Different people – different expectations

Walking down the street Lian put away his phone. Ten minutes have already passed since they left that intersection, but the mood was not lighter at all.

"Sis, I could contact only three people. We will now move towards the north-west of the city. There we need to meet up with one of them. Then we will go further north and towards the east. Will probably take 5 hours or so to gather them. The third one is out of the city... Do you have anybody we need to pick up?" Lian was talking in a gloomy voice.

He still felt that sinking feeling in his stomach. Uneasiness and anxiety still lingered in his eyes, but they were resolute. Now, at least, he had a clear goal.

"Was able to speak only to Sofi. We can get her when we will go meet your second friend. She lives at the very north-west of the city, so we will need to make a detour." Sofi was walking next to Lian, with her face downcast. She was sad that she could not contact all her friends.

"Ok, then let's do that." Lian nodded his head and sped up his pace. "We better hurry. I don't want to lose any time."

Sofi quickly caught up to Lian. And although she looked sad and disheartened she still was vigilant about her surroundings, not letting the slightest detail escape her eye.

Running through the streets of a city that used to be full of life and vitality but now looked like a ghost-city, Lian saw a lot of scenes of bloody murder, violence, robbery and other immoral acts that were "not possible in the civilized society", as those from different peace organizations clamed. As he run and saw all these scenes he felt his worldview somehow changing.

He was no longer weak at his knees. He also did not want to throw up anymore. And although he understood that he would not be able to get used to such gory and brutal scenes for a long while, he was able to think more or less calmly now and to analyze what was happening.

"Heh…" Lian could not help but exhale an almost inaudible half-chuckle half-sigh.

"Is something the matter?" Sofi asked, throwing a strange and worried glance at her brother.

"Well, sis, you see. Some phrases I have heard earlier just happened to reappear in my memory. Such hypocritical phrases as "I would better let myself be killed than kill somebody…" or "You should show mercy to anyone at all times…" and the likes. I just thought that people who spout such bullsh*t are those who have a lot of status and money, so they do not really care if something minor happens. But in such a situation, I can easily see those people killing the most just to survive. You surely don't want to lose your life when you are on top, right?" Lian said on the run. He tried to discard disturbing thoughts by thinking about something else. Although those thoughts were not fun as well.

"Have never thought about it. And I don't think this is useful? Maybe you'd better think how we can get everything done faster?" Sofi was obviously not interested the slightest bit in Lian's thoughts about people's moral principles.

"Well, we will need to pass by Headquarters of our Military District anyway, so we need to turn right here. We will also see the situation of HQ from outside, so we can get an estimation of how the army is doing right now." Lian said, looking at the intersection 300 meters ahead. "Just follow me, alright? I've already calculated the fastest route. But we will still have to run for 7 hours or so to meet everybody."

Saying that, Lian looked at his sister. Seeing her nodding back at him he continued on their road.

…

At this point of time. In a well-off district of Saint-Petersburg that was situated on the north-west of the city.

A girl was sitting in apartment in a very good-looking residential building. And although this building used to be protected by security service. At the time like this, nobody stayed to protect another person's property.

And just less than half an hour ago she saw 20 people running into the courtyard of the house. These people definitely did not come to help, as she saw them carrying rifles. And after they entered the building she heard faint sounds of gunshots.

So here she was, standing alone in a large apartment, looking onto the street with dark circles under her eyes. And the eyes themselves containing various emotions such as helplessness, anxiety and fear. As well as a little bit of tenderness and gratefulness.

In her hand she was still holding her smartphone on the 'recently called numbers' page. And there one could see an incoming call from Lian 10 minutes prior.

'I'm glad… You actually thought about me at a time like this…'

A plan began taking shape in her mind.

…

In a location not very far from this place. On the 9th floor of a big residential building a family of 3 was sitting together. They all looked weakened. Mother was unkept, with her hair disheveled and that little makeup that endured for the last few days was smeared all over her face. Father was better-off visually. He was obviously trying to be a pillar of the family, just as father should be. But on his face, one could see a shadow of fatigue and suspense.

The third person, though. Their daughter - was pretty lively. She had just had shower and was dressing up.

"Mom, Dad, when do you think Sofi with her brother will come? And, how do you think, where will they help us move?" The girl asked her parents in a tired voice that, nevertheless, carried some hope.

Seeing his wife ready to lash out, girl's father gesticulated to her to calm down while answering. "No idea let's wait until they come here"

But then he inwardly continued. 'If they can come. And then we will see if we will go with them.'

