Interrogator II: So, Lieutenant Bertolt briefed you on the real objective, and then you, Aleksei, and Hassan teamed up to carry out an independent operation. Is that correct?
Lilya: Yes.
Interrogator II: Very well, we'll corroborate your account with Aleksei's and Bertolt's.
Interrogator II: And you hitting the Lieutenant—that really happened?
Lilya: Yeah, I socked him good. I was gonna go for round two, but then Aleksei waltzed in and it wouldn't have been good form to deck your CO in front of the lads.
The interrogator struggled to stifle his chuckle.
Interrogator II: You've certainly got spirit, Comrade Lilya.
Interrogator II: Go on, then. What happened next? What did you three run into?
Lilya: After gearing up, Hassan led the way, Aleksei and I followed. The three of us headed deeper into the mountains.
Hassan: Watch your step, friends, don't let the thorns prick you.
Aleksei: I can't believe you grew up in a place like this, Comrade Hassan.
Hassan: That's why I eventually left for the city to seek a different life. Haha!
Hassan: I was the first from our village to go to the city! I've always been something of a pioneer, you know!
He radiates with pride. A mountain-born maverick, unyielding and audacious.
Lilya: We trekked through the mountains and wilderness, moving from tree to tree and slope to slope.
Lilya: We struggled to keep up with Hassan, whose nimble and sure movements resembled that of a mountain goat.
Hassan: Hey, keep up! Am I going too fast, comrades? Should we take a breather?
Aleksei: A breather? Not a chance! Our comrades are waiting. Keep moving!
Lilya: I'm fine.
Hassan: Whenever there's fighting, the locals hide until it calms down, and then they come out.
Hassan: The more daring might strip the dead. A simple canteen can be a valuable find for a struggling family.
Aleksei: This place is unbelievably poor.
Hassan: Poor people have their ways. After all, this is the life we were all born into!
Hassan: It was like this before you came, and it will be like this after you leave.
The words leave Aleksei disoriented, as if his passion had been poured onto the lifeless stones here, only to be met with indifference.
Aleksei: Stop. Hear that?
Hassan: Hm?
They stop. Lilya takes out the radar and checks their position.
They are getting closer to the signal.
Aleksei: Shh. Listen carefully, comrades. It's a faint woman's voice.
Hassan: Do you have the ears of a fox, boy? Because I don't hear anything.
Aleksei: That way! Move it! Someone might be able to help us with the herbs!
Hassan: Hey, slow down!
Lilya: I ran after them. Aleksei sprinted into the distance, reaching the edge of the forest.
Aleksei: It's you! I never expected to see you again!
Aleksei: Are you okay? Hmm, it looks like you can walk now. Hassan, does she understand what I'm saying?
Hassan chambers his gun and cautiously approaches the woman.
Aleksei: Not this again, Hassan! We saved her before, and she's unarmed, just like last time!
Lilya: Hassan seemed to have a deep distrust of the mountain people.
Lilya: I guess they marked him a traitor, you know, working for Zeno and all.
The armed man approaches, speaking the local dialect. He questions the woman, who utters a few words for him to translate.
Hassan: She needs money because her sheep were blown up. If you can pay her, she can help you find who you're looking for.
Lilya: How does she know we're looking for someone?
Hassan relays Lilya's message to the woman.
She speaks and gestures, tears falling, as if both crying and not crying.
Hassan: She saw people dressed like you enter the cave yesterday. Several of them.
Hassan: They were injured, and her sister is caring for them. She was too terrified to tell anyone ...
Hassan: Because the enemy would never spare her or her sister if they found out.
Aleksei: After the mission, she could come back to the base with us. It wouldn't be hard for her to find work in the city.
Hassan: Stop it with your excessive kindness, brother Aleksei. I'm begging you.
Aleksei: If what she says is true, then Zeno is in her debt.
Hassan: sigh What do you think, little comrade?
Lilya: Hassan shirked the decision to me. My heart softened for a second, I guess, and I agreed with Aleksei.
Aleksei: I should still have some money on me.
Rummaging his pockets, he pulls out a crumpled local banknote and hands it to the woman.
She hesitates, not wanting to accept.
Aleksei: Is she ashamed to take our money?
Hassan: No, what you're giving her is worthless paper. Over here, you'll have to give her some "real" money.
Hassan: Aw man. Guess I'll handle this.
Hassan reluctantly retrieves a crumpled bill from the sole of his shoe and hands it to the woman, uttering a few words.
Hassan: Now she'll guide us.
Averting her eyes from Aleksei, the woman limps ahead. He wants to talk to her, they can't get past the language barrier.
Aleksei: You see, Hassan? Being kind to the locals does pay off.
Aleksei: With the support of the locals, Zeno's work here will be much smoother in the future.
Lilya: She's leading us the right way. In the right direction, at least.
Lilya: We're getting closer to the signal.
Aleksei: Will we find any herbs in the cave, Comrade Hassan?
Hassan: Yes, but not many. These plants prefer sunlight, so they should be mostly near the entrance and in the general vicinity.
Aleksei: Good, it seems we can accomplish two objectives with one action.
The young man is pleased that his earlier deeds have borne fruit.
Good deeds are rewarded, and evil deeds are punished. He firmly believes this.
Hassan: That cave is the one.
The four of them walk to the slope outside the cave, where several shell casings lie scattered about.
