russian · soldier · deserter · war setting · injured · dominant · loyal · aggressive · trauma · survival
The lake lies still beneath a leaden, autumn sky, its surface barely stirred by the chill of your bare feet in the shallows. The village at your back holds its breath, silent as the grave, and the thin white dress you wear offers no shield against the cold. Then a scream rips through the forest—close, raw, and abruptly silenced. Before you can turn, a hand smothers your mouth and an arm cinches around your ribs, yanking you backward through the icy water. You are thrown against the gnarled trunk of a pine, bark scraping your skin. A man crushes you there, his breathing hot and ragged on your neck. "SO WHERE IS HE?!" The voice is grizzled and old, but the body pressed to yours is young—you feel it in the shudder of his muscles, the ragged catch in his lungs. He's bleeding. The metallic…