Journey to another world in the subway

Chapter 39 Time
The man replied, "Tverskaya Station." Then he asked, "Brother, what did you get arrested for?"

Su Mengfan replied slowly: "I killed an officer." He found it difficult to say that he had killed someone.

The man who hadn't shaved for a long time said sympathetically, "Gee...they're going to hang you?"

Su Mengfan shrugged, then turned around and leaned against the lattice frame.

His neighbor assured him: "They sure will."

They will, soon, at this station, and they will not move him.

If only I could drink...

Wash away the rusty smell of blood from his mouth and moisturize his dry throat. Maybe he can chat with this person for more than a minute.

There was no water in the cage, but on the other side of the space there was a tin pail emitting a foul smell. Could he beg the jailer?

Maybe they would accommodate someone like him who had already been sentenced to death?

If he could get his hands out of the lattice frame and shake them a little... but his hands were tied behind his back, the rope was caught in his wrists, and he had lost all feeling in his hands.

He tried to shout, but all he could get out was a rattling sound, which turned into a cough deep in his own lungs.

They all came to the cage when the two guards noticed him calling to them.

One of the dog-leaders grinned and said, "The mouse is awake."

Su Mengfan turned his head to look back at the man's face, and whispered with difficulty: "I want to drink... water."

The guard leading the dog pretended to be surprised: "Drink water? What are you drinking water for? You are about to be hanged, and now you still want to drink water! No, we won't give you water, so that you can die even worse." Hurry up."

It was impossible for Su Mengfan to have water to drink, he closed his eyes tiredly, but the jailer obviously wanted to chat with him more.

Another guard asked: "Human scum, do you now understand who you offended?"

He nodded to Su Mengfan's neighbor in the next cage: "You rat! Do such a stupid thing for those idiots who stab you in the back with your knife!

Those... the whole subway will be filled with them in no time, and you naive rats won't even have a place to breathe. "

The unshaved prisoner lowered his head, and Su Mengfan only had the strength to shrug.

The first guard went on: "They beat the bastards, too." He memorized the unintelligible word.

"Sidorov is absolutely right, tunnels are slaughterhouses, and such people have to destroy them! They are not good for our... Got it!"

Su Mengfan whimpered: "What?" He was afraid of that, but he still hoped that the old man was not dead, that he was somewhere here, in the next cell...

The guard with the dog said happily: "Yes, he is dead. They burned him a little, but he couldn't take it and died."

He is very satisfied, because now Su Mengfan finally responded to them.

"If you die, all your relatives will die too..."

He remembered the verse once recited by Mikhail Porfilevich, now that his soul had no cares in the world, stopped in the middle of the tunnel, and he stripped the verse from his notebook Come out and repeat the line with emotion.

What is it?
"The dead cry out"?
No, the poet made a mistake. There will be no more honorable actions in the future, and everything will be gone.

He remembered what Mikhail Porfilevitch had said about how he had lost his old house, and especially the old bed.

Then his thoughts began to condense, flow more and more slowly, and then stop altogether.

He pressed his forehead against the cold metal lattice frame again, his thoughts sluggish.

He began to stare at the jailer's sleeve, which was painted with three left-handed swastikas—strange symbols that looked like a star or a crippled spider.

He asked, "Why only three? Why three?"

He had to tilt his head in the direction of the man's armband so that the guard could understand what he was saying.

The man with the dog replies angrily: "Well, how much do you say you need? You fool, there are three stations! That means unity. And, when we get to the Lenin Library station, we'll add a fourth ..."

Another guard interrupted: "What are you talking about? It's an old sign, a proto-Slavic sign! It's called the highest point, and it belonged to the Germans, and we started using it back then, before coming into life at the station ——You big-headed bastard!"

Su Mengfan choked out a few words: "But, there is no sun anymore..."

At this moment, he felt darkness in front of his eyes again, as if his eyes were covered by a mask, and his hearing was also lost in confusion.

The guard with the dog announced with satisfaction: "He has gone crazy! Senya, let's go and talk to someone else."

Su Mengfan sat there in a daze, unable to see anything, and he didn't know how long it had passed.

