Chernobyl madness

A Story by Julia Ash

A short "horror story" about 4 young adults who by the choice of one thief end up in the middle of the deserted Chernobyl on their own with no road back. Everything in "zona" endangers their lives...

CHAPTER 1 IT’S ONLY THE BEGINNING! (PASHA)

It was early spring. The birds were chirping in the open window, and you could hear the cars passing by on the highway. I woke up and the first thing I did was call Lyosha. It’s been our tradition since middle school, to plan our day together. We were talking for about an hour when Lyosha said, “since your parents are not home, let's have a party!”

I had to think about that. I got up, opened the window curtains and said, “let me think about it.”

My parents are not home, but they left something for me to guard: ₽8 million. It is a very big amount of money, even a little kid would understand it, but not Lyosha.

“Lyosha, I can’t have a party, there’s ₽8 million in my safe. You never know what can happen. What if someone steals it?” It took him a second to digest it.

“Yes, but we can lock your room. So nobody can get to it.” I waited.

“They are going to Skype with me tonight, to make sure I’m not having a party and that the money is safe. Can you imagine leaving ₽8,000,000 in your house with a 17-year-old?” I went to the kitchen and opened the fridge.

“Does anybody else know about the money except me and your parents?” asked Lyosha, and I could sense that he said it with a grin. He just doesn’t get it. Apparently, responsibility is not in his aspects of life.

“Lyosha, ₽8,000,000 is not a small amount of money, you know that right?”

I took the leftovers of pizza from yesterday and stuck them in the microwave. As I pushed the buttons, I continued, “What if we catch the house on fire and my room is locked? What if I’m so drunk that I can’t even remember where the key from my room is? What if people are so drunk that they can’t even walk? That means that we are going to burn the money and kill over 20 people.” The microwave beeped that it was done, so I popped it open and took the pizza out.

As I took my first bite, Lyosha said with a confident voice, “I’ll take the responsibility for all the safety in the house.”

Oh yeah, I thought, you’d be the first one knocked out drunk on the couch. But out loud I said, “you know what? I’m going to stay sober until I talk to my parents, and afterward, we’ll see.”

I could hear Lyosha exclaiming excited on the other side of the phone.

“Yes!” he shouted excitedly, “yes, baby! It’ll be the best night Moscow has ever seen!” With these words, we started the list of people who we should invite. Of course, Lyosha decided to invite a bunch of girls. I’ve invited a lot of guys for diversity. In the end, we had forty-five people on our list, not including other classmates who might show up even without an invitation. I scanned through the list and without seeing Lyosha’s girlfriend on it, I asked, “What about Nastya?”

He coughed.

“Well, I’ll tell her that I’m sick.”

“I’m not getting involved in your relationship, so don’t you dare involve me in your arguments when she finds out the truth. She is a cool girl, and you’ve been together for like four years already. I just don’t get it why can’t you decide if you are right for each other.” I said to Lyosha while finishing off the first slice of pizza.

“Pasha, I love her and all of that, but she just gets on my nerves sometimes. It is much harder to have a girlfriend than it seems. And how would you know? You are single! Why don’t you find your soulmate already? Like Sveta from 12B”?

After these words, I almost choked on my piece of pizza. Sveta? Definitely not. I can’t even find a proper word to describe her.

“Lyosha,” I said after swallowing the bite that I had in my mouth.

“I just don’t have time for that. I can’t just come to every girl and say, ‘Do you want to be my soulmate’? That’s not how it works.” I heard him laugh.

“Chill bro, for tonight, our first priority is the party. But for right now, my first

priority is a shower.”

He said goodbye and hung up. Now. Party. Right. I looked in the fridge and found nothing except for a couple of coke cans and a bunch of sauces on the upper shelf. Well, I thought, my first priority is a grocery store.

CHAPTER 2 ”LET THE FUN BEGIN” (Lyosha)

As soon as I hung up on Pasha I ran to the shower. The warm water felt so good and I immediately forgot about the invitations I had to send out.

“Dang it!” The water turned icy cold for no reason and I jumped out, dressed, and went to get some food. The clock told me that it was 11:00 a.m. and my stomach let me know that I haven’t had any breakfast yet.

I opened the fridge and found some pasta and veggies from last night.

While I was heating up my food on the stove, I was thinking about an excuse for Nastya. I don’t want her to be at the party, because I have some plans in mind for tonight. Tonight’s got to be fun, but with Nastya, it is not possible to have a lot of fun at a party. She is always controlling me, and definitely won’t let me get drunk, but instead, she’d do it herself. That’s how our relationship works. She won’t let me do things, but instead, she’ll do everything herself. That’s totally unfair, you know.

