Lost To The Zone

37 - Aleksandra

Aleksandra eyed the metal fan that was rotating slowly. It looked so dull and rusty but Aleksandra knew that the edges would be incredibly sharp - and the rust would probably just give them Tetanus or something like that. It wasn't a theory that Aleksandra wanted to put to the test either way. In front of the metal fan there were steel plates horizontally aligned. Aleksandra had checked and technically she should be able to fit through them if she lay down.

She knew that it was going to be risky. She'd have to roll through there very quickly and then there was always the danger that she might go too far and lose balance on the edge and fall and break her neck. But they couldn't stay in the ventilation system. At some point the military was bound to figure out where they were and they'd be trapped up here. Plus, there was no food.

"Are you ready to get going?" Pavel asked her. Nikita was still stretching and Aleksandra's father was leaning against the wall. It was near impossible to figure out what he might be thinking. It was impossible to figure out whether her dad was still in there - somewhere in this empty shell of a person.

"I don't know. I don't think I'll be more ready if we wait any longer." Aleksandra answered. Pavel had followed her eyes and he had noticed that she was watching her father. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face.

"You're worried about him, aren't you?" he wanted to know. Aleksandra nodded. Of course she was worried. She was worried that there was no way back for her father, that he was going to stay like this forever. That after all of this she wouldn't even get her father back - the one thing she had ventured into the Zone to find. And if he was going to stay like this, she was worried that she wouldn't be able to bear it - seeing him like this, not being himself anymore.

"It's alright. We'll figure something out. We're so close to the centre of the Zone, there has to be something... there has to be someone who knows about whatever brainwashing is going on with Monolith. But for now, we'll have to get out of here, alright?" he told her. Aleksandra sighed.

"Yeah, of course. Do you think we'll be able to find Kostya easily?" she asked. There were so many things on her mind, all at the same time and it was stressing her out. There was Kostya to worry about, the blades of the metal fan, the drop down from that tiny, narrow ledge, her father and whether he was going to ever be himself again, her father and whether him being Monolith was in any way a danger to them, the military that might find them any minute, and of course the trip through Pripyat that lay ahead of them. Aleksandra's head was spinning.

"Probably. I'd imagine he'll be somewhere close by, looking for us at this point. I couldn't really see him taking all the stuff and then just hiding out or going back home. Not without Nikita." Pavel said. She nodded slowly. Aleksandra could imagine Kostya doing just that - at least the Kostya she had known. This Kostya... he was different. Ever since the issue with those Dutyers he had changed. For the better, at least as far as Aleksandra could tell. She still found it difficult to trust him. But what other choice did they have? They had to rely on him.

"Alright. Let's go and do this." Aleksandra said and took a few deep breaths, before lying down on the ground, as close to the metal fan as possible. She stayed there for a while, checking whether there was anyone outside and checking for the rotation pattern of the fan, before taking another deep breath.

She was nervous about this. She had never done anything like this before and even though it didn't seem like such a big deal, after everything they had managed so far she wasn't sure how long it would be until their luck ran out again. She felt like they were just tempting luck a little too much.

Before she could change her mind, Aleksandra closed her eyes and rolled through between two of the steel plates. She opened her eyes again and saw that she had made it - and she was lying just on the edge of the little ledge in the wall. She inhaled sharply, as she was starting to feel dizzy when she looked down. It just looked pretty bad, because she was lying right on the edge.