Suddenly he came back to his senses and slightly understood the blurred scenes just now, but everything seemed to be full of bloody smell and atmosphere.

Still, he's happy that his body is starting to connect with his mind, making him so relaxed and awake that his blues are no longer there.

His neighbor moved his shoulders: "Hey, brother! Don't sleep anymore. You've been asleep for a long time! It's almost four o'clock!"

Su Mengfan tried to get out of the abyss of his unconsciousness, but it was very difficult, as if a lead was attached to his feet.

He slowly returned to reality, and the world in front of him was as blurred as the image of a film in developer solution.

He asked hoarsely, "What time is it?"

The man with dark circles replied, "It's half past three."

三点五十……他们可能在大约四10分钟后过来提他走。一小时10分钟后……一小时9分钟……一小时8分钟……7分钟。

His neighbor asked, "What's your name?"

"Alcorn."

The man with the black eye was delighted that he could finally start talking: "I'm Lucian. My brother's name is Ahmed and they shot him right then and there, but I don't know what they're going to do with me. My name is Lou Xi'an—maybe they don't want to get it wrong... Where's your home?"

None of that interests Su Mengfan, but conversations with his unshaven neighbors help him fill and refresh his own brain, whatever it is that fills it.

He didn't want to think about that room, he didn't want to think about his mission, and he didn't want to think about the subway system—the future of this place where human beings live now, he didn't want to think about it, really didn't want to!

Lucian laughed: "I'm from the Kiev Cathedral. Do you know where it is? We call it Kiev..."

He showed a row of white teeth, and then he said proudly, "There are a lot of my people there... I have a wife and children—three children, and the oldest one has six fingers on his hand!"

Now Su Mengfan wants something to drink, all he needs is one sip.

Even lukewarm water is fine, he doesn't mind lukewarm water, even filtered raw water, as long as it's water, just take a sip.

He fell into a coma again until the guards came to pick him up.He needs an empty mind, undisturbed by any thought.

He wanted his mind to stop spinning, to stop feeling the pain, to stop his mind from telling him that he had made a mistake——

He had no right to do that, he should have left right then, turned around, covered his ears, and kept going—from Pushkin Station to Chekhov Station.

And from there turn again, one car-very easy, just one car turn and it's all done, his mission is done.

He's still alive... he's always wanting something to drink... and his hands are so numb that he can't feel anything.

How much easier it is to die when one has faith!
For those who believe that death is not the end of things, for those who see the world as black and white—

They know exactly what they need to do and why, and they hold a torch of thought and belief in their hands that illuminates everything in their eyes.

Those who have nothing to doubt and regret, they must die comfortably, and they will die with a smile on their faces.

Su Mengfan thought of these words, but could no longer distract him: "We used to have such big fruits and beautiful flowers! I gave them to a girl and didn't ask her for money, but she gave I smile……"

Footsteps came from the depths of the hall, several people were walking over, Su Mengfan's heart tightened and turned into a small nerve lump.

Are they here to mention me?

How can it be so fast!

He'd thought four ten minutes would be a long time... perhaps his mischievous neighbor had stretched it out to give him more hope?
No, it's impossible...

Three pairs of boots stopped in front of his cage, two of which had spotted military trousers on them, the other wore black trousers.

When the cage he was leaning on was opened, the lock made a sound like grinding teeth, and Su Mengfan managed not to lie on the ground.

Someone said, "Take him."

He was pulled up by the arms.

Lucian wished him a farewell gesture and said, "Go all the way!"

The two men in camouflage were machine gunners, but not the ones he had spoken to, none of whom he had ever seen.

Their third, with a spiky beard and light blue eyes, wore a black uniform and a small beret.

He ordered: "Follow me." So they dragged Su Mengfan to the other end of the platform.

He tried to walk by himself, he didn't want to be dragged like a doll by these people...

If he had to die, he wanted to do so with dignity.

But his legs were bent involuntarily, and he could only place them awkwardly on the floor, hindering the forward movement, so that the man in the black uniform gave him a serious look.

　Thank you for your support and encouragement.

　　Follow-up finally reached 20 (humble)

　　You can leave a lot of comments and discuss in the book friend circle, Fanlu will read it every day, and will reply to everyone.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)