Ghost Town

This story is selected as Editor’s Choice

(If you’ve seen and wasted your money on the movie, Cherynobol Diaries, here’s how I would have played it out.)

Police officer Yuri Ivanovitch held a firm grip on the steering wheel as he drove his car down the dark road deep within the rural areas of the Ukraine. His car’s head lights cut through the darkness to reveal the yellow painted line in the middle of the road and the black police car driving in front of his own. There was also endless rows of tall weeds and trees along both sides of the road. For a quick moment he took his left hand off the steering wheel to lift the front of his black visor hat and scratch an itch on the top of his head. He felt his skin overheating under his black uniform. He then reached over and rolled down the driver’s side window a few inches to let some cool air into the hot stuffy car.

He looked over at his partner, Alexi Stravinski. A thin bodied, spectacled man in his late thirties. Alexi was sound asleep with his arms folded against his chest and his head leaning against the passenger’s side window. Alexi went to sleep at the start of the three hour drive from their precinct at Kriosk .Yuri and Alexi were summoned in the middle of their night shift, along with two other officers, to drive to a most unique location. The long abandoned city of Prypiat.

Driving along this stretch of road Yuri and his escort encountered no other vehicles. The road to Prypiat was restricted to most traffic. Prypiat neighbored the also abandoned city of Chernobyl. The home of the infamous nuclear reactor disaster that took place on the 26th of April, 1986. When a series of explosions ruptured the nuclear vessel within the reactor and released a massive plume of radioactive gas that spread across most of Central Europe. After the accident Prypiat’s entire population of 48,000 were evacuated. Leaving the deserted city to decay as it stood frozen in time. Nature began to reclaim the land. Tall weeds grew up from the cracked pavement and sidewalks. The long neglected buildings are now weather worn and crumbling. And yet, after the huge disaster that took place twenty four years ago Yuri was amazed to learn that some idiots from a misguided American company was trying to organize guided tours into parts of Prypiat.

The silliest thing that I’ve ever heard of, was Yuri’s opinion of the whole idea. It would be considered one of the biggest jokes in the Ukraine if it were not for the fact that all contact with the guards stationed at the south road checkpoint, and the two representatives of the American company went dead two days ago. That was the reason why Yuri and the other officers were dispatched to the area. Their mission was to find out why there was no reply from the guards.

I know why there’s no reply from those idiots. They all got bored so they’re either asleep or boozing it up some place, Yuri theorized. He was not thrilled about having to make a three hour drive just to roust some drunken fools from their sleep. But orders were orders.

The lead car slowed down in front of an eight foot tall chain link fence that was erected across the road. At the left side of the road the fence stood tall. But on the right side it was reduced to twisted and torn segments laying across the ground. Also, at the right side of the road near a group of trees was the remains of the small white guard house where the officers ate and slept. It was now a pile of flattened lumber scattered across the ground.

What the hell happened here? Yuri asked himself. He now began to think that the situation was more serious than checking up on a few drunken slackers.

The two cars drove over the fallen fence and into the city. They now traveled across a road that had cracked, uneven pavement and was infested with tall sprouting weeds. And there seemed to be dozens of large, circular depressions scattered everywhere. The cars weaved left and right to try and avoid them. As they passed a group of decaying two story houses at both sides of the road Yuri noticed several tall trees standing among them. Some that he could see were at least twenty five feet tall. Many were taller. With massive trunks that had multiple branches sticking out like rigid arms and ending in sharp, jagged points. The ground near the trees was torn up as if explosions had taken place. But the most striking feature about these trees were their leaves. They were all larger than normal. Many appearing to be at least four feet wide.

Yuri was so amazed at this sight that he had to share it with Alexi. He reached over and shook Alexi’s shoulder. “Wake up. Wake the hell up. We’re here. You have to see this.”

Alexi groaned as he began to stir. “What the hell do you want?” he grumbled. His eyes still closed.

“Look at the trees. The leaves.”

Alexi opened his eyes. Gazing back at Yuri. “Leaves? You woke me up for that? You never saw leaves on a tree before?”

“Not like this. These are as big as bed sheets.”

“What do you expect? The trees were soaked in radiation,” Alexi explained as he sat up. “I’ve seen photos of trees with these giant leaves taken after the American Three Mile Island disaster.”

Yuri pondered this detail. But was still amazed. “So if radiation can do that to trees then what else can it do.”

Alexi laughed. “You’ve been watching too many of those American TV shows.”

The police cars passed by several other cars that were parked at the side of the road. They were rusted hulks coated with dirt and surrounded by tall weeds. Then both cars stopped in the middle of an intersection. The lead car parked in front of a police car that bore heavy damage. All of it’s tires were flat. Every window was broken out. The bar lights on top of the car were shattered. Large holes were ripped into the driver’s side door.