…

At the same time, to the north from the center of the city. In an underground subway that has already stopped working but could still be accessed, a group of people was seating. There were probably 15 of them or so, and they all had some sort of weapon with them. Some had knives, while others had baseball bats. One of them even had a gun.

They were sitting and chatting. Some on the chairs, while others were just sitting on the mats thrown all over the cold marble floor. There were some sleeping bags lying further from the entrance and a fire was burning there with few bags of charcoal near, warming the group up. Although it was not really comfortable to sit near the fire in a closed space. But it was still better then feeling cold all the time in this hole.

Next to the fire a few bags were lying, with a person standing next to them. That person was talking to others.

"Guys, looks like we will get an additional member soon. A friend of mine from the university is on his way. And, in a few hours, he will be here. So, our raids further down the line will be even easier. And he mentioned that he might bring even more people with him."

At these point cheers broke in the crowd. These people have already understood that in this place numbers mattered greatly. If you had numbers, you could do almost whatever you want. Only a person with an absolutely powerful ability or a squad of soldiers could resist them now. But their leader had an ability himself, so what was there to worry about?

"And now, let's distribute the loot." The person near the campfire took one of the bags and raised it up high in the air. And then, under the reinvigorated cheers of the crowd a drop of blood condensed at the bottom of the bag and fell on the floor.

…

"Alright, sis, here it is. And it looks like the army is not in its best shape." Lian said, looking at the 'General Staff' building.

It used to be a yellow structure of a half-circle shape with a few columns propping its roof and reliefs engraved all around its surface further improving the beautiful aesthetics of the building. A triumphal arch at the very center of the building used to be a very crowded place, where a lot of people passed by at any given day wondering about beauty of architecture. A statue of Goddess Nike riding in a triumphal chariot was placed at the very top of the arch. And now all this beauty has become shambles on the ground. But, strangely enough, he still could see some small puffs of smoke billowing from under the wreckage.

He turned around to look at the Hermitage building, but it was actually mostly intact, which greatly surprised Lian. Given the number of visitors it had, it should have been also destroyed. The Alexander Column, this old monument was blow-up though, with its pieces thrown all over the Palace Square. But Lian could not linger on this now, so he turned back towards the 'General Stuff' ruins.

"The building was probably destroyed not that long ago. This night maybe? Not sure. Though it was definitely not three days ago, otherwise nothing will be left to burn." Lian slowly stood there thinking out loud in a quiet voice, as if talking to himself.

Lian could see a people buried under the debris of the building. But what caught his attention the most, were people around. A lot of people there looked like ordinary citizen, but they had two similarities. The first one being the cause of death. They were all shot. And the second one – location of their bodies. Between corpses and the ruins of the building was a 30-meter-wide gap with almost no bodies lying there.

"So, looks like all these poor people were shot down by the government they trusted…" Lian then changed his focus from all the destruction to his sister, who was standing calmly there beside him looking as if this had nothing to do with her.

She saw his gaze and cocking her head to one side asked. "Lian, you look very pale. Is anything the matter?"

"Yes. I saw at least few hundred of corpses today. I'm frightened. But that is not my concern now. What do you feel looking at all these deaths?" He returned the question to her.

"Nothing." Sofi said, shaking her head. She had no change in emotions whatsoever.

"Could you elaborate please. You should have probably thought this out already, right?" Lian said, while gesticulating his sister to move away from that place. He wanted to meet everyone as soon as possible. As well as to get away from this mass grave.

"I did. It was pretty easy. I just don't think that all these people matter anything to me. They are not my friends, my family or anything worth worrying about. So why should I feel anything about their deaths?"

Although Lian expected to hear something that his previous sister would never say. He was still shocked. She was talking about lives and death of people with a face of no-concern as if she was talking about weather forecast.

"From a girl who cried over Hachiko a few days ago to somebody who does not care about person's life… Don't you think that the change is too dramatic?" Lian continued his questions. Even though he was concerned about his sister, he understood that if she did not figure out everything, she would not go anywhere with him. Or, at least, she would not be so emotionless about this matter.

"You should remember, I actually do not cry over human characters in movies. Take even "I'm Legend" as an example. They could do whatever they wanted to Will Smith. But why the hell they had to kill his dog?"

Lian saw his sister becoming more and more upset and angry at the same time. Because of a dog. That was not even real.

'Is that really something to be sad about in such situation?' He was finding his sister less and less humane. 'But whom can I trust, if not my sister?'

"Right. But what do you think about those people near the Hinson house? You should have probably seen how they died. And we did not have the slightest idea about it."

"I feel pity for them. They were just the ones who were tricked into false security. Same as those near 'General…'"

Sofi could not end her phrase when they heard a gunshot not far from where they were running.