Stalker | ThirdUnion

34: Disappointing Peace

Reich's sleep was more than uncomfortable. As he woke up multiple times throughout the night, hearing little things crawl around the basement floor. His still bleeding hand didn't help with his sleep very much either, as it would also wake him up just to remind him of how much pain he was in.

It was creepy and uncomfortable, so he left the basement as soon as morning hit. He returned the flashlight he had used before he left, and soon began to venture around the Russian's house.

He never wanted to enter the kitchen ever again. The room was practically a death sentence. But eventually he made himself go in there, as the pain coming from his hand was becoming absolutely unbearable.

He was searching for painkillers and did eventually find some real ones, which he took a handful of before getting out of the kitchen as quickly as he possibly could.

After getting those, Reich was left alone, for once. Which surprised him a bit, there seemed to not be a Soviet in sight, or one of his many kids.

He wasn't really sure what to do, as Soviet was nowhere to be seen, but he didn't want to see him of course. So it wasn't too bad.

He had seen one or two teenagers walking around somewhere, but besides that not many countries seemed to be running around today.

Reich had tried to stop the teens whenever he saw them, always asking if they had a phone charger that he could possibly borrow. He would usually get a, 'I don't wanna give you mine!' Or a 'Just use your own!'.

It wasn't the greatest response, but he was still a stranger to them, and the older children where most likely a bit more suspicious of him than the younger ones were.

He did eventually find some younger kids too, they were all gathered in some little playroom, throwing blocks at each other and ripping heads off of stuffed animals.

Reich stayed at the opening of the room for a while, unsure if he wanted to go in as he watched two of Soviet's children work together to remove a stuffed bear's head from its body.

Eventually he stepped into the room, making up his mind that it was better to ask if they had a charger and get a 'no', than to be left questioning without an answer.

He waddled into the room, and quickly became uncomfortable as the kids started to notice him and stare.

Reich eventually spotted one kid sitting in a corner all by himself and decided to ask him his charger question.

He walked over there slowly, and gently sat down onto the floor once he got there, he was trying not to startle the kid next to him with his sudden appearance.

The child looked over at him, a confused look on his face as he did.

Reich stared back at him, feeling a bit awkward and glanced down to see what the boy had been doing. He was coloring something, Reich couldn't make out what it was, but the child certainly seemed to know what he was doing.

"Um..." Reich paused, and blinked for a moment. He looked back at the kid and sighed briefly. "What's your name?"

The child blinked back at him before looking back down at his crayon masterpiece, "My name is Kyrgyzstan."

His accent was very strong, and his English was a bit broken, but it was still understandable and definitely not too bad for a child's.

The child looked over at Reich before he could respond. "You are... you are мама?.."

Reich died mentally, but at this point he was used to being dead. He nodded and the child hummed before going back to his drawing for a moment.

"Do you like nana?"