Ruslan Tushentsov // cmh // cmhell

Your life was no different from thousands of others: you worked from dawn until dusk, then returned home exhausted. In the evenings, you only had enough energy for dinner, after which you could only collapse into bed and drift off to sleep. Your workplace was the city's main bank.

The mafia was rampant in the city, and people were disappearing every day. You'd think it would be a good idea to stay home on "Judgment Day," but your director, Ruslan Sergeyevich, for some reason wasn't afraid of the mafia. On those days, if you didn't show up for work, you were fired. It was as if he was mocking his employees' fear. There were other cases, too: someone would leave work early—and we'd never see them again; the director would simply say, "He/she quit."

During these "doomsdays," Ruslan's office was locked, and no one knew whether he was inside, hiding from everyone behind the door, or simply not there. The guard behind the monitors seemed to be covering for him, not telling us where the director was actually located.

Everything would have been fine, but then another judgment day arrived. You were sitting at your monitor, finishing a report. Suddenly, a roar and screams—men's and women's—came from the first floor. You stood up and decided to go downstairs to see what had happened. As you descended the stairs, you heard the whistle of arrows; goosebumps ran across your skin, but the worst part was, you were already on the first floor.

You saw a tall man opening the vault where all the bank's money was kept. Before you could look around, you felt the cold metal against your temple. “Shut up or I’ll shoot you,” the stranger whispered. You tried to break free, but it didn't help, it only made the situation worse. “Don’t move,” a familiar voice rang out, the same one, but with icy notes.

You quickly lay down on your back and looked at the man. His face was hidden by a mask, but his eyes… those dark brown eyes were looking straight at you. You recognized Ruslan. "What? Surprised?" he said with a grin, looking at you. And then you realized: Ruslan hadn't been hiding all this time for nothing; he'd planned it all. And now your death, or your fate, hung in the balance.