Chapter 3

On the third day, newcomers appeared in the village, refugees like me, about thirty people in all. Almost all of them were with their families, only five of them were alone. After their stories, the villagers calmed down and were no longer as angry and frightened as they were about me. The newcomers wandered around the village all day, looking for lodging and a permanent place to live. They came up to me, too, but the sight of the ruined building, the mountains of garbage, made me cringe and move on. Well, and my golems were frightening, not without that. And for nothing, by the way. Offer their help, I would take five families, and together it would be easier to restore the building.

On the fourth day in the village, when the two-story building was completely cleared of debris, right up to the roof, where I had to wield an axe, I decided to go on a reconnaissance of the surrounding area. Crawler was left on guard as usual, and Lumberjack and Chappy went with me. One of them was armed with his usual set of wrecker, the other I handed a long pipe, with a thick sharpened plate with a slanted point riveted on the end. It was like a machete on a spear-head. You could stab well with such a thing, if the enemy wasn't protected by thick skin or armor, and cut a good chop with it.

I drove away in the "loafers", having emptied the jeep of all the fuel, which had accumulated almost fifty liters. Good thing the engine of Cruiser was petrol, otherwise I would have had to sit behind its wheel, and I'm not sure that this powerful status car would pass where I was going to pull the UAZ.

I decided to drive for a reason, and in the direction of the huge city, where the newcomers had come from, expecting to replenish the food supply and get something for the exchange with the settlers. The refugees moved on foot, often looping and waiting in secluded places. They chose the road at random or by looking out for interesting places from the tops of tall trees. They did not go into the woods, where their unit was halved by a pair of huge predators that easily bit people in half.

During one "aerial" reconnaissance from a tree in a tiny grove, they spotted smokes from the settlement's chimneys, invisible from this distance.

I understood the approximate direction to the metropolis, and then it will be seen, I hope I will not get lost or break down on the way.

The good thing about a big city is that even on the outskirts it is possible to make a living in the stalls, stores, cafes, and other interesting places for a marauder. In places like Vladivostok, almost all the outlets are closer to the center.

Perhaps somewhere on the outskirts, or even away from the outskirts, are warehouses with food, belongings, equipment, the same gas stations are on the roads at the entrances to the cities.

I moved only across the plain, avoiding approaching the edge of the forest. Dashing through the groves, always at speed, praying for one thing: not to tear off the cardan and not to break the bridge on an invisible stump.

I left the village early in the morning, but only about two hours after noon I saw the hardly noticeable high-rise buildings of the city.

- I was still out of the way," I said quietly to myself. - If I had gone farther, I wouldn't have seen a damn thing in the mist. I was so lucky.

An hour later I was again lucky when I saw a high embankment and a metal fence of a main road. Now I would be able to head for the city in a breeze and without wandering. I'd look around, send Chappy out as the fastest one, and then... whatever. I don't want to get ahead of myself.

After ten minutes, I saw a one-story building with a huge sign and a bus.

At once joy and apprehension were divided evenly in my soul. On the one hand, it is not bad to dig inside the building, if it is a cafe (and I am ninety-nine percent sure of it), then there should be stored food, which I already run out. But I feared that such a tidbit had already been gutted by the rescuers from the city, or that there was a gang inside (the bus was there for a reason), which could be a tough nut to crack for the golems.

I put it in third gear and drove forward at a low speed, getting ready to slow down, turn around, and run away at the maximum speed the home-built vehicle could squeeze out of itself.

When I got half a kilometer away from the cafe, I saw that the front of the bus was crumpled up and something strange, like a very large animal, was lying next to it.

- Bastard! - I slammed on the brake and quickly, quickly twisted the steering wheel, swerving to the side to make a U-turn.

In the animal, even from such a great distance, I recognized a hyena, which had almost ripped off my head in the woods, only this one was even bigger. The size of a bull!

And at that moment several thin, half-dressed figures jumped out of the building and waved their arms, one holding some kind of brightly colored rag in her hand and waving vigorously in the air.

- What the hell was that? - I wondered, stopping the car.

A trap, or survivors asking for help? By the way, the carcass is still lying motionless, and the people, or rather girls, don't even pay attention to it. I still froze sideways on the road without completing my maneuver. Seeing this, a couple of unknown people jumped out of their seats and ran toward me.

After only a minute they were about fifty meters away, and I got a good look at the unknowns.

