They say that it would take hundreds of years for the radiation to decay but there are small fluctuations in how much radioactivity is present in a given area. Maybe there is a point in trying to find bacteria that eats radiation. Who knows.
My other team members seem odd yet nice. Being the only female out here is strangely unnerving but this is hardly the first time I have faced such things. I have been the only girl in multiple classes but here I am so completely alone. I don’t even have international calling on my phone so I can’t even talk to people at home. Not that I can get a signal out here anyways. It is just me alone with the clicking of the geiger counter and the sound of wind on my suit. I can’t believe that I have another week of this. Each day stretches out into eternity between the smell and the clicking. I have only been out here for three days but already I would rather be anywhere else but here. At least on the boat I could feel the wind on my face and breathe fresh air. Not just this perpetual stink.
The guys make fun of me. I know because they point and laugh. I don’t speak russian so I am completely isolated. I think they just like to make me feel awkward. They have even taken to holding their noses and laughing when I take my helmet off. But I just try to get to the showers before I blush too badly. Hopefully I have enough depends to make it through this. The things I do for money. I would rather be back home with my bonsai citrus trees and pomegranates. I really am better with plants than bacteria. I grew each one of those trees from seeds I picked out of fruit. I just love how something so small as a seed can turn into such a nice tree with a bit of water and care. I love making the little seeds into works of art. But my husband on the other hand gets a bit upset when I have filled the greenhouse, all the windows, and counters with plants. He has actually started calling me his little plant horder. I understand. I really do. I have taken over the house and yard with plants. I hope he takes good care of them while I am gone. I have found a couple prospective buyers who are interested in about ten of them. I know that isn’t much to get rid of but it is a start and might make him happy. I feel that selling a plant is like selling a piece of myself. Which makes it hard to just get rid of the plants like he wants me to. He does still like the potatoes growing in garbage cans so no one needs to dig them up at the end of the year. The sugar snap peas growing up the tomato cages. These things really do make him happy. He just thinks I took over too much of the house with my plants. Poor guy. I can’t blame how he feels. Sometimes I feel like the plants are taking over too.
Another meal of dehydrated food. What I wouldn’t give for a fresh, juicy, medium-rare steak. Or a hot plate. Damn a hotplate would improve the food. Some fresh onions and garlic would be amazing. I really do find it a struggle to go from cooking every meal I eat every day to suddenly eating pre-packaged crap out of a bag. How do people even eat this shit? It is dry, smells awful, and only tastes of salt. Maybe I can live on the sardines and hemp seeds I brought for the rest of the time I am here. At least then I would know what I am eating. This is the first and only time I am going somewhere that I don’t speak the language.
That seems odd. There is only normal background levels here in this like 4 foot diameter patch. The area around is so toxic that I would die without protection but this one patch is completely ok. There are even a few sprigs of what looks like some kind of blue grass growing in the middle. I should take a sample of this and radio back to the others. Maybe this is what we are looking for. Something removed the radiation here and it is definitely worth investigating. So I take a sample of the dirt and the blue grass growing in the middle just incase it is the grass that is breaking down the radiation. Getting back to the others I tossed a sample of the dirt to my boss and put a red pin on the map where I found the sample. They all just stared at me silently. Then they all started talking at once really quickly and then yelling. They are all really excited but I don’t know about what but one of them seems angry too.
Upon waking my head is killing me. Moving my head left or right is excruciatingly painful. The room isn’t dark or bright just dim. The floor is really cold. What happened? Why am I on the floor? Did I faint? I don’t normally faint. Where is everyone? What is going on? Why can’t I move my arms? Wait… am I handcuffed? I can hear footsteps. Someone must be coming. I guess I will act unconscious to see if I can’t figure out what is going on.
“Damn, she is still out. Its been like 4 hrs. How hard did you hit her?”
“She is weak, I figured that out a while ago. She will come around or not it doesn’t matter to me.”
WTF those guys spoke english but didn’t tell me for the last four days. I hate men. They are so obnoxious.
“She might have found some of the bacteria we are looking for, so we can’t just let her leave.”
“Why not?
“This way we can nuke the world, spray down the bacteria, and repopulate with seeds and animals stored underground. How else would we work around MAD? Let the Americans feel comfortable in their noose. When the world is Russian it will be a better world. Well the truck is here so lets get her loaded and get moving.”