While I was thinking about how to get rid of Nastya for today, I totally forgot about my pasta and veggies which were heating on the kitchen stove. That’s when I smelled something burnt from the kitchen. I rushed there just in time to get the pasta off the stove and save the rest of the veggies from burning. I scraped the pieces off the pot and stuck the pot into the sink. I was so busy cleaning the kitchen that I didn’t notice that it was already 1:30 p.m.

I rushed to my computer and started sending out all the emails to all the people on the list.

I’m not the most responsible person, as you can tell. Honestly, I’m not responsible at all. But I had to help Pasha in organizing the party. First of all, because he is my best friend. And second, it was my idea to have that party. Considering that Pasha has a very big amount of money at his house, he took the risk to have the party at his house just because I asked him. I can’t disappoint him.

Halfway through my work, I realized that I haven’t had any food except for two pieces of broccoli that tasted like chunks of coal. It was already 5:55 p.m., so I decided to have a small snack and call Nastya and tell her that I can’t hang out today because I was sick. And so I did. I ate some chips with spinach dip and was ready to call Nastya.

When I called her the first thing she said was “so, where are we going tonight’?

I didn’t hesitate and said, “actually, that’s why I’m calling. I got very sick and can’t even get up from the bed”.

A moment of silence followed a big sigh. “But…whatever. Do you have a fever? If you do, then what is it?”

That got me by surprise.

“I do,” I said. “102.4.” The first numbers that popped in my head.

“Baby!” She exclaimed, “That’s awful! Do you want me to stop by and get you some medicine?”

“No, thanks, I’m fine, I have some at home. I’m sorry that we can’t go out tonight,” I said. I really did feel sorry for lying to her.

“That’s alright, as long as you will feel better,” she said.

“Okay, baby, I have to go now, mom is calling me to help her in the kitchen. I’ll check on you later. Get well. Love.”

Well, I thought, that was easy. I looked at the clock and it was already 7:20 p.m. I sent the rest of the emails while talking to Nastya, so I changed, got some beer from the fridge and headed to Pasha’s. The party was starting at 8:00.

When I got there, people weren’t there yet, but I helped Pasha to make some salads and appetizers. At 7:50 people started coming in big waves. All the classmates we knew and invited were there, but like always there were those that were tagging along with the school crowd. I had a feeling that the party was going to be lit. It was lit until she came.

CHAPTER 3 BUT THE COMPUTER IS FIXED (NASTYA)

As soon as Lyosha called me, I knew that we were not going anywhere. I felt bad that he got sick. Of course, I did. I’m his girlfriend, I have to support him. Duh...I let him stay home. I made the impression that I was fine, like that it’s not a big deal at all.

We became distant over the 4 years we’ve been together. We needed a situation to really bring us closer or to tear us apart for good because what is happening right now cannot continue any longer.

With all these thoughts racing through my mind, I decided to go for a walk.

The weather was nice and warm and it was still light outside, so it was the best thing to do this evening.

I was passing by Pasha’s house when I heard music blaring out his window. I heard some voices. The windows were opened and I saw some of our classmates smoking. I stayed there for a second, remembering the conversation with Lyosha, and how he didn’t want me to come over and bring the medicine. And that made sense. What a coincidence! That’s how he was treating his sickness.

I decided to go upstairs just to say hello to Pasha. Guess who opened the door for me? Yup, you guessed it. Lyosha.

“Oh, I see how sick you are,” I said with a grin.

How could he? He didn’t answer, just kept staring at me. But then Pasha appeared.

“Hey, Nastya, I didn’t know you were coming.”

He looked at Lyosha, disappointment and with the ‘I told you so’ expression written across his face.

“I was just walking by and wanted to say hi, but I guess I better go home,” I told them, yet stood in place without moving.

I looked at Lyosha; he was staring at his feet.

“So, how’s your fever?” I asked him with a slight sign of disappointment.

“Nastya, I’m sorry,” he said, looking at Pasha like ‘say something, I’m in trouble.’

Pasha patted his neck and said “Well, Nastya don’t be mad at Lyosha, it was all my idea. I’m sorry.” He added with a slight smile.

“You can come in, of course, if you want to.” I wanted to, so I stepped in. As soon as I stepped into the living room, I felt the smell of weed and alcohol. Not that I’m not used to it. My parents are always smoking and drinking inside the house. But this time it was much worse than other times. It was mixed with sweat and some other smells that make you want to puke.