Girls. They were both about eighteen, luscious, well-shaped, both wearing short shorts and tight T-shirts, which was why they seemed half-naked from a distance. Both had their hair in a ponytail. One was dark-haired, the other had blond hair, their faces were Russian, very beautiful and disposing. But, given my age and the fact that I never met a girl, just lulling short meetings at cafes and a few times in Vladivostok directly at work (although there is still arguing who seduced who) with strangers from the parking customers to relieve stress, then I any member of the fairer sex is not over thirty seem a beauty queen.

- Wait a... child! Please... please... please! - shouted the dark one. - We... need... help!

I could barely make out the words they were saying because they were both running.

I gripped my rifle and went outside, ordering the golems to stay out of sight for the time being. So I am a hero, I must show myself in the best light - a lone fighter and a gun in his hands! The fearsome creatures in the salon would ruin that idyll. Maybe I'll get something other than kisses for saving my life. I'm not going to force you, but you could give me a hint, and...

- You... help... us? - interrupted the panting maiden's voice the stream of rainbow dreams in my head.

- Yes, but who - you? - I asked, getting ready to be serious.

- Us, our bus broke down, the driver... he... died yesterday. There's no one else in town, it's scary, we barely got out of there," the dark-haired girl said hurriedly. - You're the first one we've seen since that awful day. And there is no network, you can not call ...

- What's going on? - At last her friend finally caught her breath and joined the conversation. - We saw..." Then she looked at the dark girl. - We saw something strange, everyone was running, attacking each other.

They looked at my gun with apprehension, but nothing more. I guess the horror I had experienced earlier was stronger, as was the long loneliness and detachment from the news, than being frightened by an armed stranger.

- Zombies? Mutants? - I asked.

- Ah... yes," the dark one nodded. - Have you seen them too?

- My name is Alexander, you can call me Alex too, I will not be offended. Don't mind the car, I'm not from the ambulance, I just found an empty one.

- I'm Karen, - smiled stammeringly dark-haired girl.

- Milana.

- How many of you?

- Fifteen.

- How many?

They looked at each other frightened, and Karen repeated:

- Fifteen.

- You can't all fit in here," I sighed, "Not even in two rows.

- But..." Milana started to say, then looked at her friend and shut up.

- And we can roll into town and take another car, a bigger one, - quite quietly suggested Karen. - We almost all know how to drive. We'd go ourselves, but..." She was silent, too, as if the particle were a stop sign on the road, only in speech.

- And when you drove out of town, was there no one behind you? Or was there someone passing by who just didn't stop?

- There were a few cars, but when they saw what happened to us, they went even faster. And then there was no one else.

- Too bad," I said, seeing their incomprehensible look, and decided to explain: "Too bad, since no one else. So, even the outskirts have been taken over by the poison that turns people into zombies. Or something worse, like mutants.

- What happened, Alex? You don't know? - She asked the girl cautiously. - Anything at all?

- You, Karen, I'm practically the same age as you. I do not know exactly, but judging by the stars and the moon, we found ourselves in another world, where some of the laws of fairy tales work, yep, very scary fairy tales. My city was also poisoned and overrun by the living dead. I managed to escape and settled in a village about two hundred kilometers straight from here.

- What town are you from? Oh, you," Milana confused.

- From Vladivostok. It's a normal town, they mined coal there long ago, then abandoned it during Restructuring, and the mines were flooded over the years and it was decided not to reconstruct them.

- From Vladivostok? But how come... and we are from Norilsk, it's at the other end of the country, and he said it was two hundred kilometers away, - said the girl at a loss.

I shrugged my shoulders. Now I saw no point in reporting my suspicions that our cities by some unknown force had been thrown into another world, spitting on the distances between them that were before.

- But will you help us? - Karen reminded me of an old request. - The car is big, and we are small, even if we sit on our knees or standing.

- I already have passengers sitting there, and you certainly will not be happy with them, they're ... - I started looking for the right words, - uh, local sort of.

- What do you mean? - she said with bewilderment.

- You'll see for yourself now. If you run away, then I will not go after you, I will consider that it is better for all and help will wait from someone else. Stay here, I need to open the door, otherwise they will rather break them themselves.

I let Chappy out first, ordering him to leave his spear in the cabin. If anything, his fists are a formidable weapon in their own right.

The second to go was the Tin Man, also unarmed.

- Ahh...

- Oh...

The two girls stood there with their mouths hanging open, staring at the golems in shock, making unintelligible noises.

