//------------------------------//
// 5. Mankind 
// Story: PONYSHKA 
// by Reviewfilly 
//------------------------------//

For a few moments nothing happened. The three men continued to train their guns at the four in front of them. The fire continued to pop and crackle cheerfully, illuminating their worried faces.

Finally, ever so slowly, the fifth member of the group emerged. He was a young man, similar in age to Maxim. He had a raised rifle in his shaking hands and was panting from fear.

“Son, listen to me and you will not be hurt. Drop your weapon and raise your hands,” Sergei commanded. His voice was firm, but far softer than the one he used against the leader, almost fatherly. The kid, however, merely continued to stare at him with wide, unfocused eyes. He was clearly in shock. “I will not tell you again. This is your last warning. Drop the gun.”

Despite Sergei’s words, the young soldier remained frozen. His breathing only quickened as his glance bounced between the three men.

A moment later the room was filled by sounds of gunfire.

“Shit!” screamed Maxim as he tackled Sergei to the side. As they fell he was jerked back by the wet impact of a bullet hitting his right arm. The two landed on the ground with a loud thud behind the remains of a jeep. At the same time Aleksei aimed his rifle and shot the kid dead, before taking shelter behind a box on the other side.

This broke the four remaining men’s stupor and they all reached for their own guns and dove behind boxes themselves. The sounds of panicked panting filled the room.

“Brother, let’s be reasonable here,” the leader of the soldiers yelled across the room. “You are outnumbered and your friend is wounded. As an apology for my subordinate’s disobedience I’ll forgive you his death and allow you to walk out from here now with your men. Enough blood has been spilled already. I swear it on my mother’s soul that we will not follow you.”

Sergei gave him no answer. He looked at Maxim, who quietly sobbed from the pain, while grasping his right arm. The seeds of doubt sown in his mind began to germinate and bloom. Why not just accept the truce and walk away? One of his comrades was already wounded and there was no guarantee they’d win this fight. Why were they even here? Were they really prepared to throw their lives away for a horse creature they’d only met a few hours ago? His mind buzzed like a badly-tuned radio and his thoughts seemed almost foreign.

The old soldier waited a few seconds for an answer. Upon realizing none would come, he sighed and spoke again.”Look, I don’t know what makes you want to get through us so hard, but I must warn you there is nothing here worth losing your life over. We are on our last leg. It’s why we’re cooped up in this shitty warehouse in the first place. That anomaly I mentioned before? It’s some kind of portal, we’re not sure where it leads. We just recently sent three of our men through and have been waiting for their return. We hoped they might bring back a few artifacts with themselves, but that was hours ago. Surely you don’t want to risk yourselves for something like that, do you?”

Sergei looked into Aleksei’s eyes for a moment. The younger stalker was still panting from the adrenaline rush, but he gave Sergei a small nod. As he looked back, his eyes glinted with yellowish light from the fire for a moment. “We want it,” came his calm answer.

“That is a shame, brother.” The soldier’s voice rang with solemness as he nodded to himself. The sounds of shuffling could be heard from the other side and for a moment he hoped the stalker’s words were merely talk and they really did leave. However, as he peeked out the door was still closed.

“Fucking stalkers, nothing more than unhinged animals,” he whispered in a disappointed tone as he spat to the side. He turned towards his comrades and pointed towards the row where the three men hid. “Let’s smoke them out.”

The soldiers left their cover and slowly made their way towards the stalkers’ hiding spot. They held their breaths back as they passed box after car. Eventually they came in front of the row where the trio was hiding. The soldiers looked at each other. In the confusion they didn’t bother to check which side the stalkers dove behind. Choosing poorly would be a death sentence, even with their superior numbers.

“Last chance to surrender. Lay down your gun and walk away,” the leader called out, looking from left to right, trying to gauge where they might be hiding. Come on, idiots, give me some stupid insult or just a grunt or anything. Let’s make this easier for everyone.

Suddenly Maxim’s soft groan rung out from the left side.

The soldier smirked. It was too easy. He nodded to the left and he and his comrades rushed in.

They only found Maxim lying on the ground.

“Wait, no!” the leader screamed, before his head slammed into the concrete with a new hole in it from Aleksei’s rifle.

Before the others could have gotten any chance to react Sergei leaned out from behind his cover and shot two of them in the chest. They collapsed after each other with soft thuds.

The final man dropped his weapon. He slowly looked down at his dead comrades with a blank stare. He gulped dryly and raised his eyes towards the stalkers. Without saying a word he turned around and began running back towards the camp.

Maybe he could still escape, his mind told him. The stalkers had no reason to hurt him anymore, did they? He was unarmed, he wasn’t even there. Maybe-

Without hurry or hesitation Sergei aimed his rifle at the man and shot him in the leg. He stumbled forwards and collapsed into the fireplace with a loud thud, kicking up a million sparks. A moment later his coat and hair caught fire and he began screaming and begging, swatting himself in blind pain. Sergei took a step closer to the man and aimed again. Another shot rang out and the last soldier went limp.

The metallic smell of freshly spilled blood mixed with the revolting stench of burning flesh slowly began to fill the room.

As he lay on the ground, Maxim’s coat began to redden. He sobbed from the rhythmic jolts of stabbing pain. Having confirmed that everyone else was dead, Sergei and Aleksei rushed to his side.

“Are you okay kid? Can you stand up?”

Maxim winced and tears began falling from his eyes, but he gave them a small nod. Putting their hands under his armpits, the two men helped him up. “Slow and steady... Okay, careful now. There you go.”

They helped him out of his coat and Sergei sucked in air between his teeth as he inspected the gash.”Kurwa, that is an ugly wound. At least it didn’t hit any arteries, so you’ll live. We’ll get you to a doc after we’re done, but until then here, take this.” He reached into his coat and pulled out a small metal flask. He twisted off the cap and handed it over to Maxim.

He took a swig and gagged from the strong spirit burning his tongue. He forced it down regardless and felt the warmness spread in his body.

He rested his back against a box, while Sergei took out a small cloth from his pocket and dampened it using the liquor before tying it over the wound. Maxim hissed and ground his teeth as the alcohol burned the wound. His knuckles went white as he held onto the box behind himself.

“Thanks,” he groaned and wiped his tears. Soon the pain dulled a little and he tried to roll his shoulder. It still hurt, but at least he was still on his feet.

“Right, that’s that. Put your coat back on, we can’t have you catch a cold while that bullet is inside you.” Sergei packed away the flask, then wiped his hands into his own attire. “Aleksei, go back to the hallway and get the horse-thing inside.”