As Yuri stopped to park the shape of a large black animal charged out from the other side of the damaged police car and headed for the left, across the intersection. Yuri jumped in his seat at the sight of this creature. “Was that a bear?”

“Sure as hell was,” replied Alexi.

Yuri turned the key to shut off the engine. He was apprehensive about getting out of the car with the knowledge that there might be more bears lurking about. Coming prepared to search dark empty buildings he and Alexi took out the flashlights that they had brought from the glove compartment, then got out of their car. The two other officers in the lead car also got out. Both shining flashlights. From the passenger’s side was Boris Zovanoff. A six foot tall man in his late twenties. He had a thick, black moustache. Carrying his hat in his hand allowed him to display his shaved head. From the driver’s side emerged the officer in charge of this mission. As well as Boris’ close friend. Sergeant Ivan Brintznev. Another tall man in his twenties. He had uncombed, bushy black hair. The prominent white sergeant’s stripes stood out on the upper sleeves of his black uniform jacket. He and Boris put their hats on and walked over to the wrecked police car.

Yuri knew Ivan quite well. And hated him. A young officer just two years on the job. Not even out of his twenties and he’s promoted to sergeant. Of course it was no secret that Ivan’s uncle, Captain Brintznev, helped him along. Yuri had worked at the precinct for six years and expected to be promoted to Sergeant. Only to loose the position to this young newcomer. That did not sit well with Yuri.

Ivan and Boris walked along the side of the wrecked car. Then they looked about the surroundings. “Holy hell. Looks like this whole area went through a soccer riot,” said Ivan.

Yuri and Alexi approached the car. Yuri looked about. “Looks like a battle took place here. The way the ground is torn up. The damage to this car. And the guard house back there.”

“Something serious went down here,” said Ivan. “At first I was thinking that there might have been a problem with illegal squatters or looters. But this damage goes beyond that.”

“So what now?” asked Yuri.

“That’s obvious. We conduct our investigation and find out what happened to the missing guards.”

“Good thing we came prepared with the heavier weapons,” said Boris.

Ivan walked over to the back of his car. He took his keys out of his pocket and opened the trunk, then reached in and brought out one of the heavier weapons that Boris mentioned. A fully automatic AK-47 assault rifle. Ivan handed one to Boris as he approached. Yuri walked over and was next to take one. After surveying this battle damage he felt more secure wielding a weapon more powerful than the 9 MM pistol holstered at his side.

Ivan stepped away from the car and issued his orders to Yuri and Alexi. “You two take a look around. Try not to get eaten by bears. Boris and I are going to take a look at the guard house. Or what’s left of it.”

Lead by the beam of their flashlights, Boris and Ivan headed down the street. Yuri looked around at the rows of abandoned houses and buildings to his left, right, and forward. All shrouded in an ominous darkness.

“So now we search. Which way?” asked Alexi.

Yuri pointed his gun barrel straight ahead. “North.”

Yuri and Alexi made their slow trek down the middle of the deserted road while shining their flashlights left and right. Yuri received an eerie feeling as he passed by the rusting, dust covered cars that were left at both sides of the street. And beyond the cars were the houses. All surrounded by waist high vegetation. A few of them had broken out windows and doors left wide open. All of them left empty for the past twenty four years.

Yuri turned his flashlight to a tree that stood in a front yard. It was taller than the two story house behind it. He walked over to take a closer look, stepping over large chunks of dirt as the ground at the tree’s roots was torn apart. At the left and right of the tree were more of the large holes. What did this? he thought. Somebody fighting with grenades? Dynamite? He moved his flashlight’s beam up along the tree’s thick trunk. There were long streams of dried sap running down along it’s trunk. Yuri poked his finger onto the sap. It was sticky. He brought his finger to his nose and sniffed. The sap had a faint aroma resembling honey. Yuri looked up to the tree’s long, multiple branches. All decorated with the huge leaves that looked as though they were large enough to cover a table. These branches also ended in sharp jagged points.

Alexi walked over to Yuri. “Are you on a nature study?”

“I still can’t get over how big these leaves are,” Yuri told him.

“So then grab a few and take them home with you,” replied Alexi. Tugging on Yuri’s arm. “Let’s go before Ivan comes back and starts bitching about us slacking off.”

Yuri and Alexi continued walking down the road in their search for the unknown enemy that might be hiding and peering at them from behind the dirty windows of the many houses that they were passing.

Alexi stopped. “Hold up. I have to go to the bathroom.”

Yuri looked back at Alexi in disbelief. “Now? We’re in the middle of a search.”

“I’ve been sitting in that damn car for three hours. What do you expect?” Alexi looked around at the row of houses at his right. He walked towards a house that had large sections of it’s white paint chipped away from it’s wooden frame. The front door, in between two broken windows was wide open.

“Where the hell are you going?” Yuri asked. “You can’t go here?”