- They're iron golems," I announced my magical aides, and then I told them the version I'd tried on other people's ears more than once: "I got them for a chance, and they're good for me, and they help with household chores. He," I pointed to the Tin Man, "saved me a few days ago from a mob of zombies, and then from a monster like the one you have by the bus. They don't have much brains, but they're tough and docile.

- Why-why do you need them? - Masha asked stammering.

- To survive, don't you see? Without them, you'd easily be dead.

- He's a strange one," Milana jerked her finger quickly in the direction of the Tin Man, then put her hands behind her back. - He's got a pot on his head?

- It is the head," I muttered, a little hurt by this attitude toward my creation. - I made it out of what I had. Okay, your decision?

- Are you sure you're from the village? - Asked Milana a question.

I and Karen looked at her surprised with the same expression on their faces.

- Sorry, I forgot my passport and registration at home, - I jerked. - Yes, and the address is different.

- So you were told, if not, - in tone with me replied her friend than drove her into a blush.

- So what have you decided? - I hurried them with the answer. - With me, or will you stay here?

- I... I'll take my chances, - Karen said uncertainly.

- What do you mean?

- With you," she said quickly. - I'm sick of sitting here and being afraid. Even if you're lying, then-" she didn't finish, she waved her hand.

- Heh," I snorted, "you're a giver.

- I'm not! - She raised her voice a little, and looked at me angrily.

- I'll come with you, too, then. But first we have to go to the girls, tell them about you and the village, - quickly said her friend. - Maybe someone else will come with us, won't be afraid of... those... them.

- But first tell me what happened to you and where you came from so beautiful, - I said.

They looked at each other and said at the same time:

- We...

- Someone alone. Karen, you start, and Milana will complement.

It so happened that fate brought me together with the very real models.

Not catwalk hangers (I didn't believe it myself at first and commented on the catwalk, but was immediately brought up to speed), but promomodels and clothes models. The former had such bright smiles, dimples on their cheeks, and radiant, inviting looks (this is how I got the impression of the friendly, disposable faces of the strangers) that their faces attracted the attention of almost everyone, and with it, made them pay attention to the ads that went along with them. The latter advertised clothes, and here a magnificent figure came to the fore. All the girls were between twenty and twenty-one years old, the age when they were mostly taken as clothing models.

They were only just beginning to rejoice that all was well, when a monster jumped out from around the corner of a road café. The impact was so powerful that the huge windshield shattered into pieces and the cab was flattened on the right side, killing at the same time two employees of the modeling agency who were accompanying the girls - a man and a woman. The driver survived, but was unconscious, suffered head injuries, a broken arm, and a bruised chest. And died the second day, never waking up.

The monster wasn't any luckier. It had broken its back, for its hind legs had failed, its eyes had been knocked out or cut open, and its front leg had been broken, with a thick bone sticking out. It took a long time to die, holding a dozen or so girls hostage in fear for hours. All of the models got away with fright, and only a few got bumps and bruises.

After sitting in the bus until almost evening, without waiting for help, they ventured outside and looked for help in the cafeteria.

In vain.

Aside from badly gnawed human body parts and a complete wreck, they found no one. At night, trembling with fear, the girls crammed into a back room, piled everything they could find on the door, and sat like that until morning. When the clock showed the approach of noon, and the body of each began to insist on doing something, they got out.

Unfortunately for them, nothing had changed in the world: the bus was parked there, the carcass of the monster continued to lie beside it, and there were no firefighters, police or medics on the horizon.

Then the driver, the only adult in their company, died. Probably not without their help, as it was not with such wounds that one could carry a man from place to place.

By evening, because of the warm weather, the dead bodies began to decompose, and the nightmarish smell began to haunt the girls. For this reason, despite feeling hungry, no one wanted to eat. Their thirst was somehow broken by bottled water from the water cooler. Another day passed, and some were already on the verge of losing their minds. And there was a reason for that: at night they saw the local moon, someone knew a little bit about the starry sky of the Earth, and when they looked up they realized that they were seeing someone else's sky.

Again the tantrums, depression, and again a bite in the throat.

And then they heard the sound of the engine (it is what it is, I damaged the muffler a little and now the UAZ roared a little quieter than a jet plane) and saw a car in the distance. When it drove closer, we recognized the ambulance crew. At that moment, all apathy and stupor were gone. Half of them jumped out into the street, and the two who still had strength (and a lot of it, since they ran so fast for half a kilometer, which I personally could not even come close to this record now, although I ate and drank without embarrassing myself in any way), rushed to the stopped car.

