LITMIR.BIZ

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not triumphant and great, but like an animal caught in a trap. Nevertheless, he also told funny stories while he and his battery were sitting in the trenches or somewhere in the woods, when it was allowed to rest after all the horrors.

      – Once we got a mine in the toilet, and how it will explode! The old man’s eyes filled with mischief and laughter. – We spent several hours to clean everything up.

      The children liked it, and Vadim also listened to the old man’s stories out of the corner of his ear.

      How sad it is that now everything is being turned over, such a nuisance!

      The food on the ship was delicious, even though they were trying to cut rations in order to make it to Florida to replenish their provisions. The cries of seagulls could be heard slowly.

      – «Remember where the seagulls are, there is dry land,» Vadim recalled his father’s words when they went fishing.

      – These are the islands of Puerto Rico, Mr. Vavilov – Rodion pointed with his finger.

      On this day, the ocean was not calm. The waves raged and flooded the deck with their spray. The sky was gray and completely overcast, lightning flashed somewhere there, it was attracted to the water and struck a couple of times next to the ship. The sailors were shouting and mopping up all the excess water. People in this weather did not leave their cabins, preferring to sit out and play cards. Vadim was wetting his coat on the deck, at that moment he was standing on the bow of the ship and watching the weather in amazement. He would have sketched it, but he couldn’t. Heavy rain poured down, and the ship was shaking in different directions, it seemed that it was about to break apart, bouncing on the waves.

      The captain was making a last effort to level the ship and keep it afloat. His hands were shaking, and sweat stood out on his forehead, he sometimes shouted at the sailors that they were spreading panic.

      Rodion was working with a mop and occasionally glanced at Vadim, whose eyes reflected lightning that sparkled brightly in the sky. The clouds were heaving in the sky, they devoured each other, but this did not make them smaller. The heart stopped almost every participant of this journey, but if Vadim’s heart beat often from admiration and awe, then others from fear. Rodion was not a coward, but such weather even made him worry.

      – Vadim Alexandrovich, maybe you should go to the cabin, otherwise the weather will completely deteriorate! – he tried to shout over the raging wind, holding his cap.

      – Much worse! I’d rather stay here! Thanks! The man shouted back at him, looking down under the ship.

      The water was black, empty, even the fish hid under rocks and algae. The ship was shaking very much, the deck chairs on the ship flew over the railing, bending them a little. In the mini-bar, all the bottles fell out of the cabinet, and their contents poured out in a puddle of strange something from the room. The lights on the ship were blinking and it seemed like they were about to burst or burn out. The engine was foaming water, but it was slowly starting to stall.

      The captain became hard to see, because of the rain, the glass began to blur the view greatly. The wipers did not help well, and the captain began to swear and himself succumbed a little to the general panic of the sailors. Despite the fear, they continued to work, went down, checked the engine, engines, ran through the corridors and checked people, but no one had put the plugs back properly yet, and eventually the electricity was gone. The screams of frightened people were heard, a kind of death song was formed, which included the noise of wind, rain and crazy splashes of sea waters. The sailors immediately went down to fix it, because some of the devices of the ship itself worked with electricity and only.

      Soon rocks appeared next to the land. A couple of times the ship rammed the shoal with its nose, so everything went upside down, Rodion fell and almost rolled overboard, fortunately Vadim helped him. He gripped his comrade’s arm tightly and pulled him back onto the deck, but the adventure did not end there.

      The ship kissed the ground again, only this time it barely touched it, as the captain began to align the ship blindly, guided by the cries of his friend the sailor. He stood on the bridge and shouted the direction into the wheelhouse, like a helmsman, and the captain guided them until the wipers started working again. All hands were already numb, and the tongue was bitten to the point of bleeding, the captain groaned, but fulfilled his mission.

      Vadim also fell after Rodion, the ship turned to the right, and the man rolled in that direction, hitting the tables nailed to the floor. Vadim passed out when he met the back of his head on the leg of the table, the pain was sharp, and then it gave off a wave all over his body until his eyes went dark. The man raced straight to death, his unconscious body slid limply into the depths of the sea and even the railing will not be able to save him from a sad fate. Rodion took a lifebuoy and ran towards Vadim, raindrops blurred his eyes or it was the tears of the young man himself that hindered him, but he slipped on the deck again and abruptly hit his chin on the floor, bit his tongue so much that it bled. The clothes were all wet and wet and stuck unpleasantly to the body. His hands were torn in blood and stung wounds from every contact with water.

      Vadim’s back hit the railing painfully, and the light metal bent under his weight. The man caught his coat on the hull of the ship, but the fabric did not hold the weight and the piece of clothing remained hanging. So Vadim fell into the water, it was bubbling and foaming, and the black abyss had already hidden a good part of his body.

      – Vadim Alexandrovich! Rodion shouted, he hung on the railing, but when his friend disappeared under the water, his heart stopped for a moment.

      Rodion closed his eyes, he panicked for one second, but immediately pulled himself together and jumped after him. He was holding on to a lifeline, which stood out very vividly against the general greyness of the day. No one saw them overboard, everyone was busy with other things, and the ship slowly but began to sail away from the two men. Rodion was able to pull Vadim by the hand at the last moment, he was unconscious.

      – Wait! Rodion shouted, rowing with his hands, he threw Vadim into a circle and sailed after the ship, pushing the cargo ahead. – Wait!

      The strength began to leave the young man, the scream became quieter, and the jerks became slower and slower. The wave covered them with their heads, and Vadim fell into the water again. Rodion slowly disappeared under the water, he could not see because of the salt water, and the air in his lungs slowly began to come out. It’s a strange feeling from immersion in water. The liquid envelops the body, is felt by all parts of the body and is so pleasant at the fingertips. Something touched Rodion’s leg, it was hard and sharp, because the young man scratched his calf. It glowed with a bright blue glow, and the water with algae reflected from the unusual surface. Rodion did not see, because he ran out of air, and he began to twitch convulsively, but Vadim slowly disappeared part by part in this strange object, he absorbed it silently, only the water wilderness was in his ears. Rodion made a last effort and dived after Vadim, because he had nothing to lose. He felt his way down the pole on which the object was held and touched the surface, she sucked him not sharply, but gently and smoothly. Rodion dived upside down and disappeared, just like Vadim, a trickle of blood was flowing from his nose.

      ***

      Vadim woke up from a severe pain in his back. He jerked violently from fear, because he was in an unknown place, it was blurred. Vadim abruptly assumed a sitting position, and his whole body responded with terrible pain, and sea water poured out of his mouth. When he regurgitated a whole puddle of water, Vadim decided to examine the place in more detail.

      It was a huge forest, very bright and lush. There were thousands of different trees and shrubs growing around, so it was impossible to determine the type of forest. Being in a sitting position, he raised his gaze towards the sky and squinted from the bright light of the Sun, but there was a giant arch in front of him. This arch resembled the entrance to the eastern buildings and this gigantic structure covered almost half of the view. On the right side there were about two or three large and more than ten smaller rectangular buildings, it seems there were also huge

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