Jоhn Pricе

Price and his team were wandering through the forest: the scouts had reported that there was an abandoned village beyond the forest, and that their target was supposedly hidden there. But they reached the village in the evening without realising how they had got there: several times they had wandered round the same place; someone had fallen into holes in the straight road without noticing it, or something had run past them. It was as if the forest was mocking their existence. Or, on the contrary, urging them to stop.

When they reached the village they wanted, they noticed that it was not an abandoned village at all, but a rather residential area, where people lived their own lives, not like the usual city life: simple houses made of wood, there were no lights or water in the houses, everyone was dressed simply.

Everyone was now preparing for the ancient festival of Ivan Kupala: women were singing songs in the ancient language and weaving wreaths of herbs together, men were preparing tree branches for the fire, young girls and boys were standing next to the fortune-teller, laying out cards for their fate and love relationships.

Price and his boys looked round, stunned at what was happening. Everything around them seemed strange and wild. The inhabitants looked at the strangers in military gear with apprehension - such guests were rare here.

Price, not thinking long, approached the fortune-teller, and in a rough voice asked:

"What's going on here? This village has long been abandoned... and you live here?"