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Yuri kept his face stoic They sought to break him with their tortures, but he was an oldsecrets All they’d accomplished was to harden his core for as to come In the past months, Yuri had started to have reservations about Savina’s plan

It was only natural

Millions would die in horrible ways

All for a neorld to be born

A new Renaissance

Yuri stared at Mapplethorpe’s self-satisfied sht-eyed confidence

All hesitation died inside him

Savina was right

It was time for the world to burn

2:55 PM

Southern Ural Mountains

General-Major Savina Martov knew so She felt it in her bones, a nonspecific anxiety She could no longer remain in her office She needed reassurances

With a radio held to the side of her face, she led two soldiers through the dark and abandoned streets that cut through the old Soviet-era apartments that filled the back half of the Chelyabinsk 88 cavern The featureless concrete blocks that rose to either side were the original housing for prisoners orked the mines and refines for five years’ work here Not that any of them ever saw that fifth year Most died from radiation before the end of their first year

A foolish gaain, hope could turn any rational acy she had inherited It served as a reminder

Others thought her cruel, but sometimes necessity could wear no other face The children ell fed, their needs attended Pain was minimized as much as humanly possible

Cruelty?

She stared around at the hollow-eyed apartments, cold, dark, haunted

All she saas necessity

The radio fritzed at her ear as Lieutenant Borsakov caative reports fro the surrounding mountains and foothills for the children He’d been led astray by several false trails, discovering a discarded hospital shirt

“We found two dead dogs,” Borsakov said “By the river They’d been torn to shreds Bear attack But we’ve picked up a strong trail”

“And what about the cats?” she asked, speaking into a radio

Silence stretched for a moment

“Lieutenant,” she said more firmly

“We were holding off sending thes with the tigers ranging the hills”

He kept his voice practical, but Savina recognized the strained edge behind his words The lieutenant was not so s as he was the children

Why did she always have to be the hard one?

She spoke crisply “You have a strong trail now, do you not, Lieutenant?”