And the rest I already know myself.

- All right, get in the car and let's go to your friends," I pointed to the front seat, then ordered the golems to load up.

The girls, who had stayed in front of the cafe, greeted me when I drove up, shouting with joy and tears on their cheeks. And if only six of them went out when I first arrived on the road, then as soon as the "loaf" clattered at the door, as everyone else poured out of the cafe.

- Karen, Milana, you talk to them in their own way, explain what's what and who I have in the car, - I said.

- Let one of the go... golems get out," suggested Karen, and pointed at Chappy. - "That one, he looks nicer. The girls will look at him from the outside.

- All right, but I'll bring him out later, when you've taken everybody aside so you don't scare him.

- Okay," she nodded, "I'll tell them we need to have a meeting without you hearing.

The two girls I knew jumped out of the car to their friends and, chirping something happily, dragged them fifteen meters away, to the corner of the building. And after that I got out myself, twisted my arms to the sides, stretching them a little, but more from nervousness, and then through a side door I let one of my golems out into the street. He glanced sideways at the frozen girls, whose wide-open eyes were clearly visible even from this distance, chuckled to himself, and chased Chappy inside.

No one was supposed to be in the cafe, so I wouldn't scare anyone.

The big room was in shambles and reeked strongly of garbage and a cemetery. Round tables and high chairs with chrome legs and backs were scattered around in disarray, some of them broken. Right in the center of the room lay a severed male head with its eyes wide open and covered in a whitish film.

The plastic counter was broken in the center, and the kitchen immediately behind it was even more destroyed than the hall (that must have been the impression, since there was a lot more breaking than in the hall). Several refrigerators had been smashed to rubble, and the meat and fish and dairy products that had been stored there had deteriorated in a few days to the point where the air inside the room seemed to consist only of decomposition products.

Covering my mouth with my sleeve, I walked past the kitchen further, on the way I saw part of a woman's chest, gnawed by powerful teeth.

Behind the kitchen I found two more refrigerators, an upright one and a horizontal one with a glass lid. In the first refrigerator, the food--slices, fish fillets, cottage cheese-had gone bad long ago, and I almost fainted when I opened the door and inhaled the stench that had escaped. But the second one contained small cans of canned food.

- We live," I muttered through my sleeve. - How lucky we are!

Through the glass I saw green tin cans of red caviar, blue cans of tuna, and in the next compartment were flat cardboard boxes of plastic-sealed slices of salmon and oily fish. All in all, twenty cans of caviar, fifty of tuna, and fifteen packages of two varieties of fish, two hundred grams each.

To pack it all up, I went back to the car to get a bag and at the same time a handkerchief from which to make a bandage for my face. And there Mashka was already waiting for me, stomping nervously a few meters away from the UAZ.

- А? - I looked at her questioningly.

- We agree to go with you, Alex, - she said hurriedly. - Only the girls are afraid of your golems.

I shrugged.

- I feel like I'm trying to talk you into leaving with me, or forcing you to leave. I don't intend to leave them here; they're a hundred times more useful than your model team. I'm sorry to be blunt. And they won't be able to follow the car on their own.

- Can I put them in the trailer? - she suddenly asked.

- What trailer? - I was surprised. - Where is it?

- Over there," she pointed at the building, "there's a small trailer on the other side. What if your golems can fit into it, they're made of iron, what would they do?

- Let's go see," I nodded.

The trailer was small, about twenty feet long, made of galvanized iron, with low arches on which a blue tarp was draped. Next to it was a Toyota of the ladies' series, which meant a small, almost Matiz-sized, bug-eyed car, a steering wheel with flowers and pink covers with bunny ears. Most likely the car belonged to a dead woman who had been bitten by a hyena inside the building.

- Have you tried driving it? - I nodded at the car.

- Only there were no keys in it, and we wanted to do it by wire, like in the movies. And broke it, I guess.

- Hmm.

The car had a broken driver's window, and when I leaned over it, I could smell the faint smell of burnt plastic. Well, everything is clear, these thieves had closed the wrong "wiring" and as a result something was shorted, I am sure the battery is dead, the fuses are dead too, though not all of them. I can try to start it, it's not a new and expensive model after all, I can bypass chip lock, put wires where needed, but I pity time. Yes, and where in this lupo-eye to move off the asphalt?

- Chappy, bring the trailer to the car," I ordered.

While the golem carried out the order, I decided to look around on a small parking lot, enclosed by a fence made of chain-link fencing.

