Concrete Jungle

Chapter 11

            As expected, the city itself wasn't dead. But there was no sign of human life, not like there used to be nearly three decades ago, not like there was supposed to be considering this was a city with apartment buildings. No, it was all wrong somehow. Trees, animals, and rodents had replaced humans. Rust replaced metal and solidity by brokenness and cracks. Weeds, turned into tall, tree-sized plants reaching towards the partly cloudy sky, were sprouting out of cracks and holes in the cement as far as the eye could see. What man had created, established, proud to call a victory was returning to nature a square block at a time. Radiation or not, nature wasn't conforming to anyone's expectations; it wanted back what was its all along. This was not an uninhabitable solitary place but a thriving eco-system born from a necessity to mutate in order to regain footing and reclaim. The land had found a way.

          The vans stopped, and everyone got out wordlessly. The three foreigners were just taking it all in; the life, the decline, the desertion, and like a menacing reminder, the large gray ghostly shape of the power plant appeared in the distance when they rounded the corner. Sasha stopped short and stared at it as if the thing would suddenly grow arms and lunge out at her. It was one of the nightmares she had when she was growing up after Vasya's death that she never told a soul about and hadn't even shared in her blue journal.

          She could almost swear she heard the voices of the dead crying out for peace. While Sasha was in a way not entirely in the present, Rahel had her moment and was ready to get to work. She and Alexei got their equipment out of the second van and started setting up. Alexei explained that his drone was sophisticated enough to fly long distances, and therefore, they didn't have to get too close to the plant. He started setting up everything he needed for the operation as well as the computer he'd use to review all of the photos taken right on the spot to make sure the drone's cameras were working. The machine would also be equipped with a Geiger meter to read the levels of radiation permeating from the plant to see if it was still emitting anything harmful into the air. Rahel had been snapping photos before the van stopped moving and now she was getting her tri-pod and other essentials out. Despite the history of this place, she wasn't hearing or seeing the past as Sasha was and wasn't that heavily invested unless something pertained directly to her.

         Meanwhile, the scientist that was to meet Ben and the rest of the group was running a little late and had just arrived as Sasha returned to the present and was ready to start exploring. Ben smiled as the scientist climbed out of a beat-up old car. The man was young, but he and Ben had gotten to know each other via email and Skype as this expedition got underway. Both men shook hands and looked around with a determined yet appreciative glance. Ben then walked the man over to the rest of the team, and the introductions began. But he was more interested in meeting Sasha. Other than Ben, Sasha was a big deal to him.

         He had followed her work with NatGeo since her very first article and then story. He was a few years younger though highly educated in Ukraine, and his mother was also from Belarus like Sasha and her family but from the city of Slutsk; needless to say he was a big admirer of her work and jumped at the chance to work with her even if it was in a secondary capacity as he'd be with Ben all of the time. He didn't think much of Rahel when he met her. He sensed her shallowness despite the photography skills and understood that she was just another pretty albeit exotic face.

       Sasha was sitting on the floor of the van with her feet dangling out, like that of a kid as she scribbled in her notebook with one of her many pencils, when Ben brought the man over. Rahel happened to glance in their direction at that exact moment. As Ben was about to introduce them, the young scientist grabbed Sasha's hand as she had extended it towards him and shook it enthusiastically while introducing himself in both English and Russian to her:

"Hello, I am scientist who will be working with you and Ben on this amazing expedition. I am big admirer of your work, Alexandra. My name is Petrov, Vasily Nikoliavitch. Or Vasya as my friends call me, just not like the camel!"

        Ben watched in shock and alarm as all of the color drained out of Sasha's face, and she stood stock-still, barely breathing as she stared mutely at the man in front of her. Sasha felt like she had been hit in the solar plexus with Thor's hammer. Her head was spinning, and all of the air was suddenly gone from her lungs. Meanwhile, poor Vasily thought he had committed some horrible faux pas by being so overly enthusiastic and started stammering out apologies:

"I-I am so sorry. I-I didn't mean to scare you. That was too forward, I should have waited for Benjamin to introduce us. I am terribly sorry." He glanced at Ben, scared.

       Sasha somehow had the wherewithal to recover somewhat and explained that it was ok and that it wasn't him, but she just thought the long van ride and the less than appetizing lunch had made her a bit queasy.

"It is a pleasure to meet you as well, and I look forward to working with you. Please call me Sasha, Alexandra is too formal, and I reserve that for when my stories are published." She managed the most at ease smile she could muster as she spoke slowly and deliberately.

       Though Vasily wasn't sure her answer was real, he wasn't about to question it. Neither Rahel—who had witnessed everything—nor Ben could make heads or tails of anything that had occurred especially not after getting checked for rising levels of radiation and being given the all-clear, they watched as Sasha sneaked off way behind the vans and vomited into the bushes. Their first day had barely started, and already they had more questions than answers, especially when it came to the mystery of Sasha's behavior. What was Sasha hiding from them?