A couple of minutes later, I’ve caught the rhythm of the party and was chilling. I looked around, in search of Pasha and Lyosha, but didn’t find them. I went to Pasha’s room and caught them sitting by the desktop, talking. Pasha seemed worried.

“What’s wrong”? I asked as I got closer.

“Oh hey Nastya, I have to Skype with my parents, but my computer is broken. Lyosha tried to help me, but he can’t do anything either,” Pasha said to me, looking at the dark monitor of the desktop.

“I’ll call my slave Gosha, he is a computer genius, he’ll fix it,” said Lyosha.

“I have only one hour left,” said Pasha with a sigh.

“No worries!” exclaimed Lyosha, and got the phone out of his pocket.

Fifteen minutes later, Gosha showed up. He looked like a regular nerd. Dark hair, brown narrow eyes and of course, of course, glasses. He was skinny, dressed in dark blue jeans and a light blue sweater.

“What’s up, my dear slave?” Lyosha yelled at Gosha and put his arm around Gosha’s neck.

“Hey Lyosha, I’m glad to see you too,” said Gosha as he took Lyosha’s arm off his neck. “Nastya, Pasha, this is Gosha. Gosha, this is Nastya, my girlfriend, and Pasha, my bro.”

“Nice to meet you guys,” said Gosha with a shy smile as he was shaking our hands.

“Listen, Gosha, I need your help with my computer. I have a very important call to make, so make it quick. We’ll be in the kitchen,” said Pasha and led Gosha into his room.

Twenty minutes later, Gosha came into the kitchen where we all sat, talking because it was the quietest place in the house.

“There’s nothing to fix,” He said simply and looked at us with his eyebrows raised.

Pasha looked at him and raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?” He said with a confused expression on his face.

“Your computer isn’t broken, there’s nothing to fix.” He said with a shrug.

“Let’s call a technician in the morning,” I said since we had no more options.

“Yeah, that’s probably the best idea for now.” Said Pasha and headed towards the kitchen door.

“Let’s continue having fun, in the morning we’ll fix everything,” Lyosha said, heading after Pasha. We followed.

The night was great, we drank, we sang, we danced.

But the morning gave us a pretty hard time.

The first thing I saw when I first opened my eyes was Lyosha sleeping beside the pile of vodka bottles, and Gosha sleeping by the toilet. I sat up straight, trying to collect what seemed like little pieces of me, and I saw Lena tiptoeing out of Pasha’s room. The moment she closed the door behind her, Lyosha and Gosha started to wake up.

When Pasha came out of his room, the boys were fully awake. First, we decided to call the technician to fix the computer because Pasha needed to make a call. Fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang and a skinny short guy appeared on the doorstep. We told him about the problem and sent him to Pasha’s room while we decided to have some breakfast because all of us were hungry. We opened the fridge and found nothing in there. Well, that is not the best start of the day, I thought as I went to the sink to get a cup.

“We can order some pizza,” Lyosha said with a smile.

“You know, that’s a great idea,” Pasha said and pulled a wallet out of his pocket.

“I’m afraid I don’t have enough money though,” He said, looking at us.

“I don't have any money with me,” I said.

“Me neither.” Said Lyosha and Gosha together.

“Maybe we can get the money from the safe!” Said Lyosha excited. And later we’ll put it back, and your parents won’t even notice.”

I didn’t know what money they were talking about, but when Lyosha talked about it, Pasha gave a weird look that said he wanted him to shut his mouth. But it was too late. I didn’t insist on asking either of them, so I just pretended that I didn’t hear anything. About thirty minutes later, they appeared in the kitchen door saying that he was done, and the problem was with the router, not the computer itself. We gave him ₽150 and he left.

“To me, he seems a bit suspicious.” I pointed out as I turned on the stove and put the teapot on it.

“So are we going to starve today or make so decisions?” Said Lyosha clearly ignoring my statement.

“Yeah, right,” said Pasha. “Let’s get some money, but we’ll have to put them back as soon

as we can.”

He went to his room and twenty seconds later I heard him shout a bunch of curses.

“Go after the technician!” He yelled and we ran after him flying through the stairs. When we came out, he was already long gone by then.

“Dang it!” Said Pasha and came up to Gosha, taking his collar of his shirt in his fists.

“Did you know that freak?!” He yelled at him.

“No..o..o,” said Gosha notes of crying in his voice.

“Do you know the name of the firm?” I asked and Pasha let go of the Gosha’s collar.

“Happy computer.” Said Pasha.

