Part 11

"Hey, over here!"
They spotted a guy who yells and waves at them to get closer, his long silver hair flying in the wind, he wears black leather jacket and blue jeans, handguns in holsters at both sides on the thick black belt. They didn't come any closer than 10 meters.
"Hey guys, can you give me a lift? I give you this in return."
His voice sounded calm but cold but with pleasing undertone. He pulled out a large glass marble that was glowing green from his jacket pocket.
"Okay. Make some room Sebastian."
He pulls the boat to the side of the ruins before climbing on and then pushed the boat away from the wall. Oliver turned the boat back on track and Carsten received the marble, carefully packing it into his backpack.
"My boat sunk on a way here and I was stranded on this ruins for days."
"We're happy to help out. So where you were destined to?"
"Anywhere. I'm looking for my brothers, we got separated during the bombardment." He looked around for a moment.
"We can keep an eye open for you, so what's your name?"
"Yazad."
"Oliver. They are Sebastian and Carsten."
He nodded then ducked his head to get through under the low edge of the window. They went through what looks like to be a mall with drop ceiling with most of the tiles gone and only the rusty frame with few lights dangling on cables left behind. He turned left and drove into the small space that was left from between the wall and ceiling, exiting the building from where it had collapsed. Suddenly they hear awfully familiar scream from behind, something jumps into the water and the long haired stranger immediately pulls out his two large pistols.
"Get ready."
Something jumps out of the water, grabs Sebastian and drags him into the water. Stranger jumps after him and few brief flashes of light is coming from below the water. Greenish black blood starts to surface, then few bubbles and then he surfaces with Sebastian few meters away.
"Over here! Hurry!"
Oliver drives the boat towards him and they help Sebastian back onto the boat. He has a large gash on his right leg covered in blood, large teeth marks cover his upper torso, his shirt is shredded and he doesn't breath. Carsten starts to CPR on him and Yazad takes over as he gets tired.
"Go to that building over there, we need a stable ground."
"Okay, right away."
Oliver turns the boat towards the highrise standing out from the water with most of the glass facade gone. He drives in to the office and stops near the stairs. They help him upstairs onto the dry floor and Yazad continues the CPR. After second breath Sebastian coughs water out of his mouth, they help him sideways to let the water out. Yazad breaks wooden pieces from the broken furniture and piles it onto the concrete floor at the staircase. Then he lights it on fire, after that he took an iron rod and places it into the fire. He takes the rod that is red hot and seals the large wound on Sebastian's leg to stop the bleeding, he screams in pain.
"The pain will get over. We need to go to nearest survivor camp and get some help with this. That was only temporary solution."
Yazad rips off the curtains and ties the wound up with the fabric, they help Sebastian back onto the boat and drive back to the nearest habitat. As Carsten climbs onto the makeshift platform made out of scaffolding parts he was greeted by two rifles aimed at him.
"We have an emergency, do you have a doctor here? Anyone who can help?"
"Dima, go call Polkovnik. I'll help them up."
They pull their guns onto their shoulder and one of them runs inside. Third guy remains on the post behind the machine gun. He follows Carsten back down, looks at the wounded Sebastian and goes back up again to set up a pallet to the winch, then he drops the pallet down so they can bring Sebastian up with it. Oliver helps the guard to pull Sebastian up onto the platform where Polkovnik already waits.
"We can help him, but you need to work for us for a little while."
"Okay."
"Good. Alan! Kaido!"
Two guys walk out of the room behind the gunner.
"Yes, sir." 
"Take him to the medical wing. You follow me to the office."
Despite being a bit crooked, the building looked well maintained inside. Most of the LED lights worked and floor was covered with carpet that was starting to wear out. They walked up stairs and saw people living on first five floors, then there was barracks, armory, medical wing where two strong guys took Sebastian and someone was already waiting for him and then was the offices. His office was right above the medical wing, inside was a archives and his work rooms. He takes them to his office and sits down on comfortable chairs.
"We need to trade fish with the supplies in the market, your job is simple. We give you merchandise and fuel, you trade it with goods listed to you. You are escorted by one of the members all the time. Run away with our goods and your friend goes swimming. Am I clear? Good. Your work starts tomorrow." 
We were taken to a separated sector on one of the floors that was meant for housing visitors. The room was lit by dim fluorescent lights, all the windows are covered with plywood and there are three rows of bunk beds with rusty military boxes underneath for personal items. Next day we were waked up early, Oliver couldn't guess the time but sleepiness made him guess he hasn't slept much. They walked to the larger boat that was already stocked with bags of fish and their guard waited them. They carried the fish from the boat to the market once they got to the familiar shore, once there they got a list of items to gather and timeline to be back on the boat. It wasn't hard as much, you could talk to the locals and see more people, the market is much more active now, odd sight with the chaotic world in the background. Oliver noticed that the ruins next to the market has been exploded inside out, one of the fusion reactors must gone to thermal runaway, it was old soviet technology left unchecked for decades, no wonder it exploded. It's a mere luck that it was only few that went out with a bang. Usually the shockwave from explosions caused most of these generators to shut down automatically, there are thousands of these throughout the city. The work routine was slack, they would make a trip once a week, then be in the building doing whatever they like. When the weather went colder they were provided with thicker clothing made out of random materials people could scavenge from old factories or warehouses south from the city or trade with last few people who knows how to make it. When the ice was too thin to walk on but too thick to go through with the boat, the trips were halted. They were reassigned to help some homework until one day Sebastian was healed enough to let out of the hospital wing. The medical staff did a great job patching him up, that would expect from the people who managed to get out of the hospital and onto higher grounds when the part of the city started to sink 4 years after the war. After the ice was thick enough to walk on and the average temperatures plummet beneath 20 degrees Celsius, they were released from the contract and started their journey back to their homebase, taking Yazad with them just in case his brothers are in the station. There was no point to go on the mission, but there could be a chance to get back to the base. As they made it to the entry way to the tunnels they noticed that something is wrong. There are no guards on their posts, most of the lights are broken and walls littered with bullet holes. Ammo casings cover the blood stained floor, an explosion has smashed a hole into the concrete wall and rebarb sticks out of it like tentacles. Last remaining lights flicker, turn on with a buzz and then turn off again followed by an electrical zap in the cable tunnels.
