A Soviet's Struggle

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She faded in and out of consciousness. With Heiko at the wheel, 3 others in the back, and Mariya sat in the passenger seat, one of the 3 vans the 12 took drove along the highway E59 to the nearest city. Mariya's body rocked side to side in the car seat as the van's suspension bumped and buckled along the road. Faintly, in bouts of consciousness, Mariya could feel the warmth of the seat as the blood from her back seeped into the fabric; her ears could sometimes vaguely respond to noise as Heiko talked to her and the others to the best of his ability.

"How is she doing?" Heiko asked, refusing to take his eyes off the road; in a tongue Mariya couldn't understand.

The reply was a mumble to Mariya's ears as the 'woosh' of her beating heart thumped within her chest and pumped into her ears.

Hours flew by like seconds and before long, what was a simple rural, flat, central European landscape, became a bustling city. The next time Mariya regained her consciousness for a few moments, it had taken her by surprise. Through her distorted, blurry vision; she could make out faint outlines of busy buildings and street lights. It wasn't a city she directly recognised, but she knew it was not Berlin.

Her next bout of consciousness came to her in Heiko's arms, her frail and limp body swinging near-lifelessly in his bloodied grasp. What was left of her tattered clothing clung to her body as blood began to dry. Bright blinding lights hit her eyes, making the young girl squint. Around her - white walls - and peculiar faces.

Heiko screamed about something, she couldn't make out what; but before long, Mariya found herself being carried by Heiko through a wooden door. It was cold, very cold, for the Russian, where ever she was. Her vision then faded once more, her senses retreating back into the limbo of life and death.

Again, when she regained her vision, Mariya found herself in a bed; four strangers wheeling her through blinding lights and long hallways. She moaned in pain, gathering enough strength to look down at her body - noticing she was no longer in her clothes. What fabric once covered, sterile blue scrubs had taken its place. As her moan exited her lips, one of the four figures looked to her, just off to her right. Mariya made slight eye contact with them, noting that, while her couldn't make out who or what it was, she was able to make out a surgical mask and cap, with this figure, too, adorning scrubs.

They wheeled her into a dark room with a single white light towards the centre, with more figures weaving in and out of view. Faintly, the Russian heard the buzz of a razor and felt the machine press against her right wrist. These figures were shaving her fur - for what? Slowly, Mariya turned her head, looking at another scrubbed individual, her wrist in their paws, and noted her grey, bare skin exposed to the frigid elements of the air. Another individual arrived, promptly sticking needles into her wrist - a sensation Mariya vaguely felt - and began hooking her up to a machine.

As she watched what she could, she felt a gloved hand touch her right cheek, pulling her to face the ceiling. Above her, another masked individual; holding a mask. With how close they were to her, she was able to make out several features of this animalloid - noting that they were some form of marsupial. This marsupial pulled the mask over her muzzle and secured it to the back of her head, before looking up and behind themselves, giving a verbal command.

Within moments, Mariya felt funny. A sickeningly sweet kind-of smell invaded her sensitive nostrils - a strawberry with hints of banana undertones. She enjoyed the smell, eagerly huffing it with each laboured breath. As once was sweet, the smell became pungent. As this transition occurred, however, Mariya found herself rather sleepy. Her body began to shut down, her eyelids became heavy; and, as she began to lapse into coma, her laboured breaths seemed to mellow themselves outwards, becoming more calm and at rest. As her body drifted through this pain-free, mellow-like state, memories began to flood and flash before her closed eyes, some vivid, some faint; all emotionally tied.