“At least the computer is happy now...” I said, and we ran.

CHAPTER 4 HERE WE GO ZONA! (GOSHA)

As we came to that firm, we saw the technician’s bike standing by the curb. We went inside and ask the staff if they know who he is. They told us that his name is Misha and that he is in room 126 on the second floor. As we ran upstairs and found his room, we discovered that it was locked.

“Help!” We heard the voice of a girl coming from that room.

“Who are you?” Said Pasha as he tried to push the door harder.

“I’m Anya.” The voice said.

“I came here for the movie tryouts. Didn’t you guys?”

“Stay away from the door,” yelled Pasha, and knocked the door down.

The room was a big mess - I would never let my room be this dirty and messy. We saw a blond, pretty girl standing in the corner of the room.

“Hey,” said Pasha and came up closer to her.

“How did you get here? And where is Misha?”

“I came here for the movie tryouts. Aren’t you here for the tryouts too?” She said, surprised.

“No,” said Lyosha, looking at the pictures on the table.

“He stole something very important from us.”

“How did you get to know about the tryouts?” Asked Pasha, looking around the room.

“On VK. It said tryouts for young actors.” She said with a smile.

“Have you tried going to the police?” She asked, and Pasha and Lyosha exchanged glances.

“Not until this moment.” Said Nastya and smiled. I forgot that she was with us because she is so quiet, she doesn’t speak at all.

“So he basically kidnapped you.” Continued Nastya, and turned to the boys.

“He is twice guilty now. Do you want to tell the police about it?” She asked and turned back to Anya.

“Yes, I do.” Said Anya with no hesitation.

When we came to the police station, Pasha and Anya immediately went to see the officer, but me, Nastya and Lyosha were sitting on the bench outside the officer’s room. About thirty minutes later they came out, disappointed.

“How did it go?” I asked. Not that I was really worried, but they were my friends, so I was still worried.

“Not good. They won’t look for him.” He finished with a sigh of desperation.

“Only ₽1500 he stole from you? I thought there was a lot more.” Said Anya with a note of surprise in her voice.

“Eight million.” Said Pasha staring at his shoes.

“What?” Asked Anya.

“He stole 8 freaking million rubles.” Said Pasha angrily.

“Oh, why didn’t you tell the officer?”

“I saw how interested he was in it,” Pasha answered and sat on the bench beside me.

“What are you doing, Gosha?” He asked me as he saw me working through the video codes.

“Hey, guys!” I said.

“I found his Youtube account that he just created! He posted a video on it, just now!”

“Let’s watch it, then!” Said Pasha and leaned on the wall.

The video started and we saw a pretty fancy black motorcycle with blue fire paintings on it. And then he appeared on the screen,

“Good day, boys and girls! Or should I say, my favorite sponsors? My name is Misha, as you should know by now. And as you can see I’ve got myself a present on the money you provided me. And I decided to make my dream come true and go to the place I’ve always wanted to go to. And I’ll tell you where I’m going in my next broadcast!”

And he disappeared from the camera. But the video was still on. He jumped back and said,

“Haha, you believed me? I’m going to tell you right about the place I’m going to go to! Watch this little video that I made for you, my dear friends, and guess what my next destination is.”

The video started to play and we saw a big explosion, followed by the definition of radiation and mutation. There was a road sign where we read: Chernobyl.

CHAPTER 5 **** (Anya)

She always appears in my dreams. Every night she calls me to help her. I see mom and dad in that dream. The dream is the same every night. Her whispering the word “help” wakes me up and throws me out of my sleep. I won’t lie that it is not creepy and I am not turning the lamp on my nightstand on, because I am. She died when the reactor exploded. I never got to meet her: my older sister. I wish I just could go back and warn her.

“Guys are planning on going to Chernobyl.”

I’m standing and listening to the conversation when Pasha asked my number.

“What for?” I asked him.

“Just in case the police is going to bother.” He said and looked at me. Something in his eyes was sparkling, and I just noticed how good he looks. We stared at each other what seemed like forever when I came back to reality and said,

“Yeah, right.”

When I came back, Lena my neighbor, brought me a letter.

“For you.”

“But I never get letters,” I said, because it was true, I never get any letters from anyone. My parents died when I was four.

I was growing up with my grandmother, but she also passed away three years ago. Now I’m on my on just started the first year of college.

I carefully opened the envelope and found my sister’s picture. On the back of it, I found one word: ‘help!’

I dropped the envelope and called Pasha.

“I’m going with you to Chernobyl.”

