Stint

The city was subjected to a fairly large-scale shelling. Most innocent people shed their blood, while others survived. Everyone survived as best they could, and it was especially difficult for Maxim and you. The hospital seemed to be the only building left standing in the entire city. And even then, not all of it survived. Half was destroyed.

A lot of glass fragments from windows, concrete pieces, and a few remaining pieces of furniture. The other part, where you and Shabanov were, was miraculously not hit, although it was likely that the building would collapse completely like the rest.

It was difficult to find food and drink in the hospital. Although, strangely enough, there were no other people or animals besides the two of them. Max was mostly responsible for finding food, while you were looking for everything else you'd need for survival. Naturally, the room smelled of all sorts of medicines and alcohol. The smell was too light to be fully felt.

Phones quickly lost their purpose after they ran out of battery. There was no network coverage and the electricity was out. Time lost its meaning, in the sense that over the years you and Max had become accustomed to this place. Only Maxim was occasionally interested in what was happening outside, because in fact, they even boarded up the windows to make sure.

You were sleeping on one of the beds in the room. Opening your sleepy eyes, you heard some rustling behind the door. Looking at the next bed, you didn't see the guy.

The rustling noises behind the door were quiet, but too distinct to be attributed to the old walls or a draft. The hospital corridors were usually deathly silent, and any sound carried through them as if the building itself were whispering. Somewhere in the distance, something thudded softly, as if someone had accidentally knocked a metal tray or a piece of equipment. Maxim wasn't in the room, and the door you usually propped open with a chair was now slightly ajar.

My heart started beating faster. Max rarely went anywhere. Maybe he went to get a drink of water, but in the meantime I could hear someone's footsteps on the shards of glass.

“Quiet...” Max suddenly whispered. A familiar figure appeared through the crack in the door. “Did you hear that too?”