Authors: Kenneth Cran
34
They listened to the silence and waited.
“I think its over,” Talia said.
Nick nodded in agreement. “I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”
A muffled crash came from somewhere at the opposite end of the cellblock. A tense few seconds of silence was followed by the noise of a heavy door opening, then slamming shut. Soon, a terrified Radchek raced down the darkened corridor toward the cells. When he got to them, they saw a man consumed by fear and shock, his hair wet and frosty, his coat soaked with melting snow.
“Lions,” he said as he stopped in front of Barkov’s cell. “There are lions outside.” He faced the bleak corridor, searching past the pools of dull yellow light through the shadows. “I swear,” he said to no one in particular. “There are great white lions out there.” He took a deep breath. “With big teeth.”
Barkov clutched the bars, his eyes empty, soulless. “Captain, get a hold of yourself,” he said. His voice sounded hollow.
Pumped up, Radchek maintained the look of a frightened school boy. “Colonel Barkov,” he said with eyes glued to the corridor. “I would appreciate your help.”
The colonel drew closer and said, “Of course, captain. Unlock the door and I’ll deal with your lions.”
Radchek dug into his pants pockets for the key.
It wasn’t there.
He searched his coat pockets and shirt pockets.
Of course
he didn’t have it. He wasn’t the one that had locked him up.
“I don’t have a key,” said Radchek.
“Find one,” Barkov said in an icy tone.
The frightened officer was out of sorts and even from his cell, Nick had no problem empathizing. A few minutes with the saber-tooths was enough to unnerve the most battle-proven man. Yet empathizing wasn’t his concern right now.
“
Captain,” said Nick, and Radchek jumped. He had forgotten that there were other prisoners down there. “They ambushed you, didn’t they?”
Barkov licked his lips. “Do not listen to him, Maxsim,” he commanded.
Sweat streamed down Radchek’s face.
“Let us help,” Talia said.
Barkov piped in. “
She
is a liar and a traitor to the motherland.”
“She’s a scientist,” said Nick. “She can help you.”
Radchek spun and pointed the luger at Nick’s face. Talia yelped, but Nick held his own. He could see the shock of the attack still fresh in his young captor’s eyes.
“Don’t do that, Captain Radchek,” said Barkov. “He is an enemy of the state now and must stand trial.”
Nick remembered what the colonel had said before. He was the ticket to Barkov’s reassignment. Barkov’s chances were lessened if Nick were dead.
Radchek lowered the weapon.
“
You’re upset, and you have a right to be,” Barkov said.
“The men,” said Radchek. “Vukarin. He’s- I think they’re all dead.”
“I understand, but the most important thing for you to do now is to find a key to this cell,” said Barkov.
“I don’t know where it is.”
Nick chimed in, “It’s got to be with one of the soldiers.”
“Quiet,” Radchek yelled, then Barkov reached through the bars and grabbed his lapel, pulling him closer. He was surprised by the colonel’s action. “Captain, I suggest you get a hold of yourself. If you can’t find a key, I can’t get out. Do you understand me? Find that key.”
From the opposite corridor came heavy breathing and a shuffling of feet. Barkov released him and Radchek turned and faced the dark in wide-eyed terror. He raised the pistol, looked around for a place to hide. The entire length of cells was locked, the corridor a dead end. He was in the small alcove; an old disintegrating desk and stacks of shipping crates filled most of the space. They offered no cover and no shelter. The wheezing grew louder. Talia and Nick backed up, away from the bars.
Private Jovaravich stumbled forward, blood dripping from his face, his tattered right arm dangling at his side. He fell to his knees and Radchek went to his aid. Nick and Talia watched from their cells, helpless but not yet hopeless.
“
Does he have a key?” Barkov asked. Radchek helped Jovaravich stand, ignoring the colonel’s question. “Captain, does he have a key?”
“I don’t know,” said Radchek. He set the private down on the desk. “How do you feel?” he asked him.
Jovaravich answered with a strong voice, “I’ve felt better.”
Radchek nodded, his fear and shock beginning to wane. In the midst of the attack, he had been taken by surprise as he stood by and watched the swift dispatching of his squad. Now, reality began to sink in.
“Check for a key, captain,” Barkov demanded.
Radchek turned and looked at Barkov, remembering why he was there in the first place. “Even if he does have a key, I’m not letting you out.”
Barkov’s nostrils flared; it was the only outward evidence of his sudden fury. “You need me,” he said.
Radchek ignored him while looking over Jovaravich’s wounds. Splinters of glass were imbedded in his neck and left side of his face. A cut across his forehead oozed blood.
“How did you get away?” Radchek asked.
“Fuckers chewed down the tower,” he said, wincing at the pain in his arm.
Talia spoke up. “I can set that for you.” Her tone suggested otherwise, but Nick could see that she genuinely cared.
Radchek looked at her, suspicious. “Are you a doctor?” he asked.
“I’m a zoologist. I know about bones, and his arm looks to be broken.”
Radchek considered it for a moment, then looked at Nick, who nodded.
Barkov shook his head and said, “You need to find a key.”
