Zimniy straightens, eyes burning. “And you’re still Ivankov’s bitch. Tell me, Dimitri, do they know what you did in the camp? The blood on your hands?”
My blood turns to ice. “Shut your fucking mouth.”
“Hit a nerve,da?” Zimniy pushes. “Does your precious Wren know about the bodies? The—”
I roar, tackling him through a rotting door. We crash into an old office, dust and splinters flying.
Zimniy’s knife flashes. I grab his wrist, slamming it until he drops the blade. But his knee drives into my gut.
I roll off, wheezing. Zimniy scrambles for his knife. I lunge, snagging his ankle. He kicks, catching my face. Pain explodes behind my eyes.
“You can’t win,tupitsa,” Zimniy pants, stumbling up. “The old ways are dead. Skull Collector is the future.”
I spit blood, glaring up at him. “Future of what? More corpses? More kids left to rot? By killing everyone who stands in your way?” I snarl, pushing myself up. “Real fucking revolutionary, Zimniy.”
Something flickers in Zimniy’s eyes. He looks at me, head cocked. “Bozhe moy, you’ve gone soft, Dimitri. What happened to themalchikwho’d slit a throat for a crust of bread?”
Suddenly, he roars, lunging forward.
His knife flashes in the dim light. I roll, feeling it slice through my jacket. My hand closes around a piece of broken wood. I swing, catching Zimniy in the knee.
He stumbles, cursing. “Suka blyad’!”
I’m on him in an instant, driving my knee into his chest. The knife clatters away.
“It’s over, Zimniy,” I growl, pinning him down.
I raise my fist, ready to end this shit once and for all. But something stops me. Maybe it’s the memory of two scared kids huddled together in a cold cell, sharing body heat to survive the Russian winter.
He glares up at me, blood trickling from his mouth. “Do it,ublyudok. Finish what you started back in the camp.”
I hesitate, fist still raised. Zimniy’s eyes dart to the right, quick as a snake.
Before I can react, I hear it. The unmistakable click of a gun being cocked.
I turn my head in slow motion. And there she is. Elena. That face I used to know better than my own.
The gunshot cracks through the air like thunder.
Pain explodes in my shoulder, hot and sharp. I look down, watching red bloom across my shirt.Blyat, that’s gonna leave a mark.
I look back at Elena, vision already starting to blur. Her face… it’s changing. The hard lines softening, years melting away. Suddenly, I’m seeing the girl I knew. The one I loved. The one I swore to protect.
“Dimitri,”she used to whisper in the dark,“We’ll always be together, right?”
“Da, vsegda,”I’d promise.“Always.”
What a load of shit that turned out to be.
The world’s going fuzzy around the edges. I can taste copper in my mouth. Elena’s lips are moving, but I can’t make out the words.
Then, cutting through the haze, I hear it. Clear as a bell.
“Wren…”
Another voice, panicked. Familiar. “D! No!”
And then… nothing. My world goes black.