I’m being roughly lifted from the floor and trying to remain limp and relaxed. It feels like one of the men is carrying me so the other one can get the door. Where are they taking me and why do they hate Mother’s Against Drunk Driving so much? That must stand for something else. I can’t pretend to be unconscious forever. What am I going to do next? Now I’m being tossed into some kind of vehicle but I’m afraid to look around. I can feel people breathing near me but if I move or look around they will know I am awake. Who knows what will happen then? Are they going to hurt me? Are they going to kill me? What have I gotten myself into? This should have been a couple weeks of scanning the ground for radiation level changes not some kidnapping conspiracy thing. Damn this position is uncomfortable. My arms ache, my head hurts, I’m cold, my nose itches, and I have to pee. This sucks. No one ever writes about this in adventure novels. This is fucking russa I will be dead and buried before anyone even notices I am gone. If they decide to bury me that is. They would probably just dump me in the woods for the tigers to take care of. Then again they might wait till I wake up and make me dig my own grave or something like that.
We drive in silence for what seems like hours. I have no idea. Of course any time I need to pee feels like hours. The landing of the plane felt like hours. Why am I always waiting for a bathroom?
Suddenly there is a loud crash, the car swerves sharply to the right slamming my head into the sidewall of the vehicle. My eyes snap open just in time to see the van is rolling. Throwing my violently over and over against different walls. A seatbelt! What I would give for a seatbelt!
I think we stopped moving but I am too dizzy to tell. We couldn’t still be moving could we? My ears are ringing, my head is pounding, and blood is everywhere. I can’t even move my arms. I think I broke something, or multiple somethings. The pain is intense and blinding while the world continues to spin. I don’t even know which way is up anymore. I don’t think I care to know. I think I am going to be sick! When will this nightmare end? Maybe I will wake up and this will all be some horrible dream and I am safe in my bed at home.
Someone is shooting. Loud thunderous shots like cannons going off. I have no idea where they are coming from. I have to get out of here, but the pain is too much to move. There is a light, but it is too bright to look at. There are bright flashes and more cannon booms. A man’s face looking at mine. The bright light again. A needle. Darkness.
I’m warm. Somewhere warm with beeping. A more constant beeping than the geiger counter. That was more of an intermittent beeping and this is a more rhythmic beeping. There is light but not too bright. A white room with quite voices. Darkness
The beeping. Constant beeping. The beeping is very annoying. I just want to sleep. Someone turn that beeping off so I can sleep.
There is a man sitting next to me. He is reading something. I try to read the cover to figure out what it is but the letters make no sense. They don’t form into words. They blur in and out but never form into words. What happened to me? Who is this man? And why is he reading nonsense?
“Welcome back.” says a voice
“What? Who are you? Where am I? What is going on?” I say but my voice sounds strange.
“One question at a time please. You were in a bad car crash and now are in a hospital. I am John and I am here to watch you and wait till you wake up enough to answer some questions.”
I try to move but can’t there are wires and tubes everywhere. My left arm is somehow attached to the ceiling and wrapped like a mummy. I thought I had broken something. Last time I broke my right arm and it really sucked because I couldn’t even move my fingers for a couple weeks and I couldn’t do anything. I even had problems feeding and dressing myself. Maybe things will be different with lefty broken instead. The man is still talking. Why is the man still talking? My head hurts. I am not sure I like this man he talks a lot and I have no idea what he is saying. So we crashed and I am safe. Maybe I don’t have to dig my own grave after all. Maybe I get to go home and be with my plants after all. I miss my bed.
“...so now that you are up to speed I have some questions for you…” Fuck what did I miss now? Dizzy. So dizzy. The room is spinning again. Darkness.
The man is still here. He looks tired and is reading something different. The cover colors are different but I still can’t read it.
“You are back again. Do you remember me?”
“Yeah Tom.”
“John, but close enough.” He sounds annoyed. How long has he been waiting here? “So to recap you were in a car, it crashed, flipped, and everyone but you was shot in the head. Now since corpses don’t drive what was going on?”
“I was hit on the head, put in a car and it flipped. After the crash I heard gunshots. I don’t know any more.” Hopefully he will let me go home. I just want this to end.
“What are you doing in russia?
“I was on a team that was scanning the ground chernobyl trying to find out if there was bacteria eating the radiation.”
“And did you find anything?”
“There are fluctuations yes but we didn’t find any bacteria that I know of.” His face relaxed like he didn’t want me to have found the bacteria.
“Well we are going to get you patched up and sent home as soon as possible.” He then got up and walked out of the room. Why would he care about the bacteria? What is going on here? I am too tired to even think right now. Damn my eyelids are heavy. Darkness.
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