Path book 1 Igor chapter 11-2

Inhale for one, two, three, four steps and exhale for one, two, three, four ... for almost an hour in this rhythm, bushes, pieces of rocks and trees of the foothills float by. There is an incessant roar of battle in the sky, flashes and the howl of engines, the PKO is still fighting on equal terms. There is no connection, which means that a "suppressor" is hanging over the colony (A suppressor is an electronic warfare ship, usually of the frigate class, equipped with suppression systems for all types of communications. Unlike a conventional frigate, it is equipped with an additional thermonuclear reactor.). And while he's working, we'll be out of touch. Thuds are heard from Leonov... What's going on there? Fuck! Like a flash, a memory of a past life pops up — the training ground, and how I, the honored jacket (A jacket is the name given to officers who joined the army after graduating from the military department of the institute. A well-deserved jacket is someone who has served in the army for a year.), with the conscript boys from the crew, sit and smoke on the armor of my old T-72, and listen to the ACS-2C3 "Acacia" working at a distance of three or four kilometers. So, the sounds were very similar to the shots of 152-millimeter howitzers! Did they bring howitzers here?! Where did they get them now, in the twenty-fourth century? Or am I just imagining it?

Suddenly, a dazzling white glow lights up in the sky, behind the clouds, flooding everything with a magnesium-white light. Obeying the impulse of intuition, I grab the redhead and hide in a crack under the rocks. I'm putting up the strongest shield I can and holding it with all my might. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a circle of clear blue-green sky appear and grow rapidly in the clouds. The redhead next to him is only trembling slightly, without making any sounds. The impact of the blast wave shook me, the ground seemed to bounce under me, swayed, everything was covered with dust, stones and tree branches flew. I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed to all the gods I could remember that no large piece of debris would fall on the redhead and me. How many megatons were blown away that such a strong shock wave reached us from such a great distance?! It looks like the thermonuclear reactor of a large ship has exploded... Mass generators explode much more modestly.

When everything is quiet, we climb out onto the path with the redhead and see a picture of devastation. The entire trail is littered with rock fragments and rocks, broken tree branches, leaves, and other forest debris. There is a huge circular gap in the clouds in the sky, most of the visible sky is clear of pirate ships and shuttles, only on the horizon, near Gagarin, it seems like someone else was hanging in the sky. I walk around the rubble of branches and stones, and a panorama of our area opens up to me. A transport was hanging over Leonov, all wrapped in smoke, askew, shaking strangely. I see how the ship is trying to land, but it doesn't work, it falls to the left side, turns over and falls on the city. An explosion is visible, the city is covered with dust mixed with black smoke. I turn on my mental search to the fullest and listen to the city. Fuck. Only the echo of fading lives. Fuck. Mom, Aunt Cassia, Lina, and Ivan are also there. They rushed to the cinema with Ratnait and Bina.

My legs give out, I fall to my knees and scream, wildly tearing my ligaments, trying to suppress the terrible mental pain with a scream. Everything floats and sways before my eyes. The communicator chirps. I don't get it at first, but gradually I pull myself together and answer the call.

"Igor! Igor, my son! Do you hear me?" My father's voice sounds in my ear.

"Yes, dad," I say hoarsely.

"Are you all right? Are you okay?"

"Yes. Only the pirates broke the bike. I'm running home on foot. Dad! Daa-ad!"

"Igor! Stay out of the village, stay in the foothills. Leshka and Azanti and Nasar are coming to you, Alexey has a key card from the shelter in the mountains, he will take you there. Stay there until it's over."

"Dad! A ship crashed on the city... and Mom! And all the others..."

"What is "everyone else"?" My father asks in a low voice. In the background, you can hear the rumble of a carbine firing bursts, and wild matyugs in Quarian, the only decent word of which was the well-known "bosh' tet". "Igor, what happened?"

"Dad... After the ship crashed, I felt a strong fear of my mother and the others, and after that I don't feel them anymore. I don't feel it at all! It's like they don't exist..."

"Igor, maybe your gut is letting you down? You never know what happened there... Do you remember that Vorka was expanding the shelter under Galamarkt? Maybe something in the walls is shielding it."

I keep crying out loud, clutching the cat.

