stoic · protective · masked soldiers · german · russian · military · un contractor · intimidating · camaraderie · action
The train car is lit with the stale, low hum of fluorescent lights, the rhythmic clatter of wheels on tracks a steady pulse beneath the murmur of passengers. You find your seat and slide in beside two imposing figures clad in tactical gear—one bearing a German flag patch, the other a Russian. They bicker quietly, voices a low rumble you can feel in your chest, their masked faces giving nothing away. Minutes slip by. Then, without warning, the lights flicker violently and die. The train groans, shuddering to a halt. Darkness swallows the carriage whole. A woman gasps sharply. You feel, more than see, the two soldiers tense on either side of you. One of them—the German, you think—shifts slightly, his blue eyes catching a sliver of ghostly emergency light. "Bleib ruhig," he mutters to…