10 seconds
That was what we needed to get out, the past three minutes had felt like a few days had passed for some strange reason.
Must have been the rats.
We reached the city limit and the rats stopped. This would be important later on.
The Rats were so fast, that unless you were in a car or truck and could go at least 80 km an hour, you would be screwed.
--10 kilometers later--
Fiddei and I had been driving for about 5 ish minutes before we saw the trucks stopped on the road.
They had made a V shape with the trucks and were all watching amd we could see them shout to someone as we approached.
I stopped the car and Fiddei hopped out, I pocketed the keys as the men and Fiddei walked towards each other.
They looked worse for wear with some men just shaking and sitting up against tires.
A few men were being treated in the middle if the V as they had deeper cuts and scratches.
The rest were all looking around and were nervous wrecks, then I saw Yemelyan walking over towards me.
"Bratan! The fucking hell was that! We got ambushed by hundreds of rats, we have men in a dangerous position! If those infections swell up too much they may die!"
Yemelyan pointed at the dozen men who were being treated.
He continued on, "Also, what about the other group Bratan? They will have to do that as well! We need to head back and stop them, go around the city, they are probably only an hour behind us, and that is how long it will take to circumnavigate the city!"
I let Yemelyan calm down, he was pissed off, "I get that you're angry Yemelyan, when I first came through here and met Yaromir and Borislav, we were in a different time of day and the rats were probably elsewhere" I took a deep breath then continued, "If we stop to go back for the men we will be cutting into our already tight time-line, I get that you want to look out for them, but it is dangerous as well, if you ran into the rats they would just swarm you. We need to continue on or else we won't have time to search for Filips and the two boys bodies. Work with me Yemelyan, they will see the dead rats and probably know to avoid it, let's focus on our task, they will do theirs."
Yemelyan thought for a second and then got closer to me and whispered
"Bratan, we will continue on, but if anyone in Yaromirs group dies, it's on you, you feel me, Bratan."
He turned towards his men and spoke to them, "Alright! We're moving out, we got to get to the location as fast a possible guys let's gooo."
With that all the guys went and helped the injured guys into the trucks, the injured truck will be between Yemelyan and I.
We headed out onto the last stretch of road and worked our way to the location.
-- 4 hours later --
I saw the roadblocks a kilometer away and I swerved over to the left most lane of the highway and speed up a bit.
I then saw the fallen trees and put on my turn signal.
Yemelyan and the two KamAz's stopped as Fiddei and I hopped out.
I had my Kalashnikov on my back and my Makarov in my right hand as I walked into the treeline.
Fiddei was behind me with his rifle in hand scanning the treeline.
Then the cars came into view, the old van, the ERaz and the two red ZAZ's were sitting there. I turned around and saw everyone hopping out of the trucks and they were just stunned.
Yemelyan and the other drivers were just, swaying, in the wind. Then Yemelyan took a step forward, and then he began to run, he ran and opened the first car door.
All the others just watched, their demeanor hit rock bottom as the crows feet under their eyes began to become more prominent.
It was a sorrowful sight that had to wait. I walked over to Yemelyan. He hadn't moved since he opened the door, I peered in.
Yemelyan was leaning on the door at this point his legs were shaking as he saw the blood I had seen a few weeks prior.
I had to snap him out of it.
"Yemelyan hello? Yemelyan!"
He wasn't responding, so I was left with one last option.
Shouldering my Kalashnikov rifle, I looked around at the men around us who were as stunned as Yemelyan.
I wound up, and slapped Yemelyan so hard he fell into the mud, face up, toward the sky.
A few people watched as I squatted and looked at the man. Then I spoke.
"Yemelyan" I shook my head and sighed. "Get your act together, they are all watching you, you're in charge. Act like it, or Fiddei will be in charge of truck one and you will ride with me and Fiddei will thank you. Because I made his life an educational seminar on this God awful wasteland"
Yemelyan just looked at me, as I stared at him. I didn't know them, or his situation, but I had to ground everyone or else Kira would have my ass.
I stood up, "Let's get to work Yemelyan, Fiddei! Let's get Salvage Crews one and two working on the old van and truck! Salvage Crews 3 and 4, we will begin briefings on our search areas, let's get moving"
Someone had to take charge, Yemelyan knew these men, but he was still in the mud, so we had to get the gears in motion or else we would still working when Yaromir and Borislav rolled into camp. Everyone was just stunned by my blatant comments, but frankly, they didn't know the trouble we would be in when we got back to the settlement.