After laying her husband to rest, Anya made up her mind to tackle the clutter in the shed—a place her husband always kept off-limits. She let out a SHRIEK when she laid eyes on IT

I raised the helicopter another five meters, added Gaza, and headed northwest towards the village of Rastolnoi. And how long have you been flying helicopters? Slan gave a voice. You won’t believe it.

I’m flying for the first time. The man put his elbows on the table and looked attentively at his interlocutor. I ask you again, Sebastian.

Where is Christopher? Sebastian felt like he was being interrogated. He felt as if his father could see right through him. Dad, I haven’t seen him in a long time.

Right after the divorce, he disappeared. Disappeared. Did you go looking for him? The owner of one of the largest steel companies in the country shook his head incredibly.

Why did they divorce? Christopher for some reason decided that Stephen had slept with his wife, so he made a scandal of it. Sebastian looked uncertainly at his youngest son. For some reason, he decided out of the blue.

John grinned, but his grin was cold. And then he got divorced and disappeared. There must be a good reason for a man to go to such drastic measures.

I know my grandson. He doesn’t make too hasty decisions. Grandfather grumbled.

John, you mustn’t worry. The young woman standing behind the chair put a hand on the man’s shoulder. Grandfather affectionately covered her palm with his, instantly drawing a disgruntled grimace from his son.

All right, it’s all clear to me. Sit in the hallway. Grandfather turned to the young man frozen at the window and said call my daughter-in-law.

A still quite young woman entered the office. She walked uncertainly to the long desk. Hello, Emily.

Have a seat. Would you like some tea or coffee? Have you had any breakfast today? The old man’s eyes shone with love. It was clear that he loved his daughter-in-law and showed her no ostentatious respect.

Hello, Daddy. Emily looked warily at Emily’s father-in-law. What’s wrong? While I was away.

Why did Christopher leave the family? Emily cried. He accused Betty of adultery and of having a son by another man. Why did he think that? Grandfather frowned.

He caught Betty’s table in bed. Emily covered her face with her hands, beat up Stephen and left. Beaten up by Stephen.

Also fabulously lucky. I would have killed standing behind the chair. The woman soothingly stroked her grandfather’s shoulder.

Where can Christopher be now? He was at the trial with his army friend. His name is Elephant, I think. Maybe he’s at his place now.

The old man hesitated. Camille ordered. He raised his head and looked at the young woman.

It will be done. John. She wrote something down in a notebook.

Emily. Grandpa smiled. I’ll take you to the restaurant for lunch and we’ll talk.

He got up from his chair, showing that the formal part was over. In my time, I took everything from the army service. Even the ability to drive a helicopter.

It may have been a little tricky, but it was the skill that saved our lives today. Down below was a solid, blurry green-white mass. The weather began to deteriorate from above.

Sullen gray clouds loomed overhead. I made a slight turn, touched the wheel. The helicopter tilted.

It seemed that the gray sky dropped lower, threatening to pin the car to the ground. I put on my headphones and turned on the onboard radio. Nothing could be heard in the headphones but a crackling noise.

The helicopter shook. An air pocket. Heart froze for a moment.

Fell into my stomach. Nearby, an elephant was swearing. A jolt began, but soon stopped.

I estimated that we had already flown most of the distance to our target. I looked at the gauges. We were almost out of fuel.

We’d have to land soon. I looked down. A sea of green pine needles.

Ahead showed mountains shrouded in snow and horns on the slopes and trees. I took the car higher. The haze around me was thickening, but I had to climb up far beyond all the instruments.

I knew how to use them. It wasn’t about finesse. You fly.

You don’t fall down. That’s fine. I think I’ve had enough of climbing above the clouds.

I switched back to horizontal flight. The helicopter shook. Squeezing the levers, I leveled the machine.

We were on the same course. I was absorbed in maneuvering. Practically did not look at the instrument panel.

I still didn’t understand the position of some of the arrows of some instruments. The helicopter was flying over the green tega again. A gray thread of the frozen-wide Svir river with a compass flashed where white patches of birch trees broke through.

I realized that I had not so much deviated from the intended course in 10 west no more. I wiped my face wet with sweat with the sleeve of my robe mask, and a red light on the dashboard was freezing, indicating that the fuel was left for 10 minutes. I began to descend, looking for a place to land.

The tega was a solid dark green carpet. Finally, I saw the white one about Galena. I made a circle and came in, started manipulating the levers again.

The helicopter lay there. Every now and then it fell into weightlessness. Finally, the machine went down responsibly.

The landing was not very soft. The helicopter perceptibly bumped the angry ground, the rotating blades raised around a small snowstorm. Finally, the engine shut down, and there was silence.

I pulled out the map and tried to determine our location to Razdolnoi. It was about 20 kilometers, but we had to walk them even without skis. We crawled out of the cabin and looked.

