Transmission Lost

Prologue - From Russia With Love

Before him stood a house. The house stood alone. One would think a house like this will be standing amidst other houses that look the same, but this one sat in a bright white void. Isolated. The man slowly walked towards it. It was that classical American foursquare house with blue walls, a silver roof and a spacious front porch. On the porch sat a woman in a rocking chair. Her long brown hair ran down to her shoulders like a river. She gently brushed it while humming a comforting melody. It echoed through the void, creating a dream-like ambience. The man walked closer and he saw that the woman was wearing a long bridal dress. The man smiled. She was beautiful. Everything was exactly like he imagined it would be, simply perfect. The woman turned and smiled as he stopped in front of the porch stairs. "Ivan," her warm voice called. It seemed so close, yet so distant. "Ivan," she said again and reached out to the man. He smiled and reached out as well to grab her hand.

"Ivan!" a sudden harsh voice awoke Ivan from his dream. Yuri was standing beside his bed, fully dressed. Ivan rubbed his eyes and looked around the barracks. Everyone was getting up from their beds and quickly dressing up.
"Get your ass out before the lieutenant finds you cuddling your pillow," Yuri yanked the blanket off of his comrade. Ivan jumped from the bed in one mechanically learned swing and began putting on his neatly-folded clothes. Yuri let out a quick laugh as he threw the blanket at the fellow soldier and walked away.

Whilst pulling the coat on his arms he quickly glanced at the clock rhythmically ticking on his nightstand. The time it displayed meant too little. Its forever moving hands only reminded him that nothing truly stops. It all moves, one way or another. And he must keep up with the pace. The long hand calmly walked between the numbers ten and eleven. Past the short one, which stood close to the number three, quickly sprinted the red runner on an endless jog around the mechanical loop.

Ivan could never get used to the unpredictable regime of their unit lieutenant. He just pulled them out of the barracks whenever he saw fit. He always said that they "need to be prepared anytime", but Ivan never fully understood how cutting their sleep short helps in preparedness. He quickly put on the heavy boots and walked out of the barracks with the rest of the soldiers. Once outside, they formed a double row and stood in silence. The bright beams of the floodlights kept the dark night at bay, yet they failed to stop its cold breath from creeping around the camp. It found its way to Ivan's skin and chilled him to the bone, completely waking every cell of his body up.

The coldness didn't bother him much. What did though, was the fact that their lieutenant was nowhere to be found. Ivan was about to ask someone where he was but the words got stuck midway up his throat once the methodical march of audibly crunching snow beneath the leather boots slowly crossed through the military camp.

"Shut your mouths and open your ears, because I will not be repeating myself!" the lieutenant's loud voice roared and all soldiers faced forward. He stopped in front of the rows and they all saluted.
"We have received a message from our tank divisions in Ternopil that the enemy has been successfully pushed past the city boundaries. That's where we come in. You and the boys from the other three platoons will be taken there to perform a standard infantry sweep," the lieutenant walked up and down.

"To put it in a language you shitheads understand, you will march the streets and make your motherland proud. You find any enemy doughboys left, you inform someone who can tie 'em up and make them sing. Did I make myself clear?" lieutenant stopped and turned to face his unit.
"Yes, comrade lieutenant!" everyone yelled in unison.

"Finally something exciting. Was afraid we'd be shovelling snow again," Yuri nudged his buddy who sat next to him. Ivan remained quiet, only returning a bleak nod. His mind was occupied by the scenery blurred beyond the window. The truck carrying their unit drove through the country, speeding through the fields of Ukraine. Nature was mostly left intact by the war, but here and there you could see destroyed tanks and undetonated missiles. It was quite a shame, the forests in this region used to be breathtaking.