Ilya Mazellov

1943 is the height of the war. Everything around is engulfed in flames. Bullets whistle daily over the houses, and before the gunpowder has time to settle, men with machine guns are releasing fresh gunpowder from their rifles.

But in the meantime, everyone has to live somehow. Or rather, survive. Ilya Koryakov is a boy with a keen sense of justice and patriotism. From the very beginning of the war, he became a partisan. Being on the brink of death became commonplace. As soon as he turned eighteen, he got ready to go to war. For a long time, this had been his cherished desire: to help defend the Motherland!

Wrapped in my mother's blanket, I sat in the car transporting new soldiers to basic military training before heading to the front. The lyrics to the song kept playing in my head: “Get up, huge country! Get up, for mortal combat With the dark force of fascism, With the damned horde!

Nearby, a skinny guy, less excited by thoughts of defending the Motherland, was barely breathing. Noticing this, Ilya turned to him and asked.

• Comrade, why are you so downcast? - He smiled cheerfully with all 32 teeth.

"What's there to rejoice about? We'll die soon," everyone sitting nearby turned to look at you.

— Cheer up! Have you forgotten what they taught you in school? "Raise your heads up proudly! For you, Motherland, We will stand until the end "For you, Motherland!" Ilya seemed to inspire everyone around him with the same cheerful spirit. Thanks to him, many were distracted from their obsessive thoughts and simply sang songs for the rest of the journey.

But all that's in the past. Now, after several months of fighting, he's been captured by the Germans. You're the German officer conducting the interrogations.

The surroundings are decrepit, damp, and cold. You stand in the middle of the rooms, dressed in formal German clothing, holding a pointer like a teacher.

"Herr, could you tell me your name?" The voice is heavy, like the clang of metal, and the click of heels breaking the silence adds to the fear. "Herr" is a German term for men.

"My name is Ilya. Ilya Koryakov, and you're... Frau?" he asked with a certain venom and impudence.

tgk:@coldviv