"Let's go from the secret passage and see what's going on down there, I don't think we can get through from here."
"Okay. Come, Yazad, follow us."
The walk fast back out and go to their secret passage at the basement of an old apartment building. For the relief they saw that the passage has been untouched as it was still hidden behind the rubble they left there before leaving. They climb down the rusty ladder and walk towards the base, the cable tunnels are bit warmer than outside. It was quiet, too quiet, as they make it to the main area it was ransacked and abandoned. Makeshift hospital wing was torn down, beds empty and some turned over. All the doors in the living quarters were either left open or smashed in, some lights were on but there was nobody there. Their rooms were also intruded. In Oliver's room his computer and other electronic devices were gone, but his ammo stash in a secret compartment behind the floor boards under the bed wasn't found. He took all of it and packed into his backpack. They check their rooms as fast as possible and leave they way they entered.
"What the hell happened there?" Asked Carsten when they made it back to the basement.
"Marauders. We need to warn others, let's go to the train station and then to Marcel's place."
"Okay, let's go then. Yazad, you with us?"
"Yeah, sure. I'm sorry about your home, looked cozy before it was destroyed."
"It can happen, nothing we can do about it any longer."
They walk fast through the city towards the train station, watching every corner as they continued. The train station wasn't same any longer, there was guard towers and soldiers surrounding the area. Floodlights light the ground surrounding it.
"Don't go Oliver, look."
"Military. Now we know who's behind this. Let's go through Kalamaja district to the Marcel's place."
"Okay."
They turned back and walked around the train station through the residential area. The buildings wasn't damaged as much as it's in downtown, but the snow made it harder to walk and more of it fell to the ground. Some of the doors were fallen off, some windows knocked open or fallen down onto the streets. As they passed one of the houses, someone whispered behind them.
"Psst. Over here."
They turned around ready to attack, when Sebastian saw familiar outline of his friend.
"It's all right, Yazad. That's our friend."
They lower their weapons and Yazad holsters his gun. Marcel has his ARX-160 hang on his back, they follow him into the dark basement. He shuts the door and enters one of the basement compartments, a small fire was made onto the floor and embers are still glowing in the dark. Small LED lamp illuminates the room with cold dim light.
"There was a raid to our base, some of us got away, but they got most of the people."
He has Romeo with him, there's also some blond guy, who sits silently watching the embers.
"He's Ivan. He can't speak."
"Our place was raided too."
"Damn. We need to get out of the city."
"We do indeed. Who were they anyway?"
"I have no idea. But they spoke English, that's all I know."
They sat down around the fire.
"It should go dark soon, then we can leave the area."
"So what route should we take?"
Marcel takes out the Estonian map.
"Through Viljandi road should be fastest way out. Tartu road is blocked from here and here by military base. We need to cross the open ice field to get there."
"If we're lucky we can warn habitats in here and here for pending danger. And get some supplies for the journey."
"That's a good plan."
It is colder after dark, frost immediately starts to bite their noses and fingers as they walk fast through backyards and alleys towards the market. Evacuation was already under way as they make it to the site.
"We already know. Take whatever you like, we can't carry all out of here."
They grabbed some unknown vintage dry food packages, some canned foods and other supplies that they need, then followed the group of people to the fortress, ice is already knocked out from three sides of the building, scaffolding pad is partially removed and only a ladder to the first floor is left for some people to climb up. They continued on and some of them yelled after them:
"Hey where are you going?!"
"Out of the city via Viljandi road!"
"Thanks. Good luck then!"
Wind started to pick up speed as they continued walking, making it harder to continue. But adrenaline pushed them on further away from the city. They had to climb up on the large pipes to get to the up the ledge, then continued their journey into the dark forest. Trees started to grow from the cracks in the tarmac, some of the light poles were still standing and some tangling on the thick cable. None of these worked. They passed a large factory with dim bluish light flickering inside. They went in to check for any supplies, but the factory was filled with corroded steel parts and material. One of two fluorescent lights on the ceiling flickered, other was turned on casting a ghostly light on the decay, rest of the fixtures were burnt out. A fusion generator still hummed behind the locked steel door, keeping the frost off the door. They left the building and continued walking down the road with only moon light illuminating the way.