just puppeteered hazmat suits.
Her hesitation clearly annoyed the man in the distance, but he did a good job at hiding it; the only reason Tolys noticed in the first place is because he’s had to adapt to Ivan’s short fuse.
Instead of acting on that annoyance, the nurse—if the scrubs were anything to go by—maintained an air of carefully constructed professionalism. “Come along, then,” he politely beckoned from across the hall. “I’ll be leading you from here on out.”
This got Iryna to move, the rest following suit. Tolys empathized with her: it’s hard to know what to do in a new environment, especially after being stuck in one room for over a month.
It made him feel like he and the Braginskys were the spud in a game of hot potato with how often they’ve traded guides so far.
“All right then,” the nurse signalled them to stop once they were about 2 meters from him. From here it was visible that his scrubs were decorated with a repeating pattern of turquoise cartoon bunnies on a beige background. He took out a clipboard tucked between his left arm and his side, his eyes flitting through the contents of the topmost paper. “Which one of you is,” he brought the clipboard closer to his face and squinted, “Tolys Lauren… neigh-tis?”
Honestly, not the worst pronunciation of his name ever.
He shuffled slightly to the side so he was no longer directly behind Iryna before meekly raising his hand, “Tolys Laurenaitis, sir.” He was half expecting the nurse to roll his eyes or maybe even completely ignore the correction.
That didn’t happen, though.
“Apologies,” the nurse took the pen secured at the top of his clipboard and scribbled a few things down, then flipped the page up to reveal the paper underneath and did a brief scan of its contents. “And you’re…?” He looked up at Ivan.
Ivan did his usual unsettling impression of what was supposed to be a smile, “Ivan Arlovskaya.”
…Arlovskaya?