Before being sent to Syria, the 10,000th group had less than 40 hours left. As a result, absolutely everyone gave himself up to his full training. They had to not only hone their skills, but also make it look like they were born with them and perfected them until now. Both the training ground and the area around were filled with screams and sounds of shots, explosions, and it was also heard how heavy steel tracks cut through the ground and the sky was cut under the onslaught of helicopter propellers of all possible purposes. At the same time, if one can say so at all, the greatest strategists of this group, being at headquarters, were developing a plan of operation. And any moments that went against the plan.
At the training ground, which was set aside for urban conditions, many groups, including the Quiet` group, practiced both the assault and the defense of various buildings. The training was to sow among all groups a feeling of misunderstanding and fatigue in order them to adapt to them and be able to either ignore them or solve them in the shortest minutes. But there was one group that still held one two-story building — the Quiet` group.
This group, not only in the eyes of the mercenaries who stormed the buildings without respite, but also in the eyes of the instructors, was an eyesore. Only in the first it evoked a feeling bordering on anger, and they improved their skills with only one goal - in order not to seize this building. For the latter, this group evoked a feeling of disgust and, at the same time, admiration. They were not only able to retake the building from the instructors, whose experience was considerable, but also to keep it for a very long time.
At the same time, the Quiet` group, which had repulsed the attacks on their building without interruption, was not in the best condition. Due to fatigue, they not only lost one of the group members, Pillar, but were on the verge of having the idea of surrendering the building overwhelm them. Fortunately, their fighting spirit did not allow this thought to absorb them, and they held out for the necessary time allotted for training.
The instructors, after giving them almost an hour to rest, reported the incident to senior management. He slightly, but still changed one of the parts of the plan reserved for the imaginary hold of the main street. They quickly created a special, taking a little bit of each, a workout that included absolutely everything. The essence of this training was to create a squad capable of coordinating in absolutely any conditions, and retreating in case of emergency, toby the perfect teamwork. Also, one of the goals of this training was to learn how to use any small arms and other weapons, as well as enemy armored vehicles. Since they knew about every technique that the three opposing armies had, they needed to learn everything about it. If they had no problems with Russian weapons because they were stationed in Russia, then with others they had to build brick by brick theoretical knowledge about the weapons of the American and British armies during this time.
As soon as the time allotted for rest was over, almost instantly, the Quiet` group was redirected to a special part of the training ground. The line-up, which slightly recovered its strength, was forced to fully learn the possession of weapons of the British and American armies. For more than 10 hours they absorbed knowledge about enemy weapons and improved themselves in the possession of Russian weapons. Finally, they were given time, which was given not just for a break, but for a whole rest, which certainly pleased them, although it was only 4 hours.
Returning to their room, everyone lay down where they could. Quiet abruptly, with shortness of breath, sat down in an armchair that stood in front of the reading table. Behind him, Cake fell onto a huge ottoman, falling asleep almost instantly. Pie lay down on the bench, looking up at the ceiling. And Pillar and Date sat on the usual chairs that stood not far from the bench. It would seem that ordinary furniture but bringing unprecedented pleasure after hellish training.
— I'm going to die now… — Pie said in a barely audible voice.
— I never thought… I thought I would agree with… this guy… — Stolb was saying, staring up at the ceiling.
— It's so hot… — said Data, taking off most of her clothes.
Even though there was a practically naked girl in the room, no one cared about this. Even the low temperature, which seemed to flow around the girl, without taking her into her icy embrace. Suddenly, for everyone, Quiet began to talk about himself.
«I never thought I would experience something like this again». You know, — he began to speak, smiling a little, — I already experienced this feeling. In the past, before I met you... I didn't think I could feel something like this with someone else. So, I'm really returning to the roots, everything is returning to them ... Family, yes, — he raised his hand in the air and began to examine it, — you are now my family. So, you have a right to know my story? You don't have to hide anything from your family, right? When I was still a youngster, I came here on the trail of my ambitions. The fire in my eyes burned, and my heart fluttered. That's when I met my family. Of course, there were moments when we fought among ourselves and so on. But there was one turning point when I lost my head and ruined my relationship with them. They all turned away from me and I don't blame them, but there was one who continued to stand beside me. I was immensely grateful to him. However, the fire in my eyes was slowly fading away, and I was moving away from everyone. And then the moment came when I killed those whom I loved with my removal from this world. And maybe this is not so, I understood that it was not I who killed them and that I could not save them in any case. But inner torment did not give me rest. I often re-read my album, but in which there are no photographs. Only memories recreate pictures from scratch ... But now, nevertheless, a small flame of life flared up in my eyes, breaking out of my soul, everything will become different. I will tell you a story about a guy whose vanity knew no bounds, and the emptiness in his soul was slowly filled with something unknown, like this something was called love. The more the emptiness in his heart was filled, the less the fire of vanity became in his eyes. And, finally, love filled the darkness that lurked in the boy's heart. The fire of vanity was replaced by the slowly growing flame of love. But something terrible happened and the haze of something terrible sowed a seed of discord in his heart. The fire of love was replaced by a black flame that reaped everything around. Because of this, the guy ruined everything he valued so much ... Having let go of what he valued so much, he left the world where these feelings took possession of him, and he returned to the mainland. But, although the guy thought that he had rejected these feelings, they did not leave him and began to slowly tear his heart apart from the inside. He came back to dispel these feelings and he succeeded. Now he had an emptiness in his soul, and his eyes looked into nowhere, completely extinguished. But he found those who threw a match in his heart, and so little by little, throwing matches every second, a familiar feeling arose in him again. Feeling of love. And his eyes were filled with fire, whose purpose was to protect those who tossed these matches.