We were leaving the following morning. I packed some things that I thought were necessary for my trip and left my apartment. We met by Pasha’s house and started discussing the transportation. It was our main issue.

“My dad has Volga parked in the garage,” Said Gosha, surprising every one of us.

“But he won’t allow me to take it to Chernobyl. The level of radiation is still very high there, even though the accident was so many years ago.”

“Gosha, you are still my slave. The repair of my bike cost me half of my salary.”

“Yes, right. Sorry. I’ll get the car.” He said it with such a sad voice that I wanted to cry.

“Gosha!” I said and ran towards him.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Anya, it’s my fault. It’s okay.” And he left.

An hour later we were ready to leave. When we arranged everything and were fully ready, the podcaster posted another video that he was stopping by some kind of wedding and bought them a car as a present. While Pasha was cursing under his breath, Gosha managed to track his address and we started our long journey to Ukraine.

As we established that, the podcaster was halfway to his destination, and when we were getting closer, we decided to stop by a store to get some snacks. While we were getting some food, Lyosha met a guy who was from Tajikistan. He said that he needed to get to the border. Lyosha had just had a brilliant idea to put him in the trunk of Volga and just get him through.

After two more hours of our journey, the podcaster posted another video where he said that he was in Chernobyl.

“Here we go,” said Pasha when we saw a little building with a bunch of soldiers around it. A bunch of cars were lined up on both sides of the building. When it was our turn to check up with the officers, they told us that we have to open up our trunk and get out of the car.

“That’s going to be fun.” I thought out loud.

“Tell me about it,” said Lyosha, nervously looking at the officers as they started checking up our car.

Thirty minutes later, they were standing with a gun, a bag of weed, and the person from Tajikistan.

“His name was Igor,” he told us.

Another thirty minutes later, and we were sitting at the police station waiting for our verdict.

“Well, everybody loves money, right?” Lyosha said with a smile.

“What do you mean?” asked Pasha.

“Oh, come on. We know that everyone in this office will set us free for money.” Lyosha smiled.

And so we started looking for the money, but we didn’t find enough to get us free. That’s when I remembered that I have my credit card with me.

“I have enough money on my credit card, but we have to convince them to let someone out to the ATM to get the money, ” I said with a smile. And we did.

Fifteen minutes later, I came with the sum of money they named and after another ten minutes, we were free. They took Igor and said that they’ll get him where he needs to be. They took the bag of weed but left the gun.

It was almost dawn when we saw an old rusty sign saying: “Welcome to Pripyat! 1970.”

“Here we are,” said Pasha with a sigh.

CHAPTER 6: THEY EXIST (Lyosha)

And so we were here. The famous Chernobyl we were studying in school about. To be honest, this place gave me chills. You could tell that life here was dead. More than dead. It seemed like no one ever lived here. The swings are swinging without even a slight wind, the buildings are dark and creepy. The trees are brown instead of green. As we got to the nine-story building, the podcaster posted another video.

“Let’s watch it.” Said Anya with a little note of excitement in her voice.

“What are you excited about, Anya?” I asked, surprised that she was excited to be here.

“Because we are finally here and can chase podcaster and get the money back.” She responded with a smile.

Podcaster appeared on the screen really dirty and tired. The horror on his face was clear.

“Hey, girls and boys. I don’t know if you are in Chernobyl already, but if you are, leave the place immediately. The money I left with my motorcycle is by the school. Get the money and leave while Zona didn’t reach you!” The screen turned black and we stared at it.

“What just happened?” Pasha asked and looked at us.

“It doesn’t matter. Let’s just get the money and leave,” I said, looking at Pasha. “I can’t stand this place.” And I really couldn’t.

Something about it was telling me that we might see things that we never thought existed - experience something that was much worse than death.

And that’s when we saw the dog. It was not like a regular dog. It was something ugly with its fur and the skin hanging from its ribs, without an ear with milk-white eyes staring right at us and with a big piece of metal armature going through its head. It was all bloody and dirty, just a glimpse of it made you want to puke. It was moving really slowly towards us without taking its eyes off us.

“Back up slowly,” directed Pasha, as we were already moving back. As soon as it saw us back up, it howled and about fifteen similar zombie-dogs ran towards us. We weren’t backing up slowly now, we were running to the car without looking back. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, but I wasn’t stopping anyway. I saw Pasha and Anya in front of me, running as fast as they could, but I didn’t see Nastya and Gosha, so I had to turn my head around and I saw both of them tripping over but still managing to get up and run. I ran back and took Nastya’s and Gosha’s hands in mine and we ran together. As soon as we got in the car, those creatures were scraping the windows and jumping on the car. I could hear them barking and howling as they were trying to get in the car.

