The wolves we has been firing at had just vanished into thin air. Yuli was kneeling now with the pistol, Fiddei and Fedot were standing now with their AKs level. I was standing, poised with my Mosin, scanning deep in the trees when I saw something move. It was four feet tall and around six feet long, it was massive.
Luka was still soaked in the bottom of the trench, shivering from the cold water and fear of the engagement.
I quietly talked to my group "Guys, I think there's something back in the trees. It might be a wolf or something but it's massive. Let's go and meet up with B".
No one said a word and began to move back across the highway. Yuli put the pistol in his pocket and dragged Luka out of the ditch and put him on his back and ran across the highway to Group B. Fedot and Fiddei were slowly inching back, letting Yuli go and take Luka, then start to hurry across.
I walked over, keeping my eyes on the wolf.
I reached the edge of the highway and crossed the ditch before turning around.
Slava and Yemelyan were helping Yuli deal with Luka. Fiddei, Fedot, Aleksi, and Alik were watching the forest around us and Sevastian was walking over to talk to me.
He walked over and stood at attention. He gave the basic gist of what had happened to them over the past 3 hours, "Bratan, we went and went through our first two grids and discovered nothing, encountered one hog and a few elk, then we came back here and ran into you guys and the wolves"
He stopped talking and just looked off in the direction of the giant wolf. Everyone had seen our fire fight and how they had all vanished. It had everyone on edge. Were these things watching them, was it a way of monitoring them. No one knew and silence fell over the groups as time passed.
After a minute I spoke up, "Let's go and head back to the main group. It's probably best to figure out a new plan with the mechanics team. We can also try and relax a little" When I stopped everyone just looked at me.
They all had that stare. They were out of it, looking through No Man's Land and realizing how they were now head first in it and not the safety of their cozy settlement anymore.
Sevastian was the first to move and he began heading back towards camp. Then everyone else followed suit.
-- 1 hour later --
We had gotten back to camp and the mechanics had the first ZAZ hooked up to the truck, with two guys working on the brakes and axels. They must have deemed the engine irreparable. The other one was being seen to by the other eight mechanics. Four were working on the engine, two of them were working on the steering, and the other two were checking brakes, necessary fluids and tire pressure.
They all stopped to look at the commotion when we walked in through the opening.
One of the guys working on the broken ZAZ, Borya Husev, hopped out and jogged over to me.
When he reached me he stood at attention like Sevastian.
"Hey Boss, so we got everyone busting ass to get her ready since her engine is actually in decent shape. Out of the two she had her spark plugs in and her piston heads were mostly there".
For some reason the men had decided on me being the leader of this whole thing, it's nerving having responsibility for not just me, but for all these guys.
"Unfortunately for our other sleek beauty, gah, her oil pan busted and she was missing her spark plugs and it's a whole mess, those savages completely ravaged her engine. So one out of two isn't the worst, we should have her ready within 12 hours if we don't sleep".
I cut Borya off, "Don't be an idiot, listen send five of the guys to the back of a truck and tell em to get some rest. We have two days, only work during daylight hours, shit hit the fan, the wolves are now ghosts or as tall as you or me and as long as a car. You guys are lucky they didn't find you, I want at least three guys armed and watching"
Borya's eyes went wide and his face pale. He looked at the rest of the guys behind me. Everyone had ran over here and was exhausted from trying to get to the relative safety of the trucks.
He spoke up, "Boss, can you talk to Lev, I'll go tell the rest of the guys".
I nodded and he ran off. Everyone had stopped working and was looking at my groups. Looking over my shoulder I could see them. They were gassed, tired, and barely standing or lying down or against a truck.
I took my gaze off of them and walked of ro Lev who had hopped out of the broken ZAZ and was walking to meet me.
Lev spoke first, "What's going on Boss? What is Borya telling the other guys?"
Lev was just like Borya, at attention.
I just sighed, "Massive wolf, bunch of ghost wolves, no sign of who we're looking for".
Lev just nodded and then relaxed and turned to walk back to the car to continue working when I stopped him.
"Lev, a moment?"
He stopped and turned around, immediately going to attention again, then he spoke.
"Yes Boss?"
"Where you, Borya, and Sevastian in the army at some point, the three of you always are in attention when speaking to me and you are the only three who do it, you amd Sevastian handled the wolf situation well, but Borya didn't, it's rattling my head".
Lev just sighed and looked down, he looked tired and shook when I had asked him that.
"Now that's a question Boss"