“Colonel-” said the weary captain, already irritated. Things couldn’t get much worse, as far as he was concerned. And he was no longer interested in the advice of the insane man in the cell.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I can’t harm him working through these bars.” Radchek helped Jovaravich over to her cell, then dragged a wood crate from the alcove.
“I’ll need a few things,” she said, and then went to work.
Talia finished wrapping the arm with strips torn from a burlap sack. “There,” she said to the private. He stood up, his arm dangled in a makeshift sling. “Not quite textbook medical school, but it will do,” Talia said. Jovaravich managed a faint grin, and she saw his shyness peeking out. Despite his gray hair and scarred face, he was still just a kid.
In the alcove, Radchek was busy going through the crates, looking for anything of value. He tore into each one, pulled out box after box of moldy paperwork. “Goddamn it,” he said, throwing down a stack of files.
There was a sudden sharp pounding from below Radchek’s feet, and it startled him. He pointed the luger and backed off.
“They’re coming through the floor,” Jovaravich said. Everyone in the cellblock looked to the file-strewn concrete. The pounding came again, then stopped as a new sound took its place. It was muffled, but unmistakable.
A man’s voice.
Radchek cleared the floor of the debris with his boots, revealing a corroded steel trap door sporting heavy-duty hinges. There was a latch, too, recessed and caked with rust. Radchek grabbed it and pulled, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Help me,” he said to Jovaravich. The private joined him, took hold of the latch handle with his one good arm, and pulled. The door separated from the frame reluctantly, and a whoosh of mold and funk spilled into the cellblock. Popping his head out from the dark tunnel was Private Ormskovo.
“Get me out of this hole!” he said in a panic. Radchek and Jovaravich grabbed his arms and pulled. From somewhere in the tunnel below and getting closer, they heard the chilling growl of a Smilodon.
Ormskovo was yanked from the hatch just as the cat leaped. Before Radchek could close the door, the beast’s head shot out, hissing at the stunned group.
“It’s coming in!” said a cowering Ormskovo, and Radchek went into action. He jumped onto the trap door with all his weight. The cat fell back into the tunnel and Rachek didn’t hesitate, flipping the latch and locking the door shut.
The group listened in silence as the beast hissed and roared its frustration below their feet. Holding their collective breath, they prayed there wasn’t another way for it to get in.
“No key?” said Barkov clutching the bars.
Ormskovo shook his head. “Garkin had it.” The red-haired kid was now coming to grips with his comrade’s death, and he felt like a coward for abandoning him. Radchek squeezed the young man’s shoulder, but it wasn’t comforting.
In the tunnel below, the Smilodon was either quiet or, more likely, back outside with the others. That’s what they all hoped, anyway.
Nick stood on the edge of the bed and peered through the encrusted window and past the bars to the camp yard. The storm had passed, leaving a lazy flurry. He could make out the dull lights of the main building and the fence beyond.
“What do you see?” said Talia. The window in Nick’s cell was the only window accessible to them. Talia and Barkove were locked up in interior cells. They were windowless
“
Blizzard’s passed,” he said. “Beyond that, not much.”
“
Do you see the lions?” Ormskovo asked.
“
No. I don’t see any movement at all.”
“
Maybe they’re gone,” said Ormskovo hopefully.
Radchek studied Talia. “What do you think?” he asked her. The panic had now passed, and he was more in control now. Less virulent. Less military. He was young, she thought, as young as Nick. He also appeared to be the antithesis of the colonel. And he seemed to care for the men under his command.
“Captain Radchek, what she thinks is irrelevant,” Barkov blurted out.
“
Colonel, please,” Radchek said. He faced Talia again. “Are they gone, madam?”
Talia shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Radchek gestured to Nick “He said that you knew about these animals. Is that true?”
She hesitated. Nick stepped off of the bed and went back to the bars.
“Yes, I have some knowledge of them.”
Radchek paced the corridor while Ormskovo plucked glass slivers from Private Jovaravich’s face. The entire time, Nick was watching the assemblage of human beings before him. He smiled, and then chuckled. They looked at him.
“Is something funny?” Jovaravich said. Half of his face was mottled with little bloody slices.
“
Sorry,” said Nick. “Can’t help it.”
“
Can’t help what?” Jovaravich said, standing up. He stalked over to Nick’s cell. “Fucking American. This all started with you, didn’t it?”
Nick stopped laughing, but he couldn’t hide his smile.
Jovaravich swung his good arm at the bars, hitting it with a muted thud. “We should throw you out there,” he said. “See whether the lions have gone.”
“
Good idea, except I’m locked up in here,” said Nick.
Jovaravich slammed his arm against the cage again.
Nick lost his smile. “Keep it up, fella, and you’re liable to break that other arm.”
Radchek came over and took Jovaravich by the arm. “Sit down, private.” Jovaravich shuffled away to the alcove and sat on the wobbly desk. Radchek turned to Nick. “Don’t do that,” he said.
“Do what?” said Nick, pushing buttons in search of a self-destruct.
“
Incite him. We have no time for arguments.”
Nick sensed the same thing about him that Talia had. He decided he was nothing like the colonel. “Its not like we’re going anywhere soon, captain,” he said. “Our situations might look different, but the fact is, you’re in hot water just like me and the lady over there.” He looked over at Barkov, who was watching Nick. “Or for that matter, your colonel.”