Prip'Yat: The Beast of Chernobyl

Chapter Two

Iosif and Lucas ran noiselessly down the pavement, scanning to their left and right as they jogged along. Their military boots had received special treatment with a material that reduced their sound in an effort to make them as stealthy as possible. Spread out a few dozen yards from each other, the men breathed heavily as they ran, sweat pouring down their faces. They had been running for over an hour already, and still had another half hour to go before they could stop.

The sun had finally started to set when the helicopter carrying the two Spetsnaz officers had dropped them off near the border of Ukraine and Belarus. Though both officers were Russian, the Ukrainian government had made a special plea for their country’s assistance. After a few months of negotiations, the Russian government agreed that it was in the best interest of both countries to send in the covert operatives instead of relying on the local militia, and the top-secret operation began in earnest.

The briefing that Iosif and Lucas received before they left was lacking in detail, as usual, but this particular mission had an air of mysteriousness about it that Lucas was not used to. At 34 years old, Iosif Seleznev was the older of the two officers, with Lucas Pokrov being a mere 27. They had worked together for three years, honing their skills and learning how each other thought so that they could become more effective in combat.

Most of their work had consisted of up front and undercover warfare. Defusing hostage situations, performing anti-terrorism operations, fighting in secret wars overseas and taking on the types of jobs that no other military outfit in their country was capable of handling. This job, however, was different than those.

Your orders are to infiltrate the city of Prip’Yat, which has been emptied of visitors for the next seventy-two hours. You are to cross through the city and the Chernobyl power plant, looking for any signs of strange disturbances roaming the area. Lucas could still hear the briefing they had received, remembering how they had glanced at each other, rolling their eyes at the phrase “strange disturbances.” Their orders were clear, though, and they had deployed just two days later, in the midafternoon via a small helicopter that dumped them in a field near the northern road leading into the city.

Once their boots hit the ground, the pair ceased their whispered mocking of the mission description and fell into silence. Regardless of how absurd they thought their mission to be, it was their job to carry out their orders, no matter how they personally felt about them.

When the moon just started to peek over the horizon, the two men stopped, kneeling on the pavement as they reviewed their GPS trackers and radiation detectors.

“Rads in the green.” Lucas scanned the ground and the surrounding air with the radiation detector.

“We’re on course,” Iosif whispered back. “Switch to your filters once we hit the grass.”

Lucas nodded and unconsciously felt his chest to make sure his face mask filter was still in place. Though the dangers of radiation in Prip’Yat were somewhat exaggerated, there were still hot patches of radiation where you could get a potentially lethal dose if you stood still for too long. Along with moving quickly through foliage, the two would wear their face masks at all times to keep from inhaling radioactive particles.

Iosif slid the GPS unit back into a pouch on his vest and motioned for them to continue forward. Lucas waited until Iosif was several paces ahead before he stood up and began jogging along as well. They were within sight of the bridge on the north end of the city. Once the bridge was crossed, they would go into full tactical mode, shouldering their weapons and preparing to combat any threats they faced.