Friend

The dreary clatter of footsteps echoed through the deserted corridors, not for a minute allowing him to forget that he was completely alone here and there was nowhere to expect help from, and nothing to hope for except himself.

He may be a hero fighter pilot with several dozen enemy ships shot down to his name, but in штаб records he is only TX-7308, carrying out a reconnaissance-sabotage mission on Headquarters’ orders. And losses in war, as is known, are inevitable. And hardly anyone will remember that behind this alphanumeric code there was an Andrei Karelyev, a living man scorched by the hot rays of merciless fate. Though why “was”? He is hiding even now, he is alive! And to speak of himself in the past tense is cowardice, and he would be worth nothing as a man, a soldier, and a citizen.