Chapter 1
The minibus continued to go forward. The city was left far behind. The Kruglovs were shocked by everything that had happened to them during these days. They all thought about the same thing as the world they knew could collapse in just a few days. And Igor only realized now that the hotel was completely empty. But why? He immediately shared his thoughts with his family. Father did not answer, he looked at the road, not looking up and saying a word. Mother shrugged her shoulders, and Sergei answered:
“It seems that there was an evacuation, only not everyone was notified, besides, the hotel is mostly stopped by the rich. They could be notified in the first place”.
"It's logical," Igor agreed. And he added:
“Now I understand who was addressed to the soldier's phrase in the alley” (these bitches left us here).
"To the city government," Sergei guessed.
At that time a black BMW flew past their car. It started to rain, and the sun was almost gone, my father had to turn on the lights. On the road it was somehow deserted, but after the next turn there was a traffic jam, because not a single Kruglovs leave. There were at least twenty cars ahead, but there was not a black BMW anywhere. Apparently had time to somehow slip through. Some drove around the cork along the roadside, the benefit was there were only fields. Father for a long time, without thinking, also decided to go round, the truth is that he did not have a car complicated the task. But he did not hesitate to turn off the road without uttering a word. After that incident in the hotel, he did not speak, it already began to frighten. After driving around the cork, they realized what was stopping the movement. A terrible drama unfolded on the road. Right along the road lay the turned side KAMAZ, and on the side of the road there was a little black BMW with a completely smashed and crumpled front, Kruglov recognized in it the car that had overtaken their car a few minutes earlier. Suddenly, the BMW opened the back door and out of it came a young girl with a bloody face. After standing a second, she slowly slid down onto the grass. Father first hesitated, but then turned a little closer to the black car and stopped the "Gazelle" (The Kruglovs had such education to help their neighbors). Cars rushed past, but no one stopped. "Now, you do not get out of the car," his father finally said, but he said it somehow dryly. With these words, he got out of the car and went to the girl. As luck would have it, the rain increased, the wind rose, it became very cold. The girl opened her eyes for a second and lost consciousness again.
"Live," thought Vitaliy Andreyevich with relief. Without thinking twice, he picked up the victim and carried it into the minibus. The girl was put on the seat far away from the door. Drenched to the skin, his father returned to the cabin. At this time, the mother, Sergei and Igor were engaged in mysterious guests, wiped the blood from their faces, as there were many minor abrasions and cuts, they bit a head, sealed the cuts with plaster, but the girl did not come to herself, even after they gave her a sniff ammonia.
"And now what?" asked Sergei, flopping down on the seat.
"I do not know," Igor answered, sitting down next to the girl next door. And he added:
“I think we can only wait; we did everything we could”.
The others agreed with him. And her mother only now realized that she was not afraid anymore of the type of blood, and even honored herself somehow more confidently than before. At this time, "Gazelle" returned to the track. Cork, accident and noise of cars were far behind, and in general cars came across less and less. The fields were replaced by a dense forest. The sun had set, it was night. His father turned on the light and asked:
"How's our stranger?"
"No change," Igor answered, ahead of his mother, who had already opened her mouth.
He looked at the girl, she was somehow nice and beautiful even in this state and more and more liked by Igor. She was wearing jeans, sneakers and a beautiful black jacket, which was now stained with blood. At this time on the road from somewhere out of the woods came "Alive". The minibus almost fell on him. The father managed to react, only in the light of headlights flashed the face of the dead man and his lifeless eyes. After an hour and a half Kruglovs finally reached the village. But there was another surprise waiting for them.
Chapter 2
The minibus stopped near the place where there used to be a pillar and an index with the name and direction to the village, but there was not any sign and pillar in it. And if you do not know that there is a village here, you can easily drive past. The Kruglovs had a bad apprehension, besides, the mysterious girl never recovered. Kruglov senior turned left and pulled out of the road (the village was located two kilometers from the road). It was already completely dark, the rain whipped like a bucket, it's good that the road was asphalt. After some time, the asphalt was over, the dirt road was on, it was more difficult to go along it, since it was already beginning to blur the rain. Began to come across at home, but no one could see any lights, it looked pretty eerie. As if the whole village was extinct. Finally, the minibus drove up to the right house and stopped. The headlights lit up the house. The windows were tightly hung, on the first and second floor (Kruglov still built up another floor in the summer), the gates are closed. The father muffled the engine, there was a silence, it was heard only how the rain drummed on the roof of the car.
"I'll go and look around, and you're not a step away from the car," his father broke the silence and with these words left the van.