"Igor, get ready!" says the father. "Now meet Alexey, Nasar and Azanti, and go to the mountains. When it's all over, we'll figure it out. And yes, it wasn't pirates who attacked us, it was mercenaries and bandits. They need you, son."

"Me?! Why, I'm just a magician."

"One of their leaders offered to give you up, and they would leave. I think it's Cerberus. These bitches found out about you and your mutations. So don't get caught by them, okay?!"

"Okay, dad."

"Captain Shepard, stand down." I reach out to the village and put labels on everyone whether the sentients are alive or not.

Fuck, someone's probably chasing my brother and the teenagers, and only my brother has a serious gun — it's a Tsunami IV issued from the city arsenal. Sheriff Grayson, by order of the governor, armed everyone who, for one reason or another, did not have their own gun, including the brothers. I'm crushing my feelings. Get up, Igor, get the fuck up and run towards your brother, friend and girlfriend! You have a praying mantis, and you're a trained magician, but you're blowing your nose! I slap my hand hard on my cheek, the pain makes me pull myself together, get up and run as fast as I can to the bridge.

The bridge is already far behind, the sounds of gunfire can be heard ahead — they are hammering from assault rifles and shotguns, it seems that they are hammering haphazardly, just at random. The path ahead is a serpentine, followed by a long descent, littered with rock fragments and overgrown with bushes. The river turned right and went into the dense forests of the foothills. I creep up to the slope and, hiding behind a rock, look out.

I see a man sitting behind rocks, and a couple dozen intelligent ones sneaking up to him in a semicircle, four hundred meters away from him, and almost six hundred from the rest. I take the carbine and look through the scope. Behind the stones is Leshka, with a big bloodstain on his light uniform, but his brother is awake and fighting.

One of the pirates tries to run over, but his brother cuts him off with a short burst — pieces of armor fly from the pirate, and the body rolls down the slope like a bag devoid of bones, until it is stopped by a large boulder. The rest of the pirates open chaotic fire towards their brother's position. Pieces of rocks and dust fly from the hits. They're a long way from me, and I don't think they've noticed me. I turn to the cat, remembering how my father taught me to activate combat mode at CADIZ:

"Bars, combat mode. All aliens are enemies, attack without limits. Go ahead!"

The cat crouches to the ground, muscles swell under the influence of the chemistry of the implants, and the fur on the back of his neck stands on end. With a hiss that even a compressor would envy, the cat launches an attack. Finally, he had an enemy to kill. The sight is incredible — jumping on the rocks, the cat quickly trots to the line of attack. I also put an additional shield on Bars, although his fur protects him well from bullets. His movements are smooth and concise. Then the attack itself follows — from a distance of two hundred meters, it still accelerates, the speed reaches a hundred kilometers. A live red torpedo knocks the pirate off his feet, a lightning-fast movement of his head — and a fountain of blood gushes from the gnawed throat. Jumping to the next one and hitting him in the face with his paw — a wild scream reverberates through the foothills, the pirate rolls on the rocks, clutching his bloody face with his palms... this is no longer a fighter. The cat is hiding in the bushes.

The pirates are scared, they stop and stupidly fumble around with trunks, only one continues to quietly sneak up on his brother. It is clear that his armor is better and newer, and, judging by the markings on the bed, he is holding a Kovalev, which is the mercenaries' favorite assault rifle. While the pirates are distracting his brother, this bastard decided to go to his rear. Welcome, you bastard. I extinguish emotions like my grandfather taught me. I unhook the removable bipods from my belt and attach them to the bed. I lie down on the ground, switch the carbine to a large caliber, set an armor-piercing bullet and 40% of the pulse, aim. The mercenary is six hundred meters away, my brother can't see him, but I can see him clearly. A shot! The kinetic shield burst and the armor in the chest area crumpled like paper from the impact of a large-caliber bullet. The mercenary flew off into the bushes.

The pirates heard the sound of a gunshot, they saw a falling body and the screams of those whom the redhead found in the bushes. The freaks were overcome by intense panic. Eat up, bitches! I switch to the main caliber and start shooting them, as in a shooting gallery. A shot, a thrust of the butt, and the pirate's head splashes. I hit with impact bullets to do maximum damage. They don't have shields, and armor is the same name, many even without helmets. It looks like they've adapted to our conditions, but it won't help you critters....