When I caught my breath, I said, “I don’t want to curse, but those creatures don’t have a name in the normal language.”

“What are they?” asked Nastya as she got closer to me and took my arm. I hugged her with my other arm.

“Probably the victims of mutation.” Said Gosha as he was trying to clean his glasses.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Asked Anya turning her head to Gosha.

“As you might know, radiation has a lot of impacts on things. It can have good impacts and it can have bad impacts. One of the bad things it can do is mutate your DNA and just mess it up. That’s what I think happened to these dogs. They were exposed to the radiation more than they could, and they turned into these monsters.”

“It’s so good you went with us,” said Pasha and patted Gosha’s shoulder.

“Big brain is always good,” he replied.

We were so caught up in our conversation and we didn’t notice that it was already dark, we didn’t get the money, and we didn’t leave yet.

“Pasha, I think we might want to move on,” I said.

“Yes, you are right. Gosha, can you find the location of the school, please? I feel like it’s going to be a long night. So, everyone, be ready to face anything or anyone.” Said Pasha as he pressed the gas and all the dogs fell off the car roof.

CHAPTER 7 (NASTYA)

The dogs were something that I didn’t even know existed. I mean, think about it. They were literally zombies. I’ve never seen something that creepy in my life.

Now we were driving to that school where podcaster left the money. Hopefully, nothing will meet us there. As soon as we got there, it was already dark, but we saw podcasters motorcycle because it had lights on.

“I’m going to get the money,” Pasha said. “You guys stay in the car - we never know what kind of monster lives here.”

With these words, he got out of the car and started towards the motorcycle. As soon as Pasha took the bag with money off the motorcycle, the headlights turned bloody red, and pupils appeared. It opened its mouth and started chasing Pasha. It was screaming like human and had sharp teeth like a shark. Pasha jumped in the car, threw the bag over to us and pushed on the gas.

We were driving 95 miles per hour until we lost the sight of the motorcycle.

“Okay, now what the heck is that?” Asked Lyosha as released his arm from my waist.

“That is not real. It just can’t be real.” Lyosha continued in disbelief.

“The freaking radiation can’t change a nonliving thing. Right, Gosha?”

Gosha pushed his glasses up his nose and said, “Technically it can’t make it alive, but it can change the physical properties of it. The red eyes and teeth are not what I’m talking about.”

“Something is definitely wrong with this place.” Said Pasha and stopped the car. “This is my sixth time going by this sign.” He came out of the car, got some wet dirt from the ground and painted a cross on the yellow sign that said: “the zone of high radiation”.

Pasha started driving again. We could see the trees and bushes, but five minutes later we stopped by the exactly the same sign.

“So, we’re basically racing in circles?” asked Anya.

“Yup, that’s it,” said Pasha and got out of the car.

“What are we going to do now?” I asked.

“Go in circles,” said Pasha and got out of the car too.

Hours passed, but we didn’t know what to do. Pasha opened the trunk and got out the bag with money.

“He spent only one million.” He said, relieved.

“I don’t think you’ll need those anytime soon,” I said with a little smile.

“Right,” he said and got out another bag.

“Who’s that?” he asked looking at the boys.

“Oh, that’s Igor’s,” said Lyosha looking nervously.

“What is in it? Let’s see if we can find something edible because our snacks are getting low.”

Some time later, we found a tablet, a couple of bags of potato chips, and a weird machine that didn’t look like anything but had a bunch of little buttons and little lights.

We decided to sleep because it was already 2 a.m. and on the next day we were planning on trying to get out.

In the morning we got up, ate some leftovers of our food and started driving again. We decide to go by the school and find Podcaster. Hopefully, he was still alive.

As we arrived it was about noon, but the weird thing in Chernobyl that I’ve noticed is that there’s no sun. But Gosha explained it by high-level radiation or something.

We decided to go inside the school, but no one moved.

“Who’s first?” Asked Lyosha, smiling.

“Go ahead,” said Pasha.

Lyosha didn’t move.

“Why me?” he asked nervously. “Let Gosha go. If he’ll die we won’t lose much.”

“Are you kidding me!? How do you value people’s lives?” I said, frustrated. I knew he was joking, but I didn’t like what he was saying. Gosha sacrificed so much for him, and he is saying such awful things.

“I’m kidding, baby,” he said softly. “Chill.” He came up to me and wrapped his big muscular arms around me.

“I’m going first,” he said very confidently and let go of me.