On the street, a thunderstorm was already raging, lightning flashed and thunder was heard.
Vitaly Andreevich drummed on the small door to the left of the gate, but in response there was only silence. Then he repeated the attempt, suddenly the thunder of the storm blocked the dog barking. Mukhtar, "his father guessed, at that moment the light of the lantern flashed through the crack of the wooden door and a senile, slightly hoarse voice asked:
“Who is there?”
The owner of the voice was clearly very frightened.
"Father, open it," Vitalii Andreevich choked out. And then I felt such joy and relief.
“Vitali is you”!?
The voice of Grandfather Andrey was not trusting.
“Yes, yes, it's me”.
For a moment silence reigned, then there was a squeak and the door opened, in the opening appeared a terribly thin old man in a black twist with a hood. In one hand he would have a lantern with which he shone in Vitalii Andreevich's face, in the other there was an old rubbed rifle, his hands trembled noticeably.
"Jesus, is it really you, are you all here?" Andrei Prokhorovitch spoke again.
It can be seen that he hardly believes in it.
Vitaly Andreevich also could not believe that he saw his father alive and well, but quickly took himself in hand and said:
“I'll tell you later, now help me”.
For about fifteen minutes everyone was in the house and warmed themselves by the "round" stove. The girl was transferred to the bed near the window in the gorenka (not a large bedroom), after removing her wet sack from her. Themselves are located in the gornitsa (which is like a living room), as almost half of the already small kitchen was occupied by a large Russian stove. In the room was darkness, it was lit only by the light from the open furnace and the candle, which melted on a small table between the two armchairs. Grandmother was able to calm her strength when she saw the Kruglovs, she burst into tears, and everyone began to embrace, because she thought she could never see them again. It was a small fat woman with neatly folded into a bump already gray hair and gray big eyes. The Kruglovs also had difficulty in restraining emotions, because in fact they had no idea what was waiting for them, and seeing that everything was relatively in order, they could not believe it. When everyone more or less recovered, Vitaliy Andreevich, told his parents everything that happened to them during these days.
" My God," said Maria Olegovna, and added, looking at the bed where the girl was lying, I feel “very sorry for her”.
Father Vitaly wanted to ask the woman Masha about his sister, Artyom, nieces, but it was already very late and the conversation was decided to be postponed until tomorrow.
Chapter 3
Igor opened his eyes, a bright light flooded the room. Someone broke the curtains on the windows, the rain stopped and the weather was sunny and warm. From the first floor there was a quiet conversation (The brothers slept on the second floor). Maria Olegovna told about the events in the village. When these strange things began to happen, Artem, Olga and her daughters immediately came to us, they were extremely worried. Artem told about these "living dead", and more that you cannot contact. In addition, the Internet disappeared, and mobile communications now and then began to disappear. And at that time you called me. Artem wanted to pick up the phone, but I did not let him. I was so happy to hear your voice, but then the connection broke. They left. Then one more Artyom came, his military friend helped him get some weapons and walkie-talkies. Goncharov brought us a pistol and four stores to him, and two more walkie-talkies, so that in case we could contact him. The Goncharovs themselves contact us from time to time.
Baba Masha fell silent.
“Radio?” Where? "Father asked."
At this time Igor came down and found that everyone had not saved, but sat at the table in the room and listened to Masha's woman. Before he sat down at the table, he approached the girl. She never recovered herself (for this night everyone visited her not once) Igor passed his hand over her black hair, they were more gentle than silk, did not stand much and went to the table, my father already took a walkie-talkie from the window sill. He had already washed himself and washed away the remnants of blood. On the contrary, Igor was sitting mother and Sergei, and on the sides of the woman Masha and grandfather Andrew.
“Well, how can you sleep at this time”? “The mother was surprised when she saw Igor, and told him the story of Masha's woman”.
He himself did not know, but for some reason he slept quite calmly.
Vitaliy Andreyevich came back to the table, he already sang to talk on the radio with Artyom.
“Firstly, with Goncharov all glory to God is normal, and secondly, I came up with, so to speak, a work plan for the day, because we all perfectly understand that this is only a respite and "revived", sooner or later will be here, too we have to do something”.
Everybody agreed with him. Then he outlined his plan:
“Sergei and I will go through the village, we'll see how yes, somebody can help, or anything else, we'll take one of the radio sets and, if anything, contact you. Igor will go to the garden and collect all the remaining vegetables in the greenhouses, and at the same time see how many potatoes we have. And the rest will follow the house and our mysterious guests. After thinking it over, it was decided that the plan was not bad, but its implementation had to be postponed, as the discussion was interrupted by a weak and quiet voice:
“Give water”.