“I’d rather have a little privacy,” Alexi’s testy reply. He headed for the door.

“This is stupid. We should stay together,” Yuri pleaded to Alexi. Only to be ignored.

Alexi entered the house.

“This is stupid,” Yuri grumbled to himself. “This whole town might be crawling with armed terrorists and he wants to use some dusty bathroom because he’s touchy about a little privacy.”

Yuri turned away from the house. His flashlight’s beam moved across the row of houses across the street. Then he heard a noise. The faint sound of clanking tin cans. Yuri trained his light on the houses as he took a step closer. He heard the noise again. It came from between two houses straight ahead.

“Who’s there?” Yuri cried out. Holding his machine gun ready he moved in closer.

Walking in between the two houses Yuri dismissed the source of the noise as a small animal foraging about in a trash bin. But he had to be sure. The weeds in between the houses were knee high. But in spite of this, Yuri was able to spot something strange laying on the ground. With caution, Yuri stepped closer. He let out a surprised gasp as he discovered that the object was a human skeleton. He could make out the skull laying next to it’s arm. Both had a brownish tint. The rest of the skeleton was covered by a sheet of brown material that reminded Yuri of a spider’s web.

A spider’s web? Yuri thought as fear flooded his mind. He touched his foot against part of the web and found that it was indeed sticky. He conjured images of the American science fiction movies that he once saw. The ones that featured giant mutant insects created by radiation. He conjured the fresh images of the wrecked police car and the guard house. Then he conjured images of himself hanging upside down in a giant spider’s web as the hairy monster creeps closer. Ready to sink it’s sharp fangs into his flesh.

Then Yuri’s flashlight went out. Being stuck in the dark he panicked. Dammit! Lousy cheap thing! He shook the flashlight hard to try to get it working again. Then up ahead he heard the clanking sound again. Yuri followed his next instinct, turn and run.

Yuri put the flashlight in his back pocket, then ran back to the front of the house that Alexi went into. In the darkness the house was looking far more ominous. From the open front door he saw no beam from Alexi‘s flashlight. “Alexi!” Yuri shouted. “There’s something out here! I found something! Alexi!”

Yuri watched and waited. There was no reply.

“Alexi!”

With no desire to venture into the dark house, Yuri’s options were few. His only course of action now was to return to the intersection and try to locate Ivan and Boris. Taking heavy breaths, Yuri ran through the darkness. As he neared the intersection he noticed a beam of light pointing towards the sky. As he drew closer he could see a person standing in front of Ivan and Boris’ car. It was Boris. Standing still while holding his hands up.

“Boris!” Yuri cried out. He stopped a few feet away. Becoming suspicious. “Boris. What’s going on?”

Boris said nothing. Then Yuri was startled by a man wearing a dark coat who sprang up from behind Boris while aiming an AK-47. “Don’t move!” he shouted.

Yuri’s hands began to tremble as they held onto his weapon. Which was pointed at the ground. This gunman had the drop on him.

“Drop the gun,” the man ordered in an angry tone.

Yuri threw his gun to the ground.

“Now step back.”

Yuri took two steps back from the car. Standing to the left of Boris the man also stepped back until he was far enough to keep both men in his sights for two easy kills.

“Give me your keys,” was the man’s next order.

“What?” asked Yuri.

“Your car keys!” the man shouted. “Give me your keys!”

Boris broke his silence. “You’re not going to get away with this.”

“Shut up!” the man snapped at Boris. “I’m taking your car. I’ll kill you both to take what I need to get out of this town. Now give me your keys.”

“Ok,” said Yuri in compliance. He reached into his pocket.

“Slowly!” the man warned him.

Then several feet away a person in dark clothes charged up behind the man. It was Alexi. He trained his machine gun and flashlight beam at the man’s head. “Don’t move! Drop the gun!” Alexi shouted.

Yuri now received a better look at the man in the beam of Alexi’s flashlight. He was a middle aged man with black, uncombed shoulder length hair and a long beard. The black coat that he wore was buttoned up to his neck. The right leg of his grey trousers was torn off, revealing a bloodstained white rag that was wrapped around his leg from his ankle to above his knee. He wore black shoes that were covered by clumps of dirt.

Then another person came charging up at the man’s right. It was Ivan. He was holding the back of his head with his right hand. “Shoot the bastard!” he screamed at Alexi.

Alexi repeated his command, while ignoring Ivan‘s. ”I said drop the gun! Right now!”

The man dropped the machine gun onto the ground. Then raised his hands up over his head.

Boris turned to his left and took a few steps. Then he reached to the ground and picked up his machine gun. He pointed the gun and his flashlight at the man.

Ivan stepped closer to the man. “Shoot that son of a bitch! He tried to break my head open with a brick! Then he took my gun!”

Ivan stepped into the beam of Boris’ flashlight. Yuri could see a stream of blood flowing down Ivan’s face. His fingers were bloodied as he held the back of his head.