“I’m coming with you,” I said, and ran after him.

When we got inside the school, we saw a hallway and a bunch of classes with open doors. Everything was in such a big mess that you could tell that people were panicking and knocking everything down as they were trying to save their lives and get out of the building. After walking around, we got into one class where we saw a little fire and found podcasters tablet all cracked laying on a desk by the door. He recorded a video of himself, but couldn’t post it because there was no service. As everyone got together, we started watching the video; the podcaster looking all dirty, wild and exhausted was staying in the middle of the rotunda and screaming some weird things that we couldn’t make out. But as he sat on the floor, some kind of ghosts were coming towards him from every hallway. They were all bloody and had black eyes, and they were not floating in the air, but crunching, like their bones, were shattered into pieces. They were whispering something all together and blood was pouring out of their dark black eyes. They were moving closer and closer to the podcaster, and when they reached him, they dragged him into one of the dark hallways so fast, we couldn’t see him disappear. The screen went black, but a couple of seconds later, a white face with black bloody eyes appeared on our screen and screamed at us: “Save us and you will save him.”

CHAPTER 8 (ANYA)

The horror that we experienced after seeing the video was colossal. Everyone stopped breathing and nobody could move. Suddenly, the machine that we found in Igor’s bag started beeping. We jumped and turned to the bag that was sitting on the desk.

“Open it.” Said Pasha, and pointed at Lyosha.

“Oh no, I’m not touching it. I was the first one who went inside the school. Pick someone else,” replied Lyosha, and backed up from the desk.

“I’ll open it,” said Nastya, and went straight to the desk.

She opened the bag and got the machine out. It was still beeping in her hand and the lights were flickering. We all got closer to see the machine and as Nastya was turning it in her hands, it started vibrating and the lights got brighter.

It seemed like we fell in time. That is what happened to us. I heard kids voices around me and opened my eyes. All of us were laying on the floor and we were surrounded by a bunch of kids staring at us. After we came back to our senses, we got up and realized that we were in the same class that we were a couple of moments later, but now the class that once was dirty and abandoned with obvious signs of chaos was full of sunshine and had kids sitting at their desk chatting - some were standing around us. Everything was so organized in the class; everything was clean. On the board, you could see the multiplication table and alphabet. And that’s when I saw the date written on the chalkboard too, “April 26, 1986.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Said Pasha, and started towards the door; we hurried after him. When we came outside the sunshine was hurting our eyes, and many kids voices were coming from everywhere.

A girl with two pigtails dressed in a school uniform came up to us and asked, “Do you need any help? I can show you around if you are lost.”

She smiled with a big smile and you could see her little white teeth spreading across like a thin layer of snow behind her lips.

“No honey, we are already leaving. Thank you very much.” With these words, we hurried out of the school towards the park.

“What is going on now?” Asked Lyosha with such surprise that we all had.

“Didn’t you see the date? We moved back in time.” Said Gosha calmly.

“It’s all occurred to me very fast. The machine is not just some kind of piece of junk, it is the time machine. It was beeping to warn us about the very high level of the radiation at school, it’s sensors provoked the time traveling. I’ve read it on the internet the other day when I was doing my presentation for AP chemistry. It wasn’t talking about this particular machine, but something similar to it.”

Okay, I thought. We moved back in time, on the day when the explosion happened, which means I can prevent my dad from going to work, and save my older sister. Or even destroy the reactor and prevent the catastrophe.

As we were walking in the park, I told guys about my plan, and no one seemed to argue. So we decide to move straight to our goal. It all sounded crazy at first, but when I saw my father by the vending machine, I realized that I don’t want to lose any members of my family.

When I got to the vending machine, I needed at least to get something from there, but as I reached into my wallet I realized that the money is different from what we use now in our time.

“Forgot your money?” My dad’s voice called me back to reality.

“Oh yes, was in a hurry getting ready for school,” I said and smiled at my dad. He looked so young! So healthy.

“What did you want to buy?” he asked me, and pulled the wallet out of his pocket.

“Oh, no, no thank you, you don’t have to, I’ll ask my friend for some money when I get to school.”

“It’s okay, I insist.” He said and smiled again.

“I would like some Coca-cola please,” I said feeling a little bit uncomfortable as he stuck the money into the machine. Seconds later, a can rolled out and dad grabbed it.

“Aren’t you late for school?” He asked me as he handed me the coke.

“Um...We had a short day today.” I said as I accepted the coke from his hand. “You look just like my dad,” I said, smiling.

“Really?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, you look very much like him,” I said, and opened the can.