All rushed to the girl with lightning speed, she came to herself and looked around. Igor ran up first, their eyes met. She had dark brown eyes and, as Igor thought, some kind, but confused. After she was given water, she sat down on the bed and asked:
“Where I am? Who you are”?
She was briefly explained everything, though the truth was lowered with the accident, since the language did not turn to her to say this.
"What's your name, and how do you feel?" – Igor asked.
“My name is Masha. I'm feeling better, but I do not have much pain and dizziness, "she said softly, and added:
"And where are my parents?" The last thing I remember is a dull blow to our car, then the body pierced a sharp pain and all. The Kruglovs exchanged glances, they understood that she should tell everything, but it was very difficult to say that her parents were dead. Igor unexpectedly, breathed deeply and told everything. Nothing to hide, not missing out.
Masha, without saying a word, again lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling, it was evident that tears streamed down her cheeks.
"You probably do not know?"
Suddenly the girl again spoke and sat on the bed.
“About what”?
They all asked at the same time.
We are all infected, "she replied.
Chapter 4
The room was silent, Kruglovs exchanged glances.
“No, do not think, I'm not crazy, – the girl started to speak, and continued, although she spoke with difficulty, suppressing tears”:
“My parents were virologists. They managed to find out that the virus that animated the dead, it was a flu vaccine. Going further, they realized that the vaccine was only a catalyst, it was provoked by the virus itself, which most probably already infected. At first, after vaccination, the person did not notice anything, but after a few hours, he felt bad, and after a few more hours he died, but not for good. But even without a vaccine, a person after death began to return, the vaccination in combination with the virus simply became a deadly poison. And if such a creature bites, then the effect will be the same as the vaccination. And this virus does not work on animals. Also, my parents put forward, the theory that the virus was in the store food, because now only what kind of chemistry is not added to it. They were forbidden to dig further into this. But still there was a chance to create an antidote and to defeat the virus, and my parents almost succeeded, they began to spend almost all the time at work, and I actively took part in it, but we did not have time, very soon the electricity went out. It is good that my parents and before the Internet, just in case, passed all the data on the virus and the antidote work of Aunt Galya, she lives far away from us in her no bigger cottage near a small town at a distance of about five hundred kilometers, although she does not understand either viruses, or in antidotes. But she could save all this for us. Then they told us that there were already thousands of dead people, the military was already unable to cope with their influxes and said that tomorrow there would be an evacuation. But for us there was no evacuation. Instead, people came to our laboratory in uniform, and forced to destroy all the data and all the work, under threat of immediate punishment, after which they broke all the computers, burned all the papers. The father began to ask about the evacuation, and one of the military clenched through his teeth: "What kind of evacuation, thank you, that you were not shot." After that, they just left. Then we decided to go to Aunt Galya in our car, then you already know. The girl fell silent, the Kruglovs looked at her without stopping, no one said a word, everyone was digesting the information they had just heard”.
"Well, then," Vitaly Andreevich said first, and added:
“Sergei and I will go, perhaps, there are still a lot of work. With these words they left, though, like everyone was struck by the story of Mary”.
Suddenly my grandmother Masha, asked the girl:
“My little child, can you eat”?
She simply nodded, as she could not speak, because a lump came to her throat again. But she was very good at it, immediately it was clear that this was a strong man. Already in a few minutes, Maria sat at the table and ate boiled potatoes (Virtually everyone in ancient times had gas stoves and an individual cylinder, so while there is gas you can cook.)
Igor quickly snacked and went to the garden. Getting up from the table, he glanced at the girl, and she looked at him, and they somehow simultaneously smiled at each other. On the street a fresh cool wind blew, after yesterday's storm there were puddles all around. Mukhtar was in his cage, seeing Igor, he immediately wagged his tail. The young man stood a little longer, went to the dog in the enclosure, patted Mukhtar behind his ear and went into the garden. There everything was as before: two greenhouses and not a large potato field, surrounded by a fence, behind it was immediately a small river and a small river, from the garden you could easily see the opposite shore. Igor carefully checked the greenhouses. Vegetables were already a little, since almost all the harvest was already harvested. In the head of the guy there were thoughts about the whole situation. It seemed that all this with the "living dead" and did not happen at all, it was such a feeling that he just came to the countryside for the summer. When he finished checking the second greenhouse, he noticed on the opposite shore of the man, he somehow walked oddly as if soldered. Igor immediately realized that it was "Alive", apparently he came from the neighbors of the village, and this immediately returned the young man to the cruel reality.