Apart from a car with torn "wiring". there was nothing else here. But then a tiny outbuilding with an iron door caught my attention. Next to it was a box with a lid containing sand, above it a fire shield with a bugle and a crowbar. When the golem came back to me, having carried out the orders on the trailer, I gave a new one to break down the door. Even if there was nothing inside, I could use the door itself with the steel angle box. Now, with the trailer in mind, I have somewhere to stack my trophies.

But Fortuna decided to give me another kiss on the lips.

- This is just a holiday! - I murmured, rubbing my hands with pleasure. And with good reason. Outside the door was a powerful Japanese gas generator with seven kilowatts of power.

You could have guessed it yourself, at a distant point from the city with a lot of refrigerators and customer visits, it was impossible to do without an alternative source of electricity. So it wasn't luck at all.

- What's that? - immediately asked the girl, bewildered watching my joy.

- It is a generator of electricity on gasoline, and I'm very, very useful thing. Fuel, of course, will be a lot, but if you do not turn on often, or find an endless source of gasoline, then refueling is not a problem.

- Ah, I see," she stretched out, but judging by the look, she had no understanding of the situation. Anyway, in a month or even sooner she herself would dream of such a find.

I stayed outside the cafe for almost two hours. First I shoved the door into the cabin, then I looked for a solution on how to attach the trailer to the car. To a bumper - too weak, and there was no towbar, though there were bolt-holes for it on the back part of the loaf's frame. As a result UAZ had a hole in the floor in the back part, bent back doors and a piece of armature, twisted around the frame through the floor, which tightly connected the truck and trailer. Tight - yes, and there's no way to get rid of it quickly now, if the situation requires it. Petrol generator was fixed with a rope in the cabin, so it would not break the girls' legs when we jump on the bumps in the fields and forests.

In addition to a few packs of flour, sugar, salt and spices, canned goods, and vacuum-packed fish, I took three cooking induction hobs. I really wanted to grab a table, some chairs, especially the fancy leather chair I found in the small office, but there wasn't room for it all. The rest of the trophies did not inspire: a few skeins of wire torn from the wall, outlets, switches, two square lamps, a dozen short tube lamps to them, three desk lamps and five energy-saving lamps to them, some crockery. Hopefully, at least some of the stuff I can get to the village and not break. There's no telling when I'll be able to get out of the village, and the wiring and lamps will help me with lighting my new place.

I put the golems in the trailer. That's right, I did. They lay on their backs, shoulder to shoulder, with their legs bent at the knees and their arms gripped tightly to the sides. In addition, I ran a wide tow rope, found in the Toyota, across their chests.

Taking one last look at the distant city that beckoned with its treasures, I steered the car back to the village.

I decided to go back by a long detour, bypassing all the forests and groves and moving only along the plain. The maximum distance on asphalt to get used to the trailer, which was hanging out behind and had a great influence on the steering.

The track ended after forty kilometers and I had to clench my teeth tighter and pay more attention to the golems so I could spot them if they flew out of the trailer in time.

All fifteen of the girls somehow made it into the UAZ. Three of them, my two acquaintances and their girlfriend, who introduced herself as Anna, took the front seat. And twelve of us settled in the cabin. Good thing I got young, athletic and luggage-less passengers, so there was enough room for all of them and my trophies.

After about an hour of travel, in the grass, the broomstalks of which reached the windshield, something was shouted from behind me.

- What?" I barked, then glanced at the neighbors on my right. - What were they talking about?

- The car had just gone by. On the left was standing in the grass," Milana answered me.

I quickly slowed down, and when the roar of the engine and the rattle of the grass hitting the body faded, I turned back:

- What's that car over there? How far away? Who saw it?

I was concentrating on the road myself, and there was no opportunity to turn my head to the sides. Who had ever driven on the virgin soil, full of bumps and holes, could understand me.

- Me," one of the girls, a burly brunette, raised her hand in a very schoolboy way. - I could only see the white cabin in the distance.

- I see, stay here and keep your head down," I ordered.

Out of the car, I called Chappy to me and with his help climbed up on the roof and looked around from there.

The car - a Chinese truck-truck, I saw immediately; with its white booth, which, apparently, the girl took for the cabin, it stood out clearly in the grass. But besides the truck I saw a small town, or something like a huge factory, about six kilometers away: walls and workshops of concrete blocks and slabs, round pipes of brick with crumbling tops, and so on. But it was worth taking a closer look, longer, and...

