The Body No. 039

Desya looked at me for a few seconds with a blank stare, almost as if the question was absurd.

Desya finally responded, "The gurney was taken to the big house, I'm not sure what else happened afterwards."

I nodded at him and asked for questions, answering any they threw at my way for about 15 minutes. Then Mrs. Pavlov came out with my food.

"Here you go, hope you enjoy, you can take it just bring the plates back, okay?"

I simply replied, "Thank you Mrs. Pavlov" As I stood up, I turned around and looked at the guys and said "see you guys around I got to go take this"

As I left I could hear a chorus of goodbyes and such as I left through the door and headed back. The streets were a little busier and I could see that it was about noon.

As I crossed main street I checked and could see people walking around and milling about.

I looked forward and could see Yaromir still laying on the wall. I set his plate down and shook him.

"Hey, Yaromir, buddy, get up, I got some food"

I could seem him slowly start to wake up and look around him. He saw me and then the plate. In a hoarse voice I could hear him mumble a few words, "Thanks Bratan, how are you?"

I chuckled, "Pretty good man" I went and pulled out a few folding chairs that had been left in the garage, "A little dirty, talked to a few people, and about to get something to eat."

Yaromir laughed and dug into the food. We just ate in silence on the chairs for a good half hour.

I then took a look at Yaromir, he had finished, so I got up and asked him for his plate,

"Hey man, let me take that back for you, she wants them back"

He smiled at me and laughed "Last time Borislav bought you food, now you are buying it for others, amazing."

I grabbed his plate and smiled as I left him chuckling, I would go and visit Kira and her assistant after I came back. I crossed the street and could see the people toiling at the farms and others tending to their houses. It was an incredible site to see this built out of nothing.

I got back to Mrs. Pavlov and gave her the plates she smiled and took them back with her to the kitchen and I left. I realized I was walking and relaxing as I went back to Yaromir and garage one.

When I got there Yaromir was talking with Borislav about something. I walked back and waved, and they turned towards me as I approached.

Yaromir spoke up quickly, "Borislav told me that Kira wants to see you. She said that we need to go over plans for the upcoming trip."

I just nodded, "Alright, I was going to head over there anyways apparently that is where they took that Demon's body, and I wanted to check on it."

They smiled at me, and then Borislav spoke, "Alright lets go, we need to plan quickly so we can head out by this evening or tomorrow morning."

In my head I thought, Tomorrow morning! That sure is quick, no rest for the wicked I guess.

The three of us then closed the garage and left to go to the main house.

We walked over and after a few minutes, we had reached the stairs and headed towards the front door.

As we got up and Yaromir reached out his hand to knock. Stefan opened the door.

"Yaromir! Bratan! Just the people I was looking for! Come in, Kira is upstairs!"

Yaromir and I just nodded and walked in with Borislav. We began to walk upstairs towards the couches when I saw the gurney and the remains hadn't moved much when they carried it over, the skull was still menacingly there almost as if it was still watching.

Yaromir went and knocked on the door and I continued to look. I could hear the door click open; I turned around. I could see Kira standing in the doorway looking at Yaromir.

She brightened up immediately when she saw us, "Bratan! Yaromir! Borislav! How are you guys come in, come in! We need to get the plan together to recover the cars and search for Filips and his students' bodies." She then turned somber at the mention of the 3-missing people.

Yaromir and I looked at each other, then Yaromir spoke "We thought the plan had remained the same, we would have the two Gaz-66s, Bratan's Volga and my red ZAZ, what has changed!"

Kira took on a frustrated scowl and turned towards the window behind her desk, Leningrad changed, and your friend changed the whole game, they are sending out their top scientists to examine the remains, this has been the first one killed out of a couple dozen that have been disturbing the trade routes and settlements. If anything you will not be able to leave the base until everything is frozen over and it is October, maybe even November."

When Kira said that, Yaromir's fists clenched, it seemed like it would be a few months, I looked at Yaromir and he was fishing for words, fishing for a way to salvage and leave within a day, not a month. I had to make something up, anything.

So I did "Mrs. Kira, if we wait too long, the cars will be gone, any remains you could find will be long decayed and anything used to identify them will be gone. The ice will destroy the cars and they won't be able to be transported back, what is stopping the mission, it should take them a few days, can't we make something up, blow up a bridge, anything!"

I knew this was important to Yaromir, Borislav, the guys in the garage and the workshop. Filip and those kids were important, it was the apocalypse, but it was important to make sure they were sent home, and not out in the woods.