The woman speaks with Hassan briefly before limping into the cave by herself.
Hassan: She's asking us to wait while she confirms there's no one else inside.
Aleksei: Does she live around here? We didn't see any villages on the way here.
Hassan: Who knows? She could be a refugee from anywhere. War is everywhere these days, not even the mountains is spared from its chaos.
Hassan: And women have particularly suffered in these tumultuous times.
Hassan: My wife was a refugee who fled from the north. We met after her escape, and we got married. She is such a good woman.
Lilya: Hassan spoke of his wife with the same pride as Aleksei spoke of his family.
Lilya: We waited for a few more minutes at the cave entrance.
Hassan: What if this is a trap?
Hassan: What if she took my money and ran? That's my hard-earned cash!
Hassan: When we get back, you two better vouch for me! I fronted cash for this mission! Zeno should reimburse me!
Lilya: Just then, the woman came back out. She scoped around carefully before signaling for us to hurry over.
Lilya: Hassan led the way, Aleksei was in the middle, and I covered the rear.
Lilya: We entered the cave, flashlight in hand.
Lilya: Hassan was very cautious. He handed the flashlight to Aleksei, took out his gun and followed the woman closely.
Hassan: Better stay sharp.
Aleksei: There was a fight here.
Lilya: The ground was littered with bodies and splatters, some of the dead stripped of their coats and boots.
Lilya: These were our guys. The enemy wouldn't be caught dead with these metal tags on their belts.
Aleksei: Were the ones who shot at us wearing clothes they took from here?
Hassan: Most likely.
Hassan: Why can't I hear anyone else around?
Hassan: It's odd. Our people wouldn't just leave their comrades behind.
Lilya: Hassan wanted sound, and sound he got.
Lilya: As we hit a fork in the cave, the woman let out a sudden yell and ran into the shadows.
Lilya: I later learned the meaning of the word she kept yelling: "Revenge."
Hassan: This can't be happening!
Lilya: Hassan pulled the trigger, the woman fell, and we were under fire.
COMBAT
A bullet can end a life in an instant, with the pull of a trigger faster than thought.
It was a less than ideal victory.
Hassan: Arghhh!
Hassan: Hahaha ... getting shot in the leg &@#$ing hurts.
Hassan grips his leg, bloodied by a bullet.
Aleksei: Luckily, the bullet only grazed your leg and missed any major arteries.
Aleksei inspects the wound, relieved to find it less severe than he thought.
Aleksei: Can you walk, Comrade Hassan?
Lilya: I can give him a hand.
Hassan: It hurts, but it's no big deal. I don't need a crutch.
Hassan: They didn't take the dog tags. We have to collect our brothers' tags. We can't forget them.
Lilya: Hassan's face was stricken with sorrow as he yanked the tags with his comrades' names from their bodies.
Lilya: He stumbled while bending over, falling onto a corpse.
Aleksei: Let me help you, Comrade Hassan.
Hassan: No! This is my responsibility. I was the one who brought them out of the village and to this camp. I was the one who shared Zeno's meals with them!
Lilya: Had it not been for the hired mountain folk, Zeno would've struggled to get anything done in that place.
Hassan: When the boss comes with reinforcements, we have to bring them all back. We can't leave them dead here in this cave.
Lilya: That was when I had a feeling—that either Aleksei or myself would be the one to carry back Hassan's tag.
Lilya: Or maybe it would be Hassan to carry back ours.
Lilya: I remembered that scene at the Juhalerat airport before takeoff.
Lilya: We saw black metal coffins being unloaded from a transport plane, each with a tulip on top.
Hassan: How many were shooting at us just now?
Lilya: Three.
Hassan: Did you finish off their bodies with head shots?
Aleksei: I did.
Aleksei: No wait, only two bodies were there!
Hassan: D**n! One got away! Don't let your guard down!
Lilya: Even if he does get away, he'll croak before he gets far.
Hassan: Just stay alert, little comrade.
Aleksei: What now? Go back or go deeper?
Lilya: We're close to the distress signal. Our comrades are somewhere in this cave.
Is it a retrieval of allies, or a retrieval of bodies?
Hassan solemnly takes his money back from the woman's corpse.
The blood-soaked bills return to their place, nestled between Hassan's torn sock and the sole of his shoe.
Hassan: Don't forget to remind Zeno to reimburse me when we get back, comrades.
Lilya: After Hassan got his money back from the woman, he didn't leave right away.
Lilya: He picked up something else from the ground.
Lilya: He stared at it for a while, then tucked it into his pocket.
Lilya: His expression was haunting, a blend of regret and other emotions I didn't quite understand.
Lilya: Aleksei stooped down to help him stand, and Hassan accepted his kindness without protest, for once.
Aleksei: Are you alright, Comrade Hassan?
Hassan: I'm fine. Let's go!
Hassan: "A limp in your gait doesn't determine your fate!"
Lilya: Where'd Hassan learn these sayings, anyway? It sounded exactly like something Aleksei would say.
Lilya: We explored deeper into the dark maze of a cave, our flashlights guiding the way.
Lilya: The battle had left us exhausted and silent, moving real slow.
Lilya: Hassan was collecting the tags of every comrade we found.
They find corpses with pus-filled wounds, flies feeding on the sickly yellow discharge.
Lilya: That wicked, evil poison.
Lilya: Hassan closed the eyes of each body.
Lilya: Whether they were friend or foe.