Not The Only One - A Winter Soldier Story

Chapter 1

December 16, 1991

20:05 (8:05pm)

With the small heaters now turned off, a bitter chill crept into my uncle's workshop, and the cold urged me on. Shivering, I returned the broom to its corner and mentally counted the minutes until I could go home and get—

Baam! The storage room's outside door flew open and a man with a shiny metal arm rushed in. His sweat-drenched hair clung to the dark stubble dusted across his sharp cheekbones. Every piece of his clothing was black and bore a weapon of some type. A living omen of death stood before me.

"Can I help you?" I asked, making my voice gruff, hoping to mask how much this stranger scared me.

The man said nothing as he began walking towards me. His countenance was cold and merciless. His piercing blue eyes were feral and devoid of any humanity. It was almost like he had been hollowed out and a machine was placed inside him.

As panic set in, only one thought was clear in my mind: I am here alone and my knife is on a table across the shop.

Terrified, I bolted out of the storage room and into the workshop.

"All that matters is getting my hands on that knife."

I had a decent head start, but the dark man was closing the distance between us incredibly fast. My knees slammed into the cold concrete floor. I cried out in pain before I even realized what had happened. My heavy work boots had caught on an electric cord. The owner of the cord, a massive band saw, tipped over and fell on top of me. My right arm was pinned between the saw blade and the frame of an adjacent saw.

My left hand grabbed pitifully at the sharp blade, trying to free my trapped right arm. The effort was only rewarded with several bloody cuts. I attempted to hoist the heavy machine off of myself but only managed to raise it a little.

The saw came crashing back down onto me, and the power switch toggled on. Roaring to life, the saw's sharp teeth tore through my flesh as I screamed for help and watched as the strange man pulled me out before I lost consciousness...

~

The stranger

The chase.

The accident.

I could see it all as if it were a bad dream. If I woke up, I would escape this nightmare.

Forcing my eyes open revealed that reality had dealt me a stinging blow. My arm was nearly mutilated beyond recognition. It bent into sickeningly unnatural angles, and the raw, butchered flesh bled profusely.

Seeing the space between my shoulder and the limb made me realize that my arm was not connected to me; rather, what was left of it was lying next to me. A cry of terror involuntarily escaped my lips before the dark man stabbed me with a hypodermic, and unconsciousness claimed me again.

~

"Я хотел ее целиком. Это затруднит мою работу."
["I wanted her in one piece. This will make my work more difficult."]

"Я думаю, с ней все будет хорошо. Жизненно важные признаки сильны, и она всего лишь эксперимент," someone else replied.
["I think she will be fine. Vital signs are strong and she is just an experiment."]

I could hear the voices clearly, but their words did not make sense. Briefly opening my eyes showed a man in a military uniform with a crimson beret and another man dressed in medical scrubs standing over me.