"Angry Night" is told from the point of view of a Russian surviver, years after the Chimeran invasion. He is recalling moments from his childhood during the invasion.
Chapter 1
We stayed in our basement as the gunshots and growls of creatures that were barely human roared above us. I was only 16 at the time, but I remember it perfectly. You don’t forget near death experiences like this. It was around the time they had built the Red Curtain. I was a Russian living in Moscow, the largest city and capital in Russia. They built the Curtain to initiate a blackout from the rest of the world. It was along the European border. My father had been on the building staff. It’s kind of hard to explain what happened after being isolated. Everything just sort of happened. I know the government had something to do with it. They had said the curtain was to stop an anticipated invasion by Europeans. At the time we didn’t even have any clue of the villages destroyed overnight. We actually had no clue until what happened at Kashin. It’s fairly close to Moscow so when we heard of its destruction being the effect of an earthquake, we had a feeling it wasn’t true. We should have felt it right? We were all begging for it not to have been an earthquake, but looking back, oh how I wish it was.
We were in the basement that night. Father had built it. He started building it before leaving to work on the Curtain. He said if the worst should happen, I should take mother, Lilia, and grandmother into it and lock the door. We went down the second we heard the civil defense sirens go off. Father said he would come back. He said he’d come back and protect us. He never came. We stayed in the basement for weeks. We stayed silent most of the time. Lily cried silently. Mother tried to have her hold her breath. If they heard us…we didn’t even know what would happen. Grandmother stayed motionless most of the time. We constantly had to make sure she was still breathing. It was nerve wrecking being down there. I was especially scared. Father had left me in charge of the family. I was the only man left. Grandfather had died long ago, and father was no where to be seen. It was my responsibility. I’ll always regret the things that happened, things that I should have stopped but couldn’t. It was my responsibility, I should have been there. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Anyway, father had also kept a ham radio down there. One of the things he told me was a message I should play over it if we needed help. I told him I wouldn’t forget it. I remember it now, but only because I will never forget it after what happened from forgetting it. At the time in the basement, I forgot it.
The basement was a cold, dark, damp cellar. It had concrete walls, a concrete floor, and no windows. It had a metal door separating the basement from the outside world. On the outside, the door was covered with grass so it was unnoticeable, and thank god for that. It was almost as if father knew this would happen, like he foresaw the whole thing. We had one hot plate and a small light bulb that swung from a single piece of string from the ceiling. We tried to limit the use of it; we didn’t know how long it would last. We never all slept at once, because if no one knew the Chimera were in that basement, well we were all gone. Grandmother never stayed up. She was old and frail, and we knew she couldn’t handle it. Lily stayed up rarely, only when mother and I needed our sleep. It always worried me when she was awake. She must have been scared, terrified. I was dying and I was 7 years older than her. I’m sure mother stayed up with her sometimes. I stayed up the most out of all of us. We had a fair supply of water; it was food we lacked in. I tried to convince mother to let me go out and look for something, but she wouldn’t allow it. So, as you can imagine, those weeks spent down there were torture.
I think we had stayed in there for 6 weeks before we decided we had waited long enough. There was no sign that the creatures were still outside. The world had remained silent for days. I don’t remember the exact reason we decided to leave, but I think it was when grandmother started coughing. She had gotten very sick. We tried to make sure she got most of the food, she needed it the most, since she required medical attention. Now she was dying. We knew we would never survive down there, we would all die. We had to go up and see if there was anything we could do to help her. I decided to go out first. I slowly opened the door and peeked outside. I couldn’t recognize Moscow anymore.
Chapter 1
We stayed in our basement as the gunshots and growls of creatures that were barely human roared above us. I was only 16 at the time, but I remember it perfectly. You don’t forget near death experiences like this. It was around the time they had built the Red Curtain. I was a Russian living in Moscow, the largest city and capital in Russia. They built the Curtain to initiate a blackout from the rest of the world. It was along the European border. My father had been on the building staff. It’s kind of hard to explain what happened after being isolated. Everything just sort of happened. I know the government had something to do with it. They had said the curtain was to stop an anticipated invasion by Europeans. At the time we didn’t even have any clue of the villages destroyed overnight. We actually had no clue until what happened at Kashin. It’s fairly close to Moscow so when we heard of its destruction being the effect of an earthquake, we had a feeling it wasn’t true. We should have felt it right? We were all begging for it not to have been an earthquake, but looking back, oh how I wish it was.
We were in the basement that night. Father had built it. He started building it before leaving to work on the Curtain. He said if the worst should happen, I should take mother, Lilia, and grandmother into it and lock the door. We went down the second we heard the civil defense sirens go off. Father said he would come back. He said he’d come back and protect us. He never came. We stayed in the basement for weeks. We stayed silent most of the time. Lily cried silently. Mother tried to have her hold her breath. If they heard us…we didn’t even know what would happen. Grandmother stayed motionless most of the time. We constantly had to make sure she was still breathing. It was nerve wrecking being down there. I was especially scared. Father had left me in charge of the family. I was the only man left. Grandfather had died long ago, and father was no where to be seen. It was my responsibility. I’ll always regret the things that happened, things that I should have stopped but couldn’t. It was my responsibility, I should have been there. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Anyway, father had also kept a ham radio down there. One of the things he told me was a message I should play over it if we needed help. I told him I wouldn’t forget it. I remember it now, but only because I will never forget it after what happened from forgetting it. At the time in the basement, I forgot it.
The basement was a cold, dark, damp cellar. It had concrete walls, a concrete floor, and no windows. It had a metal door separating the basement from the outside world. On the outside, the door was covered with grass so it was unnoticeable, and thank god for that. It was almost as if father knew this would happen, like he foresaw the whole thing. We had one hot plate and a small light bulb that swung from a single piece of string from the ceiling. We tried to limit the use of it; we didn’t know how long it would last. We never all slept at once, because if no one knew the Chimera were in that basement, well we were all gone. Grandmother never stayed up. She was old and frail, and we knew she couldn’t handle it. Lily stayed up rarely, only when mother and I needed our sleep. It always worried me when she was awake. She must have been scared, terrified. I was dying and I was 7 years older than her. I’m sure mother stayed up with her sometimes. I stayed up the most out of all of us. We had a fair supply of water; it was food we lacked in. I tried to convince mother to let me go out and look for something, but she wouldn’t allow it. So, as you can imagine, those weeks spent down there were torture.
I think we had stayed in there for 6 weeks before we decided we had waited long enough. There was no sign that the creatures were still outside. The world had remained silent for days. I don’t remember the exact reason we decided to leave, but I think it was when grandmother started coughing. She had gotten very sick. We tried to make sure she got most of the food, she needed it the most, since she required medical attention. Now she was dying. We knew we would never survive down there, we would all die. We had to go up and see if there was anything we could do to help her. I decided to go out first. I slowly opened the door and peeked outside. I couldn’t recognize Moscow anymore.
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