“Where does he work?”

That question got me by surprise.

“He is a mechanic, fixing cars.”

“That’s nice,” He said and took a sip of his soda.

“What about you? Where do you work?” I asked, and siped my coke. It tasted so different from the one we have in our time.

“Electrostation, checking up everything.”

“That’s very interesting,” I said. We started talking about his job - which I knew everything about - but I was waiting for a moment to tell him about the explosion. I needed to confess to him so I said, “What if there was an explosion of the reactor?” as I looked at him.

He laughed. “There is no way it can happen.”

“But what if it does?” I said, still trying to get to the point.

“Then it’ll cause a lot of trouble.” He said and shook his head. “Let’s hope it won’t happen.”

We were walking when I noticed that we were close to our house.

“Is your wife still the hairdresser?” I asked and he was surprised, but no more than was I.

“How do you know?” He asked, sensing something suspicious.

“Oh, my friend told me about a woman who has the same last name as you, and she is one of the best hairdressers in the city,” I said with an innocent smile and looked at him.

“Yes, she is. Do you need a haircut?”

“I actually do.”

“She is home right now, you can come with me. We can ask her.”

“Thank you very much,” I said, and waved at the rest to follow me.

As we got to the apartment and I met my mom, my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket and it was some kind of game notification, so I put it back in my pocket and looked up at my parents. They were staring at me like I was an alien.

“What is that?” Asked dad with surprise grew on his face.

“It’s an iPhone,” I said and pulled it out of my pocket. Dad took it in his hands and was turning it around, observing. When he saw the picture of him, me and mom, on the screen, he dropped it.

“That’s me on the picture!” He screamed.

“Yes, and mom,” I said and sat on the chair. I called Pasha and others to come in and we started explaining everything from the beginning. When we finished I saw horror and disbelief on their faces. “You don’t have to believe us, but please, we need to destroy the reactor.” Said Pasha. “We’ll save many thousands of people and many generations,” I said, stepping forward.

As dad listened, he needed a minute to process it, when finally he said, “I'll take you to the reactor, and you will destroy it.”

We were driving in silence. That is going to be it. If the past is changed, then the future will change too. If I won’t be born, at least I’ll save so many lives. It is worth it.

When we got to the reactor, I could tell that everyone in the car was thinking the same.

Dad pulled a bazooka from the case and handed it to Pasha.

“Here, son, destroy it so it doesn’t destroy others.”

“Yes.” Said Pasha.

We exchanged looks and decided to say our goodbyes. We knew that everything would change. There is no way back. After I said my goodbyes to everyone, Pasha came up and said, “Anya, with all the mess we’ve been in, I hadn’t had a chance to do this.”

With these words, he leaned in and kissed me. His lips were soft on mine, his kiss was passionate and steady. I felt his tears in my mouth and pulled him closer to me. I wrapped my arms around him and locked my hands behind his back. I wanted this moment last forever. But it couldn’t. I pushed away first and wiped his tears off his face while he wiped mine.

“Are you ready?” He asked me, looking straight in my eyes.

“Only if you are,” I said nodding towards the others. “And if they are.”

A minute later we breathed in the smell of fresh air as we watched Pasha picked up the bazooka in his hands.

“On three!” He said.

“One.. two... three!”

The little rocket touched the tower and collapsed. Everything went black.

EPILOGUE (PASHA)

I got up in my room, the sun feeling up my room. The anthem was playing in the kitchen. I could hear mom and dad talking about the new building. I turned my head to the wall and saw the Soviet Union flag hanging on my wall. I thought I was dreaming. I got up, threw some jeans and a blue T-shirt on, and went to my desktop. On the home screen, I was trying to find “Google” but I didn’t. Instead, I found something called “Ru.net” and clicked on that. A search line popped up. I typed “Reactor explosion” and an article popped up. It said the explosion of the 4th reactor on US electrostation happened on April 26, 1986.

The explosion happened in the USA.

I called Lyosha.

“Hey, buddy,” I said.

“Hey Pasha, I can’t talk right now, I’m running late for my noon classes, I’ll call you later.” He said and hanged up on me.

A couple of minutes later my phone buzzed.

‘Up for the party tonight?’ from: Gosha.

I sat on my bed and realized that since we changed the past, that means that we changed the future. And Anya doesn’t even exist, because her sister didn’t die. And everything is different because the explosion didn’t happen. I saved the country but lost my love. Sometimes, we have to sacrifice something very important, to save something twice as important. With that thought, I got up from my bed and went to the kitchen to say ‘hello’ to my parents.