"The Security of the Familiar"

A sheering sound in my right ear, bright light came to view, six o’ clock AM Monday. The smell of fresh coffee lingered through my nose. Frustrated with the sound I fumbled around with my right hand hitting the clock-radio getting rid of the sound for good. Lying down, eyes half open, I glance to the left, a beautiful smiling face looking at me, and eyes closed. I quietly call out “good morning honey, it’s Six o’clock AM, I have to go to work, go back to sleep, I’ll call you later today.” After a bit of silence, I received a response from the sweetest voice, and possibly the only thing that can make my day whole. 1

“Alright sweetie, love you, I’ll talk to you soon.” 2

As frustrated as I was with the same uneventful routine over and over again, I smiled back said “I love you.” I slowly stepped out of my bed, one foot after another. Picking up the clock-radio that had been hit down in frustration and setting it back upon the night stand.3

I slowly walked into the bathroom like a zombie, and turned on a bright light. I reached out and turned on the hot water and grabbed a small wash rag from the rack. Washing my face off with the warm sensation really hit the spot. After drying my face off, I looked around in confusion and pulled my business casual clothes off of the door hanger. Slow as a turtle I put on the clothes, dreading the day ahead. As I shut the bathroom light off and slowly crept through the bedroom I just thought about the same routine, every single day. The comfort of everyday routines is nice, but cannot just help wanting something new and exciting. Heading down the steps, glancing at my watch, I was once again running late, just like every day. It was six thirty-five AM as I walked into the kitchen. The smell of coffee was in the air, freshly made coffee in the pot, made just for me every day and on time thanks to my coffee maker. I grabbed a travel mug and poured the hot coffee into my mug. Putting the pot back on the coffee maker to keep it fresh and hot for when my fiancé would awaken. Quickly grabbing cold milk out of the refrigerator, and pouring just enough into my mug, and placing the milk back where it belonged for my next cup of coffee tomorrow morning. Stirring my coffee with a disposable wooden stick while hurrying out the front door into the cold brisk winter air and hurrying to my sedan.4

I placed the mug on the roof and opened my car door moving as fast as possible so I didn’t get caught in the morning rush like always. I grabbed the mug and slammed the door shut. With the coffee mug in between my legs, I started the faithful car that gets me where I need to go every day. I took a sip of the hot fresh coffee and placed it into the cup holder. I put my tan sedan in reverse and swiftly backed out of the small driveway. Onto the dry roads I went, happy it was not snowing and the roads were not wet or full of snow like the grass around the suburbs. As I drove into the city, I was curious to see not many people at all on the roads or on the sidewalks. Everything seemed empty like a ghost town. There normally weren’t many people at so early in the morning, but today was different. It was eerie but I thought of it as nothing and kept driving to work. As I pulled into the parking lot at work and stepped out of my warm car to get hit with a burst of fresh cold air. I hurried into the building ignoring everyone I passed by while inside the building. I sat down at my cubical and turned on my PC just like everyday. Sipping my coffee as I booted up my E-mail to be greeted by an animated, but friendly voice “Good morning Brian, you have mail” I smirked and clicked the inbox link. I had four e-mails, a lot less then I normally had, but that was no big deal, less for me to do. Looking through my mail, like always was SPAM mail. One title really caught my eye; it was no get rich quick scheme or an advertisement. It had a dark, mysterious title “Don’t take anything for granted, it’s all gone now” I looked at it with curiosity and clicked the link, it read. 5

“Fellow citizens of the United States of America, this is no joke, nor a prank, this is a very serious matter. A large communist group in Russia is forming a hostile take over. The group is very large and will stop for nothing until they win. They are not happy with not only their country, but ours for helping get rid of communism. They are very hostile and have already set path for the United States at 1:00 PM Saturday January 5th. Prepare yourselves for what’s to come. Seek shelter and food and arm yourself if possible. This could be the end as we know it if the threats they made are true. Forward this E-mail to everyone you know and seek safety ASAP.”6

I looked at the small, but powerful message in shock, “could this be true? Why do I already not know of such activities? They would have surely been in the news.” I went to a local news station internet site to watch a live broadcast immediately. On the bottom of the screen and the words coming from the news anchors mouth was spine chilling. 7

“Today we have just received word on a take over from a communist group from Russia. They mobilized at 1:00 PM Saturday January 5th. The take over could not be contained by our government and we’re warning everyone to seek safety as soon as possible.” 8