The man looked about at his captors. “Take it easy. I don’t mean any harm,” he said in a shaking voice.

“Oh, now that’s a relief!” Ivan bellowed at the man. “You bust my head open, hold a gun to my men, and you don’t mean any harm! I’ll sleep better knowing that!”

The man explained, “You don’t understand. I was desperate. I’ve been trapped here for two days. I saw your car and I needed to get out of here. We’re all in danger.”

“We’re in danger?” asked Yuri. “From who?”

“Monsters. This town is crawling with them.”

“Monsters?” Yuri asked in disbelief. Then his memory went back to the skeleton that he found. Covered by a sheet of webbing.

“Monsters?” Ivan snapped at the man.

“Yes, monsters!” the man shouted back at Ivan. “They have us surrounded you fool! We have to get out of here while it’s still dark!”

“Why?” Yuri asked.

“Because they sleep at night!” the man cried out with a rising tone.

“Yeah. That makes sense. They’re all in bed where I should be,” said Alexi with clear sarcasm.

The man continued his story,” But when the sun comes up that’s when they wake up. Then all hell breaks loose. Please. We have to leave while it’s still dark.”

“What’s your name?” Yuri asked.

“Alyosha.”

“Ok then, Alyosha. If this town is so dangerous then why are you still here?”

“Because of my leg you jackass!” Alyosha spat out while pointing down. “They almost ripped my whole leg off. I can hardly move it. I tried to leave. Traveling at night on the road to reach the nearest town. But it’s too damn far with my leg the way it is. Then the sun comes up and you’re stuck out there with them. So I had no choice but to come back and hide in a manhole where they can’t find me. Did you ever sleep in a sewer for two days?”

“Yeah! After a bachelor party,” Ivan replied. He charged over to Alyosha. Standing inches away from his face. “I’ve heard enough of this nonsense. I’ll tell you what really happened. A group looters like yourself came here, attacked the guard detail, and probably killed them all. Now we’re supposed to be your next targets.”

Alyosha shook his head. “No. It’s not like that. You have to understand. We…”

Ivan hurled a fist into Alyosha’s face to cut off his next word. Alyosha fell back to the ground. “This is for that brick to my head!” he shouted down to the helpless man as be began to kick him in the face and chest.

Yuri rushed over and grabbed Ivan’s left arm to hold him back. “Stop. We need to listen to him. I found a skeleton back there.”

Ivan shoved Yuri back. “Of course you found a skeleton, you idiot!” he yelled. “The reactor explosion. The radiation. You forgot about that? It’s probably some looter who was sleeping in the hot zone and died of radiation sickness. Who the hell cares?” Ivan ended his tirade by giving Alyosha a final stomp to his face. Alyosha’s nose was bleeding as he lay still on the ground.

Boris lowered his gun. “Now what?”

Ivan looked back at Boris. Then he looked around at the dark streets of the intersection. “Hell. I don’t know. We finish our search I guess.” He turned his eyes to Yuri. “Ivanovitch. Where’s your flashlight?”

“It’s not working.”

“And I lost mine back there when that son of a dog hit me from behind.” Ivan took his hand off the back of his head and inspected his bloodied palm. “Dammit! We’re down to two flashlights in this darkness. That puts us at a disadvantage with any more of these dogs that might be hiding out there. And my damn head is throbbing. We’ll finish our search in the morning.”

“In the morning?” Yuri asked in disbelief. “But what about that skeleton I found? I think we should go take a look at it.”

Ivan stormed towards Yuri. Stopping a foot away from his face. “Are you in charge here or me?” Ivan shouted. “I said we’re camping down here for the night!”

Boris raised his flashlight beam to Yuri’s Face. Yuri squinted and turned his head away from the light. “And you get to serve watch,” Boris told Yuri.

Yuri became angered at both Boris’ light shining in his face, and the pretense that he was in command. “I don’t take orders from you. Just because you’re friends with the Captain’s nephew doesn’t put you in charge.”

Ivan approached Yuri. “What was that? he demanded, and gave Yuri a shove back. “Do you have a problem because I’m in charge here and not you? Maybe I’m in charge because I’ve got more brains than you and the rest of the grunts on the force.”

Yuri looked back at Ivan and said nothing. But his anger was simmering.

“Since you don’t seem to understand orders I’ll make it a little clearer for you. The Captain’s nephew is ordering you to stand watch. You have a problem with that?”

Having to comply with Ivan’s order was a bitter lump of bile for Yuri to swallow. But he had no choice. “No sir. No problem here.”

“Good,” Ivan’s crisp reply. He issued another order as he started to walk back to his car. “And put that stinking looter in handcuffs and lock him in the trunk.”

“In the trunk? How’s he supposed to breathe?”