Having finished his monologue, Quiet slowly lowered his hand, putting it on his face. The hand began to slowly remove the mask, under which the face of an ordinary guy was hidden. It was neither beautiful nor ugly. Quiet put the mask on the table, after which tears appeared on his face, either joy or sadness. He finally abandoned the past, replacing it with the present. Now he no longer needed the mask. He slowly got up from his chair and, opening a white-bound book on the first page, walked towards the door. Less than 20 minutes left until the end of the holiday. He opened the door and turned around to say something.
There is a continuation of that story in the book. If you are not interested in it, close the book, please ... — his voice was filled with sadness, and the door was closed.
There was an awkward pause in the room. Everyone looked at the book, thinking about their own. Even Cake, who was lying half asleep, turned around to look at her. Soon Pie dispelled the deathly silence.
— So, shall we watch?
There was still deathly silence in the room, but it was soon dispelled by the creaking of a chair. It was Date who got up and walked over to the book. She had already forgotten that she was in her underwear. Immeasurable interest overcame her, however, like the others. She glanced at the first page, which came immediately after the flyleaf. She was empty. She slowly turned the pages one by one until the first sentences appeared in the middle of the book. Each was identical to the other and spoke of regret. After a couple of pages, there was a detailed account of the mission Quiet spoke about. Date began to read it aloud.
— This morning we were sent on a target acquisition mission. This will be the fifth, anniversary, task behind my shoulders. «Yeah, sort of like a vlog». In a couple of hours, we will be at the target... — then several pages were torn out or crossed out, — ...we have wounded. This shouldn't have happened. We are under... — then the page broke off on a tangent, — ...the Americans appeared. I'll try to delay. A thick fog hovering in the air, which interferes with the instruments, I'll have to shoot by eye...
With these words, the book ended. The subsequent pages were as white as the binding itself. Date put the book on the table. Then she began to dress. She accidentally tore a T-shirt by negligence, after which she was visited by one thought. Having fully dressed, she approached the book and, having carefully examined it, began to tear off the cover that was glued to the true appearance of the book. As it turned out, the binding was well glued only to the outer sides, while the title and description under it remained intact. She ripped off the entire cover and revealed the true title of the book.
— «History of the Falcon. A story about identity change. How Gregory Became a Traitor». Who is Gregory? — she wondered aloud when she saw that Gregory was also listed as the author of the book.
There were about five minutes left before the end of the rest. She, throwing on a jacket, abruptly ran out of the room, heading for the old-timer who had previously butted into their conversation. Quickly finding him, she asked about who Gregory was and who he was, and also mentioned Falcon in passing.
— Gregory, right? — he scratched his chin, — There was one such ... Ah, I remembered. He was one of the squad members where Quiet was a sniper. Ah, I told you about the Quiet` group with the gas mask emblem. So, the detachment was called a falcon, and Gregory was a scout in it. I don't know how you found out about him, but he's been in the grave for a long time. Although, remembering ... His body was never found. Oh, also one of the members had the name Gregory. It turns out two Gregory in one group. One is real, and the second is his clone as a callsign. Interesting…
After a strange dialogue, Date returned to the room with the others. The room where there were four people seemed empty. They packed their things and were just about to leave the room when Quiet opened the door. He also collected his things and, completely forgetting about the book, went with his comrades to the next training session.
∆
The airfield, which used to be empty, was filled with cargo planes. Each of them loaded either equipment and weapons, or personnel. By seven o'clock in the morning, the airport began to slowly empty. All equipment was already loaded and sent, as well as, practically, the entire composition. In the last plane that took off from the runway, there was a Quiet` group surrounded by equipment. Their group was the last to fly out, as they were given another briefing until the last opportunity. Each of these planes was heading to Syria. Known to everyone as the War-Scorched Land. Everyone who goes there, or flies knows what awaits him there.