「 Girls' Frontline 」Nikolay's Journey

Chapter 23: Good morning

"So the problem is not so much to see what nobody has yet seen, as to think what nobody has yet thought concerning that which everybody sees."

-Arthur Schopenhauer

·····

ACT III: Polaroid memories

"Bip—— Bip— Bip——— Bip—— Bip—"

R1s kept silent as she didn't want nor should disturb the only sound that can be heard this night, the EKG device tracking Nikolay's heartbeat, beside him Nadya was asleep, it was currently 3 am so everyone should be in a deep slumber, except for R1s who wanted to get a look at Nikolay now that she could do it alone and without anyone around to question her. Her eyes rested on the bed he was laying at, not daring to go further than look at his neck as for some reason she didn't understand, she couldn't look at him directly into the eyes even though they were closed. She was leaning beside the door with her arms crossed and narrow eyes directed towards Nikolay's direction, even if it was quite dark she didn't want to use her night vision and get a good look at him, she felt like she would anger the others if she did.

R1s: I think I know the answer to one of your questions now...

·····

The blur of her visual systems restarting started to finally fade away as she could finally distinguish forms and colors, dark from light big from small, first noticing how she was moving even though she could clearly know that her legs were still as they can be, then her hearing senses kicked in, making her realize the heavy breathing beside her, her eyes snapped quickly to her right distinguishing a soldier like figure apparently carrying her through the poorly lit corridors as the alarms kept shining with their red on everything.

R1s: Nikolay...?

Her voice was weak but it resonated quite strongly in her mind almost as if she had a raging headache from drinking non-stop, everything then connected as she remembered being knocked out cold after telling Nikolay she saw something.

R1s: Nikolay what the hell happened...?

Her question was quickly answered as her eyes finally adapted back to reality, seeing Nikolay's shirt bloodied, his right arm missing, and his trenchcoat sleeve being tainted red as it was tightened around his missing arm to stop the bleeding. He got rid of a lot of his equipment to get as light as possible to carry both of them out of there and ease the probably horrific pain he was experiencing at this moment. The balaclava was gone, his mask was strapped to the side of his face to let him breathe better and his plate carrier bulletproof plate was removed as she could notice how it was flatter and less bulky, probably getting rid of even some mags to lighten his burden. R1s eyes widened as she analyzed him and the info processed of what she was seeing at this instant reached her neural cloud making her try and to stand up correctly by herself and hold Nikolay by instinct. Even if she failed because her body was still booting up Nikolay noticed the attempt and his eyes swiftly moved aside to get a glance at her, a face of worry, fear, and confusion plastered across R1s normally stale, cold, and unemotional looks.

Nikolay: We are almost out of here keep trying to move

He said with a weak voice, a clear hint of agony with it, R1s felt powerless at that statement as she just wanted to stop right this instant and tend to him but couldn't simply because she couldn't feel them at all, yet.

·····

R1s: ... I would hate myself if I died right now...