Ivan turned back to Yuri, flailing his arms through the air. “He can breathe through the keyhole! Who gives a damn? Just do it!” he screamed.

Boris turned and walked behind Ivan. “Don’t fall asleep, Ivanovitch,” was his parting shot to Yuri.

Alexi walked over and stood next to Yuri as he looked down at the unconscious Alyosha. “I’ll help you with this idiot,” He said to Yuri.

Yuri was reluctant to touch Alyosha as he reached for the man’s arms to restrain him with the handcuffs that he took from his equipment belt. Being this close Yuri’s nose picked up a fowl odor. Good God. This pig really was sleeping in a sewer. Yuri told himself.

After Alexi helped Yuri stuff the limp Alyosha into the trunk of their car he sat in the driver’s seat to rest. As Yuri stood guard next to the cars, with both hands clutching his gun, his eyes scanned over the houses sitting in the dark background. His mind went back to the sight of the skeleton that was wrapped up in the sheet of spider’s webbing. And the noises that he heard in the dark. He wondered if Alyosha’s tale of monsters could be the ranting of a drug crazed vagrant, or a warning that they were all risking their lives to ignore.

Yuri awoke to the sounds of loud, high pitched squawking and screeching filling the air. As he opened his groggy eyes he became alert as he was shocked by a painful impact striking his right arm. Yuri‘s body jerked. His eyes were now wide open. Holy crap. I’m still in the car, was his panicking thought. He grew tired standing guard in the chilly night and sat down in the car to rest for a moment and gain some warmth. He could not remember when he fell asleep, but the moment lasted until daybreak. Now he was being kicked awake by an angry Ivan while Boris was holding the car door open.

“Ivanovitch! You were asleep!” Ivan shouted as he kicked at Yuri’s right leg. “Asleep on guard duty! You‘re useless!”

Yuri jumped out of the car. Clutching his gun against his chest he stood with his head lowered as he was admonished by Ivan. He could not argue against Ivan’s harsh words. Yuri had make a mistake that could have cost all their lives. A humble, “Sorry,” was the only word that he was able to utter.

Ivan moved a foot away from Yuri’s face. “You’re sorry? Is that it? Sorry is worth a hell of a lot after some looters slit all our throats while you were sleeping!” he spat out in a loud rage over the squawking sounds in the air. He turned and walked to the back of the car. “I’ll deal with you later. Right now I want to see if our guest is ready to talk. Bring him out.”

Yuri walked to the back of the car. Alexi, who was awakened by Ivan’s yelling, got out of the car. With machine gun in hand he joined Yuri as he opened the trunk. While Alyosha struggled to climb out of the trunk Yuri’s attention was caught by the commotion that was taking place in the air above his head. It was the screeching and squawking of birds. Lots of birds. Yuri turned around and looked up at three large trees that were standing across the street in front of a house. As well as the large group of trees on the opposite side of the street. He could see flocks of black birds flying back and forth among the swaying branches. In the background, past the thick tree trunks he could see the orange glow of the sunrise.

“What the hell’s going on up there?” Yuri asked Alexi.

Alexi looked up to the trees. “Looks like crows. They’re worked up about something.”

“They’re certainly noisy as hell,” replied Yuri. But he had no time to dwell on them now.

Alyosha rose to his feet while his hands were restrained behind his back. He looked about in a confused state and blinked his eyes. “Where are we?”

Ivan stepped towards Alyosha while keeping the gun aimed at him. “Where the hell do you think we are? We’re still in Prypiat.”

Alyosha’s eyes were now wide. His mouth gaped open. He looked up to the sky. Then back at Ivan. “Prypiat? No. We can’t still be here. We have to leave. Please. we have to get out of here.”

Ivan thrust his foot into Alyosha’s lower abdomen, forcing Alyosha to stagger back and fall. “Oh, we’ll leave, alright. Right after you tell me about your terrorist looter friends and what they did to the guard detail that was here.”

Yuri’s attention was again distracted by the swarms of crows that were flying about the trees. Looking past the trees again he noticed that the sun was rising higher.

Alyosha coughed. With difficulty he struggled to his knees. Ivan continued his interrogation. “Your friends. How many are they? Where are they? What did they do to the guards and two Americans that were here? It will a lot easier for you if you tell us.”

Grunting in pain Alyosha rose back to his feet. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, you fool. The sun’s coming up. We have to get out of here.”

“Are you still holding on to this nonsense about monsters in the woods?” Ivan shouted.

Alyosha staggered towards Ivan. “You jackass. There are no monsters in the woods.”

“Then you admit that you’re lying?” Ivan bellowed. he swung the but of his machine gun across Alyosha’s forehead. Alyosha fell onto his back once more.

Yuri looked up higher at one of the huge trees. All the way up to it’s top. There he noticed an array of long sharp rods protruding out like a bouquet of spears. Standing out from these spears were two long, black appendages. They were like long antenna with large feather-like objects at their ends.