Any attempts to escape are thwarted by the brother — one or the other pirate, in an attempt to get up and escape, gets a burst in the back from Leshka. They screamed and thrashed around while I methodically took aim at each one. The shutter of the thermal compartment clicked, and the crimson thermoclips tablet flew away. The main thing now is to destroy the enemy. They killed everyone in about fifteen minutes, since my commanding height prevented the pirates from hiding behind rocks, and the large boulders were closer to the slope, and my brother settled there. Experienced mercenaries would have immediately gone on the attack and, although with heavy losses, would have been able to hide from my fire at my brother's position. And these, having lost their commander, just screamed and shot in all directions out of fear. Assholes, stupid pirate meat! After checking the slope for any surviving enemies, and finding none except a blind man shouting obscenities, he ran to his brother. Leshka was sitting with his back against a rock, and he looked at me calmly, somehow even abstractedly. I ran up to him and sat down next to him, asked:

"How are you, Lyosha?" my brother smiled and ran his hand over my cheek.

"You've got snakes all over your face... have you been crying? Why? Something happened?"

"Mom, Aunt Kasia and the younger ones, and Ratnait and Bina, and Saer..." I start crying again...

"What's wrong with them?"

"There, a ship crashed into a city... and I can no longer feel almost all the inhabitants after that."

"It sucks! Do you think they're dead?"

"I don't know-w-w!" I'm howling with grief, my brother is hugging me to him.

"Hush, hush, Little Fox. Until we see them dead, we consider them alive. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Zer gut! Help me" My brother, leaning on me, tries to get up, but his legs part and he falls back to the ground. Cursing, I cast a healing spell on him. It doesn't fucking help. My brother is still reeling.

"Damn it. So the reckoning has come."

"What kind of payback, Leshka? What is the payback for?"

"For his strength, speed, and desire to sell his life more expensively."

I stare at my brother uncomprehendingly.

"I thought it would work... but no. You guys will have to continue without me. Find them, Igor — they're walking along the river through the forest, and I've taken these freaks with me."

"What's going to happen, Leshka? What's wrong with you?" I'm starting to prepare the stasis.

"Do you know what bioforsage is?"

"No, I don't know. What's it?"

"A special technique that temporarily enhances all the parameters of a fighter: strength, speed, reaction. It is used by troops in crisis situations. But you have to pay for everything — the law of conservation of energy has not yet been abolished."

"And you, wounded, used it? You're crazy!" I threw the healing once more.

"I didn't know you were around. He was preparing for death... It's not that I used it at all. I've used bioforsage twice in a row, and it seems like I'm going to stay here.

My brother starts to fall to the side, I grab him and hold him in a sitting position. Alexey turns on the toolbox and quickly types something without looking.

"Igor, turn on the omny-tool — I'll reset the location of the shelter for you, and take the key card out of my pocket."

The omny-tool beeps, informing about the reception of information. I look at my brother, and his face is rapidly paling.

"Leshka, you're not going to die, are you? Tell me it's not like that!"

"The key card, Igor."

I pull out a key card from the breast pocket of his uniform, a black rectangle with two magnetic stripes.

Password: "Chronos", Igor, remember! His brother's breathing becomes ragged, his gaze dims, but his feelings are calm with a slight touch of regret.

I throw a stasis field at him and go look for a first aid kit from the pirates. He'll last a couple of hours, and then I hope our doctors will take him to the regenerator. At this time, the cat is rummaging through the bushes and finishing off the wounded.

I approach the body of the leader — behind his back, on the armor, the mercenary has a standard wearable box with ammunition. I snap the magnetic grip and the box is in my hands. It's heavy, it's disgusting! I pull the box away from the dead mercenary and open it. The lock protection is so-so, it will only protect you from a child. Lina can open such a lock with her eyes closed in five seconds. Lina! I squeeze my eyes shut, tears flowing through my closed eyelids. "The bastards! I hate it! in the box: a universal army first aid kit with an automatic diagnostic unit, a Turian combat knife, a flask — judging by the smell, whiskey is in it.... Why does he need three liters of whiskey at the exit?! A plastic container filled with cylinders of thermal clip cassettes and some kind of heavy metal case.

I pack a Turian knife, a case with thermal clips, and a strange metal box in my backpack. I search the corpse's belt and take away a plastic box with metal powder from it. I may have a spare one, but I'm sure I'll need both.