The men began to spring to action and walked back to the trucks, but there was still a eerie feeling in the air. Men began coming to the trucks where I and Yemelyan were standing with the map spread out on the side of the bed. On the map we had drawn a red line along our path here. There were 2 large boxes that had been sub-divided into three rectangles along the line.
I spoke up "Alright every one! We are going to begin searching in teams of five. Our four mechanics will stay behind and work on making the two cars road worthy. Yuli, Fedot, Luka, Fiddei and I will cover the Northern half of the grids in Team A. Yemelyan, Alik, Slava, Aleksi, and Sevastian will take the southern half of the grids in Team B"
I looked across the group of men gathered in front of me as I stood pointing at the map. No one reacted to my words, only stared.
I continued, "Each team will take a shovel and their assigned weapons, look for disturbed ground where the thugs might have buried them. Stay alert for any rats, we don't want to have to deal with another horde of them. Gigantic hogs and wolves are in the area, they are almost as big as grown men so be wary. Avoid engaging them unless they are attacking you since that will only attract more and more of them. Good luck, and hopefully it won't be too bad."
As I broke the meeting a somber mood swept over everyone, they knew why we were here. Looking for two dead men in an incredibly dangerous area. No one would want to be the one to find them.
The mechanics began to unload their tools and parts to fix the axels. Their job was make it so the cars can be either hooked up and towed, or if the engine is in good condition they will try to make it operable.
Team B began heading out as I checked in with the mechanics and were gone within a few minutes. The mechanics were all set and had their guns close in-case they were ambushed by any wild animals. My Mosin was on my back, Fiddei and Fedot had 47's, Luka and Yuli only had a pistol and the shovel.
We began taking on the easternmost portion of the grid it was about 400 yards East of the junkyard and it would extend back around 3 kilometers or 2 miles back.
Ahh this is gonna be a nice long walk
- 3 hours later -
The forest becomes deathly silent when disturbed, walking through the forest, the trees messed with the noises, footsteps materialized one second and the next the sounds would stop. Yet nothing was watching our party moving through the trees, at least nothing panting or breathing. Our group was in an arrow formation Fiddei and I were on the outside around Yuli and Luka, I was monitering the left side and Fiddei the right, we both were watching the rear. Fedot was leading the formation and focusing on the front. It was a painfully slow pace as Luka and Yuli were the only ones who could focus on the forest floor. Yet still their blood was cold and shaking, sneaking looks behind to where Fiddei and I were monitoring the rear. We were in an equal triangle with around 10 yards of spacing between each of us, Luka and Yuli were about a yard inside.
After covering the first grid square, we emerged from the depth of trees and onto the highway.
For the first time in around three hours the guys had relaxed. Yuli, Fedot, and Luka collapsed onto the edge of the drainage ditch flanking the road. Fiddei was kneeling, leaning heavily on his AK. It seemed my travels had changed me and my mentality, for I wasn't necessarily fazed, just the shoulders were a little sore. Then, movement from across the road, about 50 meters up the highway. Fiddei hit the floor like a brick and the other three rolled to the bottom of the drainage ditch within a second. I kneeled down and raised the Mosin, time slowed as I could make out three figures. I froze, aiming at the center of the largest one. I could hear Fiddei aiming his AK most likely in a prone position and Fedot fiddling with his in the ditch. Luka was up against my foot and shaking while Yuli was fighting to grab his pistol from under him while remaining quiet. For the first time in three hours sweat dripped from my face. Then Group B emerged from the trees, Slava emerged first and spotted us. But something was off he immediately pointed and shouted something that was lost to the distance.
But his finger wasn't pointing at me, it was pointing over my head.
I stood up and spinned, rifle slightly lowered, but still shouldered until I had reached a half turn and the barrel was parallel to the ground.
Fiddei rolled forward into the ditch turning around as he landed in the water pooled at the bottom.
Fedot rolled to have a position and spread his legs for stability.
Yuli dislodged the pistol from a crazed Luka and began to raise it.
I could hear shouts from behind, but they were lost as a trio of wolves was stalking our group from the treeline.
They were starved, ribs poking from their bellies, skin stretched thin and fur thinner. But their eyes. Their eyes were black voides with nothing occupying them and their noses were scarred and faces marred by foes they had previously battled.
Yuli fired his pistols first and second shots into the ground out of fear. My Mosin had reached the rightmost wolf and I fired sending the round in between the right and middle wolves. Fiddei was the first to hit as his AK roared and a round flew through the middle wolfs head, making it dissappear into the air. Yuli hit the right on with his pistol, also making it vanish. Fedot sent a burst through the left. The phantom wolves had vanished into thin air.