Gritting his teeth in pain Alyosha struggled back to his feet. A stream of blood from a fresh cut ran down from his forehead and across his face. He shouted back at Ivan, “You idiot! You don’t understand! The woods aren’t full of monsters!”

Yuri watched as a huge flock of crows rose into the air like a black cloud and flew from the area.

“The woods are the monsters!”

Yuri watched as the branches of the trees began to sway left and right with an increasing force. But there was no wind to produce these movements. The crow’s squawking was replaced by the loud crack of bending wood. Looking up to the tree tops he saw the long antenna on the trees begin to wave back and forth. Then they bent down towards Yuri and the other men.

Yuri felt vibrations at his feet. The ground began to shake. Then he was shocked as he watched the trees lift themselves up from the ground by long, thick roots with joints bending as they moved in a slow spider-like fashion. Making a loud thud with each step as they advanced towards Yuri and the other men. This explains why the ground near the trees was torn up. And those depressions, Yuri thought. Long tendrils began to uncoil from around their branches as they swung back and forth.

Yuri was frozen with fear, as were Alexi, Boris, and Ivan. As the three large trees were stomping forward several smaller trees moved from behind them. Their sizes ranging from six to twelve feet tall. All of them walking while their waving antenna pointed towards the men.

A tree leading the group, towering twenty feet in height, approached a rusting car parked at the side of the road. The tree swung one of it’s long, lower branches at the car. The tendrils on the branch wrapped themselves around the car and lifted it off the ground in a single swipe. As the branch hoist the car into the air it’s tendrils tightened themselves around the vehicle’s rusted body and crushed it with a swift effort.

As the tree’s branch raised into the air, Yuri and the others were treated to the disturbing sight of what was hidden beneath those bed sheet sized leaves. Dozens of skeletons and carcasses that were entwined by the tendrils and covered by the same sheets of brown webbing that shrouded the skeleton that Yuri found in between the two houses. This explains the crows, Yuri thought. They were picking at the carcasses. Many of the carcasses were of deer and bears. And Yuri saw two Human bodies up there as well. Both wearing black police uniforms. And now these strange trees were marching forward to add Yuri and the other men to their collections.

Alyosha began to panic. “You fools! I tried to warn you, but you wouldn’t listen! Now it’s too late! We’re all going to die!”

Alyosha tried to run down the road leading out of town. The best that he could manage to do was to drag his bandaged right leg along as he moved. Two stomping trees on both sides of the road moved in to converge and block his path. One tree swung a branch down at the screaming Alyosha. Dozens of serpentine tendrils wrapped themselves around his body and scooped him off his feet. Tendrils tightened around his neck with a constriction that caused his head to twist around twice.

Now panic began to spread among the four men. Boris and Ivan opened fire on the advancing trees. Yuri and Alexi turned to their left and right and saw trees approaching from both sides. They both opened fire with rapid bursts of bullets that caused a few of the smaller trees to stagger back, but failed to slow the stride of the larger ones.

“Let’s get the hell out of here!” Alexi shouted. He bolted for Ivan’s car. Pulling the door open and jumping into the drivers seat. Yuri continued shooting over the car at the advancing trees while Alexi clawed his fingers at the steering column. “Keys! Keys! Where the hell are the keys?”

Ivan and Boris moved back as the trees drew closer. Yuri watched the trees approach the car. He yelled a warning. “Alexi, get the hell out of there!”

One large tree was close enough to the car where it was able to thrust a pointed branch down at the windshield. The branch penetrated the glass and Alexi in the process. The tree withdrew it’s branch, pulling Alexi’s impaled body through the broken windshield. It lifted Alexi into the air while a several of it’s tendrils wrapped themselves around his unmoving corpse.

Yuri stopped firing at the tree for fear of hitting Alexi. But he soon realized that his friend was dead. And that the tree wanted him next. He turned left. Further down the road into the town he saw no trees. He turned and ran just as two trees lifted up both police cars with their tendril ridden branches and crushed them into useless hulks.

Ivan and Boris were right behind Yuri as he ran down the road. Yuri listened to the constant heavy thud sounds of the pursuing trees. Yuri now saw that he was wrong about the road being safe. Several yards up ahead he saw more trees approaching from roads at the left and right. Alyosha was right. These monsters really do have us surrounded. he thought.

Yuri ran for a house at his left. He was about to head for it’s open doorway when he saw three, ten foot tall trees marching in from the side of the house. Their pointed branches thrusting out towards him. Leading the way Yuri ran further down the road. At his right he passed a house that had two large trees plowing into it from behind. Swinging their long branches and ripping away large sections of it‘s roof. With Ivan and Boris still behind him Yuri passed a grey brick building with the darkened bronze sign above it’s door that read, Post Office. Yuri headed for the door and pulled on it’s metal handle. Locked! he spied the tall red brick building next to it. It looked like an apartment building. He saw an open door.

