When they finally decided to come out, the storm was over, sun shined bright and it hurt their eyes.
"Put your goggles on."
The salvaged welding goggles wasn't the best to use, but worked well to shade some of the light. Life in the shadows has lasting effect.
"We better get going."
"Agreed. Keep your eyes sharp and ears clear. We have no time to waste. I take the front, Carsten take the back, other two watch your sides. Keep it fast and silent."
The snow has gone thicker and it made even harder to walk. By the time day turned to evening they made it to the Kohila. Riots and looting has left the mark and most houses have the windows knocked in or burnt into empty shells and snow piled up inside. Some street lights were on, lighting the snow left untouched for weeks. There's no signs of life anywhere.
"Let's go inside the city, we can cover our tracks better there."
"Okay. Let's move on then."
They pass the large building with most windows knocked out. Some of the houses are almost hidden under the snow as they pass. Suddenly snow went up hill and they climbed on, next moment Yazad fell through the glass roof of the greenhouse and landed in a frozen plant rack tangled with dried out tomato plants.
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a small cut. Help me out of here."
"Okay, grab the rope, we're going to pull you."
"Watch out for the glass, it is about to collapse."
They went down the roof and threw rope at him, he grabbed and climbed out onto the railing, taking the rope with him.
"Watch out for the surprises like this."
As they continue they stumble onto the mansion. It looked intact, but some of the windows on first floor are bashed in and snow covered the floor.
"Fancy. Let's get inside, it's getting dark."
They climb in and walk up the stairs. One of the rooms with the fireplace was intact and Yazad made a fire into it. They drag couches from the larger room to there and dry it out in front of the fireplace. Some pictures were left on the walls, slanted and dusty. Chandelier glimmered from the light of the fire as they eat their ration. Suddenly they hear footsteps, Yazad and Oliver hid behind the large closet and Andreas and Carsten hid behind the couch, ready to attack.
"Don't shoot, it's us from the village. We tried to get to you but we were stalled by our injured companion."
"You can come out. Let me see his injuries."
Yazad leads them to carry their mate in front of the fireplace.
"He has bone broken and muscles ripped. What happened?"
"A bear attacked us as we hid in the forest. Sten got him, but the bear got him first."
Injured guy mumbled something. Yazad took a poker and placed it into the center of the fire.
"He has lost some blood."
"I can transfer some to him, but we got to get this wound sealed first. Bite this and keep it in your mouth, it is going to hurt a lot." He gave him a piece of wooden board. He knew what is coming next so he took the tight grip of the blank. Yazad grabbed the red hot poker and dried the blood as much as possible with it, he screamed through the wooden blank and bit it so hard the splinters came off, Yazad then placed the poker back into the fire and took a closer look at the wound.
"One more time, then I can batch it up properly and prepare the blood transfer. You're ready?"
He nodded. Yazad took the red hot poker again and burnt the rest of the wound shut, then he took out a bottle of vodka and sprayed it onto the wound, then he ripped a piece of fabric to cover it. He went downstairs and came back with two strong wooden logs and tied his leg together to brace the broken bone.
"We're going to stay here for few days until his leg is healed enough to carry on. We're taking shifts in guard duty." Said the old man.
"Agreed. I'm first."
Next morning they cleaned up the room from their presence, put out the embers with snow and got ready to continue on.
"Check your ammo."
"Not much."
"Damn I'm almost empty."
"Me too."
"Okay, there's a military base near Rapla, but we have to get there first. It is not going to be easy and the base may be already raided. We take 2 hour shifts for carrying him. We also need a three man team in front to cover the track in front. Yazad, take Oliver and Sten for first shift at front. Sten has the radio link with me, so if anything happens, I let you know. Clear."
"Clear as water." Answered Yazad.
Others nodded, they followed Sten as others prepared to start carrying the injured. Sten waited them to come closer and followed them behind.
"Let's not go further than 200 meters from the main group. I'm not the best runner, specially with this."
He pointed at his shotgun hanging on his back against the backpack side.
"Okay. Take a lead."
They passed by an old church, Sten decided to check through so they took a fast glance inside. One of the window has gone broken and snow piles in a middle of the large room. There's nothing useful there, everything is either taken already or useless.
"Anything useful?"
"Nothing. It's already ransacked."
They continued on as others waited for them to check the path in front, Sten knew where to go and soon they were on the highway. Road to Rapla was almost covered in woods, there was few clearer patches, but the snow was deeper there.
-continues-