A chilling sense took over my body as I stood up. I looked around the room and yelled out was about to come. Everyone looking at me like I was insane, if they did not want to take me seriously, then they could find out the hard way. I rushed out the building and to my car while dialing my home number, hoping to god the ringer would be on so I could warn my fiancé Sasha about what was happening. I called and listened to the dial tone. *Ring…ring…ring…*Nothing, no answer, I knew I needed to get home quickly to be sure she was alright and so we could get the hell out of here to a safe place. I quickly got inside my car and started it up. I swiftly and carelessly pulled out of the parking lot. On the drive home I noticed mass panic on the streets. There were people running on the sidewalks and across the street. All the drivers on the road had no care for the speed limits or traffic lights, crashes were inevitable, I just needed to make sure I wasn’t part of one. I raced home I have never made it home that quickly from work before since I lived here. As I pulled up to my block, a sense of fear had come over me like a blanket I was so scared for my Sasha. I pulled into my driveway and stepped out of my car and looked at my house, followed by the entire block and into the air. In the distance I saw a fleet of Russian Mi-24 Helicopters letting off soldiers coming down from ropes. I looked back to my house and noticed a broken window. I charged to my house and not taking the time to get my key out, I fiercely kicked down the door. I ran in and looked around my house, I saw nothing, and all was quiet until I heard a scream coming from the upstairs bedroom. “Sasha!” I yelled and ran to the bedroom. There was a man standing in front of the bed. Not a soldier, no, but another man, a masked man. I looked at him and violently said “Get the hell out of my house”. He looked to me with his masked face and looked back at Sasha. He charged her, then, it was like a bomb of rage went off inside me. I yelled as loud as I could and charged him inside the small bedroom. He was on top of Sasha I was infuriated I will not let him touch her I pulled him off of her and held him with my left arm. With my right arm I repeatedly punched him in his nose. I could see the blood dripping from his masked face I did not care who he was or why he was there. I did the only thing I could to stop him for good, I let go of him and pushed him away from me, I stopped, he held his nose in pain I looked at him and charged at him, angrily pushing him out of the second floor window onto the sidewalk leading to my front door.9

I looked at my scared Sasha and back to the broken window. I quietly said “Dress warmly, we’re getting out of here, and quickly.” She nodded and I quickly ran into my walk in closet and fumbled through the dresser and pulled out a small box. Sasha looked in the closet and said.10

“What is that you have? I’ve never seen that.”11

I replied “It’s a handgun, I never told you about it I know, but now you know, and now our lives may depend on this, let’s go.” I stashed the weapon in the back of my pants she looked at me quietly as I grabbed my jacket. I took Sasha’s warm hand and guided her to the kitchen and said “Gather some water bottles a first aid kit some canned food and other small supplies, quickly!” I reached into the cabaret and grabbed a tan messenger bag and put the strap around my neck. Sasha handed me the supplies and I stuffed them into the main pouch of the bag and once again took Sasha by the hand we ran outside to my small sedan, door still open and keys still in the ignition. As we got into the car, I looked at the man I had pushed out of the window, still a masked man, still dark and secret as his body lie there, me not knowing if he were alive or dead and not caring either. He got what he deserved I was not going to spare him for his wrong doings.12

As a blanket of hatred and fear arose over the town I once knew I had one thing and one thing only was keeping me going, and she was sitting to my right silently, Sasha. We drove to the mountains and stopped at a small fueling station in the middle of no-where. Clenching my handgun in my right hand I slowly and quietly walked into the fuel station. I saw the cash register on the ground, open and emptied and the small room was a clutter, not a soul in site. I cautiously walked back out to the gas pumps. As I was gassing up my small sedan I heard a faint sound of helicopters in the gray sky and gunshots in the distance. I looked back at Sasha and said “Honey, we may never return to our home, we might never be able to go back, the country has been invaded by a Communist Russian group, the attack was not able to be stopped by our government, now we must hope the military can do their job and we can survive this.” She looked at me and said 13

“I am behind you all the way, I trust you I love you.”14

I stared into her beautiful brown eyes and said “I love you…Now come, we must get out of here, we’re going deep into the mountains, it should be safe.” I grabbed a few more food items from the small fuel station shop and got back into the car. We kept driving into the mountains for another few hours. We were very far away from civilization at this point. I had a small cabin out here we went to, hoping it was safe. We pulled up to the cabin and I hid the car as best as I could. I unlocked the door and we went in. Nobody has been here since I was here last hunting season. I said “Sasha, grab some blankets and we need to get to the cellar.” As she was getting the blankets I scoped the place out, everything looked to be alright. As I was looking out the window, I saw wonderful white snow flakes fluttering to the ground. Normally this snow would aggravate me, knowing I would have to drive in it on the way to work the next day, but this time was different, it almost brought me to a sense of relieaf. Maybe bringing me back to the days of my childhood in the snow, however I was unsure. I bolted the front door shut and went into the cellar where Sasha had already set up a food supply and made up a bed with what we had. I smiled at her and went into a small room in the cellar. 14…43…23…28, got it! I opened up a large gun safe where I kept my rifles and ammunition. I grabbed my old World War 2 era Soviet Union made bolt action rifle. As I was opening up a large tin of ammunition I got blindsided by Sasha’s beauty. Her dark brown eyes, her shiny beautiful brown hair I could not take my eyes off of her. She looked at me and smiled, she makes me feel whole I would not know what I would do without her. After getting ammunition in my pouches and loading my pistol magazines I sat down quietly next to Sasha. She was making hot coco on a small portable stove I had at the cabin. 15