The three men charged through the door. They headed up a flight of stairs that took them to a long, dark corridor. At the end of the corridor several feet away a beam of sunlight was shining through a window. A long row of constant dripping water from the ceiling rained down on the soggy, warped floorboards. At the left and right of the corridor were the dark doors to different apartments.

Yuri ran up to the first door on the right. Locked! he told himself as he grabbed the doorknob and pushed on the door. He stormed down the corridor to the next door at the right. This one was also locked. He ran to the third door and was tempted to burst out in a fit of triumphant laughter as it opened.

They entered a small living room that was inundated with a strong odor of mildew. Sunlight came in through a large, dirty window at the other side of the room. Their feet squished against a brown carpeting that was soaking wet from four separate steady drips that came from large holes in the ceiling where the plaster had fallen. The four walls were discolored by a covering of black mold. Sitting against the right wall was a small sofa that was also covered with mold. On the floor in front of the sofa was a small pile of discarded clothes that were soaking wet. Near the pile of clothes were two overturned wooden chairs. Fragments of fallen plaster from the ceiling were littering the floor. In the middle of the left wall was an open doorway to another room.

The sounds of Yuri, Ivan, and Boris’ heavy breathing joined the noise of the dripping water in the room. From beyond the window the loud thuds of the mobile trees could be heard. As well as several booms and the crack of breaking lumber. Sounds like they’re tearing through the houses to find us, Yuri told himself.

Ivan inhaled twice to catch his breath. “Trees,” he gasped. “We’re running from frigging trees.”

“Trees don’t chase you down and try to strangle you,” said Boris.

Yuri breathed deep and exhaled. “Looks like Alyosha was right. Too bad we didn’t listen to him. What do we do now?”

“You’re asking me?” said Ivan. Taking a quick breath. “You brought us here. Don’t you have a plan?”

“No. I just ran to escape. This brick building might hold up against them better than those rotting houses out there.”

“Then we’re trapped,” Ivan snapped at Yuri. Punching the door in anger. “How long do you think it will take for them to have this place surrounded?”

“We wouldn’t be trapped here if you had have listened to Alyosha like I said.”

“Like you said?” Ivan shrieked out. “Are you forgetting who’s in charge here, you stupid Cossack.”

“What did you say? Boy.” asked Yuri. Holding up a fist.

“Who the hell are you calling boy? I’m your Sergeant,” said Ivan. Stepping forward to shove Yuri back.

“Knock it off you two!” shouted Boris.

Yuri ignored Boris and retaliated by giving Ivan a strong shove that slammed him back against the door. Ivan let out an enraged scream and lunged at Yuri. Thrown off balance, with Ivan on top of him, Yuri fell back on one of the chairs and shattered it. Grunting and hurling curses, the two men wrestled across the soggy carpet. Both men dropping their weapons among the wet clothes.

“Stop it, you idiots!” Boris yelled at them. “The fight’s outside! Stop it!”

Then a long tree branch burst through the window. Glass fragments showering Yuri and Ivan. The sharp point of the branch stabbing forward to reach any victim while several of it’s tendrils were lashing out across the room. Yuri screamed at the appendage reaching over him. He released Ivan and rolled over to the left. Seeing his gun on the floor he reached over to grab it. Ivan grabbed his gun and crawled over to the right near the sofa. They both opened fire, as did Boris. The rapid fire of bullets chipped multiple fragments of wood away from the branch. A bright green liquid shot out and spattered against the walls. Then a six foot section of the branch broke off and dropped to the floor. The remaining part withdrew from the window. The three men stopped shooting at the plant thing on the floor. Faint clicks came from their weapons.

“I’m out!” Yuri cried. He began to breathe heavy again. His body shaking.

“Me too,” said Ivan.

Boris stood before the section of branch on the floor. It twitched, but it’s tendrils were still. At the left and right of the branch were several long, thin stakes ending in sharp points. The three men watched as these stakes grew even longer and began to sprout leaves. Still pointing his gun, Boris stepped closer.

“Is it dead?” Yuri cried out.

“Dead? It’s just a branch,” said Boris.

The branch raised up. One of it’s long, pointed stakes reached out and stabbed into Boris foot. Penetrating his right shoe. Boris reared his head back and spat out a scream in pain. The stake pulled out from Boris’ shoe and began to stab deep into his lower right leg. Then stabbing up to his thigh with rapid thrusts. The tendrils now came to life and wrapped themselves around Boris body. Using it’s lower stakes like legs the branch reared up. Three of it’s upper stakes stabbed into Boris’ mouth and eyes. Tendrils wrapped themselves in a tight embrace around his head.

