062. Salvation

In the blink of an eye, a crowd formed around Nadezhda. Some individuals appeared to be conversing through their devices, while others shouted instructions in a language unfamiliar to the girl. Two men and one woman seemed to be attempting to provide medical assistance to Jalu. Another man rushed quickly and promptly opened a backpack he carried. Subsequently, the four of them began attaching peculiar equipment they extracted from the backpack to Jalu's body.
"Is he still alive?" Nadezhda inquired of those surrounding her, each wielding a weapon.
"Our team is doing everything they can," replied a cornrow-haired woman with a vigilant gaze.
Despite appearing incapacitated, leaning against a large boulder, Nadezhda had once slaughtered an entire army and demolished a tank. Anna, the cornrow-haired girl, knew that well.
"Aren't you going to end me? I've killed so many humans," Nadezhda pleaded as if begging for death.
Observing the half-metal girl's condition and hearing her tone, Anna immediately toggled the safety lock on her long-barreled weapon, allowing it to hang over her shoulder. "You know we're looking for you. But here you are, screaming for help for a human who has wrecked your body. Why?"
"I don't want him to die."
"No one else is allowed to die today," Andrei abruptly cut through the crowd, declaring, "Not under my watch!"
The man gestured to the group approaching Nadezhda with a stretcher. With the help of three others, Anna carefully but swiftly shifted the damaged body of the vorshk girl onto the stretcher, her movements precise yet gentle. Nadezhda’s gaze lingered on the athletic woman, confusion flickering in her blue eyes. She couldn’t grasp why Anna and her comrades were helping her, especially after so many had tried to capture—or even kill—her. The contrast gnawed at her, a lingering doubt twisting in her mind as she watched them work with a care she hadn’t expected.
Shortly after, a large helicopter arrived and landed not far from their location. Promptly, two men lifted Jalu's stretcher, and two others did the same for Nadezhda. The four men then joined them in the cabin, sitting on either side of both stretchers. For some reason, Nadezhda felt a sense of calm when she saw Anna boarding the helicopter and sitting right beside her head.
The journey from Karabash to Chelyabinsk Airport via helicopter was remarkably brief. Upon landing, they transported the stretchers in two vans equipped with more comprehensive medical tools than ambulances. Anna made a call to Olga, updating her on the situation and all their needs. She also informed that Andrei, along with Oswald and Sergei, was securing the situation at the point zero area.
The vans did not stop in front of Drevnie Skazaniya but entered the parking lot in the basement of the office building adjacent to the bookstore. The dark-tinted black cars continued descending through the basement, spanning three floors before halting in front of a large white wall that swiftly opened upwards. The vans proceeded into the secret tunnel, navigating a broad, dark descent.
The tunnel concluded at a spacious parking lot, revealing a lineup of heavily armored war vehicles ranging from tactical motorcycles, tanks, to something resembling a giant drone. The two vans stopped at the end of the room where a sliding metal elevator door awaited. Just as the van doors opened, the metal door slid aside, providing a path for Anna and the four men carrying two stretchers to enter.
Apparently, Olga was orchestrating everything from within the bunker. When Anna and the others emerged from the elevator, an elderly male Indonesian rushed over with a worried expression. Kusuma deftly wore his medical attire and promptly examined Jalu's condition. With a surgical knife in his hand, the man immediately tore through Jalu's shirt after two men carrying the stretcher placed his body on the operating table.
Swiftly, Kusuma attached various sensors and infusion tubes to the man’s body, his movements precise and deliberate. Nadezhda silently observed, a mix of awe and anxiety stirring within her as the two men hoisted her stretcher and moved her onto the surgical table in the adjacent room. The atmosphere crackled with intensity, each person focused on their task as if time were slipping through their fingers.
Suddenly, a continuous beeping shattered the tense silence, its relentless rhythm echoing like a heartbeat gone awry. Kusuma’s voice rose above the din, sharp and commanding, as he shouted instructions to the two men. Nadezhda's heart raced, a cold knot forming in her stomach. The urgency in Kusuma’s tone was unmistakable, and when she saw the two men dash from her room, their faces set in grim determination, a chill of dread washed over her. The beeping grew louder, each sound an ominous reminder that something was terribly wrong.
Anna closed the glass door behind her with a firm click, sealing them inside and muffling the chaos outside. The gentle hum of the machines filled the room, a stark contrast to the rising tension. With a swift motion, Anna pressed a button next to the door, and the curtains began to glide across the glass walls, enveloping them in a cocoon of solitude. Nadezhda's blue eyes tracked Anna's movements, taking in the weariness etched across her pale face, shadows of sorrow deepening her features. Yet, despite the heavy atmosphere, Anna managed a small, reassuring smile when their gazes met, a flicker of warmth amid the gathering storm.
"Is—"
"They will do their utmost," Anna interjected, sounding more convincing to herself than addressing Nadezhda's concern.
The vorshk girl understood the turmoil within the human heart beside her. She remained silent, still worried about the man she had just encountered.
"Mr. Wardhani is a seasoned expert. Right now, the combined teams from Miass, Zlatoust, and Troitsk are assisting him to help Jalu, the man who fought you," the girl with cornrow hair explained, her voice calm yet efficient. "By the way, I’m Anna," she introduced herself, her gaze meeting the vorshk’s. "Are you the one they call Nadezhda?"
"Who are they? How do they know my name?" The girl’s voice trembled with genuine surprise.
"I learned it from the visual transmission recordings—or rather, from the vision of Mr. Adiwira, Jalu's late father, when he entered your kingdom's territory," Anna replied, softening her tone to make the terms easier for Nadezhda to grasp.
"Why didn’t you and the others destroy me like he did my entire kind?" Nadezhda’s voice sharpened with urgency. "What made him choose to obliterate everyone?"