The river was somewhere on the right about two kilometers away from the village, so we decided to walk along the frozen bed. I fixed the strap of my backpack and stepped towards the river, following me, holding the automatic rifle at the ready, moved elephant after each other. We walked through unfamiliar terrain, vaguely realizing where we were going.

Finally, we came to the shore. The time was already rolling towards evening, and to all appearances, it would soon begin to get dark. Winter days are short.

We had to think about sleeping and look for a suitable place. But there was no suitable place. Suddenly, almost at the very shore, among the tall larches I saw a wooden hut.

It was so black from time that at first I took it for a big boulder. We came closer. The hut had once been pancaked from thick, large trunks.

It was certainly a winter hut. Only long abandoned from time, the hut was almost window to window in the snow. In some places, the roof was damaged.

The windows still kept their panes intact, but were boarded up. The door, oddly enough, was intact. I jinkerly pulled the leather handle on the door toward me, clinging to the icing.

The low threshold reluctantly crept open, exposing a dark doorway. Holding our weapons at the ready, we stepped into the darkness and stopped in confusion. Inside the hut was darkness.

Our eyes fell out. Digging in my backpack, I took a flashlight and pressed the button and involuntarily took a step back. Right in front of us at arm’s length, the flashlight illuminated a tiny yellowed human skull, exposing rare crooked teeth from beneath a fur cap and a smile.

Braids of long gray hair fell over his shoulders. It was clear that the inhabitant of the Zinmovie was long and reliably dead by the color of the flashlight. I watched the skeleton from all sides.

Apparently, when alive it was a man on a garment of leather and dense fabric. Decorated with a long limp were sewn several figures in the form of fantastic beasts. In his right hand, the skeleton firmly held an ancient KP strong gun with a long.

Living through the barrel, the left hand had fallen off and lay next to the skeleton. Clutching with his fingers a small axe, similar to an Indian tomahawk, a homemade knife with a long rusty blade, and a handle carved from bone was lying on the side. Beside the knife something gleamed, reflecting the light of the flashlight.

A ring. It was very old and seemed to be made of silver. Not really looking at the find, I quickly put it in the breast pocket of my jacket.

Without saying anything to the elephant, I walked around the skeleton and shone the flashlight, started to examine the room. On the left near the wall sheltered bunks, open with lice skins. Above them, hooked on a rusty nail, hung a tambourine with tied copper cunes.

In the far corner was a stove built of wild stone. It looked to be in good working order. Near the stove lay a neatly stacked supply of dry wood.

Near the window there was a table, boarded up from new boards. Everything was as it should be in a hut. I turned around and the elephant, not letting go of the automatic rifle, froze on the threshold.

Obviously, he was not going to spend the night with this monster under one roof. Meanwhile, it was already getting dark. Gloomy clouds rolled the sky tightly.

Spreading fine snow, I took out of my backpack a candle and a lighter. Taked it to the table. Lit it.

And the room lit up with a bright light that gave it a semblance of coziness. Elephant took out of his backpack a piece of the presentation divided on the floor and neatly folded the remains. They took them out of the hut, intending to bury them in the morning.

I built a fire in the stove. I estimated that there would be enough wood for the morning. I started laying things out one by one, taking them out of my backpack.

The elephant opened with a knife and put cans of stew and porridge on the stove. Old nails were hammered into the wall of the hut. On them we hung jackets and weapons.

The aroma of stew had already diffused through the room. Well familiar to all those who served in the army, I moved two roughly fabulous stools to the table. No plates.

We’ll have to eat directly from the cans. Carefully put the hot cans on the table and took out an aluminum spoon. At the same time, the elephant took out bread with a knife.

I looked at him with a special look. A look only an old soldier can understand. May I? His eyes told me.

I stuck my hand into my backpack, took out an army flask with alcohol, and rubbed the mug of flag la rotted and its edge. And soon the fiery water poured down his throat. Followed by me too, I applied myself to the drink of the gods, quickly chugging it down with key water from the other flaga.

The elephant even stopped chewing, watching the process intently. Don’t forget to exhale. The commander gallantly wiped off the regulars of the social parlors.

My partner advised me. As Comrade Stalin said, life has become more cheerful. The elephant and I got more and began to get ready for bed.

I paddled out of the hide and threw them outside on the bunk. Settled the staff, neck, jacket, putting my backpack under my head. The bed was ready.

We decided to sleep by turns, dividing the night into watches. The night was restless. Several times I heard strange sounds outside.

Every now and then there was a mumbling outside the windows, sometimes a wolf-like howl accompanied by the banging of a tambourine. Anxiety grew rapidly in my chest. In the morning, slowly leave this place, vad this place is ruined.

I did not wake up the elephant and sat up all night clutching my rifle. Toward morning, the strange sounds stopped. There was an ominous silence.

It was still dark when I woke the elephant. We have to get out of here, I whispered, putting on my backpack. There was no time for explanations…