Getting the hell out of here! was the thought that exploded from Yuri’s mind. He dropped his empty machine gun and bolted for the door, with Ivan right behind him. Yuri’s only thought now was to escape the building, so he ran back to the stairs. But then he stopped as he heard a thumping noise coming from up ahead. Yuri and Ivan both looked on in horror as the waving antenna of a tree ascending the stairs. Then the tree itself reached the top. It stood six feet tall. Propelling itself forward on a clumsy tripod of long roots. At it’s left side was a Human skeleton wrapped in a cocoon of webbing and tendrils. On it’s right side were three long, pointed branches bearing clusters of large leaves. With it’s antenna waving forward the tree quickened it pace towards Yuri and Ivan. Both men turned and ran back down the corridor. They passed the room that they were in and went to a door on the left. Yuri was grateful that this door opened. After he and Ivan barged into the small living room he slammed the door shut. This room also had the same brown carpeting. It was also soaking wet. In the middle of the room was a large pile of fallen plaster from the gaping hole in the ceiling where a steady stream of water was running. All the furnishings were gone. The smeary window at the other side of the room was still intact. There was a doorway to another room on the right. There were also the sounds of glass shattering. The thump and crack sounds of lumber breaking.

“I don’t want to know what’s going on back there,” said Yuri as he leaned against the door next to Ivan.

“These things are like mad dogs,” Ivan gasped. “I’ve got to get out of here.”

“You have to get out?”

Ivan corrected himself. “Ok. Bad choice of words. We have to get out.”

There was a loud thump at the door. Then two more thumps. The tree outside was trying to get in.

Ivan continued. “Look. I don’t like you. You don’t like me. But the only way we’re both going to get out of here is to work together.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Yuri’s reply as more thumps came against the door.

Ivan held out his hand. “Then shake on it. We work together.”

The point of the tree’s branch penetrated the flimsy wood of the door.

“This isn’t the best time for male bonding right now,” Yuri warned.

“We need a way out,” said Ivan.

Yuri looked around the rooms moldy walls. He charged to the left wall and gave it a strong kick with his foot. He put a large hole in the plaster. Soviet era construction and age would provide them with a makeshift escape route.

Still braced against the door Ivan ducked down as the branch stabbed through it again. Making the hole bigger. “We need a way out of here.”

“Working on it,” Yuri said. His foot made repeated thrusts onto the wall, kicking through the aged plaster and thin wooden planks with ease. With each kick the hole grew larger until it was wide enough for he and Ivan to pass through. “Let’s go,” he cried.

Ivan bolted away from the door while the tree kept stabbing through the hole. He joined Yuri as they ducked down and passed through the hole and into an empty room in the next apartment. Yuri headed for the apartment door and out into the corridor. The tree was still attacking the door to the other apartment. looking past this monster Yuri saw three other trees heading down the corridor to join it.

Yuri and Ivan both ran down the corridor towards the window. At the left there was an open doorway and stairs. Charging up the stairs Yuri and Ivan went through a door and found themselves on the roof of the building.

“This isn’t getting any better,” was Yuri’s comment as he looked around. Several large trees were closing in to surround the building. Then he looked straight ahead. It appeared that this building and the one next to it were close. Close enough for them to leap from rooftop to rooftop. Yuri pointed forward. “The next roof. Let’s jump for it.”

A sudden powerful impact shook the entire building. Yuri and Ivan were thrown off their feet. Then the huge form of a tree burst through the roof while a swarm of tendrils whipped out from the doorway and grabbed Ivan by his legs. Ivan screamed as the tendrils tightened their grip and began to drag him back down the stairs.

“Yuri! Help me! Help me!”

Yuri rose to his feet. He reached out to Ivan, then looked back at the next building. He pulled his hand back. And stepped back as well.

“Yuri! Help me, you son of a bitch!”

Yuri turned and began to run. The screaming Ivan was pulled back down the stairs.

“Yuri! Come back! Yuri!”

Sorry, kid, was Yuri’s thought. He ran for the edge of the building. Gaining momentum to jump. Yuri reached the edge of the roof and took a strong leap. As he was in mid air a large tree sprang up. Swinging up one of it’s branches and catching Yuri in it’s tendrils. Yuri cried out in pain as he felt the strength of the tendrils constricting around his legs and waist with a grip of steel. The tendrils squeezed tighter. Pulling him close to the branch. He felt his legs breaking.

Now pressed against the tree and flanked by it’s huge leaves Yuri looked at his companions here. To his left was the body of Alyosha. His head leaning to one side while his lifeless eyes stared forward. To his right was the desiccated body of a black uniformed policeman. Both corpses were wrapped in the strange web material. Thin streams of the honey smelling sap now oozed out from the tree branch and began to cover Yuri. Now he began to understand what the web-like material was. It was dried sap from the tree. And at this point Yuri began to theorize that the sap was in fact digestive fluid. Yuri would soon find out as he would become the latest victim of the dark secret of the ghost city of Prypiat.