As we drank the warm drink which felt like heaven to me, we watched a small black and white television. Every Channel was the same, they all were in ‘Red Alert’ mode and just told you to find cover and try and stay alive, well that’s how I sum it up. I looked at Sasha in the dim light, I knew she was scared, but she was being so brave. I held her against my shoulder and rubbed her arm and just said “Everything is going to be alright, I promise.” She lifted her head and looked up to me and remarked 16

“I only wish that were true, I just hope we make it through this.”17

She had a look of sadness on her face and I looked at her and said “We will, I guarantee you we will.” Sasha said “How can you be so sure.” And I quietly said, “Because we haven’t gotten married yet.” She smiled to me and looked over to our bed and crawled in a laid down. I did the same. Lying, next to her, silence and darkness had engulfed the room. I tried to get at least a little sleep, but sleep was the last thing on my mind. I had to be sure Sasha was safe and I had to be sure we could survive, or even if we would survive. During the night, I must have fallen asleep at one point, although I thought it to be impossible. I woke up and looked at Sasha’s beautiful face and said “Good morning honey.” She smiled and said 18

“Good morning.”19

As bad as everything was, together no matter what, we were happy. I got out of the uncomfortable bed, which was made up of blankets on the floor and looked around the silent room. I was filled with sadness and fear on the inside, but I could not show I had to be brave for Sasha, just like she was brave for me. I looked to her, then to the small plate glass window, I little sliver of light was shining in. It was enough to dim the room. I knew it was early. “Early was good right?” Well, maybe not, the more time that passes, the close Sasha and I could be coming to death, or hopefully, escape. Escape from the hell we are in, escape from the pure evil that has arisen over not only the town, but our country, our world. I slowly and cautiously walked outside of the small cabin. I had my rifle in a combat ready position. I searched around the cabin and saw nothing. Not a sound, no animals about and thank god, no soldier s around. I walked over to the large cliff and looked down. At the very bottom, very far down, around 400 feet I saw some movement. I blankly stared at the two figures; I aimed my rifle and looked through the old surplus scope, specifically made for my rifle. I saw fear on what appeared to be a young lady’s frightened face. Grabbing her was a man, dressed in Urban Shadow BDUs and a dark ski mask. He appeared to be a man of hatred and blasphemy. He slowly raised his Kalashnikov at the young frightened lady lying on the ground. I knew he was about to do his worst. I had to stop him, I wouldn’t let this continue. I had a split second to think, his forehead in the reticule of my scope. “Should I pull the trigger?” I could save the life of this young lady, but if I miss I could be risking Sasha’s life. So much was running through my head, it was if time had been stopped. I knew I had to make the right decision. I gently squeezed the trigger *Bang* then nothing. Silence filled the air around me. I continued looking through my scope; I was looking at the young lady. “Who was she?” I do not know she looked up; she could barely see me on the top of the cliff. She stared at me with a fearful look. I looked down in silence. She looked up as best she could, still freight for her life, she knew what to do, and she ran away, never looking back. As I sat there, looking at the mess I had created. I had to do the wrong thing in order to do the right thing. I slowly walked back to the cabin. Sasha looked at me with fear and choked 20

“wha- wha… what did you do?” 21

I paused the room was silent. I stood there looking at her and replied “Something I am not proud of, but may need to do again.” She nodded; she knew what I had done. I had slung my rifle over my shoulder and put my hand out and said “Sasha, come with me.” She took my hand and I guided her out the front door. I took her up a long path to a spot I used to come to. I used to come here to get away from the stresses of work and just life in general. This place always brought me to peace, and I had hoped it would Sasha too. I guided her to a rock over-looking the wilderness as far as the eye could see. We sat down together, I had my rifle but on the ground holding it up words with the barrel in my left hand and my other arm around Sasha. We sat there together, silently and watched the sun rise. We had no idea what we would face in the time to come, or what would happen. We knew one thing and one thing only; and that was that we’d face the world head on together, no matter what, we would always be together and there for each other.22