I sat down and slammed my palm on the roof a few times, drawing attention:

- Who's the sharpest eyes up there? Come up to me.

A minute later, a pretty (though they're all pretty here) blond girl with a short haircut stood next to me on the roof.

- Hi again," I smiled at her, "what's your name?

- Ella.

- And I'm Alex. Ella, look over there, please, what do you see?

The girl turned toward the distant strange city, put her hand to her eyes and after fifteen seconds said doubtfully:

- "It's a city, but it's strange. Maybe... it looks like a medieval or even Arab city. Alex, I don't know, it's the first time I've seen it.

- I see it for the first time too, so my eyes don't deceive me. All right, let's go back down and drive on.

- And the car? - She reminded me.

- A car? Oh, that one," I glanced at the truck, inwardly struggling with caution and greed. On the one hand, I wondered what had happened to it, or who had ambushed it, and on the other, I'd practically run out of food. The food I had was barely enough to last me a week, and I'd have to share it with the passengers.

- What if she's on the move? - continued to seduce me blonde.

- Even if it works, it won't go far across the field. Further there will be such gullies, that often have to go out to relieve the "loaf.

- But...

- Well, let's go for a drive, I was curious myself, - I decided to yield to temptation after all.

I sent Chappy, as the fastest of a pair of golems, to the car before I drove to it, and when he found no danger, I followed.

I looked around the truck and saw that the driver had left it for a trivial reason: he'd run out of gas. I had a small reserve of fuel - a canister. I found only two and a half 20-liter canisters in the cafe, apparently fuel for the generator, and I poured half of them into the UAZ. And in the bus was diesel, unfortunately. I poured it into two empty canisters and one bottle for the cooler, but the truck needed gasoline, much to my dismay.

Then I opened the doors in the truck and groaned with resentment.

- Alex, what's wrong with you? - Karen got worried.

- No reason, - I shrugged, - hurt.

- А? - The girl didn't understand me.

- It's a shame to leave it all behind.

There were twenty boxes of stewed meat in the car booth. Twenty boxes, each containing twenty-four cans of USSR stew, which cost over two hundred rubles in the stores because of its quality.

I climbed inside, lifted one box and mentally cursed: it was heavy. The cardboard box with canned goods weighed at least fifteen kilograms, all in all there were about three quintals of high quality and incredibly bartering goods. Let every third person in the village has chickens and ducks, and every seventh keeps piglets and goats, but no one will refuse canned meat. This thing does not ask for care and can be stored for a couple of years. In the new world, it's a real gold mine.

Let's do the math. UAZ , according to rumors, can haul about a ton without too much trouble if the road is good (and I have it awfully bad). Me and the girls, among whom there are no heavyweights, and each weighs not more than fifty kilograms, or even hardly up to fifty, eight hundred kilograms and a penny in the total amount we take on ourselves. Plus the generator, which weighs a hundred pounds (and I didn't even take the door, which weighed as much). Plus the trailer with golems, which the car has to drag. Bottom line: UAZ is loaded to the brink, already fifty kilograms will be risky addition. But how hard it is to leave such a mountain of goodness!

- You will have to squeeze, - I told the passengers who poured out of the loaf ".

I took six boxes in all, somehow shoving them into the cabin. And probably that incomplete pound was the straw that broke the camel's back. Already in the darkness, half an hour away from the village, the right springs burst with a wild crack. The sound was so unexpected that the girls in the cabin squealed with fright.

- Quiet, the car is getting in trouble. Don't worry - we'll get there, it's Russian equipment, - I said tiredly.

And we reached.

With a rattle, crackle, squeak and howl because of the damaged muffler the UAZ drove through the village to the base.

- That's it - we're home," I said as I turned off the engine next to the two-storey building. - The debriefing will take place tomorrow, and now we rest. But if who has desire to try to find lodging now, you can try, but do not count on positive result.

- And where shall we sleep? - one of the girls asked. - There is nothing here but ruins.

- Some of us can get in the jeep; six of us will make do, and those who are afraid of cramped conditions will be given a couple of blankets and a sleeping bag. In it, by the way, you two will fit, or cover them as a blanket, or lie on top as a blanket. Also there was a pair of winter jackets, in which you can also wrap up or put under yourself so that the ground was not pressed to your side. And in general, you'll figure it out, you're not little, and I'm tired to the point of impossibility.

I gave the girls some of my stuff, took my jacket, and closed up in the loaf car. I didn't even think about the fact that the guests could have dinner - my head refused to think after a hard day and a rough ride.